Saturday, January 27, 2018

Seven Days of Bling: Day 3

Reader Joan asked about mailing cards with bling on them. The lumpiness can be a problem, especially if the bling is on a raised panel on the card. My go-to fix is to put packing tape on the envelope over the bling. It keeps the envelope from tearing and adds very little weight.

Another fix is to put a 5.5" x 4.25" piece of cardstock over the top of the card and then put it in the envelope. This might push the envelope over the weight or thickness limits for standard postage, though, especially if you're using dimensionals or craft foam on the card. It might be kicked back to you for insufficient postage.

A third fix is to turn the card inside-out. That way, the back of the card cushions the bling. This will dent the back of the card, though, and might make it hard to read what you've written.

If anybody has other solutions, please share them in the comments.

A final suggestion for U.S. readers...keep a stash of forever butterfly stamps with your standard postage. Butterfly stamps will cover the added thickness or weight of cards with embellishments. You can drop these in a mailbox (although I wonder if they are machined after that) or go to the window at the post office and ask them to hand-cancel the envelope. That way, it won't get run through machines and smooshed.

I hope that helps, Joan. Perhaps it's more information than you wanted!

Today's card takes advantage of the fact that I have a bazillion purple rhinestones. I decided to make a purple valentine, because not all loving relationships are red-hot romantic, right? Well, that was my justification for being able to use more than half the purple rhinestones in my stash in a single go.



The swirls are from Clearly Besotted's With a Flourish and were stamped with LuLu lavender Memento ink. You're going to see that set again; it proved very useful for grounding these bedazzled shapes.

I'd already used up almost all the dark purple rhinestones (you'll see the others tomorrow). That means there's not enough color variation or shading on this large bedazzled shape to add interest. I did, however, have several large iridescent rhinestones that, if you look closely in the photo below, do add a subtle interest. The rhinestones were placed in a random pattern of small, medium, and large.





I'll tell ya, filling up this giant heart (after already using some purple on another shape) and still having a bunch of purple left showed just how serious my bling-hoarding issue is. But like reader Cindy pointed out, "Professors have large libraries, and no one expects them to use every book on the shelf every day. Same with bling, I'm sure."

Thanks, Cindy. I feel much better now!

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Clearly Besotted With a Flourish
ink: LuLu lavender Memento 
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: rhinestones, large heart punch, glue

12 comments:

  1. I love all the purple bling on this card.

    I usually put packing tape on the outside (or sometimes inside) of the envelope to protect it from post office machines. When I turn a card inside out, I include a Post-It note to explain why the card was mailed like that.

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  2. I have had good luck mailing cards with embellishments using a piece of cardstock run through a crimper and inserted in the envelope. Love your blog.

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  3. Awesome Awesome card. I am going to try this right now. Thanks

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  4. FYI There is a real cute stamp set at Pretty Pink Posh that is for rhinestones, sequins, jewels, etc. The stamp set is named- Sparkle Dot Patterns 1.

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  5. Thank you so much for the mailing suggestions. Most of my cards go overseas so I have to be very careful not to exceed the .5 ounce cutoff for more postage. Great idea also from Lueyes about using the crimper. Yes, I still have mine! Your Seven Days of Bling is making me seriously reconsider my abstinence from bling. The purple heart and subtle swirls are gorgeous. Now that I know how to mail them I see some bling in my future.

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  6. What type (brand) adhesive did you use to adhere the rhinestones? I've had trouble with them stick when trying to cover a large space. I tried making a heart with eyes, and none of them would stick.

    Thanks,
    Connie

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    1. Connie, some great adhesives are: Ranger Multi Medium Matte, Ranger Collage Medium, Glossy Accents, Gina K Connect Glue. You don't need much glue, but I would suggest putting down a few tiny drops of glue, then put a gem on each drop of glue, then repeat. The glue dries fairly quickly, so that's why only doing a few at a time is key.

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  7. Typically I use a cardstock panel as my "card protector" when there's bling (especially brads), ribbon knots, or any raised (popped up with foam tape) sections. If there's something more substantial like a button, or lots of bling in one area like these cards, I use a piece of packing foam sheet. I've collected it from various packaging over the years, but it can also be purchased at Amazon or Home Depot/Lowes with their moving/packing stuff. (Link so similar foam sheets is below.) I usually just cut out a piece that's slightly larger than the area I need to protect.

    Then I make a "sandwich": 1) card, 2) foam sheet piece, 3) card protector, then shove it all into the envelope. If super heavy or bulky, then I bite the bullet and mail it in a small padded envelope and tack on the extra postage to ensure that it arrives undamaged. Good luck!

    https://www.amazon.com/Duck-Brand-Cushion-Inches-283279/dp/B00QLJNYN4/ref=sr_1_4?s=office-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1519681712&sr=1-4&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_two_browse-bin%3A5994962011

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment!