Friend handmade card with a great digital greeting and some fun digital colour printed paper!!

I am making cards for my stash and decided to make a few for special friends when the time is right!!  This one features a large greeting by
Desert Diva which I laser printed onto white cardstock and trimmed to size.  I wanted to see if I could get the yellow "Friend" to stand out more but unfortunately the green water colour I applied did not help any.  It took me a bit of time to see what could be done to salvage the greeting but I finally decided to stamp over the letters with a small stamp set.  That worked better than I had expected.  I used my tracing wheel on the four sides to add some texture.  I added a yellow label punchie which was cut in half and mounted each piece to the long edges and then pierced the edge with a push pin.  I tucked in a dark blue half circle in the center of each one and finished off the greeting with a clear rhinetstone in each half circle.  Pretty happy with that!  I adhered a quarter sheet of decorative paper (Pixabay) to a coordinating card front and then mounted my embellished greeting over it.  Pretty happy with the over all look of this one!  I am stretching my comfort zone using large greetings.  Therese

Thank you card - cherry blossom digital image, embossed white core layer and a bit of ribbon

This card features a digital image from KISSPNG, a new digital image site I discovered in the last few days!!  I colour printed the image, trimmed it to size and distressed the edges.  I mounted it to an embossed layer in the same peachy colour as the flowers.  This was white core cardstock so I sanded it a bit to highlight the embossing which is a nice floral design (SU).  I adhered the image to the embossed layer, added a small piece of brown folded  ribbon using a tiny black brad and glued this layer to a dark brown one which I had trimmed with scallop decorative scissors.  I pierced each scallop with a push pin - an easy way to add texture to this card.  I mounted this large layer to a white card front and added a small laser printed greeting (Desert Diva) which I had flagged and sponged in brown to finish off my card.  Love how everything works so well together!!             Therese

Serendipity hexagons, sequins and a colour printed greeting

I made this card for a lady who has not been able to participate in our card exchange this time around but as a enthusiastic cardmaker she certainly would appreciate a card!!
I have been gifted some new craft supplies by my sister though we might yet work out a trade.  One of the items I received is a Hexagon die by Sizzix!!  The die cuts six at a time and they are the perfect size for cards!!  There has been a serendipity challenge on Splitcoast Stampers and I have been inspired by what others have done so I dug out my little bag of serendipity papers - I have made some ahead when I had the time and it has come in handy.  I chose several pieces that coordinating somewhat and cut as many little hexagons as I could out of the pieces.  Next I decided on a five hexagon layout - there are a lot of options - and chose the five from my little collection that would work best together.  I chose a yellow card front and stamped it with the Worn (SU) background stamp using brown ink.  I added some stippling with my little stamp (SU) and a warmer brown ink.  Next, I sponged the edges of my hexagons with brown ink and adhered them into place using a combination of double sided tape and white glue leaving the bottom one until last so I could glue down my greeting before put it into place.  The greeting is colour printed, trimmed and flagged and sponged a bit.  I had decided to embellish with sequins so I dug out the bag and auditioned quite a few until I had what I thought worked best.  I used glue dots to adhere them into place.  Still thinking it needed a bit of something I added some drops of clear dimensional paint on the card and drops of gold glitter on the hexagons.  With those in place it was just a matter of waiting until they were dry and the card will be on its way to her.   Therese

A birthday card that features a bluebird, organza ribbon and an embossed background!

A friend of mine asked for a birthday card for her bluebird loving friend which featured a blue bird.  I found this bluebird digital at Clipground which I laser printed on white cardstock and watercoloured.  I pieced a layer of scrapbook paper which coordinated and added an organza ribbon before adding my blue bird.  I mounted this layer to an embossed (CB) beige layer which was mounted to a blue card.  To finish off my card I added a small greeting (digital from Desert Diva) which I laser printed, flagged and sponged before adding it with 3D foam tape.    Always fun to challenge myself to create custom cards!   Therese

Thank you card with a fall leaf, fiber and a stamped greeting

I always like to acknowledge the kindness that others have bestowed on us!! 
This card features a stamped leaf which I watercoloured.  I trimmed it down, pierced the edges with my tracing wheel, tied on some green fiber and mounted it to a dark red layer of cardstock.  The green fiber adds a bit of texture.  I glued this large element to an embossed (leaves) brown card front and added a small stamped greeting on the lower right hand corner. 

Therese

A birthday card that features a large birdcage embellishement, a small greeting and some embossed papers

Another card for an upcoming birthday!!  This one features two pieces of embossed cardstock for the background.  The top one has the embossed areas highlighted with coordinating inks.  The bottom piece is white core cardstock which has been embossed with a script embossing folder and sanded to reveal the white core.  A fun technique!! They are adhered to a brown card front and a strip of green cardstock which has been embellished with my tracing wheel has been adhered to where they join.  I added a little gold embroidery thread hanger to this beautiful printed bird cage embellishment before adhering it to my card front using double sided tape behind the printed areas.  I finished off my card my slipping a small distressed and sponged laser printed greeting us under the edge of the green strip to the right of the large focal element.     Therese

A fun image for this pink and green anniversary card

I created this image after a fun day in the snow creating hearts with my boots!!  I found this boot image on CLKER and thought how fun it would be to create a heart with it.  I duplicated the image in Corel Draw, overlapped the two and laser printed the image.  For this card I watercoloured the boot heart and layered it with green and pink cardstock.  I found this fun background which I created using a laser printed text background which was over stamped with a handmade "rubber leftover" background stamp.  I added a green border punched (SU) strip to the back of the background before adhering it to a coordinating pink card front.  I added a length of lace which has both ends adhered to the inside of the card using double sided tape.  The focal heart element was added to the card using 3D foam tape and the greeting was slipped under the image and the lace and trimmed on one end which is concealed below the lace and the other was trimmed to the edge of the card.    I added a little clear rhinestone to finish off my card.             Therese

A large chalkboard greeting, a few heart punchies and some ribbon for this anniversary card

I am trying to get ahead of the curve and preparing my cards for next month while I have a bit of time this week.
This anniversary card came together fairly quickly.  A piece of colour printed digital paper for the background glued to a coordinating card front.  I added the gold ribbon gluing the ends to the inside of the card using double sided tape. I found this chalkboard greeting in my stash and adhered it with 3D foam tape and then added two embossed heart punchies above it with 3D foam tape as well.  Thinking it still needed a bit of something I tied a piece of gold embroidery thread to the ribbon to create a bit of dimension and texture!!!!              Therese

Love this quick and easy technique and made a few more cards!!!!

This is my third set of cards using this technique!!!!!!  Check out the first set here. I combined large digital greetings from Desert Diva's blog with digital images from CLKER electronically in a layout program (Corel Draw) and then laser printed them onto white cardstock.  After cutting them apart I sponged them in appropriate colours.  I enhanced all of these images with watercolour to add definition to the images.  I like the way the sponging gently fades to nothing before touching the greeting.  What a versatile technique!!  Won't be the last time I use this for making some quick cards for myself or giving as gifts!!  Therese

Birthday card that features a die cut butterfly, a digital image and a punched greeting

Am getting back in the swing of things after a few weeks of other summer activities!!  A card for a friend having a birthday very soon!! 
I started with a piece of colour printed digital scrapbook paper and adhered it to a coordinating card front after trimming it to size.  I added a coordinating length of gros grain ribbon cut at an angle on the bottom edge and folded over the top and secured with double sided tape.  I watercoloured the laser printed digital image from Melonheadz adding some shimmer to the bee's wings. I layered it onto a layer of green white core cardstock and distressed the edges before mounting it to my card front with 3D foam tape.   I found a coordinating greeting punchie in my stash and mounted it below the image and centered on the ribbon using 3D foam tape.  I added a champagne coloured die cut butterfly (SX) on the corner of the image using double sided tape.  I cut a bunch of these when I was visiting my sister last time.  As a final touch I added clear dimensional paint to the bee and laid it flat to dry.  Like the look!!      Therese

A fun thankyou card that features a coffee cup, a distressed background and some colourful ribbon

 This card started with a distressed background which I ripped in two and sponged the edges with brown.  I filled the gap with some printed collage paper overlaid with a coffee themed vellum before adhering this large element to a brown card front.  I added a bit of texture to the background by running my tracing wheel around the edges.  The focal element was a digital coffee cup image (CLKER) combined with a font greeting which was originally trimmed square on the top.  Wanting a more distinctive image I trimmed the top portion with a round Nestibilities die and placing my cutting pad to just cut the top rounded part.  Worked out well!!  I ripped off the bottom portion and sponged all the way around.  I watercoloured the image and added dimensional paint to the cup to give it a beautiful sheen.  Once it was dry, I added the little ribbon with flagged ends on the back and ran my tracing wheel across the bottom before adhering this large focal element to the front of my card with 3D foam tape.  I love how this one turned out!!            Therese

A few more of the laser printed and sponged greeting cards

I made a few of these a while back and wanted to make more as I had all sorts of ideas of for combining the large greetings with images.  The greetings are all from Desert Diva's blog and the images are from CLKER except the cupcakes which are from Beccy's Place.    You can check out the others I made here.
For the top left and the bottom right I sponged and then added watercolour to finish off the greetings.  For the other two it was just sponging.  The large greetings are fun and I combined them with the images digitally before laser printing them on white cardstock.  After cutting them apart I sponged them in appropriate colours and then layered them on coordinating cardstock!!  Love these!!!        Therese

A graduation card that features a digital image, lots of watercolour and some beautiful butterflies

I made this card for a special person who is graduated from high school this year.  

I laser printed the greeting (DESERT DIVA - digital) large on white cardstock and added watercolour until I was happy with it!!  After it was dry I adhered the panel to a deep maroon card front.  This is a large format card.  I added three butterflies - a large copper one (SX) and yellow one (SU) which I embellished with yellow and orange and a smaller one which echoes the copper of the large one.  I received this on in a swap so I am not sure of the maker.  I tied cording to the two smaller ones to create antenna.  I mounted them with 3D foam tape.  Really happy with how this one turned out!!

Therese

Three cards that all use the same sketch - an image, an embellishement and a large greeting

I am getting cards made for the next month for my family's special occasions!!!
It just sort of happened that I made three cards using the same sketch!!  It started with the top one - a birthday card for a special little girl!!
A scrapbook paper background glued to a coordinating card front.  I added a watercoloured image of a cupcake (digital laser printed) from Beary Wishes which I layered with a coordinating cardstock.  I added a green layer below the flag ended laser printed greeting which I embellished with my pattern tracing wheel.  I trimmed the green piece to the edge of the card on both sides and added two clear rhinestones to the greeting to add a bit of sparkle.  I did use shimmery watercolour on the icing of the cupcake to make it fun!!  I added a flower embellishment which was created using a flower punchie, a small flower sequin held together with a silver brad to finish off my card.  My next two cards were thank yous.  The pink one features a pink scrapbook paper background, a Birdie Brown little pin cushion laser printed digital image which I watercoloured and a layered laser printed greeting embellished with a couple rhinestones and some lines from the tracing wheel as well.  I finished it off with a little button die cut (CB) tied with a bit of white thread.  The last one features a teacup digital image from Cre8tive Hands which has been watercoloured and layered with cardstock, a colour printed digital background (Pixabay) adhered to a coordinating card front, an embellished layered greeting and a little heart 3D embellishment created from two little hearts die cuts.  Nice when you can make cards with the same sketch - it makes them a bit quicker.  All the supplies were from my stash!!  Therese

Made some cards with photos from photos calendars!!

 I wanted a few cards to add to my stash so I could make a nice set of cards for a gift so I decided to make a few of these simple sentiment cards with pages from photo calendars which I have received from my sister over the last few years.  I love the look of these cards because the photos make such great focal elements.  I have created a few greetings by combining frames with font greetings which I laser print on white cardstock, cut apart and then use as a layer between the photo and a coordinating card front.   You get four greeting layers from one sheet of white cardstock theses can be made up in batches fairly quickly!!  I do have to trim the photos as well because they are 4"x 4" once they are trimmed from the calendars.  These calendars featured teacups and tea pots, black and white architecture and a wide variety of nature shots!!  She has a few 2019 ones ready to go already for sales this fall.       Therese

Handmade cards featuring digital greetings and images along with some sponging

I found a card on Splitcoast Stampers that attracted me because of its large greeting so I took a bit of time to see what else was cool about it.  It was a CAS card with a large black greeting, some flowers stamped in black and some sponging on the lower portion of a white single layer card.  I really liked the look so I decided to make it my own.  I found a few fun greetings on DesertDiva's blog which worked for the greeting.  I found a good variety of images that I liked on CLKER so I combined them digitally and laser printed them onto white cardstock.  After cutting them apart I sponged the images with colours that worked with the images and then layered them onto coordinating coloured cardstock.  Love how they worked out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I like the "wishing you.. " greeting in that it can be for almost any occasion and works with quite a few images.  I did find that I watercoloured a few of them to add dimension and depth.  I added purple to the butterfly wings to define them and just water to the ink that was already there on the purple flowers which changed them enough to give them texture.  I did add purple to the greeting on that one too.  The other two were good to go with just sponging.  I generally started sponging at the bottom of the image and added as I went up decreasing the depth of colour as I went up so that it would just fade away before it got to the greeting.  I will be making more of these!!                Therese

Wedding card with embossing, ribbon and some shimmery watercolour

Stash building!!  I started by embossing a white quarter sheet with a flourish embossing folder, adding a white ribbon by gluing both ends to the back of the layer and adhering this large element to a white card front.  I used a wedding cake image from my stash (CLKER) which I laser printed and coloured with shimmery watercolours in silver, purple and green.  I made the colours subtle because that worked better with the white on white background.  When dry, I layered it onto a purple rectangle from which I had already punched the Modern Label (SU) layer for my greeting.  I mounted it to my card front using 3D foam tape then did the same with my layered punchie greeting.  To finish off my card I tied a short end of the same ribbon to the length on the front to simulate a bow!!

Therese

Wildflower on a brayered background with a small layered greeting

I used a few of these backgrounds the other day to make a few cards.  I brayered these a long while ago using a Kaleidacolour pad on coated cardstock.  They die cut very nicely.  I trimmed this one to size and die cut a wildflower silhouette  (TH) in the center of it.  I backed it with a black layer and then mounted this large focal element to an embossed card front.  I added  little laser printed greeting layered onto a label using 3D foam tape on the lower right hand corner which nicley bridged all the elements. 

Therese

Faux stitching, fussy cutting and a beautiful image of Peggys Cove

Back to making cards!!  This image has been in my stash for a long time because a portion of the sky was not well stamped.  I was looking in my stash for an image that would fit into this frame (also from my stash) and this one I thought was pretty close so I just fussy cut along the horizon and when I put it in the frame the lighthouse overlapped the frame!  I love it!!  I watercoloured the image (PSX), added a blue decorative paper to make the sky, trimmed the outside edges to fit in the frame and adhered all the pieces in place.  I adhered the top of the lighthouse to the front of the frame with a bit of 3D foam tape which makes it stand out very nicely from the scene.  The frame had already been embossed with a distressed embossing folder so I simply added some faux stitching to give it a bit more definition.  I adhered this large element to a gray card and I was done!!  An card for any occasion!!  Therese

A card that incorporates a watercoloured digital image, paper flowers and some stamped stitching

Making cards for special days in the lives of my special people!!  This one is for my sister!!  I started with the laser printed image of little sunflowers (CLKER) to which I had added a font greeting before printing.  I watercoloured the image and layered it onto a dark yellow cardstock rectangle.  I stamped the leaf stitching (SU) which I then watercoloured as well.  I trimmed the bottom with decorative wave scissors and pierced a row of dots just above it.  I went digging in my decorative paper stash for coordinating papers and found these blue hued ones that worked.  Blue is one of my sister's favorite colours!!  I trimmed my scraps and mounted them to brown cardstock leaving a bit of space at the bottom where I trimmed it with scallop decorative scissors and mirrored the paper piercing on my focal element by piercing each scallop.  I used a long unused stamp of zigzag stitching (Hero Arts) and stamped each joint between the papers.  My sister is a quilter and will appreciate the stitching on this card even if it is stamped.  I mounted my background to a blue card front and positioned my focal element over it and found that it needed a bit of something to make it pop so I dug through my silk flower stash and found these paper flowers which were exactly the right colours.  I layered two (brown & yellow), added a little brown flower punchie and then a blue sequin before binding them with a brown brad.  After a bit of auditioning I added the floral 3D element to the focal element and adhered this large element to my card front using double sided tape.  Really happy with how this one worked out!!!!!!!        Therese