Journaling Cards

I used to be a big scrapbooker.  Sadly, I did most of my best scrapbooking before I became a mother.  I managed to do a pretty good job for Mr. Gray's first year, but I burnt myself out to the point that I didn't scrap a single page until just before Miss Winona's first birthday.  An entire three years later.

The thought of bringing out all of the cutters, the papers, and embellishments overwhelms me. It's not something I can do easily with the little ones around ... guillotine cutters and a curious 4 year old boy do not mix well.  But the worst part, the part I absolutely loath, but that is absolutely crucial is the journaling.  I hate trying to get journaling to fit in a layout.

I'm loving some of the new trends that have developed during my scrapbooking hiatus and I'm excited to pick it up again.  So many new products are about getting back to basics and keeping things simple. They're focused on what the real purpose of scrapbooking is: to preserve treasured memories.  I'm currently obsessed with Project Life and SMASH books.  The use of mini books for special occasions like family vacations  is starting to appeal more to me too. They're perfect for when you have lots of pictures that you want to scrap, but you don't necessarily want them all in your yearly family album.  It's like all of the unwritten rules of scrapbooks have been thrown out the window.  They really are "scrap"books now.  Paint chips from freshly painted rooms, concert ticket stubs, Instagram shots are all finding their way into scrapbooks. It's not about dressing up pretty pictures anymore.  It's about collecting the bits and pieces that make up a life.

My most favorite thing about these trends are the use of journaling cards.  So many of them are already decorated and coordinate well with other products.  Plus their size forces you to be concise, so I don't feel guilty about not wanting to write a detailed account for every page.

Just for fun I decided to try my hand at making some of my own. The thought of creating a coordinating collection of anything like scrapbook papers or fabrics has always thrilled and terrified me at the same time.  It's  something I aspire to do, but since my ideas and taste in design is all over the place I've never felt I could focus well on one theme. So here's my first attempt to create a cohesive multi-piece design.  If you like them download a set for yourself.

This is a high-quality PDF file of ten 3 x 4 inch journaling cards on two 8.5 x 11 pages of that can be printed at home. For best results I would recommend sending them to your favorite print shop to be printed on heavy cardstock. (It saves you ink plus a 1000.00 professional printer will do a much better job than the 100.00 one you have sitting on your desk ... trust me on this one).

I've had so much fun making these I'm thinking about creating a few more collections and adding them to the shop as digital downloads. Let me know what you think.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD JOURNALING CARDS

Felt Flower Pattern

Just to clarify, this isn't a craft blog. I'm not a crafty person.  Knitting is about as far into the craft realm as I tend to go.  But I did take a class on how to make felt flowers a couple of years ago.  The patterns that I have for felt flowers have a lot of dimension and would be too difficult to attach to an envelope for my Elevated Envelope project. So I decided to create a pattern of my own.  I wanted something simple that would reflect my little floral illustration, and that could be "flattened" so to speak in order to endure the rigors of the mail sorting process.

Clearly it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out it's just a bunch of circles stacked on top of each other.  But I decided to share the pattern I made for myself  to make it easy for anyone who wants to add these to their summer craft repertoire. With some adult supervision it's an easy kid-friendly project.

I started with the felt. I chose to use 100% wool felt, but there are different kinds with different price points.  Alison from The Allison Show does a phenomenal job of explaining this in her Craft School series.  If you want to upcycle an old sweater like I did check out this great tutorial. (Remember the time your favorite cashmere sweater accidentally made it's way into the washing machine. Then you can skip the tutorial. Congratulations! You know how to make felt !) You will need at least two colors, one for the petals and one for the leaves and the small center. But if you have lots of different colors at your disposal feel free to mix things up a bit.

Even though I sewed my flower together, this can easily be done with a hot glue gun or any craft glue that is compatible with fabric.

You can use the pattern to cut your felt in one of two ways. You can either cut out each shape in the pattern, pin them onto your felt, and then trace each shape onto the felt using a washable sewing marker. Or you can use a piece of freezer paper ( my method of choice). Trace the pattern on to freezer paper.  Cut out each shape.  Place the waxy side of the paper down on your felt and iron them on with a hot dry iron.  The freezer paper will stick to the felt while you cut so no pinning or marking is required.  And don't panic if your circles come out less than perfect ... I think the little imperfections add charm.

Arrange the two leaves however you like.  I glued mine in the very center underneath the flower to cover the stitches.

To attach the flower to the envelopes I used alligator clips from my local beauty supply shop.  Alligator clips are great because they are very inexpensive can be used for so many different things other than hair.  Wouldn't these be fun clipped to a big tote bag? Or used to embellish a Mother's Day gift?

Have fun with this!  If you happen to take some pictures of your creations please send them my way.  I'd love to see what you come up with.


CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD YOUR PATTERN

My Elevated Envelopes

Top: The front of the envelope
Bottom: The back of the envelope.

I've been waiting to share these until I was certain that everyone in my Elevated Envelope mailing group had received theirs.  I had so much fun making these.  It was refreshing to get a way from the computer for a while and get back to making something with my hands.

For my envelopes I chose the theme of "April showers bring May flowers" since I was mailing these out towards the end of April.  All of the illustrations were done with Staedtler Aquarelle watercolor pencils.  I used a clean damp paint brush to brush water over each illustration when it was complete to bring out the watercolor effect.

The felt flower is made out of 100% wool felt from a pattern I created just for these envelopes.  The pink felt came from a sweater I purchased at a thrift store that I brought home and felted myself.  The green felt is hand-dyed by a local fiber artist that works at a quilt shop just a couple miles from my home.  Each flower is attached to an alligator clip so it can be reused in a variety of ways.

I've already received two beautiful envelopes, and I'm hoping the last two will arrive soon. I can't wait to share the ones I have received with you.  To see more great pieces of mail art. visit the Ephemera's official Elevated Envelope blog.

A Formal Introduction

Miss Winona and Mr. Gray in their Easter best

If you've been following along, you've probably read a little bit about these two.  I would like to formally introduce the inspiration behind Winona Gray Design (and everything else that I do) : Miss Winona and Mr. Gray.

When first hatched a plan for my business, one of the biggest hang-ups was choosing a name.  The obvious choice was to use my own name, but my name is fairly common and I wanted to use something a bit more creative.  Something sweet and endearing but not cloying.  Something whimsical and unique, but not too cutsey.  Something contemporary, but classic as well.

Because the arrival of my children in my life is what has inspired me to take on this creative pursuit, I decided that it was appropriate that their names should inspire the name of my business as well.

Mr. Gray (don't worry, that's not his real name) is four years old and is finishing up his first year of pre-school. He is precocious, observant, and absorbs information like a sponge.  He loves art and science, playing games, and making things with his hands.  He is a tad bit on the shy side, but is slowly coming out of his shell.  He is awfully polite. Mr. Gray gives me the sincerest heart warming "thank yous" for all the little things, from making him lunch to helping him with his homework.  He is gentle and patient with Miss Winona too, who can be a little bit of a bully sometimes.

Miss Winona is my 16 month old sweet and sassy social butterfly.  She loves to wave and greet people with a smile and two of her favorite words "hi" and "bye".  She is happy to share with others and gives hugs and kisses freely. Her other favorite word is "no", and she has earned the nickname Miss Independent.  She rattles my nerves several times a day because of  her fearless attempts to climb stairs and furniture unassisted.  Miss Winona already displays a penchant for shoes, clothes, make-up and all things girly, yet few things bring her greater happiness than playing outside in a patch of dirt.

I'm still undecided as to how much you will be seeing of these two.  But I thought you should at least make their acquaintance since they are the ones responsible for all this.