For a couple of months now I have been obsessed with the thought of making my own note cards, specifically thank you’s.  There are a few people I know who always send a handwritten card in the mail for random occasions – my aunt Kathy and my friend Sonia – to name two, and every time I get one, they make me smile.  I was thinking that if I made my own cards, maybe I could borrow a bit of that thoughtfulness and start sending more myself.

Needless to say, when I got an email from my favorite store in Jersey City – Kanibal Home – about a card making class, I was thrilled! The class would begin at 7 pm on a Friday night, and Kristen, Kanibal Home’s fabulous owner also promised adult beverages.  What better way to spend a Friday night? Crafting AND drinking? To top it off, the class was only $25 – a bargain.

By James French

The class was taught James French, a local artist who sells his work, such as these great birdhouses, in Kanibal Home. James and his fiance Shauna Finn also have a blog about their art work called http://finchartsandcrafts.blogspot.com/.

I loved the class.  We learned how to make your own rubber stamp – which is MUCH easier than I would have thought – and learned some tricks for personalized cards.  For the cards, James talked quite a bit about collage and combining different papers and ribbons on a card to give it a unique look.  I tried that technique here:

Origami paper, ribbon and stamping!

I particularly liked using the Origami paper, both for its design and thin, but yet stiff quality.  To make an envelope liner, I turned the Origami paper sideways, so that it was a diamond shape and then lined it up with the top of the envelope.  Using scissors, I cut it to fit the shape of the envelope, and then glued it into the envelope as a lining.  Look how cute the end result is! You can also try with wrapping paper, or tissue paper.

To make our own rubber stamps, Jimmy had us first experiment with drawings.  After we had a drawing we liked, we traced it onto tracing paper. We then flipped it over onto a block of soft rubber, and transferred the drawing.  Then,using a tool like you’d use in art class for woodworking, you carefully scraped the rubber out around your drawing, until only your drawing was left.  The rubber was soft and easy to work with, so this process was easy to grasp and fun. Here’s my finished stamp! I was hoping it would look like a whisk, so that I could make dinner party invitations.  But my sweet boyfriend promptly told me it looked like a balloon.  A rookie mistake, ok?  In any event, I went to an art store this weekend and bought my own rubber and tools.  Stay tuned for new rubber stamps!

Following this, I experimented with some of the other techniques Jimmy shared and a few of my own, for a University Chic post a few weeks ago about making cards.  Here are some more examples of what I did:

To learn about future classes at Kanibal Home, check out the store’s blog here: http://kanibalhome.blogspot.com/.  James is teaching a silhouette making class on May 7^th! Learn more here.