Christmas Cards look Great in Any Color

I am thrilled to be back with another greeting card for you featuring this beautiful Christmas poem. The first time I read the poem, it literally asked me for a special color combination and as I considered the patterned paper you see, there was no going back.  This was going to be the basis for the color composition for this card.

 

Card made by Tanja Weir – Poem by That Dude Eddie

 

When I was little, I was convinced that Christmas could only be celebrated in red and silver because those were the only two colors that my mom decorated with.  I am so glad that times have changed and that we are free to decorate in our own style and colors.

After reading Eddie’s poem several times, I was really drawn to the color white.   I wanted to use lots of white on the card but sometimes it is better to use contrast to bring out the white, therefore I considered using a dark card background but should it be black or gray?  Definitely not dark green because I didn’t think that would go with the poem — hm?  What to do?

Paper crafters have all kinds of tricks up their sleeve to draw inspiration from like color coaches, template libraries, etc. , but sometimes a simple trip to your paper drawer containing patterned papers is the best way to start.  That’s what I did and when I saw the paper you see on this card, I first thought: “No way!  Calypso Coral (aka orange) cannot be on a Christmas card!” – but I kept staring at the paper and pulled out the poem and some Island Indigo (aka blue) cardstock and in my mind, I was already putting the card together and then I did the unthinkable:  I framed the poem in Calypso Coral!  While this color combination breaks all the rules that I know for Christmas, I really, really love it for this poem!

 

Card made by Tanja Weir – Poem by That Dude Eddie

 

I also like to decorate the inside of my cards and I punched an ornament from the same patterned paper and was thrilled how pretty it is.

I hope you enjoy this card and I encourage you to break out of your comfort zone sometimes and put together colors that defy the traditional rules.  This works not only for card making but also for decorating, clothing styles and just about everything in life.

If you are interested in card making tips, feel free to stop by my blog at www.spunkycards.com or send me an email J.

Your Spunky Stamper,

Tanja Weir

tanja@spunkycards.om

Related Posts

How to Make Your Own Greeting Card

 

How to Make Your Own Greeting Card

Step by Step Instructions on How to Make a Greeting Card From Scratch -  Guest Post by Tanja Weir

It is a special treat for me to create a greeting card for “That Dude Eddie” because making a card for a poem is like building a special frame for a piece of art. Many card makers, including me, love the process of using their hands to shape the paper that makes the card and in this process we pack a lot of time and love into the meaning of the card. I am a rubber stamper and have many stamps with sentiments and greetings because I love to make cards and often lack the words and so I use the stamped words and greetings for my message. Building a card for a poem that has grown from feelings and passion is so much more special to me.

Making greeting cards is a fairly simple process. It requires cardstock, some cutting and scoring. Many people rubber stamp their cards and add embellishments. Here is the step by step process in which I created the card for the poem Blue Bucket.

Step 1: Select the poem you would like to feature and decide your layout. Blue Bucket is a fairly long poem and I chose to feature half on the front page and half on the second page. Print your poem on a piece of cardstock and let it dry for about an hour (that ensures that the ink from the printer is truly dry).

Step 2: My cardstock is 8 ½” by 11” and I am going add a score line at 4 ¼” and I am also trimming ½” off the right edge to shorten the width of the front page (that way the sponging on the inside will show later). See picture 1 for help. Your card should look like picture 2.

Step 3: I chose only two colors for this poem, Pacific Point (which is a blue to complement the title) and Crumb Cake (a beige to add a second color that doesn’t compete with the first). I wanted the colors to complement the poem without distracting from it. Use a piece of computer paper to mask the majority of the inside page leaving a ½” edge. Sponge this edge (see picture 3 for help). Repeat this on the front page on the left side. Your card should now look like picture 4.

Step 4: Time for some stamping. To add some interest to the front and the inside, I stamped partial images by “stamping off the edge.” This means exactly what it says, you stamp only part of your image on the card. For the inside, the image appears only on the left page and not on the right (as not to distract from the poem). To achieve this effect you have to fold the card as shown in picture 5 or you will also stamp on the right side. So, I folded my card and stamped an image from the set Delicate Doilies with Crumb Cake ink. I also stamped three of them on the front with the card open as shown in picture 6.

Step 5: Embellish or not? Adding ribbon or other embellishments can really add to your card but before adding any embellishments I always ask myself how is this card going to get to its recipient? If I hand deliver my cards, I embellish a lot. If it needs to be mailed, I always decide first whether I want to put it in a bubble mailer or not. This card really wanted something eye catching and I decided on a jean ribbon because both the color and the texture really went with the theme of the poem. As you can tell, it doesn’t need anything else.

I hope you enjoyed this card that I specially created for That Dude Eddie. If you would like to learn more about the art of rubber stamping and greeting cards, feel free to stop by my blog www.spunkycards.com.

Sincerely,

Tanja Weir

Related Video

 

The Writing Retreat’s Tips For New Poetry Writers

Vivienne Neale Considers Writing Poetry For The First Time

Not all of us have grown up with poetry and being bitten by the bug when you least expect can feel quite daunting. You know how it goes, suddenly something happens in your life and you want to express it and poetry seems to be the only way. You will be joining a massive army of people who have felt exactly the same and when the muse strikes there’s nothing for it but to start writing.

As someone who has written poetry all my life and been immersed in the genre since I was very small it’s second nature to want to express myself in a poem. For those just stepping out on the road I would like to offer some thoughts which might assist. I run a writing retreat in Europe and am used to having all kinds of creatives wandering through who are looking for peace and quiet to simply finish some work or are looking for a structured and individual course which will help them get the most out of their desire to create. So these tips come from many years spent talking, reading, writing and listening to poetry and poets and I hope they are useful.

The Writing Retreat’s Top 5 Tips For New Poetry Writers

• If you start writing poetry make sure you are a reader too. You don’t have to buy poetry books, but special collections will find their way into your bag and stay there. I keep a copy of John Burnside’s Asylum Dance with me at all times. He is my inspiration and whenever I find myself with a few minutes to kill I turn to him. Find your own mentor; or maybe collect a few of your favorite poems and make your own anthology which might inspire you. Keep it close to you so you are always reading.

• The important thing to do is to write; yes I know that is obvious but the brain can behave like a skittish colt and refuse to jump the fences you set up. Having confidence to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard is very important. So I suggest getting into the habit of keeping a journal. Buy a special notebook and write in it every morning when you wake up, when your inner censor is still asleep and start writing. It doesn’t much matter what you write, just keep filling the pages. Don’t read it back, or if you do, wait a month. This prevents you from being critical; the object is to just write, to fill page after page. Trust me; I have been keeping journals for years and even when I don’t create anything in a day I still call myself a writer as I have written after all. This is an important psychological milestone. So start keeping a journal today.

When emotions are strong we turn to poetry

to express ourselves.

Self portrait by Vivienne Neale

• Think about your five senses. Can you explore them in your reading, writing and in your everyday life. Writing poetry is about distilling your thoughts; every word should count. Usually you are using far fewer than you would when writing prose, so each one must do a job. Watch your reaction to your own reading, after all you are part of the creative process when you read something. Think about how a reader might respond to what you have written. Ask yourself: ‘Have I communicated something memorable? Have I chosen to focus on something which will immediately bring my reader in to the moment? By reading poetry we can see how another writer draws us into their experience. So concentrate on smell, taste or touch rather than seeing or hearing only when you start writing.

• Be curious about the world. The word revision means ‘to look again’ and that’s what a poet needs to do. Stop and look carefully at everything you usually take for granted. Use a frame made out of cardboard or make your fingers into a frame shape and then look through that frame at the landscape, or a section of your room, your desk, a person. It suddenly makes you focus on specific detail and can add a completely new perspective. I noticed my cat curls up like a comma for example. That got me thinking about the fact a comma is a pause and pause sounds like paws – it’s a homonym and already I have an idea for a poem. I may never write it, I may well just experiment, but the thought is there and the comparison is different and it came because I was thinking carefully and focusing on detail. See what I mean?

• Samuel Johnson once wrote: ‘What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.’ Effective writing is a craft, an art, call it what you will. What I do know is that it takes time and an extraordinary amount of effort. It is rare for a poem to be born fully formed. Be prepared to write a rough draft and work, work, work. Just because we have written about strong feelings and emotions that doesn’t mean we have necessarily written poetry or in fact something anyone else would want to read. Sometimes the simplest work hides the greatest artistry. You cannot be a poet without being a reader of poetry. You cannot be critical of your work until you step away from it and read objectively.

These are just a few ideas. There is so much to consider about the writing of poetry that I need to stop here and allow you to make a start on some of the ideas outlined. One final thing; why not read some of these poets I recommend and see how some of their work might help you to find your own voice. I have chosen poets who are writing right now and are at ‘the top of their game’. In another post I will concentrate on other voices from the past.

Reading List of Contemporary Poets

Gillian Clarke, Sharon Olds, Carol Ann Duffy, Billy Collins, Matthew Hollis, John Burnside, Paul Farley, Simon Armitage, Imtiaz Dharker, Sujhata Bhatt. You will find lots of their poems right across the internet; so you can afford to experiment with your reading. Check out YouTube and watch them reading their work too.

Author Profile

Vivienne Neale is a freelance writer and Director of a Writing Retreat in Portugal. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Manchester Metropolitan University and has been published by Hodder Headline, Collins and numerous small poetry presses.

 

How Can I be Inspired to Write a Poem?

Is it difficult to compose a poem? It can be challenging to get started on writing a poem if you are not in the momentum of starting one. Inspiration sounds necessary for any writer to compose a poem. Then, where’s the inspiration? Is it inside of us?

I wrote my first poem at the age of 16 when I missed my very first childhood friend I lost in touch with during our middle school moving and transition. I’m not the type who fell in love at the age of 12 then started to write love poems. No, I didn’t realize that my first childhood friend meant so much to me until I was reaching my “blossom season”. We lost in touch because that’s the time we didn’t even own a home phone, needless to mention computers, smartphones and social networking sites. What’s more, we were too young to even know that we were supposed to keep in touch in some ways or how to keep in touch. It’s inconceivable that a person like me who grew up at such a time and such a place is now working online and my hometown also becomes one of the most chic cities in the world.

When I started to miss my childhood friend, I only remembered a few segments of the childhood moments spent with her, but all were beautiful and angelic – her big, clear and deep dark brown eyes and natural and neat hair style. I regret not to have even kept a photo of her. Memories are the only “pictures” I have of her.

I decided to write a poem about her, about those memories, so I could keep those memories and wouldn’t lose them (I was afraid of having lost in touch and not even having a photo of her, nor any other written letters or the like)

I only remembered one of our school excursions, the daily meetups and chats after school in the little public garden next to her home, and the day she came to congratulate me for attending a best middle school in our city.

So I wrote down those memories plus opening lines to form an unskilled verse that looks like containing four scenarios – Memory of Childhood. I’m not productive in terms of poetry writing. I only write when I’m inspired, and I’m not a “poet” either.

Interestingly, I have successfully built a platform for other poets and poetry lovers who are more talented. I launched LoveisLonely.com, one of the best online poetry communities in which poetry lovers express themselves with poems and make friends by poetry.

This contribution also makes me learn a lot. I see very young girls write excellent love poems because they experience this feeling. I also see a lot of lonely souls find their home here and feel less lonely when they express and communicate with the like-minded. I admire their talent. Life experiences make me more calm and therefore I cannot write poems as passionate as those talented young poets do.

If you ask me about the inspiration, I would say that it’s inside of us. The level of our passions and emotions determines the levels of our inspirations. I admit that a skillful professional writer is able to write good poems effortlessly, however, the poems that truly touch us deeply are those from the bottom of a heart, even without a skillful mind.

To write a poem doesn’t really require a lot of educational background; all what it requires is a burning heart.

Attached Images:

•  License: Creative Commons image source

Min Min tells of her own story about poetry writing and the poetry community she built for this society.