DIY Typewriter Cards

My mom still has her electric typewriter from college. It currently lives in a cabinet and serves to prop up a TV, but she still has it. She likes to remind me that "back in her day" all papers had to be typed. There were no computers to make it easy. As a layout editor for her university newspaper, I'm sure that was painful. But so are computers.

Anyway... I have little to no creative outlet at present b/c my dissertation is sucking the life out of me. So sometimes I get an uncontrollable urge to make something. Anything. I drew inspiration from several websites to create these valentine cards for my family.  I used Mom's old typewriter, some card stock, stickers, double-sided foam squares, and stamps.

When I create, I like to take things that evoke one feeling and combine them with something totally different (like the sports/bridal magazine collages). In this case, typewritten notes seem office-y or harsh to me, so I wanted to capture the nostalgia I feel for typewriters by making something romantic. (Yes, I even over-analyze my DIY projects!)

I started with scrap white card stock and fed it through the typewriter. The size of the type-written portion determined the size of the card. I folded the red card stock in half and glued the white on top of it. The insides are stamped with white ink to stand out on the red. I x-ed over the parts where I mis-typed and I think it's a bit more artistic that way.