For Sale on Etsy

Have you heard of Etsy? "Your place to buy and sell all things handmade."

A fabulous concept! I couldn't resist. So I made my own Etsy Shop! How exciting.

Now, I know I can't list any of my Stampin' Up! cards for sale there, no matter how wonderful I might think they are (it's against their Angel Policy). So I've been racking my brain trying to think of how I could make a card without using any of my wonderful SU! stamps. Part of the reason I've been so quiet and not posted anything... Well, I finally came up with a solution.

I had this book on my shelf that I really didn't like. It's a book full of children's poems, songs and stories along with some cute vintage illustrations. It's a great concept, but most of the images just gave me the creeps. I always thought about ripping out some of my favorite illustrations someday and maybe turning them into framed art for my daughter's room. So, without a second thought, I took an X-ato knife to the book and came up with this:

View the card here, at my gallery: Buckle My Shoe.

And here's a nifty-cool tip for you: how can you make your own polka dots without using a rubber stamp? Use the tip of a new pencil's eraser as a stamp! Neat-o!

My favorite thing about this card, besides that adorable little girl, is the buckle on the lace. Too cute! You can also view two other of my favorite vintage cards at my shop. I really love those cards too, but this card here was the first one I crafted, so it remains my all-time favorite for sentimental reasons.

This was a really fun experiment. I highly recommend it. So, if you have a book lying around that you think would be better if it were cut up and turned into art, go for it! And save the book itself for a later project: check out Erika's post on Altered Books for inspiration.