SISTER STASH - All occasion card featuring a beautiful sunflower photo, a pieced background and some ribbon with three eyelets

This card features another photo from one of the calendars my sister, Sylvia, gave me.  

Again, | started with a large brown card to fit my other sister's envelopes.  I added a colourful background using decorative papers in bright and deep orange along with a piece of embossed black cardstock.  I layered the 4" x 4" photo of the sunflower with amber vellum and mounted it to my card front using 3D foam tape.  I added a strip of the same vellum below the photo, added a piece of brown grosgrain ribbon and folded both to the back on the right and secured the ends with double sided tape.   I fish tailed the other end of the ribbon and secured all the layers with tape and glue.  For interest and texture I added three gold eyelets on the ribbon using my Crop-a-dile.  I adhered this large element to my brown card front to finish off my card.    Therese

All occasion cards featuring decorative paper, butterfly die cuts and rhinestones

 

These two cards were made the same way using two different pieces of this rainbow paper (colour printed digital - Melstampz).  I used white A2 cards and adhered my paper leaving room at the bottom edges to add my butterfly border.  The butterflies were die cut using a Stampin Up sizzlet which cuts and embosses at the same time.  I just used scraps of cardstock and cut a whole bunch of butterflies in coordinating colours.  I laid them all out according to size and then started adhering them in place.  I started with large ones, added medium ones in between and then added more overlapping and then finally the little ones.  I used white glue in a fine tip applicator to allow myself to carefully apply the glue just where I wanted it.  I pressed my cards before adding the clear rhinestones.  I cased this sketch from a card on Splitcoast Stampers.     Therese

SISTER STASH - All occasion card featuring a moth photo, sanded & embossed decorative paper, ribbon and a metal embellishment

This 4"x 4" photo of a beautiful moth came from a calendar I got from my sister, Sylvia.  She makes up several every year with her own photography.  I started this card with a large brown card and added an orange piece of decorative paper which I embossed (Tim Holtz) and sanded on each end to add some texture.  I trimmed a piece of brown decorative paper to be just a bit wider than the photo and left some length on the right.  I trimmed the right edge with a border die (Tim Holtz - Sizzix) which gave it a nice edge.  I embossed this layer with a script embossing folder (Cuttlebug) and sanded it as well.  I added a piece of brown grosgrain ribbon on the upper portion adhering both ends to the back with double sided tape before adding this layer to my card.  I adhered the moth photo on the left hand side and added a metal leaf embellishment just below where the photo and the ribbon intersected.  A few more for my sister's card stash!!

Therese

A couple more balloon cards featuring decorative paper backgrounds

I made a couple more balloon cards while I was at it!!  For these two I used decorative paper for the backgrounds and added coordinating cards.  For the one on the left, I trimmed the double sided banner paper for my background and added the trimmed off piece just above one of the banners with the orange polka dots side showing. before gluing it to my blue card front.   I watercoloured my balloon with two coats of yellow and added a highlight with a clear glitter gel pen.  I tied on a length of heavy black thread which I ironed flat after shaping it the way I wanted.  I stayed very nicely in the shape so I was able to just add a bit of glue with a glue stick on the bottom side and place it where I wanted it on my background.   The second card was executed in very much the same way.  I paper pieced my background and painted my fussy cut balloon green with a white gel pen/clear glitter highlight.   I have a couple left to use at some time in the future.         Therese

SISTER STASH - All occasion card with decorative paper, a layer with sanded embossed lines and paper pierced scallops and a cute hen with chicks

This card started with this fun hen with her chicks from CLKER.  I added a bit of watercolour to help the image integrate into the colour scheme of my card.  

I started with a large taupe card.  I trimmed two pieces of the square decorative paper and added a middle section of brown decorative paper which I trimmed with scallop decorative scissors.  I added two embossed lines which I sanded just lightly to give them some contrast and then used a push pin to pierce each scallop.  I used regular tape to adhere these three piece to each other and then added a length of brown grosgrain ribbon on the right hand side before I mounted this large element to my card front.  I ran my pattern tracing wheel on all four edges of my image and then added four little circle punchies to the left hand side before adhering it to my card front using 3D foam tape.  Finally, I trimmed the end of my ribbon diagonally.  Done!  Another card to add to the card stash I am making for my sister with the paper crafting supplies she left here a while back.            Therese
 

All occasion card with a banner and yellow balloon

I have had a request of a few cards from a friend of mine so I got started and made quite a few.  I am now just getting to blogging them all.  She requested a variety of cards with greetings on the side so she can add them as they are needed for the specific occasion.  I really enjoyed the creative process and used some new techniques.  

For this card I started with an A2 envelope and made a purple card to fit inside.  I trimmed this fun background (Morgue File) to size and then started on a banner.  I have always wanted to make one of these!  I found some purple baker's twine and cut a length that would cross my card.  I rifled through my stash of purple papers and took out a few that coordinated with my background.  I trimmed them to 3/4", folded over the ends and then glued them in place on my twine.  I managed to get five little banners in the width of my card.  After they were dry I added it to my background by adhering the ends to the back using double sided tape.  I did add tiny pieces of double sided tape behind each banner to get it to have the sort of curve I wanted.  I added faux stitching to the edges using a fine tipped black marker.  I attached my background and banner to my card front. 

Next, I worked on my balloon.  I do have a balloon punch but it is not large enough to contrast nicely on this size of card so I downloaded a digital one from CLKER.  I used Photo Elements to change the knot and to change the colour to gray.  I sized it like I wanted it in Corel Draw and printed several onto white cardstock in both gray and black.  Next, I fussy cut them out on the line or just inside to eliminate the printed line.  Worked really well!!  The ones with gray lines were better than those with black lines.  For any that still had a residue of the line I used the edge of my exacto knife blade at a shallow angle to remove any toner left on the edge.  I painted the balloon for this card using two coats of yellow watercolour  and added a highlight using a white gel pen.  After it was dry, I went over it with a clear glitter gel pen.  Very nice!!  I tied a length of backer's twine to the knot of the balloon and adhered it to my card front using 3D foam tape.  I positioned my twine ends where I wanted them and used a bit of glue on the twine to get them to stick where I wanted them.  Worked well.  It was fun to make a banner and they are so easy to make with scraps!!  I am happy to be able to print balloons any size I want now and colour them any colour as well so that was worth doing.  Have not used baker's twine in quite a while so this was a really fun card to make!!         Therese

 

SISTER STASH - All occasion card with a paper pieced background in red and a cute bear image with a small ribbon

I just love this little bear image!  It is a digital from Pixabay.  I sized it in Corel Draw and colour printed it onto white cardstock.  

I started with a large black card and added pieces of red paper in a variety of sizes to create my background.  I ran my pattern tracing wheel around the edges of my image, added a length of thin black satin ribbon and mounted my little bear with his balloon to my card front using 3D foam tape.  To finish my card I tied a short piece of ribbon to the one on my card to simulate a bow.  Love it!!

Therese
 

SISTER STASH - All occasion card featuring coordinating decorative papers in brown & blue, a shimmery blue label, brown grosgrain and a coffee cup image

Still making cards for my sister from the stash of paper crafting supplies she left here a while back.  

I started with a large brown card and added three different pieces of coordinating papers to create my background.  I die cut a label (Tim Holtz - Sizzix) from shimmery blue paper and used my slot punch (Stampin UP) to create a long slot on both ends.  I ran a length of dark brown grosgrain ribbon through to the back on the top and back out on the bottom securing it with double sided tape on the back.  I die cut an oval ( Nestibilities) and stamped on a coffee cup (Pink Cat Studio Stamps) and embossed it in silver.  I watercoloured it to coordinate with my card and adhered it to the middle of my blue label.  I trimmed the ribbon to length leaving a fish tail on each end.  I mounted this large focal element to my card using 3D foam tape.  

Therese
 

Birthday card featuring a stamped background, ribbon and a leafy frame for my font greeting

 Another March family card!!  I started with a large black card which fit in an envelope from my stash.  I started my background with a colour printed digital from Morgue File.  I "discovered" a stash of stamps which have not been used and one of them is a Paper Artsy set with trees, eggs, leaves and a word stamp.  It was great to find this stash so I decided to use the tree stamp on this background.  I stamped it several times with red ink on by printed page.  I added over that an all over stamping in brown of the leaves from that set.  Once dry, I trimmed it to size, added a black grosgrain ribbon across the middle and mounted it to my card front.  I chose the greeting from my stash - laser printed font - and decided to use this gold parchment like paper to frame it.  I cut it to size, stamped leaves (Sugarloaf) on the two corners and gold embossed them.  I cut around the edges of my leaves with my exacto knif to allow the greeting to be tucked under.  I found an embossing folder that had the perfect sized frame for my greeting so I used my stylus to emboss it from the debossed side of the folder.  The paper split on the vertical lines a little but was good on the horizontal lines so that must be the way the fibers were lined up in production.  Not too serious!!  I wanted to add a bit of texture to the rest of my paper so I used a script embossing folder under my paper and rubbed some clear wax on the areas around the greeting and the leaves.  I then heated the paper melting the wax and leaving a subtle texture.  I will be experimenting more with that technique.  I mounted my greeting in the middle of the embossed frame and thought I wanted to finish the outside edges with "something" but was being cautious because of the trouble I had earlier with embossing.  I decided to burn the edges!!  Have not done that in quite a while.  Remember doing that quite a bit in my early stamping years.  I used two gold brads to attach this focal element to my card front.  It was fun to use a new stamp set and some try some "old" techniques.  Therese

Birthday card featuring a vintage blue truck, red corrugated paper and some ribbon

 Working on cards to send to my family in March.  This one features a stamped vintage truck from Class Act Stamps.  I stamped with Black Versafine on white cardstock and used watercolour to create a background for it.  I used a clear glitter gel pen on the hubcabs, bumpers, handles and windows.  I added paper piercing on all four sides with my pattern tracing wheel.  I added a wide black grosgrain ribbon to a piece of red corrugated paper which was trimmed on the sides and cut raggedly on the top and bottom.  Have not used this sort of paper in quite a while and rediscovered my stash - mostly packaging from light bulbs.  I created a large black card to fit in an envelope from my stash and mounted my background - colour printed digital image from Morgue File - leaving a tiny border.  I mounted my focal element to my card and finished it off with a small laser printed font greeting which I colour washed to coordinate.  I also ran my pattern tracing wheel on the top and bottom of edge of the greeting to add some paper pierced texture.    Therese

SISTER STASH - All occasion card with a large flower (digital) with a bright paper background and a bit of ribbon

This card is another I created using the bright papers I found in the paper crafting stash my sister left here a while back.  I started with a large warm red card and I added the bright paper which I trimmed with my deckle decorative scissors (Fiskars).  I cut, embossed and sanded a strip of green white core cardstock to fit in the opening then fish tailed the ends.  I mounted the flower (CLKER) which is a digital I downloaded, sized and colour printed onto white cardstock.  After trimming it out I distressed its edges and added a row of paper piercing on all four sides using my pattern tracing wheel.  I mounted it to a piece of the same green cardstock as the strip which I sanded on the edges a bit to reveal the white core.  I layered this onto a piece of the same warm red cardstock I used for the card.  Having left some room below the flower I tied a short piece of white grosgrain ribbon with white cording and adhered it in the space using a large glue dot. I trimmed the ends diagonally to finish it off.  I mounted my large floral element to my card front using 3D foam tape.  This is the last card using this paper during this session.  There remains several sheets which will revisit at another time.  Therese

SISTER STASH - An all occasion card featuring a paper pieced background, a cute cat (digital) and some bling

 Another card using those wonderful bright papers!!  Again this card has a paper pieced background created on a large black card.  I ended up with a little strip without paper so I filled it with pink rhinestones.  It worked perfectly!!  The little cat (CLKER) is a digital which I colour printed onto white cardstock and trimmed out.  I layered it with dark red and then added a black layer leaving a larger margin on the left hand side.  I punched it with the scallop border punch (Stampin UP) and added yet more rhinestones to each scallop - pink rounds and clear hearts!!    Therese

Card Exchange - birthday cards with mixed media book page backgrounds, flower and stamped greetings

Being inspired by some videos that I have watched lately I decided to give a try using book pages and acrylic paints in a watercolour fashion.  Totally fun!!!!!!!  I picked two sheets from a large dictionary and then marked in pencil the boundaries of where I would trim them down for my two large black cards which I created to fit in large envelopes from my stash.  I dug through a bin of acrylic paints which was mostly small little containers like those for "paint by numbers" which I have accumulated over the years.  I discovered that several were completely dried up.  It was good to do a bit of vetting in that bin.  I started with two different large butterfly stamps (left - Magenta  right - Sugarloaf) which I have not used in quite a while.  I stamped them in black (Versafine) and embossed them with black embossing powder which I thought would resist quite nicely the paint.  I used a very watered down gray paint to highlight the area around the butterflies which softened the printed words.  I watered down my paints significantly to colour my butterflies which allowed the print from the page to show through and watered them yet some more to paint my background in a very random fashion.  I did tried to wipe off the black lines of my butterflies before the paints dried but in some places where the paint dried on the embossed lines the paint was hard to remove later.  I was being very careful because these pages are very thin and I did not want to make holes anywhere.  Once I finished painting the background and the butterflies I let the pages dry completely.  Next I added some black lines using a fine tip Sharpie marker.  I did two squiggly lines all the way around and then some scripty looking ones in the center area around the butterflies.  The lines are really loose and only simulate hand writing.  Like how that worked out.  I felt I needed to anchor the butterflies in some way and decided to add a black line from top to bottom to accomplish that.  I used a wide tip Sharpie and a ruler and ran the line so it appears to be behind the butterflies.  I really like how that worked out.  Next, I worked on adding greetings.  I found two flower punchies in my stash.  They are punched from a cream and black scrapbook paper with very a vintage looking pattern.  Worked well with my backgrounds.  I watercoloured them a bit to soften their contrast, added black flower punchies and attached them together with a copper brad which echoes the copper paint I used on the butterflies and which I spattered on the backgrounds.  I softened the black flowers with doodles made with a copperish looking gel pen.  I found the greetings in my stash and decided to highlight them with blue so they would draw out that colour from my butterflies.  I cut them assymetrically and ran my pattern tracing wheel on all four sides.  I adhered my backgrounds to my black card fronts, added the flowers using 3D foam tape and then tucked the greetings under them.  It was so much fun and I love the look.  It was good to get some sorting done in that bin as well and I will surely be using acrylics to colour images again.  I have often used my leftover acrylic paint to make backgrounds and did so again this time around.  I save all my papers and paper towels so I can reuse them.  I used napkins and paper towels coloured in this fashion to create my heart art for support of the front line workers and the heart art I made for my Mom. These cards are for my partners in my Card Exchange for the month of March.  They are on their way!!  Therese

SISTER STASH - An all occasion card featuring a die cut flower and hand cut stem and leaves

Still working with the coordinating papers I found in the stash of paper crafting supplies my sister left here a while back.  It has been fun to play with these papers and see what I can come up with for cards.  I started with a large black card and added a pink letter paper for the background with a torn edged brighter piece at the bottom. I used the flower I die cut from the 4" square from one of my previous cards and added a large circle punchie to center.  I used a scrap of black and cut a stem and a couple of leaves then ripped a small piece to simulate the ground.  I auditioned all the pieces before gluing them in place. I used 3D foam tape for the flower.  Really like this one!!  Therese

SISTER STASH - All occasion card featuring coordinating papers in pink, black, pink and orange and three little square floral elements

 For this card I used the same papers as I did on my last card.  I started with a large deep red card and then I paper pieced the background from the scraps I had on hand.  I added a strip of black cardstock across the card just above the middle.  Next, I created my three little floral elements.  I started with three little squares of light pink and added three different squares of decorative paper from which I had punched a flower.  After gluing them in place I added red centers to finish them off.  I auditioned on my card front and they needed a bit of contrast from the background so I used a black marker to distress the outside edges.  That was better.  I adhered them diagonally over the black strip. Done!!  I added the three little flowers to the insert inside my card.  I always add bond paper inserts to my cards so they can be reused.   Therese

SISTER STASH - All occasion card with coordinating decorative papers, a flower and some embossed flags

I found a little stack of 8" x 8" papers in the stash of paper crafting supplies my sister left here a while back and thought it would be fun to make a few cards with them.  

For this card, I started with black card and added the background by cutting the piece diagonally to make up the difference between 8" and the 8.25" that I needed for my background.  I cut a 4"x4" piece and die cut a flower (Nestibilities) from it.  I layered it onto a larger piece of  orange and then added a center which consists of a dark pink circle punchie and an embossed yellow one which has been highlighted with black ink.  I embossed three little black strips with a distressed embossing folder (Cuttlebug) and then fish tailed the ends.  I tucked them up beneath the four inch piece.  When I laid this large element onto my card front it needed a bit of something so I added a vertical strip of pink letter paper which worked well.  I added my large floral element using 3D foam tape to finish my card.   Therese
 

SISTER STASH - An all occasion card featuring a feather stamped background, some peacock feather paper and a bright yellow butterfly

 It has been fun to play with someone's stash of paper crafting supplies.  My sister left a few bins with paper crafting supplies here after visiting for a weekend and I agreed to make cards for her with it!!  I have made quite a few and now with a bit of time on my hands I thought I would make an effort to quite a good stash made up for her.  This card started with a large white card to which I added a layered green background made of sturdy tissue paper.  I stamped the one piece with a feather stamp in green and overlapped it over the other one which I stamped with a script stamp in the same green.  I had several pieces of the peacock paper - the last of it  - and decided to trim out three pieces in increasing sizes, then wove a piece of green cardstock between them before gluing them all down onto my background.  I found this coordinating yellow butterfly in my stash! I adhered it to my card front using double sided tape behind the body which leaves the wings free to add depth to my card.  Therese

SISTER STASH - All occasion card with a gingham/distressed background and a cute bunny with a large turnip

Still working on getting the stash of cards I made for my sister blogged!!  This one started with a large taupe card which will fit in the envelopes she has on hand.  For my background I sandwiched a piece of coordinating gingham paper between two pieces of distressed red paper and adhered them with regular tape on the back.  I trimmed the rabbit from a large sheet of scrap booking paper from my stash.  It was the perfect size to cut with the large scalloped circle (StampinUP).  Once cut I used a round Nestibilities as a guide to add the faux stitching around the edge.  Worked perfectly!!  I added a strip of the distressed paper onto the gingham piece and tucked the scalloped circle behind.  I added three little black punchies to the strip to finish off my card.  
 

SISTER STASH - An all occasion card featuring three balloons and some bright paper

I have been working on being creative with the cards I am making for my sister with the stash of paper crafting supplies she left here a while back.  I have always liked balloons on cards but with only a small punch it limits where I can use them.  For this large card I started with a red card and added the bright striped paper!!  I used my Nestibilities to cut three circles which I wanted to turn into balloons.  After die cutting the circles I embossed them and sanded the blue one to reveal the white core.  To create the knot in the neck of the balloons I took a scrap of the same cardstocks and cut a strip with a triangle shape at the end which I adhered to the back of the balloons which quite nicely simulated the knots.  Next, I sponged all their edges with coordinating ink and then tied dark gray threads to all the balloons.  I die cut a purple fence to tie them to and tore a piece of green cardstock for the grass.  I adhered the grass and then tucked the fence into it.  I used white glue in a fine tip applicator on the fence.  Worked really well.   I used a large needle to get the strings of the balloons wrapped around the top rail of the fence.  I will certainly be making balloons this way again!!  I like the way they turned out.  Therese
 

SISTER STASH - Birthday card with bright background paper and four embossed gifts

 For this card I started with a large blue card and added some very bright striped decorative paper using two pieces with the striped going in different directions.  I cut four rectangles from coordinating cardstock and embossed them.  I sanded the blue one because it was white core cardstock to add more texture.  I used a flower die (Cuttlebug) to cut a swirly yellow flower which I used to simulate a bow on the top of the blue gift.  I attached it to the back of the gift with double sided tape and then cut a strip from the same cardstock to create the ribbon on the front.  I did the same for the other three gifts.  After auditioning them for placement I adhered them to the front of my card using 3D foam tape on the yellow and pink one and just glue on the blue and green ones.  The gifts and bright colours make this a great birthday card for a child or any one who is young at heart!!  Another for the card stash I am creating for my sister who left some paper crafting supplies here a few years ago.   Therese