Luck Be An 80...

I always date my cards, so that the receiver will remember.

As you can see, I photo shopped myself into this wonderful picture!

I folded this envelope myself, from a large piece of decorative paper.

 

              
               For my maternal grandmother's 80th birthday, I decided to hand make a unique card for her, that chronicles her life over the past 80 years. I wanted very much to include my mild photo shop skills for it, so that's what I did. The cost of that, was that my grandmother did not receive her card for maybe a few weeks after her birthday. She thinks it was worth it. The way I wanted this card to be designed was as an accordion fold, so it's like more of a brochure, but still with a card feel. The inside of the card is a timeline with "the 3 super-duper cutest moments ever in [her] life that are photographically captured". Really these were just from the only photos I had at hand, but they are really good ones, in my opinion. The hardest part was the photo shop stuff. I edited all three of the photos so they were looking their best. This was necessary because the first two are older photos, and the last one was taken with a phone, so could be touched up a bit. Also, I photo shopped myself in the last photo to make it more special. This process took the most time, by far. By doing this, my grandmother is seen seated with her son, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter. Four generations; what a life.

The House that Zoe Built

       
             The buttons picture is the outside of this pop-up card that I created. For a while now, I've imagined one day making a pop-up card of my house. Or any house really. My opportunity knocked a few weeks ago, when our neighbors of almost ten years, moved away. They have a young daughter that wrote to us after the move, so I decided to write back in my most creative way. I honestly didn't think that I'd ever complete this card. I used my skills of Photoshop to edit a picture that I took of the front of the house, which was really shared with these neighbors. I think that this card's image is the epitome of a final goodbye between neighbors that shared a common wall. And of course, I had to add my cat, Basil. She really puts the cherry on the cupcake of this card. I know that if our neighbors miss anything about our house, it will be seeing Basil in the window. That's what I would miss.

The Mirror of Youth

           
            Judge me not on this one, folks. At the very last minute, I decided to create a one-of-a-kind goodbye card for a dear friend who is moving away. My first idea was to make kind of a combination card, with the words and a pop-up at the end or the beginning. But I had under two hours to see them, so that idea was cast aside. I instead made my idea simpler, by turning the pop-up idea and card idea into two separate things. The pop up idea was relatively easy for me. This friend happens to strongly resemble the actor Samuel L. Jackson, so I knew I had to include that. The tricky part was making a sliding mechanism that works properly. Mine did, though it did take a proper beating with the Scotch tape. What happens is, at first you see a mirror and a pull tab next to it with a note to 'pull it.' When the tab is pulled, Sam Jackson's face appears! Trust me that with the context, it's hilarious. I really love this card that I've created. The folded card pictured at the top is a folding design that I'm very familiar with. I used it for my "I Didn't Know That" pop-up book a few years ago, but it never gets old. I love that it folds flat, but opens up in such a beautiful way. This was hands-down the most beautiful card fold I could create in an hour.

The Furry Friend Fright

    

          I never imagined that I would create a book like this. This book is called "The Furry Friend Fright", and it is an artist book about my cat, Basil, and I. I won't say it's a  nonfiction story, though, because many of the real elements have been re-imagined. I only started making this book, to enter it into a book arts exhibit in Minnesota, and hopefully be accepted. I was not accepted, but that does not bother me so much. If it were not for my desire to be in the exhibit, I would not have even had the idea for this book, or had such an awesome photo shoot with photographer, John Woo, to have the book professionally captured. The exhibit was titled, 'It's Alive', and it was created to celebrate the anniversary of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein". I don't write horror normally, I wouldn't say it is a strong point of my writing. Though I did enjoy the process, and I have two identical handmade books to remember that!
        This book was my first time stitching a book together the 'right' way. Up to that point, I never thought that I ever would.

          Don't believe everything you tell yourself.

On Your B-day, I Promise You'll Need This

"For your birthday, there is one thing I knew you would need on such a special day..."

"Open the black box..."

"It's air. You need air, right?'

       This is my absolute favorite pop up greeting card that I created. This is a good thing because everyone wants their birthday card to feel special. I've always had this private joke that the one thing everyone loves is air-now I have incorporated that into this birthday card. This card is interactive and instructs you to open a box at the end of its journey. What is in this box? Well air, of course! This card was very popular at the Christmas show.

"You're Welcome."

It's Valentine's Day Everyday

"On this Valentine's Day Let me show you how much I care With a lovely box of chocolates!"

"Okay...so...you didn't open the card fast enough."

           I had such an interesting idea for a Valentine's Day card, but I struggled with how to make the box of chocolates interactive. Well, voila! Here is what I came up with; just a flat picture of pre-opened chocolates. In this way, the card receiver is part of the action, and even if you may have eaten their treats for them, they know you thought of them. As you can tell in one of the lower pictures, this card opens to reveal a 3-D prism shape, that gives it that box of chocolates feel.

                                                                                           "I heart you."                                                                                     See how I kept this card short and sweet!!

Check out my new ZDesigns stamp logo, which includes my blog address!

A Flat Can of Soup??

"Even though you're feeling under the weather, I hope that soon you will feel better. And what better way to feel better than with a can of soup!

        With this pop up greeting card, you are of course filled with wonder and curiosity when first reading the cover. I mean, how could a can of soup be hidden in a get well card? Well, without being a magician, I suppose the only way is if it unfolded itself into a cylinder shape, upon opening. That is exactly what I did with this design, in which I used a specific gray colored paper to give the "can" a realistic appearance, then put an inviting "can label" on the front. For whatever sickness or ailment your receiver is in, they are bound to get a tickle if not a hearty laugh out of this get well card. Customers find this card quite punny. Pop up cylinder template courtesy of Carol Barton.

Get well SOUPer soon!

"This may not be edible, but it's the thought that counts."

"No need to thank me."

Your Favorite Celebrity

"Because it's your birthday, and you're one year older, how about shaking the hand of your favorite celebrity?"

"Happy Birthday! I had to pull a few strings."
The base says: "The hand of your favorite celebrity. (Shake me)"

                 I was very excited about this birthday pop up card. For the Christmas show last
 December, I knew that I needed greeting card ideas, so I got to work, straining my brain for something new, cool, unique, and relatable. This is a birthday card that really grabs you even before you open it. Who doesn't want to interact with their favorite celebrity? And what better way to do that than to shake their hand?! What I love so much about this card is that it is interactive. On the inside of the card you are instructed to actually shake the hand, and it moves up and down so you can do just that! I love how customers are by how all of this interaction lies flat when you close the card. It's amazing. There's also plenty of room to sign your name at the bottom and write a message to the receiver. I made about ten of these cards for the show, and they sold like hotcakes.

"You're Welcome."

The Obama Box Finds a Loving Home

A ZDesigns Fan takes a photo for her memories!

         A few weeks ago, one of my frequent customers voiced an interest in my Obama tissue box covers. We'll call her Sam. I had just four of them in stock-each with a different color overcast. She could not decide which color she liked best, so she decided to purchase them all. Sam says she can't wait to give them away as gifts saying that if she gives one to her sister, the other sister will get jealous, so she'll just give them both one! I can't disagree with that solution. I am sad to see them go because I have gotten attached and I always love to show them off, but if I know one thing, it's that Sam is a customer that really has an appreciation for the arts. The Obama's will be happy.

The Obama's have one last hurrah!