Memory Glass pendant

On AFTCM, I signed up for a 1x3 glass pendant swap which I have been working off and on for the last few days.  Having never soldered before I did a bit of research to find some instructions and information.  Discovered that jewelery should be soldered with lead free solder  - a no brainer but I had not considered that when I signed up for the swap.  So as an alternative, I started searching for the Ranger Memory glass frames which hold the slides.  Was not able to find any locally so I needed to find a different way.  Someone on the list suggested that most solder is now lead free so I did a search on the Canadian Tire website and lo and behold they do have a variety of lead free solder so off I went and bought a roll.  I am a happy camper!!  I created a collage sheet using images from Graphics Fairy for the inside of my pendant - background paper, butterfly, script, flourish and a scroll border.  I delved deep into my Photoshop Element skills and developed some new ones on my way to making all these elements suitable for my collage.  I made a yellow butterfly from the blue one, gave them all transparent backgrounds and changed the colour of several of them.  I found lots of helpful information on line for doing what needed to be done but I did have to stretch my PSE muscles and follow the instructions CAREFULLY.  What a great resource the internet really is!!!
So my pendant is finished!! The front and back are similar which means you can wear with on either side and the charms flip over from back to front.  I cut a strip off of my laser printed collage sheet and cut two 1x3 pieces for the inside.  Glued them back to back with only a LITTLE dab of glue because moisture between the two glasses combined with the heat from the soldering causes steam which could ruin the look.  I applied copper foil tape (1/4") all the way around being sure to center the glass/collage sandwich and then burnished all the copper tape with a wood burnisher ( popsicle stick).  Then, I started soldering with DH's variable temperature soldering iron (600F) following directions I found on line.  Here is a link to a video on Stampington that was useful as well. Worked out pretty well.  Adding the jump ring was a real challenge.  I ended up adding solder to the wire and then creating the jump rings which worked better.  Not a bad job of soldering for my second soldering project.  I created a prototype with the other solder just to see if I could do it.  I sanded off any little bumps and nibs, cleaned the glass and polished up the whole thing.  This morning I added a little butterfly charm and a few beads with a jump ring, tied on a length of white seam binding and added an adjustable waxed cord.
I love joining swaps and challenging myself to learn new techniques!!

Therese

Casablanca Arch swap

On AFTCM,  I joined an arch swap with the theme of Casablanca.  I did some internet research and found a poet  - Abhallah Zrika - from Casablanca who has been jailed for his prose poetry and a quote where he expresses his wonder at the power of words.  In the process, I found out a lot about the region and their culture.  Beautiful architecture and tiled buildings!  I found a blog that talked about mosaics and how to create some simple patterns so I decided to create a tiled wall for my arch using one of his simple shapes.  I added an inner arch where I

added some arabic words and a hamsa  - a protection symbol that is used to attract the magic of life and repel evil - it is a lovely hand with a heart!!  I added a cage to protect the words and symbolize this poet's struggle with freedom and two white doves to symbolize peace and the pureness of following one's bliss.  I watercoloured all the squares blue - used extensively in their buildings - and added clear dimensional paint to make them look like tiles.  Once they were dry I added a clear sealer to the rest of the wall to make it look tiled.  As a final touch I added a short piece of white seam binding tied to the cage with a single knot and some blue half pearls to the bottom edge to add a bit of texture.
On the back I used the same hamsa symbol and this quote - " Words are a precious thing; everything can live in them." by Abdallah.   I used my "new to me" score tool (Thanks, Carol) to create a cross hatch pattern inside the inner arch and added my own quote in handwriting!!
A totally fun project which I am really happy with!!  It is off to my partner in today's mail.  


Therese

Paint technique swap card

On Just Cards we were challenged to try this paint technique and create a swap card with the resulting paper.  I love creating background papers so I joined the swap!!  For the technique you use dimensional paint to create a pattern on your substrate and while it is still wet you drip on several colours of acrylic paint and drag a credit cart through it.  As you can see I created swirls with my dimensional paint and used two different greens, a yellow and gold for the other colours.  Great look!!   You end up with globs of paint on the side of your paper after dragging your credit card over the whole thing so I used that paint on three more sheets of paper applying the paint using the credit card.  Creates a really cool look and lots of texture - more background paper.  Used some of those sheets for these cards.
For my card I printed a greeting and cactus image from Arthurs Clipart onto a laser transparency and trimmed it to leave an even border all the way around on my card front.  Trimmed my decorative paper to the same size, added a length of seam binding between the image and the greeting and attached it to the card using four small black brads.  I tied a small length of caramel seam binding to the green using a single knot to simulate a bow.
Swaps are fun because they often challenge you to try something you have never tried before.  This was a fun technique I will be using again.

Therese

White Wedding swap card

Joined a swap on Just Cards with "W" as the theme and decided to create a white wedding card.  The digital image I downloaded from Graphics Fairy - love the simplicity of this silhouette image.  I laser printed it onto a quarter sheet of white cardstock, embossed it with the Scroll embossing folder, trimmed it and mounted it to a white card front.  I used a sponging template I cut for previous cards and sponged on Gleams Pearl acrylic paint to create the oval shape and then highlighted her dress, headpiece and flowers with the same paint.  It is on its way to my swap partner!!
If you have yet to visit Graphics Fairy I would highly recommend her site!!  It is a wonderful online resource for a wide variety of  craft projects!!  Click the link to her Craft Blog and see what others are creating with her images!  You will be amazed - lots of very cool items - from cakes to home decor!!  


Therese

Cards, Cards, Cards - Christmas - a bit of bling

What's the best thing about making Christmas cards??  You can add bling as often as you like!!
Here is another design inspired by Splitcoast Stampers.  I have been seeing this embossing folder used in every format and with several different techniques for the center image so I decided to see if I could find a way to use this embossing folder - Cuttlebug Flourished Frame - for a card in this class.  I perused my digital images and found that these ones had almost the perfect proportions for the frame!!  These are by Melissa Jenkins and were downloaded from her blog when she was offering free images regularly.  They were perfect!!  I laser printed them to the right size, watercoloured them and used 3D foam tape to layer them over the embossed layer which I had already glued to my card front.  Just a few rhinestones glued to the flourishes finished off these cards!!  THRIFTY TIP:  Check out this link on my sister's blog that talks about using a fine tip bottle for applying glue.  The rhinestones we used today did not have a sticky back so I brought my little fine tip glue bottle - works so well.  My bottle used to be filled with dimensional fabric paint made by Tulip, I think.  I used the paint to make decorative paper and filled the cleaned out, empty bottle with white glue.  Just a little dab will do you and it dries clear so if the glue expands a bit beyond the edge of the rhinestone it just disappears once the glue is dry.  I am willing to bet that in your stash of crafty supplies you have a bottle with a fine tip which you could use for this purpose!  If you don't, no worries, there are several glues out there made specifically for paper crafting that have fine tips so check out your local craft or scrapbooking store.

Therese

Cards, Cards, Cards - Christmas - Folk art tree

I love this little folk art tree image!!  I found it on Laura`s blog called Pop N Stick.  She has several other cool digital images you can use for card making so check out her site!!  Here is a direct link to the tree.
I layered the tree to coloured cardstock, added a border punched strip and a  rectangle of decorative Christmas paper which I glued to a coordinating card front to make up this card.  I added a bit of ribbon to the decorative paper, sponged my eyelet edge, watercoloured my image and added this little greeting on my insert - Christmas is about what`s in your heart, not what`s under the tree. Wishing you a merry little Christmas!!
Making your own cards gives you so much flexibility!!  You can add your own little twists, use your favorite colour combinations and add meaningful greetings!!

Therese

Cards, Cards, Cards - Christmas - Vintage look

Christmas cards with a bit of a vintage feel!!  These cards feature images from a font called Christmas Cheer which I downloaded from the internet last week.  You can find it here.  I used the JOY, PEACE, NOEL and the winter scene with the house for these cards.  In Corel Draw, I sized the images to fit nicely in my largest oval Nestibilities, laser printed them eight to a page and cut them out individually.  I sponged the edges of my oval, my card and my button and watercoloured my image. I added a black label frame die cut (SX) embossed with a victorian embossing folder and placed some vintage seam binding in between.  These were layered onto a card front which was stamped using my Worn background stamp (SU) in brown.   I added a button and a bow which is a new technique I picked up this week off of Nancy Ward`s blog - Paper Friendly.  You can find the tutorial on Vicki Wizniuk`s blog - Wizards Hangout.  Basically, you take a length of ribbon, cross the ends, bring the center of the loop to the cross over, insert it into a loop of twine on the back of the button, tighten and tie off with a double knot.  Check out the tutorial and you will see how easy it is!!  I used a chipboard button which I die cut from a cereal box which was just the right colour to go with this card and used black cotton crochet thread to tie off the bow.  We used glue dots to attach this embellishment to our card fronts.
It is fun to create Christmas cards in non traditional colours though this one is starting to be one of my favorite combinations.  Check out these cards and these ones we made last year.  Here`s a few more and some more made a few years ago.
Don`t be afraid to think outside the box when it comes to colour combinations and images for Christmas cards.  One of the girls at class today said she would probably use these bird images for making a few Christmas cards.  I think they would make wonderful Christmas cards!!

Therese

Cards, Cards, Cards - Christmas - doilies

Christmas cards!!  We met this morning to create Christmas cards and get a head start on that process.  It always feels great to have your cards made and ready to go when December rolls around.
I have been loving the lovely cards I have seen on Splitcoast Stampers that feature the dainty Doily stamp from SU and really wanted to make a card with that lacy look!!  For this large class it means a lot of thermal embossing to get that look so I decided to see if I could find a digital solution.  Hooray!  I found one.  On the Avant Garde Collection CD (SU) there is a paper collection called Flirtatious and one of the papers is a large doily!!  I brought the image into Photo Shop Elements and replaced all of the white areas with transparent in a few clicks of the mouse following instructions from the internet.  I cannot seem to locate the exact tutorial I used but there are lots of different ones on how to do this.  I was also able to change the colour of the doily in PSE using the paint bucket so I created a white and red version to use on these Christmas cards!!    I imported the images into Corel Draw, duplicated them so I had four doilies and then  laid them out so they would each be off the page in each corner of a 8.5 x11 page.  I created a box of colour beneath the two white doilies to show them off nicely and added greetings.  Once I had them sized and positioned by eye I printed one page to see which circle punch I would need to create the centers.  I had to resize the doilies a bit so that the 1 3/8" punchies would leave a nice scalloped edge visible.  I printed these on white cardstock using a colour laser, cut them apart and trimmed them to 4" x 5.25".  I layered a coordinating circle punchie in the center of the doily, added a fiber snowflake and used a brad to attach them all together.  This element was glued to a coordinating card front.  I embellished the front with glitter glue to add just a bit of sparkle!!  I used iridescent for mine but some girls at class today used silver on the blue one and red on the red one and that really looked very nice!!  I expect a spritz of shimmer spray would be really great too!!
So I encourage you to find your newest Christmas stamp, a sketch you like,dig out some paper and get creative!!  If you prefer digital stamps check out the next few post for links to some I used for this class.

Therese

Cardmaking - June - Feathered Friends

I love these bird images!!  They are available from The Graphics Fairy.  She has a wide variety of images, backgrounds and line art - simply a great resource for digital images.
I used four different images and added a quote to each one as well as a coloured border.  I have been playing around a bit more with combining digital elements so this was a fun experiement.  In the end, it made for a quick and easy card.  I printed the image on white cardstock and we simply embossed the lower half, added a ribbon and glued the whole thing to the front of a coordinating card!!  Too easy!!   To easy to add a greeting as well with a little piece of 3D foam tape.
I will be passing on the cardmaking baton to a friend of mine who will be taking over the Wednesday night classes in September.  She is excited to be on the other side of the table and has been brainstorming and designing kits for the fall.  I look forward to catching up with the group during the Christmas card classes on the first two weekend of November!!
I have so enjoyed this group and the opportunity to share cardmaking!!  I will miss the friendships I have built, but I do need to change my focus.  My craft room is part of the unfinished basement and the finishing process has begun so I need to be cleaning up, sorting and packing up my "stuff" so the job and be finished within a reasonable timeline.
I will still be around and posting to my blog regularly!!

Therese

Cardmaking - June - Transparency

I was playing around with a paint technique for a challenge and ended up making up several sheets in these two colours - pink/red and yellow/green.  I have seen many videos and tutorials where they use old credit card to apply paint but it is the first time I have tried it.  It works really well. If you been thinking you would like to try it I encourage you to give it a go!!
I printed Dover images on transparency to layer over my decorative paper and attached them to the card front using brads.  I added three little strips of embossed coordinating cardstock to the right hand side.  On the first one I used a corner rounder and am not terribly happy with the look - I think because the top one ended up round and looks like it doesn't go with the others.  So on my second one I decided to use a different technique and I am happier with that.  I also embossed the card front which helps add texure!!  The little felt flower was added last using a glue dot.
You can sign up with Dover to get emails regularly which highlight their collections and offer free samples.  Well, worth it for the free images they offer!!  Go here to sign up!!

Therese

Cardmaking - June - Fun Greetings

It is always fun to change things up, so for this card I combined the image and the greeting.  All of the images were downloaded from CLKER and I added some fun greetings using an appropriate font.  Some of the other ones were: "Heard you needed a pick up" with a little truck, "Best Fishes" with a cute little fish, "Be Happy" with a little bee, "Butterfly Wishes" with a butterfly, "Smile" with a camera, "You're Purrr- fect" with a cute kitten and "You're so sweet" with a little cupcake!
I cut the circle elements and the scalloped layers with my Nestibilities.  Started by adding a layer of decorative paper to the card front and a length of seam binding or ribbon.  Tied on a short piece with a single knot to simulate a bow and added my main layered element over it using 3D foam tape.
It is always good to have a few greeting cards on hand that you can send to friends and family for just for fun!!  These fit the bill perfectly!!

Therese

Cardmaking - June - Vintage

Our last Wednesday cardmaking session before the summer break!!  It is hot here!!  We were glad to have our cards made early and be off to cooler places!!
For our first card we made one with a bit of a vintage look!!  After not finding enough of what I needed for these card kits in my decorative paper bucket I decided to make up what I needed.  I started with brown paper that came in a box a few weeks ago wrapped around something "important".  I wrinkled it, opened it up and wrinkled it again and then started adding different colours of brown acrylic paint washes and then wrinkled it again.  Once it was dry I ran a dark brown ink pad over the wrinkles to highlight the texture.  Added a lighter colour to soften the dark one and I was happy with that.
I added a piece of my new decorative paper to my card front overlapping the section I had embossed.  I added a piece of paper lace - from way deep in my stash - being sure to only dab my glue stick on it so the holes would remain open.  I layered my collage element over a layer of kraft and mounted it over the end of the ribbon using 3D foam tape.  For a little more texture I added a small flower (TH) cut from corrugated cardboard and adhered it to the card front using a brad to which I had added a gold sequin - just a bit of bling!!   The images were all different and were cut from a 12 x12 page of scrapbooking paper.  I trimmed each image using my Fiskars stamp edger scissors.  Just the look I was wanting.

Therese

Father's Day card

Made this card for my DH for Father's Day.  I just received some grunge board elements as a prize from one of my groups and thought that the coffee cup one would work so popped out the pieces and painted them up with brown, tan and gold acrylic paint.  Once they were dry I reassembled the pieces and highlighted the cup with some clear dimensional paint.  I love the way it worked out.  The music background has been downloaded from Free Vintage Digital Stamps and colour printed.  I added some black twill and caramel seam binding and mounted my layered element over them using 3D foam tape.  Add a layered greeting with a bit of bling!!
He loves music and coffee so I thought this worked pretty well for him!!

Therese

Thank you cards

Every new mother needs a few cards to acknowledge the blessings she receives from those around her when she bring a new baby into the world.  Oh, joy!!
I made these as a gift for my cousin and his partner who just had a baby in May.  Handmade cards are an appropriate gift for most every occasion.
I used plaid decorative paper on the top of these cards and overlapped the bottom edge with a rectangle of brown that has been border punched on both sides with the SU scallop border punch.  I added a blue ribbon and a star die cut attached with a white button brad.  I also added dots of white in each scallop with a white gel pen.  These fit in #8 envelopes.

Therese

Baby Card

 A new baby was born into the family in May and I am just getting to sending a card and gift.
This card was part of the All Occasion Class I taught earlier this month and I used green cardstock so it could be customized for a boy or a girl by just colouring the image appropriately.  I love this cute little buggy digital image which I downloaded from WP clipart.  I watercoloured the laser printed image, distressed the green layer and added it over the white seambinding using 3D foam tape.  I used the Swiss Dot embossing folder on the green background and mounted everything to a white card front.  The little colour printed greeting is punched on both ends with the SU eyelet border punch.
Babies are such a great way of starting people!!  Always worth celebrating a new addition!!

Therese

More Panel Thank you cards!!

I made up more of these single layer panel cards with some of the digital papers available on the Avant Garde Collection CD from Stampin UP!! Love those graphic designs and the great colours!!  For some, I used the designs as the focal point and simply sized them in Corel Draw so I could just print and cut.  The center ones feature a paper with an all over design so I created coloured boxes to accent my text.  I can see combining several different papers in my next batch which brings me closer to the look of handmade cards!!  Maybe I will even add ribbons and buttons!!  Check out this link to see the other ones I created a while back.
Check out the collections in the new SU catalogue!!  The designs on the CDs can be used in other graphics programs such Corel Draw so I am looking forward to acquiring a few more collections!!

Therese

Another one!

Another pop twirl card!!  A completely different theme and I was able to get my twirling element to be hidden inside the card!!
The music background is from Free Vintage Digistamps which I colour printed and glued to my card front.  The other two digital images I found at Pure Clipart and at Clipart Monster Club.  I added DANCE using embellished letters.  I created these typewriter letters years ago which I laser printed and punched out using my 1/2" punch.  I watercoloured them and added Dimensional Magic to finish them off nicely. Once dry I used glue dots to attach them to my card front.  Added my coloured image with 3D foam tape which overlaps my white seam binding that features a simulated bow.   To simulate a bow, simply tie a short piece of seam binding with a single knot to the long piece that has been attached to the inside of the card.  It can easily be adjusted by sliding along the ribbon.

On the inside I added a bit of sponging and stamping and some handwritten words - "like no one is watching".  I cut out the little ballerina and sewed her a skirt using blue and shimmery white tulle!! I love how she turned out.  You can see a close up photo of her below.  I had to be careful not to trim her too close so I would have enough room to add my trimmed glue dots which attach her to the bamboo stick.  She is also watercoloured. I added tied ribbons to the ends of the stick to keep it from slipping through. She twirls beautifully!!
I made my pop ups a little less wide to accommodate the height of my ballerina and  if I were to create another one of these I would stick with the 1" ones as they are more sturdy and make a my card taller to fit all the elements.

I would highly recommend trying out this fun card!!  I expect it will take a little more postage to send but I think totally worth it for the fun and movement it provides.  So many possibilities!!

So now to decide which one to send to my swap partner!!

Therese

Pop up Twirl card

Joined a card swap where I had to create a pop up twirl card.  Unfortunately the swap was cancelled so I contacted one of the girls who had signed up and we are swapping One for One!!
You can check out the tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers.  It is not really complicated but does require precise cutting to get the mechanics to work.  It is really fun because the inside element pops and twirls!!  Check out the video at the bottom of the tutorial to see how cool it looks!!
You do need to use sturdy cardstock and the two full layers just  like the tutorial indicates because there is a fair amount of torque on the cardstock when the twirling is happening!!  Be sure to glue them together well.   I used strips of paper instead of buttons on the bamboo stick - just made a paper bead on the stick.  Saw this idea somewhere else on the internet and thought it would be a better option for a card that is going to be mailed.  My twirling element stuck out of my card so I added two border punched strips which worked out really well but it does
mean I will  have to mail it in a larger envelope.
I embossed the whole card front.  I have a  piece of cutting pad for my Big Shot which is the result of having broken a plate, which I use for embossing only parts of an embossing folder.  In this case, I embossed three quarters of the front using the embossing folder and then moved it over aligning the dots so I could emboss the remaining quarter.  Had I used a full plate one row of dots would have been squished by the flat edge of the embossing folder.  Instead I used my partial cutting plate and placed it on the embossing folder so it did not impact the edge of the embossing folder.  Magically, no flattened spots in the middle of my embossed card front.  So hang on to the pieces of your next broken cutting plate for using this way.  I added an embossed TH Ornmental Label die cut with white seambinding and a simulated bow.  I created the sunflower using this template and triangles created by cutting  1 3/4" squares diagonally.  I curled the ends with my scissors for a bit of dimension and added a bit of watercolour in the center.  The center is a brown scalloped circle (NS) embossed with dots and features a little lady bug I created using a red 1/2" punchie for the body and a black 1/4" black punchie for the head.  I added the spots with a black Sharpie marker and added clear dimensional paint for dimension and shine.  I hand cut the stem and leaves and watercoloured them a bit after I embossed them.
I am making one more of these to see if I can keep my twirling element inside the card!!

Therese

50th Anniversary Card

For a couple who are celebrating a milestone - 50 years of marriage!!  I chose to use gold coloured cardstock instead of a shiny gold finish to keep the card more subtle.  I colour printed the greeting on a light gold cardstock in a dark gold colour using a font called NOEL.  Love this font!!  It has such a handwritten feeling.  I added an embossed element above, which is two strips of the same cardstock punched with my eyelet border punch (SU), embossed with a flourish embossing folder (SX) and then scored with a line in between with a scoring tool (MS).  I added a bit of contrasting ink to highlight the texture before gluing it to the card front.  Added vintage seambinding over the joint and two hearts cut from a very light gold and a darker gold with the colours transposed - a great metaphor for marriage.  I tied a short piece of seambinding to the left of the hearts with a single knot to simulate bow.
Fifty years of marriage was rather rare when I was a child but is a more common event these days but I do not think that in any way diminishes the value of the accomplishment which is so worth celebrating!!

Therese

Cardmaking - All Occasions - wedding & more

These were the last set of cards we made this morning!!  I always have a quick and easy card for the last one because everyone is getting antsy and ready to get on with their day.
I chose four images from WP Clipart - a wedding cake, a fern, a baby carriage and a bouquet of tulips which created cards appropriate for a wedding or anniversary, a masculine birthday or a sympathy card, the birth of a child and could be customized by colouring the carriage either blue or pink and a get well or spring birthday card.  An embossed background, a seambinding with a simulated bow and a layered image.  I did not add colour to the wedding cake leaving it until I actually use the card so I can customize it to the recipient.  I may consider simply adding some sparkle using a clear Sakura StarDust gel pen instead of adding any colour.
I do so enjoying sharing my enthusiasm for cardmaking with like minded people!!  It blesses so many people, me as I create the card kits and teach the class, the participants as they create the cards and add a bit of themselves as they do and the recipients of these lovely creations.  If the card is resused, it is a blessing yet one more time.  Thrifty Tip:  Use plain paper inserts on the inside of your cards and simply glue them with one little strip of glue on the inside front near the fold.  This allows the insert you have written on to be removed and replaced with a new one and the card reused!!  Here is a tutorial on making envelopes so you can send that refurbished card on its way!!

Therese

Cardmaking - All Occasion cards - Faux Pinwheel

These were fun to do!!  I regularly check out Splitcoast Stampers for cardmaking inspiration.  It is such a wonderful resource for any cardmaker - lots of eye candy!!   You can find a tutorial here and a video here!
I created a template (see below) to simplify creating the pinwheel by providing a center and indicating where all the corners needed to be.   I used 1.25" squares and the pinwheel is about 3.5" across.  Works best with contrasting coordinating papers - I used decorative paper for one set of squares and cardstock for the other.  The background was embossed and I added a layered laser printed greeting.  The layered greeting combines punchies from the SU window punch and their modern label punch.
It was fun to dig through my scraps of decorative paper and come up with some coordinating cardstock for the other set of squares and the background.  I mounted the pinwheel using 3D foam tape and then added the flower punchie in the middle which helps give this element some dimension.
One of the girls commented on how the pinwheel looks very much like a quilt design and she had a friend that would most appreciate one of these cards.  That is one of the benefits of making cards - you can make them to suit those who will be receiving them.
Give this a try!  It is easier than it looks!!  Consider doing one with scraps first to help you understand the process of placing the squares and gluing them to each other.

Therese

Cardmaking - All Occasion - cake & gifts

Another versatile sketch!!  I used digital images created my Michelle Perkett for this set of cards.  She has a variety of images and sentiments as well as an Etsy shop so check out her site!!
The decorative paper on this card is layered with coordinating cardstock.
Thrifty Tip:  use two small rectangles behind your decorative paper instead of a full piece. It will allow you to use smaller pieces (check your scrap bucket) as well as providing less weight to your card.
I embossed the top portion but today some embossed the whole front, some debossed the area instead of embossing and others chose to emboss the bottom half instead of the top - so many options.  The digital image is laser printed, coloured, layered and added to the card front using 3D foam tape.  It was fun to use different embossing folders for each card.  I also added some paper piercing below the decorative paper - adds a bit of texture.
Thrifty Tip : I use a push pin, a strip of plastic canvas and an old mouse pad as my paper piercing tools - works really well for creating evenly spaced holes.
These fun images would certainly be great embellished with some glitter so I may consider adding some before I send them on their way!!

Therese

Cardmaking - All Occasion - bon voyage!

Another great cardmaking class this morning!!  We were making All Occasion Cards this time so I ensured that each card was a bit different by using flexible sketches and a wide variety of colours!!  It is always fun to see the cards once the kits have been assembled at class as each person adds their own flair and creativity to the process.
I love the flexibility of this sketch!  I included anywhere from four to eight strips of cardstock to create the background and then encouraged the participants to consider different placements for their ribbon and greeting and they could even have created a portrait card with these elements.
The little strips were embossed and then glued to the background layer which was then adhered to the card front.  Once the ribbon placement was decided the ends were glued to the inside front of the card using double sided tape.  The greeting was coloured and layered then adhered over the ribbon using 3D foam tape.  The little cardstock diamonds provide a nice little embellishment on these cards!!
I love these little digital greetings which all include little images as well!!  They are from Melohheadz Illustratiing.  She is a prolific artist and has a wide variety of images - check out her site!!  Use the labels on the right hand side to help you find what you are looking for!!  Here are direct links to  Bon Voyage, Giving Thanks, HB Cupcake, Friendship is  images!!
I am finding myself using a lot of digital images lately.  They are always perfectly "stamped" cause they are printed, can be sized to fit your project, take no room to store, can be modified to any colour and if you save them carefully - in a folder with the name of the site in it - you can always find them!!  Lots of benefits!!

Therese

Collage Mandalas

I created these for a swap on AFTCM - Mandalas.  I did a little internet research to see what others have created for mandalas and found lots of digital tutorials for creating them which were pretty interesting. But, I was wanting something that involved a more hands on technique so decided to search for collage mandalas.  I found several that were done in large scale on canvases so I just adapted the process for these 4x4 chunky book pages.  I did create a layout in Corel Draw before I started with  paper to establish what size each layer needed to be and then raided my collage bucket and found some papers that coordinated.  I started with a 4" x4" square, added a 3" circle with 12 3/4" punchies layered below the edge, 2 1/8" square, a 1 7/8" square, 1 1/4" square, four triangles and a gold 3/4" punch for the centers.  I added black lines to the green-blue one and white lines to the pink-yellow one after I glued all the layers into place.   I am really happy with the way these two worked out.  It is a fun process that has no rules so you can just create as you wish and really allow your inner guidance system to move you along.

Therese

Little fabric quilts

Started this quilting project last week.  I am wanting to make some fabric journal covers like Teesha Moore has created.  You can check out the tutorial  here!  I have finished the edges on these three. I think I will put together a few more with different fabrics. It has been a very long time since I did hand sewing but I have really enjoyed doing these. I am looking forward to using up some fabric scraps and these little quilts are so easy to take along to be worked up in the car or anywhere you might be waiting for a bit of time.  Once I have a bit of a selection I will start doing the inner quilting.  I love the embellishing she does with beads and so on once she has created the fabric journal covers.
I have used a mixture of fabrics - cotton, silky polyester, etc.  I used craft thread on some and embroidery thread on others.  She recommended the pearl thread which I think might be worth investing in.  I wanted to try it out with what I had just to see what sorts of results I was able to achieve.  So, now that I have started I hope to keep a little stack of blanks ready to go and work on these regularly - a bit of creativity every day!!

Therese

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