Window Clings!

 We had a great time with this project!!  I had covered my basement windows with cling a while back so we could enjoy the light from them without feeling like we were in a fishbowl.  The rolls were a bit too wide so I had cut them off which had left a roll about 5 inches wide.  At the time I thought they would make great window clings!! And they did!  We drew our images on quarter sheets of scrap paper, put our small pieces of window cling over them and traced our images with coloured Sharpies!!  My granddaughter made a few free hand ones as well.

I was more structured with my designs and used black Sharpies around the edges which gave them a more stained glass look.
You simply peel off the backing cellophane and apply to the window!!
Had we trimmed them close to our images we would have had a more custom look.
This was a fun creative project that has inexpensive besides!!  We got about 20 clings from one roll end.

Therese

Bottle cap pendants

Another project we tackled when my grand daughter was visiting.  We had collected several bottle caps from an event we attended and thought we would apply some creativity and turn them into pendants.
It took a little more effort to flatten these ones as they had already been crimped onto bottles.  Read - lots of prying with pliers and hammering iwth mallets!!
We printed the sayings off of the internet, glued them into our bottle caps and added beads and bling.  For some of them we also added some clear dimensional paint (clear sun catcher paint). Once they were dry we added a string and some danglies using jump rings.  We created our own jump rings using paperclips.  You just straighten the paper clip, wrap tightly around a skewer, remove and cut down one side with wire snips - quick and inexpensive jump rings!!  She took a few home to continue to craft with.

Therese

Paperclip bracelets

My grand daughter was visiting recently and she wanted to make paperclip jewelry!!  I was not sure what that meant so after a bit of an explanation we decided we would give it a go so we got started.  We straightened some paper clip, added a metal charm and made a loop to capture it.  We threaded on some beads and made another loop.  I had to use two paperclips per side but she was able to use only one.  We bent the beaded wire to conform to our wrists and added clasps!!  They turned out very well!!

Therese

Card with watercolour background

I found this watercolour background in a box on my desk and decided to turn it into a card!!  I had created it in the process of finding ways of creating fast and easy crafts do with my grandchildren using markers, coffee filters and a spray bottle.  This was a piece of white cardstock I used to print off of a coffee filter that was saturated with water and colour.
I added half of a paper doily.  The other half was included in the making of this card.  I added a piece of coordinating vintage seam binding and decided to sew it to the layer capturing the doily in between.  I glued this layer to a blue card front, added a watercoloured birdhouse image (Beccy's Place) and a double layered printed greeting.
I created the corners on my birdhouse image using a half inch circle punch.  I turned the punch over so I could see the paper, inserted the corner until it was a quarter of the circle and punched it.  Nicely done!! I like using my tools in different ways.
I am really liking these handmade backgrounds!!!

Therese

Canada geese and washi tape

Whenever I need inspiration for cardmaking I always head to the gallery at Splitcoast Stampers.  There is a veritable bevy of wonderful cards there to provide as much inspiration as I need.  I found one that featured a round focal element and some layers attached with washi tape!!  I have been wanting to use the washi tape I bought months ago and have been struggling with finding a good sketch that would make the best use of my limited colour options.  This one did the trick!!  I started with a dark gray card front, added an embossed strip of light gray cardstock using two different washi tapes - black & white plaid above and the diagonal stripes below.  Perfect!!  I found the geese (Arthurs Clipart) image in my stash as well.  I cut it round using Nesties and cut it a black layer while I was at it.  The original card had a greeting with a flagged end so I decided to add a black strip with a flagged end and a small laser printed greeting below it.  I glued the strip with the greeting attached on the card front using double sided tape and mounted the geese image using 3D foam tape.
I am encouraged by this card.  I hope to be able to incorporate more washi tape in my cards as time goes on.  I realize that having only a limited supply of colours and patterns certainly curtails my options but as this card proves I just need to keep at it and I will find more sketches that work with what I have.

Therese

Waterfall Card with glittered serendipity squares

Joined a swap on AFTCM for creating a waterfall card.  You can check out a tutorial for this card on Splitcoast Stampers.  I wanted it to be special so I created a quarter sheet of serendipity paper to highlight the squares on my waterfall.
I used red, yellow and brown in my serenditpity and if you look real close you can see some of that special paper I used on these cards.  Once it was dry, I cut it into 2" squares and cut a hole in them using the smallest flower on the TH Tattered Flower die.  I applied double sided tape to the back of them, adhered them to a coordinating yellow cardstock and trimmed them leaving an even border all the way around. I added red punchie centers, sprinkled gold glitter over the flower area which had double sided tape in it which gave me a sparkly flower in the middle of my serendipity.  Really like the way that worked out!  I found this origami paper in my stash that was just the right colour of red and glued it to my yellow card front.  I created my waterfall from a strip of darker yellow cardstock and adhered my elements to it using double sided tape. I intentionally offset them and like the effect it gave. I attached a strip of red cardstock to my waterfall to create the belt and attached this element to my card front using a gold brad on one side and gold staple on the other.  I corner rounded the right hand edge of my pull and stapled on a bit of ribbon to help with activating the waterfall.  I added a double layered oval greeting over the staple I used to attach my belt.  I love that the lines in the paper line up perfectly with my oval greeting.
I am really happy with how this card turned out.  Lots of dimension and texture and a 3D element to boot!!

Therese

Tree Fabric Collage - How to

I created this fabric collage of a tree and thought I would provide a bit of information for anyone who might be inspired to make one themselves.

I started with a floral bed sheet!!!  I cut two 9" squares from it and then cut a piece of batting just slightly smaller.

I laid the fabric on a piece of plastic and applied acrylic paint colour washes in blues and greens to create a landscape back ground for my tree.  Once the fabric was dry I used a hot iron to heat set the paint.  I do not expect this piece will ever be washed but I thought it would be best to do it anyway.  I painted both pieces similarly though there is only one in the photo.

 I found a piece of brown fabric in my stash and cut out a tree trunk, pinned it to my front piece and used my sewing machine with brown thread to sew it in place.

 Next, I dug out scraps of green and brown fabric and cut out, by hand, LOTS of leaves - really just pointy ended ovals about 1.5" long.  I used a glue stick - yes the kind you use for paper - to glue all the leaves in place making sure that I distributed the different colours through out the tree.

Once they were all in place I used my sewing machine with green thread and sewed down the center of each leaf to securely attach them all to my fabric.  Next, I created the little quilt by placing my back over my tree with the right side facing down and positioned my batting over that.  I sewed around the perimeter using a half inch seam allowance and left a 2.5" opening in the seam. I then turned it right sides out and pressed it.  I hand stitched the opening closed and then top stitched about 1/8" all the way around the edge of the piece in green thread.
I began the process of adding stitching and beads with the trunk and then did all the leaves.  I used what I had in my stash of beads - mostly round seed beads and a few longer thin ones.  I mixed the colours and tried to coordinate them with the leaf colour.  I used brown, green and blue embroidery floss to stitch on my beads.

You can check out the final project here.   It was a really fun project and I expect I will be making a few more!!  If you are inspired I hope you will give it a go!!

Therese

Fabric collage - a beautiful tree!

 On AFTCM, I joined a fabric collage swap!!  I was very excited about the possibilities because I have been enjoying making these little quilties inspired by Teesha Moore and a bigger piece just seemed like it would be more fun!!!  It is 8" x 8" and features hand painted fabric, fabric leaves, floss and beads!!!  I sewed the foundation together and then embellished it by adding hand stitching and beads.  Here are some close ups of the beading!!

I download some embroidery stitching instructions off the internet which was very helpful in figuring out how to get the beads on as I was stitching.  It was totally fun and I love how it turned out!!  I believe there will be a few more of these stitched projects in my future.
Check out my next post to see how I created this piece!!

Therese

Birthday card - hand decorated background

Was cruising Splitcoast Stampers for some inspiration the other day and found several with hand decorated backgrounds so I dug out this painted background and thought I would embellish it a bit for my card.  I lightly brushed white acrylic paint through an all over circle stencil using a foam brush to add dots which I liked very much. One person had cut up her background into three pieces so I decided to do that as well.  I first punched out the flowers and then used scissors to cut a line through the holes.  I really like how it turned out!!  I punched out "BIRTHDAY" on the bottom edge of the bottom piece and punched "HAPPY" out of black cardstock and glued it above the holes.  I glued all three pieces to a layer of black cardstock and then mounted that to my green card front!!  I added shimmery white punchies to the inside of the flowers.  Pretty good!!  It still needed a "bit of something" so I added the little dots using a fine tip Sharpie marker and three little black butterfly punchies which I attached with tiny black brads.  That was much better!!
It is amazing that creating it such a multileveled process!!  I can certainly see me using more techniques for adding more dimension to my own hand decorated papers!!

Therese

The last of the paper!!

Here are a couple more cards using that wonderful paper!  There are only scraps left which will no doubt end up in a sheet of serendipity paper somewhere down the line.
For these cards I layered the silver gray ribbon over the light rust one that came with the paper using double sided tape.  I trimmed it to length and folded the ends to the inside of the card fronts.  I attached them with double sided tape and added a piece of regular tape over that because they were not staying in place.  I added a 3D embellishment created using a flower die cut, several silk flowers, a copper sequin and silver brad. I sanded the shiny silver brads so they would have a dull finish which worked better with the paper. I watercoloured the laser printed greetings and layered them onto the rust ribbon slides and adhered them to the card fronts using 3D foam tape.
These are my exchange cards for this month and are off to my partners in tomorrow's mail.

Therese

Beach Bag Tote

This is the last sewn item I am making for fundraising at an event I am attending this summer!!
The colourful fabric is a batik print created by my brother while he attended art school and has been in my sister's stash for years.  She brought it out earlier this year and challenged me to make something out of it!!  It is beautiful and I wanted to highlight the batik as much as possible!!  I stamped the light fabric to add colour and texture to it so it would coordinate more closely with the batik.  It seemed a better fit when they were lined up on my cutting table but all in all I am pretty happy with how it turned out!!  The bag is lined with the same fabric as the handles and has a zipper at the top!!

Therese

Cards for a gift

Here I am again with this paper!!  I needed a small gift to bring along to the neighbours when they invited us over for dinner the other night.  I quickly made these four cards and packaged them in a folded wrapper tied with a ribbon.  You can see a similar one here.

I prepped the supplies for these cards:  rust card base, a layered diecut and silk flower embellishment, silver gray ribbon, rust ribbon slider and an oval laser printed greeting.  You can see from the photos that I just combined the elements differently to get several different looks including changing the

orientation.

I would normally pull cards from my stash for a last minute gift but since I moved last year and have not taught cardmaking classes the selection in my card stash has been pretty low!!
I will have to make a point of getting at least a few cards ahead!!

I like the summery look of these cards!!

Therese

 

Birthday card in kraft and black

A card for my son!!  We are fortunate to have him visiting - DH and he are doing some woodworking in the garage!
I glued my decorative paper to a layer of black cardstock.  This paper is one I brought back from London when we went a few years back.  I love the graphic look of it!!
I added a border of black cardstock punched with a multiple slot punch and trimmed with scallop decorative scissors.  I ran a length of blue vintage seam binding through the slots, glued the border to the decorative paper and glued the ends to the back of this layer using double sided tape.  I mounted my focal element over the border using 3D foam tape, tucked a laser printed greeting just below on the left and glued the whole thing to the front of a kraft card.  I layered two circles for my main element.  The loon was thermally embossed on tan using black embossing powder.  I distressed its edge, glued it to a black circle which was just a bit larger and distressed its edge as well.

Therese

Birthday greeting with that same paper!

I used more of that wonderful paper!!  I used it for my last couple of cards!  Check them out here and here!!
I love this decorative paper and am finding ways of using it up!!  For this card I used a stamped image of a sunflower which has a very different feel from the last one I used - much more artsy!!  I used my watercolour pencils as well and like the look I was able to achieve. I trimmed the image, distressed the edges and added a green greeting which was also distressed.  I decided to gather my ribbon for this card.  I simply sewed over the folds as I created them.  I added it over the decorative paper on my card using double sided tape and added a 1/4" gray ribbon over the middle to hide the stitching.  I like the look!!  I used 3D foam tape to adhere my image to my card front over the ribbon.
The summer has begun here!!  School is out and the temperature is rising!!!

Therese

Thank you card

Another card with this wonderful decorative paper!!  You can see the previous one here!!
I love this decorative paper and for this card I layered it onto a deep terracotta card front.  I used watercolour pencils to colour this stamped image.  I just loosely coloured in the different elements of the image using several different colours of crayons.  Afterwards, I used a wet paintbrush to reconstitute the colour and blend them nicely.  I have not used watercolour pencils this way before and I think it works pretty well.  I do not have a large selection of colours but they worked quite well for this image.  I will have to try mixing colours next time I use them. Convenient when you don't want a wet palette - like at a class or on a trip.  I layered my image on gray, mounted it over the ribbon which I layered over my card front and glued the ends to the inside of the card.  I added a small colour printed greeting which I layered on darker gray and mounted to the card front using 3D foam tape.

Therese

Anniversary card with love birds

A card for my DH for our anniversary!!  The bird cage image was downloaded off of The Graphic Fairy.  I modified it a while back and added my own digital love birds.  For this card, the combined images were printed on white cardstock and watercoloured. I added some Vintage Linen distress ink to the frame before I stitched it to the vintage image.  I embellished the laser printed greeting with watercolour, punched a hole on one end and flagged the other.  I tied a string into the hole and wrapped the long end around this focal element several times and tied the ends near the tag.  I attached the whole element to my blue green card front using double sided tape.  The greeting needed a bit of something so I added a little heart rhinestone which I coloured with a sharpie to be a coordinating colour.

Therese

Fabric Journal - part two

 

Here are the back and front of the finished fabric journal. I love the amount of texture it has and how colourful it is!!

I added a long quiltie to which I had sewed an elastic band as part of my closure.  I found a large white button in my collection and decided it would be just what I needed to finish off the closure on this journal.


Here are some close ups of my embellishments - charms and beads!!

 

Here are photos of the inside and back covers!!

The fabric cover holds a composition book which can be replaced once it is full.   The flaps provide a place to store notes or even a writing implement depending on what the journal is being used for.

I am happy with how it worked out.  I have enough little quilts made to make another one.  I did find someone on line that had made cuffs from some of hers so I may give that a try.  There are certainly lots of people making bags from them as well so I will consider that some time in the future!!

I have really enjoyed making the little quilts.  I have been stitching them in the car on our road trips.  I just prep a few pieces (two pieces of fabric pinned together with batting in between) before the trip and bring along a needle, some thread, a small set of scissors and some pins in a bag and I am ready to go.  It passes the time and miles very pleasantly!!
Without even trying hard I have collected a bit of a fabric stash - just little pieces that are left over from sewing projects, scraps from other quilters in the family and a few quilt scrap bags from thrift/fabric stores.
I am certainly enjoying the creative possibilities of these little hand stitched quilts and look forward to doing even more creative projects with them.

Therese

Fabric journal - part one

A few months back I decided I would make a journal with my little quilts as a fundraising prize for an event I am attending this summer!  I have been making the little quilts for quite a while and have a bit of a collection.  I decided that I would make a hand quilted cover that would accommodate a composition book.  The books are readily available and are a consistent size so replacing the book would be easy once it was full.  

I took out my stash of little quilts and started laying them on the composition book in an effort to work out a layout that would be suitable for two covers.  Here are the ones I chose for the front and back covers.  

Once I had chosen the ones I wanted I reviewed Teesha Moore's video to see what she did next.  She added her stitching to the surface of the little quilts next so that is what I did.  It was fun to use different colours of thread and add all kinds of stitching to them.  It really added a lot of texture!

Here is what they looked like once I had finished adding the stitching to all of the pieces I had chosen. 

You will notice that there have been some changes from the original layout.  I found that some did not 

fit together as well as I had originally thought they would and others did not provide quite as much area as

I had thought they would so I made a few changes.  Here is a close up of the stitching I added.  I just worked with the design of the fabric and made a LOT of little stitches.  You can use any embroidery stitches you like so I added some french knots to the middle of the flowers and to some of the dots in the fabric.

Once all of the quilts had been stitched it was time to sew them to each other.  I originally just butted the two quilts to each other and did an over hand stitch to bind them to each other.  After having finished about half of the one cover I found that this method allowed the pieces to overlap and I was losing area which meant that the cover was going to be too small!!  Needless to say, I had to rework the layout and change up my little quilts to bigger ones.  So, I also had to go back and add stitching to the ones I had substituted in.  It took a little longer than I had expected but I have a few that are already stitched that are ready to be included in another project.  So, to prevent my pieces from overlapping I started using a figure eight stitch instead and that worked much better.   With that little problem solved I proceeded to finish up both of my covers.  Below you can see how they looked once I had finished sewing the covers.
These journal covers have a LOT of texture.  The seams are bumpy and colourful.  Check the photo above for a close up of the seams and how the overhand stitch tends to make the pieces overlap.  

So that was the process of getting the covers made.  It was relatively easy to sew them to each other.  I added some inside flaps to keep the fabric cover on the composition book and a closure.  Check my next posting to see the finished journal.  

Therese

Little quilts

Another stash of little quilts which I have managed to get done in the last few trips we have made this year!!  I am starting to have a bit of a collection of these!!  I have been making them for almost a year now!!  You can check out my others here.
I have started a journal - Teesha Moore style which I will be posting shortly!  It has taken me a while to get it done but I am happy with it.

Therese

Thank you card with special paper and ribbon

Have you ever received some wonderful paper and ribbon on a gift and just want to reuse it because it is so beautiful!!  That's what happened this past week!! I love this paper and ribbon - I just had to make a card!!  I needed one for someone special who took care of my garden while I was away - perfect!!!
I found some yellow cardstock which coordinated with the paper and glued the decorative paper to my card front.  I cut a piece of ribbon leaving the flagged end, glued the cut end to the inside of the card and added a small piece of double sided tape below the ribbon where the image was going to be.  I watercoloured my heart image (Torico - Birdie Brown), layered it onto yellow and adhered it to my card front over the ribbon using 3D foam tape.  I found this tiny greeting in my stash that was the perfect colour so I distressed its edges and added to my card using 3D foam tape.

Therese

Bright birthday card!!

Here is the card I made for my sister, Sylvia, for her birthday!!  It is vibrant with colour and that is how she likes them!!
I started with a bright piece of decorative paper which I made last fall.  I was playing with water based markers and coffee filters in an effort to find a fun craft to make with my grandchildren. I had scribbled the markers all over the coffee filter and spritzed it with water to see how much the colours would bleed into each other.  It worked nicely but the coffee filter was soaked so I used several sheets of glossy photo paper to remove the excess and this is what they looked like once they were dry!!  LOVED THEM!!
I cut the decorative paper to size, combined two framelits (one label - one oval) with painters tape and cut the aperture in the top of the decorative paper.  I used a letter punch set to punch "birthday" at the bottom of it and added "happy" over it by hand using a black fine tip sharpie.  I added a wide teal ribbon between the two and I tied a shorter piece to it to simulate a bow.  I glued the whole element to a bright green card front.  For my other element I added a large white silk flower and small turquoise one to the center of the oval and attached them with a small black brad.  I coloured the small one, which was originally white, with ink from a teal stamp pad.  The colour matches perfectly. I glued it, nicely centered, into the opening.  It still needed a bit of something so I added dots on the inside of the frame and the letter openings with a black sharpie.  That was better!!
Unfortunately, I will not be able to be with her on her birthday this year so we will be making plans to get together later.
Therese

Father's Day card with a cabin

I have managed to use quite a few of these frames in the last little while!! In this case, I used it to frame a watercoloured image of a cabin.  The cabin is one that I received in a swap years ago and I thought it would be appropriate for my Dad for Father's Day. I added some Vintage Photo distress ink to the frame before I stitched it to the image.  Aterwards, I stitched the whole element to a dark brown card front.  I embellished a laser printed greeting with watercolour and used staples to attach it to my card.

Therese

Braided T-shirt bracelets

I just discovered these braided T-shirt bracelets on line a while ago and thought I would give them a try as I have acquired a small stash of scraps!! I really love the soft look of these ones and the feel is really nice too - comfortable!!  They stretch just enough so you can get them on and don't have to worry about losing them.
Here is a link to a tutorial if you are interested in making your own.  These will be fun as prizes for an event I will be attending this summer!!  I may make a few more in different colours!!
The perfect project for your favorite T-shirts who have had an accident or are worn through in a few places!!

Therese

Graduation card

We have a niece graduating from high school this month and so I made her a card!!
I started with a white card front, layered some black and added the graphic gold metallic decorative paper.  I created the greeting using Corel Draw and included a cap I downloaded from CLKER.  It has a tassel in the original but I wanted to add a real one so I removed it from the digital image before I printed it.  The greeting is patterned after one I saw on a card on Splitcoast Stampers - I changed the fonts and the wording to suit what I wanted it to say.  After laser printing it I watercoloured the cap using black watercolour and added a gold tassel (gold embroidery thread) with a tiny gold brad.  I layered the greeting on black and included a strip of gold embossed mesh which I flagged on the bottom end.

Therese

Gifts of Imperfection - Cultivating meaningful work

The course is over but we have a few weeks to finish up our work so I am working on my Gifts of Imperfection E course by Brene Brown this weekend.  Week Four's lesson is about identifying our "Superpower" so we can apply it/them to doing meaningful work.  Meaningful work feeds our spirit and makes a difference in the world - we are very fortunate if it also pays the bills.  If not, then it is beneficial for us to find a way - volunteering, a side business or a part time job that will do it for us.  Our Kryptonite is how this same quality can become a detriment if we abuse it.

I started both of these pages with watercolour crayons - the SU Bold and Bright & Regals sets!!
These are wonderful crayons that are rich and creamy and are very versatile because they can be used in so many ways.  I scribbled all around the pages with the crayons and then just ran a wet brush over them - they melt into a puddle of colour which you can distribute as you wish.  To add texture I applied several colours of  watercolour to a back ground stamp by just rubbing the crayons over the rubber surface, spritzing it with water and stamping it onto my page!! I love the way it came out.   I added my hand lettering and the borders with a fine tipped Sharpie once the pages were dry!!
One more lesson to go!!

Therese