roots | american greetings cards and crafts

I spent the morning writing cards - thank-you cards, congratulatory cards...and I even got a head start on mother's and father's day cards. and suddenly i had a strange deja vu from when I used to make cards as a little girl. Handmade, sure - but more specifically I was remembering the cards I used to create using American Greetings Crafts.

This awesome software had all sorts of projects, including greeting cards with predesigned themes, messages and images. You could mix and match and print them out! Of course, I didn't even know what cardstock was back then so I rocked it old school and folded a regular sheet of paper into four.

Now I'm designing and printing my own cards - and hope to try my hand at gold foil typography. The simplicity of my designs is a far cry from my American Greetings days. Still, it's neat to trace my love of cards, gifting and snail mail back to the beginning.

It would be fun if somehow i had a photo to share here of a card that I had made when I was younger.
On second thought, my parents are ruthless. A few years ago they found this "essay" my little brother wrote in grade two and he still hasn't heard the end of that one.

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isavirtue | holiday gift wrap 2015

there is nothing i like better than wrapping a gift. choosing the paper, the tie and the card. i always keep some papers and twine on hand, but enjoy making my own as well. i've been stamping and selling wrapping paper for a couple years now but this is the first year i'll be using my own (beloved) christmas carol texts! so now you and your paper can say "joy to the world," "all is merry and bright" and "fa la la la la, la la la la!" in the clearest and simplest way possible. 

view the collection here

how to | hot air balloon baby mobile

when a friend of a friend asked if i could make a hot air balloon out of paper, i was nervous - but up for the challenge! i began by picking a hot air balloon vector online. i could have drawn my own, as i do with my envelopes, but i knew it needed to be perfectly symmetrical and i don't have that kind of patience, nor could i find my protractor. print a couple different sizes of the balloon image and then cut them out as templates.

choose how many hot air balloons you want in your mobile (five-seven is a good number) and times that by four cut-outs. choosing alternating colours for each balloon is a nice idea (i.e. two large teal and two large patterns for one large balloon, two small orange and two small white for one small balloon etc). 

score each balloon right down the middle. this is a bit tricky and i don't have any tips sadly. it's important though because you really want the four pieces to fit evenly together (you'll see in the final photos where i had difficulty with this - although you can always trim it a bit). fold all the pieces with the pattern or colour on the inside.

fit each scored and folded piece together like below.

after i have the first two glue together i insert the string down the middle with a bit of glue or double sided tape running along the seam below it.

in the same way you found a balloon image, find some cloud outlines or draw your own templates. thread the string that is attached to your balloons to a needle and sew straight up the middle of each cloud.

tie each string to the inside loop of a wooden embroidery hoop. leave some extra string and tie all of the  ends together (make sure it's all even and balanced first). i tied one last piece of string through the middle which allows me to hang it (you can see this longer piece hanging loosely below because this isn't the mobile's final home).

have fun!

crafts | envelopes (it's a problem)

i collect envelopes - below is a sampling from my box. i won't tell you how i've ended up with such a collection because it usually involves some selfishness, strange maneuvers, and somewhat sly questionable behaviour. but i can't help it because i love envelopes. here are all of the things i use them for:

mail art
snail mail
envelope templates
craft packs 
letter writing sets
gifts
greeting cards

i'm not quite sure what i want to do with that last group i've been collecting - maybe a journal of some sort?

isavirtue | stellar storytelling app

have you heard about the new storytelling app called steller? it's pretty brilliant. in a way it melds together social media like facebook, instagram and vine. the app allows you to tell a story using a variety of text, images and video. the final result is a page turning update on whatever you wish to share!

the app is built with a distinct sense of design - including beautiful (and adjustable) layouts, modern fonts and curated collections. it takes a bit more time and thought to put together a story, but i like the ability it gives me to express more than what one picture can say. i also love the idea of using it for process photographs!

this is my first stellar story
(and this is my second)

snail mail | valentines

i really didn't know what to create for my valentines this year. i wanted something simple but also a little bit different. i always love a good pun so when i saw this template by erin jang of the indigo bunting i was tickled. but to be honest i didn't want to waste that much colour ink printing them off! so i made my own version and embossed a pink deer and bee on the appropriate folds.

i was worried the tie would make them too thick to post but most of them seem to have arrived ok!

patience made | aerogram letter writer notebooks

almost two years ago (wow time flies!) i tried my hand at making some aerograms. they were cute and i liked them - and most of them sold eventually. as i was flipping through my blog stats last week i noticed that my aerogram images were a top post. which means people are googling them and taking an interest again (woohoo!). click here to learn more about what aerograms are. 

but when i looked back at the products i made...something about them bothered me...they seemed empty (i know, that's kind of the point right?). i wanted to make them more of a substantial item so i pulled out some paper and my sewing machine and got to work (any excuse to sew paper i say!). 

they turned out awesome - if i do say so myself ;) but really, i love them because they look cool and it saves letter writers time and money. for the price of a greeting card i've created a super thick envelope with 6 pages (12 double sided) and they even come with peel-able seals for easy closure! all you need is the postage!

you can view some of the aerogram notebooks in my singles section (for single envelopes that is, not just single people - couples always welcome :) speaking of couples, you'll also find aerograms in my valentines section.

oh what the hey, just click here to see them all. 

wrap | merry christmas

these photos aren't very good but i wanted to share a few pics of my wrapped gifts that i handed out this year. the deer/antlers silhouette image seemed to be well liked so i did a version of it on both kraft brown and white.

we are moving to a new apartment this weekend so i have to run and start packing (which includes taking down my beloved christmas tree - so sad!).

i hope you had a wonderful holiday, if you celebrated, and had lots of fun wrapping and giving/getting gifts!

patience made | diy holiday wrapping paper

ever wanted to make your own wrapping paper? me too. that's why when i was younger my mother would let us dip sliced potatoes into paint and apply it to brown parcel paper. i'm a bit beyond potatoes now (except when it comes to dinner, because they're my favourite dish!). i have such a fun collection of stamps - but if you don't, i encourage you to buy one special image, or carve a design into lino, an eraser, or even yes, a potato.

it's easy to pull out some paper and print images abstractly - but since i'm such a perfectionist, i've developed a more geometric way of imprinting my wrap. follow below to make your own "perfectly placed" holiday paper.

tools and supplies:
kraft paper
newsprint
masking tape
scissors
thick black marker
pen
ruler
stamp
ink or paint

step one: roll out some white or kraft parcel paper (these rolls are very inexpensive at office depot stores. i've had mine for years and it cost me twelve dollars). cut off a strip that is four inches wider then the width of the roll itself (scroll to look at the last images if this doesn't make sense).

step two: starting at the very edge of the paper, mark one inch measurements down both alternating sides.

step three: draw lines with a thick black marker from every fourth inch mark to the same mark on the other side (to clarify, this means the lines are four inches apart).

steps four and five: do the same one inch marks down the remaining alternating sides. do the same black marker lines at every fourth inch mark.

steps six and seven: to ensure my grid is straight, i fold one line over the edge of the table and tape both sides down using washi or masking tape (when pulled gently, both come off without harming your surface or your paper so you can use the grid again and again.)

step eight: lay your paper roll over the grid as straight as possible (i don't cut it off the roll until i'm done printing). now look closely to see your marker lines underneath. stamp your images like bricks. alternate between every other intersection on each row like below.

you can use the same image, or switch it up. the point it that when you are done, your images will be perfectly spaced and lined - like professionally printed paper, but with much more charm.

* you may have noticed that the one inch marks are not entirely necessary. you could totally just make one mark every four inches. but i don't because later i'm going to make lines with a thin sharpie marker and print my own tissue paper :) (go ahead and try! they sell rolls of sketchbook paper at art stores, or you can stamp on thick party tissue paper.

when moving on to a new section, pull your paper down just far enough that the last row of stamps lines up with the last row of intersecting lines.

seems like too much work? - that's okay, you can buy some right here.

another idea