January Card Club - Card #3 - quick and easy card featuring an embossed background, embossed layers and a framed postage stamp

Postage stamps are wonderful little pieces of art and I really like using them in my cards.  These ones are from a series which featured one for each province and territory of Canada.  I have my collection sorted so I was able to just take the envelope and sort through the stamps.  I chose the ones with the least obtrusive cancellation marks and soaked them in warm water to get them to release.  It only took a few minutes and I laid them flat with the image down for them to dry.  Once they were dry I cut little black cardstock rectangles to provide them a firm base and frame them nicely.  The backgrounds were embossed and highlighted gently with light coloured ink pads (top - Linen Distress ink, bottom - Memories dye ink - Gauze).  I provided a variety of cardstock scraps to provide some elements to create a design along with a variety of embossing folders to give them interesting texture.  I added paper piercing and distressing along with a torn edge on one of them.  Lots of options!!   With our elements created it was just a matter of creating an interesting layout - so many possibilities!!  The lobster is for Nova Scotia and the buffalo is for Manitoba.  I do not have a full set but there were about eight to choose from.  Nice to have versatile cards appropriate to more than one occasion in your card stash and I like to provide a variety of options in the design elements as well.  Therese
 

January Card Club - Card #2 - a layered card that features a fun bookmark

 For our second card I designed a card whose focal accent is a bookmark!!!  We adhered our backgrounds to our cards and then moved on to making the bookmark.  The top layer of the bookmark is pieced and then stamped with an image and embossed with embossing powder before being adhered to a coordinating cardstock rectangle.  We punched a hole at the top and added coordinating fiber.  The bookmark is held in place by a strip of cardstock applied across the card and only adhered on each side of the bookmark which allows for flexibility.  After adding paper piercing to my strips and tying on a piece of fiber, I positioned the strip upside down on the card front, positioned the bookmark and then applied double sided tape to each side avoiding the area where the bookmark will slide under.  After adhering the strip to the card front the bookmark slides nicely into place.  Therese

January Card Club - Card #1 - a few giggly bits on a panel over fun backgrounds

 So great to be back to cardmaking and sharing it with friends!!  We were a small group and we had a good time making the cards our own!!!  

This card features a giggly or wobbly accent which is created by adhering shapes to a thread with tape and then threading both ends to holes in the layer and then fastening the ends to the back with tape as well.  How much movement you get depends on how much slack you leave in the thread - the stars are less wiggly than the buttons!!  The buttons are wonderfully wiggly!!!  I tied crochet thread in the holes of the buttons to give them some texture.  The stars are double layered - silver metallic on gray!!  I mounted my elements to an embossed layer which I added to a card to which the background had already been added.  I did add some paper piercing as well with my pattern tracing wheel!  

It was so good to have like minded people in for a creative evening and even the new person had a good time.  Therese