Felted Wool coasters

 My grand daughter is raising money for a trip and I have made up a few felted wool coasters to be sold at her next event. 
The felted wool comes from her Mom who enjoys felting wool and creating wonderful items from it.  This was felted wool from a reversible coat which was ivory one one side and beige on the other.  I cut the panels into four inch squares with a rotary cutter and mat.  I rounded the corners by fussy cutting them with scissors.  I machine stitched around the edges to create a bit of a border using thread in coordinating colours - beige on the ivory side and ivory on the beige side.   Next, I used tapestry wool to embroider designs onto the coasters.  I found a few ideas on line and then made up a few others after I got a bit of feel for the process and what I could do with it.  I am really happy with how they turned out!!  Every dollar counts so I hope they sell out!!                 Therese

Doodles

 I was exploring a card design a few weeks ago that required doodling to finish it off so I decided to try a few pages to see how easy it would be for the participants to make doodles happen.  I found several You Tube videos of people doing some doodling and decided to follow along and see how easily it went. 

 It was difficult enough for me so I decided not to go with that card design for my class but I did really enjoy the doodling and I think I may clean some of these up and use them as digital images in my card making. 

I may have to do that regularly and see what happens.  Having my own art to use in my card making would be really fun!!

Therese

Paperclip jewelry

 

Paper clip jewelry!!  On our trip to the second hand store in the last few days my grand daughter picked up a free crafting book which creates jewelry using paper clips!!  She spent the afternoon yesterday trying several of the techniques and making several items of jewelry for herself!!   Therese

And yet more charms!!!!

These are the charms I made while my grand daughter was visiting!  She invented the process and I decided to make a few as well because they looked so awesome!!  Teen idol charms from the Goodwill were sanded, coloured with nail polish or gesso and then glitter glue was added in a variety of colours and nicely mixed up to create some very sparkly charms!! We added the butterflies - plastic decoration cut from some head bands purchased a while back.  We finished the edges with Sharpie or rhinestones. They came with the jumprings and lobster claw catches on them.  Love how they turned out.  She will be selling them at a fundraising event in a few weeks!!!!!!!!!  Therese

More charms!!!!!!!

 Another set of charms which my granddaughter made this week!  Some will be sold at the fundraiser and the Key chains she made to go with the little stitched penguins she is making for a different event for her Girl Guide troupe.  These started as fun flower stickers - see left on the lower right! She added coordinating circle punchies and added her own greetings, symbols and art using glitter gel pens.  I drilled holes in them and she added jump rings and lobster claws to finish them off!!!!           Therese

Charms!!!!!!!

 Charms!!!!!!!!!!  My granddaughter is visiting for spring break and she has been busy creating charms for a fundraising event for Girl Guides!!
We started with plastic charms I acquired at the Goodwill a few weeks ago thinking that they would make a good substrate for creating on.  We dug out sandpaper, nail polish and glitter glue and then added the little butterfly accents and just went from there!! We finished the edges with coloured Sharpie markers and/or clear rhinestones!!!   They are awesome in real life!!
These are all of the ones she made - double sided so I took photos of both sides!!        Therese

March Cardmaking - an embossed cardstock with strips of fun paper and a laser printed digital greeting

For our last card I designed this one which was fairly quick and easy!!  I cut a layer 4" x 5.25" to which we applied a strip of double sided tape into which we laid our strips of paper until it was covered all the way across.  Next we embossed a coordinating strip of cardstock and adhered it over the ends we had placed on the double sided tape.  Next, we flagged the bottoms of each strip in an interesting pattern and adhered this large element to a coordinating card front.  The laser printed greetings (Desert Diva) were distressed and then glued to a coordinating layer which were also distressed.  They were adhere to each other and mounted to the front of our card using 3D foam tape.  This sketch was very flexible in that the card could be used in both orientations.  I created one of each with my cards.  The cardstock strip and the flagged strips could also have been mounted on the short width which also gave the option for both orientations by changing the way the greeting was mounted.  A fun card to finish off our evening!!  

March Cardmaking - decorative paper, fun tags and a bit of embossing

For our second card I designed this one which features the tag I cut out of the first card which you can find here.   We used scissors or corner rounders to trim the corners of our tags, coloured our images if they needed it and then added a folded length of ribbon using a coordinating tiny brad.  I used watercolour and chalk on my tags. We adhered our decorative paper (4" x 5.25") to a coordinating card front, embossed our strip of cardstock and then mounted it over the paper,  trimming it to fit.  We mounted our tags with images to the front of our cards using 3D foam tape overlapping the embossed strips. To finish off our cards we trimmed our ribbon ends.   The little owl is from Michelle Perkett and the penny farthing is from StampinUP.    It is always fun to add font greetings to images and it gives you the flexibility to have them be for any occasion you prefer.  

Therese

March Cardmaking - golden die cut, beautiful background paper and a gold embossed greeting

Another fun evening with the girls making cards!!!!  For our first card I created these simply elegant ones!!  I cut the frame out of white cardstock.  In order to be efficient I laid out the tag for the next card in the center of the frame which made the off cut useful.  I created registration marks on my magnet sheet for the Big Shot and positioned my rectangle Nestibility so it would cut out a frame in the way that I wanted.  I left space on the bottom so that the girls could gold emboss the greeting of their choice from the Sincere Salutations set (SU).  That was a new experience for all of them so we had a few practice runs and everyone managed to get their greeting well embossed.  I ran the tracing wheel around my frame before I added the decorative paper behind the opening and glued this layer to my coordinating card front.  We then added our coordinating gold die cuts using white glue in a fine tip applicator to ensure a neat finish.  The leaf is Tim Holtz and the dragonfly is Spellbinders.  Very happy with these elegant cards!!           Therese

Card with a cross featuring a bit of bling and some beautiful paper

Another cross card!! I started with a gray card for this one and added a beautiful foiled gift wrap background paper.  I laser printed the cross on white cardstock, trimmed it to size and mounted it to a rectangle of silver cardstock.  I added a rhinestone to the middle of the cross and added clear glitter  with a gel pen to several places on the cross.  I mounted the image to my card using 3D foam tape.  Another versatile card suitable for a variety of occasions including Easter which will soon be here!!          Therese

Graduation card that features gros grain ribbon, colour printed background and some bling

It will soon be that season of transition where people move on from being students to the next step in their lives and so I made this card.  I will probably need a few more but it is a start. 
I started with a colour printed background from Altered Bits and mounted it to a green card front.  I found this greeting in one of my past files and it does not have any credits so I am not sure where it came from but I really like the message!!  I laser printed it onto white cardstock, trimmed it to size, watercoloured the cap and sponged its edges a bit before mounting it to a brown cardstock layer with a distressed edge.  I added a piece of green gros grain ribbon with flagged ends to my card then mounted my greeting over it using 3D foam tape.  Just a little bit of bling finished it off nicely!!           Therese

Handmade card featuring a beautiful cross, faux stitching and handmade paper

A while back I was asked to make a few cards featuring crosses for special occasions through out the year.  I am in need of a few more so I have started with this one.  This beautiful cross was downloaded from Art by Jean and she has some beautiful images and backgrounds there for all sort of occasions. I colour printed the cross onto white cardstock, trimmed it to size and added a yellow scallop punched border (SU)on the right hand side.  I mounted the image to a coordinating piece of handmade paper which I made myself and added a tiny black brad to the center of the cross.  I mounted this large element to a navy card front.  After I was done, I thought it still needed a bit of something so I added a bit of faux stitching around the image and that was better.  A card for any occasion!!

Therese