Summer Sale!

Pack up some cards and prints for your next trip and you'll be ready to share your thoughts and adventures with everyone back home...free shipping on all orders until July 15, enter Summer2015 at checkout.
www.etsy.com/shop/fourcornersdesign

From the heart

Though I'm a firm believer in sending a note anytime to let someone know I care...Valentine's Day is the perfect day to send messages of love...

Whether its for a sweetheart...or a dear friend...or a cherished family member, why not send a simple note letting them know that they are thought of and appreciated...

I have three new vintage art cards in my etsy shop...simple images on which to write your greetings...
each design is packaged in a set of 4 flat notecards...

"friendship hearts"

"two hearts"

"pink camellia"

I also have variety sets...4 flat notecards, 4 different designs...
I like this set for Valentine's Day...fresh, pink, hint of spring...

Get all the details...
and order information at my etsy shop, 
www.etsy.com/shop/fourcornersdesign

Mention that you read my blog when you order and I'll throw in a bonus gift for you...a little love for everyone!

From the heart, part 6

Today is the last Monday of the year...and the last of the easy projects from my Simple 6 series...inspired ideas for simple gifts to make by hand and give from the heart.

I know that Christmas is over (and hope that yours was everything you wanted it to be) but this idea is perfect for after Christmas...or as a New Year's activity...





I'm a believer in sending mail...through the postal service...
actual greetings that arrive at your doorstep...and brighten your day...

The holidays usually means gifts...and I believe in the reciprocal gesture of thank you...so why not send out thank you notes...made from something you have around the house...recycled stationery made from magazines...

I am a magazine whore, so I have no shortage of raw material for this project...the envelopes will be made from inspiring magazine pictures...so I perused my stack and had a bevy of images torn out of the mags in no time...










I had a simple paper template to determine whether or not the chosen image would work or not...a downloadable copy of the template I used is included at the end of this post...

Step 1 : As I began positioning the template to trace around the image, I discovered that I could only guess on placement...and then I had a eureka moment!

Step 2 : Why not cut out a portion of the inside rectangle so I could see how the image would look on the completed envelope...brilliant!

Step 3: After tracing around the template, I cut out the envelope...

Step 4: And begin folding...

Step 5: I found my brayer helpful in getting a crisp fold...a bone folder would work just as well...

Step 6: The completed envelope...a small amount of gluestick is used on the flipside to adhere the bottom flap to the side flaps...










I was on a roll...and made several sets of envelopes...finding a theme among the images I chose...the monthly design magazine, WSJ, had beautiful photos to use...

Don't have any magazines handy?  how about leftover wrapping paper...or your 2013 wall calendar...or paper bags...

After the envelopes were complete, I cut a single flat card for each envelope, using leftover card stock...a quick embellishment of washi tape added an extra flourish on the white cards...

When mailing these envelopes, you might want to use a white address label on the front...and you can use a sticker or a dab of gluestick to seal the envelope before mailing...

the striped cards are perfect for sending a sweet note through the mail...

an aside...my newest pen love...these fine tip Sharpies...in gray!  my fave!










So lets start the new year off right...lets have a little giveaway...leave me a comment and I'll put your name in a hat...and draw out 5 names...each to receive one of the recycled stationery sets I made...deadline is midnight Friday, January 3 to enter...make sure that if your profile doesn't link to your email that you include it as part of your comment...otherwise I have no way to get in touch with you if you win!

I hope you've enjoyed my Simple 6 series...a link to the other five projects are on my blog sidebar...and these projects aren't limited to the holidays...be inspired to create whenever you need a simple gift throughout the year...

right click on envelope template to save it to your computer and then print it out...I used cardstock for printing to make a sturdy template...

Bonus Holiday Giveaway

Its down to the wire...and in my view, if its not done yet, best to just sit back and enjoy...because the holidays are not about the hustle & bustle...but about community and connection...

Not to leave you in anticipation...here's the winners of Holiday Cheer Giveaway #3...yes, you read that right...I decided to choose two winners...so I instructed the Southern Man, being the official picker of the winner, to pick two names...

Beth@thedailyparagraph    and    lbprich

Congrats to both of you!  I will email each of you to get your snail mail address to send off these packages pronto!

Now onto the Bonus round...my sister and I have started a tradition of sorts...where in addition to your christmas gift, there is the bonus gift...usually something that just screamed the person's name that there was no denying wrapping it up to put under the tree.

Well, the same goes here...I'm in the midst of cleaning up my office and studio...and found a slew of cards that are just calling out to be given away...

 

So here's the deal...I will send three of my vintage art cards (random assortment - no choices here) to EVERYONE (yes, everyone!) who emails me (amy_duncan@yahoo.com) their snail mail address

by December 31...

In return, I ask a favor...if you would either follow my blog, via the Google Friend Connect (on the right hand column where it says "Join this site") and/or "like" my Four Corners Design Facebook page (click here)...I'm winding up my third year of blogging and hitting the 300 mark on my blog and/or FB page seems like a nice synchronicity...

I want to thank all of you who follow along...I appreciate your support...because as I said earlier, its all about community and connections...

Merry Christmas to all!

Ready for the show!

I'm all packed up and ready to go...go where you ask?  To the Artist Studio Sale at the home of Leslie West, encaustic artist and hostess extraordinaire...

its a great sale starting today - this Thursday evening and running until Saturday noon...

and yes, I do use my stack of vintage suitcases (that have been featured on the blog a couple of times...) They are great for transporting all that stuff...and give a vintage vibe to my setup and display...ideal for helping to promote my vintage art cards...

I'll be joining a dozen other artists with lots of handcrafted treasures...
perfect for holiday gifts...
or a special treat for yourself...
Find all the details here...I hope I see you there!

Enticements

Since I just found out a week ago that I'm going to be a part of the Fall Ruffles & Rust Vintage Show, figured I'd better get organized.  The Southern Man has been visiting family and friends down in Florida...it was the perfect time to haul up what I had in the basement and make a big mess in the dining room...I'm still on my mission to clean out my basement...and I know that it seems like I have an unending supply of stuff down there, but it truly is looking a little empty in places!

I spent one day last week pulling together possibilities and a couple of days of cleaning up forgotten castaways...and then finally finishing other projects...I have more than plenty to fill my booth!  My theme is "remembering the old country" and I'll have a good mix of original art, my vintage art cards, multi-media collages and lots of great found objects.  To take advantage of the mess strewn all over the dining room (and before I priced everything and packed it back up for the show) I decided I would do a little photo shoot to tempt you...and entice you...to clear your calendars and head over to the Monroe Fairgrounds on October 12 & 13 for this fab event...

enought enticement?  and yes, the menage a trois table from my previous post will be there as well...
want more details...as well as the scoop on first choice shopping on Friday night?  head over to www.rufflesandrustsquare.com...

paper + glue = inspiration

In the midst of cleaning up my studio space, I uncovered a supply of lead crystal paperweight blanks...
and immediately contacted Kimberly at Faded Elegance to concoct another creative workshop...

Here's the details...I'll be offering a collage paperweight class at Faded Elegance in Snohomish on Friday, Sept 21 from 6-9pm.  Cost for the class is $36 and includes not only the lead crystal blank to design your own custom paperweight, but plenty of old french book pages, snippets of maps, vintage wallpaper, feathers, buttons, glitter, postage stamps, dictionary pages, sheet music, leaves, ribbon, etc, etc, etc to make it all fabulous...with everything you need to complete your lovely project, including a fanciful gift container...

and no workshop at Faded Elegance would be complete without a little bubbly and treats to make the creative process flow...

Contact Faded Elegance at 360-568-5333 to sign up; space is limited...

And an added bonus...I will be having a trunk sale of my vintage art cards during the workshop...dozens of designs...all cards are packaged in sets of 4 with envelopes...with the holidays approaching, its the perfect
hostess gift or stocking stuffer...

Hope to see you there...

Remember Mom

Mother's Day is just around the corner...and if you need some help with a little gift...I'm having a Flash Sale at my etsy shop...

A special selection of six different vintage art cards, packaged up and ready to give...















The top photo shows a sample of the gift wrapping in yellow...but you have a choice of yellow, blue, green or pink...tied up with Midori ribbon and tagged for "mom".

And the shipping (USPS Priority Mail) is free if you enter MOTHERSDAY2012 when you place your order...and I'll even mail direct to your mom if you want...what could be easier?!

so get over there now...you know she'll love them...

Cultivating the spark

You see a picture...a spark goes off...inspiration has hit...you journey to the basement for supplies...

This is pretty much the process I followed when I spied this photo on anything goes here...which, by the way, always has the most interesting items displayed in the most unique ways...be sure to check it out...

I never thought of using these vintage metal curtain rings to display photos/cards/ephemera... what if I could figure out a photo display stand using these rings...I knew I had plenty of these rings leftover from my mom's stash of stuff (as if I didn't have enough of my own...I now have plenty of stuff from my mom too...) 
I rummaged through a few piles in the basement...

Here's what I came up with...starting with a base, I drilled a hole in a cedar fence post cap with a paddle bit...

I found an old broom handle that was the perfect diameter for the rings to fit around...I had to cut down the handle to size...its been raining and cold here forever (unlike the rest of the country that had a blast of summer!) so I had to work inside, on my kitchen island...

good thing my reclaimed wood island already has that vintage patina...because now it has a smattering of blue paint on the edges...

Once I had the hole in the base, I painted it a lovely vintage gray...I adhered a large rusted washer over the hole...this would give added weight to the base (and conceal the rough edges of the drilled hole...)
After the paint and adhesive were dry, I inserted the broom handle into the hole...I pounded a large head nail through the underside of the base into the bottom of the broom handle to give it extra support.

To attach the curtain rings to the broom handle, I planned to nail each ring in place...I drilled a tiny hole into each ring...making a pilot hole with a sharp screw/nail keeps the bit in place while drilling...

and then I secured each ring with a small 5/8 x 18 nail...

















I built my display from the bottom up...

until it was complete...

I offset the ring clips so I could display cards close together without blocking the view of the nearby cards...                            

This display will work great at home...as well as at art shows this summer  (those are my vintage art cards I have clipped on the display...for sale over at my etsy shop...) 

Maybe I'd better find another broom stick and make a couple more...

Linking up to Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Nite Special...plenty there to cultivate your creative spark...

Spring fever!

Even though the rest of the country is experiencing Spring...here in the Pacific NW, we seem to be stuck...not really winter...but not really spring either. 

But that doesn't deter me from having spring fever...and to celebrate this first day of Spring, I'm having a Spring Fever Sale at my etsy shop!

8 spring-themed vintage art cards are on sale at 20% off (since its march 20!) through the end of the week...no special codes to enter...the price of $6 for a set of 4 flat note cards already reflects the 20% discount from the regular price of $7.50 per set.

So if you aren't too busy smelling the daffodils...head over to my etsy shop and get your fill of Spring and start sending springtime notes to all your friends...you gotta feed that fever!

Love thru the mail

Valentine's Day always brings back memories of school days...when you bought those funny colored paper valentines and handed them out at school...sometimes sticking your notes inside  pink decorated boxes...little individual "mail boxes" that were made in art class the week prior...










I've continued to send valentines through the years...the unexpected delivery of a piece of actual mail that is neither bill nor advertisement is a pleasant surprise.  To distract myself from two weeks of computer woes, I broke out glue, paint and paper and went to work...I made 8 valentines and sent them in the mail to friends near and far...

All of these were made with corrugated cardboard as the base...my new favorite substrate...later in the week, I'll share some of my construction techniques...but for now, enjoy this visual valentine for you...

And you count there are only 7 valentines posted here...number 8 is for the Southern Man...I didn't want to spoil his surprise...

On the lookout

Last week I stopped in at Goodwill Outlet before I met my friend Sue for a belated birthday lunch (which was at The Loft in Downtown Edmonds - delish!)  I didn't have a lot of time but was on the hunt for items for my holiday projects.  I'm pretty good with eyeing the mounds of clothes/blankets/books/dishes/odd & ends to discern what I need without plowing through every piece.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a piece of old wire with a clip attached.  Normally I would pass this by...but this time I stopped and pulled it out of the heap. 

Joan over at Anything Goes Here has been highlighting old skirt hangers to display interesting collections...I was totally amused when I first saw one of these hangers on her site - I had several skirt hangers (with the red tips!) when I was young...because I am old enough that I wore skirts to school everyday - pants were not yet allowed.  Using them for display was a brilliant idea...so when I saw one peeking out, I snatched it up immediately!



Here's my rendition of the skirt hanger display...

This hanger will be perfect for highlighing a few of my vintage art cards at shows...and I just happen to have a holiday show coming up!

Mark your calendars and head over to Mercer Island if you are in the area!

Artist Studio Holiday Sale

November 10, 11 & 12

Join me and 11 other artists for a great show of artistic treasures

Click Here to get all the details on artists/time/place/directions

Mention you read about the show on my blog and get 20% off your purchase from me...hope to see you there...

Grand re-Opening!

"create" notecard

After months of procrastinating, I finally have (re)opened my etsy shop - fourcornersdesign

I made a feeble attempt at this etsy thing about 4 years ago, but didn't know what I was doing so I let it go.  This time I did my homework...and now I'm ready!

This will be the place where not only will you find my vintage-inspired stationery and notecards, but original multi-media art collages and one-of-a-kind junk inspired creations.  I'm starting with 12 lovely sets of notecards but will adding more items on a regular basis.

To kick off this Grand Event, I'm giving all of my blog readers free shipping for the month of August! 

Its easy as one, two, three...

ONE - visit my esty shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop/fourcornersdesign

TWO - decide which set (or multiple sets!) of cards you must have to send out simple thank you notes or quick hellos...so easy and much more personal than email...

THREE - enter 811FREESHIP when you place your order to receive the free shipping offer.

There's an etsy icon on the right column of my blog that will take you direct to my shop with one click of your mouse.

And if you have any questions or requests, please feel free to email me.

Happy Shopping!