#5 More Art, Less Craft?

I often have trouble calling my card-making Art, especially when I base the design on someone else's sketch. I recently read an article about this very dilemma, and the author wrote something to the effect that if you make a technique your own, own the work, put your own spin on the design, it is Art. If you are simply following directions or recreating from an example, it is Craft. Even the cards I make completely from my own brain still feel like Craft. I suppose I aspire to be an Artist. Maybe someday I will arrive.

I created this in the past month as a wedding card. It is 5x7 inches, larger than most cards I make. The background is a page from a 1930 play script called "Oh, Promise Me!" Scraps of cardboard, sheet music, mulberry paper, with large button, twig, and linen thread comprise the focal point. Machine stitching and letter beads frame the collage of textures.

Card A Day #3

Fun but bulky paper-covered buttons pop off this monochromatic card I made sometime last year. To make the buttons, I used a kit meant for making fabric-covered buttons and dampened the paper to make it more flexible. I snipped off the button shank and added self-adhesive foam mounts. I like to make my own embellishments whenever I can. I am often disappointed in the quality of the ones available for purchase. I love tabs, buttons, and layers of paper on my cards, as I am sure you will see be the end of the month! This design is from "The Cardmaker's Workbook" by Jenn Mason. I hope it's masculine enough to use as a boy's birthday card because it is going in the mail soon.