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

A large thank you card that features a delicate die cut, ribbon and a beautiful greeting

This card is for a special person who has been integral in getting a project I have been a part of off the ground by donating his precious time. 
I started with a large envelope and cut an ivory card to fit inside.  I found some scraps of this beautiful colour printed decorative paper (Morgue File) which I cut up and mounted to a layer of brown cardstock just a little smaller than my card front.  I die cut this embossed border (Spellbinders) and threaded through a coordinating green ribbon and adhered the ends to the back using double sided tape.  I added clear rhinestones to the top of each embossed section.  The greeting is one I created with the NOEL font and laser printed.  I trimmed it to size and then watercoloured the letters in green.  I mounted the greeting to a piece of the same brown cardstock I used for the background and mounted it using 3D foam tape.  I adhered this large layer to my ivory card front.  Very pleased with how this worked out!!  Most appreciate it when others offer their help with time and resources!!!  Therese

A birthday card using new Spell Binders Ironworks Accent die, birthday greeting digital image from The Spruce and some shimmery ribbon

Another card for my stash!!  This one features a die cut from a "new to me" Spellbinders set - Iron Work Accents.  It is perfect for using with round greetings so I laser printed this one from The Spruce which is a fun birthday greeting.  I punched out the greeting (1.75" SU), sponged the edge and added a little silk flower with a sequin and a brad to add some texture to this card.  I adhered the greeting to the green die cut which I had embellished with a clear glitter gel pen.  The background is an embossed and sanded white core cardstock, layered onto pink foil gift wrap and then onto a green card front.  I added the layered greeting to the card using 3D foam tape.  It still needed a bit of something to I added a length of shimmery white ribbon and tied on a short length using a single knot to simulate a bow.  I used a slot punch (SU) to make a cut on th spine to facilitate getting the ribbon end adhered to the inside of the card.  Flagged the ends of the ribbon to finish off my card and that was definitely better.               Therese

Thank you card sets using small envelopes

 I received a generous donation of cardmaking supplies which included some envelopes which are just a bit smaller than A2 so I have decided to use them to make Thank you card sets.  I love this paper!!!!!!!!  My daughter donated several scrapbooking kits to me a while back and this gorgeous paper was included in a fun paper pack.  The pattern is in the paper so I just trimmed it down to work with these cards and glued them to brown cards.

I watercoloured the laser printed digital greeting punchies and then layered them onto die cut scalloped circles before adhering them to my embellished card front.  They needed nothing more though I did try several times to include "more" to no avail so these came together fairly quickly due to their simplicity. 

Therese

Dove ornament for Christmas!!

I created this red dove ornament for a special person and like it so much I will be making more to include in my Christmas cards to my friends this year!!
I cut two doves (SB) and glued them back to back and added a gold embroidery thread hanger.  Added the year on the back using a black marker.  They would certainly be great in any wonderful paper - glitter, metallic, shimmery, etc so I will have to scour my stash to see what I can find to make them special for each person on my list!!

Therese

Dragonfly with alcohol inks on a collage background

I needed a special card this week and so went looking in my stash of collage backgrounds to see if anything would be suitable.  I chose this serendipity background which has been embossed with the Lattice embossing folder.  I die cut the dragonfly from it and wanted to fill the space with a striking dragonfly die cut.  This is my fourth attempt and I am very happy with it!!  I die cut the dragonfly (Spell binders) from silver foiled cardstock and coloured it with alcohol inks.  I punched 1/16 inch holes to create a flight path for the dragonfly and then backed my serendipity background with some turquoise metallic paper which shows through the flight path and the die cut dragonfly hole.  I glued this large element to a kraft card front.  I applied glue dots to the back of the body my dragonfly die cut once it was dry and glued it into the hole.  I lifted the ends of the wings a bit to give the dragonfly some dimension.  Love the way it turned out!!              Therese

Die cut red dove Christmas ornaments

A few weeks ago I found this little pile of special red duplex paper in my stash.  I bought it years ago from a store that indicated that this paper was used by their Chinese community for Chinese New Year celebrations.  It symbolizes good fortune and joy!! Having recently become more aware of the Chinese New Year I did a google search and found that it is a country wide festival/celebration where people make every effort to go home and bring in the new year with their extended families.  They let go of the old year and welcome the new year wishing everyone good fortune and joy with little gifts in red envelopes.
So I have decided to wish my friends and special others good fortune and joy with little red dove die cut (Spellbinders) ornaments made out of this special paper. I added a simple gold thread hanger which made these very quick and easy!!  The paper is scented which just adds a little something to these ornaments.
They would look great on the Christmas tree but are beautiful enough to hang anywhere year around as a reminder to keep an eye out for the good fortune and joy that is coming their way.

Therese

Christmas Card Class #1 - a peaceful dove

For my second card I wanted to use this beautiful dove die from Spellbinders.  I have had it for a while but have not really used it a lot.  I bought it because it is such a versatile image and certainly would make great Christmas cards.
So I cut out doves from white cardstock and then cut the PEACE (SX) word from the same cardstock using only the one word from this long Sizzlit die (peace, love, joy).  Next, I went looking for backgrounds that would be suitable for these doves.  I found some hand decorated paper I made a while back when I sister was visiting which really worked well.  We had used watercolours and added salt which creates the starburst which simulate stars or snowflakes depending on how you look at it!!  Once my backgrounds were trimmed out I cut coordinating card fronts.  When it came time to combine the doves with the background papers I found that some backgrounds would be best with ivory accents so I cut a few ivory doves and words to go with those backgrounds.
I started assembling my card by gluing my dove to the top portion of my background and then adding the word PEACE to the bottom portion.  I used a fine tip glue applicator for the words which kept the glue where it was supposed to be.  The layout looked a bit sparse but I was really not wanting to detract from the main elements too much so I added some wavy lines with my pattern tracing wheel.  That was much better! Still needed something - I decided to add a small heart at an intersecting point of the lines between my dove and the word.  That was perfect!!
My second card features some burgundy holly gift wrap as a background which works very well too!
Love the simplicity of this card with those beautiful elements which pretty much stand on their own!!

Therese