Affirmation Cards

Back in April I started making affirmation cards, but got bogged down by cutting and decorating paper. the project would go faster if I had a stack of pre-cut cards and a faster way of decorating the backs.

In a desk drawer, I found a bazillion, old business cards. They weren't any use as business cards because information had changed. The paper was a nice quality, too, and in a test took watercolor pencil well.  So the business cards have been recycled, up-cycled, re-purposed, re-used, whatever you want to call it. Two cards to make one affirmation card. One for the sentiment and a second for the decorated back.

The backs were decorated using a monoprint technique from Diana Trout: Sumi Smoosh. Diana used alcohol inks. I don't have any of that kind of ink and didn't want to buy more art supplies. She also applied the inks to the inside of a clear, plastic folder and pressed her paper between. I didn't have any plastic folders, but  I did have quart-sized, food storage bags. I cut one along the side and bottom edge so it would open up like a book. Instead of the alcohol ink, I used blue, green, and gold Tempera paint. Dropped a blob on the plastic, folded the bag over and mixed the colors, then instead of folding the cards in between the plastic, I just laid them in the paint, pressed, and pulled. If there was too much white showing, I just pressed the card into more paint. Ta-Da! A quick way to decorate paper, and use and recycle materials I already had on hand.