Fabric postcard featuring candles and paper beads

A fabric postcard for the birthday swap on my Trading Fabric Post Cards group.  I love how this one turned out!!  I started with some fabric that I coloured with wax crayons.  After ironing it very thoroughly I was able to get most of the wax out yet it left pretty much all the colour. You can check out the fabric I painted here.  I cut a piece that was 6" wide and then went looking for a fabric that coordinated. I found this striped fabric scrap that was perfect!!  I trimmed the striped fabric to 6" as well and stitched them together.  I did find that my sewing machine had a bit of trouble with the waxed fabric - it was having difficulty feeding it through so it might have been better had I used the waxed fabric on the top instead of the bottom.  Something to watch for next time!  I decided that the stripes looked like candles and that would be most appropriate for a birthday post card.  I added a small piece of batting to the back and stitched all the stripes individually to give "the candles" definition.  I added Heat and Bond to the back of a small piece of yellow fabric and hand cut 11 little candle flames - one for each candle.  I wondered whether there would be any problem getting the heat and bond to adhere to the waxed fabric but there was no problem.  I ironed them all into place and used a fine tip permanent marker to add a wick to each one.  To give them a bit of dimension I used an orange watercolour pencil to add a bit of colour and then used a small wet brush to soften the colour and spread it out a bit.  I stitched the silver ribbon over the bottom section and applied my hand lettered & watercoloured quote over it.  I created it from iron fabric label tape so it simply needed to be ironed into place.  I added two sequins on either end keeping them in place with large french knots.  I thought it still needed a bit of something so I used light yellow floss and running stitches to create light rays around my flames  It added texture and did pretty much what I had hoped it would.  On hind sight, I wish I had added some sewing machine stitching to the bodies of the candles as they are quite plain.  They could have used some texture as well but with the ribbon & quote in place it was not convenient to make that happen.  With the hand stitching done I created a backer from white fabric and creatively stitched some batting to it using my sewing machine.  I put my back and front together and stitched all the way around close to the edge. Once I decided on my edge treatment I realized that it would have been more appropriate to have used coloured thread to stitch all the way around so I used a marker and ruler to carefully apply colour to the white thread to tone it down a bit.  Worked quite well!!   I decided to use the paper beads that I created a while back in my edge treatment.   I cut them in half, covered them in coordinating decorative paper and then included them along with some pink E beads when I blanket stitched all the way around.  It was nice to be able to use a larger needle with fine crochet thread on this piece as it easily managed the holes in the Ebeads and the paper beads.
As I was creating I reflected on my quote - "shine your light".  We are only ones who can shine our light - no one else can do it for us!!  We have the ability to choose to shine bright or not.  We can only be perfectly ourselves because we have a unique set of talents and abilities which cannot really be compared to those of others.  I hope my swap partner will see that we are more the same than not but being different makes us unique and that is worth celebrating especially on our birthdays.
Therese

St.Patrick Day cards!

I have started on St. Patrick's Day cards!!
For the first one, I created a digital image using Corel Draw which combined three hearts to created a shamrock, added a stem and then surrounded it with a greeting - "Wishing you the luck of the Irish this St. Patrick's Day".  I  printed off several in different sizes.  This one was printed so it could be punched out with a 1 3/4" circle punch.  I layered it onto green (Nestibilities) and then added a white scalloped circle below that.  I pierced all the scallops with a push pin and sponged the edges just a bit to tone them down.  I created a background by gluing strips of green decorative paper to a light cardstock substrate then stamped a "zigzag stitching" over all of the joints.  I added green ribbon and then mounted this element to green card front.  I added my layered focal element over the ribbon using 3D foam tape. It still needed "a bit of something" so I added green rhinestones to the right of the element and that was good!  Like this one!!
The next card was created using a laser printed digital image I found on line.  I trimmed out the image, sponged the edges with green ink and added gold glitter glue to all of the dots in the green area on the outside of the shamrocks.  Once that was dry, I added a black gros grain ribbon across the bottom section adhering the ends to the back then adhered the whole element to a black card.  I chose a little serendipity heart to glue over the ribbon to add a bit of interest and dimension to my card!!  It5 might have been better to be a shamrock but I did not have one!!  The gold in the heart echoes the gold in the glitter glue!!  Quick and easy!!

Therese

Covering paper beads with paper

I am working on a project and finally am going to be using these white paper beads I made a while back.  I made them white so they could be customized for a particular project.  For this project I am wrapping them in decorative paper.  I found the papers I needed in my Serendipity supply box.  I decided to cut the beads in half, cover them with paper and then stitch them to my project incorporating beads in between them.  It took a while to customize them with the paper I had chosen and will certainly find that a draw back when deciding to use the rest of them.  The other option is to colour them when I make them but that may mean that they will never get used because they are not the right colour OR that I do not have enough to complete the project.  So I am not sure which I the best way ahead but I will see how it goes and decide after I have used them.          Therese

Reusing old cards to make new ones!!

A few more cards I have created using images from old greeting cards that have been donated for refurbishing.  For the first card, I trimmed out the cottage image and added a green scallop border on the right after I had punched each scallop with a 1/16" hole punch.  It was created using some wax resist/watercolour background paper from my stash.  I layered a rectangle of gold gift wrap to a brown card front and then added my embellished image.  I added a green ribbon across the bottom gluing the ends to the inside of the card.  I cut a very slim opening on the spine using my slot punch to slip the ribbon into.  I layered a laser printed greeting over a brown die cut label and adhered to the front of my card using 3D foam tape.  

For my second card, I trimmed the hummingbird image from an old card, layered it onto gold gift wrap, then onto an orange rectangle and finally onto a dark brown card.  I stamped a greeting onto the image using green ink and my card was done!!

For my third card, I trimmed out the image, added a folded ribbon on the top right and layered on half of a silver label (SU).  I layered a laser printed greeting onto a blue label and adhered it over the silver label.  It is very different for me to put the greeting in that location but that was the space that was available.  I find that using images from old card has be stretching myself creatively!!  

A few more cards to add to my stash!!

Therese

Christmas cards for Red & Heart challenge

I have made six of these Christmas cards for February's  Red & Heart Christmas card challenge on my sister, Sylvia's blog.  They were inspired by a card I found on Splitcoast Stampers. That is where I most often get my inspiration.  I created my card in a landscape format instead of portrait and used a stamped greeting instead of a folded label one but most of the other elements are the same.  

I started by digging the heart punchies (SU) from my little stash bin.  They were not all the same colour so I coordinated my card to the heart colour.  I decided some of my backgrounds would be ivory and others would be white, I cut my quarter sheets and embossed them with a fancy oval embossing folder (SX) then stamped my greeting (SU) using green ink.  I did manipulate the stamp (SU) a bit so it would be curved when I stamped it and that worked great.  I trimmed my backgrounds to leave a small margin all the way around and glued them to my card fronts.  Next, I punched my birds from white and ivory cardstock scraps then I punched the branches from scraps of green cardstock. I decided to have some birds facing one way and others facing the other.  I wish I had assembled one to start because I would have realized that having the branch pointing to the greeting was a great design feature but deciding to change the directions the birds faced negated that on some of my cards.  I will know better next time! I added the eye to the bird using a fine tip permanent marker and I very lightly outlined the beak using a pencil.  I sponged their edges and used small pieces of glue dot to adhere the branches to their beaks.  I added pearl paint to the wings to give them some texture and add a bit of bling to the cards.  Next, I layered my elements onto my cards starting with the hearts, then the bird and finally the pearly wings went on with 3D foam tape.  

I am very happy to have my February Christmas cards already made and hope to keep up with them all year so come November I will have them all ready to send out.  

Therese

Valentine's card for a special guy

I have been on a Valentine's card kick lately and I thought I should make DH before moving on to other things!  He loves music so I like to include that theme on his card.
You may recognize this background from my Christmas thank you cards.  I saved this one aside especially for this card!!  I sponged the edges and layered it onto an ivory quarter sheet which I had trimmed to leave a small border when I put it on an A2 card.  I forgot how slowly this paper absorbs ink so you can see that I mucked up the top right hand corner a bit.  Oh well!  I punched a heart hole in this background, penciled in a line, added the reused red and gold ribbon gluing the ends to the back and then stitched the line to make the heart look like it was hanging.  Next, I added a short piece of ribbon and tied it with one knot to the one on the card.  There was writing (ferraro rocher) on the back side so I was careful to not make it show.  I die cut a little heart (CB) out of duplex cardstock, embossed it with a swirl embossing folder (TH-SX) and then sanded it until some of the white showed through the red.  It did not coordinate with the ivory all that well so I sponged the white with a little yellow ink just enough to tone it done and have it coordinate better.  I positioned my background on my card and glued my little heart into place and then stitched it there.  I lifted the two sides so they would be dimensional.  I glued my background in place on my red card front.  I wanted a subdued greeting so I colour washed a white laser printed oval greeting punchie with yellow to help it coordinate with the card and then sponged the edges with red.  I adhered it to the front of the card using 3D foam tape.  Very happy with how it turned out!!  Therese

Heart cards - another option for the Plethora of Hearts card kits

I have a few card kits from my last class and I decided to see what I could do to provide a bit of variety to the layout.  You can check out the ones I made for the class here and the few I made after that with yet a different heart arrangement.  Very nice to have such a flexible card kit!!!
For this card I chose four of the hearts from the kit and added four smaller ones which I cut using a small heart die (CB).  I lightly glued the large hearts in place on the right hand side, positioned the smaller ones on top and then snuck the greeting in between the two bottom hearts.  I stitched right through all of them and the embossed background using white thread in my sewing machine.  Really like the look!!  I trimmed the far edge of the greeting and used a small piece of double sided tape to adhere it to the background then glued this whole element to the black card front.  The little red heart I glued close to the greeting!!  Fun to play with card kits!!             Therese

Cute dog and kite card for a little boy

A card for a little boy having a birthday!!  I chose this little dog with a kite (Melonheadz) image for this card.  I watercoloured it to coordinate with the background I had created from several layers of decorative paper.  I have used this image many times before but only today did I notice that the dog has a bow on its head.  It got painted yellow for today but I will have to see if there is another available with out the bow. If not, I expect I will digitally remove the bow and save it so I can use it for boy cards in the future as I have in the past.  Amazing that I never noticed that before!!
So I watercoloured the image, layered a green ribbon over my card before gluing my image to the decorative background.  I colourwashed the punchie greeting (SU - Decorative Label) to coordinate and attached it with 3D foam tape to the right of my image.   It is fun to have little ones in the extended family so we can make these cute cards.  Therese

Images framed in decorative paper on these cards

I made up a few more cards from the card kits from my last card class.  It sure is handy to have card kits on hand!!  You can check out the original cards here.  These feature several images which I watercoloured - the light house - Bird's cards, the daisy - Beccy's place and the cute little birds - Birdie Brown.  The 3/4" decorative paper strips were cut to fit and glued to form a frame on the coordinating card fronts.  I glued in the coloured images and then added the embossed banners with a bit of fiber knotted to them.  I will be adding these cards to my stash!!

Therese

Die cut concertina border on an embossed card

On one of my groups someone posted a video link to how to make these little concertina borders using paper and a die!!  Check out the video on the Sizzix site here.  You fold the paper just short of the width of the die then cut it!  Magically you have a whole row of flowers!!  On the video they used a heart but the possibilities are endless!!!  I used the smallest flower on one of my large Sizzix dies to make this border from hand painted decorative paper.  Love how it worked out!!  I found the two backgrounds in my stash - they are watercoloured strips which at the time was a technique that I was experimenting with which had not turned out the way I expected.  They were perfect for my new flower border!!  I embossed the backgrounds, trimmed and glued my border over the watercoloured section and then glued this element to my card fronts (one yellow, the other pink).  I added punchies to the center of the flowers and a little punchie greeting and I was done!!  Very happy with these! They are off to a couple of people who are facing challenges right now!!!
Therese

Reusing card fronts when making handmade cards

A few more cards created with used card fronts.
On the left hand card, I added a thin yellow border to the right hand side of the trimmed floral image which has a gold border.  I attached the border to the back of the image using double sided tape and then glued the whole element to a pink card front.  I added a laser printed vellum greeting which I trimmed to size and attached with double sided tape just behind the words.
The right hand side features an element cut from a large card.  It was not quite wide enough for an A2 but lower on the card was this little piece of measuring tape which was a perfect accent which I adhered to the right hand side by taping them together on the back using regular tape.  That was perfect!!  I wanted to add a bit of texture so I cut slits just above and below the first D and inserted vintage seam binding gluing the ends to the back of the layer.  I added the gold round paper clip and I was done!!  Another card for my stash!!    Therese

Fun with concertina borders!

Another card that features a concertina die cut border - this one using some hand decorated paper and cut with the smallest flower on the TH Tattered Flowers die!
The background for this card started with a laser printed background (CLKER) which I stamped with the Worn background stamp (SU) when I was working on a different card and it seemed perfect for this card with the flowers being blue/green. I stitched the border onto the bottom section of the background and added little yellow circle punchie centers. They were too bright so I toned them down with a bit of watercolour!!  I added a piece of blue gros grain from top to bottom on the left hand side of the background and glued the ends to the back using double sided tape.  I created a large floral focal element by layering several flower die cuts and punchies which I attached to my background using a tiny silver brad.  I glued this large element to the front of a blue card and added a small greeting punchie (Word Window - SU) to finish it off!!  Pretty happy with that!  Another card for my stash!!              Therese

A few more cards made with used card fronts

 Here are a few more cards I created with used cards that were donated to me.   The first was a larger card so I had to carefully trim to keep the essentials elements  - flowers, greeting and swirls.  I added two transparent flowers that nicely highlighted the flower theme and added a bit of dimension to the card front.  I glued this element to a pink card.  Done!!  The next card was really easy - I trimmed the front off the back and trimmed edges very slightly then mounted to a purple card.  That was enought.  Reusing card fronts can be quick! 

This garden themed card was quite larger so I trimmed out the center element.  I had to cut close to the image at the top to eliminate the greeting which was quite large and would have made the whole element too large for an A2 card but it did throw off the proportion so I punched both the top and bottom edges and layered green cardstock in behind to make the element the size I needed then glued this whole element to the front of a pink card.  I added a laser printed greeting punchie layered onto a label punchie (SU) near the bottom to finish this one off.  The border punching and layering added a bit of texture and the greeting is adhered with 3D foam tape which helps to add dimension.  

The last card was smaller than all the rest and needed some layering to make an A2 sized card.  To get the main image to be the right size I trimmed off a strip from the bottom and reattached it with tape.  I added the green ribbon across to hid the gap I had created.  Perfect!  I layered this element onto a brown layer to coordinate with the greeting and then onto an off white card to coordinate with the main colour of the image.  The focal element is actually letter pressed so there is texture in the flower and the greeting.  It did not need anything more.  Sometimes, reusing cards requires more time because you have to figure out sizing or colour matching issues that are more easily solved when you choose all the elements of a card.  I have enjoyed making these cards.  There will be more as time permits.    Thereses

Wax crayons on fabric

 After a conversation with my daughter the other day I decided to give using wax crayons on fabric another try! I used wax crayons on fabric here and made quite a few cards with the resulting beautiful piece of art.  Check them out here and here.  I have as well used wax crayons many times on paper/cardstock and love the beautiful results I get.  

 I cut two large scraps of white fabric which is fairly thin so it is likely a blend of cotton/polyester.   I hauled out my griddle and covered it with foil and heated it to about 300F.  I laid the fabric onto the foil and just used wax crayons (paper removed) to draw on the fabric.  The sky is the limit as to what you can create!!  I have included several of the pieces I made. I did try to make several different pieces in a variety of colour schemes.  Not sure where they will all end up but I believe at least a few will end up in fabric postcards.

After colouring the fabric I ironed it between absorbent paper (napkins or paper towel works) and some regular pieces of bond paper to absorb the excess wax and protect my iron board.  I wanted remove any wax and colour that might transfer to other fabrics or objects as I would like to sew with these ones.  The last time I simply used it the way it was  - fairly stiff and well coated with wax.  The fabric I used last time was quite a bit heavier as well.  It took about 10 applications of the iron with more absorbent paper to get all the wax out of the fabric.  Some of the papers are interesting because they have coloured wax impressions of the fabric on them.  They might end up in cards somewhere along the time.  So I have a new resource to play with!!!!  Looking forward to making a few items to see how this painted fabric will work and handle in the process of sewing it.               Therese

Concertina heart borders for cardmaking!

More concertina borders for my cards!!  I used decorative paper for these ones and cut them with the smallest heart on the large Tipsy heart die (SX).  I measured across the largest part of the die and fold a concertina (back and forth) slightly smaller so when I cut the stack the hearts would remain attached.  Just like making a string of paper dolls or snowflakes when we were kids.  Instant border!!!  I used my heart border on these cards combining them with decorative paper, a bit of embossing and lace and greetings.  I will be experimenting with different shapes!! 

I made two like the one on the left for my partners on the card exchange and the one on the right uses the two left over ends of the borders I had created which is why there is an edge through the middle of one of the hearts.  I embossed the area below the hearts and used a coordinating laser printed greeting with a bit fiber on the left hand ones.  I added lace to the other one using double sided tape to adhere it to the card front and a layered oval greeting.  

Therese

Reusing a card front to make a card

 I have had a variety of used cards donated to me to reuse so I went through to see what I could find that could easily be translated into new cards.  This little dragonfly notecard was the perfect size for reusing to make an A2 sized card.  Just cut the back off and I had a card front.  I wanted to embellish it a bit and felt it needed some texture so I used some Dimensional Magic to highlight the two large dragonflies and the dots.  As you can see on the closeup - the clear dimensional paint cracked a bit.  I expect it was when I added weight to the surrounding areas when I saw that the paper was warping so if you are going to try this weigh your paper at the very beginning which will allow the paint to dry on the flat paper.  I used punches to weigh it down around the wet dragonflies.  It is what it is!! After the paint was dry I added faux stitching all the way around with a deep purple fine tip marker and added a trimmed laser printed vellum greeting near the bottom gluing both ends to the back of the layer.  I glued this whole element to a purple card front.  Pretty happy with how it turned out!!  Reusing cards is a good way to get started in cardmaking and allows beautiful cards to have a second life!!

Therese

Another vintage collaged heart card!

In my weekend cardmaking I found this card!!  I created it at the same time I created these but because I had embellished it with iridescent glitter glue I had set it aside out of the way so I would not mess the glue.  What fun to find a beautiful card you had forgotten!!
For this card I had glued the decorative paper (laser printed) to a brown card front and added two pieces of scalloped lace then a taupe ribbon over them to create a nice element long element on my card.  I added the layered scalloped circle - vintage collage heart element over a scalloped circle (Nestibilities), the little colour coordinated laser printed greeting and finally the iridescent sequins in two sizes.  Really happy with how that went and then I embellished the sequins and scallops with dots of iridescent glitter glue!!  I have been adhering the sequins with small pieces of glue dot and that is working really well.     Therese

Felted wool roses for my twig wreath!

It has been a long time coming but I finally finished my twig wreath with the felted wool roses my daughter gave me three years ago for Christmas!!!!  I love how it turned out!!!
The felted wool was cut with a spiral blossom die and I stitched them up individually.  I arranged them the way I wanted them and then stitched them to an extra piece of wool felt.  I added a few silk leaves left over from my flowers for cardmaking.  I attached cording to the felt and then tied the whole piece to the wreath!!  There are navy blue and three colours of dark pink and some light pink flowers.

Therese

Vintage Valentine's cards with collaged hearts

This Valentine's card features a beautiful collaged heart element which I laser printed and then die cut with my round Nestibilities.  I layered the die cut onto a scalloped circle which I also cut with my Nestibilities from kraft cardstock.  I glued them together and then added dots in each scallop using a white gel pen.  For my background I trimmed a piece of decorative paper and added short length of ribbon to the bottom edge which echoed the scallop design element very nicely.  I used double sided tape to attach my background to my brown card front and properly secure my lace at the bottom.  I added a strip of red cardstock then layered my focal element over it.  I trimmed both ends of my laser printed greeting and adhered it to my card front using a small piece of 3D foam tape in the middle and double sided tape on both ends which gives it a bit of dimension.  Pretty happy with this one too!!

Therese

Serendipity background on this Valentine's card

Another Valentine's card for my stash!!  This one features a serendipity background which has been hanging around in my stash for a while.  I layered gold gift wrap on the front of my red card before I adhered my background to which I had already attached a red organza ribbon.  I laser printed this digital heart image (Melonheadz) on white cardstock, fussy cut it and coloured it with watercolour.  I adhered it to the front of my card using 3D foam tape positioning it over my ribbon then tied on a short piece of ribbon using one knot to simulate a bow just above my image.  Done!  I love using serendipity backgrounds because they are so interesting!!

Therese