Gifts of Imperfection - Day 1 - Intention

Day One - I am excited to get started on this new adventure called - The gifts of Imperfection - an ecourse offered by Brene Brown on Oprah.  We are being encouraged to set an intention for ourselves.  It is always best to start any project (day, trip, etc) with an intention as it helps us to stay on track.  Brene mentions that it provides her with clarity, meaning and purpose.
I am easily distracted and over the course of the last few years I have realized that I have spent my life in little bits - an hour here, a few days there, without too much focus and framework around what I chose to participate it.  I have spent time emotionally distracted as well - upset because "this" happened and "why me"!!  So I am looking forward to being more focused and conscious!!

They provided a beautiful graphic to be used for our intention but I decided to make my own with a little heart of my own making.   This is a photo my own hands!!  I love that the lentils make a heart!!!  I discovered this while playing with my grandchildren at the park.  We would pick up a handful of little stones and take our turns putting them into a container, dump them out and start again. As I was waiting for my turn, I noticed that the stones made a heart in my hands.  Hearts are my thing!!  I had to stretch my comfort zone to get this shot.  Because DH is not available to set up the timer on the camera I found the manual and the tripod and experimented until I got a shot I was happy with. I colour printed it on my white cardstock, hand lettered my intention with a black fine tip Sharpie, added the frame and then watercoloured a bit of purple all the way round inside the frame.
I am excited to combine inspiration and learning with my art!!

Therese

Gifts of Imperfection - Brene Brown - cover

Last week I registered for Brene Brown's Ecourse,
The Gifts of Imperfection on Oprah and it started today!!  My book club friends are signed up too and we are going to share our experiences as we follow the course.  One of the reasons I joined was that Brene is encouraging participants to create an art journal as they go along, something I have been wanting to do for a while.  Her supply list includes a copy of her book, The Gifts of Imperfection,  a journal/sktech book, water colours & brushes, double sided tape and markers.  Supplies I have!!!!  Generally unwilling to follow the rules (OR maybe my desire for control), I have decided to do my art journaling on half sheets of white cardstock (8.5" x 5.5") which I will bind into a book when they are done.  Here is my title page.  As you can see I immediately had the opportunity to embrace imperfection when, after I am more than half way finished my page, I see that I have misspelled Imperfection!!  I loved what I had already created and had no desire to start again so I just added the missing letters and kept going.  I hand lettered the title with a black fine tip Sharpie, added the frame and then the surrounding spaces.  Watercoloured the whole thing!!  I am very happy with the way it turned out!!
If you are interested in participating you can follow the above link for get more information.  We all deserve to love ourselves and live authentically!!  It is NEVER too late!!

Therese

Fabric collage Christmas cards

 I created these little Christmas trees using this piece of fabric collage I made up the other day.  The trees measure 3" across the bottom and 4" tall.  I managed to get 20 little trees out of my 9" x 16" collage.  Each tree is embellished by hand with red sequins with yellow/gold petite seed beads centers.  Once embellished, I machine stitched the trees to a layer of white embossed cardstock incorporating a little tree trunk made of brown wool felt.  The stars were hand stitched into place and this layer was glued to a red card front.  I added a little colour printed greeting which was punched out with the SU Window punch.
I am super happy with these cards!!!!  If you click on them you will be able to check out the details.  You will see that my free motion stitching is not the best but for my first attempt I am happy.  Twenty cards for my stash!!

Therese

 

Fabric collage in greens

My first attempt at fabric collage and free motion stitching!!  It is really somewhat of a disaster but I kept over stitching until everything was held into place!!!  I used a white light weight base fabric, pinned on my green fabric scraps and then stitched a few lines to keep them in place.  Once the whole thing was covered with scraps I started free motion stitching.  I have never done this before so it was trial and error.  I broke my first needle and was having tension problems all the while trying to figure how hard to press on the pedal and how fast I should be moving the fabric and in which direction.  Having read up on FMS I was aware that my first attempts were not going to be fabulous.  Even accomplished people need to warm up before they can do good work.  Reminds me of calligraphy - no matter how accomplished it still requires some warm up before you work on a good project.  So anyway, much thread later I have a piece fabric collage that is lumpy and frumpy and needed a serious pressing. It looked a bit better after that.  I trimmed the edges of my piece to be even and ended up with a piece 9" x 16" so I cut it up into 3" x 4" triangles which will become trees for Christmas cards!!  I will need to embellish them a bit and come up with a card design but I am on a roll!!
My inspiration for this experiment was a library book my daughter brought along when she visited a while ago, called SEW WILD which contained lots of funky and interesting fabric collages.  I was working from memory as to how I was supposed to proceed. On hind sight, I am thinking that most collages would be created using fabric scraps backed with fusible webbing.  That would keep them in place but you do not get any texture from the frayed edges, etc which I enjoyed on this piece.   So, I will try again.  I really enjoyed the process and am happy to have found a use for this piece.

Therese

Quick and easy Christmas cards

Made a few more Christmas cards last night!!!!  These use the same vellum that I used on these cards with quite a different look.
Without much of an idea what I was going to do with the vellum laser printed greetings I started digging through my stash of Christmas paper which was all over my desk because I was in there looking for scraps for the last set of cards I made and I found the last bit of this wonderful Christmas paper - exactly four small sheets!!  Perfect!!  I trimmed the paper to size, adhered them to white card fronts and overlaid the vellum and stitched them down all the way around with white thread.  I added three snowflake brads to each card.  Quick and easy!!  Really happy with the way they turned out.  Four more for my stash!!

Therese

Pocket Christmas cards

I created these cards for a challenge on one of my groups - use a pocket!.  In this case, I laser printed my greeting on a quarter sheet of vellum, trimmed it and stitched it to my red card front using dark green thread.  I stitched between the words and added strips of decorative paper in the pockets I created.  They needed a bit of something so I punched little stars on the right hand edge of the card through all the layers.  I glued the little punchie stars to the vellum front.
These are quick and easy!!  I have made four of them to add to my Christmas card stash!!  I have four more pieces of printed vellum which I will use later this week using a different design.


 Here is my little sewing desk with my sewing machine.  I love how convenient it is to add stitching to my cards.

 Therese

Two more cards!!

 With the other two leaves, I created a couple more cards.  I used the same elements as my previous cards - wax crayon background paper leaves, alcohol inks on gold cardstock, a purple layer with gold gel pen doodling and the stamped background paper.  No pop ups on these - just simple layered cards with colour printed greetings which I sponged lightly so they would coordinate with the cards.  These two took quite a bit less time than the pop ups but look as good with all of those great layers!!

It was fun to use the same supplies for creating two really different cards.  A couple that pop and a couple that don't!!

Therese

Fall cards with wax crayon background paper

 On one of my groups we are being challenged to use wax in our creations so I dug out this crayon background paper from my stash and cut out some leaves using the Tattered Leaves die (TH).  This paper is created using wax crayons, white cardstock and a griddle - totally fun and you probably have everything you need to get started in your stash of supplies!!  I would highly recommend giving it a try.  Click - here to see how I used textured wall paper instead of cardstock.
With my leaves cut I decided to make a card with each leaf - four cards. I needed a fall pop up card for a swap on AFTCM so I set about finding an interesting pop up technique.  I found this surprise pop up card on Splitcoast Stampers.  I loosely followed the tutorial changing up whatever I needed to make it work with what I had.

 This is my first pop up card.  I wanted a bit of definition on my leaves so I used a stylus to emboss some veins on the top side. They did not show as much as I liked so I added a bit of colour using a brown Sharpie.  Any place that was too dark or defined I just used a bit of alcohol to remove what I did not want.  Cool!!  I wanted the leaves to pop so I cut black ones, layered them below my waxed ones, tied gold cord on the stem and used 3D foam tape between the leaves to create dimension.  Next, I cut a rectangle of gold cardstock and altered it with alcohol inks (plum and green) using some felt on a little block.  I cut a dark purple layer to put under the gold and glued these three elements together to create my main accents.  I created some background paper using a skeleton leaf (SeeD) on marigold cardstock using my Kaliedacolour stamp pad - Creole Spice and then added some solid leaves using a foam die cut of the same Tattered Leaves leaf using the same stamp pad.

 I trimmed the background paper to a quarter sheet, cut the pop up mechanism in it and stitched it to my card front using my sewing machine.  I stamped my greeting on the card front below the flap and embossed it in gold embossing powder.  Next, I created the pull up tab to activate the pop up.  I used  a strip of cardstock which I glued to the bottom section of the pop up layer then put it through the little slot (SU) I punched in the decorative paper.  I added a little circle punchie, punched a hole and added some coordinating fiber.  I glued my layered leaf accent to the mechanism and pulled on the little end.  Slowly the greeting on the card front is revealed and the beautiful accent rises and ends up being perpendicular to the card front.  As a final touch, I doodled a gold border on my main element using a gold gel pen.
It took a while to figure out what size everything needed to be but I am really happy with how it all worked out.

While I was at it I decided to create another one!!  Pretty close to the same card using different colours and changed up the doodling on the main element a bit.  I think I will be sending this one for the card exchange at my stamping group.   The second one took so much less time than the first one.
Really happy with how these worked out!! It is fun to challenge myself with trying new techniques and creating the pieces I need to make the cards really unique.

 
So I encourage you to challenge yourself to try something new - a new to you fold, a new background technique, to ink those stamps you bought last month, etc.

Therese

Nautical card for my stash!

Looking to add a few cards to my stash I decided to mine my images and find some inspiration!!  I found this nautical image and in a different bucket I discovered this oval frame from a different project which was the perfect size for the image.  I watercoloured the image and glued it to the back of the frame.  Wanting to add texture I decided to audition this gauze bandage I bought at a thrift store a while back - it was perfect!!  I simply applied a bit of glue with a glue stick and applied the gauze moving it around a bit to create some folds, etc.  Love it!!  I added the die cut button using 3D foam tape and to add yet more texture I stippled the bottom edge of the card - over everything!!  I used a black gel pen to add faux stitching to the outside of the card edge - had to work around the gauze and then I glued this layer to my kraft card front.  Finally, I added a window punch greeting!!
Nice to have some cards in my stash!!

Therese

Series of Cards #2

 A few more cards from the series of cards I started a while back!  These all use the same supplies and I am trying to follow a set of sketches I made in my first session!!

For this one, I glued my decorative paper piece to the top of my stamped and distressed yellow card front and then distressed my paper as well.  I added my embossed flower accent on the bottom of the card front and added "laugh" above the flower.  I did find a vellum greeting in my stash and added it to the lower right hand side.  It is a bit grungy for the paper but works for me.

 For this card  I started with a pink card front.  I cut my decorative paper into twelve inchies and glued them down as evenly as I could.  I added wavy lines in between using a white gel pen.  Adhered my embossed flower accent with 3D foam tape and added a bit of a collage as well. I stamped an "A" on my little heart tag and added a small piece of seam binding and layered it behind the stamped "delight" word.  Just a bit of fun and I like the look!

For this card, I trimmed my decorative paper into five pieces and glued them evenly on the top of my yellow card front, added a green strip of cardstock which I stamped with a chunky homemade stamp in green ink, added my distressed and embossed flower accent with 3D foam tape over everything.  Then I decided I liked the grungy look of my strip and did the same to the card edges. Added my "smile" word and a sponged greeting.

 For this card, I created a weaving using two pieces of decorative paper both ripped into strips.  I wove one set into the other using the pink for one set and the printed side for the other.  I glued it to the card front and embossed it with a swirl embossing folder (TH) and then distressed the whole front using a sponge and green ink.  After adhering my embossed flower accent I created another embellishment by stapling my "giggle" word to a tag using a small gold staple.  The tag features some embossed ribbon I created when my sister was visiting a month or so ago.

For this card, I cut my decorative paper into 3/4" strips alternating the sides so they would fit into each other.  In the end, once I decided to include the "bliss" word I just glued them on as I saw fit to the pink layer.   I decided to emboss the right hand side of this layer using my small vine embossing folder (CB) and my little craft hammer so I could have the embossing just where I wanted it.  I first learn this technique from Yogi!  I adhered my embossed and distressed flower accent with 3D foam tape and then added my "bliss" word and greeting.



I will be sending a couple of these off for one of my card exchanges - not sure which ones yet and the others will end up in my stash.  Was really fun to play with these again and I still have some supplies so more cards will be put up when I get them made.

Anniversary card

An anniversary card for a special couple!!
I started with a piece of decorative paper in teals and whites and added a gold layer to the back and glued it to my teal card front.  I added some very textured gold ribbon and added my main accent over it using 3D foam tape.  The gold embossed image I found in my stash and layered it over teal adding a laser printed greeting on transparency in between.
This one is going to be late!!  Time simply got away from me and I only managed to get this one made this morning!!  Doesn't happen too often and I heard they were going to be away for their anniversary so maybe it will arrive before they head home!!

Therese

Another masculine card!

I am loving this background technique!!  Simply glue coordinating patterned paper strips to a quarter sheet of white bond paper and trim to size!!
For this card I used a chevron embossing folder which worked so well!!  Made a beautiful subtle background for my card.  I added a blue border punched strip on the right hand side, tied on some green fibers and glued the whole thing to my dark green card front. I watercoloured the golf bag stamped image and then fussy cut it.  Love the way it turned out!!  I added it to my card front using 3D foam tape.  The greeting was also watercoloured before I glued it down.
Really happy with this card!!

Therese

More little quilts!

More little quilts!!  I managed to get all of these done in the car on our recent trip.  I am really loving the process and it is fun combining different fabrics and colours.
I can see the benefit of having a wide variety of small scraps for these little quilts because it provides a lot of interest and texture.  Really great when they will be combined for making the journal covers.
I have a mother and several sisters who quilt so I emailed them asking for their small scraps.  It will give me some one of a kinds to add to the mix.
You can see my other little quilts here, here and here.  All Teesha Moore inspired!!

Therese

Wedding card!

I am putting together a few cards for a friend and decided to use this stamped image from an image swap years ago.  I painted the dress, the veil and the bouquet with pearl shimmer paint, added a bit of black watercolour to the groom's hair and shoes and coloured the flowers with blue watercolour.  Then I added a layered greeting.  Again, I kept thinking it needed a bit of something so I created a 3D veil using some shimmery white tulle and glued it over the painted one!  Love it!!  Mounted all the pieces to a blue card front!!

Will be putting together a few cards and packaging them for a friend who has been gracious enough to care for our house while were were away!!  Handmade cards are always a wonderful gift!!

Therese

Purple butterfly birthday!

I have acquired a new little desk for my sewing machine which means that I can leave it out ready to be used in my craft room!  I will post photos later. Thanks, Loraine!!
I collected all of my layers for this card and started stitching!!  I stitched the watercoloured butterfly image (Meljen's) to the coloured layer, the greeting to the coordinating rectangle, layered it onto the decorative paper (wax resist background) and stitched it to the card front.  I love the look of stitching on paper and it is really fun to do!!  I added a short piece of lace to my image and added  it to my card front using 3D foam tape at a bit of an angle.  It still needed a bit of something so I created a flower using the same lace by basting one edge of a short piece, gathering the lace and tying off the threads.  I used a glue dot to hold it in place.  Happy with how this one came together!!

Therese

Series of cards using same supplies

 I found supplies for a set of cards in my stash a while back and they have been sitting on my desk begging to be made up so yesterday I got started.  I laid out all the pieces - card fronts in several different colours, trimmed decorative paper and pieces for layered flowers. No idea what the original sketch was so I decided to see if I could make each one with a different layout. I made a few sketches and here are the first four I made.
I stamped the pink card front with my Worn background stamp  (SU) in pink, layered on my decorative paper and added a punched border (SU) overlapping the top edge.  I embossed my large white flower (SU) and layered on several punchies to create a center.  I found this little punchie greeting in my stash which worked perfectly.  I stamped another word background stamp (SU) several times in several different colours and cut out the words to be used on my cards.  This one features "Friendship".  First time I use this stamp.  I really like the look of those words.

On this card I cut my decorative paper into four squares and layered them over three green rectangles I had already added to my card front.  I had two little pieces of decorative paper left over so I flipped them over to the pink side and glued them down on the right and left of the center section.  I added a punched border (SU) in white, my layered flower accent and another cut out word from my stamped background (SU).  Happy with this layout - quite different than my usual!!

For this card I stamped the green card front with my "worn" background stamp (SU) in green, layered on a piece of white vellum trimmed down to leave an even border and added some faux stitching with a white gel pen.  I cut my decorative paper diagonally and glued the two piece over the vellum.  I added my layered flower accent to the middle section and another cut out word to the lower left hand side.

This card features a yellow card front stamped with my stipple stamp (SU) in green ink.  I cut my decorative paper in four and glued the pieces into the four corners over a rectangle of green which I had glued to the center of my card front.  I added a punched border (SU) both horizontally and vertically and then glued down my large flower accent along with another cut out word.  Loving those words!!

I have enjoyed challenging myself to use different sketches for these cards!  It is good to think outside of the box every once in a while and see what we can do creatively.

There are more to come as there are still supplies sitting on my desk!!

Therese

Another fall card - sunflower!

Another fall card!!  This one features a wonderful sunflower image which I watercoloured.  Have had this stamp for a really long time and still love the image.  Similar to my previous card I started with rust cardstock, stippled it with ink, added an embossed green rectangle and then layered on my decorative paper with the torn edge to the right.  Once my watercoloured image was dry I added a window punchie (SU) in rust with a copper brad and tied on two short pieces of fiber.  I layered this accent piece over my decorative paper.
We saw fields of sunflowers on our trip across the prairies! They are so fabulous!!

Therese

Fall card

Fall is in the air!!!  The warm weather has been wonderful and the trees are showing their colours so I was inspired to make a few fall cards!!
I started with rust cardstock which I stippled (SU) with green ink.  I added a green rectangle and then overlaid a torn piece of decorative paper in fall colours.  I tied a piece of coordinating fiber around the card front, layered a watercoloured image over it and added a greeting.
The decorative paper was created using watercolour and was then embellished with a bit of stamping.  I tore the piece in half and saved the remainder for another card.  Love this little image of a leaf and acorn (Meljen's Designs) which is always fun to watercolour.  My greeting is a combination of a colour printed HAPPY and a stamped BIRTHDAY the result of wanting to use what I had in my stash.
We have spent some time with our grandchildren lately!!  They are grow fast and such cool little people!! I did a bit of crafting with them and spent a lot of time at the park - gotta do it while you can.

Therese

Train card

I was on a roll!!  Another paper scrap background!!  These are so easy - just glue paper strips to a quarter sheet of white bond and trim to size!!  In this case, I used blue strips and embossed the background with a gears embossing folder and used a black stamp pad to highlight the design.  I added a white strip to the top and bottom and glued the whole thing to my blue card front.  Next I assembled my accent - trimmed my train image and added two black strips which I die cut with my film strip die - one to each side.  It needed to be a bit grungy to go with my gear background so I stippled the whole thing with black ink using my stipple stamp (SU). Needing to add a bit of texture I tied on a length of blue seam binding with a double knot.   I am so used lining everything up so this time I put my image on at an angle and in doing so it gave me just the space I needed to add my greeting which I did using two black mini brads!!
Do you have a stash of paper scraps that need to be used up??  Cut as many strips as you can ( 3/4" is what I used) from the larger pieces and make a few backgrounds!!

Therese

Baby card

Once I got started making these backgrounds with the paper strips it seemed so easy to just make a few more!!  The background is created by gluing paper strips to white bond and trimming it down to the shortest strip.  After embossing it, I layered it onto a yellow card front and added the green embossed strip.  I went looking in my scraps to find an image - this little patchwork horse (Beccy's) was perfect.  I watercoloured it then layered a couple times and added glitter glue to the scallops of the white circle.  The greeting I also found in my stash and I embellished it with this beautiful yellow fiber which was just what I needed to finish off this wonderful baby card!!
Never know when you are going to need one of those so it will go into my card stash for now!!

Therese