Have you ever had a day where you feel defeated?
I’m talking about the kind of day where it’s 10:00am and the coffee didn’t work and you want to go back to bed.
There are days where I just want to press the reset button. Too bad we don’t have that option. In moments like these we have to find the inner strength and little whisper in our heart to say, “We can do this. Keep going.”
I’m on a mission to be real and vulnerable with all those in my life, yet at the same time balance the beauty and truth that I am privileged to live another day. Each breath is a gift and I want to use mine to love and encourage. I find that when I’m down I can go one of two ways. Just stay down and wallow in my frustrations. (Trust me, I go there a lot.) Other times though, if I can remember that there are other people out there struggling and I can do something to encourage them it ends up pulling me out of my funk. Rather than just focusing on myself I get to turn my attention to loving on a friend.
I made these simple little cards this week to help a few friends that I get to hang with on Saturday join me in this mission.
If you would like to create your own greeting card to #sendoutlove, here is how I made mine.
I bought a bunch of blank card stock cards, envelopes and pretty sheets of paper. I then cut hearts out of the paper that would fit onto my card stock card.
I picked up one card at a time and centered a heart onto the card by eye balling it in the middle. I then used my sewing machine and sewed the heart into place, just like I would sew any other fabric project.
That is it! The card can be done then or you can get creative and use decorative scissors to trim the edges. I have several pairs of these fun scissors (thanks to a sweet reader for this gift ;)). I played with the different edges on my cards. I also played with adding more sewn lines to my heart. Both of these options let you get more creative with your greeting card. I had fun making mine with my trusty crafting sidekick.
Now since my cards are not for me to send out, I created a small little tag that I wrapped around each card and envelope. I love how they came out.
I mentioned this idea in my last DIY greeting card tutorial. I want to be sending out handmade, written cards regularly. It’s easy to text, facebook a message, or Instagram a sweet comment. BUT, all of those ways can also end up adding more “noise” and distraction to our day. A hand written note is simple but says so much. I am going to send out five of these cards next week to encourage those around me, but I am also giving most of these ones away to help encourage others to send out love as well.
I think this idea would be an awesome way to start a movement of people wanting to inspire, encourage, and challenge others to think past ourselves and to love one another well. Image what this world could look like.
If you would like to be on this mission with me, send out some cards to encourage, then please feel free to download my tag so that you can make cards for others to send out. I use this Uchida Tag Punch,
With a little time and colorful paper we can brighten someone’s day and make those defeated days a little sunnier. If you follow me on twitter, instagram, or facebook and use this idea to send out love, please use the hashtag #sendoutlove on your pictures and cards. I would love to connect and see what you create to encourage others as you #sendoutlove!
Share this post somewhere (with a friend, neighbor, email, facebook, twitter, IG, etc) and leave a comment below telling me where & you will be entered to win 12 of my tags already punched out for your greeting cards. The winner will be drawn and contacted on Sunday.
***Registration is open until tomorrow night, if you would like to attend my Spoonful Lab this Saturday! Register here to reserve your spot!***
I browsed my scrapbook collection and found a piece that I wanted to use. One 12″ x 12″ piece was enough paper for all four 4″ x 6″ frames. I used the glass from the frame to cut the paper the right size. Once I had four sheets of paper for my frames, I set them aside and started on the letters.
I used just plain brown wrapping paper and stenciled my letters on to it. The brown paper was to act as my guide to cut my burlap latter, since it’s hard to write on burlap. See below.
I picked up my brown paper and placed a small square of burlap behind it. As I cut my letter out, I made sure to cut the burlap layer as well. This gave me a burlap letter without having sharpie markings on it (as sharpie might be the only thing that would have shown a stencil traced on burlap).
After all the letters were in frames, my new wall art was complete! It was such a simple craft. I love that I can easily switch this art out to use the frames for something else, but for now I have some fun, cheap wall art. I want to try this same idea, but with animal silhouettes instead of letters.
I started by folding one of my big pieces of scrapbook paper in half and measuring how much needed to be cut off, so it fit perfectly in my envelope. For other cards I used my cardboard cardstock. The main idea here is to use a thick piece of paper to give it a real greeting card feel while also providing a sturdy pallet for all the embellishments.
Once I had the size of my card, it was my blank canvas to decorate. I started on my first card by ripping the edge around one of my graphics to add a fun textured look.
I cut a piece of burlap slightly bigger than my ripped graphic. I pulled a few strands off the ends of the burlap to create a more fringed look, and used a mini round brad to attach both the graphic and the burlap to my folded card.
I love the layer look and the mix of frayed edges with the clean straight lines of the card’s background. I started playing with my paper and came up with a few other designs. This next one, I cut the graphic out with straight lines (rather than the ripped technique) and glued it to the card. I then ripped a decorative piece of paper to border it. and glued it on top. Lastly, I cut out small burlap circles, pulled out a few strands again (to create a fringe), and used a mini round brad to attach the burlap flower to my card.
I made these so quick. I love the textured look with the burlap, but you can keep your design even simpler. The following two I created with just scrap paper and glued them on the card with my graphic.
These cards are all 5″ x 7″, but I then made some easy smaller ones as well. There are so many possibilities and designs when creating cards with just a few supplies.
These were so easy to make. You could of course create your own printout with a special saying, quote, or picture and that opens the door for even more possibilities. You could also do the same techniques but put it in a frame rather than on a card like I did for my sister 
