Wax resist and postage sticker cards

Another successful evening of cardmaking!! Lots of new people and a fairly large group but we managed to get out in good time!!

These cards feature wax resist backgrounds which I created using my embossing folders!! Check out this post for more information on how I did it.

The images are postage stamp stickers made by K&Company which I bought at Michaels when I was there last week. They are all the same size which works well for a class but a variety of designs which I find works well for me in my classes. I like to change up the element and cardstock so everyone willl have

different looking cards.

This is a fairly versatile sketch as the card can be landscape or portrait and the 3D element can also have either orientation which gives several options with the same supplies!!

So, the sticker is mounted on coordinating cardstock and trimmed. The ribbon is attached to the back of the decorative paper and then this element is glued to the card front. I used 3D foam tape to attach the sticker element to the card, overlapping the ribbon, because the decorative paper is a bit waxy!!

Therese

Birdie exchange card

I am meeting with my card making buddies tonight and this is the card I made for the exchange.

I have been playing with ways of doing resist for my class tomorrow night. Check out the background - it is one of the resists I came up with. A wax resist technique that uses an embossing folder and clear wax!! I placed my paper on the "bumps" of the open embossing folder, rubbed over it with clear wax crayon then added a watercolour wash!! Voila!! A great looking background!!

For this card I mounted my background on a white card front. The bird is also a resist technique - clear embossing powder on white cardstock - to which I added a watercolour wash. They compliment each other. Layered the bird on white and added a bit of lace below that and a colour printed greeting!!

Thrifty Tip: Where do you get clear wax crayons??? I am sure they exist but I created my own by cutting up a bar of paraffin into little bars with a hot knife and then rounding them on griddle surface covered with foil. Works very well. You could use a white wax crayon on white paper, or a yellow crayon on yellow paper, etc which would allow you to use the crayons you have on hand for this resist technique. On the other hand, a crayon of a different colour would give you a totally different look!! Will have to investigate that later!! I found that the rubbing was more defined on paper - I used coated laser printer paper - but you can use paper or cardstock. You can use anything with a textured surface for rubbing as well - fabric, lace, woven mats, screening, texture plates, etc, etc - but I was happy to find another use for my embossing folders.

So play a little today and see what you can do using this resist technique!!

Therese

Halloween contest card

Another Class Act contest card!! I received the mermaid as a prize in a previous contest and with this contest's theme being Halloween I decided to see if I could make a card with the mermaid!! I am happy with the card but I think it might need a greeting or something in the lower left hand side but, for the moment, I have left it without.

Stamped the mermaid in black, embossed her with black embossing powder, coloured her in with pearly watercolours in deep green and orange and trimmed her close! Printed off the scary house - internet find - and trimmed it close as well. Added a large punchie in orange - moon - behind the house and cut out a bat from glossy cardstock to add to the sky. Used some pearly gold cardstock for the water and a piece of torn grey cardstock for a rock for her to sit on!! I laid all of these onto a black background and then onto a bright orange card front!!

Halloween is a stretch for me artistically!! Keeping it simple helped me to create a piece I am happy with!!

Therese

Transportation - Steampunk ATCs

Have been working on ATCs for the last day or so!! The theme is Transportation in the Steampunk style!! I first had to do some research to figure out what Steampunk was and then do some searching around on the internet for images!! I did find some free images that would suit the theme so I resized them and printed off my sheet and got busy!! The backgrounds I downloaded from Cemerony - Freebie 11 which is a colourful map of Paris that I thought would be appropriate. The gentleman I downloaded from this Flicker collage group from an artist - artbychristi. The train is a Dover clipart image. The car is just one from the internet somewhere. The lady's dress is from a paper doll image - thought it had credits on the page but, alas, no!! I will see if I can find it and link it when I do. The lady's head is from one of Kelly Burton's collage sheets - I just cut out the head and layered it onto the dress. The woman's face is also cut from somewhere ages ago and I do not know where I got the original.

For the left one I printed the background to which I had added the gentleman's face then using acrylic medium I glued the transparency with the car over it. I surrounded the woman's face with an open metal ring and added some clear acrylic medium to glue them to each other and give it a nice glossy look. The round letters are a set of typewriter letters I created for myself before there were fonts that would do the same thing. I just punch them out with a 1/2" punch. The word " journey" is printed on label using a Dymo font. I added an A inside a black cogged washer - no idea where it came from. You can find star washers - toothed lock washers - at a hardware store and colour them with alcohol inks or Sharpies that would give you the same look.

The one on the right has lots of layers. I coloured the dress and added the head and collar from another image. I trimmed the oval gentleman, glued him to the altered tag, added twill with a safety pin and a little gold heart charm. The train is trimmed close, coloured and glued to the bottom edge. I did add a bit of a book page behind the lady so she would stand out more from the busy background. The little metal disc - $1 store years ago - seems to just belong there!!

So now onto the rest of my day!!

Therese

Leafy card

Needed a large card - big enough to hold a CD!! I remembered I had purchased a set of the large card and envelopes at the craft store (M) a few years ago so I went searching and found them.

These stamped punchies from my stash worked perfectly for this card!! I layered the nine punchies on green and stamped a greeting which I attached with brads below them. Added some texture to the card front by stamping in light green with a script stamp and added the embellished rectangle to the card front.

Quick (not counting searching time) and easy!!

Therese

Flower ATCs!

Flower ATCs!! I just received my envelope from a flower swap and got a cool little supply of handmade flowers!! Two of them were just what I needed to add to these two ATCs in a trade with Beth. She sent along some Japanese paper in trade for this little house ATC I made a while back!! She always makes great ATCs!!

ATCs are very cool because they are so small they don't take a lot of supplies to make and usually not too much time as well.

For the left hand one I added a black border on my pink ATC blank. Linda often adds these kinds of markered borders to her journal pages and I think they are so neat so I gave it a try. Added an embossed layer and then this layered punchie flower!! Added a black stem with a marker, cut out the colour printed words and glued under the flower!!

For the second one, I found the saying in my stash of goodies gleaned from items that are headed to the recycling bin. Glued my flower on the left of my mustard ATC blank and layered on my saying after I altered it with a bit of yellow ink to help it coordinate with my flower and background. Added a sticker to the lower right hand side and some piercing at the flower's edge. Stippled a bit of green over everything to help give it a cohesive look.

Therese

Glittery blue tags!

Worked on these glittery tags yesterday afternoon!! These are for a swap and I am not sure if they are appropriate so I will ponder that for today and see if something else comes to me!!

I started by die cutting the snowflakes (SU SX) from adhesive backed paper and adding fine blue glitter to the sticky surface!! I cut the scallops from mirror card and added Spirelli with blue glittery thread to the edges. I punched out a large snowflake (MS) from the center and backed it with foil (yogurt top) which contrasted nicely with the mirror finish then added the blue glittered snowflakes with a silver brad. For the other side I stamped a little saying in blue all over white and die cut my scallop circles from that. Glued my other two blue glittered snowflakes to these then glued both of the sets to either sides of a larger scallop cut from medium blue cardstock. The last thing I did was add blue Ice Stickles to the scallops on the white and blue layers and left them over night. I have scanned both sides for you to see.

These will be great for the silver challenge on the By Hand challenge blog for this week!!

Therese

Autumn Leaves Swap card

Got creative this morning!! Worked on a card for an Autumn Leaves swap on one of my groups!! I started with the background paper - it arrived in the mail this week - gorgeous leaves in red, burnt sienna and olive - on a flyer for a vehicle!! I added a black border on all the sides with a marker and all over stamped it with a script stamp in chocolate brown. Before I cleaned my stamp I rubbed the inked rubber on the edges of my green cardstock to just antique them a bit. I stamped three leaves in brown, watercoloured them and added some acrylic sealer to just give them a bit of a sheen. When I used my heat gun to dry them the sealer bubbled a bit and gave them a bit of texture - bonus!! I ripped apart the vellum quote, stippled the pieces with red, green, yellow and brown ink, wrapped them around the background paper and attached this layer to the card front. I added punched leaves which I had embellished with watercolour in an all over pattern and then glued down my large leaves with 3D foam tape in a pleasing arrangement.

Thrifty Tip: I always check my incoming mail for anything that would be good for including in my art - backgrounds, coloured glossy, letters to be cut out, text that can be over stamped, interesting images, etc. Worthwhile checking your recycle bin for items that can be reused - tissue boxes - great for making ATC blanks, clear plastic for die cutting shapes, foil tops from yogurt, etc that can be embossed, newspaper text to be used as backgrounds, boxes that can be used for chipboard, envelopes that can be ripped open and stamped or die cut, an old phone book that can be used as a gluing surface (glue and rip out when too gunky), magazines pages for making paper beads or faux cloisonne, etc.

The weather is cooling and leaves are changing colour!!

Therese

Exchange cards - autumn flowers

The Canadian Card Exchange is back up and running thanks to MJ who has stepped in to handle the next six months!! It is a fun exchange and I enjoy sending and receiving the handmade cards!!

As a background I used printed photos which I received in one of my goodie packages this week in exchange for a little house ATC , added some coordinating ribbon on the bottom edge, a cut out flower embellishment and a distressed colour printed greeting!!

The flower embellishment features white core cardstock which has been embossed (SX) and then sanded.

I acquired some white core cardstock (CTMH) at a garage sale last week and am now going to see how many techniques I can come up with to highlight its unique white core. Did a bit of an internet search for techniques which yielded several ideas I had not yet thought of!! There are several other companies out there that create white cardstock - DCWV (Die Cuts With a View) is one of them and it is available at quite a few different locations including Michaels.

Therese

Another little house ATC!! I made this one for an "ABC - Anything but a card" challenge on one of my groups. I changed up my house - made it brick instead of wood siding and also created a new front door for it!! Colour washed the siding and the roof and added a little wreath and a new saying "From our house to yours!!" so it would be appropriate for sending as a Christmas card. For someone crafty you could send it ready to be assembled or you can send it as a folded ATC that they get to transform into a little house ornament for their tree!! Would be great to include a tag with the year on it!! So many possibilities!! If you are interested in trading for this little house check out my posting here for the details!!

Thanks to those who have already traded!! I hope you enjoy the little house and get creative with it!!

Therese

Reindeer - Christmas card challenge

More Christmas cards!!

Karen's theme for September's Christmas card challenge is reindeer, so that is where I started. This 4.25" x 4.25" card will also satisfy the "anything but an A2 sized card" on Christmas Cards All Year Round, the "distressed " theme over at Sparkles blog, the ribbon and bows theme over at the Quietfire blog and the "bling" theme over at Crazy for Challenges!!

I used my distressing tool on both layers on the front and stippled the edges with brown ink for a soft distressed look. Layered the scallop circles and mounted it to the card front over the ivory ribbon.

Check out the close up of my "bling". I added some dots of iridescent glitter glue on each scallop and on the lower right hand side and sprinkled on yet more glitter for a very sparkly look!!

I made five of these tonight and have four more in the works which I will finish tomorrow!!

I am really enjoying making Christmas cards!!

Have a great day and thanks for dropping by!!

Therese

Star Cards - Christmas card challenge

I am finally getting to Christmas cards!!

I created these for Sylvia's Christmas card challenge - stars! To make the decorative paper for the stars I started with glossy paper - very shiny and did not work out well for polished stone - and my homemade acrylic stained glass paint. I just smooshed the paint on with a silicone brush (for basting) and mixed it up a bit. The paint is very transparent and glossy so the paper ended up being was very bright and vibrant. Once dry, I used black pigment ink to stamp it with my large scroll stamp and embossed it with black embossing powder!! Very nice!! I made a star pattern similar to the one Sylvia used, traced it on the back and cut the stars out with an exacto knife. The card is duplex paper so I embossed the front with the Swiss Dots (CB) embossing folder and sanded just a bit to give it a starry night sky look!! Added a printed vellum greeting and mounted my star with 3D foam tape.

Four more cards for Christmas!!

It is not too late to get started now and get your cards ready for the beginning of December!! For inspiration check the links on the right hand side of my blog for Christmas card challenge blogs and get started!!

Therese

Domino Book

I created this cool little domino book for a swap on one of my groups. I am very happy with the way it worked out!!!

I created the 5 pages using a crescent tag die. I cut a tag from chipboard, put it back on the die with the square end on the crescent end and cut it again. A chipboard shape with two crescent ends!! I glued black handmade paper to the back and the front of both covers, trimmed & coloured the edges and punched the holes. I embellished two black wooden dominoes using gold mica powder

and spray lacquered them with gloss finish. Using Goop, I glued them to each other side by side, glued that combination to the front cover and glued E Beads in red and gold on each side. Did exactly the same to the back cover. Bound my book with red quarter inch ribbon and a handmade paper bead. Added lock and key charms to the binding and a tie to keep my book closed.

I glued red paper to both sides of my inside pages, embellished them with black script and edged them in gray Memories ink.

Laid out my words and text, colour printed and trimmed them to fit my pages. I die cut "U", "R" and a circle with a hole in the shape of a heart from black cardstock and backed them with gold foil paper. Glued them on the back of my pages, in the center. So reading this book from the front and from the back it says - you are love!! How cool is that!! Added the title on the inside front cover and my swap info the inside back cover with white gel pen .

It was so fun to create this little book!! I love creatively working out the size, the content, the embellishments, the binding and making it all work together.

Will be sending it on its way tomorrow!!

Therese

Dyed tissue paper!

One of the instructions I had read suggested that the silk could be dried by pressing between sheets of white tissue paper!! Too easy! I dug into my tissue paper box - mostly tissue paper that has already been used several times to wrap gifts - and dug out a few white sheets. I covered my ironing board with a towel to protect it, laid down several sheets of tissue paper before laying over it my wet piece of silk. Covered that with several sheets of tissue and ironed on low heat. Kept moving the tissue paper around so it would not get too wet and here is what I ended up with - about 8-9 sheets of dyed tissue paper that looks really cool and interesting!!! Not sure what I will be doing with them but did read on line this morning, on a blog, a tutorial for making paper fabric that used tissue paper. This tissue would make very interesting paper fabric. Will have to revisit the site and familiarize myself with the instructions and the supplies needed!! A total bonus - very inexpensive art supplies!!

Therese

Dyed silk

I played all morning at dyeing silk. One of my stamping friends taught our group to make silk scarves a few years ago and we all left with a few small pieces of dyed silk, a beautiful scarf, leftover supplies from our class and aspirations that we would be making our own at home. Finding several white silk scarves at a thrift store a few months ago piqued my interest in digging out those paints and being creative with them. I searched on line and read several tutorials then reread the first part of our class instructions and got started. Needless to say when the first piece was not properly dyed I went back to the instructions and redid it. For best results, it is important to read the instructions and follow them carefully. Better the second time round and then I was off to the races. I ended up with 9 large pieces of dyed silk in a large variety of colours!! I am loving them!! They are all so interesting and gorgeous!! I will be scanning them all, in pieces, to use in creating digital art. I am not sure exactly what I will be doing with the silk. Maybe fabric ATC s, mini quilts, book covers and some of it will end up in cards for sure!!

If you have a project or technique you have been wanting to try - make a date with yourself and get started!!

Therese

Birthday card and contest entry

Wanted to make sure to get a card made for the Class Act contest which closes on Thursday so I combined that with the Crazy for Challenges sketch which I used earlier and made a card for a friend of mine whose birthday is tomorrow!! Yeah - love being creatively efficient!!

Stamped the sunflower from Class Act and watercoloured it and layered it onto a mustard scallop (Nesties). I used decorative paper for the card front, added two torn strips of coordinating paper and added blank stitching (piercing) with my little sewing machine to all of them to echo the little swirly dots in the paper. I altered the yellow rick rack with a stipple brush and a mustard stamp pad until it coordinated better with the paper. Three rhinestone hearts for a bit of bling and I was done.

Thrifty Tip: You can change up the colour of your rhinestones using Sharpie makers!! So buy clear ones and alter them when you need to. I expect alchohol inks would work perfectly for altering them as well.

Therese

Exchange card

Meeting with my stamping friends tonight so I created this card for our card exchange!! Used the sketch at Crazy for Challenges for inspiration!!

The flower is cut from a 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper and layered onto a coordinating scallop (Nestie). I added an embossed layer (SU folder) on the artichoke card front along with two red strips and some large red rickrack, some green brads and stamped oval greeting.

Thrifty Tip: The brads were not quite the right colour so I used a Sharpie marker to change them up. I buy white brads for using in this manner!! Have previously found them at Hobby Lobby when I am in the States.

A few more projects to go today!! I am on a roll!!

Therese

ATC Architecture and folding

I have been playing all day!!!!!!!!!! Here is what I have to show for it - a folded ATC which unfolds into a little house!!!! It worked out so well!! I modified a photo of a house I took in Kingston Mills for the front and back, created sides and roof with my layout program and folded it up so it would lay flat and fit in an ATC sleeve!! I added the words before I printed it, washed it with a bit of colour and added a red heart!! It will satisfy my Architecture and accordion folded ATC for a swap and Anything but a Card for another group!!

I will be working on my Domino book next and I have a few Christmas card challenges I would like to get to as well.

Have a great weekend!

Therese

PS I have had several requests for the template for this cool little house. Over night it occurred to me that these would be great for Christmas!! Flat to mail and a 3D card/ornament all in one!! If you would like a little house (undecorated and mailed flat with instructions) I am willing to trade one for something you have!!!!!!!! Click my profile and send me an email and we can get a trade happening!! I would take cardstock, decorative paper, flat embellishments, stickers, printed collage images, unmounted rubber stamps, etc - anything flat that is inexpensive to mail.

Cardmaking - September - flourished

I read somewhere that there are no mistakes in creating only opportunities for creativity!! The decorative paper on this card was just that. I started with gloss paper and alcohol inks like I always do and thought to myself as I got started "this paper is really glossy" but undaunted I pressed ahead and made up a couple dozen quarter sheets. As they sat to dry they changed up a bit and started being a little spotty. They didn't dry quickly which was weird so I let them sit until the next morning!! No better in the morning and in testing for "doneness" I saw that the ink was not dry!! So what to do!! I was actually able to wipe off all the ink but that simply seemed to be a waste of ink so I decided to see if I could seal in the colour using a coat of clear spray. Sure enough it worked but in the process the colours dulled quite a bit so I needed to punch up the look somehow. I decided to stamp them with my new flourish stamp from Impression Obession which I bought in Montreal at Scrapbook Central when we were on our way to PEI!! I used black StazOn and it worked perfectly!! It is a large square stamp so I laid it flat, inked it and then laid the cardstock on it!! Just a bit of layering, a colour printed greeting and we were done!! The right side of the cards was impressed using my Big Shot and a texture plate - Fiskars - I think!!

So all sorts of new techniques and tools employed in getting card kits ready for this month. It is fun to use new tools or to use older ones differently!! As well, always consider what you can do with a project before you throw in the towel. That is how things are invented!!!

Thanks for dropping by!!

Therese

Cardmaking - September - postage stamps!

These cards feature little postage stamps matted off like little works of art!! It was fun to rummage through my collection of used stamps and see what I had that coordinated with my backgrounds.

THRIFTY TIP: Save any interesting postage stamps that come in on your mail. They are free little works of art that can be used in your creations in so many places!!

I created the backgrounds using the double embossed technique!! On several I added a bit colour with a stamp pad after the first sanding just to add some depth to the background. I recommend that you use a simple all over design for the first embossing and something more bold or with a motif for the second embossing. Still have some experimenting to do with this technique!!

So, just mounted the postage stamp to a small rectangle (Nestibilities) and layered it with 3D foam tape to the other rectangle (Nesties). This element was mounted to the embossed layered card front using more 3D foam tape. I like the look of these little double matted pieces of art!!

Therese

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 - September - sunflowers!

Sunflowers!!!!!!!!!!! I love the way these turned out!! After investigating several techniques for creating sunflowers with less than desired results I remembered my Poinsettia Nestibilities die!! Used it for my Christmas cards and thought that it might just work for sunflowers!! Beautiful!! Love it when I can find another way to use a tool!!! I cut two of the largest die from yellow cardstock, stippled their edges in brown, embossed the center line of each petal and then glued them to each other. I used a Scallop Circle Nestibilities die to cut the large center from brown cardstock and embossed it using the Bubbles embossing folder. I hand cut a stem and some leaves from green cardstock and glued them to the back of the flower where they fit best. I layered my sunflower over a piece of decorative scrapbook paper and used a couple of circle punchies (3/4" and 1/2") to create a ladybug - added spots with a black marker!!

The leaves are changing colour and the nights are cooler!! Back to the routines and hopefully a bit more time for crafting!!

Therese

Sea glass jewelery

This is a departure from the norm for me!! No paper!!!

We collected sea glass from the beaches in PEI when we were on vacation and having seen the beautiful jewelery that others had made I wanted to give it a try. Saw some wire wrapped pieces in PEI so I thought I would try that. I am happy with my first attempt. I did wrap several heart rocks as well. I always collect heart shaped rocks and we found quite a few. So I have made a few pendants for giving away to some special people and they will be delivered by my sister who went home on Saturday!! I gleaned some information from several tutorials I found on line by searching for wire wrapping.

Back to card in the next post!!

Therese

Star card - Circle of Friends

I love this paper!! It is almost all gone!! I punched the strip with a small star punch and trimmed the top edge with decorative scissors. Layered the small star over the large one and added a brad with a silver sequin to echo the silver in the paper!! When you have great decorative paper just a few elements are required to make a great card!!

Therese

Light house - Circle of Friends

This one is similar to these I made a while back. Handmade paper with seaweed from PEI featuring one of my light house photos printed in black and white. The strip was trimmed and pierced to add texture and attached with brads. I like the way the ribbon adds just a hint of colour!!

Therese

Multi layer flower card - Circle of Friends

This is a multi layered card which I have been wanting to try for a while. Two decorative papers from a coordinating pack - both layered onto white. Image stamped in dark brown. We added a metal spiral clip with ribbon. Some of the group coloured their flower and used a different layout for their rectangles for a very different look. That is one of the reasons I teach - I love the way that in any group of people some can come up with a totally different way to use the very same supplies!!

Therese

Butterlfy card - Circle of Friends

Made cards with a new group last night - some very enthusiastic newbies!! Circle of Friends was created to bring people together to celebrate every day life!! A great group!! They have weekly outings and monthly meetings.

We started off with a flower and butterfly card. Glued decorative paper with a wave on the bottom of the card and added flower punchies (SU) along the wavy edge. Chalked our butterflies (SU) and mounted them with 3D foam tape. Added body definition and antenna with a fine black marker as well as a flight path with little black dots. The last thing was to add iridescent glitter glue to the flower centers and set them aside until the glitter glue was dry.

A quick and easy card sketch!! Change up the colours and the punchies and you can make a card for any occasion!!

Therese

Flower card for contest!

Another card for the Class Acts contest. I am down to the wire - the deadline is tonight!! Their new website went live today so there are lots new images, specials, prizes and free shipping - check them out at www.classact.ca I am loving their new look - very fresh and elegant!!

Back to the card!! This card features a stamped resist background which I create a while back. Added a scallop border highlighted in white on the right hand side and a Chapel Road stamp - The Earth laughs in flowers - on white, artichoke and salmon scallops to coordinate with the background. Added a sheer ribbon with a little bow!! The image is stamped in Bella Rose - Palette stamp pad which I bought from Carol at Class Acts!!

They have a new contest that starts tomorrow with a deadline of September 26 - plenty of time to get your stamps and participate!!

Enjoy your long weekend and find some time to create!!

Therese

Masculine card!

I created this card for my submission to the Class Acts blog contest. The deadline is 11pm tonight!! I am hoping to make another card using one of my Chapel Road stamps so I have two entries in the contest. Check out their new website!! A totally new look, contests, free shipping and lots of new stamps!!

Pretty straight forward - used corrugated paper from a light bulb package which I painted with a brown acrylic paint wash and added a bit of gold from a pigment pad once it was dry. The car is stamped in brown, trimmed, layered and placed over the fiber tie. The bottom edge is ripped to allow the "Hello" greeting to show.

Almost finished my class prep!!

Have a great day!!

Therese

Flowers for a swap!

Flowers for a swap!!! I made these in February before my SU party with intentions of making a brooch for each person who came. I was not perfectly happy with them then and now that I have rediscovered them I am liking them much better. In the end, they are a bit time consuming and trying to get 20+ done before the party seemed like more than I could handle at the time.

These were created using fabric samples I acquired somewhere along the way. The reddish ones were made using polyester drapery fabric and cut with a flower Sizzix die which cuts three different flowers. Once the shapes were cut I used my heat gun to alter them so they would be wavy and interesting. There are five layers plus a brad. I put an altered circle below the brad, added a small and a large flower then two large daisies offset from each other a bit so they would show all the way around. They can easily be added to projects or made into brooches!!

The others were made using sheer drapery fabric which I shrunk with a heat gun to about half the size before I cut out the circles. Shrinking it with the heat gun really made it bumpy and interesting though you had to be really careful not to burn holes in it. For one set, I cut the medium circles in half and gathered the straight side which made "petals". I layered seven on a large circle leaving a bit of space in the middle, covered them with 5 that met in the middle and then added a decorative brad. These were the ones I was most happy with but they were the most time consuming. The others had medium circles that were folded into a pie shape and glued to the large circle leaving a space in the middle to which I added a flower, a circle and a decorative brad. I used hot glue to glue these together.

I cannot point you to any one website for instructions because I must have perused at least a half dozen websites with tutorials on how to make fabric flowers and used what I liked from each one.

So I am sending these off to new homes where others will include them in their art!! Looking forward to seeing what I get in return and how I can use them in my art.

Therese

Altered tin!

I have been playing!! I do have a to do list of things that need to be done but instead I played with these little tins. My friend, Linda, was going to toss a bunch of these when I was at her house last month so instead, I took them home because I thought they had huge potential for altering!! I will be dropping by tomorrow to pick up my altered book which I forgot there when I was over for our play date. I'm in town picking up my sister - another play date in the works. So tonight I thought I would see what I could come up with using one of these little Making Memories tins that used to hold eyelets!!! I am sure you all have some hanging around your house too!!

We returned from PEI last week and I have some little treasures I collected on the beach while we were there so I decided to make a little treasure box for Linda with a few of my PEI treasures!!

I am so happy!! It turned out great!!!

First off I drilled a small hole in both sides of the cover that line up just above the dip in the tray when it is closed. I will be using them to seal up the treasure box when I am done altering and filling it.

I took the tin apart - just a little pressure will release the tray from the cover. I slowly rubbed paint thinner on the letters on the front cover using only my fingernail to gently scrub until they all lifted off!! Wiped that off and cleaned up the paint thinner with some dish soap - the cover was almost as good as new!! I added "friends" with rub ons and sealed them with acrylic sealer. They went really clear!! Yeah!! I added some yellow, green and blue transparent acrylic paint (homemade) which I used for this project on the outside of the bottom of the tray. It is a bit recessed so the paint, once dry, is perfectly protected from rubbing off or otherwise getting damaged. I put the tray back in the cover once everything was dry. It looks like the sea and sky!! I added a little sand dollar, a little white stone, a piece of white shell, a piece of blue mussel shell, some tiny bits of green, brown and clear sea glass - my PEI treasures - to the tray. To round out the mix I added a little red confetti heart, some multi coloured rhinestones and a few very small pearl white seed beads. I had experimented with sand and tiny holeless beads before altering the tin - they simply drained out of the tray when I suspended it. With the tray closed I added a wire hanger that runs through the little holes I drilled and keeps the treasure box nicely closed. I added curlicues to the ends of the wires!! I am sure there is a much better and prettier option but being very low on jewelery making skills I have decided that it will do the job for this project!!!

I am loving it!! These little boxes have so many surfaces that can be altered - inside and outside of the top and bottom cover - inside and outside of the tray - and are so transparent they would make wonderful little shrines, ornaments, jewelry, magnets, etc!! Alcohol ink and transparencies would be great on them!!

So, I challenge you to dig one out and see what you can do with it!!!! Load your creation to your blog and leave me a comment with the link!! I would so love to see what you created!!!! I think I will bring Linda back one or two so she can play too!!

Have a great weekend!! I am just starting a play date with my sister so I am sure we will have some creative projects to post over the next couple of weeks!!

Therese

Black, brown and cream card!

I have joined a new group - Art for the Creative Mind - and have jumped right in with a swap!! The challenge was to use black, brown and cream to create a card for our partner!!

I started with a brown card base, embossed it with a Tim Holtz embossing folder then added the cream top (punched with a SU border punch) to make it large enough for my envelope. I added some printed text at the top and a black and gold double sided ribbon. The text talks about driving in the early days and was taken from an old typing book. The original was too wide to fit the card so I scanned it, reduced in size a bit and printed it on cream paper - perfect!! The image is one I downloaded from the internet, printed on transparency, sanded the back and applied a colour wash of brown acrylic paint - gives it a vintage feel. I layered the acetate over a stippled cream base using discreetly placed pieces of double sided tape and added a soft knot of the same ribbon using a glue dot. I find that the altered acetate hides tape much more easily than the unaltered version. The laser printed punchie letters are also stippled and added to the card front using 3D foam tape.

Fun!! I am enjoying creating some one of a kind cards. Have been distracting myself from class prep so I need to get on that now!!

Therese

Christmas cards & challenges

Made these Christmas cards and satisfied several challenges along the way!! Sylvia's August challenge was winter, Karen's was tags and Year Round Christmas' was snowflakes. I started by spraying my cardstock with homemade shimmer spray. Once it was dry I stamped my little winter village (Stamp Barn) in brown at the top. I stamped off once before stamping on the card front so it would look snowy and not have too much contrast. I added decorative snowflake paper (Mind's Eye) on the lower section and layered on a brown border punched (SU) strip between the two. I punched a large snowflake (MS) from white shimmer paper, layered on a small blue one (MS) and attached them to the card front with a brown brad. I love this border punch because it leaves little half moon holes which are great to hang tags from. I made the little tag by colour printing the greeting surrounded by a circle large enough so that when I punched it out with my 3/4" punch (SU) I would have a halo of blue all the way around. I layered it onto a 1" punchie of blue and attached the tag with off white crochet thread.

The snowy village stamp has been in my collection for almost a year and just saw ink today!! Nice to have the time to play with new stamps!!

Therese

More trees!!

Needless to say there was a good little stack of "trees" in the baggie on my desk! I bought this top note looking stamp in the spring and decided it would work very nicely for this card. I stamped it on scrap cardstock and worked out where on the 4.25" x 3" rectangle I would need to colour print the words. It only took two tries to get it in the right place so I printed the words in a coordinating green, stamped the top note in red and cut it out. I layered the three trees on the right hand side and punched a hole below the greeting where I inserted the two long ends of the tied ribbon. I brought each end to the sides and glued them to the inside of the card front. The top note piece is attached to the card front with 3D foam tape. The card front is stamped to give it some texture. I used a small stamp for this card but substituted the large "sanded" background stamp (SU) for the others because it was much less time consuming. I made some of these into kits as well.

Therese

Cards with trees

More Christmas cards!! I was rummaging around on my desk and found the little stack of trees and scraps left over from these cards so I decided to create a few more along the same lines. The half triangles created from cutting my trees from a sheet of decorative paper I attached to each other using regular tape on the back. I love how interesting they are because they are made up of two different papers. I added to the mix some large single layer trees and made up these cards. All the same ingredients -the red ones have a red colour printed greeting on ivory on a portrait card and the green ones (artichoke) have theirs printed on white cardstock on a landscape card. I added a little embossed die cut heart and a star punchie!! The card front is embossed with the Swiss dots embossing folder.

I have made up a few kits as well. I will offer them to my group in the fall or will make them up when I am too busy to make Christmas cards - maybe November!!

Very happy with how these turned out!!

Therese

Birthday card

A birthday card for a special little girl!! She is growing up fast!!

I embossed the bottom of the card using a swirl embossing folder, added a rectangle of blue handmade paper from my stash and layered on a strip of embossed vellum that coordinated very nicely!! The greeting is printed, layered on pink and glued to the card front using 3D foam tape. It needed a bit of an accent so I created a flower using the SU five petal punchies - one in blue, one is olive - and embossed both of them. Added a pink punchie and attached it to the card using a clear crystal brad.

Perfect!!

Therese

OSW - a set of cards

One Sheet Wonder!! This technique allows you to create a set of cards that coordinate - great as gifts!! I taught this class to a group of women this week which were all beginner card makers. They enjoyed the class and some got quite creative with their supplies.

I designed this OSW to use a 4" x 12" inch piece of decorative paper - makes the best use of 12" x12" scrapbook paper. By adding 3 sheets of 8.5 x 11 cardstock - 1 neutral and two different colours that coordinate with your decorative paper you can create a set of four cards. These would be perfect packaged in this little card holder for gift giving any time of year.

I created the accents using SU scallop punch, 1 3/8" circle punch and daisy punch. I added some strips and 1/4" punchies cut from the leftover cardstock as well as

some paper piercing using a push pin and mouse pad.

Any decorative paper could be used for making these - gift wrap, all over stamped cardstock, etc. You could also use any manner of accents - either ones you assembled yourself or purchased ones or a small stamped image. So many options!!

The holiday season is coming up and everyone on your list can use handmade cards!! By changing up the colours of your cardstock you can even make sets that look quite different using the same decorative paper!!

So I encourage you to get creative and be ahead of the gift giving curve by making up a few sets of these this week. Challenge yourself to use what you have!!

Here is the cutting diagram you will need as well as the directions for assembling the cards!!

Consider creating some card kits for a friend or family member who has expressed some interest in cardmaking but has yet to take the leap! You might gain a cardmaking buddy!!

Therese

Lighthouse cards

I created a few cards using my seaweed handmade paper and colour printed images of a light house I took while on holidays. After printing the images in colour and grayscale I thought they would look much better with the handmade paper if they were sepia. Having never changed a photo to sepia before, I searched online for a tutorial. I found this one which worked well but because I was not reading and following the directions carefully it took me most of the afternoon to get something decent. A bit of a learning curve there!! This morning I was able to start over and get a better image in a short period of time and managed four cards!!

I glued the handmade paper to the brown card front and used my little sewing machine to pierce holes around edges. Reminds me of the little plover tracks all over the beach in PEI. Printed my greetings onto a label, cut them with wavy scissors, glued them to the accent layer and added some pierced holes to them as well. Layered the greeting and image to the front of my card in several different configurations!!

Just what I need for cards today!!

Taught cardmaking to a new group last night and we had a great time. Will post the samples later!!

Therese

Handmade paper!

Just returned from a fabulous vacation in PEI!!!!!! Wonderful beaches, great food, friendly people and just the most glorious weather!!

I picked up a bit of seaweed off the beach to add to some handmade paper to create a card for the owner of the wonderful little cottage we stayed at!!

I made 18 sheets yesterday which were dry in no time because of the glorious weather we are having here!!

I added the seaweed to handmade paper leftovers. I always save what is left over at the end of a batch of paper by shaping into a ball and drying. The leftovers always reconstitute very quickly and are great for quick batches of paper.

I am off to make some cards!!

Therese