Cards made with ATCs

 I have an overflowing binder of ATCs which I have collected in the last 20 years!  Wow!  I cannot believe it has been that long!!

I have decided to create cards with some of them which I will be donating to a local event as a fundraiser.  It has been fun to go through the binder and remember the exchanges and the people!! Some of the people are still around and we have several Yahoo groups in common.  Others, I have not ``seen around`` for quite some time though they used to be very active.
For this first card, I simply added an alcohol ink background to a green card front and adhered the ATC over it.  I added a little oval (SU) laser printed greeting as well that overlaps the ATC and the background.  I was amazed to find a background that coordinated so well.

 For this card, I trimmed the two side edges of the ATC to the main image leaving an even margin all the way around.  I die cut a filigree circle (SX) out of gray cardstock, cut it apart and used the pieces to frame the ATC.  I really like how that worked out. The background is one I had prepared for another project and in the end decided to do something else.  It has the laser printed brick pattern (CLKER) on the left hand side and an embossed pattern on the right hand side which I created using a TH embossing folder and a small hammer to just emboss the area that I wanted. I sponged the embossed area and the edges with blue and black ink and added some black watercolour to the mortar lines.  I added a black ribbon through the arched openings on the sides and glued the ends to the inside front of the card.  I used my slot punch (SU) to make a very slight opening on the spine for the ribbon.

For this card, I used the ATC as it was created and added a copper key using a tiny copper brad.  I used two scraps of double embossed cardstock to create a background and layered a piece of coordinating vintage seam binding over where they joined.  Layered all the pieces onto a dark brown card front and added an oval (SU) sponged laser printed greeting.

 For this card, I also used the ATC as it was created, added a white on black stamped background (SU) and layered them to a pink card front.  I added a pink strip of cardstock over the join and added some faux stitching to it using a black fine tip Sharpie.  Found a laser printed greeting in my stash, added a black layer and adhered it to my card front using 3D foam tape.

 For this card, I used the ATC as it was created (scraped acrylic background), added some blue decorative paper strips to the side and flagged their ends.  I added a black ribbon and a laser printed greeting in the same manner as I did for these cards.

This card features a shaving cream background ATC.  I layered it onto pink, added green vintage seam binding and a laser printed greeting with sponged edges to create my main element.  I found some paper in my stash (left over from my clock project) that coordinated so cut some strips and used them as a background over a dark pink card front.

For this card I used the ATC as it was created, layered it over a white embossed background layered onto a red card front.  Added a long border punched greeting to finish it off.

I really enjoyed the process of using ATCs to create cards!!  I have quite a few more to go!!  Will get as many as I can done for this event and will do more for donation to another event when the need arises!!  I have quite a few cards to refurbish as well which will also be donated.  Being new to this community I will have to find an organisation who would be open to my donations.

Leave me a comment if donate refurbished cards to a local group!!  Look forward to hearing from you!

Therese

Paper cast card for a swap

Joined a swap on AFTCM which involved creating a card that featured a paper cast made out of toilet paper.  I have made paper casts from bond paper in the past but have never tried this method so I did a bit of online research and found this tutorial.  I used an unmounted Magenta rubber stamp which I placed design side up on a plate.  I placed one sheet of toilet paper over it and used a wet sponge to mould it to the surface of the stamp.  I repeated this process six more times.  To get fine details in the final piece it is necessary to really get the paper into the recesses of the stamp so I used a little brush to tamp down the paper and left it overnight to dry.
Once dry, I applied a little bit of watercolour to highlight the flowers, leaves and ribbon. I was careful not to add too much water as it would dissolve the details in the paper cast.  I dried it with my heat gun and sprayed it with hair spray to protect it.  I trimmed the outside edge into a large oval shape.
I used a dark pink card front, added a black label and mounted a blue embossed frame over it which had been cut with the same label die (SX).  I added a dark pink ribbon across the middle and glued my paper cast over it framing it nicely in the opening.  Paper casts created with this method would be prone to delaminating so I added a few stitches through the paper cast to attach it more securely to the card front.  To finish it off I added a layered greeting using a word window punchie (SU) over a modern label punchie (SU).  I did find some tutorials which recommended adding glue to the water you used which would help prevent the delamination and would add some strength to the paper cast which may be a good idea for next time.  On hindsight, I expect that chalk would have been a very effective way of adding colour as well.
It is always fun to try new things!!  

Therese

Candy Cane Christmas cards

A few more Christmas cards for my stash!!  I found these candy cane felt ornaments at a discount store a while back and thought they would be perfect for this month's Christmas cards.  I am working on making Christmas cards every month so I will have what I need by the time the first of December rolls around.
I traced the ornaments onto red cardstock, trimmed the shapes just a bit smaller when I cut them out and glued the felt ornaments to them using white glue.  Once they were dry I filled in the filigree spaces using red glitter glue.  I had to be careful to ensure that I did not get glitter glue onto the top of the ornaments - slow and easy was best.  Inspired by a red and white layout of Christmas cards in a magazine I took out of the library I decided to use just those two colours.  The polka dot and striped papers are from the same collection and I added a border punched (SU Eyelet) piece of white cardstock over the join between the two pieces.  I tied a short piece of red ribbon in the top hole on the ornament and glued it onto my card front.  I used a two step scalloped circle punch to create the red and white scallops and added a round stamped greeting (SU)  in red to create my layered greeting.  I glued it to my card front overlapping the white border using 3D foam tape.
These came together fairly easily and I really like the colour combination!!  I made six of them which brings my total to 60 so far this year.
If you are wanting to get started on making Christmas cards you should check out my sister's Christmas Card Challenge on her blog!!  

Winged Heart Cards

A couple of exchange cards!!  I had fun playing with these die cuts (TH) which I cut several years ago on a visit to Linda's house using the Tim Holtz Winged Heart die.  They have been sitting in a clam shell on my shelf and the other day I thought I would dig them out and see what I could create with them.  I found pieces cut from silver, gold, black, red and sheet music so started layering them and I came up with these two options. I layered the sheet music behind the hearts and filled them in with clear dimensional paint.  On the one, I embossed the red wings and highlighted them with black ink. I added rhinestones to the crowns using Sharpie markers on the clear ones on the right because I did not have any the right colour.  While my hearts were drying, I cut a couple of labels (SX) from handmade decorative paper (brown paper bag and coffee) I had made for this card.  I stamped them with different text backgrounds to give them a bit more texture.  I layered them onto black embossed layers which had been sponged with pigment ink and embossed with clear embossing powder.  I finally layered all theses elements onto kraft card fronts.  They needed a bit of something so I went looking in my stash for greetings that would work.  I found these little ticket ones that I had printed a while back and simply sponged them with ink to help them coordinate with the card elements and added them to the card fronts using 3D foam tape.  The greeting is from When the Scrap Hits the Fun.
I like the funky grunge look of these cards!!  I enjoyed stretching my creative muscles and creating something that is a bit out of the norm for me.

Therese

Serendipity card with 3D bee

Have been making cards for several exchanges I am participating in.  This one features a blue green serendipity background I made a while back.  I trimmed it to size and used my new Deco Framelits (SU) to cut a hole in the middle of it and attached it to my card front using 3D foam tape. For the center I layered a colour printed flower image onto white and adhered it in the space using more 3D foam tape.  I added a length of white vintage seam binding across the card layering it below the image and tied a short piece to the left hand side to simulate a bow.  I found this bee on my desk that was left over from this little book project and it looked perfectly at home with my flowers so I attached it to my card front using a piece of 3D foam tape.
So, this card has a lot of texture and dimension!! I will be sending it on its way in today's mail.

Therese

Paper and egg shell mosaic tag

I joined a tag swap on AFTCM where we had to make a tag with at least some green and use a paper mosaic technique.  I really like doing embedded paper shapes so I decided to use chevron punchies (SU) for the background of my tag.  After punching a variety of green chevrons from scraps I created a cardstock layer using a variety of green strips and then glued the chevron punchies onto the background in an orderly fashion.  To emphasize the chevron motif I embossed the background using a chevron embossing folder.  Because it is a tight design it embedded my chevron punchies very nicely into the background.  I punched the left hand side with my scallop border punch (SU) and cut a large black tag that it would fit on.   I have been wanting to try out the egg shell mosaic technique so I dug out a heart from my die cut stash and covered it with glue and egg shells - a little bit at a time.  I used white eggshells but am now thinking that brown eggs shells would give a very nice effect as well.  I left my mosaic to dry overnight and coloured it using red alcohol ink.  I thought it needed a bit more depth so I added red reinker and combined the two using alcohol on a cotton swab.  Once that was dry I sprayed it with hair spray to seal it and give it a nice glossy finish.   Once my heart embellishment was dry I started working on a layout.  Decided to add a strip of sheet music below the heart - it needed to be sponged with a bit of antique linen Distress ink to soften its look and highlight its torn edges.  I glued my heart on with double sided tape and moved on to my quote.  I used a set of alphabet punches to create my quote and used a fine tipped glue bottle to adhere them to the tag.  I added an ornate key charm next to the quote using a mini brad.  I added some handmade washi tape to the top of the tag and tied on four lengths of 1/8" ribbon.
Very happy with how it turned out and I love the texture and depth in the egg shell mosaic heart so I will be using that technique again!!

Therese

Card making with my granddaughter

 My eldest grand daughter was visiting for a few days and we made some cards!!  She is an avid crafter and loves to make cards.  I dug out basic supplies - cardstock, my stash of extra images, a few greetings and we got started.  Whenever I craft with her, I commit to using supplies she can manage, so we used coloured pencils on our images, decorative scissors and scissors for distressing our edges - a technique I taught her in a previous cardmaking session.  This time I decided to introduce the Big Shot and embossing folders.  She informed me that she uses embossing folders at home in the Cuttlebug so she felt comfortable with them.
For my first card, I coloured my sunflower image with coloured pencils and added a bit of a background while I was at it.  I trimmed the edge using "Deckle" decorative scissors, layered it onto a yellow rectangle which I distressed with my scissors.  I mounted this element to my embossed card front

 and added a colour printed greeting which I embellished with coloured pencil.

My second card features black and white decorative paper which we found on the inside of a used envelope when we were shredding paper for papermaking.  I coloured the image with colured pencils, added faux stitching to the edges with a fine tipped Sharpie marker and layered it over my decorative paper which is layered onto black and adhered to a white card front.  This image is from Beccy's. I left some place on the bottom in case I decided to add a greeting over and above the quote provided with the image.

 For my third card, I coloured my flowers (SU) with crayons, added some texture to the background with a green pencil crayon over the blue I had originally used to colour the background.  I added faux stitching with a Sharpie, layered it onto yellow and distressed the edges with my scissors.  I adhered my image to my blue embossed card front using 3D foam tape, added a strip of yellow cardstock below it and mounted my laser printed greeting over it.  This card is already winging its way to the US as a RAK to a wonderful lady getting ready to celebrate her 90th birthday.

For my last card, I lightly coloured this golfing image and added lots of colour to the border so it would pop a bit.  I trimmed it with "deckle" scissors, glued a greeting to the bottom edge and layered it over strips of green and black cardstock that simulate ribbon.
We had such a great time and did a wide variety of activities - went for walks, did some baking and cooking, made a few cards and lots of small sheets of handmade paper, played with Lego and Jenga blocks.   She is a wonderful little girl and I am fortunate to now live close enough to have her visit.  We will be doing it again!!

Therese

Hand decorated gift wrap

I decided that the gift I created for my god daughter needed some special gift wrap so I created some. She is a crafty person so I know that she will see the value in reusing the beautiful paper in her creations!!
I started with a piece of white heavy weight paper, used the items on the left - a piece of plastic canvas, some mesh, a swirly tile and a piece of white wax crayon  - to created some texture on my paper.  I simply place my item under the paper and rubbed my crayon (laying on its side) over the paper.  Just moved things around and kept rubbing until I had covered the majority of the surface area.

 You can see here with my paper at an angle the wax which has been applied to the paper.  You cannot see it unless you look against the light.  I love doing wax resist!!
So next I applied some colour washes in yellow and red until all the surface was covered and I liked the play between the two colours.  It left it to dry and used my left over acrylic paint to play on several other pieces of paper which will become decorative paper I will use in a another project.  Nothing goes to waste!!

Here you can see a section of the paper I created.  The white wax has resisted the colour and creates texture and design on the surface of the paper!  I have taken digital photos of my paper which I can use later for printing,in digital collages or mixed media artwork.  It is your work so why not record and use your own work in your art.

Very happy with this and I am off to wrap my gift!!

Therese

BEE Attitudes book

Our god daughter is being confirmed this week and I made her a little book to help her incorporate into her life the Fruits of the Spirit!!
The cover features the Law of Attraction which highlights the fact that you are the co creator of your life.  You use your thoughts, words and actions to create in the physical world.  The earlier in life that we realize that we are in charge of our lives and responsible for our choices and their consequences the sooner that we can consciously choose the thoughts, words and actions that will bring us what we seek in life.

 For these two pages, I laser printed the words and quotes onto a 4.25" x 11" piece of white cardstock. I sponged them with yellow, blue and green ink and used hand cut stencils to add some texture to the pages.  I folded it in half to create a page that is 4.25" by 5.5" and sewed the bottom and open side with my sewing machine which created a pocket.  I cut several tags (2" x 4.25") with "I choose" printed at the top which she can use to record her insights and for reminders to herself.  They can be stored in the pocket.

I found a version of the Fruits of the Spirit that was appropriate for her age and laser printed them on white cardstock.  I also created an affirmation tag for each of them that she can write on and store in the pockets created by the pages.  I wanted the theme to be BEE Attitudes and that is where these bees came in!!  Each page features flowers of some kind, a bee and one word.
I created each page, one at a time.  I started by embossing the quarter sheet, adding the flowers and embellishments and sewing on the word.  Once all my pages were finished, I placed a pair of them

back to back and sewed down both sides and across the bottom creating a pocket for the affirmation tags.  I had eight pages which gave me four double sided pages.  I added the bees with 3D foam tape once the pages were sewn.
For my first page, I embossed a quarter sheet of green cardstock with distressed lines, added some layered punchie flowers and finished them off with hand cut stems and leaves.  I sewed on my word.
On this page, I used a polka dot embossing folder (SU), added flowers created using red five petal punchies (SU) layered with yellow flowers with red circle punchie centers. I added some green swirls cut from a small die made by Sizzix.

 For this page, I added half of a white scalloped die cut (NS) on the left hand side and a layered die cut flower (SX) on the right hand side of the embossed cardstock.  The largest one on the back is from the Tattered flower die (TH) cut from shimmery hand decorated paper which I received in a prize package.  I sewed on the word.

For this page, I layered several scalloped circles (NS) and attached them to the embossed cardstock (QK) using a white mini brad.  I applied a piece of tape to the back of the cardstock so that the prongs would not interfere with getting the tags in and out.

 For this page, I added a layered die cut flower over the embossed cardstock (CB) and inserted a little leafed branch (SU) die cut just under its edge before sewing on the word.

 For this page, I added three layered flowers created using five petal punchies (SU) in red and blue flower punchies with yellow circle punchie centers over the embossed cardstock (SU) along with some little green leaves left over from cutting the swrirls and then sewed on my word.  For these ones I lined up the blue flower petals with the dips instead of the petals on the red ones.  It gives them a different look than the red and yellow ones above

For this page, I added two rows of black and white washi tape over the embossed cardstock and then sewed on my word.  I created a flower using a corrugated cardboard flower punchie (SU) layered with a red five petal punchie and several smaller circles for the center.  I added three green swirls which I cut with the small swirl die (SX) I used earlier.  I adhered it to my page using double sided tape.  This is my favorite page!

 This page features a large flower created using three scalloped circles and a couple of flower punchies.  I glued the flower over the embossed cardstock and then sewed on my word overlapping the flower.

The back page is blank on both sides and holds blank tags.  It is created using a 4.25"x 11" of white cardstock folded in half and sewed just like the front cover to create a pocket.  This will give her some space to do her own art and personalize her book.

I used my Zutter Binding machine to punch the holes  in all the page and used a 3/4" black wire binding to bind my pages together.  To add a bit of texture I tied some fibers to the wire binding.



I am hoping she will make the book her own by embellishing the pages, adding fibers and maybe some charms to the binding and making use of the tags.
I am very happy with how this little book has turned out and how quickly it came together.  I do admit I have been percolating this idea for some time and it certainly contributed to how quickly it came together.
We are so happy to be close enough to participate in this event and be there to celebrate with her family!!

Therese

Confirmation Card

Made this card for our god daughter who is being confirmed very soon.  I love the way it turned out!!   The decorative paper is from a Hawaiian paper collection I received from my daughter.  I love the colours.  I used several sheets from the same set to make my Mahalo cards last month.
The papers were cut and layered onto the red card front and the join was covered with a piece of lime green vintage seam binding with the ends glued to the inside of the card using double sided tape. I have always loved this very graphic image of a dove and knew it would be perfect for this card.  It is available for download from CLKER.  I laser printed it on white cardstock and watercoloured the image adding layers of paint until I got the intensity I wanted around the edges and a good blend where the colours met.  I sealed it with hairspray to keep the watercolour from rubbing off.  I created the little tag using a red tag die cut and a white circle punchie which I hand lettered with a fine tip Sharpie, watercoloured to coordinate with the card and then embellished with clear dimensional paint.  Once it was dry (overnight) I added a little hanger and attached it to my card by adding it to the knot when I tied a short piece of seam binding to the front to simulate a bow.
I love it when a project comes together easily, looks better than I had imagined it would and is perfect for the occasion and person it will be presented to!!

Therese

Embellished bee die cuts

I have been working on a project that featured bees so I decided to see what I could do with what I had.  I went looking because I was quite sure I had bought a bee die a while back and lo a behold I found it!  I used it to cut a dozen bees from white cardstock. Wanting them to look much more realistic for my project I decided to embellish them.  I started adding details with a fine tip Sharpie marker using a printed one from CLKER as a visual reference.  I added detail to the wings, eyes and body and coloured the legs and antenna solid black. They looked much better!!  To attend more reailism I went ahead and added watercolour - yellow to the body and very light blue to the wings.  Once they were dry, I used clear dimensional paint to highlight the wings and the eyes!!  I am really happy with how they turned out!!  Check back later to see the project I was working on!!

Therese

Wedding cards

I have been working on these large wedding cards for the last few days.  We have a couple of weddings coming up this summer and I wanted to be sure that I had my cards ready.  I started by creating the love background using lots of different fonts in a variety of sizes and orientations.  I added a few hearts in there as well though they are not very visible on these cards.  It took a while to decide which fonts to use, where to position them, what size they should be and how close together to place the individual words.  I am very happy with how it turned out and because they are all fonts I can easily print them any colour I need.
In the case of these two cards, I chose colours that coordinated with the decorative paper I had chosen. The paper is very soft and elegant with pearl effects which I was not able to capture in my photo.  Even though these cards are going to different parts of the country to people who do not know each other I decided to use the same sketch and vary the colours and images to give them each a unique look.
For the left hand card, I started with a kraft base card, added a strip of the decorative paper at the top and bottom and glued my colour printed background in between.  I used my ribbon border punch (SU)  to create two decorative strips and stitched them using a coordinating floss that had a bit of pearly shimmer.  I used double sided tape to adhere them over where the papers overlap.  I added some white vintage seam binding through the middle of the card front and tied the ends in a double knot on the right.  I used my slot punch and just nicked the spine with it to make a thin slot to run my ribbon through - works perfectly.
I used a laser printed image of a wedding cake from CLKER which I lightly watercoloured, added some pearly paint to the decorative icing and then added a very light pearly coat to the whole image.  Love it!!  I layered it onto coordinating cardstock, added 3D foam tape to the back and positioned it on my card front over the seam binding to the left of the knot.  I colour printed a greeting, punched it out with my decorative label punch (SU), sponged the edges and used 3D foam tape to adhere it over the right hand side of the lower border.
For the right hand card, I used a blue card base, printed my love background in blue and used a vintage image of a couple from Graphics Fairy.  I am very happy with both cards and am looking forward to seeing family at both events this summer.

Therese

Gifts of Imperfection - last journal prompts

I am just finishing up the last of the journal prompts that Brene provided us to work on as in interim activity between Part 1 and Part 2 of her Ecourse - The Gifts of Imperfection which is being offered by Oprah on her website.  It has been fun to create arty pages on which to work the substance of the journaling for the prompts.
I hand lettered the titles on these pages using a fine tip Sharpie and added colour afterwards.  This time around I decided to use my new set of watercolour crayons by Stampin UP!!  The regal collection!

I had only seen these demonstrated before but when they were on clearance I decided to give them a try. They are solid watercolour crayons and therefore a very cost effective source of watercolour.  They are very creamy, vibrant and are easily watered down without getting too runny.  They are a little more opaque than my current palette of watercolour - a kid's set I bought years ago.  I really love all the colours in this set and will use them a lot.
On the first page I just rubbed the pencils onto the page and brushed on water with a foam brush.

Not my favorite way of using these crayons.  I found the strokes were too visible for my liking.  I used a watercolour paint brush to fill in around the letters of my title and I liked that much better.  I just wet my brush, wiped it across the end of the crayon and applied to my cardstock.  For page two I just used my brush to flick paint from the end of the crayon - a little trick I discovered as I was applying paint to my brush for the first page.  I used several colours of green to fill my FAITH word.  I used the leftover paint in my brush from the first title to colour the title on this page.  As you can see, the watercolour is easily watered down and still gives a nice depth of colour.  On my third page, I started by adding colour to my title and then remembered reading about a transfer technique using Sheer Heaven on the Whatever . . . Whenever blog.  I do not have any Sheer Heaven but I did have a few small pieces of vellum on my desk so I used that.  I just scribbled or drew on the vellum and applied the coloured side of the vellum to my damp cardstock. It transfers nicely.  The wetter the paper the more your transfer has a watercolour look. Too wet and it just makes a blob of colour, on drier paper you get more definition. Your paper does require to be dampened to get a transfer of colour of any kind.
So, Part 2 of the course starts next week and I am looking forward to getting back to the material from the book.  I am sharing with my Book Club friends from out east using Skype which has been lots of fun!!

Therese

Snowman Christmas cards

I made some snowman Christmas cards in the last few days which will be my quota for April!!  I am way ahead of my goal of 8 cards per month but that is OK.  We are anticipating a busy summer with family events so having a few in advance will be a good thing.  I have used the scraps of decorative paper left over from these cards.  It is paper napkin sealed with clear acrylic finish which made it translucent and stiffened it enough to be handled.
I started with white panel cards with matching envelopes.  I counted the decorative paper strips and then the cards and there were ten of each! Always an indication that I am on track.  I really wanted folding cards so I found some blue cardstock, trimmed it to a half inch wider than I needed it, scored and folded the little flap over.  I adhered my panel to it with a little piece of tape at the top and bottom and used my sewing machine to zig zag the two pieces together with coordinating thread to make a folding card.
I realized that I needed a very tall and slim image for this card and did not find anything in my rubber stamps or digital images that would do so I decided to draw what I needed.  In Corel Draw, I started with a long oval body, added a round head and then a few layers for the hat.  Added two twig arms, two eyes, a nose, a mouth and some buttons to finish him off.  Added a line at the bottom to indicate the ground he is sitting on and I was done.  I did use a snowman image I found on line as a visual as I was drawing.  I am really happy with the way it turned out.
I neatened the edges of my decorative paper, used a small piece of double sided tape in the center to keep it in place on the card front and positioned my snowman image over it adhering him with a small piece of tape. I sewed all the way around with white thread through all the layers to attach them both to the card front.  The snowman image was laser printed and watercoloured.  I dug through my greeting stash and found some blue "Let it snow!!" greetings which were the right colour so I used 3D foam tape to attach it below the image and created flag ends on each side with my scissors.  I had to add a piece of double sided tape below the decorative paper to support the greeting.  Below that I punched a snowflake (SU).  I also punched the insert once I added it so I can see the bright blue of the back when the card is closed.  I made ten of these cards - that gives me a total of 54 cards for Christmas!!
We are getting spring here and it is wonderful!!  There is water running everywhere and the sun is shining bright almost every day!!

Therese

Flipping Frog Card

I created this flipping frog card for a swap on AFTCM!!  A fun card - I found a Flip Card Tutorial here. !!  I added texture to the cardstock using an embossing folder and my hammer because once the flip mechanism was cut I was not able to emboss only the edges of the card.  The whole thing was too large to pass through my Big Shot!!  I added a bit of colour using pigment ink and embossed those areas with clear embossing powder which gives it a bit of a wet look and made it a bit bumpy like a frog - a toad in my case.  I laser printed the image (downloaded from CLKER) and the greeting, watercoloured the toad and layered it onto yellow before I added it to the center of the card which flips when you open it and reveals the greeting.  I found this cool TOAD greeting online and thought it would work perfectly with my image!!  It still needed a bit of something to I added a yellow ribbon bow to the left hand edge of the card!!      Therese

Gifts of Imperfection - happiness, joy & intuition

 Another couple of pages in my journal for my Gifts of Imperfection online course with Brene Brown on Oprah.  I am still working on the journal prompts Brene provided us to work on until the beginning of Part 2 which starts on April 3rd.  For this one we are encouraged to consider the difference between happiness and joy!!
I hand lettered the title, filled in the open parts of the letters with colourful gel pens and added a watercolour background.  I am still using my Creative Lettering book by Jenny Doh for inspiration.  Below I added some flowers stamped in blue using a foam die cut (Tattered Flowers by TH).  I used the Generational stamping technique - you stamp 2-3 times before reinking your stamp which gives you several intensities of colour which adds depth to your background.

For this page we needed to draw or in some way convey our image of our intuition.
I used the same technique for this page as I did for the previous one though I did change up the hand lettering and the colours I used.  The hand lettering inspiration for INTUITION came from a Cardmaker magazine I took out of the library last week.  I drew my hearts and coloured them with colour pencils.
We have three more prompts to finish up before the beginning of Part 2!!

Therese

Flowers with Serendipity circles

I played with the Serendipity technique in the last few days, so today I decided to make a few cards with one of them. I have made squares, rectangles and hearts in the past and wanted to change it up so decided to make circles!!  I die cut  five 2 inch circles (SX) out of my quarter sheet of blue/green serendipity paper.  I cut blue scallop circles to layer below them using my Nestibilities and added a ripped vellum circle above it along with a die cut button tied with white thread.

I stamped my light blue card fronts with my Worn background stamp (SU) using light gray ink but my stamp must have been stained a bit because it looked much more green than gray but it worked anyway.  I used the same supplies for each card - a strip of handmade washi tape, a large white rick rack border die cut (SX), a couple of sprigs of green leaves (SU), a 6 inch length of blue ribbon and an *always* tag in light green.  As you can see I managed to make two portrait and three landscape cards that are all a little different.

On the top left, I used a blue gel pen to add some faux stitching to the border and sewed it to the card front as well.  I added thread to the tag and included it in the ribbon bow.  I added iridescent glitter glue to the scallops of the circle.
On the top right, I used a short piece of white gros grain ribbon on my tag instead of the thread and tucked it into the rick rack border and paper pierced the scallops on my blue circle layer.
On the first landscape card, I used a Star Dust glitter gel pen to add dots to the scallops and faux stitching to the rick rack border.   I sewed the ribbon and the rack rack border to the card front and put my white gros grain ribbon on the back of my tag.

On my second landscape card, I wavy cut the edge of my circle, used the Star Dust glitter gel pen to add a wavy line and swirls in the scallops of my blue circle and used two pieces of washi tape.
On my third landscape card, I used a white gel pen to embellish the scallops of my blue layer and positioned the gros grain ribbon on the front of my tag.
It was fun to make five cards that used the same supplies in different layouts.  This serendipity is quite subtle compared to others I have made so it was interesting to work with lighter colours.  Love the way my washi tape looks on these cards.
I have a few more sheets of serendipity to work with so there will be more cards coming!!  Some are red and green which I will use to make Christmas cards.
If you have never tried Serendipity you should.   It uses up scraps and gives you new paper to craft with!!
Check out this posting for links to several tutorials.

Therese

4x4 Fat book page

Created this 4x4 chunky book page for a swap on AFTCM with the theme of "an elephant in town".
I created a cityscape a while back for my Valentine cards and I decided to use it for this page as well.  In this case, I watercoloured my laser printed image adding some gray in front of the buildings to simulate pavement.  I thought the whole page needed a bit of a border so I used a black fine tip Sharpie to add my striped border.
I had a little elephant die cut left over from testing a die I bought for my daughter but he was just plain gray so I sponged around his edges using black ink, added a bit of watercolour and then stamped him using a rough texture background stamp (SU) in black all over him.  I used a black fine tip Sharpie to define his toes and added a small black brad for his eye.  That was better!!  I decided he would be carrying a balloon so I used a white cardstock punchie, watercoloured it green and tied on a black thread.  I added my title by hand using a black fine tip sharpie after I penciled in the letters, adhered my elephant and balloon with 3D foam tape putting the thread from the balloon below the trunk of my elephant!! It is a nice marriage of cute and grungy!!  It is off to my partner in tomorrow's mail!!

Therese

Snowflake Christmas cards

Another set of Christmas cards from the supplies I unearthed in my craft room from a box that was packed full of "stuff".  These are the first ones I made.
The backgrounds were ready to go.  They were one layer of paper napkin that had been painted with clear acrylic finish (Future Floor Wax) and dried on wax paper while I was cleaning up my studio before we moved.  They are beautifully translucent and I really wanted to show off their colour.  I layered them onto white, added three snowflake punchies (MS) in graduated sizes over the printed one and attached them with a white mini brad.  These colour printed greetings from my stash coordinated perfectly so I trimmed them with my new label framelits (SX) from the set I bought in Maui.  The little framelit is actually shorter than these but I wanted the shape so I trimmed my greetings to fit inside the width (5/8"), lined up the front of the greeting on one end and ran it through the Big Shot only until I could tell that the end had been cut.  I backed it out and removed the greeting.  I flipped it over and lined up the end of the greeting in the framelit and ran it through the Big Shot until I could tell that the end had been cut.  Voila!  A label that looks just like I wanted it to!!  I attached it to the snowflake layer using two white mini brads and adhered the whole element to my soft sky card front.  Another ten of these brings my total to 44 cards.
In one of my groups we were discussing making washi tape and I suggested that you could easily make your own using double sided tape and tissue paper.  I can certainly see using this technique to seal paper napkins before applying double sided tape to make washi tape!!

Therese

Doodled Tags

 I created these tags to accompany some pencil cases I have made that will serve as silent auction prizes at our family reunion this summer.  I die cut them using a Trio Tags die (SX) from heavy weight chipboard which was merchandise packaging.  I painted the back side and added my name and blog address in sharpie marker.

 I coloured the fronts using distress ink pads in coordinating colours and then added some doodling with a fine tip sharpie marker.  I ran a large permanent marker all the way around the edges to define the edge and finish off the designs.  Finally, I sprayed them with hair spray to seal the surface.
You can see here that I tied them onto my pencil cases using black cotton thread.
It was fun to create the pencil cases with the gorgeous butterfly fabric I scored at the thrift shop a couple of weeks ago and now they have one of a kind tags as well.  I am happy!!

Therese