My Art - Christmas cards

I created this card for my regular Cardmaking class for November - Christmas cards!! I do love playing with my Christmas stamps and seeing what I can create. For this one I created an alcohol ink background on glossy paper with a painters tape mask on the bottom to create a snow bank of sorts. The ink did leak a bit behind the tape but still gave enough of a masking to create the snow effect I was looking for! I used SU reinkers - Night of Navy and Brocade Blue. Really like the watercolour effect of this technique! Embossed the trees from Lovely as a Tree set over the background!! Love it!! Added a silver embossed greeting on the navy card and a snowflake brad to bridge the two!! Though it is not very visible I did layer the trees onto silver foil paper as well. Matches with the embossed image and greeting very well. This was a quick card and would work very well for a production card. You could vary the colours of the sky, the cardstock and the greeting for different seasons as well. Very versatile design.

Therese

My Art - Mingle fat book page

This is my Yalpha mingle page for November! I had it started early enough but they were late going out because I got all caught in getting my Christmas card kits ready. I printed a laser transparency with the large S which is a decorative font I downloaded from the internet. I glittered the back - white glue and glitter - so it required a day of drying before it could be assembled. I could have planned the positions of my snowflakes (MS) better so as not to interfere with my words but it is not too bad!! I am liking the posibilities of this glittering technique!! I think the next time I would print my letter in reverse and glitter the printed side which would make the outside less vulnerable to wear and tear!! Someone special will be getting RAKed with one of these!! It would seem that I have been on a transparency kick with these mingle pages lately. Will have to challenge myself with some thing new for the next one!!

Therese

My art - card for exchange

This card was made for my Card Club exchange! We challenged ourselves last month to work with vellum and one of the girls brought her extensive collection of embossing powders! It doesn't really show up well on this scan but the butterflies are wonderfully glittery!!! I had made several sheets of glittery vellum so used a piece on this card!! It was fun to find matching cardstocks and really highlight the fun colour in the butterflies. I mounted the image with 3D foam tape to add a bit of dimension!

I have been working so much on Christmas cards lately that it was good to change it up a bit and think of other options and colours!!

Therese

My Art - Hugs in a Mug

Here is my version of a hot chocolate treat for Christmas morning!! I have altered a tea tin (Tetley) with decorative paper, a belly band with instructions and a scallop with my "Hugs in a Mug" name!! I searched the internet for some hot chocolate poems and ended up modify one to fit my needs. The can contains hot chocolate mix, Hershey kisses and marshmallows!! These have been delivered to the Merchant's Mill. My sister has also made up a few of these for her sales this year and sold several yesterday so I am hoping they will be popular!! These would be great as gifts for hostesses, teachers, etc.

Therese

My Art - Christmas Cards

Peace on Earth! What we all want for Christmas!!

This is a large card that fits in a #10 business size envelope. I wanted the poinsettias to really show and found that the A2 size really didn't show them off the way I wanted it to. Love the colours - almond, warm red, sage green and silver!! This is also gift wrap I bought last year at Michaels. I just knew that I had cardstock to match the red. In the end, because of the size of the class I did not have enough red so I used almond as a base card and cut strips of the red to line the top and bottom edges so it would LOOK like it was on warm red. Works for me!! Gold embossed the greeting on vellum and ripped the edges. Discreetly added double sided tape - two little pieces behind the words and ensured that I caught the vellum with the brads in the snowflakes (Martha Stewart) to secure it in place. A card that came together very well and has some weight to it!! Very happy with the end product on this one!!



This is the last of the five in the large Christmas card class!!



Therese

My Art - Christmas cards

This is a quick and easy card!! The bottom layer is gift wrap I bought two years ago at Michaels. Well worth checking out the gift wrap as you shop during this season. Buy a roll or two to make Christmas cards for next year!! I stamped the harlequin (SU) on the top section and then added the decorative paper. I colour printed the words and then ripped both sides before I glued it over the

top edge of the paper. The star is plastic and was part of a garland I bought last year - not sure where $1 or Canadian Tire. I just cut them all apart and used a glue dot to attach it to the card front. Everyone really liked this card!!

Therese

My Art - Christmas cards

Glitter just makes every thing sparkle and is always appropriate for Christmas!! On this card we glittered our little tree on the back side of the acetate so to keep the stray glitter at bay!! I stamped the little tree on the front of the acetate with black Staz On and we coloured the star and trunk with Sharpie markers on the back. We also applied white glue with a very fine tip to the tree then sprinkled on ultra fine green glitter ($1 Store). It takes a while for the glue to dry clear but we assembled the cards anyway and by the end of the class some of them were already dry - clear - so you could see the glitter!! A really fun card!! I cut the aperture in the blue layer with my rectangle Nestabities and my Cuttlebug machine!! Sure does a nice job and so much quicker than an exacto and a ruler!! I added a snow bank of white cardstock so the tree would have a place to stand and stamped a greeting on the outside!! The background is coloured printed on the card front. A few layers but worth the time!!

Therese

My Art - Christmas cards

A cute little gingerbread man to spice up the holidays!! This little guy is cut with a Sizzix die! My sister has one and cut these for me!! We added "frosting" with a white gel pen. SU sells a nice white opaque one that works very well. We added red cardstock behind the hearts and black behind the eyes. Some of the girls who took the class went all out with the frosting - gave him cheeks and a big smile, doubled up his hearts, etc. The gingerbread man is mounted over handmade paper which is paper I have made myself so it has texture and flecks of naturals in it. I tied a twine cord around the spine which worked with the textural quality of the handmade paper and the colour scheme over all. The greeting is preprinted twill tape that I bought at Michaels in the Bowtique ribbon section. It was the perfect length for this card!! Gotta love it when all the elements come together and work well together!!
Card number two from the large Christmas card class!

Therese

My Art - Christmas cards

White on white for Christmas!! I used the D'vine swirl CB embossing folder for the background which is layered onto white cardstock. The strip across is also smooth white cardstock. The greeting is actually colour printed onto vellum in blue (font called Embossed) and then embossed with Iridescent Ice (SU) embossing powder. Be sure to not have your embossing powder too close to your printer because they are really not compatible. The sequin snowflakes were iridescent on one side and plain white on the other. I used silver brads to attach them through all the layers and onto the front of the card. I love the winter blowing snow feel of the D'vine swirl background!!
This is one of the cards we made in my large Christmas card class - 20 cards!! 4 of 5 designs!!

Therese

MM - Countdown Calendars

Countdown Calendars for Christmas!! Who doesn't need one of those to keep us on track and doing what is important rather than what is urgent!! I made these for the Merchants Mill but my girlfriend bought two before I could get them delivered!! They are going to adults that she thinks would be willing to countdown with their kids. Each page has a number from 24-1 to indicate how many days there is left OR the day of December - works either way. Each page also has a pocket which holds an activity to be done that day. I made some of my own and then did a few internet searches to find more so in the end they are a composite of what I thought was appropriate. Because the activities are just tucked in a pocket they can be moved around from year to year to fit your schedule. The activities are flexible enough for all kinds of families - little kids, older kids, no kids, grand kids, etc. I bound the pages with my NEW Zutter!! Works so nicely and give a really nice look to the calendars!!
I hope you are getting ready to countdown to Christmas with your family no matter what it looks like. Take the time to spend time with each other as the season comes on. You will all treasure the family time you created for an hour or so every day and it will make it a Christmas to remember for all of you!!

Therese

My Art - Mingle page

I created this mingle page a while back and am just getting to post it now!! I used the altering technique I described earlier for the transparency. Sanded the backs of them so they could be coloured and altered to suit my layout. I used stamp pads to alter these ones. The quote is handwritten and I used my double sided tape on these transparencies as well. I am very happy with this new tape. I used packaging as the base of this page and it worked out very well.
Be on the look out for items you can use in your art that are readily available in your home - decorative cardboard, clear plastic, printed images, colourful backgrounds, etc. I usually evaluate whatever is being routed to the recycle bind for art potential!!

Therese

My Art - Card exchange

For the card exchange with my stamping group I decided to try a new Pearl Ex technique from the Technique Junkies Newsletter!! It took a few tries to get it to work out as I wanted it to but I am very happy with how they turned out. I applied the Perfect Pearls to still warm clear embossing powder. Because my image was so large I had to do it a piece at the time so I applied several different colours of mica powders. I heated the EP again so that the mica powder would incorporate and become permanent. Really love the look of it!! Not wanting to cover up too much of the image I added some copper decorative paper (gift wrap), some copper brads and some mesh which had been embossed with copper embossing powder!! The copper metal embellishment was just the perfect thing to finish off the card which I applied with a bit of hot glue to hold the mesh and 3D foam tape for a bit of pop!! Really happy with the way this one turned out so I made two more for my other card exchange!!

Therese

My Art - Cardmaking - Altered

We played with some altering techniques for this card. Stamped harlequin background (SU) onto the card front as well as onto an old book page with walnut ink. Trimmed the page to fit on the front of the card. I created a torn edge on the right hand side. Over this I layered a transparency which I printed with my laser printer and some images from the internet. This leaf one is from Trish Bayley. I also used a light house, a woman with a child, the Eiffel tower (Brenda Braun) and a scene with an old automobile!! To allow the transparency to be altered I sanded the back side so it would also accept walnut ink. Everyone enjoyed the process of adding walnut ink to their pieces!! You could use acrylic paints or pads and/or reinkers instead of walnut ink. Certainly using a different colour would give the card a totally different look. I used some new double sided tape on the back in the dark areas and it did not show at all on the front side. To secure it on the bottom corner I overlayered a book plate with greeting and attached it with brads. Added another brad to the other corner to have it well attached. It is fun to alter items and add them to your cards. The bookplate was cut from silver foil which I sanded and painted with burnt umber acrylic paint. I sealed the paint with clear acrylic finish to make it more permanent. Try your hand at altering some of your regular supplies to get a more antique look.

Therese

My Art - Cardmaking - roses

Love this card!! I used a NEW CB embossing folder with leaves which I bought at Stamplicity in Port Colburne when I we were in Niagara Falls with my sister!! Really like this embossing folder!! The rose images are stickers which I have had for while now and they worked out so well on this card!! The pink/script layer is torn to meet the embossed leaves. I added a ribbon and a colour printed greeting with 3D foam tape.

Therese

My Art - Cardmaking - die cut flower

I added texture to this card with "mesh" which is adhesive drywall tape!! You can usually buy small rolls at a Dollar store if you don't have some hanging around the garage like we have at our house!! The card front was stippled with a stipple stamp (SU) in coordinating ink and the mesh applied. We used pencil crayons on it to add colour and some depth. It worked so well. The flower die cut is embellished with a punch shape and a collaged handmade paper button which I created using a 1 1/4" punch and 1/8" punch. They looked really cool!! I tied some coordinating fibers into the button and just layered all the die cuts to each other and glued the embellishment to the card front with hot glue so it would attach well over the mesh. Brought several greetings so participants could choose what worked best for them.

Therese

My Art - Cardmaking - embossed

Cardmaking for October has come and gone!! This was a fun card to prepare - no kits were the same!! I embossed backgrounds using several different Cuttlebug embossing folders and stamped images on decorated glossy cardstock in Memories ink or embossed them with metallic embossing powder. The image was layered on the card front and the insert glued to the inside before I tied on the bundle of fibers!! These cards were a lot of fun and it was fun to see how all the different images and colour combinations came together!!

Therese

My Art - Baby cards

Have been making baby cards!! My neighbour had a baby boy in early October and my friend's neice had a baby girl a few days later so I made up some cards to give as gifts!!

For the blue cards I made up some decorative paper with acrylic paint and added some pearly paint to give it some sheen. Cut it to fit on the top of an #8 card and added some white embossed cardstock (CB swiss dots) below that. Added a ribbon in blue with a piece of white tied in. Saw that recently on card and thought it was cool!! Added a rectangle which I cornered rounded and folded over the edge of the card embellished with a button and some pearly thread.

The pink cards are made up from some duplex colour printed cardstock I made up a while back. Added some embossed cardstock (CB swiss dot) below that with a strip of cardstock between the two. The embellishment is a punched scallop (SU) with the scallops pierced with a push pin. Added a layer of pink (1 3/8"), a stamped circle of dots punched with the 1 1/4" punch (SU) and a pink button tied with pearly thread in the middle of that!

My sister has been visiting and this was one of our crafty projects for a day!!

We also spent an evening refurbishing Christmas cards for our soldiers in Afghanistan. One of the girls here is collecting cards to send over so they can send them home to their families. We made them all appropriate for kids knowing that those might be in short supply!!

Therese

Technique - resizing large envlelopes

I have some large commercial card envelopes that I have acquired over the years that are often too large for the cards I am making. I finally decided to work out a way to use them for my A2 invitation sized cards.
I start out with a 8.25" x 5.75" envelope and cut out the middle section to fit my A2 card, cut off both ends from the scraps and glue them back on each side. You end up with a nice slim envelope with a nice triangular flap. Adding the two side pieces covers up your card and keeps the card from being damaged in transit.
If you have a stash of large envelopes consider modifying them so you can use them for your smaller cards.

I hope the info on the right is useful.

If you have a card shop close to you inquire about getting the envelopes when they change up their card displays. The envelopes are not returned to the company and you can often get them for free. I use them for my personal cards and for the cards I refurbish. I think it would be inappropriate for them to be used for cards made for sale.

Therese

My Art - Masculine card

Have a few male birthdays coming up so made a couple of these cards this weekend. My skeleton leaves were not quite the right colour so I just applied ink from my green Memories pad until they were the right colour. The background paper is one I received in a swap somewhere along the way as is the suede paper. Have never used suede paper before - wonderful texture. I stitched the leaf to the suede paper with embroidery floss and then glued that layer to the card. Worked out very well.

I am slowly learning to make more than one card at a time. Very little extra time but more cards to put in my stash!!

Therese

My Art - card for caregivers

A special card for a special person! I made this card for a special woman in our family who cares for another who is in the first stages of Alzheimers. Carolyn King is having a contest on her blog to encourage everyone to send cards to a caregiver of someone with Alzheimers. There are so many whose lives have been touched by this illness and the caregivers surely need support to continue day after day. There is an address on her blog where you can send a card if you have no person to send a card to.

This large card features watercoloured roses, scrapbooking paper, a hand embellished strip with ribbon and a stamped greeting.

It will wing its way in tomorrow's mail!!

I encourage you to check out Carolyn's blog and send a card!!

Therese