Happy Birthday!

Here's to a birthday full of peonies and sea dreams! With so many spring birthdays, I had a blast surprising some people. To that end, I'm fortunate enough to have awesome friends who deserve equally awesome birthday gifts:

"Happy Birthday" Peony Card

"Sea Dreams" endless necklace

What was my inspiration? Spring-- the season of flowers and newness. Warm, summer-like weather has also made me think about vacations, beaches, and sea life. That's where these two fab designs came from.


Let me answer a few questions you're surely thinking: "Why are you posting jewelry? Isn't this a blog about cards?" The answers to these questions are

• (a) Jewelry rocks (pun intended). It deserves some blog time.

• (b) This is a blog about cards, and yet this blog isn't exclusively about cards.

Obviously, "Cardallegiance" refers to cards. However, you'll find, dear readers, that I tend to get creative in a variety of ways. Jewelry crafting-- which for me includes beading and metalworking-- is also a passion of mine. So this birthday post gives you a sampling of card and gift ideas inspired by the spring/summer seasons.

To that end, I'm giving a great big shout-out to spring gardens and L'Occitane.

The backstory- On recent outings, I encountered these large, gorgeous peonies budding and in full bloom. Then I noticed the fabulous work produced by L'Occitane for the new "Pivoine Flora Fragrance Collection" :

L'Occitane's Pivoine Fragrance

How inspiring is that? I just had to create something reflecting peonies. Here are more shots of the finished product:

 

What's so cool about this design? Of course, it's based on nature's handiwork. Secondly, the envelope is recycled. I used an old flyer to craft the minty green card holder. Note the plaid detailing on the inside. You can even see original text on the document. I didn't bother to cover up all those rows of numbers since they added so nicely to the design. The outside print comes from my sketch of a peony bud. So precious!

    

Now for the jewelry. This "endless necklace" has no clasp, but it's meant to be worn long or layered (the full length of this baby is about 25.5 inches).







The composition is mostly seed beads in blue, green, and gold hues with a few accent beads (metallic and wood) thrown in. My friend was thrilled with her gift and coincidentally, it matched the vibrant turquoise dress she was wearing. Total awesomeness!

So, there you have it. Happy Born Day, readers!  

Woohoo! Class of 2011...Holla!

No, I'm not graduating. I'm (partially) quoting a graduating middle schooler. It goes without saying, but congrats to all you grads, family members, and friends of grads out there. May your work be well rewarded!

Now to the matter at hand--this card:

Obviously, films and film-making inspired this design (in case you thought those were soccer balls, double chocolate Oreos or tires filling in for the O's in the "woohoo" logo). How did it come about? A friend of mine just graduated with a major in film, so naturally, I paired an image from that field with the exuberance of a "woohoo" and there you go. If you look really closely, you can also see some other choice words used for the backdrop of the banner statement ("Woot!," "Shazam!," "Awesome!," etc.). These kinds of cards are fun to make because you can consider the recipient's personality and then infuse a bit of that into the design. Hence, a notorious woohoo-sayer, for example, can reallly identify with the message.

A new challenge I tackled with this design--3D lettering... of a sort. I've seen a few new commercial card designs with raised lettering and this is my attempt at something similar. How'd I do it? Some recycled cardboard married to my sketch of the title design and...BAM! 3D lettering in the house!

I created the the final touch to this card partly because I find blank envelopes eternally boring. So whenever I get the chance, I like to customize my envelopes. This simple but sweet graduation cap added a cool finishing touch. Here's a look at the finished product:

"Woohoo!" graduation card with "grad cap" envelope. Your grad's name replaces the conspicuous blur.

 So again, WOOHOO! and a final round of applause to the class of 2011!

P.S.- Do P.S.'s exist in blogs? If you like this design, you really, really, like this design, drop me a line here and I'll hook you up!

Who makes a blog about cards?...I do!

I HEART cards. Do you?

Cardallegiance? What’s that?... I can hear you scratching your heads and furrowing your brows. Don’t worry, my friends. I’ve named this blog “Cardallegiance” for a very good reason. Well, let’s just say I have a few good reasons: (a) I previously made an Etsy account with the same name. (b)It’s very hard to fork over cash for buying greeting cards (c) Maybe I take some strange joy in smashing two unrelated words together to make one gargantuan word (I think that’s also why I like german grammar. Gelbenlederhosen, anyone?)

Actually, reason “b” most fully explains why I’ve created this blog. Yes, I like to be thrifty (cheap!) when it comes to spending.  I believe in the whole “a penny saved is a penny earned” thing. Plus, I’ve been in many a greeting card aisle, looked through the cards there, and thought to myself, “I can do this” or in some cases, “I can do better than this.” So, that begged the question, “Why should I pay for greeting cards when I can make them?” Thus, Cardallegiance was born.

In each new blog entry I’ll feature at least one different design and give you a backstory behind its creation. I will *try* to update this on a regular (weekly?) basis or as my time allows. If you enjoy what you see here, therefore, please have patience with me if I don’t always adhere to that deadline. It only means that my next post will be ultra-amazing because great things come to those who wait… Aha! You thought I couldn’t throw in a second cliché in my first post! Boo on you!

How do I come up with design concepts? In almost every case, I start with a concept or idea that I think appeals to the potential recipient. At times, I’m inspired by an event in that person’s life, her favorite color, or a random eccentricity. The best part about the process is surprising people with customized, heartfelt greeting cards. The worst part, I must admit, is saying goodbye to each little piece of art. Over time, I’ve learned to cope with that problem by taking pictures. Join me as I flip through my picture book, an album of beloved “departed” pieces. If you see something you like, email me and help continue this creative addiction. I welcome the chance to create new pieces (or duplicate earlier ones), creating special stuff for special people.  

Design 1: Wedding Congrats

After spending a day doing many things, I had precious little time to come up with a grand design for this card. Since I think the briefest sentiment is sometimes the simplest, I decided to focus on the word, “Congratulations.” Once I got started, that word began bursting with tiny blooms as I sketched it out. I’ve always been partial to spirals and “curly-q” shapes, so those rounded out the design nicely. Finally, I paired this visual up with a personal note. The card was ready to be tucked under the ribbon of a wrapped wedding gift in no time. Voila!

 Congrats! You made it to the end of my first post. In case you missed it, visit my Etsy shop here. Leave a comment at the end of this first blog post or contact me here. Thanks for visiting!