Ms. Braucksick's collage work grew from cards she created to invite friends to parties she and her husband host: an Easter Egg Hunt & Brunch and “The Summer Art Party.” Initially, all her invitations were individually  handmade: one year each was slightly different, personalized according to each  invitee’s own hobbies or interests. Creating these original invitations became a tradition; however, when the size of her guest list made it impractical to continue this practice, Ms. Braucksick hit upon an ingenious solution: by creating a single design, in a size that would fit onto a color copier, then reducing it to post card size for reproduction, she could carry on her tradition of creating and sending original invitations. Adhesive vinyl works very well in this application, as the flat bright colors generally copy “true.” Each collage’s design begins as a sketch. The sketch is then converted to a line drawing, similar to the kind used in stained glass window design, and that line drawing becomes a pattern. Each vinyl piece is then meticulously cut (in reverse) and adhered to a  surface, thereby creating the final collage. Experimentation with many surfaces over the years has revealed that heavy gage acetate yields the best results. Many of Ms. Braucksick’s friends make a point of saving all of her invitations and eagerly await each year’s additions to their collection. Most of her collages were originally created as designs for invitations.