Cardmaking - May - little boys

These cards were created with little boys in mind.  They feature decorative paper as the main element of the card which is a different way of approaching card making for me.  I love the little animals!!  I added two embossed and pierced rectangles and a colour printed greeting layered over a scalloped circle.  These are quick and easy cards!!
These fit in #8 envelopes which I purchased in bulk at an office supply store.  Some of the girls in class mentioned that they have been purchasing them at discount stores.  I thought they were a different size but  when I compared them this morning they are the same size so consider that option when buying envelopes.
THRIFTY TIP:  To make two #8 cards from an 8.5" x 11" piece of cardstock cut off two pieces that measure 3.5" x 11". The scrap that is left over (1.5"x 11") is exactly the right width for adding to the 11" (11" + 1.5"= 12.5") to make a 6.25" card (6.25 x 2 = 12.5).  Cut two 1.5" x 3.5" pieces and add to the two pieces you have already cut.  I usually hide the joint below an element or a layer.
In this case I added a piece of double sided tape below the two rectangles which holds in place the 1.5" x 3.5" piece I added to the front bottom of the card.  You could also choose to add a piece in a different colour which works just as well and uses up scraps.

Therese

Cardmaking - May - masculine

As you have probably already suspected I was featuring masculine cards this month.  Father's Day is coming and it is always good to have a few masculine cards in your stash.
These cards featured a decorative paper with bold stripes including gold which added richness to the look of the completed cards.  I echoed the gold by adding a layer below the images.  We sponged the images using a round template which left a nice white border all the way around the image - love that look! I coloured the details in the images using watercolour.  The images and the sponging template (transparency) were cut using my round Nestibilities.  I used the same bow technique I used on this card which involves punching a small hole in the greeting, pushing a loop of seam binding from back to front and inserting several small lengths into the loop.  The bow is formed by pulling both long ends to tighten it nicely.  It works very well with seam binding which is soft and pliable and makes a bow with very little bulk because there is no actual knot. The greetings were colour printed and trimmed with decorative scissors.  The digital images are from Arthur's Clip Art.  This site has a large index to help you locate the images you are looking for.
Take time to celebrate the best of the men in your life and let them know you appreciate them with a handmade card!!

Therese

Cardmaking - May - corrugated paper

Love the look of this corrugated paper!!  The red one on the right I bought years ago in a variety pack but I have since discovered a more economical option which is featured on the card on the left hand side.  THRIFTY TIP:  Check your recycle bin and look for any box that has been made up of fine corrugated cardboard. Cut it apart, lay a piece on a flat surface and wet the inside layer with a spray bottle or large foam brush. The water will be very quickly absorbed, then let it sit for a few minutes.  Start peeling off this wet layer by lifting an edge from one of the sides.  It should peel up perfectly.  If not, just wet it down a bit more and wait a minute or two and try again.  Gives you lots of corrugated paper in no time.  Want coloured corrugated paper??  Just paint with acrylic paint any colour you need for your project.
I added a large ribbon across the middle and layered on a colour printed image to which I added some photo corners.  These photo corners have been in my stash for a while and I was happy to get a chance to use them.  I liked the vintage scrapbook look, especially with the Eiffel tower image.  On one of the cards I stapled the corrugated paper to the card front and on the second one I simply glued it in place.  Just a different look!!   Added the three little diamonds to finish it off.  These digital images were colour printed but you could certainly consider using images from packaging or collage sheets or real photos.  All the images are from The Graphics Fairy. She has a  lot of images so use the search box to find what you are looking for.  Many of the girls at class were looking for more of this sailboat image.  Enjoy!!

Therese

Cardmaking - May - little tag card

Love getting together with others to create so had a good time last night with my cardmaking group!!
Our first card featured a little tag greeting!! I printed up a few Happy Father's Day tags so anyone who wanted to could customize their card.  We debossed the front so that the tag could easily be slipped into the slot and added decorative paper to the left.  I used the SU window punch to create the slot and only glued the outside edges of that layer to create a pocket for the tag to slide into.  The watercoloured image was  layered onto the front of the tag holder and a small piece of ribbon was stapled to the tag.
I laser printed these are digital images - the leaf is from Beccy's Place and the bison is from Arthur's Clip art.  Several  of the other images I used were from Clker.
I love digital images because they can be sized to suit any project and always print perfectly!  There are many places where you can download images for free so check out the links I have on the right hand side of my blog to see what you can find for your next project.

Therese

Exchange card

Made this card up for the card exchange with my card group the other night.  The art was already created so it was fairly quick and easy to put the card together - embossed background, black seam binding and a black layer all on a yellow card front.
The digital image is by Melon Headz Illustration.  She has a wide variety of images so check out her site!!  I have used several other ones here .  I created the art at the same time that I created these ones.  I love the bold look of this image and the message is inspirational!!  We all need to be reminded of what is important in life!!

Therese

Panel Thank you cards

Just received my SU Avant Garde Collection CD today and have been playing!!  I created these single panel Thank you cards that fit in #8 envelopes!!  Loving those digital images!!  I sized the digital paper images in Corel Draw to suit what I needed for the cards and added greetings which I colour coordinated to the paper!!  These were quick and easy  -  I simply colour printed them!!

Therese

Cards packaged for giving!

Here is how I have packaged the four fabric flower cards I made earlier today!  I made this card holder from heavyweight decorative paper and used my slot corner punch to make a slot for the ribbon which will help keep it with the holder once the package is opened.  It can be reused by the recipient to package cards or other items for giving.
If you would like the template for creating this card holder just follow this link or click card holder in my LABELS listing on the lower right side of this blog!!
I have added my best wishes inside a little Zentangle card which I have neatly tucked into the flap.
Therese

Fabric flower cards

 Here is a close up of the black netting like fabric I used on the front of my flowers.  They have so much texture!!  So they would be "the star of the show" I created some very simple backgrounds for them.  I added some "faux stitching" with a fine tip Sharpie marker to some bright cardstock and embossed them. Quick and easy!!  As I playing with the lay out I decided that punchie centers worked better than the stitching ones I had created with thread so I added those to the flowers using large glue dots.

These were fun to make and I am looking forward to adding more fabric and hand stitching to my paper crafting!!

Therese

Fabric flowers

 I acquired a stash of fabric from someone who was downsizing so I have been looking forward to using some of the smaller scraps in my art!!  I decided this morning that today was the day and that I would try making some fabric flowers!  I dug out a few different ones - satiny white, black, gray and white flowers and a netting with little discs all sewn in a very organic manner.  Very cool!!  After layering them I thought the sandwich was a bit on the light side for flowers so I dug into my stash and found some white flannelette which helped give the sandwich the weight I was looking for.

Above, you can see above a flower in progress.  The hand sewn stitches in red and yellow embroidery thread inside the hand drawn flower shape with all the layers pinned together. I started sewing in the middle, going around in circles to create the center of the flower, then added one long center stitch in each petal and stitches all the way around to be sure that everything was well anchored.  The two on the left were cut with the largest flower on the Tattered Flowers die (TH).  I accidently cut the stitching in several places when I die cut  them because it was difficult to line up on the die.  The other three were done free hand.  I drew a shape on the white backing, did my hand sewing and then cut around it.
I am happy with my first attempt at hand sewing in many years and have plans to feature these on cards very shortly!!  A fitting Thank you for the generous soul who gifted me with some fun fabrics to play with.  I am hoping to try some Teesha Moore type fabric journals as well.

Therese

Butterfly birthday cards

A couple of birthday cards for a couple of special girls who will be celebrating their birthdays together this year!!
I used a laser printed Meljens digital image of a butterfly which I watercoloured.  Added some decorative paper, ribbon and a greeting.
Love the little bows!!  I used this same technique here for a masculine card and slipped two individual pieces of ribbon into the loop instead of the two loops I inserted this time which created some very nice looking bows.  So if you are bow challenged this technique is for  you!!!

Therese

Cupcake birthday cards!

Prepped these kits for a cardmaking session here at home and the leftovers have been sitting for a while.  I hauled them out yesterday and made them all up.  Had a really good time watercolouring all those cupcakes in fun colours to coordinate with the decorative papers!   I added a bit of vintage seam binding/ribbon and a greeting to finish them off!!
It's great to have a few of these ahead!!

Therese

Birthday card

A birthday card for a girl who loves purple and pink!  She also loves paper crafting so I have sent a few card kits her way so she can have some of her friends over to craft!!
I started with a laser printed  fairy and butterfly image from Meljens blog.  I watercoloured it, layered it onto purple, attached it to a stamped and embossed layer of pink cardstock then glued the entire element to a dark pink card front.  Add a layered stamped greeting and offset that with a layered flower made up of punchies.

Therese

House book

 I have created a little House Book for a swap on AFTCM.  The theme is A Garden Journey, so I created some house shapes and decorated them with garden images.  It has been a fun project.
I started with some very thin corrugated cardboard which arrived last week wrapped around a new "toy"!!  I designed my pages, cut them out and die cut the fence from scraps.  I backed the pages with foreign language book pages.  I stamped the fronts with a text stamp in dark brown and added some stippling as well.  Finished all the edges with a large black permanent marker.

Here is my book all closed up.  I have added a tie on the left hand side that slips around the fence post which keeps it nicely closed.  I have four pieces - the fence, the one storey, the two storey and the large apartment building in the back.  I had wanted to have all of the windows on the buildings be on the front of the pages so it would look like a neighborhood.  Unfortunately, I was not paying as much attention as I should have when I was decorating the pages and you will see that the windows ended up on the back instead of the front. Not wrong, but not what I had imagined!!
The fence is decorated with flower and vine punchies on both sides.

With the fence flipped open you can see the front of the first house.  I added a window and a door with the large marker and filled in the details with a fine tip Sharpie.  I added punchie flowers to create a window box and a grass die cut at the bottom.  In between, I added my wording by tracing a letter template lightly with a pencil and then giving the letters weight using the fine tip marker.  I wanted the letters to be a little sketchy so left them a bit rough.

The back of the first house features an architectural window with a window box, two large flowers, a grass die cut, a butterfly and the continuation of the quote.
The front of the second house features a garden scene which includes a bird on a branch, a small butterfly, a grass die cut and five layered flowers.  These are all punchies!!  The quote continues in the same manner as the previous pages.

The back of the second house features a balcony with flowers in a window box, a grass die cut, a butterfly, some leaves and a large flower along with a few more words from my quote.
On the front of the last page I have created a garden  of love that features a wide variety of heart flowers all growing next to each other.  Added "Sow love!" in the same manner as the quote on the previous pages and some grass at the bottom.

On the back page I drew in lots of windows and gave them all different window treatments.  Each window received a flower box and a tiny heart as well.  Added the saying, some butterflies and some grass at the bottom.
I bound the pages with some cording which I knotted on the outside of the book on the left hand side.

I am very happy with how this little project turned out even with the mishap of the windows.  I liked combining lots of different items and techniques.

My little book will start it's trip to my partner tomorrow and hopefully will arrive there some time next week!!

Therese

Masculine cards & ribbon trick

I am in need of masculine cards again!!  It seems that this year I cannot keep any masculine cards in my card stash so I decided yesterday to make a bunch of them.
I started with paper that was wrapped around an internet purchase that arrived from Hong Kong!!  Wonderful green paper!!
I scrunched it, rubbed it with a green ink pad, stamped some brown leaves and script in turquoise!  Ironed it a little to flatten it and cut it into 4" x 5.25" pieces for my cards!! I dug out a variety of masculine images from my image stash, some coordinating card fronts, my containers of cardstock scraps, my bucket of extra greetings and some vintage seam binding!!
I picked a card, layered on my new decorative paper and started adding elements - an image, a greeting and some ribbon layering as I went along. By the end of the day ( I did have a few interruptions and did eat)  I had created 9 cards!!

In the photo on the right I have tried a technique that I first saw here on Charmaine's blog.  You create the look of a bow by inserting folded ribbon in a loop that has been inserted into a hole.  Very cool idea!!  Because I was making masculine cards I decided to just put lengths of ribbon through the loop instead of folded ones.  I love the look!!  Really easy and worked really well with the soft bodied seam binding.  I punched a 3/16" hole in my greeting, slipped a loop from the long seam binding through it from the back and inserted the two lengths through it and pulled it taut.  You have to be careful not to pull too hard to keep the loop on top.

A very enjoyable day of creating!!  I am happy to have been so productive and that I have a good supply of masculine cards in my card stash!!
It is surely the fastest any piece of paper has been reused in my house!!  I usually need to "sit" with supplies before I use them. On the other hand, quite often, paper gets put away and doesn't see the light of day again for a few months or years!!
So challenge yourself to dig up something you have been saving and create something today!!

Therese

Cardmaking - April - Artsy flowers

This was so much fun to do!  I laser printed the Papier Salat images onto white cardstock and added some swipes of liquid watercolour using a foam brush!!  I love the bold bright look of these little works of art so decided to keep the design simple - a double knotted piece of vintage seam binding and a brushed silver paper layer nicely framed on black card fronts!!
Love these quick and easy cards!!

Therese

Cardmaking - April - woven accent

In the spirit of making the most of the supplies I have on hand and in celebration of Earth Day I decided to use the stash of paper strips I have accumulated as I trim paper for other projects.  I love how these worked out, though, I really prefer the randomness of the red one.  The one on the left used cut offs from these cards and I am really happy how bright the colours were next to the yellow cardstock but after I glued down the piece and added the image I thought it was just a little too square and even but taking it apart would have been problematic because these are made using wax crayons.  The butterfly image I downloaded from CLKER and the heart is from Torico, I laser printed them and use 1 3/4" punch to cut them out. Used a scalloped Nestibilities circle die to cut the layer.  The little patch of woven strips works really well over the embossed card fronts.
Therese

Cardmaking - April - Birdies!!

Am so loving the birdie cards that are everywhere so when I saw this little guy on The Graphics Fairy blog I nabbed him right away!!  I laid out three of them in my layout program (Corel Draw) and added a bit of length to the branch in PSE so that they would all look like they were talking to each other and added the little birdie saying as well.  I laser printed the image, watercoloured it, added a ribbon, layered it onto brown and then glued the whole element to my embossed card front.

Great for spring birthdays!!

Therese

Cardmaking - April - earth friendly flowers

Guess what these flowers are made of???

Plastic bags!!  So cool!  I die cut them from plastic shopping bags using the Tattered Flowers die (TH)!!  The white one is from SU and the pink ones I am not sure as there was no advertising on them.   I found several different colours in my stash - lime green, purple, gold  - all bags I received from my local scrap booking store!  Got the idea from my sister and you can check out her flowers here on her blog.
I layered several plastic flowers, added a cardstock mini flower and punchie and held them all together using a brad. The leaf was die cut from cardstock using the Tattered Leaves die and embossed.  The edge of the top layer was cut with a Border die (TH) and then embossed.  I added a strip of decorative paper below the die cut edge which finishes the card off very nicely!!
Love this simple design!!  Would make a wonderful Mother's Day card!!

Therese

French Vintage swap cards

I created these cards for a "French Vintage with a fancy fold' swap on AFTCM.  Have been wanting to try this fold for a while so just decided I would try it for this swap.  I downloaded all the images from The Graphics Fairy, brought them into my layout program (Corel Draw) and laid them out to create all the pieces I was going to need to make the cards.  I printed one in black and white and the other in colour.  I really like both of them!! I used one of them for my card exchange and sent the other on its way to my swap partner!!
I am hoping to be able to use this fold again. It was not difficult to work out.  I cut my cardstock to 4.25"x 11" and folded it in half.  Then I cut 3" x 4.25" off the one side and used it as the front layer.  Too easy!!
I will try using coordinating decorative paper next time around!!

Therese

Cardmaking - March - embossed handmade paper

These cards were our last of the night and quick & easy!!  We layered some decorative paper to a coordinating card front and glued on our little sheets of embossed handmade paper.  Added a layered greeting  and some ribbon with staples!!  The greeting is a combination of the SU window punch and the modern label punch - they layer very nicely.  I have a reusable Corel Draw file I use to create whatever greetings I need that have the correct format for punching with the window punch which is a great time saver when I have kits to prepare!!
It was great to see some new people last night and some I haven't seen in a while!!  A great group!!

Spring has sprung here - daffodils are 8" high already!!!  Will probably be blooming within the week!!

Therese

Cardmaking - March - embedded shapes

This card uses the lattice embossing folder (SU) to embed shapes into a piece of cardstock!!  What a great technique!!  The embossed cardstock has a quilted look and the punchies look like they are part of the paper!!  You could probably use any of the other very textured embossing folders to created this same look.
I first used a border punch on the bottom of my layer and then simply glued my punched shapes to the cardstock layer and ran it through my Big Kick using the embossing folder!  Voila!!  We added a piece of ribbon with a short piece tied to it, to this layer, glued that to our coordinating card front and then added our round embellishment/greeting using 3D foam tape!!
This is another really fun technique!!  Save your extra punchies in one place and pretty soon you will have enough to do this technique!!  Or punch out several shapes from your scraps of coloured cardstock before filing it in the "round file" or in my case into my bucket for papermaking!!

Therese

Cardmaking - March - restructured paper

For our second card last night we used  restructured paper  for the background!!  I love the look of this paper!!
I also provided a silver foil frame die cut (SX) which, as you can see in the photo, could be used in several different ways.  I sanded the one on the right before I embossed it which gives it a more subtle look.  We punched our back layer for the greeting from the middle of the large oval (NS) layer before we added our coloured image.  These are digital images from Melonheadz Illustrations.  They are cute and whimsical yet have a lot of graphic quality to them.  The ribbon is just a bit off white so it would coordinate with the restructured paper.  To get the right colour I dyed white ribbon using tumeric - yes, the spice!!  Very cool, and gave me just the yellowy off white colour I needed.  Assembled all the elements on a black card front.  The card on the right is for my son who just got a new job!!!

Therese

Cardmaking - March - Ewe cards

This is the first card we made at cardmaking last night.  We had two young cardmakers join us so it was fun to start with a cute one!!
The Ewe was created using a scallop circle punchie (SU) which I embossed with a swirly embossing folder.  You trim a five petal punchie  (SU) leaving three petals together to create the head and ears and the two others are used for the legs!  Pretty cool!!  I searched the internet for ewe punchie tutorials and found quite a few different ways of making them using different punches. Here is a tutorial for this one This ewe is created by adding eyes to the middle section - head - using white gel pens.  Glued this piece to the front of the scallop and the legs to the back.  The background is created using three different embossed layers - blue for the sky, one green for the tree line and another for the grass.  One of the girls at class used the thin darker strip below the sky and it creates the look of a meadow with a distant tree line instead.  I love teaching because of what I learn from my students!!
The greeting is laser printed, trimmed with decorative scissors before being layered onto black and adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape.  I also used 3D foam tape to adhere the ewe!!  You can see on one of them I added three diamonds which just gives the card a bit more punch.  I think I will add them to the other one!!  I found several "ewe" sayings online and you can obviously substitute "ewe" for "you" in all the regular greetings!!

Therese

Masked tree swap card

On one of my card groups I had to create a card for a swap that used masking.  Not a technique I do very often but I found a tree images that I thought would be suitable, laser printed it, added some yellow ink using an oval stencil, added the circle punchie as a mask and sponged on several other colours to create a sky.  It is a fun technique which I should use more often because it has a lot of punch with out too much time!!
Used the SU scallop border punch on the bottom and pierced each scallop, layered it onto teal and added the vintage seam binding tying the scrap to simulate a bow.  Layered this element to a black card!!

Happy with it!!

Therese

Birth Announcement

Our newest grandson!!  He was born four weeks ago and both Mom and baby are doing well.
The design of this announcement is a cooperative effort between my daughter, my sister and myself.  My daughter wanted a large letter on the front of the announcement and because of a short timeline I had to consider other options besides cutting them all out by hand.  We had hoped to use my sister's Cricuit to cut them but, unfortunately, because we could not adjust the aspect ratio of the letters we did not have a font that would properly fit the front of an A2 sized card.  During a brainstorming session with my sister she suggested using transparencies which is the route I chose and I am very happy with the way everything worked out.
Once I had worked out the lay out I hoped that my daughter could provide a photo with the elements  - baby on the right and something cute on the left that would be hidden below the stem of the L and only revealed when the announcement was opened.  Yeah!  She did it!!  Apparently, with the camera in one hand and the puppet in the other!!  I did digitally scale down the puppet and moved it over and down a bit so it would be completely hidden behind the L and was fortunate that the background was very forgiving!!  He is a cutie!!
So after digitally modifying the photo I added his name and stats below it  - covered by the bottom part of the L in the scan.  Printed them all on heavy weight laser copy paper and trimmed them.  I also printed a backer with a welcome from the rest of the family - Mom and Dad and his brother and sister!!  The large L was adjusted to fit perfectly on the front and filled with a "marbled paper" background which I found in Corel Draw then colour laser printed on laser transparencies.   I used brads to assemble the pieces as I did not want any glue to show.  I put the brads in from the back and covered the tangs on the inside with diecut embossed buttons to which I had tied some white cording.  I also added a large one to the front for a bit of texture!!
So we welcome another member to the family.  We have grown by one every year for the last five years!!  We are grateful for the new little people that we will watch grow and for their parents who have chosen to bring them into the world.  It is the circle of life!!

Therese

Glittered Christmas cards

I created Christmas cards with the spare trees I glittered when I was creating my calendar!!
I layered the glittered trees over some gold foiled paper, added a ripped embossed paper snowbank and a gold embossed layered greeting.  A quick and easy cards and my first Christmas cards this year!!
I had Christmas cards left over from last year so I have been less motivated to get started really early this year.
I am happy to have been able to create some cards with the bits I had left over from my class.  It is always harder to use up bits later on when the vision for them has been replaced with something else!!

Therese

Anniversary cards

Made up a few anniversary cards with hearts I glittered when I was creating my calendar pages.  They also feature some of the restructured paper I created a few weeks ago.  I love the look of this paper!!
I combined red and white heart ribbon with strip of black border punched (SU) cardstock and layered it over the restructured paper to which I had added a stitched border using a fine tip permanent marker.  I used a white gel pen to embellish the scallops.  Attached the glittered heart using 3D foam tape.

I really love the look of  these cards!!

Therese

Wedding invitations

 This is the final design of wedding invitations I created for a couple who are getting married in just less than a month!!  I have been waiting until the package was received and they were happy with their little bundle before I posted them here.

I love the simple elegance of this design!
I used a flourish embossing folder to do both sides of the white gate fold invitation and embellished the front with three hearts (SZ - tipsy heart) - two embossed and one silver foil!!  The inside features a single laser printed panel with their wording.

These are the samples I provided for them after they had been through the links to cards on my blog that I thought might be appropriate for use as wedding invitations.  They simply substituted the silver foil for the red!!

I wish them blessings as they start a life together and hope they will always celebrate the good of being together!!

Therese

Embossed handmade paper

 Just thought I would share with you how I made the embossed handmade paper I used on the leaf card on this posting.
I started with white paper pulp which is created using blank white paper (mostly partial sheets) from the printer and plain white cardstock scraps I collect from my paper crafting.  Using my small mould and deckle I form a sheet and then place my embossing sheet over it with the design side down and couch as usual.  In the process of eliminating as much water as possible from the newly made sheet it also gets embossed.  I carefully remove the embossing sheets and leave the little embossed sheets to air dry.  They are often a bit wavy once they are dry so I stack them and pressed them under weight - a stack of encyclopedias.

Here you can see one of the embossing sheets my sister and I created.  We drew our images on a piece of paper, overlaid a small piece of handiwipe over each one and used hot glue to create the shapes onto the handiwipe!!  The handmade paper does not stick to them and they can be reused.

It is a fun process with a very unique look. If you are thinking of making your own start with basic shapes made up of simple lines.  The sky is the limit when it comes to subject matter!!    Have fun!!

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

Thank you cards

Created these cards for the girls who attended my Stampin UP party last week.
They feature the restructured paper I made a while back using owl postage, tissue paper, paper napkin and skeleton leaves!!  I wanted to highlight the paper so I only added a small tag and some lace.  I cut the tags using a Sizzix (SX) scallop tag die, stamped the greeting in black and sponged the edges.  The card on the right features reused cardstock which was a Chapters gift card enclosure from years ago.  Added a butterfly!  To make the butterfly I stamped black cardstock with bleach using a butterfly stamp (SU), used the butterfly punch (SU)  to cut them out and tied on some cording to create the body and antenna.  I really like the look of making butterflies this way which I found somewhere on the internet. I will add a link when I recover it.  I added some black lace seam binding in the hole and adhered it to the card front using 3D foam tape.
It is always fun having a party!!  Catherine, my SU demo, always has fun make and takes and is always showing us some new technique or product.  I have ordered CD cases this year in hopes of storing my unmounted stamps in a way that I can more easily access them.

Therese

2012 calendar page

Here is a look at my completed calendar.  It stands on its own though I have added holes at the top of each page so it can be hung.  Yesterday, I realized that the bulk of it might prevent that from being effective so I added a cord hanger which is about 1.5" long (a loop through the holes in each page) so it can be easily hung.
These are the 12 pages of my second calendar which are not exactly the same as the previous pieces of art I have shared with you!!

A totally fun project!!  We all need calendars to help us keep track of our lives so why not create
for ourselves a calendar worthy of looking at every day because it features our best art!!

Therese

Embossed metal art

This piece of art features an embossed metal flower which the students created in this class.  It is layered onto an embossed oval (NS), an embossed silver foil label (TH) and then layered onto a piece of my new restructured paper which I also embossed!!
I love the splash of colour created by the brads and the oval in contrast to the neutrals of the background and the glitz of the foil!!

This is the twelfth piece of art for the calendar so we will be putting it all together this week!!  Everyone will be able to decide which piece of art will be featured on each month so their calendars will be unique.

It has been really fun to come up with the layouts for all of these little pieces of art.

Therese

Birdie art

I love the combination of the sheet music and the bird!!  This piece of art uses one of the handmade paper sheets we made the first day which has a piece of sheet music layered onto it.  I die cut the body of the little birds (TH) from colourful hand decorated wax crayon  paper I had left over from one of my cards a few weeks ago.  I layered it over a die cut of the whole bird cut from brown cardstock, added a brown wing with 3D foam tape and a tiny black brad for his eye.  I layered the handmade paper over the embossed cardstock background, glued my bird into place and added three little black squares for accent.  I really love the vibrant colours of this little bird.

Therese

Seed Paper Art

Another layout for the calendar!  This one features a piece of seed paper which was created several years ago by students at a Art Festival.  They have been sitting in a classroom and were recently returned to me so I decided to use them for this calendar project.  The seed paper is created by forming a sheet of handmade paper, sprinkling on seeds and layering over them a thin piece of paper - in this case, the top layer of a paper napkin.  The piece needed very little else so I just doodled a border using a fine tip Sharpie marker, glued my seed paper in place and added a fiber tie for a bit of texture.

Therese