Created this card for my Art Lottery submission!! I have included some silk flowers so the winner can use them in her creations. More of the colour printed background paper that I have overstamped with a flower. It has been fun working with the paper and seeing what can be done to it!!

Here is the site I used to create the cool backgrounds I printed. It is a very versatile site with lots of options including changing the colour of any of the backgrounds. I used this option a lot to keep my patterned paper in the pink, purple and blue tones.

http://www.grsites.com/textures/

Have a creative day!!

Therese

Mixed Media Market
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mixedmediamarket/

A quick and easy card!! One stamped image with two layers on the card front. We all need to have some quick and easy designs in our repertoire for those days when we need a card NOW!!!

Have a creative day!!

Therese

Mixed Media Market
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mixedmediamarket/

A little sophistication in masculine colours!! The two SU tag punches make layering these very easy. There are now a collection of stamps that coordinate with the small tag punch as well which makes creating these small tags quick and easy. Stapled the ribbons on. The top and bottom of the card were stamped and stippled with a mask in place to create a space for the tags.
I used a large child's paint brush I bought at the dollar store to do the stippling! Does a very good job!!

Therese

Just loved this stamp with all the mail boxes in a row!!! I watercoloured the image which was stamped with black Staz On. The little red circle embellishes the tab which I created with the slot punch. The front of the card tucks in under the tab. Added the greeting tag with cording. Am just loving my punches for creating cool tags for my cards!! I used my 1/16" punch to create a hole on the spine to pass the cording through and also to create a bit of a depression on the card's front edge so the cording would stay in place.
To create a hole in the spine use your punch to create a half of a hole on the spine. When opened up there is a whole hole!! Use a punch appropriate to the size of your fiber or ribbon. Again, half of a hole on an edge will give your fiber a place to tuck into and keep it in place once it is tied.

One of the girls in class painted all the mail boxes in vibrant colours!! A reminder to me that it is what makes us different that adds spice to life!! Celebrate it!!

Therese

In anticipation of Father's Day I had a few cards that were more masculine in nature. Many have expressed a need for inspiration for cards for the guys in their lives!
Just love the way this one came together. I just ripped several decorative papers (light blue one is another of the colour printed ones) into layers to create the effect of water and added a brown/green one above them to create the horizon. Before I glued down the layers I stamped some trees to create a lake scene. The fish was stamped with black Memories ink, watecoloured and trimmed closely. Mounted it with foam tape to give a 3D effect!!
Makes you think of summer, lazy days and lots of sun!!

Therese

Cardmaking last night!! My first card used some of the colour printed background paper I created. I highlighted the paper with a small background stamp to add a bit interest! Lots of fun!!
I punched a hole (1 3/8") in the front of the card and layered a 1 1/4" tag on the back inside of the card so it was visible from the front. I embellished the word with a bingo chip !! Mine was used so I added a layer of Future Acrylic Floor Finish to bring back its lustre. Added a little ribbon just for fun!!
Like the simple design of this card which can easily be changed up by using different colours and paper!!

Therese

You may recognize this card design from one of my previous posts but I have uploaded it to highlight the decorative paper I have created and used.
When my colour cartridge on my inkjet printer ran out of yellow ink I thought I would see how many pages of full colour I could print with the cyan and magenta ink there was left considering it was going to be wasted if I just threw the cartridge away.
I printed 200 sheets of full colour before I ran out of magenta and just decided I would call it quits after more than a full day of printing pages!! I printed these pages on heavy weight colour laser paper.
The bottom decorative paper on the card is one of these printed sheets! I added some stamping of flowers and sprigs to add more interest.
You will see several more examples of the paper in the next few posts!!
I created this card for a silk flower challenge with my card club group. We traded hydrangeas last month and challenged ourselves to create with them for our card exchange this month. I really like this simple and cute purse card design!!
Therese

Fat book page

This is my fat book page for the This & That mingle on one of my email lists!! I truly enjoy the challenge of this mingle with its wide range of themes! As you can see I chose to do a page on Florence Nightingale! With only a small amount of reasearch it is evident that she was an incredible woman with much vision, passion and tenacity.

I folded an 8.5 x 4 piece of cardstock which I had printed with the title "The Lady with the Lamp" and the quote to create a receptacle for my tags. Each tag has a few facts about Florence's life. On the back an image of her as a young woman with a quote.

We have such incredible inspiration in those who have come before us!! A woman who lived her calling even in the face of rejection. That we should all be inspired to face our challenges with courage!!

Be creative!!

Therese

Welcome Mina!! She is my first grandchild and was born at the end of April!! Baby and Mom are doing well. I offered to make baby announcements. I finished them yesterday!!

I stamped the panel card with the SU harlequin background in pink pigment ink for a subtle background and I see that it is barely noticeable on the scan.

I cropped a picture of Mina on the day she was born and laser printed it on heavy copy paper. Mina is colour printed on the frames. I used the SU large tag punch to create the hole in the frame by punching it one way and then reversing and punching out the leftover corners. Easier than cutting them out by hand. After corner rounding I used the same pink to highlight the edges and the stipple background stamp to add a bit of texture to the front. Mounted the photos in the frames.

I created the four tags, colour printed them on white cardstock and punched them out with the 1.25" punch. I layered them onto a 1 3/8" punched shape in pink. Punched a hole at the top and tied in some pink baby yarn. The tags have the baby information - name, date and hour of birth, weight and length and the blog that her Dad created for her photos!!

I colour printed the bottom banner, ripped the top edge, glued the bottom to the panel and punched two holes on the top corners where I tied some white baby yarn. This creates a little pocket for the tags. Very happy with the way this baby announcment worked out!! Much happier that I will be seeing them all in person in just over two weeks. I just know that I am going to love being a grandmother!!!

Have a creative day!!

Therese

Gotta love those large paper clips!!! Here we decorated a large paper clip with some chipboard flowers!! The chipboard coasters were double sided with modge podge and designer paper then passed through the Cuttle bug to create some flowers in three different sizes. We picked through the bucket to find the perfect ones and layered them. One set for the front and one set for the back. We glued them to the top of the clip with E6000. It takes a bit for the glue to set but I think it is now very sturdy. The clip was then incorporated into a long note card. The top layer was punched with the Word Window punch to create a slot for the paper clip. We had to be careful not to glue this layer in the middle - only the edges to create the pocket for the clip. We then added several small layers of designer paper and a greeting to finish it off!!

This was our last project for the afternoon!! A great stamping day!! Thanks to Catherine who organized all of this and cut all those pieces of paper!!! There were door prizes and a grand prize!!

I am sure everyone enjoyed their day and are happy with their cards and projects!

Being a new grandmother I think I will be making a little photo wallet for myself to show off Mina's pictures. She is just a week old and doing well.

Have a wonderful and creative day! Thanks for dropping by!!

Therese

This little folder is created using two envelopes. You fold one envelope flap into the envelope and insert the other envelope's flap into it. Once glued, it creates a little folder with two pockets for filling with anything you like. We filled ours with seed packets and stamped the inside and outside with flowers!! A ribbon is placed between the top envelope and the layered front and is tied to the side. A wonderul little package perfect for filling!! Might be just what you need for your MOM on her special day!!

Therese

This wonderful card features a double flower which was painted with Future Floor wax and Pearl Ex - an interference purple and pearl white. Very neat!! We highlighted the stamping with a white gel pen and some Pearl Ex. The flower center is accented with three brads and the bow embellished with a double swirl clip. Love the look of Pearl Ex and though it was my first experience with it I am sure it will not be my last. The Future makes the Pearl Ex permanent once it is dry - sort of like creating your very own acrylic shimmer paint!!

Therese

In the afternoon we had 4 porjects which rotated through our groups. Here is a little photo wallet!! Very cute!! There is a decorated belly band to keep it closed. Inside three little sliders where you can insert photos, gift cards, journalling, recipes, etc. These little envelopes also flip over to reveal yet more space to journal, embellish, or decorate. The little ribbons make pulling the sliders in and out very easy. This would be great as a brag book or as an memorable little album of a special event!

Therese

Stamp Camp cards

Stamp Camp on Saturday!! Had a wonderful day of stamping and connecting with other stampers!! We created a variety of projects. A One Sheet Wonder technique in the morning using a 12x12 sheet of designer paper - Oh chocolat!. We cut our paper (template provided ) and then stamped and coloured our images (shimmer cardstock). We had supplies to create 16 cards which was all precut. I did not manage to finish my cards in the 3 hours provided but managed to fully assemble 3 and parts of others. I finished them up this morning and here is a sample of the 5 desgns. We had a variety of colours - pink , blue and green - in each design. We learned to tie our ribbon in double knots using both ends of a length ribbon. Then to cut the two sides to the right length to fit our needs. This makes tying knots easier, eliminates sloppy ribbons on card fronts and conserves ribbon!!
We had our lunch outside in the sun and headed back in for an afternoon of fun!!

Therese

On one of my groups, we just had another challenge. The hostess chooses a stamp she finds challenging to use and everyone signs up to play by sending her two pieces of cardstock and a SASE. She stamps them with the image and sends them back. Once we receive our images we have a week to get creative!! This medallion image took a little while to inspire me with a project. This is what I came up with.

I watercoloured my image with colours that would coordinate with the flowers I had chosen for the inside - a rak that arrived a couple of weeks ago. I cut out the image close to the outside edges and then cut it in half. Scored my mustard cardstock to accommodate the one half and folded it in. Doubled the measurement and scored again for the other half of the front. I trimmed the second flap to exactly meet the first. I "speckled" it with ink. I glued the image halves to the two flaps then trimmed the top edges and highlighted all the edges with ink. I used a push pin to mark the center of the image through to the back. I layered the flowers onto a gold brad and inserted it into the hole and spread the tangs on the back. I trimmed the center of the images with a punch to accommodate the brad then tucked the flaps under the head of the brad. To hide the brad tangs on the back I layered two punched daisies over them.

Very happy with my creation!! Today I emailed the scan to all the participants. I am always amazed how everyone comes up with such creative projects with the same image!! So much fun to do and such great inspiration for the hostess who actually owns the stamp!! We all get to keep our creations so it is a low cost bit of fun!! Highly recommend this to all of you to do within your groups - online, stamp clubs or just some friends who get together to stamp. Look forward to seeing your art on your blogs!!

Therese

Mixed Media Market
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mixedmediamarket/

A quick and easy card! We all need some quick and easy ideas for those days when you need a card NOW!! I stamped a small rectangle (1/8 sheet) of polished stone with a large flower stamp in brown memories ink. I layered it onto a coordinating layer with a ripped edge. The front of the card was all over stamped with another flower stamp and the layers were all glued together. A greeting could easily be added to the border.

Polished stone gives such a punch of colour and excitement to any card which makes it perfect for this quick and easy one!!

Therese

Spring is in the air so I thought it would be fun to create some flowers for my cards. These flowers are created using 1" punched circles!! I used 5 for the petals, 1 for the center and layered another stamped circle over that one. I used the small oval punch to create leaves. Once the flowers were all glued together I arranged them onto the card front so they would be overlapping the two sides and in the middle. I then trimmed the blue cardstock close to the edges of the flowers and leaves and layered a white piece in behind. The flowers could be made up in any colour and you can usually use scraps for your punched shapes! The blue cardstock was also speckled with ink.

Therese

Have not had my birthday yet but that wonderful guy I am married to bought me a Cuttlebug as an advance birthday gift!! Yeah!! I had already purchased the Divine Swirl embossing folder because I just loved it when I saw cards appearing on blogs with the embossed cardstock!! Had the thought this past week after my polished stone class that the metal tape would be perfect in the DS embossing folder!! It most certainly is!!!!!! This metal tape is sold in hardware stores for repairing heating ducts but check out the garage or basement before you go out and buy some!! I just cut the strip to 4.5" and put it through the Cuttlebug in the DS embossing folder! It is self adhesive so it just needed to be applied to the front of the card. It is very sticky so be careful when applying and treat gently to not damage the embossed elements of the tape. The image is silver embossed, watercoloured and layered onto a square of yellow cardstock. I stamped the right hand corner with a SU saying stamp in a coordinating colour.

I expect there are more possibilities for use in the embossing folders so I will keep a eye out for some other interesting options! If you find something, please leave me a comment!!

Therese

Created this one with decorative scrapbook paper! Scored and folded the card and then added the scrapbook paper. Using an 11" piece of carstock , I scored and folded the band to fit the card. I chose to have the band meet at a different place than the two fronts of the card. I trimmed the two ends to just meet and then punched two holes - one on each end - for the ribbon. I then corner rounded the corners. I added a small piece of tape to the inside of the flap to ensure that the ribbon will stay with the band when it is opened. A little piece of tape between the band and the card back will also ensure the band stays with the card once it is opened. I made this one a sympathy card but any message could be printed or stamped on the band.

Therese

Had my cardmaking session this past week and this was one of the cards!

I used a sheet of coffee bean paper I got at the swap last weekend and cut it into small rectangles. Created a tag card which I all over stamped with a script stamp and layered the coffee bean paper on the bottom. Colour printed the Thanks a latte! and ripped the top and bottom edges then trimmed the piece to the edges of the card. Coloured my dollar store reinforcements with a brown pad. I punched a hole at the top and added the reinforcement. Strung a small piece of fiber through the hole and then tied it with a double knot to the front of the card. Added the stamped image of the cup allowing some of the greeting to show. A fun little card which was very popular with the girls!

Therese