Sympathy card with a reused card front

I am needing a few more cards so I got creative today and made this sympathy card.  I trimmed the main image from a donated card front and layered it onto a cream cardstock.  I layered this element onto a dark gray card front and added a simple laser printed greeting with a flagged end.
This one was quick and easy!!

Therese

Inky fun with a couple of colour printer cartridges

 We recently acquired a colour inkjet printer which required some intervention before it would print all the colours successfully so in the process of that repair there were two printer cartridges that were empty and ready to be put in the garbage.  Knowing that others have scavenged ink from markers I thought I would have a go with scavenging the ink leftover in the two cartridges - a yellow and a magenta.  You can see above that I have managed to bend back the top of the cartridge enough to access the inside (using a hack saw and a some pliers) and remove the sponges which were holding the remaining ink.   I simply added some water and the ink dissolved into it.  I filled two bottles with the ink I retrieved - a small one and a spray bottle.  I did the same with the magenta cartridge and got two bottles from that as well.  

Here are the papers I created in the process of removing the ink from the sponges.  I made several backgrounds on glossy photo paper (10) and the rest was applied to regular bond paper in a variety of patterns. So I have a LOT of backgrounds to use for my creative projects and 4 bottles of ink that I can use for making quite a few more.  It was a bit of a messy job and I should have wore gloves because my hand look like they have been "altered".  I expect it will wear off in a couple of days.   I am pretty happy with my little experiment and look forward to making up some cards with my glossy photo backgrounds.  

Therese

Exchange cards with hand decorated paper

For my exchange cards this month I made some decorative paper by layering several techniques. 

 I started with two pieces of paste paper which I made quite a while ago - one green and the other pink.  I started with a colour wash in a similar colour on both.  Next, I applied a script stamp in a darker colour.  If you check out the green image you can see that the green one was an asian character stamp.  Next, I did all over stamping with a background stamp with clear embossing ink and embossed them.  I used pearly embossing powder and a four petal stamp on the green one. You can see one of the motifs in the scan - it is lighter than the rest.  On the pink one I used a checker board stamp and clear embossing powder which very nicely preserved the pink colour of the original and allowed the texture of the paste paper to show through.  I followed that with a much darker colour wash which provided more contrast with the embossed areas which resisted the colour.  After that was dry, I added metallic acrylic paint with a spongy stamp I had on my desk and added little triangles in between to get better coverage.  I used gold on the green one and silver on the blue/pink one.  
I was not sure exactly how I was going to use them for my cards so I went to Splitcoast Stampers for a bit of inspiration.  I found several cards that I liked that used colourful circles to decorate their backgrounds so I punched as many circles as I could from each piece in four different sizes - 1.75", 1.25", .75" and .50".   I cut two pieces of shimmer cardstock  I created a while back and played with my circles until I was happy with the layout then glued them all down.  I adhered the backgrounds to coordinating card fronts before adding greetings and some embellishments.  I used a green colour printed greeting on the green card and embossed a wooden star with gold embossing powder to use as an embellishment.  The stars have been in my stash for a long time!!  For the pink/blue one I created a hot glue embellishment.  Have not made these in quite a long time.  I started with a little pool of hot glue on a piece of cardstock, poured silver embossing powder over it, shook off the extra and heated it with my heat gun.  Once it was all melted I gently placed a little flower stamp inked with embossing ink into it and let it cool.  Once cool the stamp simply lifts off revealing the embossed surface.  This technique is reminiscent of wax seals on letters in the old days.  I peeled off the paper backing and used hot glue to adhere it over my laser printed greeting on my card front. I added a bit of silver glitter glue to the center of the flower to jazz it up a bit.  
I am happy with these cards but I believe that my inspiration cards were more effective so I will have to go back and have another look and see if there is something about the design that I failed to consider in the creation of these cards.  
My cards are on their way to my swap partners as we speak!!
Therese

Purple and gold for a get well card

I worked on a few get well cards and this one was my last one for now.  I started with the laser printed decorative paper which I ripped in two, trimmed to fit above and below the embossed border that I added to my purple layer and then glued into place.  I added a length of vintage seam binding gluing the ends to the back of the layer before adhering this large element to the front of a gold card.  I punched a purple scallop circle (SU) and added a round greeting punchie (DesertDiva) which I had watercoloured to coordinate.  I pierced each scallop to add a bit of texture before I adhered it to my card front using 3D foam tape.  I tied a short length of seam binding to the one on the front of my card with a single knot to simulate a bow.  I love this colour combination!!  Bright and cheery!

Therese

Red and orange with a round Get well greeting

I made another get well card for my stash.   I started with a scrap of decorative paper I had on my desk which featured oranges and reds.  Check out the cards I made with the other piece of this rainbow paper.   I found an embossing folder that coordinated nicely and embossed the top portion of a orangy rust card and adhered my decorative paper to the bottom portion.  I layered a laser printed round greeting (CLKER) with a watercoloured border onto a red scalloped circle and added a yellow silk flower, a yellow sequin and attached them all together using a tiny gold.  I pierced each scallop to add a bit of texture to this focal element.  It needed a bit of something to finish it off so I die cut this swirl and glued the ends to the back of my focal element before adding it to my card front.
I really like the colours and it makes a very nice bright get well card.

Therese

A beautiful butterfly get well card

I needed a few get well cards for my stash so I made a few.  This one features a beautiful butterfly (CLKER) which I laser printed and watercoloured to coordinate with the decorative paper.  The decorative paper was cut twice like these cards from my last class, layered onto brown cardstock and then onto a blue card front.  I added some faux stitching around the butterfly image and adhered it to the front of the card using double sided tape.  I colour washed a laser printed punchie (SU) greeting and adhered it below the focal element using double sided tape as well.
I had most of these supplies very close at hand so it was a relatively quick card to create!!

Therese

Paper pieced fabric postcard

On my fabric postcard group they issued a paper piecing challenge.  I had to research what paper piecing was to decide whether I would take the challenge.  I have to say that it was a bit intimidating to figure it all out.  Eventually, I found a pattern that I thought I could manage - a little tree.  I had to reduce the pattern to make it work on a postcard and the pieces ended up quite small so I just combined every second one to give 6 pieces in the tree and then the two side pieces.  It took some diligent following of the directions to get the first three correct. I did get one wrong and had to undo my seam and start again.  To expand the square design into a postcard I added a piece on each side.  I used copy paper to print my pattern and forgot to shorten my stitching for the first two so when it came to removing the paper it took a bit more effort to remove those two pieces.  I would not want to make a whole quilt with paper pieced blocks and it certainly would be handy to have the "add a quarter" ruler for any large project.  I am happy with my first try.  I dug all the pieces I needed from my scrap bin.  On hind sight, it would have been better to choose some more sedate pieces for the sides but I was having difficulty visualizing the end result but I think that process just gets easier the more you do it.  After adding all the pieces removed the paper and trimmed my postcard to 4" x 6", added batting and stitched along of my line using green thread on the tree and red on the side pieces.  Next, I cut a piece of white to 41/2" x 6 1/2", added fusible webbing to the edges then centered my postcard on the backer folding the overhang to the front and fusing it in place which effectively bound my project.  I added stitching in white on the side pieces to secure the backing to the remainder of the postcard.  I crocheted a single chain using some textured yarn and couched it onto the edge using the zig zag stitch on my sewing machine with green thread.  I like that look!!  To finish off my postcard I hand stitched some seed beads to the edge of my pieces on my tree.  That worked out well.  Therese

Layered scallop circles with a round birthday greeting

A birthday card for my stash that features layered scalloped circles (Nestibilities) along with a couple circle punchies including one with a round greeting.
I layered a green scalloped circle below the gray one and then added an embossed circle punchie then the round greeting punchie (The Spruce) and finally added a blue silk flower, a yellow flower sequin and attached them all together using a tiny gold brad.
For the background I started with a colour printed gray background with soft dots on it and added some doodling and a faux stitching border with a yellow marker to echo the little yellow sequin I used on the focal element.  I added a colour coordinated ribbon across the middle gluing both ends to the back of the layer before adhering this large element to the front of a purple card.

Therese