Glittering accents

The students were all about using glitter - especially the girls!! We used fine glitter to embellish accents like chipboard flowers and tags as well as to jazz up some strips that could be used as borders and edging for the pages of their books!!
I applied double sided tape - Peel and stick sheets - to chipboard, burnished it well and die cut some shapes - flowers, tags, hearts, etc. It was just a matter of removing the protective layer and rubbing in the glitter. I provided the students with punchies that could be placed on the sticky side of the shapes before applying glitter to add yet another dimension to the accents they were creating.
The strips were punched with a variey of small punches and backed with packing tape. Glitter was applied to the sticky tape that was revealed through the holes creating glitzy elements for their books. In some cases, they were able to apply two different colours of glitter to the same piece by apply glitter to one sticky surface and then revealing another to which a different colour of fine glitter was applied!!
Needless to say that there was glitter in more places than was originally intended. I was grateful to have the help of a teacher to get the "extra" cleaned up.
Glitter is a fun embellishment! I really like using it with the sticky tape instead of glue.
So we were starting to have a few items that could be incorporated into the Chunky Art Books!!

Therese

Wax resist paper decorating

Paper that was decorated using wax resist techniques!!

Technique #1 - Rubbings

I gave each student a variety of papers - books pages, music sheets, bond paper, etc, a clear wax crayon and made available some items with texture. They used their clear wax crayons to make rubbings on several of the items and added watercolour which highlighted the rubbings to create some very interesting papers. To the left are the few papers I created as examples for them to use for inspiration. Theirs were far more interesting!!! Not all of them worked out perfectly but in the end but that is the way it goes when we are creating.

Clear wax crayons: Needed to be creative because clear wax crayons are not readily available. I took a bar of parrafin used to seal canning jars and cut it into 1/2" sections using a hot piece of metal and soften their edges a bit with the heat gun. A little time consuming but made perfectly acceptable clear wax crayons for the students to use!!

Items with texture: embossed plastic placemats, embossing folders, texture plates, screening, plastic mesh, fabric, etc.

Technique #2 - Wax resist using wax paper.

We created designs/texture in the wax paper by folding and crumpling, placed it between two layers of bond paper, covered both sides with plain newsprint, placed the sandwich on a pad of newspaper and used a hot iron to transfer the design from the wax paper to the bond paper. Again, they added watercolour to bring out the design created by the wax. A more subtle design - the bottom one in the photo above - which gives a different feel to the decorative paper.

These are both techniques you can use at home for use in your cardmaking!!

Therese

Handmade paper leftovers

These are sheets of paper I created using the leftovers from my papermaking session I had with the students for my art sessions!! I have inset the paper that was created when I combined the pink and blue confetti papers we used in class! Fun to mix up the colours and create new papers!!
I added geranium and pink carnation petals to the white along with some used herbal tea and grass for two different batches of paper! Also added some yellow paper napkins for colour and some apricot coloured carnations/grass/herbal tea to create a different batch of yellow paper!! I really like the handmade paper I create with natural additions!! Will have to see about using this paper in an upcoming cardmaking class!!

Therese

Handmade paper by the students

Have started a new assignment - teaching art sessions to high school students!! I really enjoy teaching art and the kids always have a different perspective and are usually open to trying new creative projects!!
We started with papermaking!! These are some of the sheets created by the students in our first class. I chose to create small sheets (3.5" x 4.25") using the small mould and deckles because we will be creating Chunky Art Books in the upcoming weeks and these will be a good size for incorporating into their books!! They created plain sheets in white, pink confetti and blue confetti. They also experimented with embossing paper using a variety of elements and adding texture as well.
Making handmade paper is a fun activity that recycles your paper scraps into new sheets of paper you can use in your art!! A win - win for me and the process is one that cannot be hurried and so is great for adding some quiet time to your day!!

Therese

Heart Pins

Had a friend who wanted a few heart pins for her friends for Valentine's so I created a variety for her to choose from!! These are a few of the ones I had left! Forgot to scan all of them!!

These are created using shrink plastic, rubber stamps and paint!! I love shrink plastic and so did the students I was teaching. You will see that we made charms for our project with it!!

I like the vibrancy that you can achieve when you shrink the art you have created!! I use the Rough and Ready which can be purchased at Michaels!!

Therese

Larger Zentangle cards

These are A2 sized cards I created using the same Zentangles!! Very versatile little pieces of art!! I kept to the black and white theme - added some texture with the SU Polka Dots embossing folder, used the MS punch for the edge of the black layer and added some black, silver and gray fiber along with a layered laser printed greeting to finish them off!!

I definitely would encourage all of you to give this technique a try!!

Therese

Student project - Zentangle cards

Zentangle cards!! The 1.5"square zentangle art is created with Sharpie markers on colour laser photocopy paper!! You can see part of the template that I gave students for creating their Zentangles.
Once finished, the artwork was cut out leaving a white border. These were layered onto black then onto a white 2.75" square card which is a great size for cutting out of 8.5 x 11 cardstock - 6 per sheet. Each student had supplies for making six cards and were able to choose their best zentangles for their cards.
The 3" square envelopes are created using a 4.25" square using the same technique as the vellum envelopes in a previous post. I used the same paper for the envelopes as I used for the zentangles. I placed a piece of regular invisible tape under one of the flaps with the sticky side facing up and just folded the two adjacent flaps down which held the envelope together. I provided them with little zentangle stickers which they could use to hold the envelope closed once they had inserted their card. I created the stickers by scanning some of my zentangles, resizing them and printing them onto labels!! The perfect touch for making elegant little cards!!

Have some fun doodling and creating some little pieces of art for use in your cardmaking!!

Therese

Student project - Zentangles!!

Zentangles!! This is a really fun technique which produces original artwork - one of the things I really like to do with the students! Every one likes to say they made it themselves!!
Check out the official Zentangle site! Intimidated? Check out these instructions for beginners!!
Really just doodling!! Important to create light, medium and dark spaces and lines. I highlighted my outer border to make sure that it framed my art nicely. I laser printed the templates on colour laser copy paper - very nice smooth finish - a great surface for using with our fine tipped black Sharpie markers!!
It takes a few to get the hang of it so I gave each student a half sheet of printed templates with eleven 1.5" squares on it and they used their six best to make their cards!!
These are some of the zentangles I created!! Totaly fun and would make great inchies!! Some students coloured theirs in with pencil crayons for a totally different effect!! Could be watercoloured in as well because the Sharpies are permanent!!

Therese

Exchange cards - handmade paper & watercolour

My CCE exchange cards!! I was so sure that I had handled my exchange cards for February that I did not even check to see if they had been sent! Alas, NO!!
So I created these four cards the other day for February and March exchange cards and sent them off. I will have to keep better track in the future!!
The two western ones have watercoloured images which were really fun to create! It was really nice to have the time to invest in doing such large images. I layered the images onto handmade paper/card fronts which were wrapped with twine. Nice effect!!
The two more winter looking ones were stamped in brown on handmade shimmer paper - left overs from a few months ago. I layered them onto handmadepaper/card fronts which had ribbon tied in a double knot. Really liked the look of these as well.
I have been teaching art sessions to high school students for the last month and a bit. It has kept me pretty busy. I will be posting the projects I taught in my sessions in the next few postings - not necessarily in order in which they were taught. I have been taking photos and scanning as I went along.

Therese

Card for grandson!

Unbelievably, our newest grandson is going to be a year old next week!! I made him a boy card with a large number one!! I laser printed and cut out the number one then painted it with shimmery paint and added some doodling to make it interesting. The greeting is stamped on vellum with torn edges and tucked in on both sides of the scrapbook paper to keep it in place.
He is a going concern and has been walking since just after Christmas so I am sure he will enjoy the "Little People" we have sent his way!!

Therese

Challenges - Christmas cards!!

February Christmas cards!! I have decided to follow Tracy's and Sylvia's Christmas card challenges this year so I have created this card to satisfy both of those!! Very happy with the cards!! Thanks to both of them for issuing the challenges which the rest of us can use to get cards made early. I have also used the sketch over at Tuesday Morning Sketches just for the challenge with a few tweaks.

I am enjoying the challenges!! Tracy wanted us to use Olympic colours and Sylvia wanted us to use an evergreen tree so combined with the TM sketch I used a white card base, layered on a turquoise layer which was embossed with the D'vine swirl embossing folder (CB), added a white strip border punched with the new SU scallop trim punch on both sides with a pin pricked design, green and blue squares and a scallop that features a glittered tree!! The scallop is from a scalloped circle Nesties set. The tree is a label cut with a small Sizzix tree die. I glued the paper side of the label tree to the scallop and used a stipple brush to add some blue sky. I cut the backing of the label which is facing out with an exacto knife to reveal the tree trunk and added black fine glitter ($1 store), then removed the snow part and added white fine glitter and lastly removed the tree part and added green fine glitter (MS). I burnished the glitter in nicely so it would be well stuck in place. I am loving this technique - using glitter with sticky label die cuts - so many possibilities!!!

I totally encourage you to give the challenges a try and get your Christmas cards made early!! 10 before the end of February! Unheard of for me!!

Therese

Cardmaking - Feb - shrink plastic card

These cards feature a handmade shrink plastic leaf!! Love playing with shrink plastic!! These were stamped with permanent ink on the rough side of the Rough and Ready shrink plastic - available at Michaels - and coloured in with colour pencils and chalks. We trimmed them to the edge of the stamped design and heated them with a heat gun. They go a little crazy and then flatten out nicely. To be sure they are flat I just tap them with a wood block just after heating. Give it a try - fun way to make perfect card accents!!
The trees and quote were stamped in bleach and I then thermally embossed one in metallic embossing powder!!
I make a stamp pad for my bleach - a foam tray, a layer of paper towel and a teaspoon or so of bleach. Works well for applying the bleach evenly to the stamp. Layered onto metallic paper and then onto the card front. Added the little leaf with a glue dot!! Done!!
If you have some shrink plastic in your stash, get it out and make a few cute accents for cards!!

Cardmaking - Feb - butterfly cards

Love the way these worked out!! I created some alcohol ink backgrounds using several blues at the top and green at the bottom then stamped on some flowers using black StazOn. I embellished the flowers with watercolour. Layered onto black, onto embossed layer and then the card front. My main cardstock was white and I found it a bit stark so I just added a bit of watercolour in green around the edge of the front of my card which softened it just nicely. Thrifty Tip: Great little technique when you don't have the right colour of cardstock. You can use watercolour, chalks or markers to add the colour you need.
The butteflies were purchased at a local $1 store in the houseware department - they were fridge magnets!! I removed the magnets and glued them to my card using glue dots!!! I love the colours and texture of this card!!

Cardmaking - Feb - Yo Yo card

Yo Yo s!! These used to be popular years ago and here they are again!! We created these from a 4" circle of fabric which was basted all the way around the edge. Draw the top basting thread - be sure not to draw on the bottom one as well as it will cause problems and will not gather properly. Continue to draw on the thread and create gathers until you have a tight center then tie both ends of top thread together. Be careful not to pull the thread right out!! We just flattened the gathering to create the yoyo! Used several punchies (1/2" and 1") to cover the threads and cut edges in the middle in the front, added a punchie on the back to make it easier to attach to our scallop and held it all together with a brad. Added a decorative edge to our strip and layered it onto the front of our card with our trimmed embossed layer (CB).
It is nice to add some handmade accents to your cards and this would be great for any time you have used fabric to create a gift. You can use a scrap to make a yo yo for the card!! Really helps to personalize the greetings you are giving with the gift.

Therese

Cardmaking - Feb - pouffy flower card

Another month has come and gone!! Had my cardmaking session this past week!! Time is flying by!!
We created these cool little pouffy flowers for these cards!! Eight scallop punchies (SU) of tissue paper stapled in the center to a cardstock scallop punchie is all it is!! Scrunch your scallop punchies, flatten, stack and staple. Once stapled you scrunch the first one really hard to the middle and then each subsequent one gets the same scrunch until you have done them all. Makes a nice 3D accent for any crafty item you might be creating. I added little leaves - SU five petal punchie cut apart!! Too easy. I got my inspiration from this posting from Mercy's blog. I layered that onto a metallic silver square and then onto a decorative edged white square. The middle accent is a strip (1.5") of white cardstock punched on both sides with the MS doily border punch. On the first card I added some flowers to the strip and some dimension to the leaves with watercolour. The bottom of the card has a layer of metal tape - heat duct tape from the hardware store - glued to the bottom edge and then embossed with D'vine Swirl (CB) embossing folder.
The flowers flatten fairly easily so they should go through the mail fairly easily. You could add a note to the card that the flower needs a little scrunching to look its best.

Therese

Tea souvenirs - collapsible tea boxes

Created these cute little boxes for tea!! Because I am mailing off these gifts I made the box so it would be collapsible and lay flat for mailing. It can be easily made dimensional again to hold the tea bags I am sending along!! Again, these souvenirs feature the postcard images nicely matted with red accents on the front of the little boxes!!
The sides and bottom fold out for mailing and then pop back towards the inside of the box to make it dimensional.
It was cool to invent this little box and it worked perfectly for my purposes of storing the little tea bags.

Have another busy week so I hope you enjoy these creative little gifts I created as souvenirs of my trip!!

Therese

Tea souvenirs - mailable folders

I created these folders for mailing tea to several friends and family! They feature the matted photo images from the postcards and hold two little packets of tea. The front flap tucks into the two photo corners I added to the bottom edge. I made them from cardstock so they would be sturdy.
Therese

Tea souvenir - magnet

I have been working on more of my souvenirs from the London trip. This is a magnet I created using the small photo images from the postcards we purchased there. Just layered onto black glossy cardstock and then added a large thin magnet - business card magnets - to the back.

Made a cute little gift for several of my family and friends!!

Therese

Thank you card and paper gift packs!!

A thank you card for a friend made with paper I bought in London!! Gift wrap/paper is sold by the sheet and displayed on dowels in England. I bought a variety of sheets and made up some paper packets for my papercrafting friends!! I really love the printed kraft paper with the cool little butterflies, the interesting flowers and the bold black circle designs!! The turquoise is double sided and pink on the reverse. I really loved the wonderful little flower designs with a little glitter!! I hope my friends will enjoy crafting with these great papers!!

Therese

Tea packets for gifts!

Just got back from London, England!! Great trip! It was a bit cool for the clothes we brought the first couple of days but we went sightseeing anyway!! We did a lot of walking, enjoyed pub food for our meals - fresh ingredients done with a little panache at a reasonable price for England, rode the TUBE and did some shopping!! Bought myself some Paper Artsy stamps at Blade Rubber which was within walking distance of the hotel!! Took a lot of pictures and had some R&R which we both needed.
We brought back tea for our friends so I made up these cool little presentation packets for them!! I have come to appreciate tea in a way that I never had before!!
I bought postcards to cut up for the front images of my little packets which I layered over white cardstock which I laser printed with LONDON. Added tabs with brads to hold the inside flaps and ribbons to tie it closed. The tabs are snipped on the center fold to allow the ribbon to come through. I just used a 1/4" punch to snip.
I punched the inside edge with a MS border punch and snipped the middle of the flap to help it all fold togeher nicely.
Have a busy week ahead of me so will have to hit the road running tomorrow morning but hopefully I will have more to post by the end of the week!!

Therese