Handmade Vintage Paper Butterfly Greeting Cards

This summer, my mother and I went to an estate sale in Brewster, Kansas, which is a town the size of a speck in Western Kansas. I love estate sales because the point generally is to get rid of everything rather than make a heap of money. Dually, near the corner of the garage the owners had mountains of books — mostly vintage, all for free. I picked out a few, and one of my favorites was Chicago: A Pictoral History by Herman Kogan, published in 1958. The pages are pleasantly thick and yellowed, and the content top-notch (you can’t beat a picture of a bejeweled naked woman on a horse)!

Fast forward a few months;  I wanted to create a simple thank-you card for client Ali, who used my services in sending out baby shower invitations. I think handmade cards speak volumes about how much you appreciate someone, so I got out my Chicago book and went to work on this vintage paper butterfly greeting card.

One of my favorite elements about the greeting card is the interactive, lovely literary butterflies. They ship flat, but once the recipient takes the card out from the envelope, they s/he can gently fold the butterflies’ wings together to breathe new life into the card.

I’m in love with the shadows the butterfly’s wings cast, and I really like the contrast between the text and the map of old Chicago. I painted green on the card using acrylic paint for contrast with the “thank you”. It added some fun to all the serious black and white stuff that was going on!

Here’s the back of the butterfly greeting card — very simple and elegant. I put my stamp on some textured paper that magically appeared on my bookshelf. January 18th, 2013 Update: Turns out that textured paper that magically appeared is my boyfriend’s résumé paper. Oops!