It’s hard to believe that a month has gone by, that summer is almost over, that the kids are going back to school this Monday, and that cards from you keep pouring in! For the past week, two packages arrived, one is from Venus(vrt007 on the PC Message Board) with 5 cute holiday penguin cards, and the other is from Shelby(granny6pack on the PC Message Board) with 18 beautifully glittered cards. Shelby did something different with some of the borders on her cards, you can check them out in the gallery.  My daughters and I made another 50 cards this week, bringing the grand total to… 341 cards! Wow! that’s amazing!

This week’s featured card uses  faux layers and die-cuts. If you check out cards from galleries, you’ll notice that a lot of them use die-cut ovals and  scalloped ovals, layered over some beautiful patterned papers. Since we are constrained not to layer for the inmates’ cards, I thought about making a background that mimics the die-cuts and layers. Here’s the card that I came up with:

Yes, this is flat card! And one thing that’s nice with this faux die-cut and layers technique is that you can change the color to match whatever graphic you want to put inside the oval (use hue/saturation and brightness/contrast to change the color) as shown below:

The images I used came from Over a Cup of Coffee,  Angel Bears and Daddy Dearest.  Below is the faux die-cut/layer background that I made and used for the above cards. Just right click on the image and save in your computer – you can make it any size you want (although watch out for distortion of the image),  right now it is sized at 3.9″ x 5.2″ at a resolution of 150 ppi.  Rotate the image, if you wish, for a landscape orientation (like the cards above), or keep as is!

It’s been relatively cool this past week here in Southern California, and it’s such a joy whenever I get to open a package with cards for inmates at the California Institute for Women. I get to oooh and aaaah at your wonderful cards, and yes, I’ve got them all posted in the gallery so you can take a peek and be inspired.  Since the end-users of these cards are inmates, the powers-that-be at CIW laid down guidelines for what can and cannot be done (scroll down to my August 2, 2009 entry for the complete list) on the cards.  However, even with these restrictions, I am still awed by how wonderful the cards look!  This week, I got 2 packages – one is from Glenda (ggothard in the PC Message Board), with 6 beautiful cards, and the second one is from Mary (MEW in the PC Message Board), with 24 amazingly creative cards. We (DDs and me) got 60 “patchwork” cards done this week , so the total card count so far is… 268 cards! Wheee! It’s exciting to see the box of cards getting full!

So, how about those “patchwork” cards? Here they are:

The cards above were designed with the “patchwork” template below (just right click on the image and save it in your computer), then the digital images/backgrounds were added. I used graphics from Autumn Blessings (Give Thanks card), Bears all Year (Happy Birthday card), Teddy Bears (Missing you card) and Feathered Nest (Happy Bday card).  Note that you can flip the template, use it in portrait or landscape orientation and  resize  it to suit what you prefer (right now its 3.89″ x 5.17″  at 100 ppi resolution). It’s very easy to come up with a pretty card with this technique!

*** Nov. 20, 2009  Update on this template: I noticed that I was getting so many hits from a certain message board,  I became curious and went to see what was posted.  What I read made me both happy and sad at the same time:  happy – because this template inspired many card makers to create new cards, sad – because this template caused hurt feelings. I would just like to make one thing clear – I am the creator of the template below.  And  since I created this template, I can even point out the minor mistakes that I have done (for someone else to duplicate the  same mistakes is highly doubtful).  I own the copyrights of this template but since I intended this template  to be freely shared among card makers,  I did not put a copyright note. I used this template to make a lot of cards for the inmates at California Institute for Women – my hope for those who choose to use this template is to use it for good - and if you did, then it’s enough for me. *** 

It’s week 2 of Cards for a Cause: the Inmates Project…and the pile of cards keeps on growing! First package that I opened for this week is from Elayne (elayne on the PCCrafter message board) – 12 gorgeous, marvelous cards! And the second package came from Linners (Linda Ohio now in GA also on the PCCrafter message board), and she donated a whopping 54 cards!  Thank you so much, Elayne and Linda! I know, I know, I’ve been behind in posting these beautiful creations on the gallery - and I promise to have them up within this week, otherwise, you can take all my paper punches (that’s equivalent to taking away chocolate from a chocoholic, okay!).  Also,  my DD’s made another 50 cards this week, bringing the total to… (*** drum roll   ***)… 178 cards! Yay!

The feature card this week is a “quote” card - break out google, bing, yahoo and all other search engines you can think of (well, you might say one is enough, LOL!), and find quotations that inspire and uplift.  Make it the focal point of the card then add appropriate digital graphics or stamped images. Here is a sample:

This is a simple card with no layering, just some glossy accents on the flowers. The images all came from Window Reflections.  I used a quote from  Rabindranath Tagore: “Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.” Another quotation that I considered to use is from Maya Angelou (love her work!): “A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.”  Of course, one of the best sources of inspiration is the Bible, use bible verses like this one from Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  I am sure that whoever receives a “quote” card will feel blessed!

By the way, if you read the most recent  Gem’s Cottage newsletter, we ran a mini-guessing game there – and here are the winners:

Annie

Nanc

Raven

Rosalee

All of them guessed that Jenine, my 14 yo daughter, created the elements and designed the Christmas Treet box with the silhouette of Santa and his reindeers. Congratulations!!! Thank you to all who participated, and Jenine thanks everyone who complimented her work…(*sniff, sniff*) yes, my baby is growing up and creating graphics and designing…and I am proud! To all the winners, check your inbox tomorrow for a treat from Jenine!

It’s the first week! Well, you’re probably wondering why is it the first week? If you read my August 2, 2009 entry where the Cards for a Cause: The Inmates Project was officially launched, our target was to make 500 cards (or more!) by mid October. There are 10 weeks from now until mid-October, so I figured that we (both my DDs and I) should make 50 cards per week.  However, there are more inmates than the cards we’re donating, so we would appreciate card donations – more will definitely make it merrier! That’s why we were so happy to get  a set of 12 cards from Lori (aka LKM on the PCCrafter Message Board)!  Her cards are amazing – given the restrictions of no layering, minimal embellishments, etc. (refer to the guidelines on my August 2 entry) - she still came up with fantastic cards. I’ll be posting pictures of her cards in the gallery, and all the cards received for this project.  So, this week, we have a total of… 62 cards!

Now, what about that “morphing” card? Well, let me start first with a picture of  the card when it is open:

Notice that  I punched two circles on the card’s front panel, so that when the card is closed, it looks like this:

I’m calling it a “morphing” card because, at first, the card shows two Christmas ornaments, then when it is opened, it shows two stars instead. It’s pretty simple to create and there is no layering involved. I used a 1 inch circle punch, two strands of embroidery floss,  ¼” ribbon tied into bows, and the star graphics are from  the Calico Christmas CD.  You can also punch (or cut with a craft knife) a square/rectangle apperture then put a bow on top (so that it looks like a present), and on the inside , print a graphic of balloons, or people hugging, or a flower! So,  look at the punches you have and try to create a morphing card!

It’s been quite a while since I last posted on my blog, so now that I’m posting again, I’m making up for it by posting a long one, LOL! I have been making plenty of cards these past few months, and since I join swaps on the PCCrafter Message Board, I also receive a lot of cards. Although I send out cards to friends and family, I still have plenty! It really is easy to accumulate a lot of cards when  it’s your hobby. I figured that these cards will make a lot of people happy if they are used, but who will I give them to?

I’m not sure how you, the reader,  will react to this, because the first time I told DH about who I was planning to give the cards to, he gave me a quizzical look, and slowly said, “Oookay, why them?”.  And the answer is simple, “Because they need the cards.” He persisted with, “But there are also others who need cards – like the people in senior homes, or sick kids, even orphanages!” And I said, “Those people like to receive cards, and I agree that they need them, too, and maybe I can do that also, but right now what I do is make cards, and I’m sure that these people will use the cards I make to write to their loved ones, family and friends.” He appeared convinced, and he also knows how stubborn I can be when I set out to do something, so he remarked, “There’s probably some guidelines that you should follow then.” I hugged him and started to make calls. 

He-he-he, I hope that my intro caught your interest, and that you’re now wondering who “these people” are – well, maybe you’ve even guessed – they are inmates. We live a few miles away from two correctional institutions – the California Institute for Women and the California Institute for Men. Since this is my first time to do anything like this, I thought that I will contact the California Institute for Women first. I called the switchboard, and they connected me to the Office of the Ombudsman, who asked me to call the Public Information Officer (PIO), who asked for card samples, which I dutifully mailed. I called again after I was sure they got the samples, and the PIO said that he forwarded the cards to the Community Partnership Manager (CPM), who will be the contact person from then on. Contacted the CPM, who said that he got the cards, and that he will be discussing it with the warden in the next board meeting. I called again after the board meeting, and finally he said, “We would love to get the cards for the inmates’ use. It took us quite long to respond because we had to set up a system where everyone is safe.” He gave me a list of things that can and cannot be done on the cards (see guidelines below), then he also told me what they plan to do when they get the cards: All the cards will be stored in the chapel, if an inmate needs a card, she will have to go to the chapel and ask for one. She will be given a card and she will write her note right there, and when she is done, she will return the card to whoever is supervising her. The card will then be mailed to the addressee. Note that the card will only be in the inmate’s hands while she is writing on it, and she will be supervised the whole time to ensure maximum safety.

As for the cards themselves, here are the guidelines in making them:

1)      No metal parts please – no brads, eyelets, etc.

2)      No stickers – these can be used as places to hide something

3)      No layering – same reason as above

4)      Adding glitter and  glossy accents are fine

5)      Adding small embellishments (rhinestones, flowers, buttons, ribbons) are fine – as long as they are small enough not to be used as a hiding place

6)      Embossing and paper piercing are fine

So basically, the cards that they prefer to use are really simple ones – just a printed (or stamped), one-layer card, embellishment is not necessary, and that is all! I told the CPM that the cards we’re planning to make (at that time, the “we” referrred to the three of us – me and my two DDs) are birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and blank note cards, with envelopes. He asked how many are we planning to make, and I told him 500 cards (I figured that we can do that much during both DDs’ summer break), and he said that that will be great. However, when I asked him how many inmates there are at the facility, he said that there are currently 2,600.  Of course, not all of them will probably need a card (not sure about that though), but then again, there’s probably some (or maybe more!) inmates who will need more than one card…so the more cards we can give, the better! That’s why I thought of our Card Swapping group on the PC Message Board and also posting this project on my blog. I’m hoping that a lot of you will want to join  Cards for a Cause: The Inmates Project by sending in some cards.  This project officially starts on  August 1, and the target is to have more than 500 cards delivered to the California Institute for Women by mid October – that’s more than two months, enough time to make a card or two – or three! I will be posting updates regarding this project on this blog and on the PCCrafter Message Board every Wednesday – it will include ideas on how to make simple, one-layer cards with minimal embellishments but with lots of style, and of course, the card count for the week.

If you want to send cards for this project, please send to:

Cards for a Cause: Inmates Project

c/o Gem Sahagun

2721 Eagle Crest Rd, Unit A

Chino Hills, CA 91709

So, there you go, excuse my long rambling, but I wanted to tell the whole story. Hopefully, even in a small way, our cards will bring about positive change to some of those  women, or  to the people who get them.