Father's Day card featuring real wood accents, a chickadee digital and a little font greeting

My Dad was a carpenter most of his working life and wood reminds me of him.  I am fortunate that my DH is also a wood worker and saves me all the beautiful thin pieces which get trimmed off of his projects.  These little pieces are cedar.  I backed the thin wood with sticky label before trimming the pieces out so they would keep some integrity.  I cut a large brown panel to fit inside the large envelope I had chosen and then adhered the wood pieces to it using white glue in a fine tip applicator.  I immediately put it under weight (encyclopedias) so they would dry flat.  Once the panel was dry I added the front flop which is embossed with a wood grain embossing folder.   I scored a half inch from the top, folded over the flap and adhered it to my panel to cover the gap in the wood elements where I will adhere my insert.  I trimmed my flap to the edge of my panel.  I added a little laser printed digital image of chickadees (clker) which I watercoloured before adhering it to the flap.  I watercoloured the font greeting then added some faux stitching lines with my tracing wheel.  I layered it onto brown leaving a larger border on the bottom which I cut it with scalloped decorative scissors and then paper pierced the scallops with a push pin.  I mounted the greeting to my front flap overlapping my chickadee image.  I really like how it worked out.  I am every grateful that my Dad has been well through this Covid situation as he has underlying health issues.  Everyday is a blessing!!             Therese

Birthday card for a retired carpenter

My Dad will soon be celebrating this 88th birthday and because he is a retired carpenter I like to include some wood on his card.  I am fortunate to have a woodworker in the house so little pieces of wood appear regularly with "Can you use this?"  Case in point, that is what happened this afternoon, as our son is here working on his walnut railing and a little scrap showed up!!  It was very thin so I backed it with packing tape before die cutting it with the Sizzix "Happy" die.  It worked perfectly!!  After working out just where I needed to stamp the "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" (SU) I used my LEGO stamping jig to get it exactly in the right place.  I stamped it over several times to get the depth of colour I was looking for - very easy to do with the stamp jig.  I inked the inside of my wood grain embossing folder and used it to "stamp" the background onto my cardstock.  The dye ink cleaned up very well from the inside of the folder.  I added a bit of black watercolour to the right hand sides of my wood word to just give it a bit of depth before using double sided tape to adhere it to my stamped background.  I added a little comma and an exclamation mark using a brown marker.  Next, I used my chevron punch (SU) to punch out a few chevrons below the greeting and one above.  I chose a dark maroon card which nicely highlighted the chevrons.  I used my tracing wheel to add some lines of texture to the outside edges of my background then glued it to the front of my card.  I watercoloured this laser printed tools image from Beccy's Place - http://beccysplace.blogspot.ca/ - then distressed the edges.  I added a bit of brown fiber to the back before adhering this focal element to the front of my card using 3D foam tape.  Pretty happy with how this card worked out!!  Fortunately, I will be able to hand it to my Dad personally as we will be celebrating as a family up home.                Therese

Exchange cards with hand decorated paper

For my exchange cards this month I made some decorative paper by layering several techniques. 

 I started with two pieces of paste paper which I made quite a while ago - one green and the other pink.  I started with a colour wash in a similar colour on both.  Next, I applied a script stamp in a darker colour.  If you check out the green image you can see that the green one was an asian character stamp.  Next, I did all over stamping with a background stamp with clear embossing ink and embossed them.  I used pearly embossing powder and a four petal stamp on the green one. You can see one of the motifs in the scan - it is lighter than the rest.  On the pink one I used a checker board stamp and clear embossing powder which very nicely preserved the pink colour of the original and allowed the texture of the paste paper to show through.  I followed that with a much darker colour wash which provided more contrast with the embossed areas which resisted the colour.  After that was dry, I added metallic acrylic paint with a spongy stamp I had on my desk and added little triangles in between to get better coverage.  I used gold on the green one and silver on the blue/pink one.  
I was not sure exactly how I was going to use them for my cards so I went to Splitcoast Stampers for a bit of inspiration.  I found several cards that I liked that used colourful circles to decorate their backgrounds so I punched as many circles as I could from each piece in four different sizes - 1.75", 1.25", .75" and .50".   I cut two pieces of shimmer cardstock  I created a while back and played with my circles until I was happy with the layout then glued them all down.  I adhered the backgrounds to coordinating card fronts before adding greetings and some embellishments.  I used a green colour printed greeting on the green card and embossed a wooden star with gold embossing powder to use as an embellishment.  The stars have been in my stash for a long time!!  For the pink/blue one I created a hot glue embellishment.  Have not made these in quite a long time.  I started with a little pool of hot glue on a piece of cardstock, poured silver embossing powder over it, shook off the extra and heated it with my heat gun.  Once it was all melted I gently placed a little flower stamp inked with embossing ink into it and let it cool.  Once cool the stamp simply lifts off revealing the embossed surface.  This technique is reminiscent of wax seals on letters in the old days.  I peeled off the paper backing and used hot glue to adhere it over my laser printed greeting on my card front. I added a bit of silver glitter glue to the center of the flower to jazz it up a bit.  
I am happy with these cards but I believe that my inspiration cards were more effective so I will have to go back and have another look and see if there is something about the design that I failed to consider in the creation of these cards.  
My cards are on their way to my swap partners as we speak!!
Therese

Twig wreath

I have finally finished my twig wreath!!!  I started more than a year ago when I designed the wreath and had DH create the substrate - a donut cut from thin wood.  I collected the willow twigs after the trimming of the willows in the early spring and cut them all to size - small, medium and large. They had been sitting in the back garage drying for more than a year so this summer I took the time to glue them all to the substrate with hot glue.  I was very happy with how that went and trimmed all the hot glue strings in preparation for painting.  I had wanted to paint it light gray but others liked the very earthy colour of it in its natural state so it sat yet for a another while.  About a month ago I decided that I would paint it light gray as I had originally planned so went looking for paint.  I had thought mat finish but could not find anything besides primer that was matt finish and it was too dark a gray for what I wanted.  So bought light gray enamel paint in a spray can with the plan to spray it with clear matt finish.  I sprayed the wreath 4 times over the course of one day - one coat on the back and three on the front.  I used a produce crate to support it while drying which worked really well.  I am very happy with how it turned out as it still has lots of texture and depth which may have disappeared if I had continued to add layers of paint.  While I was out buying paint I found this burlap poinsettia discounted in the Christmas aisle of Peavy Mart.  I bought one red - all they had - and one beige.  I dismantled the beige one and applied a colour wash of green acrylic paint to the largest petals and then dismantled the red one, removed the spacer and added the green one to the back!!!  Perfect!!  I wired them together and then added them to the wreath with the wire once I had positioned the flower where I wanted it.  It was ready in time to put up for Christmas!!  I have felted wool roses in three sizes (Thanks, Suzanne) which I will do up to add to the wreath for the rest of the year.  It looks exactly as I had hoped it would!!!

Therese

Burned wood for my birthday card

My Dad is a retired carpenter and I like to add wood to his birthday cards.  I am fortunate that my DH also does some wood working so little pieces of wood show up from his shop regularly.
I retrieved this one from my little stash of wood pieces and decided to do some wood burning on it because I have been wanting to try that for quite a while.  Never having done it before and very little time I decided having a image to trace would be best so I dug through my stamps looking for something appropriate as well as simple in design.  This little maple leaf was just what I needed.  I stamped on my thin piece of wood with my greeting, then in an all over design with the leaf and then plugged in my wood burning iron. Once it was hot, I started going over the leaves one at a time tracing all the stamped lines.  The grain of the wood affects how dark the burn is and how deep the tip goes so it was a bit of a learning process.  After doing all the leaves and greeting it still needed a bit of something so I added stippling with the iron.  Just what it needed!  I reinforced several areas of my wood with tape before I glued it to a brown layer and cut the edges of the cardstock with decorative scissors.  I added strips of gold cardstock on both side of my element and glued it to a dark maroon card which I had border punched on the front edge.  I added dots in the scallops and lines on either side of my focal element with a gold gel pen.  That was looking pretty good but it still needed a bit of something so I decided to add water colour.  I started with one leaf thinking I was going to do them all and decided that one would be best.
Loving my first wood burning project!!  I have a few other ideas so maybe that will show up here in the future some time!

Therese

Embossed metal tutorial

Embossing metal is fun and easy requiring only a few items which you probably already have on hand. It makes creating customized 3D embellishments for your projects possible and they look so authentic.  

First of all, you will need a piece of foil.  It needs to be reasonably thick so I often use foil pans which can be bought inexpensively or you might even find in your recycle bin.  You might also want to consider any foil seal you find on a variety of cans or containers.  The one above came off of a coffee tin but you can sometimes find them on cans of nuts or yogurt.  You will also need a block of wood.  Here I am using a wood mount from a stamp which I have unmounted but it could be one from the toy box or the workshop.  

Just rub the edge of the wood block over the foil to remove any wrinkles or embossing and make the surface nice and smooth.  

 Once it is nice and smooth, cut your shape out.  Here I cut a circle for creating the badge I was making for a card.  I used my Nestibilities but you could easily use any other die or even hand cut the shape you want.  

Embossing requires a forgiving surface beneath your metal. Here I have used a piece of fun foam but a stack of newspaper works just as well.  

I wanted a star in the middle of my shape so I centered a star die cut (SX) on the back of my shape and lightly traced it on to the metal using a pencil.  You could hand draw your image or place a printed image over it and trace lightly to transfer the image to the metal. Be sure to reverse any image or words before you emboss so it will be right reading on the front. 

Next, I embossed the image into the metal by tracing the shape with my pencil pressing medium hard.  You have to be careful because if you press too hard you will pierce the metal.  You are better off to trace the shape several times more lightly rather than to press too hard and risk making a hole where you do not want one. 

 You can see above what the star looks like on the front - the outline is raised up - embossed - in the metal.  

 I turned it over and embossed a few more details - dots, another frame and shapes in between the arms of the star.  

This is what it looks like from the front.  You can see here that I debossed (indented) the shapes between the arms of the star by applying pressure with my pencil from the front.  So as you go on, you can choose to emboss from the back and deboss from the front any of the elements you wish to add to your creation.  

You can see from the finished piece that I added some embossing inside the star as well as dots on the outside edge while I debossed all the shapes between the arms.  You could certainly also choose to pierce your metal embellishment.  I would suggest using a push pin over a stryrofoam tray to get uniform holes.  I would suggest piercing from the front so that the ragged edges created end up on the back of your creation.  Consider colouring your embossed metal embellishment using permanent markers like Sharpies or alcohol inks.  

I used 3D foam tape to adhere my shape to my scalloped circle but you could also use brads, staples, stitching, nails or eyelets to secure your 3D embellishment once you have created it!! 

Have fun!!! 

Therese

Dad's birthday card has a wooden focal element

I made this card for my Dad's birthday this year.  He is a retired woodworker/carpenter so I enjoy adding wood to his cards.  I am fortunate to have a DH that is also a wood worker so he regularly comes in from the shop with slim slices of wood that came off his most recent project.  For this card I used this small piece, stamped it with a covered bridge in dark brown and coloured in the details with watercolour.  I like the subtle look with the details of the wood still visible through the image.  I layered my wood slice over the piece of dark brown seam binding which I had added to my ivory card front.  I used regular glue stick and pressed the whole thing until it was dry.  I had added a bit of stippling and sponging to my card front before I added the wood focal point. Afterwards, I added a single short piece of seam binding tied to the the length on the front using a single knot and stamped my greeting (SU) in dark brown ink.
Love the simplicity of the design and that it really features the wood very nicely.

Therese

Christmas ornaments with wooden angels

I made up over a dozen of these Christmas ornaments for a bazaar in my community!  I had a few backgrounds left over from this project last Christmas so decided to finish them off in the same manner to create ornaments. I added little handmade paper Christmas trees to the back which I embellished with iridescent glitter glue and a small gold sequin star along with finishing off the edge by adding glitter glue to each scallop.  For this project I used the little wooden angels with the horns and gifts.

Pretty happy with how these turned out!!

Therese

Art Charms - houses & hearts

Art charms for two special people!!  On my Art Charms group the moderator is putting together a gift for daughters of a former member and I decided to participate.  We were to create house or heart charms so I decided to make two of each.  

The base of the heart charms is wooden heart shapes. I painted them red, stamped them in black using the heart stamp I used for this card and then embossed them several times with clear embossing powder.  I drilled a hole and added a jump ring. Changed it up a bit for the house charms.  I cut two wood shapes from thin strips of scrap wood for each charm using my exacto knife and sanded them so they would fit together nicely.  I laid an eye pin on one of them and hit it gently with a hammer to indent the wood so they would glue up nicely.  I used multi purpose glue and clamped them with bull clips until they were dry.  I covered one in printed tissue paper (came wrapped around a bottle) using the same glue as before.  Once it was dry, I sponged the edges with brown and then black ink.  I added a silver heart using a glue dot.  Thinking it needed a bit of anchoring I cut down a flat head pin so I could use it like a nail to attach the heart.  I coloured the head with a black sharpie.  I wrote HOME on the front and "a house with heart" on the back.  For the other house charm, I used an alcohol ink background and trimmed two pieces to fit the back and the front.  I coloured the edges of the wood charm using a black Sharpie and then glued my little rectangles in place.  I added a dimensional silver heart charm on this one and also used a cut down head pin as a nail to finish it off.  Used the same technique for adding the words.  

These are headed to the moderator in the next couple of days.  It was really fun creating these.  I have heard from a few in the group that they display their charms on a chain in their craft space.  What a good idea!!  My last swap partner put lobster claws on her charms so they could easily be attached and removed.  I thought that was a really good idea.  I need to source them out here for my next swap.  

Therese

Navy and purple felted wool cuff

Another cuff for my giftie swap!!  This one began with a pieced layer of navy blue felted wool (3" x 8").  Because I am using scraps I had to combine two pieces of felted wool to create the length I wanted.  I butted the two pieces up very tightly and sewed them together using a wide zigzag stitch and black thread.  The thread is very matte and therefore pretty much disappeared.  I did position the main focal point - a beautiful embroidered floral design -  over the

seam so it would camouflage it was much as possible.  I started by doing buttonhole stitch all the way around using thin lavender wool yarn (thrift store find).  I positioned the focal element (thrift store find), pinned it in place and sewed it in place using embroidery thread that was the same colour.  I wanted to add yet more texture but not take away from the beauty of the embroidered piece so went looking for seed beads I could use to embellish it with.  I found these that did exactly what I wanted - they almost look like stars in the night sky!!  I sewed them on randomly using navy embroidery thread so the stitching does not show.

 This wood bead was just the right colour so I drilled an extra hole in it to make it a button and sewed it on with navy thread.  I created a wrap by braiding three pieces of lavender wool yarn into a string which will create an adjustable closure on this cuff.
Really happy with how this one turned out and love the colours!
The giftie swap was for Christmas so this is appearing here only after the gift has arrived and been opened by the recipient.

Therese

Birthday card with wood and chevron background

I made this card for my Dad who is turning 85 next week!!  We count every day a blessing that he is still with us and that my parents are still living independently.
I started with a green card front which I stippled (SU) with brown ink in an all over pattern. I created two pieces of background paper by gluing 3/4" strips of green decorative paper diagonally to a half sheet of cardstock.  I cut them into 1" strips and then glued them to each other using cello tape to create a chevron pattern.  I glued five strips together matching the pattern to which gave me 3 pieces of background paper.  I cut each one of these in two which gave me 6 pieces of chevron paper.
To embellish the one on this card, I used a 90 degree corner of cardstock to mask off the chevrons and sponged on some brown ink to give them some dimension.  I added some faux stitching on one edge using a brown fine tip Sharpie and glued it to the left side of my card front.  I used a digital image of tools from Beccy's Place which I laser printed, trimmed, watercoloured and sponged a bit on the edges after I had distressed them.  I glued it to my card front with 3D foam tape overlapping the background a bit.  I mounted my sponged and watercoloured oval punchie greeting to a thin piece of walnut wood and tucked it under my image and glued it in place using double sided tape.
I like to use actual pieces of wood on my Dad's cards because he was a carpenter all his life.  In my mind, he and wood are very connected.  I am fortunate that DH is a wood worker and brings in any thin pieces of wood that he creates in the course of making projects in the garage.  This particular piece comes from a cross grain cutting board that he and my son worked on a while back.

Therese

Fairy Door

 A fairy door!!  

Everyone should have one just to stay in touch with the other dimensions of life that blur in our awareness as we grow older!!

I did some research when I joined this swap because I had never heard of them before.  What a cool concept!  It keeps the child in us alive!!

It took several weeks to really work out the concept of how I would create the different layers and what features I thought would be necessary in my creation. 

I finally decided that my door would be able to physically open.  I wanted it to open into a world that was airy and not defined by me so I decided to use metallic cardstock behind my door so the world everyone sees when they open it will be of their own making.  I found one on line that had this feature and I liked the idea of it right away.  I wanted my door to have a window to provide light for the world that lay beyond.  I wanted the frame to have a peaceful greeting.  

So last week I started on my door.  I cut two pieces of light weight chipboard to 5.5"x 8.5".  I painted all four sides with black acrylic paint.  While they were drying I went looking for the pieces I would need.  I found the little strip of wood that I used on the frame of my door.  DH is always bringing me little scraps of wood from his shop knowing that I like to add them to my creations!!  It was about two feet long and a 1/16" thick.  Perfect for the frame of my door.  Next, I located the tiles for framing my opening.  I have a stash of letter tiles I have collected over the years from games, etc and so I started there.  I had originally thought I would use Scrabble tiles to keep wood as a theme but when I found these black letter tiles I decided these ones were "the ones" because they would make the words much more subtle.  I laid them on my chipboard and figured out that I needed 22 to go around so started working out a saying that would work with that many letters.  Needless to say, the paint had long been dry but I now had the wood for my door and the tiles for my frame so I could figure out how big my door was going to be.  I measured three times and cut once!!  I cut both pieces of chipboard with the same opening and marked the backs of both of them so I could keep my layers in proper order.  My tiles were a bit shiny so I decided to paint them black with the bit of acrylic paint I had sitting from painting the chipboard.  Dulled them very nicely but not completely - perfect!!  I decided to build my door first.  I measured and cut my wood strip to make the frame all the way around.  I sanded their edges and dry fit them until I was happy how they went together.  Once I knew how much room there was between the frame pieces I decided on my window size - 1.25".  I used my circle cutter to cut the hole in the top layer, placed it on the back layer, traced the hole onto it and used the circle cutter to cut that one too.  Once I laid them back to back I was pretty close so I just tweaked both of them a bit with an exacto knife.  I decided to add some words, so I found a book page that would do and trimmed it to fit under the wood frame.  I found a scallop punchie in kraft and black (prize on one of my groups) and cut a hole in it as well to create a frame for my window.  Next, I worked on the hinges.  I originally thought two would be enough but when I got to this step I decided that three would be better.  I cut them using a latch die (SX) from leather using my Big Shot.  Perfect!!  I knew that I would need just a bit of play in my door to accommodate the hinges so trimmed just a smidge off the door.  Fortunately, I had allowed a border all the way around my wood frame so I did not have to change that.  Next, I dug out my jewellery findings in hopes of finding something that would work as a handle for my door!!  I found an old earring with this beautiful hoop and with a bit of jigging I made myself a door handle!!  With all the pieces of my door ready to go I started assembling.  I started by gluing my book page to the front of my door.  I cut triangles in the window opening and glued all of them to the inside front of the door.  I glued my wood door frame in place using double sided tape and then used a small drill bit to make the holes I needed through all the layers for my brads.  I drilled holes because I did not want to split the wood which easily happens when the wood is so thin.  I used tiny black brads.  They look like bolts!!  I positioned my hinges, used my awl to mark the holes, drilled them out, attached the hinges with double sided tape and added the brads.  Added my little door handle and glued the frame around my window.  I then glued the back to the front which left the inside of the door neat and clean with all the brad tangs hidden between the two.  I used a black permanent marker on the cut edges to remove the kraft colour of the chipboard on those edges.  Once the door was finished I completed my frame by gluing those two back to back.  Onto my tiles!!  They were hollow at the back so I needed to work out a way to glue them to my frame.  In the end, it was an incremental process.  I glued small squares of cardstock to the inside hollow using hot glue then added a square of 3D foam tape to that which gave me the correct depth to attach to my frame.  I positioned them on the frame to find that I had made a slight error - I had not trimmed my chipboard before I created the door so now I had a half inch on both sides of the frame that was untiled!!  I went looking for something that would do the job of filling that space.  I found a bike reflector (found object on one of my walks) that was the perfect size after I cut it out of its holder and trimmed it in half using a hack saw.  Sanded the edges, added several cardstock layers to the inside and two layers of double sided tape and they were ready to be added to my frame.  I laid out all the tiles and made sure they were all in the correct order before I started gluing them into place.  I started in the top left hand corner and did all that side applying LOTS of pressure to get the foam tape to stick completely to the chipboard.   Next, I started in the right hand corner and started placing tiles.  On my fourth tile, I realized that the last two were flipped though it was difficult to tell because they were an "H" and an "O".  I immediately applied some heat and gently lifted them up.  They did tear a bit of the chip board's painted surface but I was able to repair that and reposition the tiles!!  The little reflectors fit just perfectly at the bottom of each frame and will allow the door to been seen at night!!  A feature I had not intended but adds nicely to the design of my fairy door.  I cut a piece of silver metallic cardstock just slightly smaller than the back and glued it in place using double sided tape!!  The door jammed a bit after it was all assembled and I trimmed it a bit.  I should have waited a bit longer because after everything dried for a bit it may not have been necessary after all but what was done was done - a lesson learned.  In the end, the gap between the door and the frame is a little larger than I would have liked but it works well which is the important thing.  So, it has been pressing for the last day.  I will be packing it up today and sending it on its way to my partner!!

I thoroughly enjoyed the process of creating this little door and I look forward to finding a place in my craft room for the one I will be receiving in return!!

Therese

Father's Day card

I made this card for my Dad using scraps of wood that my DH trimmed off of an oak plank during our renovations at our previous house.  I simply cut the wood strips into lengths using scissors, glued them to the card front using double sided tape, added "nails" with a brown Sharpie marker and to add a bit more texture stamped them with a crackle looking background.  I added several strips of suede looking trim between the "boards".  I had previously embossed the card front using the SU wood grain embossing folder and used the same texture stamp around its edges.  I watercoloured the image then trimmed it close and adhered it to the card front uisng 3D foam tape.  I do not know who makes this image as it was received in a swap many years ago.  I like the way all these elements came together!!  My Dad used to be a carpenter so I really like adding wood to his cards.

Therese

Masculine Birthday card

Love how this card worked out!  It is a birthday card for my Dad who is 80+.  I am grateful that he and Mom still live independantly in their own house and are still active.  My Dad was a wood worker/carpenter most of his life so I used a thin piece of veneer that my DH gave me earlier this year for the central element.  I backed the veneer with label before cutting it with the Hanging Sign die (SX TH) using just the sign part.  I stamped the greeting with dark brown ink and sponged the edges as well.  I cut the hanger part of this die using silver foil cardstock.  To give it the look of old metal, I sanded it, added dark brown permanent chalk ink and then dabbed on black sharpie which I rubbed in before it dried which resulted in giving it a bit of a coppery tinge.  I added the hanger to the card front using 3D foam tape and tied on the sign using cotton thread.  I added a piece of 3D foam tape to the back of the sign as well to keep it from flipping over when the card is opened.  I like the way the elements work with the decorative paper.
I like that the wood has a connection to several generations.  I am so fortunate because my DH, knowing that I use all sort of "stuff" in my art, often comes to me with items he thinks I might be able to use!!  As soon as he presented me with several of these thin pieces of wood he had leftover from his night light project I knew I would be using one of them to make a card for my Dad.  As they were born, DH has made wonderful night lights for all of our grandchildren with interchangeable front panels which have been scrolled with detailed scenes.
So I will be sending off my card this week with all the best wishes I can pack into it so it will arrive in time for for his special day!!  Be grateful if you live close enough to your family members to actually hug them on their special days!

Therese

Domino charms!

I am in a charm swap on AFTCM and this month we are using dominoes!! Unfortunately, the dominoes I have on hand are too large to make charms so I decided to use these little balsa wood rectangles (right hand photo) instead which are a much better size

- 5/8" x 1 1/4" or so. I chose papers to cover them then painted the ends to coordinate -white or black (middle). I used modge podge to attach my papers (right) which were all retrieved from my scrap box. After they were dry I embellished each one with a variety of items - dictionary text, confetti, hand drawing and copper foil. I did seal them with modge podge after adding the papers so they will stand up to the wear they will get when they are added to a bracelet. I have uploaded a photo of the front and the back of the charms.

I used a drill press with a small drill bit to make holes at the top for jump rings. The last photo is of them all finished and ready to go!!

These were fun to make and very different because the size is so small. Everyone is going to have a great bracelet by the end of the year!!!

The summer has arrived and I hope you will find some time to be creative, to relax and to spend time with your family and friends!!

Therese

Books

Mini books for my Book Club buddies!! We are meeting to make vision boards for the New year and I thought it would be good to have a few affirmations to go with them. So I made these books for each of us to record them and any goals or resolutions we are making for 2011.

Started with a 4.25" x 11" piece of heavy weight cardstock, scored at it 5.5" and 5 5/8" from the right hand side and folded the back on the fold lines. Then I cut it at 4.75" from the left hand side. I decorated the cut off - cover - using bleach and some of my embossing folders!! I added a little epoxy sticker with our initials to finish them off. I lined up the decorated cover with the little portion of the back that folds to the front - it left about an 1/8" gap - and reattached it using black fabric tape. Cut some 4" x 5 3/8" pages for the inside (25 sheets of bond pretty well fills the 1/8" spine) and used my Cropadile to make two holes - one 3/4" from the top and one 3/4" from the bottom about 1/8" from the spine. I used elastics (hair ones) to bind the book along with a wooden stir stick which was cut to the right length and shaped with sand paper to be nicely rounded like the other end. To bind simply put a loop of the elastic through the top hole (back to front) and insert the wood piece and then make another loop with the elastic and put it through the bottom hole (back to front) and push the wood piece down far enough to insert in into the loop. Center the wood piece on both loops. Because my binding was not as tight as I wanted it to be I pulled one of the long sections from the back tight and then brought it to the front and placed it in the trough of the fabric tape hinge. Nicely tightens the binding and also highlights the cover!!

Had a wonderful Christmas with my family out west and counted my blessings that we still have my parents with us and that so many made it to my sister's house on Boxing Day!! Loved playing in the snow with my grand daughter too!!

A new year begins and I am letting go of some things and looking forward to some new ones in many areas of my life!!

Therese

My Art - Dad's card

My Dad's 80th birthday card!! I count myself very fortunate that he is doing well considering the health challenges he faces and that he is still living with my Mom independantly in their own home. He knows he has limits but still finds ways of doing the things he most loves to do which I think goes a long way to extending life.
I added a thin layer of cherry wood to the top part. My Dad was a carpenter most of his life and wood has been an important part of his life. This particular piece is from a night light my husband is buidling for our newest grandchild.
I stamped the covered bridge (SU) onto shimmer paper I made - so fun!! Layered it on cardstock and added a ribbon and embossed greeting!! Really like the way it turned out!!!
Thrifty Tip: Make your own shimmer paper!! Add some mica enhanced product to rubbing alcohol in a mister bottle and spray away!! I have sprayed it on black, red and white! You can spray it on any colour!!
I used regular drug store rubbing alcohol. Mica enhanced product includes the following - shimmer acrylic paint (SU) does an awesome job. My SU demo recommends the white frost or the champagne mist. I used white mica powder that I bought a LONG time ago for highlighting friendly plastic. Others have used shimmery metallic acrylic paint, Pearl Ex, Perfect Pearls, etc. with good success. Be sure to spray from about a foot away and give it several light layers of shimmer. I used about 1/2" teaspoon of mica powder to 4-5 tablespoons of rubbing alcohol. Your level of shimmer will be more or less depending on how much mica product you use so experiment until you find a level that suits you.

Have fun and if you have not yet finished your Christmas cards - add some shimmer!! You can spray your cards once they are finished to add just a bit of shimmer but be really careful if you have any unprotected stamping on the fronts. Too much shimmery alcohol may make the inks bleed!!

Therese