A couple larger fabric collage heart cards

These fabric collage hearts were a bit bigger than the others I made so they did not work well for A2 sized cards which I what I usually make.  So I dug into my envelope stash and found a couple envelopes that were just a bit larger and created my cards to fit in them.
For my first card, I created a white card which fit in the envelope I had chosen. I created a background by adhering a strip of green cardstock to a piece of blue cardstock, trimmed it to fit on my card front and embossed it with the Swiss Dot embossing folder.  I had to put it through twice so I was careful the second time to position my top plate so it lined up with the last row of dots so the end of the folder would not crush what I had embossed the first time.  Worked perfectly!!  After auditioning my fabric collage heart I felt that the background needed a bit of something so I went digging in my lace stash and found this one that worked well.  I cut off the length I needed, applied a very thin layer of glue on the embossed green strip and positioned the lace over it.  I folded the ends to the back and adhered them with double sided tape.  I added my heart and machine stitched it in place using coordinating thread.  I added a handmade paper heart punchie which I tied on with pink embroidery thread.  I added a layered greeting below my heart and glued this embellished layer to my white card front.  After a bit I thought maybe the handmade paper heart needed a "bit of something" so I outlined it with dimensional pearl fabric paint and added a few dots as well.  To keep the thread ends out of the paint while it dried I positioned the card upside down on a shelf and held it in place with a little weight. Perfect!  The paint dried perfectly and the thread remained clean.
For my second card, I created a navy card to fit in my envelope then cut a yellow and green layer each a bit smaller than the other.  I embossed the green one with a heart embossing folder, added my fabric collage heart and machine stitched it in place.  I embellished it with a large brad which I coloured with a Sharpie marker to make it the right colour and then slipped four short pieces of soft tulle between the tangs on the back of the brad before inserting it in a hole which I made with awl so it would be big enough.  Really like how that worked out!!  I colourwashed a punched laser printed greeting with watercolour to coordinate, highlighted the edges with a black permanent marker and adhered it below the heart using 3D foam tape.
I am really liking these cards! They are artsy and unique!!  You can check out the others I have made here and here.

Therese

Another batch of laser toner resist cards

Another batch of laser toner resit cards!!  I have reused some of the images I really liked from the first set and added a few new ones.  Several of these required a bit more detail in the colouring with the watercolour - the butterflies and the flowers.  The other two I was able to apply colour to highlight the greeting which worked out really well.
Pretty happy with these cards!!

Therese

Quick and easy - laser toner resist cards

I have been pondering ways of creating quick & easy cards and here is the first technique I worked out - laser toner resist!!  All of these cards use black toner from a laser printer as the resist along with waterbased colouring mediums.  All of the images are from CLKER.  I created the digital files using Corel Draw but any layout or word processing software could be used for laying them out and then printed them on 8.5" x 11" white cardstock.  I cut them into quarter sheets and then added colour!!  These first three have been coloured using SU watercolour pencils.  For the first one I applied the colour to a silicone craft sheet, spritzed it with water and placed my quarter sheet with the image facing down in the wet paint.  Worked out perfectly!  I wanted the words in the pink area.  I did add a bit of watercolour with the crayons to certain areas - outside edges, some greenery and a few flowers and then spread the colour with a wet paintbrush.
For the two butterflies I applied the crayons to the areas I wanted a specific colour and then spread the paint with a wet paintbrush.  I added the blue on the outside edges by colouring on my craft sheet with the crayon and then picking up the colour with a wet foam brush.  It gives a bit of a different look.   Really happy with how these turned out.  The fun is that these can be painted any colour!!  So, next time I print them out I can make cards that look different by choosing different colours and/or colouring mediums.  FUN!!
There is one missing from this set - it was printed in gray and I was not happy with the result of that one so it has been added to the serendipity stash bin.  I like the contrast of black with the colour much better and in some cases, it was beneficial to wipe them a bit after they are dry to remove any colour that remained on the laser printing.  These buckled a bit with the amount of water I had applied so I let them dry and pressed them under weight to flatten them. You could dry them more quickly with a heat gun and then press them.  To make the cards I trimmed the images to 4" x 5.25" and adhered them to a coordinating card front.

 For this set of cards I used one of the grungy CLKER backgrounds and added images and greetings. I did have to use images or fonts filled with white if I did not want the background to show through - for example, the rose and Happy Birthday.  The heart was transparent and the background shows through.

For these ones I used watercolour from a kids set and a foam brush, randomly adding strokes of colour that worked together until I was happy with the look of the piece.  I did add colour to the flower, the heart and the Happy Birthday afterwards with a smaller paintbrush to get them to stand out more.

 For this set I used Distress Ink pads applied directly to my silicone craft sheet, spritzed with water and then laid the cardstock into the puddle of paint with the image facing down.  I kept sopping up paint until I was happy with how it looked.   I really liked this process and it was possible to choose to place certain colours in specific areas.  I really wanted the top of the thank you card to be lighter and it turned out just like I wanted it to!!

UPDATE:  I have made a few more of these cards since this posting and have created a tutorial as well.  You can find the other cards here and here.   The tutorial is here or you can CLICK Tutorials above and scroll the the bottom of the list and click the link.

So this has been a fun experiment!!  I found it was relatively easy to create some artsy cards using white cardstock, some free digital images, my laser printer and some easily available colouring mediums.  The kids sets of watercolours are on sale at this time of the year and will provide colour for hundreds of cards.
I challenge you to give it a try and let me know how it works out for you!!  Leave me a comment with a link to your creations and I will go and check them out!!

Therese

A few more fabric collage cards

A few more cards that I made with the fabric collages I created a while back.  The collages were created by machine stitching together coordinating fabric scraps and then free hand cutting hearts from them.  

For the first card, I adhered two kraft cardstock strips to a piece of embossed (Swiss Dots) navy cardstock.  I added a layer of scallop edged kraft tulle (SU) adhering the ends to the back with double sided tape.  I positioned my fabric collage heart and machine stitched it in place using coordinating thread.  I added a scalloped heart punchie button which I tied on with kraft coloured embroidery thread knotted twice to keep the button in place.  I colour washed a laser printed greeting and mounted it to this layer using two tiny black brads.  This embellished layer was then adhered to a dark red card front to complete my card.  

For my second card, I stitched my fabric collage heart to an ivory layer and added a paper button tied on with black thread.  I used my stamping jig to stamp on the greeting (SU) in black in exactly the right place.  I layered this onto navy cardstock and machine stitched them together using navy thread.  This embellished layer was then adhered to a dark red card front.  

You can check out the other cards I made with my fabric collage hearts here.   

Therese

Serendipity heart card

I had this serendipity heart sitting on my desk and decided to create an anniversary card with it. Also sitting on my desk was a few pieces of fabric which I received in a swap a while back so I decided to combine the two.  It originally was stamped with this script stamp and to make it more of a design element for this card I stamped it again using a darker ink.  Really like how that worked out.  I trimmed it down to size, added a bit of glue to my red card front and positioned the fabric in place before stitching it all the way around with red thread.  I adhered the heart to the fabric background using a small piece of double sided tape, layered on a folded piece of red seam binding and then used a white paper button and some gold embroidery thread to adhere them to my card front.  I layered a laser printed greeting to gold foil cardstock, flagged one end and stapled it to my card front incorporating a piece of folded red seam binding in the process.  Love it!

Therese

Fabric collage heart cards

 I have been playing with fabric collage and needed a few anniversary cards so I decided to combine the two and made a few cards.  

To create my fabric collages I simply took coordinating scraps and sewed them to each other by overlapping their edges and machine stitching with a coordinating thread.   

To make my cards I took each collage and cut it into heart shapes free hand.  The first two cards were cut from one collage. For the first card I cut an ivory layer and mounted two strips of green cardstock one on each long side.  Next, I colour washed two strips of vintage white bandaging that looks like cheese cloth with green watercolour and, once dry, I positioned them on the layer and adhered them to the back using double sided tape. Then I positioned my fabric collage heart and overlaid it with a short piece of ivory lace and machine stitched it in place using coordinating thread.  I layered my laser printed greeting onto the same green cardstock I used on the layer and stitched it in place as well.  I found these little ribbon bows in my stash. I placed one over the lace and sewed it on with coordinating embroidery thread tying two knots to keep it in place.  This embellished layer was adhered to a coral card front to complete my card.  Really happy with how this card worked out!  Encouraged by my first attempt I made another one!!  For this card I used a similar piece of ivory cardstock and stitched on kraft cardsstock strips on each long side.  I added some scallop edged tulle (SU) over the middle and gathered the middle portion keeping it in place using double sided tape.  I positioned my fabric collage heart over the tulle and stitched it in place, layered my laser printed greeting onto lavender cardstock and also stitched it in place.  I finished off this layer by positioning a short piece of lace over my heart and sewing on a little bow using lavender embroidery thread knotting twice to hold them in place.  I adhered this embellished layer to a peach coloured card front.  Fun!!!

For this third card, I pieced strips of blue cardstock together by adhering them to each other on the back with regular tape then embossed this layer with a circle/dot embossing folder.  I layered my fabric collage heart over a white mesh fabric, stitched it with coordinating thread and then trimmed the mesh fabric close to the heart.  I positioned this heart on my blue layer, added a handmade collaged heart button and tied them in place using rose coloured embroidery thread.  I layered my laser printed greeting onto rose cardstock and adhered it to the blue layer using double sided tape.  This embellished layer was mounted to a white card front.
Loving the artsy look of these cards!!  You can check out the collaged button instructions by clicking the link in the text or by clicking TUTORIALS above and scrolling down to the Collage Button tutorial.

Therese

Large all occasion cards

 I made up a few large cards for my sister this week. She left her supplies here last year and I am attempting to make cards for her as often as possible.  I was headed to her house yesterday so I brought along what I had made.
The happy bird-day greeting is from Michelle Perkett and was so fitting to combine with this bird decorative paper.  I added a ribbon with three decorative brads in the middle and some ivory borders cut with deckle decorative scissors on either side of the bird paper.  I watercoloured the image and layered it onto red before adhering it to the front of the card with 3D foam tape.
The second card features some very soft looking green flourish paper over ivory cardstock which I combined with a softly watercoloured stamped maple leaf image.  I layered the image with green cardstock, added a length of ivory tulle which I tied on, embellished it with several points of green ribbon which I attached using double sided tape on the back and then adhered it to the front of the card using 3D foam tape.  I layered the punched greeting with a green one which I cut in half and adhered to the back before adding to my card front.

The third one features a book image from CLKER which I combined with the quote before colour printing it.  It was colour washed with watercolour and then double layered in brown cardstock and red decorative paper.  I punched the side of the red paper with a scallop punch (SU) and pierced the scallops with a push pin.  I combined a length of coordinating ribbon over a strip of ivory cardstock and flagged the right hand side.  I mounted it over the decorative paper and then adhered the layered image over it with 3D foam tape.  I layered the punched greeting (SU) and mounted it to the card front with double sided tape.
The fourth card features a simple laser printed greeting layered on black and then onto yellow.  I layered the decorative paper onto a red card front and then added the triangle which was a black cardstock which was embossed with dots offcut from a different project.  I thought it needed a bit of something between the black and the greeting so I added an embossed strip of green layered over a strip of kraft cardstock.  That worked perfectly!

The fifth one features a CLKER image of a vintage village scene which I thought worked well with the gingham decorative paper.  I really liked the ribbon with the paper and image but it needed a bit of something behind it to add some texture and soften the look.  I found a roll of vintage white bandaging that looked a lot like cheesecloth in my stash so I dyed a couple of lengths of it with watercolour to coordinate and added that below the ribbon.  That worked!  I added a folded length of the same ribbon behind the greeting which I had also watercoloured and mounted it with 3D foam tape over the other ribbon.  Pretty happy with how all of these cards worked out!!  It has been a slow but sure process getting cards made for her but I do enjoy making the large cards and it is a different sort of challenge.  I have earmarked some large images which I gained from swaps years ago which I will watercolour  and add to the next set of cards I make for her.

Therese

Summer crazy quilted block

I have been working on a crazy quilted block for a swap on one of my groups.  After researching the cost of sending this one and getting one back in return I have decided not to participate in the swap.  It is the same place I was with the felted wool swap earlier this year.  So I have now learned the lesson but I still have most enjoyed the process of making it!!  I started by piecing some scraps onto a cotton substrate.  The finished square was to be 8" x 8" so we needed to allow at least 8.5" or 9" so that when it was sewn up it would finish at 8" square.  We were warned that stitching sometimes takes up some inches as well so I started with 9.5" to make sure mine would be large enough in the end.  I stitched on blue scraps at the top for the sky, green for a prairie horizon line, yellows for a canola field, a deeper blue on the lower right for creating a prairie lake and a gray on the very bottom for the road using my sewing machine to secure them in place.  Some were sewn to each other before stitching them down.  Others were stitched directly in place.  I started my hand stitching by stitching all of the stitch lines in a colour of thread as close to the fabric as possible.  Then I added stitching on the green horizon line to give the feeling of trees.  I did a variety of greens and then added some brown to simulate trunks and branches.  I added a white line of stem stitching to simulate a jet's vapour trail and added a little silver bead at the end to represent the plane.  After a bit I started feeling that I needed to add some machine stitching to keep the layers all

in place.  I realized that the process of adding sewing machine stitching would have been much easier before the addition of any hand stitching.  Lesson learned for next time around.   I added some beads to the tree line and eventually added a couched funky fiber to the bottom of the green to add texture and represent the shrubs that are often present there as well.
I added stitching to all of the open areas.

I added some stitched birds to the sky. I added a stitch bird to the prairie lake. I added beads to my rows of canola field and also to the water texture I added.  I have so much enjoyed travelling this province this summer.  The skies are so blue, the canola fields are so yellow and

the water reflects so perfectly the sky and the waterfowl are always swimming around and looking so at home on them.  I added a fence - brown fence posts and gray barbed wire between the bottom road and the rest of the piece.  This is what summer means to be now that I have moved back to my home province.  

So in the end no one will see my square but that is fine. I plan on making the other three squares in this Seasons series and combining them in a finished work once the year has come and gone.
I know that my square does not have the typical crazy quilt layout but I am happy with how it turned out and look forward to more stitching this year.

Therese

Fun cards with rounded squares

Made a couple of these cards with rounded squares.  I found these laser printed backgrounds from a while back and decided to fill them with some purple decorative papers.  I cut the squares 1" and rounded two corners of each using a corner rounder.  I glued them on the backgrounds, rounded two of the corners and then applied them to purple card fronts.  Quick and easy cards!!  

Therese

Artsy Cards - Collaged buttons with doodling

I needed cards for my monthly card exchange and decided to revisit collaged buttons which I created earlier this year.  They are fun to do and fairly quick.  I combined a plastic circle die cut with some paper scraps and then punched two holes to make it a button!!  Check out the this link to find out how to make them!!  OR click the Tutorial tab above and click on the Collaged Button Tutorial.  I made several and created these cards.  I traced the button onto white cardstock using a pencil and then doodled that line with a fine tip Sharpie and continued until I was happy with the design.  I considered adding colour but so far have not - maybe next time!  I tied the button to the white layer then layered it onto black and then onto coordinating card fronts.  For the top one, I used a black marker on the edge of the white, layered it onto lilac and then onto a green card front.  I added a stamped greeting to one of them.  These were fun artsy cards!!
Therese

Art Quiltie - make it a great day!

I created this quiltie for a swap on one of my groups for July!!  I am happy to have the chance to make a few more of these!!
I started with an experiment in free motion stitching that I made up a while back. I took small pieces of fabric and used small pieces of fusible webbing to tack them in place on my substrate fabric. I just kept laying on pieces overlapping until all the surface was covered.  I started free motion sewing and I found that the tension was off so the fabric wrinkled up a lot. I had set it aside as an unfortunate experiment and when I found it the other day it looked better than I remembered. So I decided to trim it up (4" x 4") and use it as the front of my little quiltie.  A while back I had my sister print off some sayings for me onto printable fusible fabric because it requires an inkjet printer which I no longer have.  I chose this little saying from the sheet and cut a strip of green fabric which coordinated with my front.  I trimmed out the saying, fused it to the strip and then stitched all the way around. Next, I stitched the strip to my front.  I went looking into my fabric embellishments and found this flower and leaf combo that worked well with it.  I stitched them into place with embroidery floss in the right colour and then added sequins and a seed bead to the middle of the flower.  To add a bit more texture I decided to embroider some flowers on the green strip as well.  I used seven french knots to create the flowers and added green leaves using several chain stitches.  I was happy with that!!  I used several scraps to create a little quilt for the back and stitched it to a layer of thick flannel using one line of stitching that spirialed from the outside edge to the inside.  I backed the two pieces and stitched all the way around the edge and then did blanket stitch all the way around with brown embroidery floss!!  Pretty happy with my little creation!!  Half way through my border stitching I remembered that I had wanted to try couching yarn into the edge when I did blanket stitch the next time.  Needless to say that will have to wait until next time!!!

Therese

Art Quiltie with stamped fabric

On my Fabric Postcard group we are having an art quiltie swap.  There was one in June and I missed it!!!!!  Fortunately, I am blessed to have a member of the group that volunteered to swap one for one with me so I made her this cute little quiltie!!
I started with a square of stamped fabric which I received in a swap a while back.  I love the quote so I cut the fabric piece down to 4" x 4" for the front of my quiltie.  I found and installed my free motion foot for my sewing machine.  It was not working properly so I found a YOUTube video that gave me a visual of the process and a few hints on how to best proceed with free motion stitiching.  Once reinstalled and the adjustments made it was working much better.  I layered my square over a piece of batting and started stitching.  You can see from the photo that my free motion skills are only in the beginner stages but I did manage to go around the petals on the flowers that were stamped on the fabric.  I will keep practicing!!

Next I stitched my backing fabric (4"x 4") to a scrap piece of fabric and used the same technique to embellish the swirls on it.  Next, I found some coordinating pink embroidery floss and added double sequins (iridescent white and fuchsia) to the center of the flowers and secured them in place using a ivory seed bead.  I added three more stitched flowers in the same floss and added fuchsia sequins and ivory beads to their centers. as well.  Then, I laid my front on my back and trimmed them to the same size and added a few more loops of free motion stitching to secure these two piece together.  With that much complete, I changed my foot back to the one for regular stitching and zigzagged all the way around very close to the edge to create a nice neat edge.

I have been playing with the idea of making fabric tape using fusible webbing for a while.   So, today, I decided to play and made some fabric tape to bind the edges of my quiltie.
I positioned a strip of fusible webbing (sold to fix a hem without sewing) on the edge of a coordinating solid, enclosed it in resist paper and ironed it.  The fusible webbing very nicely adhered to the edge of the fabric.  I trimmed away the piece with fusible webbing on it and I had created a length of fabric tape!  I cut a four inch length and positioned it neatly on one side of my quiltie with half the tape on the quiltie and the other half hanging off.

I place resist paper over and above and ironed it in place.  It fused very nicely to the front portion of my quiltie. Next, I turned the quiltie over and ironed the remainder to the back which very neatly bound that side of the quiltie. I cut another 4" strip and positioned it on the opposite side and repeated the steps to bind that edge.
To finish it off, I cut another two strips but made sure they were long enough to cover the strips I had already put in place, trimmed the corners into a point so that the corners would look mitered and adhered them in the same fashion as I had done the other two sides.

You can see how the binding looked in position before I ironed down the final edge to the back of my quiltie.  It worked very well and created some very nice corners on my little quiltie.   I decided to add a row of straight stitching very close to the inside edge and the outside edge of my binding to help secure it and to give the binding some texture and definition!! I am very happy with how well this technique worked and will certainly be using it again when I am making quilties!!
So my quiltie is ready to go and will be off to my partner this week!!

Therese

Exchange cards that reused supplies!!

I like to reuse items when I am creating so saved these images from a pocket calendar I used several years ago.  I loved these funky collaged images when I first bought the calendar and decided to use some of them to create cards for my monthly card exchange. I trimmed the images and layered them onto coordinating card stock.  I trimmed two pieces of different coloured cardstock to just less than a quarter sheet, embossed them and stapled on strips of decorative mesh on the left hand side trimming the mesh to the edges of the cardstock.  I glued these layers to my card fronts and added my focal elements using 3D foam tape.  I really like how they turned out!!
The decorative mesh is something I made a while back.  I used scraps of fiberglass window screening, applied embossing ink, covered them in gold embossing powder and then heated them with the heat gun.  They take the heat well and the embossing powder adheres to the mesh very nicely.  Another item that I reused on these cards!!

Therese

Watercoloured cards using ADORN IT images

My sister gave me several images from an ADORN IT scrapbooking page a while back.  These are just perfect for cardmaking!!  I trimmed the edge to be even with the border and watercoloured the image.  I used my stamping jig to stamp a birthday greeting after it was dry.  I layered it with yellow cardstock to coordinate with the bee.  I found this serendipity background which coordinated nicely so I trimmed it down to size and stitched it to a green card front.  I added the focal element with 3D foam tape and my card was done!!
If you have never tried doing a serendipity collage click on the link and go find out how easy it is to use scraps of paper to create something that you can use in your art!  It is a fun reuse for paper scraps!!

Therese

Quick and easy cards from kits!!

A friend wants to buy a few cards and I needed to get a few more made to add to the options she could choose from so I put together these two from kits from my last class.  The first card has a purple card base, a decorative check paper layered with some strips of magenta cardstock, a length of white gros grain ribbon folded with flagged ends overlaid with a scallop punchie and a birdie greeting which was watercoloured!!  The greeting is a layered - a laser printed greeting over a label punchie with a little coordinating rhinestone which I adhered with 3D foam tape.
The other is a label die cut from an embossed paper quilted background to which I added a length of ribbon onto which I had tied a short length in a different coordinating colour.  Like the look of that!! I adhered the ends to the back using double sided tape and glued this whole element to a distressed purple card front.  I layered the laser printed greeting onto a coordinating rectangle of cardstock and added it to the card front using 3D foam tape.
Quick and easy cards!! Worth making a few extra when you get started making cards and having them ready for "the last minute"!!

Therese

Some large birthday cards!

 I made a few large cards for my sister with the supplies she left here last year!!  I was headed to her house today and wanted to get a few made before I left last night.
I did manage to get four made but one of the photos was really blurry so is unusable!
These are 5.5" x 8.5" cards.
For the one on the left I started with an image off of the cover of the pad of paper which featured some cute birds and flower.  There was printing on the corner so I created a layered greeting to fit in the space (Decorative Label punchie (SU) in red, Circle punchie with a "bird " greeting from Birds Cards, a little circle punchie all held together with a black brad).  I layered the trimmed image onto brown cards stock and added it to a white card front to which I had adhered a distressed piece of green cardstock.  It was white core cardstock so I distressed it by sanding it a bit.  I also punched the one edge with a scallop border punch (SU).  It still needed a bit of something so I added two little red branch die cuts and that was better!!
The card on the right started with a brown card front to which I added a strip of birdhouse paper which I layered onto green before gluing it to the card.  The focal image is another one cut from the cover of  pack of paper and features some cute little birdhouses.  I wrapped a laser printed transparency greeting to the image and secured both ends to the back with double sided tape.  Next, I layered the image onto red and border punched the left hand side  with a scallop punch. I pierced all the scallops with a push pin before adhering the whole element to my card front over the decorative strip using 3D foam tape.  It needed a bit of something so I added faux stitching to three circle to make them look like buttons and adhered them below the image.  That was better!
My third card features a large butterfly image (CLKER) which I painted with shimmery water colours!!  Love the shimmer! I layered two green triangles behind the top right and lower left corners.  I created the background by cutting the peacock feather paper in two and adding a strip of orange.  I then trimmed the piece to fit o my white card.  I punched a hole in the decorative paper and layered a greeting behind it.  It was looking a bit forlorn so I punched a scrap and framed it and that was much better.  The flagged end overlaps the image and really helps to unify the elements.
The last one was a Christmas one with cute little houses as well.  So a few more cards for her stash!!

Therese

Anniversary card with hearts

I created this card for DH for our anniversary!!  I combined two decorative papers using regular tape on the back and then glued down a variety of gold and brown heart die cuts (buttons from the SX gingerbread man).  I added dots around each heart and then dotted swirls in between using a dark brown fine tip marker.  I then embossed it using the Square Lattice (SU) embossing folder which very nicely integrates the little hearts into the background paper. and adds great texture.   I added a length of red seam binding which coordinates with my focal image and tied on a short piece to simulate a bow then glued it to the front of a brown card.  The heart leaf image (Magenta) is gold embossed and watercoloured.  I mounted it to my card using 3D foam tape.  The layered greeting (SU - Word Window greeting & SU - Modern Label) was added below using 3D foam tape as well.

Therese

Quick and easy cards from kits

In needed a few cards!!  One for my friend who has been babysitting my garden and another for a July birthday!!   I prepped these two cards from kits from my last class!! I flagged the ends of the decorative paper strips and glued them to the left hand side of a coordinating card.  I used my slot punch to snip the spine so I could insert my ribbon.  I adhered both ends to the inside of the cards using double sided tape.  I watercoloured the laser printed images (Beccy's Place), layered them onto coordinating cardstock and added a punched border before adding them to my card over the ribbon using 3D foam tape.  I layered the punched greetings over a coordinating label punchie (SU)  and added them below the image on my card front.  I knotted a short piece of ribbon with a single knot to the left of my images to simulate a bow.  Quick and easy!!  Having kits on hand is very handy!!

Therese