Birthday card featuring a fun cupcake with a star and some ribbon flags

A fun card for one of my grandaughter's birthday which is coming up soon!!!  I started with a large envelope and created an off white card to fit inside.  I cut the piece of polka dot red paper for my background and decided to embellish it.  With a black Sharpie I added some hand drawn circles and three dots in all the large circles and put a single dot in the each small circle.  Next, I coloured all the circles in with yellow.  Finally, I used the open end of a nerf bullet to stamp red circles in between all the other ones.  The result adds some pizzazz!! I adhered it to my card front.  I laser printed the cute little cupcake (Melonheadz) after adding the birthday greeting, trimmed it to size and then watercoloured it using shimmery paint on the icing and a clear glitter gel pen on the dots and the swirl at the top.  I ran my tracing wheel on three edges and just below the greeting on the bottom.  I punched the bottom with a scallop punch (SU) and then added four shimmery embellishments in the four full scallops.  I layered it with red cardstock and added seven little red checkered ribbon flags on the right hand side.  To finish off my card I used 3D foam tape to adhere this focal element to my card front.  I like how the star echos the little yellow circles in my decorative paper.          Therese

All Occasion Cardmaking Class - decorative paper, embellished paper flowers and some bling

For our last card we went with quick and easy!!  The kits had one piece of decorative paper which could be adhered to the cardstock layer as one piece either at the top or bottom leaving enough room for the embellished paper flowers to be adhered into place.  I chose to tear my piece for the first one in a curvy line which allowed enough space in between to add my flowers.  I added the final flower at the top along with a little colour printed greeting which coordinated with the paper before adhering to my coordinating card front.  For the one on the right I cut the decorative paper in two, adhered them to the layer and glued this large layer to my coordinating card front then added my little flower embellishments.  The last flower was added over the end of my flagged greeting.  The paper flowers were wedding paper confetti which I jazzed up with little blingy flowers from my local dollar store.  These were sold on a sheet just like the rhinestones. They are very brilliant and catch the light very nicely.  They add a special touch to these cards.  This card sketch could easily be made up without a greeting which would make them more versatile.  A great way to finish off our afternoon.  The ladies were happy with their cards and we all had a relaxing afternoon. 

Therese

A thank you card featuring hand decorated paper, flower punchies and a chalkboard greeting

For this card I started with the scraps of hand decorated paper I had on my desk.  They were part of a masterboard I made a few months ago. You can check it out here.  These are the final scraps.  I trimmed the scraps into long rectangles, squares and small rectangles which I adhered to a green layer adding orange flowers to the top right and bottom left to create my background.  I added orange fiber to the fussy cut chalkboard tag greeting and mounted it over my background using 3D foam tape.  I added dots in the center of the flowers and then thinking it still needed something I added little glittery flowers which added a bit of texture and some bling.  Better!!!!  I mounted this large element to a sand coloured card to finish off another stash card. 

Therese

Cards as a gift feature serendipity die cuts, stamped backgrounds and embossed focal areas on small cards

 I was gifted some beautiful turquoise envelopes and have been working on finding a way to make cards that fit in them that coordinated as well as worked with their smaller size.  Overnight, I decided that if I created a serendipity collage that coordinated I would be able to die cut my focal elements.  So I made up this serendipity collage background and let it dry.  

 Next, I needed to work out the size of the cards (3.5" x 4 7/8") which I cut from white cardstock.  Wanting to highlight the die cuts I decided to use my Nestibilities circle dies to emboss a circle frame on the front which I have not done in quite a while but I did find my embossing mat and made up well over a dozen little cards.  Once they were embossed I wanted to stamp an all over design to coordinate with the envelopes and the serendipity die cuts.  I chose the Worn (SU) stamp and it took a few goes to get the ink colour right but then it was fairly quick to get them all done.  So the next thing was to get some die cuts which would stand on their own without greetings.  After a perusal of my dies I came up with these - a daisy (SX red), a butterfly(SX black), TH bird (TH), flower with a stem (Sizzlets), butterfly (SU Embosslit), tipsy heart (SX red), layered flower (CB), heart (Sizzlet strip) and bird (paisley on Sizzlet strip). 

For several of them I used silver cardstock to coordinate.  For the butterflies I used silver cord to make their antenna and I added fun bling to the flower with a stem and the larger heart.  The paisley so easily makes a little bird by adding a tiny black brad, a black cardstock beak and some legs just drawn in with a black marker.  I added two little green branches (MS) to the layered flower.  
I am super happy with how they all turned out and I will be packaging these cute little cards up to pass back to the person who gifted me the envelopes.            Therese

A fun hedgehog with glittery balloons on a coordinating label, some new bling and an embossed background

I am still make cards for my stash and have managed to use another piece of a used card.  Check out my first card here. I cut out the little hedgehog using an oval thinlit (SX).  I layered him onto a dark pink label die cut which coordinates with the balloons and flowers.  First time using both of these dies though I have used the others in the set.  I found a nice green card front that coordinating with my image and added a white embossed layer which I trimmed into four parts before adhering in place.  I mounted my focal element over the gaps.  I added some new bling - not rhinestones - but still very glittery!!!  I layered the laser printed greeting (Word Window punch - SU) onto a green label (Modern Label Punch - SU) and mounted it to my card front in the lower left hand corner.  I don't usually leave so much white space but this one works for me.           Therese

Birthday card for a special little girl!!

Our youngest grandchild is having her birthday soon and I made her this card!!  I used a fun card front that features flowers and a little bird!  I mounted it on an embossed green card front and added a little laser printed greeting on the lower right which I embellished with my pattern tracing wheel!  Little girls like bling so I added two coordinating butterfly embellishments and a little heart on the greeting. 
We look forward to seeing her later this fall!!

Therese

Bottle cap pendants

Another project we tackled when my grand daughter was visiting.  We had collected several bottle caps from an event we attended and thought we would apply some creativity and turn them into pendants.
It took a little more effort to flatten these ones as they had already been crimped onto bottles.  Read - lots of prying with pliers and hammering iwth mallets!!
We printed the sayings off of the internet, glued them into our bottle caps and added beads and bling.  For some of them we also added some clear dimensional paint (clear sun catcher paint). Once they were dry we added a string and some danglies using jump rings.  We created our own jump rings using paperclips.  You just straighten the paper clip, wrap tightly around a skewer, remove and cut down one side with wire snips - quick and inexpensive jump rings!!  She took a few home to continue to craft with.

Therese

Love cards

 Managed to get my Valentine's card made while I was rushing around getting ready to go on vacation!!  I created this cool little cityscape digital stamp for my card!!  I have been toying with the idea of creating my own digital images for a while and decided to start with something I could manage.  I have seen quite a few cityscape images used on cards and thought I could manage the lines involved in creating one of these for myself.  It required a few basic tools - smooth white cardstock, a pencil, an eraser and a black fine tip sharpie.  Using my pencil I started sketching buildings at the left and just kept going.

 Once I was happy with the buildings I went over them with my black fine tip sharpie then erased the pencil lines.  I scanned the original, cleaned up any stray pixels digitally in PSElements, gave it a transparent background and saved it as a PNG.  I laser printed one image for my Valentine's card and layered several for my other two cards.  I love it!!!!
For my Valentines' card I added faux stitching to the edges of my quarter sheet.  I stamped LOVE in red pigment ink and embossed it in red embossing powder.  Die cut a U from silver cardstock to place next to it.  I added a black ribbon as a base for my letters and a little red heart rhinestone!!  Done!!

For the other two cards which I will be using for a card exchange I added faux stitching to my printed quarter sheets using a black sharpie and used a red gel pen to add hearts in the windows of my buildings.  I stamped and embossed my LOVE word, wrote the rest of the quote in black marker by hand, layered it on black and added it to the front of my cards using 3D foam tape.
On hind sight I could have used more height variance in my buildings but I am happy with my first attempt.  I am very happy to have art of my own to use in my card making!!
Therese

Christmas cards!!

Pink Christmas cards!! Have been wanting to make some pink ones for quite a while, so with a card swap on Just Cards themed The Letter P I decided that pink and peace would work for the month of October and made it happen. It also works for Sylvia's Christmas card challenge for September which was Non Traditional colours so I am on a roll!! Come to think of it, the challenge on CST is monochromatic and this card will work for that as well!! Wow - lots of bang for the effort. I created 7 of these - one will be sent off for the swap and the others are headed to my Christmas card stash!!

If you haven't started your Christmas cards yet, check out Sylvia's blog for her challenge - she has had a monthly challenge since January - and get started with any of the challenges that catches your eye. A few cards per week until December 1 and you will be happy!! There are other challenges available. Just do a search or check out the ones I have listed on my right hand sidebar!!

As you can see there are two versions of this card - the simple and elegant one which I started with and as I proceeded card #4 received some bling and so did a few others!! I am of two minds about whether they all should have bling or not!! It is so like me to not be able to make more than a few cards exactly the same!! I will have to sleep on it!!

I cut the ornament (SX) from shimmery pink Core di nations cardstock! I cut the wave from shimmery white cardstock (Bazzill) using a Quikutz Cookie Cutter die I recently acquired!! I also cut the hanger from the same shimmery cardstock layering them onto the main ornament with a bit of white glue and trimming the wave to the edge. I stamped Peace (Chapel Road - Class Act) onto the lower bottom corner of a piece of white cardstock in pink and embossed the whole thing with Musical Flourish (CB) embossing folder. I mounted the ornament to the embossed layer using 3D foam tape incorporating a pearly string beneath the hanger, used double sided tape to hold the free end to the back of the card and added a length of shimmery pink and white ribbon about a half inch from the top by gluing both ends to the back with double sided tape. I glued this layer to pink, trimmed it close and mounted it to a white card front. I decided to add a short piece of string to the pink ribbon. Simply tied it around the ribbon with a double knot and situated it to overlap the ornament's string. I like the look!! The last few got some bling!!

Still have one more card swap to finish and a few other projects on the go!!

Class Act has a new challenge on their blog! You could win some rubber!! Go and check them out!!

Therese

Challenge Christmas cards

A friend of mine decided to create a challenge!! She cut a whole bunch of these scallop cards using her XL Sizzix die from bright red cardstock and handed them out to 5-6 of us and challenged us to think outside the box and make some cards!! Some were beginner card makers and others have been at it a bit longer and I am probably the veteran. It was a fun challenge and I was super impressed by what the other created - much more out of the box and

creative than I managed to be!! She brought all 23 cards to cardmaking class on Wednesday night and let everyone who was there vote on which one they liked the best. She also had the girls at her workplace vote so we don't yet know who's card came in first but it was fun for all of us to have the chance to create. She has created a prize for the winner - a nice quilted bag.

As you can see, I got started making Christmas cards and just kept

going!! The others were much more broad in their creations - sympathy cards, etc. I also used the cards as is, others added them as a layer on A2 sized cards!!!!!! Those were really nice and that option created so many more possibilities.

Card #1 - A layer of decorative paper to which I added a greeting and some other stamping, some die cut buttons with embroidery thread tied into them, a bit of ribbon and some embellishment to the scallops using a white gel pen.

Card #2 - mini fiber snowflakes attached with glitter glue, large rhinestones, an embossed rectangle on which I layered a stamped greeting!

Card #3 - decorative paper trimmed by hand to reflect the scalloped border, a stamped label embellished with a stamped greeting and 5 petal punch (SU) poinsettia!

Card #4 - decorative paper die cut with an oval with a colour printed winter village scene below it, a bit of ribbon and a stamped greeting layered below the opening.

Card #5 - Lots of piercing, an embossed layer, a glittered tree and a round greeting layered over a die cut bookplate!!'

It was a very fun challenge and I congratulate all the other players for their great cards!! Will let you know if any of the above won or placed at all!! Thanks to Diane for the challenge!!

UPDATE: Just a note to say that Card #4 was the second most voted card in the challenge. One of my friend's card came in first so she decided to award the prize to the next in line which was me!! Here is the wonderful bag that she made as the Grand Prize!!

It is a large colourful bag which is great for all sorts of occasions!! Opens up wide for great access to the contents - I took it shopping on the weekend!!

Thanks, Diane!!

Therese

St. Patrick's card

Imagine having your birthday on St. Patrick's Day!! I saw a cloverleaf made with hearts on Splitcoast Stampers at the beginning of March and later discovered one of the girls on one of my groups has a March 17 birthday so I decided to make her a card. Needless to say, it will be late because I only got to it this week!! Handmade cards are always a nice surprise in our mail boxes!!

I die cut the hearts (CB), scored them down the middle and glued them to a white layer. I cut a stem and glued it in place. Several layers, a bit of bling and a layered greeting!! Quick and easy!!

Click on the image to see that I used a tracing wheel - a very well loved one - to add texture to the card front and around the edges of the white layers!! Totally fun!! Well used ones can only be purchased at a thrift store or garage sale but are well worth buying if you find one!! They do not pierce the cardstock, instead they just deboss it so you can easily make all sorts of gorgeous curvy lines in a hurry!! I do have a new one as well which I am sure will pierce cardstock which would add a totally different look!!

Thrifty Tip - I coloured my bling with Sharpie markers!! I usually buy clear rhinestones so I can make them any colour I need to coordinate with my project using my markers!! You could use alcohol inks as well - just apply with qtip!!

Have fun!!

Therese

Charms ready to go!!

I have managed to embellish some of my polymer clay charms by adding jump rings and some sort of little embellishment from my metals drawer and for some, bling as well. Most of the embellishments I added to the jump ring so that they would stay loose and interactive. For a few I added them using large glue dots. Seems to work very well. I was not able to pull them back off so I am expecting they are there to stay.

To the beads I made, I added a few commercial beads and a fancy little end. I am not very proficient in wire work so the ends are not as pretty as I would like but reasonable. Not sure what else I could be putting on the ends of the wire to keep the beads from falling off. Will have to do some on line research and see what I can find.

Now the question will be - Which ones do I use for the swap? and What will I do with the rest of them?? Maybe a few RAKs are in order!!

Therese

ABCanada - Nature ATC

On my Altered Group we are doing a Nature ATC swap!! This is out of my usual colour scheme but I have been working on getting out of my comfort zone so I just went with it!! I punched the flower out of the original layer and attached with 3Dfoam tape just over a bit and backed the hole with turquoise cardstock and added a rhinestone to the center. Overstamped the background with the quote and then added the quote stamped in red on white which I ripped apart to make it fit. Added a turquoise and white fiber tied to the belly of it all. I have sent it along to another player and she will have the fun of including it when creating an altered book page!!
I received this ATC from Linda which I will include in an altered book page sometime this week!! Check later and see what I have created!!
It has been a busy week prepping for my card class.

Therese

Cardmaking - Jan - vellum envelope

These cards feature a cute little envelope that holds a little heart tag - another place you can put a little surprise!! The vellum envelope is easy to make and I added a little ribbon pull between the heart and the little square card which makes removing it easier. A little bling too!!

Vellum envelope: You need a square piece of paper. I used a 3" square of vellum which made an envelope just slightly larger than 2" square. You need to mark the center of each edge. Use a rule or do what I do. Fold each side in half and SLIGHTLY crease the fold ONLY at the edge. Vellum marks very easily. Now fold to the center one point and fold it from one mark to the next. If you wish, you can GENTLY score the line before you fold the point in. Now, fold two more points to the center which will give you a little envelope pocket which you can fill with fun stuff!! You will need to hold the points down with something - I usually use a little sticker but in this case I wanted the little heart tag to really show so I used a band of vellum which I attached to the back.
For reference: 4.25" square makes a 3" envelope

Make these appropriate for any occasion by changing up the decorative paper and the colour of the heart and tag!!

Therese

My Art - Cardmaking - glittered snowflake

This snowflake looks so great in real life - so sparkly!! I used the hole from die cutting a Sizzix snowflake!! It worked out so well!! I did a few experiments before I settled on using label on the back of the hole to hold the glitter. Works really well for getting a nice coverage of glitter. I used the large label sheets (8.5" x 11") and cut a piece the size I needed to cover the snowflake and placed it on the back!! Added two long skinny pieces to the top and bottom then a large bling to the center and covered it with glitter. I gently rubbed the glitter into the adhesive to ensure good covereage. The excess shakes off quite easily and I used a little brush to get off any of the extra. I mounted this to the front of the card and added my layered greeting using 3D foam tape.

THRIFTY TIP: Consider using the hole created with you die cut a shape!! It gives you two pieces to craft with instead of one!!

These cards will surely bring good cheer to someone on my Christmas list!!
Therese