Exchange card featuring masterboard background, embossed die cut butterfly and a little font greeting

Here is the first card I made with the masterboard I created a few days ago.  I trimmed the masterboard into 6 pieces and cut a blue layer of cardstock the same size as one of the pieces.  I laid them onto each other and aligned them over the butterfly on my large Sizzix die and to avoid cutting off pieces due to the proximity of the other dies I carefully positioned my small cutting plate (broken pieces) over the area I wanted to cut.  I did get a tiny cut on the lower left hand side which is covered by the greeting on my card.  I embossed the blue butterfly for this card and then added a black die cut body (on the same die) which I trimmed to the perforated edge.  I placed the butterfly into the opening of the masterboard piece and used regular tape to adhere the body of the butterfly to the back of the master board layer which allows the wings to be raised a bit to add dimension.  I decided to use a large envelope and made a kraft card to fit inside.  I added a blue colour printed background which had previously been stamped with a random texture background in a light green which worked very well with this focal element.  After adhering the background to my card front I added a strip of green cardstock to which I had added a length of narrow black ribbon gluing the ends to the back of the layer before adhering to my card front.  I auditioned my butterfly element and decided to add black to the edges to help frame it.  I ran a black permanent marker on all the edges.  That was much better!  I adhered this large element to my card front using 3D foam tape.  Finally, I added a small rectangular font greeting in blue to the bottom right corner.  I flagged the right hand edge and added three little dots with a black permanent marker on the left hand edge.  I like the way this one turned out.  One of my exchange cards ready to go!!

Therese

Two little flannel quilt tops for Project Linus

Two more little quilts for Project Linus!!  I have been working on and off on the first one and finished the top last week and then made up the grey/black and red one in fairly short order because it is all strips of fabric.  It took me most of the day yesterday but I did get both of them finished with batting, backers and binding.   I will be dropping them off to my sister's and she will drop them off with hers to the coordinator in her area.            Therese

Masterboard with collage images

I found a file folder full of collage images from a swap and was at the same time looking to do something different for my exchange cards.  After a perusal of a magazine from my collection I was reminded of masterboards which my friend, Linda, uses quite often. I decided to use the images in the file folder to recreate a masterboard.   I started with a colour printed cardstock poster from my serendipity box and just cut out images and glued them in place.  It is very much like serendipity except you are using images instead of scraps of paper.  A bit of a different look as well.  I used a few scraps of paper napkin as well which I found in my serendipity box to help create bridges in my collage.   The idea of a masterboard is that you scan it and then can print off copies for using in your art.  In my case, I have scanned it and I will be using the original for creating my exchange cards.  

Therese

Thinking of you card featuring a scrap paper collage and some butterfly stickers

My friend, Linda's husband has had knee surgery and is finally home from hospital. I thought I would make a card to let him know that he is thought of as he recuperates and heals.  

I started with an ivory card which I created to fit in a large envelope from my stash.  I auditioned paper scraps that coordinated with my butterflies until I was happy with the layout and then adhered them to my card front.  I added my sponged greeting (laser printed font punchie) and then added my three little butterfly stickers.  Thinking it still needed a bit of something I added flight trails to the butterflies and dots and dashes in orange and brown on several of the paper scraps.  I really like how this turned out.  Will consider this concept again when I am card making.  

Therese

Graduation panel card featuring a laser printed greeting layered onto double matted embossed layers

My sister has been doing night classes for a LONG time and she has finally finished her degree and graduated.  Unfortunately, due to the pandemic she did not have a traditional graduation like so many others at all levels of education.  I decided to make her a panel card and started with the heavyweight yellow panel which I cut to fit inside a large envelope from my stash.  I embossed it with clock images and then I added an embossed and sanded green layer which was embossed with the SU birch trees folder.  I trimmed the laser printed digital greeting from Desert Diva, ran my pattern tracing wheel around the edge before mounting it to a deep purple shimmery layer of paper.  I added a piece of cardstock on the back to allow me to write my message.  

I am proud of her tenacity in reaching her goal!  It has been a long road and good on her for getting it done!!            Therese

Christmas card featuring a beautiful angel painted with shimmer watercolour, a border punched layer and an aqua and gold gift wrap background

This is my last card in the bunch which I created with the reused aqua and gold gift wrap which arrived on one of our gift this past holiday season!  For this card I used an image from my stash of this beautiful angel which was stamped in brown.  I coloured it using shimmery watercolours in coordinating colours.  Love how it turned out!!  I mounted it to a piece of aqua cardstock leaving a large border on the right.  I used my MS doily punch to decorate the right hand side and then added two embossed lines using my Score tool.  I mounted my aqua and gold gift wrap background to an ivory card and then adhered my large angel layer to it. Done!  It has been great fun to play with stamps and a lot of my supplies to make these cards.  I am very happy to be so far ahead in getting my Christmas cards ready for next Christmas!!!           Therese

* I have been creating my cards during my self isolation for the Covid 19 crisis.  The sun is shining and it is a beautiful day!!

Christmas card featuring a gold embossed season of light image, ribbon and an aqua and gold gift wrap background

Another fairly quick card!!  I stamped and gold embossed the Season of Light image onto the aqua cardstock, added a layer of gold gift wrap and watercoloured the flame.  I mounted the aqua and gold gift wrap background to an ivory card and added a piece of gold shimmery ribbon to the bottom section securing the ends to the inside of the card.  I trimmed the spine with a slot punch to create the opening in which I inserted the end of my ribbon.  A very nice look for this process.  I adhered my large focal element to my card front and I was done!!             Therese

Birthday card featuring one of my own floral digital images, an embossed strip and a small font greeting

For this card I started with the colour printed background paper.  I chose a large yellow envelope and created a very light green card to fit inside.  I added a strip of dark yellow to the front flap gluing the strip of yellow to the inside of the card front.  I trimmed the decorative paper to fit the front and adhered it to the card.  I embossed a coordinating strip of green cardstock and adhered it to my card a bit to the left of center.  I found the image in my stash - this is one of my doodled images which I laser printed.  I watercoloured the image and sponged the edges with blue and brown.  I adhered it to my card using 3D foam tape.  I found a small greeting in my stash that coordinated and to set it off I added a small strip of dark yellow cardstock behind it before adhering it to my card front below my image.      Therese

Christmas card featuring a gold embossed starburst layered with gold on an aqua and gold background

I have been enjoying playing with stamps!!!!  I gold embossed this large starburst image on the aqua cardstock, trimmed it to size and then added yellow marker to colour in the center.  I layered it with gold gift wrap and mounted it to my card front which was layered with my aqua and gold gift wrap background on an ivory card.    This one was fairly quick and easy!!!

Therese

Christmas card featuring Saint Nicolas on an embossed layer, aqua and gold gift wrap background and a layered font greeting

Here is another card created with a colour printed image of a St. Nicolas from an image collection CD.  I die cut the right edge using a TH border die and then paper pierced the edge with a push pin.  I added four vertical embossed lines, three to the left of the image and one to the right, using my Score tool.  Next I added two horizontal embossed lines, one each above and below the image to frame it nicely.   I added a layered font greeting which was created with a scalloped oval (SU) cut from gold metallic paper and a little greeting punched with a large oval punch (SU).  I mounted the greeting using 3D foam tape to my layer.  I mounted this large element to my card front which consists of an ivory card and the aqua and gold gift wrap background. 

Therese

Christmas card featuring Saint Nicolas, ribbon and a small greeting

For this card I am using a colour printed image from my Christmas images stash!  These were printed from images from a CD I acquired years ago at a garage sale.  I mounted the trimmed image to a layer of the aqua cardstock and trimmed it a bit wider on the right side.  I trimmed the edge with scalloped scissors and paper pierced each scallop with a push pin.  I added one embossed line next to them using my Score tool.  I added by background to an ivory card, added a flagged gold ribbon with an echoing piece of aqua cardstock which I adhered in place on the top portion of my card.  I mounted my layered image using 3D foam tape and then added the little layered font greeting with double sided on the left and 3D foam on the right.  I love the soft colours in the image and the way it works well with the background.         Therese

Christmas card featuring aqua and gold gift wrap for the background, a gold embossed nativity layered with gold

Another card using that aqua and gold gift wrap from the past Christmas season! It is a very nice heavy weight paper which I really nice to work with.  I trimmed it to a 4" x 4" and adhered it to an ivory card.  I gold embossed this nativity stamp onto the aqua cardstock, trimmed it to size and then added a layer of gold gift wrap before adhering it to my card front.  I added a bit of colour to the center of the star and I was done!!

Therese

Birthday card featuring a watercoloured, laser printed digital background, vintage seam binding and a fun greeting

This is a birthday card for my son which I will be sending digitally as he is out of the country right now.  He is a pilot so I went looking on line for aircraft blueprint images and found several that were very good!!  This one is from Drawing Database.  There a blueprints for vehicles, aircraft and watercraft among other things.  I imported the image into Corel Draw, sized it  and then rotated and duplicated it several times to create a background I was happy with.  To add some texture, I cut and pasted the definition of airplane from an online dictionary, changed the font and sized it so it would fill the page by duplicating the text as many times as necessary.  That was what I wanted it to look like.  I printed the letter sized sheet and then trimmed out four quarter sheet backgrounds.   For this card, I watercoloured the background with blue to simulate a sky, added a piece of vintage seam binding to the middle of my background and adhered it to a blue card front.  I tied a short piece of seam binding onto the one on my card with a single knot to simulate a bow.  I found a laser printed greeting in my stash, flagged the end, sponged the edges and then ran my pattern tracing wheel on both long edges.  I mounted it over the seam binding using 3D foam tape.  I like that I can colour this laser printed background any colour  to give these images a very different feel.    Therese

Christmas card featuring a nativity die cut, ribbon, a punchie star and gold embossed Merry christmas on gift wrap aqua and gold background

I am working at getting a few more Christmas cards made with these aqua and gold gift wrap backgrounds.  I cut the nativity wide this time and got a much large scene, gold embossed the greeting on the bottom section,  added a gold ribbon with a tie and then ran my tracing wheel a couple of times across the bottom.  I adhered the background to an ivory card and then mounted the large element I created over it.  Added a little gold star punchie over the stable to finish it off!!

Therese

Christmas cards featuring aqua and gold gift wrap, die cut Nativity and gold embossed greetings

These cards feature the last piece of gift wrap I have to turn into cards!!! Is it a wood grain in gold and light aqua which I have been mulling over exactly how I would use it!!  I started by digging out some aqua cardstock which I have had for a while and worked really well with this paper.  I die cut two nativities (Taylored Expressions) leaving a length of cardstock below.  I trimmed off the star and gold embossed the greetings on the bottom section.  I trimmed the bottom edges using decorative scissors.  I selectively embossed the middle section on the first card using a wood grain embossing folder and then added a length of gold ribbon.  I added a wider ribbon with a tie to the second card without any dry embossing.  I mounted the trimmed gift wrap backgrounds to ivory card fronts and then mounted the large elements I created over it.  I punched little star from gold metallic card (packaging) and adhered them in place over the stable.    Happy with how these turned out! Have a few more to go!!        NOTE:  Creating these during our self isolation during the Covid 19 panemic.     Therese

Thinking of you card featuring decorative paper, embossed flagged strips and a round digital image of a girl in a garden

I made this card for an aunt who loss her sister during this crisis.  

I started with a large envelope and made an aqua card to fit inside.  I added decorative paper and then two strips of cardstock - a wide pink on embossed with circles and a slimmer orange one embossed with a chevron pattern.  I flagged one end of each of them, layered them before mounting to the front of the card.  I trimmed this circle image of a girl in a garden (laser printed digital - CLKER) using my new dies - a set of stitched circles thinlits which I got for my birthday.  I watercoloured the image and used 3D foam tape to mount the image to the front of my card overlapping the cardstock strips.  I colourwashed a small laser printed font greeting, mounted it to a label in aqua before adhering it to my card just below the image and overlapping the strips using 3D foam tape.  

Therese

Anniversary card featuring lots of heart punchies, an embossed greeting and fiber and gold thread

After finding an inspirational card on Splitcoast Stampers I made a brown card and added found a mottled piece of decorative paper for my background.  I needed some hearts - I found some little brown hearts in my stash.  I wanted several colours and some with text so I dug into my scrap stash and punched a few more.  Some from gold gift wrap, a piece of printed text and dark brown decorative paper.  I started gluing them to my background starting from the bottom. It gives them the look of having been poured from above.  Next, I gold embossed my anniversary greeting, added the last three hearts arranged around the greeting and then I tied on a combination of a piece of kraft colour thread and one of gold embroidery thread with a double knot.  I let the ends hang free.  I glued this large element to the front of my brown card.  I like how it turned out but the inspirational one was better coordinated in the colours and had a softer look which I really liked.  This colour scheme is more masculine and appropriate for my guy!!         Therese

Father's Day card featuring embellished tree die cuts, fiber and a laser printed digital greeting from Desert Diva

Father's Day card for DH.  I started with the trees as they are cut from a new die which I acquire at a thrift store on the weekend!  Yeah when that happens.  It is brand new - never been opened.  It is a yellow Sizzix and the perfect size for making cards.  There were several others which I left because they were too large for cardmaking.  

I cut three trees, stamped them with bleach and then added green watercolour to give them a bit of texture and interest.  I cut a navy card and added the dark brown word scrap booking paper to it.  I auditioned my trees and found this little greeting in my stash (Desert Diva) that would work for my sketch.  I auditioned the yellow circle of handmade paper and really liked that so I adhered it in place and then added my trees - the two side ones with double sided tape and the middle one with  3D foam tape.  I watercoloured the greeting and mounted it over the stems of my trees using 3D foam tape as well.  To finish it off I decided to add a little length of kraft fiber to the top. I used a 1/16" hole punch to make a hole in the spine of my card and threaded the fiber through and tied it with a double knot.  Loving it!!

Therese  

Front flap birthday card featuring a large daisy digital stamp, decorative paper and a little layered font greeting

This is my last front flap card birthday card for my June birthdays!!!!  I started this one with a large envelope and I created a lavender card to fit inside.  I found a piece of plaid scrapbook paper which coordinated nicely and would work well with my daisy image.  This daisy image is one of my own digital stamps which I created while watching a floral doodling video tutorial.  It is fun to be have your own images for cardmaking!!!  I found a deep yellow piece of cardstock for my flap and once I had scored and folded over the top edge it was a bit short so I added a little strip of orange cardstock on the bottom and trimmed it off with scallop decorative scissors to be even with my panel card.  I used regular tape to adhere the two pieces together which was hidden by my layered image.  I watercoloured my large daisy image, added a layer of lavender cardstock and then adhered it to my flap.  I used a pushpin and pierced each scallop on the bottom edge - gives some nice texture to this layer.  I adhered my flap to my panel using double sided tape and glue.  I created a little layered oval greeting using an oval punchie with a green laser printed font greeting over a deep yellow larger oval which I distressed all the way aorund.  I mounted the little greeting hanging over the edge of my flap then finished off the flap with a little piece of kraft fiber which I tied on.  I added a piece of white bond on the inside where I will add my personal greeting.  

Totally fun to be in my craft room and creating cards!!!        Therese

Front flap card featuring a tea set (digital), decorative paper and rhinestones

Still working on cards for special occasions in my family in the month of June.  This one is for my twin sister, Sylvia.  She loves tea and when I found this digital tea set I knew it would be perfect for her birthday card.  I arranged the tea pot and tea cup and added Happy Birthday using a font before printing the image on white cardstock and trimming it out of the large sheet.  I rounded the corners and layered it onto a light green cardstock to coordinate with the background paper I chose for my card.  I made this one another front flap card.  They have been fun to make!!  I started with a large envelope, created a white card to fit inside and then added this beautiful background paper.  It is a sheet she donated to me from her stash in an effort to downsize.  She has a very good eye for paper and the sheets she gave me are all very nice.  I found the stamped blue cardstock in my stash, trimmed it to size after scoring it at a half inch so I could adhere it to the back of my panel card.  I ran my pattern tracing wheel over it several times before attaching it to my card using double sided tape and glue on the flap.  I mounted my focal element with the tea pot on my blue flap after distressing the edges of the green layer using my distress tool.  I added several dots of pink using a gel pen on each of the corners to add a bit of interest.  We are looking forward to seeing each other somewhere outside with social distancing!!  Therese