Greeting Cards from UFO's

If you are a crafty person like me, you have numerous UFO's lying around your work space. I'm not talking about flying saucers!  I'm referring to the "unfinished objects"--the bits you cast aside on your way to making a masterpiece of fabric or paper or paint or something else.  You save them for the same reason I do:  because they are too good to throw away, but they don't have a real purpose.

Yesterday, when I needed three special greeting cards to send to members of a friend's family (who were all involved in a car accident and are in the hospital),  I came up with the brilliant idea of turning UFO's into cards for them.

Here are the UFO's I started with.

You may remember this one, below--it's the Chevron Leaf Patch which I used on a journal cover.  Since I was making it for my blog swap with Lime Riot it HAD to be my best work, so to be safe, I made two leaf patches.  This extra one had Heat n Bond already applied to the back, so I turned it into a card by simply ironing it onto card stock!  It worked well and was extremely easy.  Since the leaf was already framed with the green fabric, I didn't add anything extra to the card at all. The finished size of the card is 6 1/4" x 4 1/2".  I will send this one to my friend's father.

Next, I found this tiny 1 1/2" x 2" winged heart patch that was the prototype for the altered matchboxes I made for an art abandonment project.  (The funny thing is that the final matchbox art looks completely different from this prototype!  That's creativity for you!)  I cut card stock to 5 1/4" x 3 1/2" (to fit into a small envelope I had on hand) and then added scrapbook papers to frame the UFO, which I glued on top.  I will send this card to my friend's sister.

I was so excited when I came across this embellished fabric square, below.  It was originally going to be a pin cushion, but before I got very far with it I learned that the intended recipient hated the color green!  I made something non-green for her instead, and tossed this into a drawer.  It's the largest piece of the three:  the patch measures 4 3/4" square, and it is composed of a single piece of nature-print fabric backed with linen and embellished with buttons, lace, embroidery, and a little patch on which I wrote "Love" .  To turn it into a card, I simply glued dark gray scrapbook paper to card stock to frame it, and glued the patch on top. The finished card measures 8 1/2" x 5 1/2", and it will go to my friend's mother.

So the next time you need a greeting card, why not try making one from the odds and ends left over from other projects?  I know it will be fantastic, and so much more interesting and meaningful that something bought from the store.