Greeting Cards with Woven Paper

by Judy Gula

Greeting Cards with Woven Paper

by Judy Gula
Woven paper and ephemera greeting cards created by Judy Gula of Artistic Artifacts

As promised in last week’s posting, I want to show you what I did with my woven papers. I love techniques to create new surfaces, weave new cloth, stamp new fabric, etc., but the next question is always, “what do I do with it now?”

I love to make cards any time of year, and it’s a go-to project as the holidays approach — a perfect project for my woven paper! (Last year at this time I used a variety of techniques, including weaving fabric, to make cards...and here’s another past blog posting on handmade cards...like I said, I like to make cards!)

One of the best days in my artistic life is when I was given permission (unfortunately I don’t remember by whom...would love to give them credit!) to go ahead and use glue on fabric, and use fusible products on paper. And do I ever!

To keep the woven strips of paper from sliding, I adhered them to Lite Steam-A-Seam 2 (stocked in our store in a package of five 9 in. x 12 in.sheets or sold per yard). This fusible was perfect for the job because it is double-sided; peel off the protective paper on one side to expose the sticky surface and it hold my papers (or fabrics) in place until I make it to the ironing board. Below, two of my woven paper units are placed on one rectangle of Steam a Seam.

Woven paper units on Lite Steam-A-Seam 2

Notice that my adhered units are place on a Bo-Nash Amazing Sheet (a non-stick ironing and craft sheet). I like using this larger size sheet, because I can fold the sheet over the artwork: I protect my ironing board, my iron and fuse the artwork easily and in one pass.

Lite Steam-A-Seam 2 after ironing onto woven paper units strips

For this project, I placed my woven paper face down and ironed on the Steam-A-Seam fusible side (above). This really reinforced my woven papers, securing them so that they could be cut into smaller pieces without any unraveling.

Then I searched through my vintage photo files and my Pinterest board for portraits. I also selected some bird imagery, and vintage matchbook ephemera. I printed my choices out on cardstock. A helpful tip from me is that cardstock will stand up to Soft Gel Medium (used in the steps below) better than paper; no tearing or buckling.

For my base, I used a pack of mixed media stock cards and envelopes from Strathmore. I cut the woven strips into my desired sized units and fused them to the card front. After the fusing was complete, I added the photos and ephemera using Soft Gel Medium.

Below (and at the top of this posting) are my results!

"Woven

 

Woven paper and ephemera greeting cards created by Judy Gula of Artistic Artifacts

 


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