I have developed a new set of classes called U&ME designed for an adult and a child to spend some quality creative time together!! What fun!! Kids are so creative and uninhibited - they just start!! This was the first class I taught. The brag book and bag tag on the right were created by the Mom. The tag on the right was created my me. Unfortunately, the digital photos of the others were too out of focus to use!! I do enjoy teaching because it is great to share the creative experience with others!! I am sure the time spent will be remembered well beyond the items that were made. Consider spending some creative and quality time with a child in your life!!

Therese

Cardmakers at my class really liked this one!! I pressed a LOT of Queen Anne's Lace this summer in hopes that I would be able to use them for some sort of craft this fall. They grow wild here so I just took some time on the way home from the gym one morning and picked a large arm load!! Pressed the heads upside down in phone books! Worked really well. Used the medium sized ones on these cards!! Used scallop scissors and a push pin to create the lacy edge. I created a special little greeting for this card. Passed it by my daughter who is a whiz with words and grammar to make sure it was correct. I colour printed the first two lines on the front of the card and the rest on the inside with another little snowflake to accent the words. Worked out really nice!!!! I really like including botanicals in my cards. I will be pressing more for next year and will have to dream up another design!!

I have been remiss in keeping up with my art work on my blog. I am still creating and scanning! Have taught a few classes as well. Had a visit from my daughter and new grand daughter!! Made time to spend with them and it was a fabulour visit and ten days goes by so quickly!! Have much more art to upload and will keep at it. Only one more class to go for this year!!

Happy Thanksgiving to those south of the border!! Count your many blessings!! Have a great weekend all!!

Therese


Mixed Media Market
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mixedmediamarket/

I know that this one is along the same theme of several I have created this year! Was very happy to find this wonderful olive coloured ribbon in the Holiday Collection at Michaels!! With the stripe of gold it was just what this card needed. Used the D'vine Swirl Cuttlebug folder on the bottom part of the card and used these velvetty red hydrangeas layered with a small red flower and some leaves for the accent. Used gold Encore ink to stamp some script on the top portion though it is barely showing on the scan. Says Christmas to me!!

Therese

Don't you just love the look of the Snowflake embossing folder from Cuttlebug!! I do! Unfortunately, I have yet to own one!! Thanks to Catherine for lending me hers so I could prep for this class!! Another quick and easy card!! I designed and colour printed the tag, layered it on one larger and attached it with a snowflake brad!! The fiber is one that I bought in a ball combined with another more shiny turquoise fiber. I split off this one because it was sparkly and just the right colour!! I will be watching for sparkly fiber over the next year in different colours to use on future Christmas cards!!

Therese

A quick and easy card for Christmas!! I bought the decorative paper at Chapters last year in clearance. It is a very heavyweight gift wrap with wonderful colours and gold!! Keep an eye open for gift wrap on clearance this coming season for creating your Christmas cards for next year. I always check for solids and metallics which are good for any time of the year! The candle (Hampton Arts @ Michaels) is gold embossed, layered on gold gift wrap and then over the torn decorative paper and layered onto coloured cardstock. I used cardstock in the colours features in the paper!! The candle could certainly be accented with chalk, watercolour, stippling to highlight the body and the flame. Maybe next year!!

Therese

I taught a Christmas card class this past weekend and these are the cards we made. I really like this snowflake from Class Act Stamps. I used several different colours with a differenet embossing powder and metallic layer! Here you can see the red which featured gold embossing powder and gold gift wrap as the accenting layer. Keep your eyes peeled for any interesting gift wrap offered for deep discounts just after Christmas!! You can get a LOT of decorative paper for your cardmaking for a very reasonable price!! I featured silver embossing powder with navy, green with gold embossing powder and this pearlescent snowflake with the light blue cardstock. I had to emboss the snowflake twice to get this look. I first embossed it in white and while it was still hot I coated it with a pearl embossing powder! Gave me just the look I wanted!! I layered these snowflakes with a white Bazzill Bling paper!! Just the look I needed for that layer!! The greetings are colour printed with interesting fonts!!

Therese

Love the way this one turned out! I struggled to get enough colours of cardstock to coordinate with this scrapbook paper!! Certainly one of the benefits of buying paper and cardstock from one maker is that the coordinating is already done for you!! Love this word stamp which I stamped in chocolate brown. Layered onto antique rose. This slider worked perfectly with the 3/8" ribbon! It is cut with a Sizzix die!

It was a very fun class and I enjoy the challenge of incorporating different elements into my cards!! I hope you will be encouraged to try a few die cuts into your cardmaking!!

Therese

Created the look of a ribbon with paper!!. Nice to have this option when you just cannot find ribbon to match your cardstock!! This one I created from some hand decorated paper scraps I had on my desk. First, I laid one strip down all the way across. Took a shorter piece - 3.5" or so and folded both ends to the back middle and secured them with double sided tape to create the "bow". Used a 1" piece to create the "knot" on the bow. The little flowers is another Magenta stamp as is the border below the paper ribbon!! I watercoloured the flowers!

Therese

Have always loved this Magenta stamp - looks so elegant when it is gold embossed and watercoloured!! Double layered the images and added a tag and fiber to the right hand side. The little tag is cut with a Sizzix die and the accent is punched with a 1.25" (SU) punch!! My sister came up with this design for the colour printed tag and we have created a great variety of them for various cards. We are creating our graphics in Corel Draw. I punched a slot and wound the fiber in and out so that it would not accidently fall off the card. Very happy with how this card turned out!!

Therese

I was featuring tags and die cuts as embellishments in this session. The tag was die cut for me by my sister, Sylvia, with her Sizzix machine! She used some wonderful decorative carstock which made great tags for these cards! I added a colourful stamped image to the tag with a paperclip. Have been wanting to find a way to incorporate paperclips to my cardmaking!! Try it!! The small strip is embossed with the Cuttlebug D'vine swirl folder and I used the SU swirl background stamp below that. The little bit of fiber I added to the large brad (Dollarama) adds some texture to the card and finishes it off nicely! There is room on the lower right hand side to add a greeting to customize this card.

Therese

Criss Cross card

These cards are from my October cardmaking session!! I found this idea - the Criss Cross card - on the Splitcoaststampers.com site - a wonderful resource for cardmaking and stamping in general!! I really like the way this card presents and allows you to tuck a few little things inside - gift cards, gift certificates or a little treat like tea or chocolate!! I modified the original design so it can be made with 8.5 x 11 cardstock. I cut 4.25"x11" and then folded it in half. I cut a triangle diagonally off the front and glued it to the back. In the picture, the fold is on the left and the triangle I glued in place is on right. You have to be careful not to glue too deeply on the right hand and bottom side so the pocket will accomodate the insert. This design is very versatile and can be made up for any season or occasion by varying the decorative paper and the accents!!

Therese

My first ABC challenge: to create hidden tags! Can you guess where the tags are hidden? The tags actually are connected to the letters and are hidden behind the page. I used the fall theme (a challenge on the NG list) for this spread. I started with thick pasty white acrylic paint as the bottom layer on both pages. Layered on some ink in several colours, stamped leaf images, added yet more colour and finally stippled on dark brown ink around the edges to help highlight the real maple leaf I pressed last year. I added more stamped images around the edges of the pages. At this point the acrylic paint is mostly covered up but gives some texture and luminesence to the pages.

I layered several pages on the right hand side so I could cut the slots for the tags and there would be some substance to support the tag. I created the tags, added dark brown letters to the ends then tied on some fiber. Once the slots were cut I applied double sided tape to the other side of the page to create pockets for the tags and glued this page to the next one. Worked very nicely!! I punched some circles from fall images from an old calendar and cut them in half to highlight the slot for each tag. Added some "stitching" with a marker around the edges. I did some journaling on the tags themselves - details about the techniques I used and some thought about the theme and process of creating the two page spread. Thanks to Linda for the challenge!!

Therese

It has been a while since I uploaded any art here. I started this book for the challenges on the Altered Book Canada list I am on. It was just the perfect size - pretty close to 5x7! I thought the colour was perfect for the kind of book it was going to end up being once it was altered. I used my Doodle Block Alphabet dies to cut the letters and just let the yellow of the cover show through. Added black Sharpie to the spine to cover up the title, the edges of the cover and between the spine and the covers - just a little interesting doodling. I will consider adding more doodling to the cover as go along but for now that seemed to be enough. I am looking forward to doing the challenges and filling this book with art. I will add the scans of my first challenge next!

Therese

This is my BH mingle page for October! I chose Gandhi as my theme. What a fascinating person! I really love the research aspect of this mingle. Helps to stretch the mind and become aware of more of the world. The background is actually a letter written by Ghandi which I got off the internet. The photos of him I also downloaded off the internet. A very prolific writer so there was a LOT to choose from to feature on this page. One of his acts of non violence and empowerment for his people was to encourage them to spin and weave their own clothing instead of supporting the British by buying textiles imported from Britian. It gave the poor suitable and affordable clothing, gave them pride in having made it themselves, for some, a means of supporting themselves and their families and a distinctive look all their own in the market place!! It reminded me that we vote every time we choose to spend our time and money on acquiring goods. We truly need to be more aware of what that product has cost - quite possibly sweat and tears and suffering - to be available to us here in this country at a low cost. Awareness and then a willingness to do something is what is required!! It is hard to challenge my addiction to the dollar stores!!!

Therese

Created this fall fat book page a couple weeks ago but only just sent it out as a RAK last week!! Created with a few elements that were sitting on my desk from my cardmaking in October!
I used a foamy coaster as a tool for applying ink. It gives a really interesting pattern. I can see cutting out shapes from this material - foamy coasters and placemats made of this material are generally sold for use on outdoor patio tables in bright colours. Could easily be cut and applied to an acrylic mount to cover the whole front of a card!! Was also thinking that the shelf protector you can buy in a roll would work very much the same way and would have a different pattern. Very inexpensive background stamps. From several lists of my lists I see that people are using their die cutting machines to create shapes out of fun foam for stamping bold shapes. There are certainly some much more ornate dies showing up lately that would make fabulous fun foam stamps!! I am always interested in making more of the tools I already own!!
Back to the page - several layers of decorative paper and an acetate overlay with a leaf stamped on it attached with a brad!! Added some fiber to the front edge to add some interest - especially once the page in bound into a book!!
I am presently working on getting my White on White fat book pages bound. It will be a while yet as they week is already full and I have two Christmas Card classes coming up at the end of the month. It can wait.
I have also worked on a giftie swap and will only be posting photos once the swap is over - after December 25th. There will be 12 gifties for each person for the last 12 days of December. No fun to ruin the surprise for everyone!! My sister and I worked on them for a whole day and they turned out very well.

Therese

I cased this card design from somewhere on the internet! I had downloaded it into my quick and easy folder!! It sure is a quick and easy card. White 4.25"x4.25" card, a layer of scrapbook paper from a Slab a while back which I just ripped along a metal ruler - fast and easy, a double layer of silk flowers, a punchie and a brad!! Though it is a square card I still use an A2 envelope so it can be mailed with a single first class postage stamp!! Thanks to the originator! It is always nice to have a few quick and easy designs for when we are crunched for time and still want to send a handmade card!! Almost any other scrapbook paper woud have worked just as well.

Therese

I am very happy with my little pumpkin!! After searching the internet for one I could trace and cut out without any luck I just decided to try to create my own!! I drew it in Corel Draw and printed it on the orange cardstock!! Drew the stem and printed it on green cardstock!! Each person cut out their pumpkin and stem and then embellished them with watercolours or pencil crayon! They all turned out so well!! I watercoloured this one! Colour printed "Happy" and "Fall" and added watercolour to the tags as well. Stamped the beige card with brown ink and my French Script stamp, glued on the pumpkin, strung the tags on green fiber and glued them behind the stem!!

Sometimes when you cannot find what you need for your art consider just creating it!! I was surprised how quickly I was able to create this pumpkin and how good it looked on the card!!

Therese

A bit of a change in colours for this one!! Created the flower and printed it on the back of the decorative paper so each person could cut out their own. The center is a 1" punched shape. The front flap of the white card had a pencil line (plate) on it to be cut out as well. I added a coordinating layer of cardstock to the inside which only covered 3/4 of the inside and had shapes punched out of it. I used a corner rounder on the bottom to keep with the circular theme. Used the Slot punch to make a slot at the bottom so the front could be tucked in and added a little flower punchie!! I was happy with how the flowers turned out considering they were printed on the back and I did not have a really good idea of what the flowers were really going to look like once they were cut out. Some very pleasant surprises once they were all cut out and added to the cards!!

Therese

This card features a handmade panel of decorative paper!! I made several sheets then cut them up - sort of a stamping serendipity collage!! On ivory cardstock I started with Caramel Chalk Memories which I clear embossed. Added more leaves in various fall colours with pigment ink and clear embossed. Did the scrolly leaf last and clear embossed it as well. Then I just watercoloured the page with fall colours until I was happy with the overall look! Once dry, I wiped off the watercolour off the clear embossing. Laid the whole sheet over a white piece of 20lb bond and heated with an iron from the back. This melted the embossing powder from the cardstock into the bond paper!! I got this step from the Pressing out the Details technique that was showcased a few years ago. Really love the look. Once they were all cut up into long rectangles it was just a matter of finding coordinating layers and cardstock. Added an ivory ribbon with a small gold maple leaf charm attached with a brad!! Really like creating my own decorative paper. Usually try to remeber to scan the pages before I cut them up so I can use them in my digital collages but I think I forgot to scan these before they were all cut up! Next time!!

Therese

Hey! It has been too long since I posted any of my art here, though I have still been making some!! My sister was visiting so we were occupied with other activities!! Here are the cards from my October card class!!

A real maple leaf!! Just love living here and having nature's most wonderful watercolours just simply falling out of the sky!! I pressed these last year. I mounted the leaf to my own handmade paper ( made from recycled bread bags from the bakery) which I stamped with a script stamp - French Script from SU!! Very happy with that one!! Made up my own transparency with "Autumn" and "Every leaf a miracle" on it and attached all the layers to a dark card with four brads! I really like the look of pressed botanicals with handmade paper!!

Therese