Take a walk on the wild side: wild cards breathe new life into paper

Expression, Jan-Feb, 2005 by Vesta Abel

Now here is something practical for those who love to make unusual greeting cards. Gather up Wild-Cards card and envelope templates, card stock, copier paper and an array of inks and you will be well on your way to creating gorgeous and unique cards. For a little added postage they can actually be sent through the U.S. postal system!

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INSTRUCTIONS

Before Starting Place templates on paper with the lettering side up on a sheet of Veggie Leather. Trace, cut out and fold both pieces before inking or stamping to make sure they are facing the right directions. Otherwise the card might end up backwards!

Sun Goddess (Template Z029) 1. Place the envelope template with the lettering side up on white copier paper that has been placed on a sheet of Veggie Leather. 2. Trace lightly with a pencil. Score the open fold lines with a tiny stylus. Cut out with scissors. 3. Turn cutout over and fold on score lines. 4. Place card template with lettering side up on white card stock. 5. Trace with a pencil and score open areas with a stylus. 6. Cut out outer tracing with scissors. 7. Place card on cutting mat and lay the template on top of the card. Carefully cut out window with an X-ACTO knife. 8. Turn card over and fold on score lines. 9. Make sure card and envelope are facing the right directions. 10. Place unfolded card flat on scrap paper. Remove lid from Butterscotch Adirondack ink pad. 11. Rub pad all over front of entire card. 12. Ink a makeup sponge with the Butterscotch ink and rub onto card to fill any white areas the pad missed. 13. Ink the textured PenScore on the Butterscotch ink. 14. Randomly dab all over the inked card. 15. Rinse off the textured PenScore and dry thoroughly. 16. Now ink with the Stream Adirondack ink pad. Lightly tap onto inked card randomly. 17. Clean stamp again. 18. Ink stamp with the Perfect Medium ink pad and randomly stamp all over card. 19. Dip small paintbrush into the Sunflower Sparkle Perfect Pearls and lightly dust over stamped areas. Brush off excess. 20. Using scrap card stock, cut three long triangles 2 1/8" X 4 1/2". 21. Using a makeup sponge, ink one triangle with Stream ink. Next ink over the Stream with Butterscotch. 22. Lightly ink the textured stamp with Stream ink and dab over triangle. 23. At the top of the triangle, stamp the Wavy Sun design from the Jewelry stamp set with Black Adirondack ink. Repeat inking instructions on the second triangle adding a little of the Eggplant ink. 24. Stamp the Southwest design from the Jewelry set horizontally with Black ink. 25. Ink the third triangle (for the address area on the envelope) with Butterscotch ink. Ink the textured stamp with Butterscotch ink and dab all over triangle. Set aside. 26. Break off a small amount of Black Sculpey clay. Roll it into a ball and press it firmly into one of the small Art Doll molds. 27. Remove clay from mold and cut off excess clay around face. 28. Dust face with several Interference color Perfect Pearls. Bake according to directions on package. 29. Fold card and glue clay face in the center of the window cutout. 30. Apply a couple of Pop Dots on the back of the sun-stamped triangle. Place the triangle with the Stream, Butterscotch and Eggplant colors face down on newspaper and spray back with the Super 77 spray adhesive. 31. Press the wavy sun stamped one beneath the window on the front of card to resemble a body. Open the card and press the other one under the clay face. 32. Using the Purple Glaze pen, fill in the rays of the sun to add shine and texture. 33. Draw three small buttons with the Glaze pen under the sun. Also use the Glaze pen to draw wild hair strands above the face. Let dry thoroughly. 34. Open card and draw hair above clay face. Draw on beads inside Southwest design. Let dry a few minutes. Embellish inside with Ice Stickles in Mint Ice. Let dry thoroughly. 35. Embellish front triangle with Ice Stickles as well. Let dry.

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Goddess Envelope Place envelope cutout on scrap paper making sure it is right side up. Remove lid from Stream color pad. 2. Rub all over envelope. 3. Using a makeup sponge, rub Butterscotch ink all over envelope. Ink the textured PenScore with Stream ink and randomly stamp on envelope. 4. Assemble the envelope and glue down where necessary. 5. Clean off PenScore and ink with Perfect Medium ink. 6. Randomly stamp on front and back of envelope. Dust over inked areas with the Sunflower Sparkle Perfect Pearls. 7. Spray the back of the Butterscotch triangle with Super 77 and attach to the front of the envelope. 8. Stamp the Southwest design parallel to edge of triangle with Black ink. Add "beads" to the design with the Glaze pen. Let dry then add Ice Stickles. Repeat step 8 on the back flap if desired.

Southwest Triangle Card (Template Z030) 1. Trace and cut card and envelope, following tips for positioning. 2. Lay card cutout flat on scrap paper. 3. Ink the Judikins Large Southwest image with Black Adirondack ink and stamp onto card. 4. Using a makeup sponge, dab ink off of the Van Dyke Brown ink pad and rub onto the left side of card. 5. Using a clean makeup sponge, dab Cerulean Azure ink onto the right side of card. Blend colors. 6. Lightly blow dots all over card with the Black BLO Pen. 7. Cut a 1 1/4" X 1 1/4" of handmade paper. Note: I used a burnt tobacco color, but a rust-colored paper will work too. 8. Glue under window opening on inside of card. 9. Cut an 8-inch piece of 28-gauge copper wire. 9. Feed on a small copper bead onto middle of wire and twist to keep in place. Feed the ends of the twisted wire through the top of the flat bead. 10. Feed on another small copper bead through wire ends and pull up tight against bottom of flat bead. Twist ends together. Take each wire end and wrap around a toothpick to coil. 11. Glue onto the middle of rust-colored paper.