Hi. Remember how I used to blog? Well, I’m ready to do that again.

At the last minute, I decided to be a vendor at the July Jubilee in College Station so I’m working around the clock getting ready. This is my first official craft fair – I’m excited to give it a try. [...]]]>

Hi. Remember how I used to blog? Well, I’m ready to do that again.

At the last minute, I decided to be a vendor at the July Jubilee in College Station so I’m working around the clock getting ready. This is my first official craft fair – I’m excited to give it a try. I think the part I’m most excited for is decorating my booth. I’ll share details about that coming up.

But for now… here is a sneak peek at a new product I’m making. It’s a gift card holder that fits in a regular envelope (unlike my accordion style gift card holders). The idea came to me when my mom ordered a handful of gift card holders for upcoming weddings this summer but I knew at least one of the weddings she wasn’t going to attend. So how would she mail the accordion gift card holder? So I made a flat one.

The idea is still new and I’m working out the kinks, but I’m close. I hope to have some at July Jubilee in a couple of weeks. Here’s what I have so far:

This gift card holder is 4″ by 6″ and fits in a standard size envelope for easy mailing.

Inside, there are a handful of papers with different words on them.

Then there is the pocket to hold the gift card (or check or cash or whatever).

After the pocket, is a page to write a note to the recipient.

Doesn’t it make you want to give a gift card? I thought so.

Now it’s back to work for me. Come and visit the craft fair if you are in the area. You can find details on their website as well as in my sidebar. See you at the fair!

Recently, I received this apple box in the mail from my Grandpa. He is the master of letter writing and package sending.

He sent me two cranberry crates from his father’s grocery store (Dan’s Foods). I’m such a sentimental girl – I love having these pieces from the old store. Of course, he included a letter [...]]]>

Recently, I received this apple box in the mail from my Grandpa. He is the master of letter writing and package sending.

He sent me two cranberry crates from his father’s grocery store (Dan’s Foods). I’m such a sentimental girl – I love having these pieces from the old store. Of course, he included a letter about what they used the crates for at home. Mostly his mother used them as shelving in the basement.

The boys helped me open the box and were delighted to find this:

I love that Grandpa used these non-conventional packaging materials. A big bouncy ball. 5 hot wheels. Markers galore. Granola bars, cookies, tiny cereal boxes. Even when I was a little girl, he sent packages this way. And it still makes me smile!

Thank you, Grandpa!

I’m breaking away from my baby and kiddo tutorials this week so you can get prepared for Mother’s Day. I don’t live close enough to my mom to celebrate Mother’s Day in person (sniff sniff) so I try to send something meaningful in the mail. This year, I designed a little flag book with pockets [...]]]>

I’m breaking away from my baby and kiddo tutorials this week so you can get prepared for Mother’s Day. I don’t live close enough to my mom to celebrate Mother’s Day in person (sniff sniff) so I try to send something meaningful in the mail. This year, I designed a little flag book with pockets that are just the right size for little notes, gift cards, photos, or anything else foldable. So you should have plenty of time to make it this week and ship it off to your mom – where ever she may be!

I’ve included a TON of photos to help make this as simple as possible. There is no sewing involved. And all the gluing can be substituted with tape if you want to skip dry times.

Leave a comment or email me if you have questions.

Here we go.

HOW TO MAKE A SMALL POCKET FLAG BOOK

SUPPLIES

+ 3 sheets of 9″ by 12″ paper (I used a double sided Amy Butler print)
+ 1 piece of paper for your covers that is at least 4″ by 9″ (I used a thick, rough handmade paper)
+ 1 piece of paper for the accordion that is at least 6″ by 14″ (I used a text weight paper, ie computer paper)
+ bone folder (optional)
+ glue and paintbrush
+ double sided tape

STEP 1: Make the pockets.

1. Start with one sheet of the 9″ by 12″ paper.

2. Fold in half (hamburger style) and crease with the bone folder. Unfold.

3. Choose which side of the paper you want to be the inside of the pockets. Lay this side face up. Take the bottom left corner and line it up with the center crease, making a triangle.

4. Take the top left corner and line it up with the center crease, making a triangle.

5. Fold paper in half (hot dog style). Unfold.

6. Fold the triangle half along the first center fold you made.

7. Fold in half along the crease you made in step 5.

8. Trim off the extra paper with an xacto knife or scissors. This is your pocket! It should be about 4″ square.

9. Make 2 more pockets following the same steps. (side note: you can make as many pockets as your little heart desires. The next steps of the tutorial would need to be adjusted for how ever many pockets you decide to make… email me if this is confusing and you need more pockets)

PART 2: Make the book block.

1. Start with your paper that is at least 6″ tall.

2. Measure 3/4″ from the edge and mark with the bone folder (I used my trusty 3/4″ guide made from binders’ board, but you can use a ruler and pencil for this). Crease. Continue folding accordion style the entire length of your paper. For 3 pockets, you need 14 sections (as shown here).

3. Spread glue (I used a paintbrush) in the second “valley” from the left.

4. Place one pocket in the glue with the edge lined up in the bottom of the valley (along the crease).

5. Now fold over the other side of the valley (already has glue on it) and press firmly. Now your first pocket is secure.

6. Skip one valley and put glue in the next one (can you see where the glue is?). Spread it around with a paintbrush.

7. Put in the second pocket the same way you did the first. This time, pay careful attention to the positioning – make sure you line up the top and bottom of the pocket with the first pocket. Fold over the other half of the valley (already has glue on it), just like you did with the first pocket.

8. Skip a valley and put glue in the next one (sound familiar?).

9. Put in the third pocket. Again, make sure it lines up perfectly with the other two pockets. Fold over the valley (already has glue on it) and press firmly.

10. Now, your book block should look like this. See how each pocket is glued into every other valley of the accordion fold? You will use the extra valleys on either side to secure the book block in the cover. That was the hardest part! You did it! Stick it under something heavy overnight (ie under a stack of books, a mattress, etc)

PART 3: Fitting the book block into the cover.

Here is what your book block looks like after you’ve pressed it overnight.

1. Trim off the top and bottom of the extra accordion folds so it’s flush with your pockets.

2. Lay the book block on your cover paper and use a ruler to mark the edge. (side note: I’m lazy when it comes to measuring. You could actually measure this out if you wanted. I prefer to use my book block and eyeball it.)

3. Tear or cut the paper.

4. Put double sided tape on the backside of the book block. NOT on the pocket. ONLY on the accordion (mine is white).

5. Carefully line up the book block on the right hand side of your cover paper. Press firmly so the tape sticks. The first pocket of the book block should be face up at this point.

6. Use your bone folder to mark the spine of the book block.

7. Lift up the book block and back cover so the spine rests on your desk. Mark along the book block edge again with your bone folder.

8. Fold the book all the way over so the back cover is now facing up.

9. Open the book back up. Put tape on the front accordion paper (again, mine is white). Fold back over the same way you did before and press firmly making sure the tape sticks to the cover.

This is what the cover and book block should look like. See how the tabs from the accordion folded paper are now attached to the cover paper? The pocket pages will turn easily.

10. Now it’s time to mark and trim your front cover. Lay the book block down and mark along the edge with your bone folder (or pencil).

11. Tear or cut the excess paper from the cover.

You did it! You made a book!

Part 4: Personalize and Package.

So what will you fill your pockets with? I had a few ideas:

+ old photos of the family (moms love those)
+ gift cards are just the right size
+ left over paint chips are great for writing notes on

There are so many options here so get creative and do something that will make your own mom smile.

I added a fabric flower (from this tutorial) and some twine to tie it all up. Pretty cute, I think!

Enjoy! Let me know how it goes!

I know I’m a little late on this post, but I’m still going to share! For Valentine’s Day this year, I kept it simple. I drew a few cheesy valentines on smallish pieces of paper (I think they were about 2.5″ by 4″) with my trusty Sharpie. Then I left my almost-four-year-old with his markers [...]]]>

I know I’m a little late on this post, but I’m still going to share! For Valentine’s Day this year, I kept it simple. I drew a few cheesy valentines on smallish pieces of paper (I think they were about 2.5″ by 4″) with my trusty Sharpie. Then I left my almost-four-year-old with his markers at the kitchen table and this is what he came up with! Notice how some of the names he wrote have the letters scattered all over the paper? He wanted it to be a game so the person would have to hunt for their name. How cute is that?! Oh, I love this kid.

So, Happy Valentine’s Day.

(better late then never…)

Hooray for Tutorial Tuesday! Still January = still posting tutorials about letter writing.

When I was in elementary school, I did some kind of summer class at the library and that is where I learned how to write with invisible ink. Thankfully, I tested out my memory of how to do this and it worked. So [...]]]>

Hooray for Tutorial Tuesday! Still January = still posting tutorials about letter writing.

When I was in elementary school, I did some kind of summer class at the library and that is where I learned how to write with invisible ink. Thankfully, I tested out my memory of how to do this and it worked. So I can pass it on to you.

I did this with my almost-four-year-old yesterday afternoon and it was right up his alley. He drew monsters for a few his friends. I’m thinking all of my valentines will have invisible messages this year. Think of it: a hidden love letter!!

SUPPLIES:

+ paper (the lighter colored, the better. The red construction paper pictured here didn’t work as well as the light yellow. Test your paper before doing your whole project)
+ lemon juice
+ q-tips
+ something hot (candle, match, 150-watt lightbulb, iron)

1. Write your message. Dip the q-tip in the lemon juice and draw on the paper. You can draw or write a message or both.

2. Let it dry completely. The message will totally disappear. Cool, right?!

3. Heat it up. Using your hot source (I used a candle) heat the paper and the message will slowly start to appear.

So if you are using this to send to someone, stop after step #2 and mail it with directions for the recipient to heat it up. A cute little valentines idea would be to send it with some yummy smelling candle as the gift. I’m thinking I will make a bunch of magic hearts with messages on it and package it up with candles to send out.

How will you use your invisible ink?

One reason I love Valentine’s Day is for all the love letter writing. I think every holiday should include love letters. But then again, you know how much I love letters. So, in honor of our January Letter Writing Tutorial Month, here is a simple folded heart card I thought up yesterday afternoon. The possibilities [...]]]>

One reason I love Valentine’s Day is for all the love letter writing. I think every holiday should include love letters. But then again, you know how much I love letters. So, in honor of our January Letter Writing Tutorial Month, here is a simple folded heart card I thought up yesterday afternoon. The possibilities seem endless with this project – so take it as a template and then add your own touch. As with most of my projects, the papers and supplies can vary from what I use in the tutorial to meet your needs. I usually just use what I have in the studio…

Enjoy!

SUPPLIES

+ 1 piece solid color construction paper (I used 9″ by 12″)
+ card stock (I used brown kraft paper)
+ decorative paper (I used a 12″ square piece of scrapbooking paper)
+ double sided tape or glue
+ scissors
+ pencil
+ xacto knife and ruler
+ bone folder

HOW TO MAKE A FOLDED HEART CARD

PART ONE: The Inside

1. Fold the construction paper in half. Crease with bone folder.

2. Fold in half again. Crease with bone folder.

3. Open up the 2nd fold. Take the left top corner and line up the fold with the center crease from the 1st fold. Repeat on the right side. (Should look like a hat, sort of)

4. Open up the paper and refold to the hat shape, this time reversing the folds so they all go inside (this sounds more complicated than it is… follow the pics)

5. Fold in half again.

6. Use your ruler to measure out how big you want your card to be. Mine is 3.5″.

7. Draw a heart shape.

8. Cut through all the layers. When you open it up, there should be 4 hearts.

PART TWO: The Covers

9. Use your folded hearts to measure and cut 2 squares from your card stock to be the covers. If you want to use the card stock as is for the covers skip down to PART THREE. I wanted to cover mine in decorative paper.

10. Glue or tape (I used my trusty tape dispenser for this project so I wouldn’t have to wait for it to dry) each bit of card stock to the wrong side of the decorative paper. Trim around the edges leaving about 3/4″ around the card stock. Fold over and secure the edges to the card stock (this step is a simpler version of  step #3 in the accordion book tutorial)

11. Cut 2 squares from the decorative paper that are 1/4″ smaller than the covers. Tape these to the covers so all the card stock is hidden.

PART THREE: Insert the folded heart into the covers

12. Fold up the hearts and cover one side in double sided tape. Center it on one of the covers and press. Do the same to the other side. (NOTE: When I’m attaching the back cover, I put tape on the heart and then I line up the back cover with the front cover – that’s easier than moving the cover that already has the heart attached to it)

13. Write a love note in it and send it off!

I’ll post a few more pics tomorrow of ways you can personalize this. Leave a comment if you are confused or having trouble with this. You can also leave a comment if you think it is awesome and your life will never be the same. Haha. Just kidding.

And new for The Lightbulb Lab’s Tutorial Tuesday, I have created a very printer friendly PDF of this tutorial you can download (for free!) and save for easier folded heart card making. (I know, you love me)

Click the button to download the Folded Heart Card Tutorial PDF

First up: Mara Zepeda of Neither Snow.

Tell us about what you do.

I am a [...]]]> Introducing The Lightbulb Lab’s first ever artist spotlight. I am inspired by so many people and I want to share more of them with you. So every week or so I will shine the spotlight on an artist who has influenced me.

First up: Mara Zepeda of Neither Snow.

Tell us about what you do.

I am a calligrapher and my business is called Neither Snow. The types of projects I do really vary. In the last few months I’ve calligraphed words for a greeting card company, wedding invitations, a doctor’s office holiday card, logos, a website, editorial work, envelopes for a fashion house and tattoos (!!!). I also specialize in tracking down vintage stamps and postal stationery for customers (and myself– see tutorial!)

Where do you draw your inspiration from?

In the broadest sense I draw inspiration from the physical, literary and epistolary worlds, which means just about anything. I am consistently enthralled by Joseph Cornell’s artwork, Wislawa Szymborska’s poetry, StoryCorps’ audio documentaries and old letters from other countries.

What motivates you to keep at it?

The feeling of getting something in the mail is inimitable, and it makes me feel good knowing that I can help to inspire that.

What is one thing you are looking forward to?

Valentine’s day! Check out my website on Monday (www.neithersnow.com) for an exciting announcement.

Are there other talents/skills/hobbies you hope to add to your repertoire?

The list is long, and includes crewel embroidery, keeping plants alive, canning preserves, basic plumbing and auto repair skills, doing a careful study of apple varieties next fall and learning the Latin names of every plant in our garden.

[all images via neithersnow.com]

Eva Jorgensen already covered the [...]]]> Today’s tutorial comes from Mara Zepeda of Neither Snow. She believes (like me) that mail matters. Mara is a brilliant calligrapher – tomorrow I plan on shining the spotlight on her and her work. But for today, she is here to share her tips and tricks on writing postcards. Welcome, Mara!

Eva Jorgensen already covered the correspondence bases in her great post on the forgotten art of letter writing so I thought I’d create a companion tutorial on postcarding.

This year I am in graduate school. Every day I am faced with an hour and a half commute back and forth, and I’ve been flummoxed about how to spend this time. Recently I’ve taken to writing postcards on the subway. This is because often my days are so busy that I can’t even reply to a friend’s email. So this is my way of reminding them that I’m thinking about them and love them enough to get to a mailbox, even if I can’t manage an electronic missive.

Here are the four obstacles I’ve found to postcard writing:

1. The Postage
2. The Postcard
3. The Message
4. The System

Tackling these in order:

#1: Right now we have one postcard stamp ($.28) option: the unoriginal and uninspiring (in my humble opinion) polar bear stamp.

I have worked around this problem by creating my own $.28 “stamp” with two $.10 clock stamps and two $.04 Chippendale chair stamps. It’s an imperfect system but at least it isn’t the polar bear.

For people with would like to scour Ebay, visit their local stamp shop or work with me, the postage options are limitless. Here is a sample of my most recent scavenging. These stamps celebrate, in no particular order, mineralogy, the 5^th world forestry congress, steam engines, butterflies, city planning, higher education, Emily Dickinson, youth, and wool…yes, a stamp commemorating America’s wool.

While the value of these stamps is small ($.3 – $.18), I think an assemblage of them looks lovely.

Finally, there is the world of vintage postal stationery (and yes, that bottom envelope celebrates the American seafaring tradition):

#2: Too often we think that if we don’t have the perfect card, we shouldn’t write. My solution is to go minimalist. I found these postcards at a tiny convenience store in Cambridge years ago and I try to go through a package of them every month (and stockpile them via friends visiting the UK as often as I can). But the key is to find something basic that comes in quantity. The Paper Source has a dizzying array of options and the A2 size will go through the mail with regular postage.

#3: Keep the message short and simple. Choose a favorite line of a poem, write it on a scrap of paper and then copy and send it to everyone you think would appreciate it. Tell them something you did that day that made you think of them. Recount a memory or reminiscence.  Some phrases to start things out: “Remember that one time when…”, “Today I saw….and it made me think of you.”

#4: The final obstacle is how to pull all of these elements together so that the postcard actually makes it in the mailbox. Here’s what I propose:

1. Pre-stamp 25 postcards with the correct amount of postage
2. On Sunday evening (or at another regular interval) once a month, pre-address the cards to their recipients – now is a good opportunity to see who has a birthday or milestone coming up.
3. Set aside a sturdy, purse sized pouch or envelope to carry the supplies: your cards, a pen, a few extra stamps (if you want to send internationally).

Keep this pouch in your purse at all times, write a card when you have a spare five minutes and the drop it in a post box, which you’ll soon discover are everywhere.

**************************************

[all images Mara Zepeda]

Thanks, Mara!
website: neithersnow.com
blog: neithersnow.blogspot.com

I’ve dedicated January’s tutorials to letter writing. To start off, I’ve made a holiday thank yous tutorial. So begin your new year with gratitude and write a thank you.

Here is my quick start guide to writing your holiday thank yous.

1. Gather writing materials: paper, envelopes, addresses, stamps, markers, stickers, etc. Keep [...]]]>

I’ve dedicated January’s tutorials to letter writing. To start off, I’ve made a holiday thank yous tutorial. So begin your new year with gratitude and write a thank you.

Here is my quick start guide to writing your holiday thank yous.

1. Gather writing materials: paper, envelopes, addresses, stamps, markers, stickers, etc. Keep it simple. Don’t get hung up on making/buying some fancy card. That part doesn’t matter as much as the handwritten note. I wrote mine with crayons on construction paper. To help my toddler write his own letters, I made a thank you form letter he could fill in himself. He told me what he wanted to say and I filled in the blanks and then he traced over my letters. He made little drawings in the box at the bottom of the page.

2. Prepare a list of who you need to send thanks to. Before we started writing our letters, we each took a “Holiday Thank Yous” checklist and wrote down the people we needed to thank and why. The boys really got a kick out of checking the box next to each line on their lists when they completed a letter.

3. Gather your family together at the kitchen table and start writing. The more the merrier! We spent an hour last night writing our thank yous. What a great way to teach the kiddos the importance of saying “thank you”.

In case you have some letter writing to do, I’ve included two freebies!

[Click on the images to download]

Happy thank you writing to you and yours! Let me know how it goes.