Serendipity backgrounds

My grand daughter was visiting this week and we made some quiltie serendipity backgrounds with the scraps I had sitting on my desk from last week's class.   She managed over 20 and I had just over a dozen!!  It was nice to be just gluing paper down on old card backs and spending time together even if not much was being said.  She has already used one of hers on a card!!  I will put mine in my stash and I am sure they will emerge shortly in my next few cardmaking sessions!!               Therese

Tulips for a get well card

I colour printed several of these tulip tags from Graphics Fairy when I was printing images for other cards a few days ago.  They are really cute and came in a sheet with several other Easter images.  I trimmed the image to the edge of the design, ran a marker around the edge and then ran a brush full of water all the way around it and it created an automatic colour wash of the edge!! The versatility of waterbased markers!!  I found this nice polka dot paper which coordinated nicely so I trimmed out a piece and glued it to a red card front.  I inserted a piece of red organza ribbon through the hole in the tag and then glued both ends to the inside of my card snipping a slot on the spine for it using my slot punch (SU).  I adhered my tag to my card using 3D foam tape and added a laser printed layered punchie greeting (SU)  just below it to finish off my card. It is a springy card which will work nicely to cheer someone who is under the weather.

Therese

Be you card featuring a colour washed paper doily

A "for any reason card" embellished with a graphic from a sheet of Adorn It scrapbook paper. My sister gave a selection of them to me for my birthday a couple of years ago and I am working on using them up.  They are very beautiful and the paper is good quality so they take watercolour very nicely!!  I trimmed the image, watercoloured the flowers and words and layered it onto a decorative paper that featured roses and pearls which I have always thought was very beautiful. I embossed my dark green card front with a corner embossing folder (SU) doing it twice to get both corners that would be showing once I glued on my colour washed paper doily.  I have some smaller pieces from broken plates for my Big Shot which allow me to selectively use certain areas of an embossing folder or die and in this case allowed me to get both corners embossed with two passes without debossing any of the other area.  Fun!!  I glued my paper doily in place and trimmed off what went over the edge of my card.  I added a length of shimmery organza ribbon over the doily gluing both ends to the inside with double sided tape.  I then mounted my focal element using 3D foam tape which nicely finished off my card.    Therese

Leather leaf embellishment from reused leather

I have been collecting leather to make die cuts for cardmaking and recently I finally cut the pieces up and die cut as many leaves and acorns as I could out of them.  They were both dark brown - a tanned leather wallet and a pair of suede slippers both beyond being used any more.  I got a whole bucket full and I am looking forward to creating with them.
For this card, I started with the leather leaf and created a background for it from light brown cardstock which I embossed (TH-SX) and colour washed around the edges.  I added a small piece of double sided tape to keep it in place and then used my sewing machine to stitch it in place all the while giving it veining detail!! I tied a small piece of twine to the stem.   Next, I went looking for a background in my stash and found this piece of paste paper in dark brown which I made years ago which really worked with my leaf.  I trimmed a piece and layered it onto green. I glued my leaf embellishment into place then added two brown mini brads - top and bottom. Next, I glued this large element to a black card front and to finish it off I added a colour washed Decorative Label (SU) greeting punchie!!  Very happy with how this one turned out and I look forward to more with my little stash of leather embellishements.       Therese

Art Quiltie with a locket and key with hidden quotes

I am participating in an Art Quiltie swap on my fabric postcard group!!  I have really enjoyed creating these little works of art and this one was no exception!!
I started with the folded fabric points which I found in my fabric stash after I moved a few years ago. I do not recall exactly which project I was working on at the time of their creation but I have a little baggie of them.
I chose 8 of them - 4 blue, 4 red and then found a 4" x 4" precut floral square in a coordinating yellow which I used for the front of my quiltie.  I positioned the points around the edge and stitched them in place with a line of machine stitching very close to the outside edge.  I thought I was being very careful in laying them out but I see that they are all off a bit at the points which I did not notice until much later in the process.  I could not undo at that point so it is how it is. I cut a piece of batting and stitch it to the front by folding back the points and stitching as close to the first seam as I could.  On hindsight it might have been better to do that seam first but I did not have that vision before I started.  I hand lettered some quotes onto fusible fabric label tape and adhered them below the points.  I stitched one of  my fabric collage into the center, finished adding the quote in fabric label and stitched on a small locket and key charms.  Next, I chose a yellow tiny gingham fabric square (4.5") for the back of my quiltie.  I added fusible webbing to the edges, positioned my quiltie to the wrong side, folded the edges over the front and fused them in place.  That finished off the edges very neatly.  Wanting to add a bit of hand stitching I did blanket stitch all the way around using dark blue crochet thread.  Once finished I thought a few beads would be nice as well so I added yellow, red and blue beads (seed & longer ones) all the way around using light weight yellow crochet thread.  That finished it off nicely and gives it a handmade look!!  It is off to my partner as we speak!!  I hope my partner will find the quotes on the inside front below the petals!!  A bit of creative fun!!

Beautiful cross on an Easter card

An Easter card with a beautiful cross!!  This image is from Art by Jean and she has a wide variety of beautiful images for download on her blog including backgrounds!!
I colour printed the cross on ivory cardstock and layered it onto a blue green cardstock.  I used a blue green card, added a yellow background paper to which I had adhered a lacy die cut and embossed border (SU) which was colour washed with yellow watercolour to tone it down a bit.  I glued the background to the card, adhered my focal element and then added a layered laser printed punchie greeting.
I really like that the darker edge of the decorative paper creates the sense of a line in the design and putting the cross askew a bit allowed my greeting to nest into one of the scallops.  Perfect!!

Therese

Easter lilies in deep colours

Here is another Easter card that is a bit out of  my comfort zone in the way of colours.  I started with a green card which I stamped with green ink using two different homemade stamps to create an interesting background.  I added an embossed dark blue layer and then a strip of gold embossed mesh (window screening) which I flagged on one end.  I layered the laser printed lily image (Clipartfox) onto orange before adhering it to my card front using 3D foam tape.  I chose the colours from the image - green, blue and orange so it works on one level but the jury is still out if they are too intense for Easter.    Therese

Easter cards with printed vintage graphics

For these two cards I expanded my mind to include more toned down colours for Easter cards using blues, browns and greens in deeper shades that I would ordinarily.  I am happy with them though they are a bit somber for spring Easter cards. They no doubt will suit someone.
I used a greeny blue card for the first one and added two squares of brown cardstock just off set a bit from each other.  The laser printed vintage image (Graphics Fairy) was layered onto  pink and then onto yellow before being adhered to my card front.  Love those little blue birds!!   For my second card, I used a vintage image from Clipartpal which I laser printed and trimmed.  I started with a blue card front and added a green embossed frame die cut (SX) to which I had added two punchie eyelet borders (SU) in brown top and bottom.  My image fit perfectly in the center!  I added three little ribbon flags to my image before mounting it in the opening of the frame with 3D foam tape - brown, yellow and green which I trimmed with flag ends.
It is good to stretch ourselves creatively, to expand our ideas, to do something out of our comfort zones regularly.  That is how new things are invented and fun serendipities come to bless our lives.

Therese

Layered Easter card with a digital greeting

In all the years I have been  making cards I have always thought that this crocus paper is the very best for Easter cards.  Unfortunately, I have only four small pieces left and I am not even sure where I can buy more.  I went looking for pieces of decorative paper that would coordinate and found three - green, yellow and purple!  I layered all the strips onto a green rectangle leaving spaces on the top and bottom and in between them.  I then adhered this large layer to the front of a green card.  I used a punchie greeting which I created using a digital file from Netty's cards. She has a huge collection of greetings and many round ones which can be printed the right size to be punched with round punches.  For this one I used a 1.75" round punch (SU).  I laser printed it on ivory and watercoloured it with yellow and purple to coordinate with my card.  I layered it onto a purple scalloped circle which I cut with my Nestibilities.  Very happy with how this one turned out!!
Therese

A beautiful Easter card in blue and green

For this card I used a digitl image of a cross from Clipartkid which I laser printed on ivory and punched with my 1.75" round punch (SU).  I went looking in my stash for something to layer it to and found these two large scallops that I very much liked together.  It took a while to convince myself that I did not need to add another layer in between.  I like the space!!  I chose a soft blue card and added this soft decorative leafy paper (inside of a used card) as a background.  I added some organza ribbon adhering both ends to the inside of the card and then adhered my focal element over the ribbon using 3D foam tape.  I punched the label from the green layer before I glued my focal element together which insured that it was exactly the right colour.  I layered a small laser printed greeting to the green label and then adhered it to my card front below the focal element.  To finish off my card I tied a short length of the same ribbon to the length on my card using one knot to simulate a bow.
Happy with this one too!              Therese

All Occasion Stack Class - just strips of paper, a greeting and an embellishment

 I always leave the easiest card for last in my class!!  For these cards I sorted through my scraps and cut a wide variety of strips both in length (at least 5.5") and width.  Next, I set aside 7-8 that coordinated for each card kit.  I put the strips into envelopes and next created the greetings so they would coordinate with the strips printing them on ivory or white cardstock. I trimmed the individual greeting and added them to the envelopes.  Next, I cut white and ivory layers - 4" x 5.25" -to coordinate with the greetings and put them into the envelopes.  Next, I chose a card front that coordinated with what I had already prepared and added them along with an insert to the envelopes.  Finally, I created custom embellishments using my punches along with sequins or rhinestones for the kits!!  It was fun to see them all come together and how well all the pieces worked together.  This card had the most flexibility in layout.  The stripes could be glued at an angle below or above the greeting from left to right or right to left, OR they could be glued vertically above or below a horizontal greeting, OR they could be glued horizontally above or below a horizontal greeting, OR they could be glued vertically above or below an angled greeting!!  It was fun to experiment with all the options.  Once a layout was chosen the strips and greeting were glued to the neutral layer, trimmed to the edge and glued to the card front.  The little embellishment was adhered where desired on the card using 3D foam tape.  Again, there were a wide variety of layouts created beyond what I had laid out as ideas by the creative bunch of cardmakers - some complete newbies who learned quickly and executed their cards very well.  
We had a wonderful time and lots of beautiful cards were created!!!
Therese

All Occasion Stack class - cut and circled

For my next card, I decided to feature decorative paper in hopes of reducing my stash!!  Not even dented!!  

I cut the decorative paper 3.75" x 5" and made two cuts - one in each direction and when the pieces were glued to the next layer it created a cross as the lower colour showed through.  I discovered that once cut the pieces provide a puzzle to be solved before they can be glued in place!! I chose to layer my circle greeting over the intersection of the lines but the creative ones at class chose many more options in both the cutting and the layout of these cards!!  The circle greetings were laser printed on white or ivory and punched with a 1.75" circle punch (SU).  They were layered onto scalloped circles which were die cut from coordinating cardstock using my Nestibilities.  I found most of these round greetings at Netty's cards.  She has a really good variety and some for every occasion.  The little turtle one is very cute and the floral element were found on line but I do not have a record of where I found them.    Therese

Handmade paper and stitching

When I was preparing the kits for this class I came across this beautiful handmade paper!  It was very thick and therefore I set it aside because it would not glue well. Yesterday, I created a card with it.  I cut the elements and stitched them in place instead of using glue.  That works very well!!  I love stitching handmade paper!!  I stitched the center to the flower then the border to the background paper.  I positioned the flower, situated the leaves and stitched them into place.  I repositioned the flower and stitched all around the center to anchor it to the background.  I positioned the greeting and stitched it into place as well.  Lastly, I stitched this large element to the front of an ivory card!!  LOVE IT!!               Therese

All Occasion Stack Class - handmade paper

I just taught a cardmaking class featuring all occasion cards as a fundraiser!!  The two classes went very well and I had some very creative participants who were not at all afraid to do their own thing so there was a wide variety of cards produced from the kits I prepared.  It is one of the very best things about teaching is that others will create with the supplies you provide things you would never have thought of doing!!  So much fun!!!
For this set of cards I decided to continue the theme I started with my middle of the week class and feature my own handmade paper.  

 So I trimmed down my handmade paper to 4" x 5.25" and glued it down with a generous layer of regular glue to a neutral card - white or ivory.  Handmade paper is very textured and requires a substantial amount of glue to be effective.  I die cut two different borders for the cards using a large Sizzix die.  You can see one of on these cards.  The other was a little zigzag.  The borders were glued to the cards using regular glue.  The large focal elements were layered & glued if need be and then glued over the border.  The little coordinating laser printed greeting punchies (SU) were also glued in place.

The cards really need some pressing to ensure a good adhesion of all the layers so I recommended that they be set  under weight when they got them home.
I created several focal elements - hearts, flowers, leaves and butterflies which were cut from coordinating handmade paper.  The flower were embellished die cut centers, the hearts had an extra little heart cut from cardstock, the butteflies had tied cording which created a body and antennae and the leaves had knotted twine as an accent.
I really love handmade paper and am glad that I decided to check out the papers I had in my boxes.  I will continue to feature handmade paper on my cards as time goes on!!!  Will consider making more this summer when the weather outside is warm and sunny and the sheets can dry outside.
Therese

Easter and birthday card created by reusing a beautiful rose card

These two cards were created using the most beautiful card full of shimmery gold and roses!!  I trimmed off the front and turn it over onto the back inside which had the stripes and that worked well for a background.  For the first card, I created a focal element using a floral background from Artsy bee on Pixabay combining it with a vintage rose image from Clipartfox and a font greeting which I then printed it onto ivory cardstock.  After trimming I layered it onto green.  I glued the two layers of my background together, added a pink organza ribbon across the width and layered on my focal element with 3D foam tape.  I tied on a short length of ribbon to the one on the card using a single knot to simulate a bow.  I layered this large element to a pink card.  

For my second card, I created the background with the ribbon in the same manner and glued it to a light pink card.  The rose focal element I fussy cut from the front flap of the original card and glued it over the ribbon using 3D foam tape.  I sponged the edges of a punchie greeting with green and pink and adhered it just below the focal element over the ribbon with 3D foam tape.  Beautiful!!

Therese

Quick and easy card resusing images from cards - a beautiful little cottage

The cottage image on this card was pretty much the right size for making an A2 sized card.  Just needed a bit of trimming!!  I wanted to layer it with something appropriate.  I found a card layer with a beautiful very abstract landscape image that worked perfectly and reflected the light in the image.  I am really happy with how that worked out!!  Who would have guessed???  It helps to have a variety of elements at hand (a messy desk) because it gives you the opportunity to audition items that you would not necessarily think of otherwise.  I simply added a layered punchie greeting and it was done!!
Therese

Easter card with a beautiful iris collage element

Another Easter card to add to the stash!!  This one started with this beautiful iris collage element which I received as a RAK in an exchange card years ago.  I found the green embossed layer in my background stash and decided to layer it to a navy layer which I embossed with the Swiss Dot embossing folder.  Before gluing them together I added a length of ivory ribbon on the lower portion of the green layer. I glued this whole element to the front of an ivory card front.  I added my iris image to the top portion a bit askew and my oval punchie stamped greeting (SU) below that overlapping the ribbon. A fairly quick and easy card as several of the elements were ready to go!!

Cardmaking - March - feature little birdie sticky notes

These cards feature birdie stick notes my sister shared with me.  She is always looking for cool things to use on her cards and so she gave me a few for my birthday a while back.  You can see here another card I made recently with one.  I started these cards by choosing background paper which I adhered to coordinating cards.  I die cut some grass (SX) which I glued to the bottom of the card.  I embellished the stick note birds with a black brad eye, a hand cut yellow beak and a paisley punchie wing!!  For the first card I placed the bird on a branch (TH Tree SX) which was created using a strip of brown cardstock die cut with the TH Tree die.  The branch was then pruned of odd and stubby pieces.  The greeting is stamped (SU) and layered twice onto coordinating circles of cardstock and mounted to the card using 3D foam tape.  For the second card I drew the bird some legs and feet using a fine tipped permanent marker.  Very happy with how this any occasion cards worked out!!

Cardmaking - March - more handmade paper combined with vellum images

More handmade paper on these cards!!

In this case I took small sheets of  seed paper which were smallish for the front of a card and ripped them into strips and collaged them together to make a larger piece which I trimmed to size before running the sewing machine around the edge to make a mechanical connection to hold them all together.  I glued this background to the front of a coordinating card.  I laser printed images with greetings on vellum and used two halves of an embossed label (SU) to attach them to my handmade paper background by apply double sided tape to the back of the pieces and overlapping the edge of the vellum when I adhered them to the card front.  I coloured the back of the image with chalk which gives the image a some muted look.  The flower bouquet image is digital from Beccy's Place, the flower wreath is a digital from Melonheadz, and the little girl image is from Heather Ellis which I believe I downloaded from Paper Crafts Magazine quite a while back.  

Therese

Cardmaking - March - handmade paper, flowers and ribbon

We got together again this week and made cards!!  It is always great to have your friends over for a visit and do something creative while you are catching up!!!  

This was our first card of the evening!!  I decided to see if I could include my own handmade paper into a card for this month!!  I dug out the couple of boxes and was quickly convinced that it would be easy enough to feature handmade paper on a card.  I had forgotten how many beautiful papers I had created over the years!!  

I tore the papers to size and found coordinating card fronts.  I added a ribbon - after I glued my handmade paper to my card on the first one ( was a little distracted ) and to the handmade paper layer in the case of the green one.  I had to make sure that I positioned it low enough so I could center my focal element over it.  For the red card, I die cut a flower (SX TH Tattered Flowers) from red cardstock, embossed it with Swiss Dots (CB) and added a circle punchie cut from decorative paper.  I glued it over the ribbon and added a layered punchie greeting (SU) on the lower right.  I had a small piece of ribbon left over so I tied it to the length on the front with one knot to simulate a bow.  

For the green card, I cut a poinsettia (Spellbinders) from three different red cardstock and embossed them before gluing them to each other. I added a small yellow circle in the center.  I cut a few green "leaves" using the largest poinsettia die which I added around the edges after I glued my assembled flower to my card front.  I added a layered punchie greeting to the lower right.  

I have not made any Christmas cards yet this month so I can now count ONE towards my goal of making six for this month!!  

Therese