Anniversary card that features a hand embossed metal heart, an embossed background and braided fiber

I created this card for DH for our anniversary!!  He is a music guy so I like to include sheet music when I make a card for him.  I started with an oversized envelope and made an ivory card that fits inside. 
I manually embossed the red metal heart which was in my stash with swirls and then found these TH die cuts which I cut a while back when I was visiting my friend, Linda.  I combined a large sheet music heart with a black inner piece and then sponged all the way around in black so it would contrast against the polka dot embossed background.  I chose three different fibers - white flat, red bumpy and black crochet thread and braided them together to create a fiber accent for my card.  I added a black border to both ends of my white/watercolour background, positioned my fiber gluing the ends to the back and then mounted this to a red layer leaving a small margin all the way around.  I mounted the red heart with 3D foam tape and then added the musical heart below it.  I glued this large element to my ivory card.  Finally, I added a small laser printed greeting which I sponged with a bit of red so it would stand out a bit using 3D foam tape.  I seem to always gravitate to hearts for anniversary cards though I don't need much of an excuse to use hearts on any of my cards - one of my favorite elements.    Therese

BEE Attitudes book

Our god daughter is being confirmed this week and I made her a little book to help her incorporate into her life the Fruits of the Spirit!!
The cover features the Law of Attraction which highlights the fact that you are the co creator of your life.  You use your thoughts, words and actions to create in the physical world.  The earlier in life that we realize that we are in charge of our lives and responsible for our choices and their consequences the sooner that we can consciously choose the thoughts, words and actions that will bring us what we seek in life.

 For these two pages, I laser printed the words and quotes onto a 4.25" x 11" piece of white cardstock. I sponged them with yellow, blue and green ink and used hand cut stencils to add some texture to the pages.  I folded it in half to create a page that is 4.25" by 5.5" and sewed the bottom and open side with my sewing machine which created a pocket.  I cut several tags (2" x 4.25") with "I choose" printed at the top which she can use to record her insights and for reminders to herself.  They can be stored in the pocket.

I found a version of the Fruits of the Spirit that was appropriate for her age and laser printed them on white cardstock.  I also created an affirmation tag for each of them that she can write on and store in the pockets created by the pages.  I wanted the theme to be BEE Attitudes and that is where these bees came in!!  Each page features flowers of some kind, a bee and one word.
I created each page, one at a time.  I started by embossing the quarter sheet, adding the flowers and embellishments and sewing on the word.  Once all my pages were finished, I placed a pair of them

back to back and sewed down both sides and across the bottom creating a pocket for the affirmation tags.  I had eight pages which gave me four double sided pages.  I added the bees with 3D foam tape once the pages were sewn.
For my first page, I embossed a quarter sheet of green cardstock with distressed lines, added some layered punchie flowers and finished them off with hand cut stems and leaves.  I sewed on my word.
On this page, I used a polka dot embossing folder (SU), added flowers created using red five petal punchies (SU) layered with yellow flowers with red circle punchie centers. I added some green swirls cut from a small die made by Sizzix.

 For this page, I added half of a white scalloped die cut (NS) on the left hand side and a layered die cut flower (SX) on the right hand side of the embossed cardstock.  The largest one on the back is from the Tattered flower die (TH) cut from shimmery hand decorated paper which I received in a prize package.  I sewed on the word.

For this page, I layered several scalloped circles (NS) and attached them to the embossed cardstock (QK) using a white mini brad.  I applied a piece of tape to the back of the cardstock so that the prongs would not interfere with getting the tags in and out.

 For this page, I added a layered die cut flower over the embossed cardstock (CB) and inserted a little leafed branch (SU) die cut just under its edge before sewing on the word.

 For this page, I added three layered flowers created using five petal punchies (SU) in red and blue flower punchies with yellow circle punchie centers over the embossed cardstock (SU) along with some little green leaves left over from cutting the swrirls and then sewed on my word.  For these ones I lined up the blue flower petals with the dips instead of the petals on the red ones.  It gives them a different look than the red and yellow ones above

For this page, I added two rows of black and white washi tape over the embossed cardstock and then sewed on my word.  I created a flower using a corrugated cardboard flower punchie (SU) layered with a red five petal punchie and several smaller circles for the center.  I added three green swirls which I cut with the small swirl die (SX) I used earlier.  I adhered it to my page using double sided tape.  This is my favorite page!

 This page features a large flower created using three scalloped circles and a couple of flower punchies.  I glued the flower over the embossed cardstock and then sewed on my word overlapping the flower.

The back page is blank on both sides and holds blank tags.  It is created using a 4.25"x 11" of white cardstock folded in half and sewed just like the front cover to create a pocket.  This will give her some space to do her own art and personalize her book.

I used my Zutter Binding machine to punch the holes  in all the page and used a 3/4" black wire binding to bind my pages together.  To add a bit of texture I tied some fibers to the wire binding.



I am hoping she will make the book her own by embellishing the pages, adding fibers and maybe some charms to the binding and making use of the tags.
I am very happy with how this little book has turned out and how quickly it came together.  I do admit I have been percolating this idea for some time and it certainly contributed to how quickly it came together.
We are so happy to be close enough to participate in this event and be there to celebrate with her family!!

Therese

Fiber and charms!

 Today, we made charms for our journals!!  In the photo you can see the progression of how they were created.  We started with a chipboard tag die cut (SZ)  to which we glued bits - screening and punchies.  Next we covered both sides with sticky backed duct tape and used a pencil to impress the edges thereby getting the front and back sticky tape to be well adhered to each other.  Next we trimmed the top and bottom with scissors and continued to use the pencil to reveal the texture of our elements and to add yet more texture to any other areas we thought needed a bit more.  Then, we did the other side.  Then we added black permanent marker over both sides and rubbed off as much as we wanted which leaves some black in the grooves and provides definition in our design.  Today, I also provided colour Sharpie markers so the students could colour in some of the elements and/or backgrounds of their tags.  We used cotton cording to tie our charms to the front of our journals.  These were fun to make and look so real!!

Here is my other journal with its little heart tag!!  I also added some fibers to the binding to make it more funky!!  With our embellishing done it was time to write in our journals!!  Some were keeping their journals as a gift so they did not write in theirs.

We will be making cards with our embossed paper in our next session!!

Therese

Mixed Media advent calendar

I have been working on a Mixed Media Advent Calendar for a swap on AFTCM for the better part of a week now - off and on between cleaning up and sorting my stuff!!
I am so happy with how it worked out!!!!!!!!!!
I used heavy weight cardstock - the backs I ripped off of commercial cards before I refurbished them for donating. Check out the cards here and here.

 Check out the process I used for decorating both sides of these papers before I created the little houses.  For the backs - the glossy ones have alcohol ink backgrounds and the matte ones have collage.  All the fronts were decorated with a multiple step paper decorating process that used a handmade stamp, acrylic paint and plastic wrap.  Fun!!

To keep all the houses looking like they belonged in the same neighborhood I decided they would all have black roofs, A's down their sides, a door and windows.  Each also has a number which doubles as a house number.  After all, we need to know how many sleeps before the big day!!
So there are little houses, big houses, skinny houses and everything  in between. Even a few duplexes!!

 Some with chimneys, some with dormers, some with hedges and a wide variety of roof styles.  The scored flaps are folded to the back and tied on the sides with fiber to create a little pocket which holds the surprise of the day as we count down.  The letters on the roofs and down the sides were created with decorative packing tape I bought at Michaels last year!!

 Worked so well - added texture and a funky style to the whole lot!!  It was fun to design doors and windows for each house and hand draw the details.  They were all layered and watercoloured to give them a bit of dimension.  None of the houses are exactly the same.

 So click on the photos and check out the fun little details I added.  A little bit of something below the roof line, something above or around the door, etc.  I used brads and eyelets for the door handles.

They have numbers on the backs as well.  These were die cut from foil lids!!  The little pockets are waiting to be filled!!
It has been a super fun project.  It can be used to count down to any occasion and left up year round should the recipient be so inclined!!
A wonderful little neighborhood!!


I have a few leftover card backs which I hope to use to make another little village.  Maybe I will use different architectural guidelines for the next one!!!  What fun!!  They can stand on a shelf or mantle or maybe could be tied together to stand independantly.
Consider making yourself a fun little advent calendar that you can reuse every year to count down to Christmas and, if you make it fun enough, it will decorate your house or studio all year long!!  A new tradition!!
Would love to see what you have created!  Leave a comment and include a link!!

Therese

Cards with calendar page art

This week we finished our calendars so I prepared cards kits for the students to work on for the last two classes.
 Here are some of the cards I put together with pieces I had previously prepared for the art calendars. I was working with a 4.25" x 5.5" format so I simply trimmed their edges with decorative scissors and glued them to coordinating card fronts.
The embossed leaf was in my stash so I combined it with decorative paper and

coordinating cardstock then added a short piece of ribbon with a mini staple tocreate a card!!
We also played with shrink plastic which is always a hit with the students.

Therese

Exchange card - Canada

I created this card for my card exchange tonight!! It will also fit the challenge on ORSA for a Canada Day card and for the yellow theme on By Hand!!

I started with a piece of yellow decorative paper, overlaid a 1 3/8" punchie and the stippled 3 different yellow inks all the way around to make a nice bright sun. I then used the "hole" from the punchie and sponged some orange into the sun area. I added a set of bare trees in brown and some evergreens in olive. Used a mask and sponged on some blue to create the look of water. Layered my image onto brown cardstock. I used a brown card which had a green embossed layer - reeds - laid over it. I raised the image element using 3D foam tape and added some DYI bakers twine.

Thrifty Tip: Follow this link to the video OR click the link under TUTORIALS on the right hand side bar!! The twine is super easy to make and requires only a few basic supplies. Try it!!

NOTE: Be sure to really saturate your thread with ink so that there are no light spots when you are using it on your project.

A card that celebrates summer, camping, Canada and all that is good about all of them!!

Therese

Handmade Paper Art book - colouring with paper

This page was fun because we used tissue paper to "colour" our page! It is cool to see the colours that are created as the tissue paper strips are glued down in an overlapping pattern. Each student cut out a house shape, added details using marker or gel pen, stapled it to their tissue paper background, coloured and trimmed their quote and added it with brads and finally glued on their embossed red hearts!! I laid my tissue paper strips to create a rainbow. Each student was provided with a variety of colourful paper strips to choose from so each background was somewhat different. One student glued hers vertically for a really different look!

Chose this quote as a reminder that when we choose to love it has a transformative effect in our lives!!

Choose to think, speak and act more lovingly today!!

Therese

Handmade Paper Art book - cover

The cover of our books!! Each student chose a set of four sheets of handmade paper for their covers. We used two sheets of handmade paper (5.5"x8.5") for each cover/book page which allowed the backs of our brads and staples to not show in our book. After adding our art/instructions to each sheet we glued it to its coordinating sheet to create our pages. We glued a small black circle over the edge of the joined sheets, punched a couple of holes and tied on some colourful fiber - a decorative element that was added for style & function!!

In our second art session we created Zentangle designs!! These nice bold letters (A, R, T) are a font printed with only the outline and perfect for filling with zentangles. It is wonderful that the student's personal work is so prominently featured on their books!

In the next session we glued our decorated letters behind the holes of this film strip die cut (SX). The die has only two holes in it, so to create a continuous strip for our letters I folded over one section of the black cardstock strip and placed the fold very close to the cutting edge of the die before passing it through my Big Kick - voila! - a film strip with three holes!! I gave them a large silver star die cut, a small round tag for the year and some brads to add them to the front cover.

The back cover features a small silver star punchie attached with a brad. They all added their "rock star" signature next to the stars!! It took a little practice to make sure that art was not placed on the binding edge and to keep the pages upright to each other but with a little vigilance on my part we managed reasonably well to have all the art and pages properly oriented.

This quote ended up on the inside of my back cover because we required a catch up day to ensure that everyone's pages were ready for binding at the same time which eliminated one of the pages I had planned and left this quote without a page of its own. I thought it important enough to insert into their books at some place or another!!

We all need to remember that the trajectory of our lives is affected by what we think, what we say and what we do. It is always best to choose these wisely!!

Therese

Technique book pages - dryer sheets

My next foray into backgrounds was to delve into the possibilities of using dryer sheets!! After some internet research I would caution that some believe that the chemicals contained in dryer sheets are dangerous and should be avoided.

I worked with used dryer sheets - ones that had been used in the dryer many times but would consider washing them before using them the next time around. The techniques really work best with depleted sheets so if you choose not to use the dryer sheets you should launder them before you proceed. You may be able to obtain what you need by asking friends and family to save them

for you or to post to a Freecycle group and ask for what you need.

The basic idea is just to apply colour to the sheets to make them interesting. I used acrylic craft paint, glitter paint and acrylic ink on my pages. I attached the backgrounds to cardstock by capturing them between two layers using double sided tape. I attached the butterfly sequin using a glue dot which secured the butterfly and background to the cardstock.

For colour, you can also consider tea, coffee, dyes, liquid acrylic, textile paints, fabric dyes, reinkers, alcohol inks, spritz and mists - even Koolaid (no sugar)!! I lay the dryer sheets onto plain bond and used a brush to apply the paint and in some cases used several different colours on the same sheet. Because the dryer sheets are so thin the colour medium will soak through creating yet more background paper as you decorate the dryer sheets. Lay them out on a protected surface to dry. You can also consider soaking the sheets - plain or tied - in containers of colour medium, removing them later and laying them out to dry. Either way it is recommended that you iron the backgrounds to heat set the colour. To protect your iron it is best to press them between two sheets of bond paper. Once ironed they are ready to be used in your art!

Some people have stamped or stenciled them to add yet more dimension. Many textile artists are using them to layer into their mixed media art, quilters use them for several different techniques and they can be used to create embellishments in the same way that fabric or ribbon would be used.

There are two techniques that I read about while doing online research that I would like to try. One recommended layering the dryer sheet on a plastic or resistant surface (silicone) and painting it with white glue and sprinkling on glitter. This created a beautifully transparent material which was used to create dove and snowflake ornaments. I expect you could colour your glue with ink and get a coloured version. This may have the feel of fabric.

The other is to used dryer sheets to create "fabric paper". Lay the dryer sheet on a resistant surface and brush on thinned glue (1 part water to 2 parts glue). Then start layering on thin papers with thinned glue between each layer. Add cut out elements, paper napkins or even items such as lace and ribbon for colour and texture. Finish the piece with a layer of neutral tissue paper and a final layer of glue. I have been wanting to try this for a while though was sort out of the scope of this project so I have put it off yet again.

There is also a technique called "Dryer sheet technique" where you coat a colourful image with adhesive, layer on a dryer sheet and add glitter! Great for Christmas cards!! You can check it out here on Splitcoast Stampers.

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 - June - butterflies!

More bright summery cards! These feature great embossed stickers of butterflies and dragonflies!! There were a bunch of stickers on each sheet of these and I still have some left to use on yet another card. Used them here in my All Occasions Class!!

I embossed two thirds of the card front using different Cuttlebug and SU embossing folders. Layered the sticker on coordinating cardstock, tied on some fiber and mounted the element on my card front with 3D foam tape.

Quick and easy cards!! A greeting could easily be added on the flat area or layered below the accent.

Therese

KN - Sticky note books

These are always great for little gifts for almost anyone!! I created them using decorative cardstock, added a button and some fiber for the closure. They fit right into a yarn store!! Brought a whole bunch in a wide variety of colours and designs to suit everyone!!

Therese

Masculine Cards

Started off creating a card for my card club exchange which needed to feature some of the paper I brought back from London so decided to combine that with the masculine card challenge on Crazy 4 Challenges. Here is what I managed to create!! I decided to make more than one because it is nice to have some on hand.
I used this really nice kraft paper which is printed with black glossy round images! My favorite of the papers I brought back. I embossed in black embossing powder the images I stamped so they would coordinate with the paper. I cut out the images with my circle cutter, added some doodling to the edges with black sharpie and cut black circles to layer them onto. Used eyelets, fiber and printed greetings on a few of them. The others I stamped with bleach on the black to get the warm brown lettering!! Very cool!!
One morning! Five cards using the same supplies but all different!! Success!!!

Therese

Chunky Art Book - # 13 - snow scene

Stamped background paper, border punched and watercoloured strip, punchies, watercoloured image and word.

The charm on this page coordinates nicely but its words are quite faint due to using a failing Sharpie to write the words.

Added a little pin pricking to the decorative strip and some dots around the image in both black and white.

Therese

Chunky Art Book - # 6 - pouffy flower

Colour washed decorative paper for the background, a pouffy flower with leaves and strips, doodled border, a quote and flower confetti embellishment. The flower charm goes really well with this page. We created these pouffy flowers in one of our art sessions. Eight scallop punchies of colourful tissue paper layered and stapled onto a green cardstock scallop. Starting with the first one - each scallop is tightly scrunched to the middle. Add the leaves (cut from a SU five petal punchie) and fluff the petals - a cute little flower accent. The quote is another of my favorites - one of my own creations!!

Therese

Chunky Art Book - # 3 - angels

A colour washed background paper in black tones, a laser printed angel image layered onto red paste paper, embellished strips and a cute little tag with the angel quote and paper ribbon!! I added a doodled border all the way around with a black fine tipped Sharpie. The charm features a quote about art which is one of my favorites and is attached with some loopy fiber!

Therese

My Art - Thank you cards

Made some thankyou cards this weekend!!! I used a pad of 6 x 6 scrapbooking paper I bought a while back which has a rose theme. These feature three sheets of the same patterned paper combined with caramel, cocoa and plum cardstocks. It was fun to try to do something different on each one. A few have fibers, others have stamping as well and most have some sort of decorative punching (scallop SU, doily MS)!! Very happy with how these turned out!!

Therese

My Art - Cardmaking - embossed

Cardmaking for October has come and gone!! This was a fun card to prepare - no kits were the same!! I embossed backgrounds using several different Cuttlebug embossing folders and stamped images on decorated glossy cardstock in Memories ink or embossed them with metallic embossing powder. The image was layered on the card front and the insert glued to the inside before I tied on the bundle of fibers!! These cards were a lot of fun and it was fun to see how all the different images and colour combinations came together!!

Therese

One Sheet Wonder - Christmas cards #2

Like I was saying in the last post you can just change it up a little for a new look. Here I changed the stamps and used the same colours. Consider changing the colours instead of the stamps!! I think I will use this technique for some quick and easy gift tags for the holiday season as well!!

Therese

Christmas cards - One Sheet wonder!

Here is a set of cards I made with a One Sheet Wonder I stamped!! This a great little technique if you want to make some coordinating card sets or to make some cards in short order!! I decorated a half sheet of cardstock with some stamps - one large, one medium and one small and one for filler in coordinating colours!! I really liked the way this one turned out. I cut the half sheet into pieces to create these cards. It was fun to pick cardstocks, ribbon and fiber to work with.

You can use other hand decorated papers for this technique or any sort of decorative paper like scrapbook paper, etc. This would be a great techique for making card sets for gift giving this holiday season. Great for Christmas card if you don't like making them all the same. Change up only the colours and you can have a totally different look. You can also consider cutting your OSW piece into lots of only one shape and to make the process go faster. All kinds of options!!

Have fun!!

Therese