When you need handmade cards, your Fairy Cardmaker brings you handmade birthday cards, thinking of you cards, Christmas cards, baby cards, wedding cards and more! Fairy Cardmaker’s neat and tidy designs maximize visual appeal and minimize mailing bulk.
Fairy Cardmaker (formerly Ensorcelled Minds) is run by one woman. Paper die-cuts are my specialty. I can design a page or card with nothing but cardstock and ink or pens. (Well… and some adhesive!) I like to design my own die-cuts because then I can get exactly what I want in exactly the right colours and exactly the right size.
To be honest, though, I always wanted to work in fashion, designing dresses and costumes. Turns out, I can’t sew for beans! Every fabric is different and needs to be handled differently. Fabric is a very artfully pleasing medium, though, which is hard for any artistic person to resist! There are so many designs of patterns and solids, so many colours, so many textures, so many sheens. Well, guess what? Paper is the same! The Scrapbook industry takes many of its pattern and colour cues from the fashion industry (which makes sense because you want to make sure your papers du jour go with your photos du jour). So, my long standing love affair with paper has finally become a surrogate for my failed fashion aspirations!
I have two current favourite things: paper piercing and the colour brown. Since, I surely can’t sew, paper piercing has given me a way to add faux stitching to my designs. I love this patch work look!
As a die-cut lover, patterned paper hasn’t always been my friend. Sometimes, I am overwhelmed by it. Busy patterns, loud patterns, faded patterns – it’s all too much! Working with patchwork, however, has given me a new way to look at the patterns. Maybe an entire 12 x 12 sheet of patterned paper is too much but broken in to little patches, it’s actually not that bad and way easier to mix together. For example, this magnetic sticky note holder has colours I would find too bright for my tastes but paired together and toned down in to smaller bits, I love them!
I’m also in love with the colour brown. Any shade of brown will do! Growing up, I was always a little disappointed to have brown eyes and brown hair. It doesn’t get more boring, does it? Then, one day quite some time ago (I think I was clothes shopping), and someone said to me how brunettes can wear any colour they want because brown is a neutral. It is? I thought only black and white were “neutral”. No, brown IS a neutral!
Chocolates, creams, earthy colours – all neutrals! So, lately, I’ve been using brown a lot. I find it really pops the colour I am working with without being as harsh as black or white. Love it. Just love it!
Making cards has become a very gratifying art for me. I have always preferred gifts that are useful over those that are just fun to have. Feeling helpful in my life has always been important. Where I work as a Chartered Accountant in a firm, I have been a key player in developing our training and quality control department, completely out of my selfish desire to feel like I am contributing to the firm. Similarly, making cards makes me feel like I am helping people to stay connected (while releasing my creative energies). Just like the Fairy Godmother who helps Disney’s Cinderella be the hit of the ball, Fairy Cardmaker is a little sprite who works behind the scenes to bring you handmade cards that make you the hit of any occasion (or catch you up as the case may be)!
So, the next time you’re in a card-giving bind, keep your Fairy Cardmaker in mind!
Follow my new blog URL to see what else I’m up to on a regular basis. Don’t forget to visit Fairy Cardmaker’s shops linked on the right: one on iCraft (prices in Canadian dollars) and one on Etsy (prices in US dollars).
Give the Fairy Cardmaker a little more time in the workshop. There are some renovations going on by way of a graphic makeover!
And this is my fairy paper die cut!
One of the samples used brads in place of the ribbon and I like that distinct and separate look, so I did the same using Stickles glitter glue in place of brads. On the first card, I used a complimentary colour for the fairy wings by trying to pull the blue from the paper.
On the second one, I decided to try a more monochrome look to enchance the simple design and I also made the background cream so the white fairy would stand out more. Overall,I made three versions: this one, a solid silhouette and one with a dress instead of legs and only the upper portion of the wings to be an angel. I love it when I surprise myself with two die cuts out of one design!
Hope you like my fairy wishes!
