Exchange cards - autumn flowers

The Canadian Card Exchange is back up and running thanks to MJ who has stepped in to handle the next six months!! It is a fun exchange and I enjoy sending and receiving the handmade cards!!

As a background I used printed photos which I received in one of my goodie packages this week in exchange for a little house ATC , added some coordinating ribbon on the bottom edge, a cut out flower embellishment and a distressed colour printed greeting!!

The flower embellishment features white core cardstock which has been embossed (SX) and then sanded.

I acquired some white core cardstock (CTMH) at a garage sale last week and am now going to see how many techniques I can come up with to highlight its unique white core. Did a bit of an internet search for techniques which yielded several ideas I had not yet thought of!! There are several other companies out there that create white cardstock - DCWV (Die Cuts With a View) is one of them and it is available at quite a few different locations including Michaels.

Therese

Another little house ATC!! I made this one for an "ABC - Anything but a card" challenge on one of my groups. I changed up my house - made it brick instead of wood siding and also created a new front door for it!! Colour washed the siding and the roof and added a little wreath and a new saying "From our house to yours!!" so it would be appropriate for sending as a Christmas card. For someone crafty you could send it ready to be assembled or you can send it as a folded ATC that they get to transform into a little house ornament for their tree!! Would be great to include a tag with the year on it!! So many possibilities!! If you are interested in trading for this little house check out my posting here for the details!!

Thanks to those who have already traded!! I hope you enjoy the little house and get creative with it!!

Therese

Reindeer - Christmas card challenge

More Christmas cards!!

Karen's theme for September's Christmas card challenge is reindeer, so that is where I started. This 4.25" x 4.25" card will also satisfy the "anything but an A2 sized card" on Christmas Cards All Year Round, the "distressed " theme over at Sparkles blog, the ribbon and bows theme over at the Quietfire blog and the "bling" theme over at Crazy for Challenges!!

I used my distressing tool on both layers on the front and stippled the edges with brown ink for a soft distressed look. Layered the scallop circles and mounted it to the card front over the ivory ribbon.

Check out the close up of my "bling". I added some dots of iridescent glitter glue on each scallop and on the lower right hand side and sprinkled on yet more glitter for a very sparkly look!!

I made five of these tonight and have four more in the works which I will finish tomorrow!!

I am really enjoying making Christmas cards!!

Have a great day and thanks for dropping by!!

Therese

Star Cards - Christmas card challenge

I am finally getting to Christmas cards!!

I created these for Sylvia's Christmas card challenge - stars! To make the decorative paper for the stars I started with glossy paper - very shiny and did not work out well for polished stone - and my homemade acrylic stained glass paint. I just smooshed the paint on with a silicone brush (for basting) and mixed it up a bit. The paint is very transparent and glossy so the paper ended up being was very bright and vibrant. Once dry, I used black pigment ink to stamp it with my large scroll stamp and embossed it with black embossing powder!! Very nice!! I made a star pattern similar to the one Sylvia used, traced it on the back and cut the stars out with an exacto knife. The card is duplex paper so I embossed the front with the Swiss Dots (CB) embossing folder and sanded just a bit to give it a starry night sky look!! Added a printed vellum greeting and mounted my star with 3D foam tape.

Four more cards for Christmas!!

It is not too late to get started now and get your cards ready for the beginning of December!! For inspiration check the links on the right hand side of my blog for Christmas card challenge blogs and get started!!

Therese

Domino Book

I created this cool little domino book for a swap on one of my groups. I am very happy with the way it worked out!!!

I created the 5 pages using a crescent tag die. I cut a tag from chipboard, put it back on the die with the square end on the crescent end and cut it again. A chipboard shape with two crescent ends!! I glued black handmade paper to the back and the front of both covers, trimmed & coloured the edges and punched the holes. I embellished two black wooden dominoes using gold mica powder

and spray lacquered them with gloss finish. Using Goop, I glued them to each other side by side, glued that combination to the front cover and glued E Beads in red and gold on each side. Did exactly the same to the back cover. Bound my book with red quarter inch ribbon and a handmade paper bead. Added lock and key charms to the binding and a tie to keep my book closed.

I glued red paper to both sides of my inside pages, embellished them with black script and edged them in gray Memories ink.

Laid out my words and text, colour printed and trimmed them to fit my pages. I die cut "U", "R" and a circle with a hole in the shape of a heart from black cardstock and backed them with gold foil paper. Glued them on the back of my pages, in the center. So reading this book from the front and from the back it says - you are love!! How cool is that!! Added the title on the inside front cover and my swap info the inside back cover with white gel pen .

It was so fun to create this little book!! I love creatively working out the size, the content, the embellishments, the binding and making it all work together.

Will be sending it on its way tomorrow!!

Therese

Dyed tissue paper!

One of the instructions I had read suggested that the silk could be dried by pressing between sheets of white tissue paper!! Too easy! I dug into my tissue paper box - mostly tissue paper that has already been used several times to wrap gifts - and dug out a few white sheets. I covered my ironing board with a towel to protect it, laid down several sheets of tissue paper before laying over it my wet piece of silk. Covered that with several sheets of tissue and ironed on low heat. Kept moving the tissue paper around so it would not get too wet and here is what I ended up with - about 8-9 sheets of dyed tissue paper that looks really cool and interesting!!! Not sure what I will be doing with them but did read on line this morning, on a blog, a tutorial for making paper fabric that used tissue paper. This tissue would make very interesting paper fabric. Will have to revisit the site and familiarize myself with the instructions and the supplies needed!! A total bonus - very inexpensive art supplies!!

Therese

Dyed silk

I played all morning at dyeing silk. One of my stamping friends taught our group to make silk scarves a few years ago and we all left with a few small pieces of dyed silk, a beautiful scarf, leftover supplies from our class and aspirations that we would be making our own at home. Finding several white silk scarves at a thrift store a few months ago piqued my interest in digging out those paints and being creative with them. I searched on line and read several tutorials then reread the first part of our class instructions and got started. Needless to say when the first piece was not properly dyed I went back to the instructions and redid it. For best results, it is important to read the instructions and follow them carefully. Better the second time round and then I was off to the races. I ended up with 9 large pieces of dyed silk in a large variety of colours!! I am loving them!! They are all so interesting and gorgeous!! I will be scanning them all, in pieces, to use in creating digital art. I am not sure exactly what I will be doing with the silk. Maybe fabric ATC s, mini quilts, book covers and some of it will end up in cards for sure!!

If you have a project or technique you have been wanting to try - make a date with yourself and get started!!

Therese

Birthday card and contest entry

Wanted to make sure to get a card made for the Class Act contest which closes on Thursday so I combined that with the Crazy for Challenges sketch which I used earlier and made a card for a friend of mine whose birthday is tomorrow!! Yeah - love being creatively efficient!!

Stamped the sunflower from Class Act and watercoloured it and layered it onto a mustard scallop (Nesties). I used decorative paper for the card front, added two torn strips of coordinating paper and added blank stitching (piercing) with my little sewing machine to all of them to echo the little swirly dots in the paper. I altered the yellow rick rack with a stipple brush and a mustard stamp pad until it coordinated better with the paper. Three rhinestone hearts for a bit of bling and I was done.

Thrifty Tip: You can change up the colour of your rhinestones using Sharpie makers!! So buy clear ones and alter them when you need to. I expect alchohol inks would work perfectly for altering them as well.

Therese

Exchange card

Meeting with my stamping friends tonight so I created this card for our card exchange!! Used the sketch at Crazy for Challenges for inspiration!!

The flower is cut from a 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper and layered onto a coordinating scallop (Nestie). I added an embossed layer (SU folder) on the artichoke card front along with two red strips and some large red rickrack, some green brads and stamped oval greeting.

Thrifty Tip: The brads were not quite the right colour so I used a Sharpie marker to change them up. I buy white brads for using in this manner!! Have previously found them at Hobby Lobby when I am in the States.

A few more projects to go today!! I am on a roll!!

Therese

ATC Architecture and folding

I have been playing all day!!!!!!!!!! Here is what I have to show for it - a folded ATC which unfolds into a little house!!!! It worked out so well!! I modified a photo of a house I took in Kingston Mills for the front and back, created sides and roof with my layout program and folded it up so it would lay flat and fit in an ATC sleeve!! I added the words before I printed it, washed it with a bit of colour and added a red heart!! It will satisfy my Architecture and accordion folded ATC for a swap and Anything but a Card for another group!!

I will be working on my Domino book next and I have a few Christmas card challenges I would like to get to as well.

Have a great weekend!

Therese

PS I have had several requests for the template for this cool little house. Over night it occurred to me that these would be great for Christmas!! Flat to mail and a 3D card/ornament all in one!! If you would like a little house (undecorated and mailed flat with instructions) I am willing to trade one for something you have!!!!!!!! Click my profile and send me an email and we can get a trade happening!! I would take cardstock, decorative paper, flat embellishments, stickers, printed collage images, unmounted rubber stamps, etc - anything flat that is inexpensive to mail.

Cardmaking - September - flourished

I read somewhere that there are no mistakes in creating only opportunities for creativity!! The decorative paper on this card was just that. I started with gloss paper and alcohol inks like I always do and thought to myself as I got started "this paper is really glossy" but undaunted I pressed ahead and made up a couple dozen quarter sheets. As they sat to dry they changed up a bit and started being a little spotty. They didn't dry quickly which was weird so I let them sit until the next morning!! No better in the morning and in testing for "doneness" I saw that the ink was not dry!! So what to do!! I was actually able to wipe off all the ink but that simply seemed to be a waste of ink so I decided to see if I could seal in the colour using a coat of clear spray. Sure enough it worked but in the process the colours dulled quite a bit so I needed to punch up the look somehow. I decided to stamp them with my new flourish stamp from Impression Obession which I bought in Montreal at Scrapbook Central when we were on our way to PEI!! I used black StazOn and it worked perfectly!! It is a large square stamp so I laid it flat, inked it and then laid the cardstock on it!! Just a bit of layering, a colour printed greeting and we were done!! The right side of the cards was impressed using my Big Shot and a texture plate - Fiskars - I think!!

So all sorts of new techniques and tools employed in getting card kits ready for this month. It is fun to use new tools or to use older ones differently!! As well, always consider what you can do with a project before you throw in the towel. That is how things are invented!!!

Thanks for dropping by!!

Therese

Cardmaking - September - postage stamps!

These cards feature little postage stamps matted off like little works of art!! It was fun to rummage through my collection of used stamps and see what I had that coordinated with my backgrounds.

THRIFTY TIP: Save any interesting postage stamps that come in on your mail. They are free little works of art that can be used in your creations in so many places!!

I created the backgrounds using the double embossed technique!! On several I added a bit colour with a stamp pad after the first sanding just to add some depth to the background. I recommend that you use a simple all over design for the first embossing and something more bold or with a motif for the second embossing. Still have some experimenting to do with this technique!!

So, just mounted the postage stamp to a small rectangle (Nestibilities) and layered it with 3D foam tape to the other rectangle (Nesties). This element was mounted to the embossed layered card front using more 3D foam tape. I like the look of these little double matted pieces of art!!

Therese

Cardmaking - September - handmade paper

This card kit is very versatile!! I used my own handmade paper, added a strip of cardstock which I trimmed, embossed and pierced, some fiber and a 3D embellishment. Created cards for two very different occasions by changing the colours and the orientation!! For the brown one I tied the fiber to the spine with a double knot and added a leaf embellishment ($1). On the pink one I punched two holes, threaded the fiber through, tied it with a double knot on the front and added a layered silk flower embellishment.

THRIFTY TIP: I created a line embossing tool!! Cut two small strips of chipboard (1/2"x 6") and glued them about 1/16" apart on a chipboard base (2" x 6"). Used a stylus or bone folder to score the line. Now I can add an embossed line pretty much anywhere I want on my cards!!

In my tour of blog land this week I read some interesting tutorials on line about making your own embossing folders!! Will have to play with that and see what I can come up with!!

Therese

Cardmaking - September - sunflowers!

Sunflowers!!!!!!!!!!! I love the way these turned out!! After investigating several techniques for creating sunflowers with less than desired results I remembered my Poinsettia Nestibilities die!! Used it for my Christmas cards and thought that it might just work for sunflowers!! Beautiful!! Love it when I can find another way to use a tool!!! I cut two of the largest die from yellow cardstock, stippled their edges in brown, embossed the center line of each petal and then glued them to each other. I used a Scallop Circle Nestibilities die to cut the large center from brown cardstock and embossed it using the Bubbles embossing folder. I hand cut a stem and some leaves from green cardstock and glued them to the back of the flower where they fit best. I layered my sunflower over a piece of decorative scrapbook paper and used a couple of circle punchies (3/4" and 1/2") to create a ladybug - added spots with a black marker!!

The leaves are changing colour and the nights are cooler!! Back to the routines and hopefully a bit more time for crafting!!

Therese

Sea glass jewelery

This is a departure from the norm for me!! No paper!!!

We collected sea glass from the beaches in PEI when we were on vacation and having seen the beautiful jewelery that others had made I wanted to give it a try. Saw some wire wrapped pieces in PEI so I thought I would try that. I am happy with my first attempt. I did wrap several heart rocks as well. I always collect heart shaped rocks and we found quite a few. So I have made a few pendants for giving away to some special people and they will be delivered by my sister who went home on Saturday!! I gleaned some information from several tutorials I found on line by searching for wire wrapping.

Back to card in the next post!!

Therese

Star card - Circle of Friends

I love this paper!! It is almost all gone!! I punched the strip with a small star punch and trimmed the top edge with decorative scissors. Layered the small star over the large one and added a brad with a silver sequin to echo the silver in the paper!! When you have great decorative paper just a few elements are required to make a great card!!

Therese

Light house - Circle of Friends

This one is similar to these I made a while back. Handmade paper with seaweed from PEI featuring one of my light house photos printed in black and white. The strip was trimmed and pierced to add texture and attached with brads. I like the way the ribbon adds just a hint of colour!!

Therese

Multi layer flower card - Circle of Friends

This is a multi layered card which I have been wanting to try for a while. Two decorative papers from a coordinating pack - both layered onto white. Image stamped in dark brown. We added a metal spiral clip with ribbon. Some of the group coloured their flower and used a different layout for their rectangles for a very different look. That is one of the reasons I teach - I love the way that in any group of people some can come up with a totally different way to use the very same supplies!!

Therese

Butterlfy card - Circle of Friends

Made cards with a new group last night - some very enthusiastic newbies!! Circle of Friends was created to bring people together to celebrate every day life!! A great group!! They have weekly outings and monthly meetings.

We started off with a flower and butterfly card. Glued decorative paper with a wave on the bottom of the card and added flower punchies (SU) along the wavy edge. Chalked our butterflies (SU) and mounted them with 3D foam tape. Added body definition and antenna with a fine black marker as well as a flight path with little black dots. The last thing was to add iridescent glitter glue to the flower centers and set them aside until the glitter glue was dry.

A quick and easy card sketch!! Change up the colours and the punchies and you can make a card for any occasion!!

Therese

Flower card for contest!

Another card for the Class Acts contest. I am down to the wire - the deadline is tonight!! Their new website went live today so there are lots new images, specials, prizes and free shipping - check them out at www.classact.ca I am loving their new look - very fresh and elegant!!

Back to the card!! This card features a stamped resist background which I create a while back. Added a scallop border highlighted in white on the right hand side and a Chapel Road stamp - The Earth laughs in flowers - on white, artichoke and salmon scallops to coordinate with the background. Added a sheer ribbon with a little bow!! The image is stamped in Bella Rose - Palette stamp pad which I bought from Carol at Class Acts!!

They have a new contest that starts tomorrow with a deadline of September 26 - plenty of time to get your stamps and participate!!

Enjoy your long weekend and find some time to create!!

Therese

Masculine card!

I created this card for my submission to the Class Acts blog contest. The deadline is 11pm tonight!! I am hoping to make another card using one of my Chapel Road stamps so I have two entries in the contest. Check out their new website!! A totally new look, contests, free shipping and lots of new stamps!!

Pretty straight forward - used corrugated paper from a light bulb package which I painted with a brown acrylic paint wash and added a bit of gold from a pigment pad once it was dry. The car is stamped in brown, trimmed, layered and placed over the fiber tie. The bottom edge is ripped to allow the "Hello" greeting to show.

Almost finished my class prep!!

Have a great day!!

Therese