Going International!!

Well, this is what has been on my plate the longest and it is the largest. For the past few years my dad has asked me to make him Chinese New Year cards for acquaintances and friends he has made in China. Each year, except for one, I have handcarved the stamp. I base it on the postage stamp that the USPS put out years ago. They published a stamp each year in accordance with the Chinese New Year. This year it is the Year of the Boar.

Just to give you an idea, here is the starting point:

A blank piece of eraser. At least that is what I call it. I use the Speedball brand - obviously. It is easy to cut through. No sneezing, being nudged by dogs, or pulled on by child is recommended when carving!

I transferred the image I wanted to cut and after some cutting I finished with this:

In this photo I have already carved out the boar and added a frame. I have cut out the Chinese characters before, but was a little time constrained to take the time to decide how I was going to carve out the character that aligned itself on top of the image. So the areas in the corners will be "white space".

Here is the finished card. You can see what I mean by "white space". I am going to suggest to my dad to either sign his name in the "white space" or attach the postage stamp image to the space. It just did not come to me about what to do with the space. I walked away from it and slept on it, and that is what I came up with . Oh and I forgot to leave a space to adhere the stamp image to it! It was supposed to be in a spot that you will see in the next image.

The year of the Boar is 4703 - used the computer for that and my Zipemate diecut for the tab.

I did this double slider card at my February Stamp Camp. I thought it would be a good design and something different than a traditional card. I decided this card would not open up, although it could with a little modifying. At Stamp Camp I spoke of how this could be made into a traditional card if you wanted to.

Okay...see where it says "Happy New Year" that is where the Postage stamp of the Boar was to be put. This morning when I woke up it hit me - hard! That and where was my dad going to sign his name????

So I have a couple of options. There are always options.

Option 1: Adhere the stamp to either upper right or lower left of "white space".

Option 2: Sign name in opposite corner.

Option 3: Sign name on back of card.

So, with that off my plate and onto someone else's...I am off to begin looking at Mini Camp ideas.