SISTER STASH - Birthday card with bright background paper and four embossed gifts

 For this card I started with a large blue card and added some very bright striped decorative paper using two pieces with the striped going in different directions.  I cut four rectangles from coordinating cardstock and embossed them.  I sanded the blue one because it was white core cardstock to add more texture.  I used a flower die (Cuttlebug) to cut a swirly yellow flower which I used to simulate a bow on the top of the blue gift.  I attached it to the back of the gift with double sided tape and then cut a strip from the same cardstock to create the ribbon on the front.  I did the same for the other three gifts.  After auditioning them for placement I adhered them to the front of my card using 3D foam tape on the yellow and pink one and just glue on the blue and green ones.  The gifts and bright colours make this a great birthday card for a child or any one who is young at heart!!  Another for the card stash I am creating for my sister who left some paper crafting supplies here a few years ago.   Therese

SISTER STASH - All occasion card with more cute birds, decorative papers and one special one

For this card I started with a large white card.  I gathered my supplies - the bird panel, an orange background, a green textured layer and some coordinating ribbon.  I cut the bird out of the cute paper and then cut the orange scalloped circle (Nestibilities)to mat it from the orange background before I adhered it to my card. I added the borders to the bird panel and glued this large element over my background.  I adhered the bird to the scalloped circle and decided to trim the corners of the green paper with a corner punch before assembling my focal element.  In the process I decided to add the long strip of aqua paper which was on my desk and then added the green layer.  Wanting a bit of something to off set the strip I added two lengths of this beautiful red ribbon to the back of my bird before adhering it over the green paper.  It was fun to maximize the use of this bird paper.  The few leftover scraps might show up in a collage somewhere down the road.  

Therese

SISTER STASH - All occasion Card featuring cute little birds, stitched decorative papers and some maple leaf embellishments

This is one of the most fun papers that I found in the stash of papers that my sister left here a while back.  I have made several cards with it before and I am nearing the end of all this cuteness!  I started with a large white card which fits in the envelopes she has on hand.  I added a large orange layer and then worked on getting the other elements ready.  The borders were on the edges of a 12" x 12" sheet and had been trimmed off in a previous session.  The coordinated nicely. I took several small pieces of the bird paper to create my central element after I had trimmed out my little red bird (Nestiblilities).  I then added the borders on each side.  The borders were embellished with my pattern wheel before being glued down.  I die cut a scalloped circle (Nestibilities) from the same coordinating orange paper.  I adhered it over the birdie strip but it did not pop quite as much as I wanted it to so I added the two little strips of orange which were sitting on my cutting table.  That framed it nicely and was an improvement.  Thinking it still needed something red to coordinate with the glittery red bird I went looking for something in my stash.  I found these bright red maple leaf embellishments which were just the right colour.  I added them to my card using large glue dots.  That was much better!!  Therese
 

SISTER STASH - All occasion card featuring a cute flower (digital), a band of sanded & embossed cardstock and decorative paper

Another card for my sister's stash!!  This one started with a large red card to fit in her envelopes.  I added two pieces of this colourful polka dot paper and then a strip of embossed and sanded cardstock to cover the gap in between.  The flower was colour printed on white cardstock, trimmed out and then the edges distressed.  I matted it with this dark red textured paper and trimmed the bottom edge with a scallop border punch (StampinUP) and finally added an embossed line using my score tool.  I mounted this large focal element to my card front using 3D foam tape and then finished it off by adding clear rhinestones to each of the scallops in the border.  

Therese
 

SISTER STASH - All occasion card with beautiful strawberry paper and a great cupcake with a strawberry on top

I really loved this strawberry paper when I found it in my sister's stash of paper crafting supplies she left here a few years ago.  I have been making cards for her here and there but recently decided to make a more serious effort to make her a stash of cards.  

I chose a dark green cardstock for the large card I created to fit in the large envelopes she has on hand.  I trimmed a couple pieces from the paper which nicely featured the strawberries and mounted them to the top and bottom of my card. I trimmed a piece of coordinating textured paper, trimmed the top and bottom edges with scallop decorative scissors and then used a push pin to pierce each scallop.  I adhered this piece to overlap the strawberry ones.  I added a strip of texture white cardstock with a fish tail end.  I added watercolour around the cupcake to just soften the background from stark white as I colour printed this digital image of a cupcake (CLKER) on white cardstock.  To add a bit more texture I ran my pattern tracing wheel along all four edges.  I layered the cupcake image onto dark green cardstock and then mounted it to my card front using 3D foam tape.  Love this one!!

Therese

SISTER STASH - All occasion card with an airplane, eyelets and blue green duplex paper

Still getting the cards I made for my sister blogged here.  She left some paper crafting supplies here a while back after I agreed to make some cards for her with them.  It was good to get quite a few made!!  

This one features a colour printed image of an airplane which I down loaded off of CLKER.  I chose this blue green paper to go with my image and because it was double sided I trimmed out the middle section and flipped it and put the pieces back together with regular tape.  Wanting to add a bit more interest I used a zigzag stamp (Hero Arts) and dark blue ink to stamp on the line where the papers join.  I really like how it looks and will have to keep that process in mind.  I have several other "stitch" stamps which would be effective is other situations.  I adhered the decorative paper to a coordinating blue card and used a scrap to mat my image.  I added pewter eyelets in the corners and then mounted this focal element to my card using 3D foam tape.  To finish off my card I added a border around my background using a clear glitter pen.  

Therese

 

A birthday card featuring a cute camping image (digital), a font greeting and a punchie button

 This card is for my other grandson whose birthday is a few days earlier though they will be celebrating together at home this year due to restrictions.   I created a green card to fit in an envelope from my stash.  I added a green and taupe decorative paper (gift wrap) leaving a small border.  The camping image is one I downloaded from Pixabay and laser printed onto white cardstock.  I trimmed it out with a circle die (Nestibilities - Classic Circles) then watercoloured it lightly - a bit of blue in the sky and green for the trees and hills.  The tent and the fire were already coloured.  I trimmed another circle as mat for my image from a coordinating taupe cardstock, adhered them together and mounted this focal element to the left on my card front.  I trimmed out the font greeting, colourwashed it and added it to the lower edge.  I found a green punched button (Sweetly Scrapped) in my stash which coordinated very nicely.  I added brown thread to it and mounted it between my focal element and my greeting.  

Both of these cards will soon be on their way to arrive in time!!         Therese

All occasion card shaker card with a floral theme in yellow's and gray's

My friend is having surgery next week so I made her this card to cheer her up.  

I started with a large envelope from my stash and created a gray card to fit inside then added a layer of this elegant floral paper. 

After deciding to make it a shaker card I went looking for the packaging from my rolls of double sided tape which I have recently saved for this purpose.  I have four of them.  I took one and trimmed all the way around the central depression which is a trough that the roll of tape sits in when packaged.  I die cut a large label out of textured yellow  cardstock  (Tim Holtz Sizzix. Ornamental) and backed it with a strip of gray cardstock which I embossed with the Cuttle Bug Swiss Dots embossing folder. I used my Classic Round Nestibiities to cut an opening that would accommodate the shaker I was creating.  I applied double sided tape on the edges of my plastic shaker piece and adhered it into the opening from the back.  That looked good!!  I decided to back it with a piece of clear plastic which I cut from packaging using a larger round Nestibilities.  I filled the depression with little glass beads and flowers in silver and yellow.  Once I thought I had enough in there I added double sided tape all the way around and attached the large clear plastic circle which nicely sealed all the little fun bits inside.  I decided that I needed to add a flower under the shaker so there would be something interesting to see when the elements were all sitting on the bottom of the shaker.  I die cut, embossed and layered a flower in grays and yellows which I glued to my card front once I had positioned my shaker.  With my flower in place I adhered my shaker element to my card.  I added faux stitching to the yellow layer along with a few rhinestones to finish my card.  

 You can see below the packaging I used to create my shaker and how I cut it.

Therese

 

SISTER STASH - All occasion card with a piece background, a cute cupcake with a cherry on top and some bling

I am really enjoying revisiting these cards as I blog them. I created them a while back with supplies which my sister left here a few years ago after I promised to make cards for her with them.  I have made several batches for her and thought it was time to make a few more.  I did organize them all by colour this time when I had everything laid out so it will be a little easier to find coordinating papers and cardstock when I made the next set!!  For this card, I started with a deep red card (85" x 5.5") that will fit in her large envelopes.  I had one piece which I trimmed to fit on the card and had a strip from which I punched the circles using a 3/4" circle punch.  Worked really well and I really like the look of them.  I added a strip of texture red paper with fish tail ends over the large piece and then added my layered cupcake image.  The cupcake image was colour printed.  It is a digital image I downloaded from CLKER.  I layered it onto a coordinating green cardstock and punched the bottom edge with a daisy border punch (Martha Stewart).  I adhered it to my card front over the red strip and then added clear rhinestones to the middle of each little daisy to finish off my card.  Therese
 

A camping themed birthday card including a cute little tent, some watercolour and some layered papers

Our oldest grandson is having a birthday soon and he & his brother will be celebrating together with a camping theme.  I found some excellent images on Pixabay and this is one of them.  I laser printed it on white cardstock and watercoloured it.  I traced a spool for the sun with a pencil before I started colouring.  I did it first and let dry a bit before I did the rest - the sky, trees in the background, grass and a bit of brown in the foreground for a road.  I added a layer of gray brown and black decorative paper and used black watercolour to connect the two with common elements.  I created a brown card to fit in an envelope from my stash.  I added a brown decorative paper and then my large camping site image.  I added a torn distressed paper on the bottom and trimmed it to the edge of the card on both sides.  The greeting is a laser printed font which I colour washed to coordinate and added to the lower section along with a paper punched button to which I had added brown thread.  Happy with how it all came together!!

Therese
 

SISTER STASH - All occasion card with a paper pieced background, a cute cupcake (digital) and some eyelets and paper piercing

Another card I made for my sister from the stash of paper crafting supplies she left at my house a few years ago!!  I have enjoyed the process!!!  I started this card with a large red card (8.5" x 5.5") which will fit in her envelopes.  I added a paper pieced background using two coordinating background papers by simply cutting three strips and then cutting them randomly across so the cuts did not line up.  I used a colour printed cupcake image (digital) which I downloaded from CLKER. I layered it onto a deep red textured paper and added red and white eyelets.  Have not used those in quite a while.  They always add interest and texture.   I trimmed the bottom edge long and then punched it with the scallop border punch (StampinUP).  I backed it with a white one just off setting the scallops a bit for a fun effect.  I added three embossed lines using my score tool and it was ready to be applied to the front of my card using 3D foam tape.  This would work well for a birthday or a sweet thank you!!            Therese
 

SISTER STASH - All occasion card featuring a vintage car, some red corrugated paper and black brads and ribbon

 Having a lot of fun playing with the stash of cardstock and papers which my sister left here a while back and I am using to make cards for her.  She prefers cards without greetings which are more versatile because they can suit more than one occasion.  For this one I started with a large black card (8.5" x 5.5 ") which will fit in her envelopes and added this speckled background which very well suited this vintage card image.  The vintage car is one I downloaded from CLKER, laser printed and then embellished with watercolour to simulate a parking lot, grass, shrubs and sky.  I added clear glitter to the headlights, bumper and hubcaps.  I ran a thick black marker around the edges once it was dry which helped define them and added a bit of a vintage look to it.  I tore the piece of red corrugated paper on the top and bottom and trimmed it neatly on the two sides.  I added a length of thin black ribbon and secured the ends to the back with doubled sided tape.  I tied a short piece to it using a single knot which nicely simulates a bow.  I positioned the car image over the red corrugated and attached it with four black brads.  I adhered this large focal image to my card front and put it under weight to dry.  Another fun card that can be used for a variety of occasions!!    Therese  

SISTER STASH - All occasion card featuring bold stripes/plaid decorative paper, brown grosgrain ribbon and a blue plane

 This is my third card from my sister's stash of supplies.  It has been really fun to find fun papers, coordinating cardstock and make a card with them.  For this card, I colour printed a little plane (digital from CLKER) and then added clouds by sponging around a torn shape with blue ink.  They look much better than I expected ( have saved that little piece for next time) and the colour laser resists the sponging so it does not affect the printed image.  I ran my tracing wheel all on four sides and mounted it to a scrap of blue from the stash.  I left it with a bit on the bottom which I trimmed with pinking shears which no longer cut fabric and then embossed a line using my score tool.  I chose this double sided paper in blues and greens for my background.  I trimmed the middle section out and flipped it over to the blue plaid side and reattached it with regular tape on the back.  I used a zigzag stitch stamp (Hero Arts) and dark blue ink to stamp over the joints which worked beautifully.  I mounted my background to a medium blue card (8.5" x 5.5") which will fit in her envelopes.  I added a length of wide brown grosgrain ribbon which I fish tailed on one end and adhered with double sided tape on the other.  I secured the fish tail end with a bit of double sided tape as well and added a bit of glue in between.  I added my layered airplane image using 3D foam tape.    Therese

Christmas cards for February - Peace cn Earth with a variety of colours and decorative papers and embossed ornaments

I have committed to making my Christmas cards monthly this year.  These are the six I made for the month of February.  I found the gold embossed Peace on Earth (Prairie Rubber Stamps) images in my stash of Christmas images so I have to think I had a plan at the time I put them there but maybe not.  I could simply have been making good use of scraps.  Either way, I went ahead and chose some coordinating decorative papers - poinsettia, plaid, brown holly and large stars are all commercial decorative papers.  The red/green on is a digital from Stampin UP which I colour printed a while back.  I tore top and bottom edges off each of the stamped greetings and ran my tracing wheel on both straight edges.  I mounted my trimmed decorative papers to coordinating card fronts and then added the large greetings.  I wanted to add a bit of an embellishment so I cut six little ornaments (Sizzix - long Love Peace Joy sizzlet die) in a coordinating colour for each one.  Next, I dug through my embossing folders and found little elements which I could use to add a focal element to my ornaments.  After embossing them all with images from different folders, I used an embossing pen and just coloured the raised areas and embossed them with gold embossing powder.  I tied six little bows from some gold thread and glued them to the top of the ornaments with a tiny drop of white glue.  Once they were dry, I added them to my cards using 3D foam tape.  

So glad to have another set of cards to add to my Christmas card box!!  Therese

 

SISTER STASH - All occasion card featuring a red berries photo, an embossed metallic layer and red ribbon

Making cards for my sister who left a stash of supplies at my house a while back has begun.  

This card (8.5" x 5.5") started with a red card to fit in the large envelopes in my sister's stash.  I cut the photo of the red berries (4" x 4") from a calendar which I received from my other sister, Sylvia for Christmas a few years ago.  I have saved all the pages from my previous calendars from her to use in my card making.  I found this beautiful metallic copper heavy weight cardstock which worked perfectly with the photo and then the gray (SU) which went very well on the red card.  I tore the edge of the piece I trimmed for my background - I like the white line that reflects the white in the photo.  I trimmed the copper metallic to leave enough below the image to trim decoratively and place a bow.  I trimmed the bottom edge with one edge of a Tim Holtz Styled label by carefully aligning it and being careful with how I positioned my partial cutting plate (parts of broken plates).  I embossed it with the CuttleBug Swiss Dots embossing folder and sanded it a bit to highlight the core which I thought was black but was white.  I used a black pad to cut back the white a bit.  I mounted my photo onto this layer and then adhered it to my card front over my background paper.  I tied a bow using Martha Stewart seam binding and adhered it to my card below the photo using a large glue dot.  This could easily be a Christmas card or a sympathy card.  I love the colour combination of red, gray and copper!!

Therese

 

SISTER STASH - All occasion card featuring a square photo of a dragonfly, ribbon and fibrous decorative paper

I have started making cards for my sister.  She came a while back and stayed a few days when her son was playing soccer locally and brought along some cardmaking/scrapbooking supplies which we made use of while she was here.  We visited more than we crafted so there were lots of supplies left after the weekend.  She left them here with the understanding that I would make her some cards from the lot.  I have over the last few years made quite a few for her but not so much in the last year.  I have decided to get started again.  I had a productive weekend and will be blogging what I have made over the next few weeks.  She has a stash of large envelopes so I have been making 8.5" x 5.5" cards to fit in her envelopes.  

This card started with a large green card.  I found this wonderfully textured paper which coordinated nicely and had already been ripped across the bottom so I simply trimmed the top and the side to get a layer for my card.  I added a brown grosgrain ribbon to this layer using a copper eyelet.  I backed the area of the paper behind the ribbon with a piece of cardstock so the eyelet would not pull through before adhering this layer to the front of my card.  I added a bit of double sided tape near the fish tail end of the ribbon and a bit of glue in between.  The photo on this card was part of a calendar which my sister, Sylvia, gave me for Christmas a few years ago.  I always save the pages in order to reuse the photos.  There is so much more real estate on a large card to accommodating a layered 4" x 4" photo.  It is much tighter on A2 cards.  I trimmed the dragonfly photo from the calendar page and matted it with burgundy paper.  I mounted this focal element to my card front using 3D foam tape and put the card to press overnight. 

Therese

 

Upgraded sewing desk with a sewing machine lift

 For my Christmas gift to myself I bought a sewing machine lift for my little sewing desk.  I had already consulted with DH about the feasibility of putting one in and was given the go ahead.  It did require quite a few modifications and additions to get it in but it is wonderful to use.  The back had to be replaced with a larger more substantial piece of material and the front top had to be rebuilt into a full top which is what was needed with the raising of the sewing machine perpendicularly instead of the swinging storage that was in place before.  DH agreed to do the renovations to my desk as my Christmas present and I am most pleased.  The whole desk has been refurbished and cleaned up - new handles on the drawers and door/support, new base for the sewing machine with formica that matches the sewing machine, the new back now nicely painted the same colour as the other pieces.  I can now use my sewing machine flat with the top of my desk when I am free arm sewing.  DH built a wonderful insert so I can use my sewing machine for flat sewing as well.  Love the hearts!!  I am very happy to have been able to upgrade this little desk.  It fits perfectly in my space and I expect will be able to move to any other space when it will be necessary.    Therese 

Valentine card with LOTS of hearts and some ribbon

Having finally figured out the heart card I have been admiring for so long I have made my Valentine's card for DH using this format.  I chose scraps of cardstock that coordinated including one with musical notes - one of his favorite things is music.  I punched hearts from them and cut two in half to get my four halves.  I played with them until I was happy with the layout.  I chose one of the glittery red ones to be the special one.  I found a piece of aqua polka dot paper which I used as the base for my hearts.  I glued them into place, trimmed my paper and then put it under weight while it dried.  I decided not to add any machine stitching to this one - I liked it just as it was!!.  I had seen this heart embellishment on Splitcoast Stampers  and I really liked it so I used it on my card.  I die cut a white scalloped heart (Stamping UP) and mounted my red heart punchie (StampinUP) over it and added a pewter eyelet using my Cropadile.  It has been quite a while since both of those have seen daylight!!  I added three lengths of fiber to my heart layer - two gray with a smaller white one in between leaving them a bit loose knowing that I was going to tie them together and making sure that they lined up with where I was going to adhere my special heart.  I glued this large layer to my red card front which fits in a large envelope from my stash.  I used a short piece of gray fiber and threaded it through the eyelet on my heart, around the three fibers on my card and back through the front of the eyelet and tied it off with a double knot.  I mounted my heart in its place with 3D foam tape then trimmed the ends of my gray heart fiber to finish off my card.  I am very happy with how it worked out and I am looking forward to our at home celebration this weekend!           Therese

 

Another all occasion heart card featuring hearts punched from hand decorated paper, machine stitching and an embossed heart

 This is the second card I made with the bunch of hearts I punched from a sheet of hand decorated paper I made.  It started as a sheet where I tried out all the colours of a new set of pens using a very loose handwriting, a bit of colour added after another project and I added yet more watercolour in a variety of colours to get it bright enough to make the hearts for my two cards.  This is my second card and after having reverse engineered one I found on line I knew that I would need 14 hearts and 4 half hearts.  I did leave one space blank in the third row to put my special heart.  I chose a piece of purple light weight cardstock and glued down my hearts in close proximity to each other and then added the half hearts.  I put it under weight while it dried and then added machine stitching with purple thread tying off the ends on the back and securing them with regular tape.  For my special heart I punched one (SU) from silver metallic cardstock, embossed it with a flourish embossing folder (CB) and added a blue scalloped heart die cut (SU) in behind.  I mounted it in the open space using 3D foam tape.  The stitching on this one was more pronounced and I like it more subtle like on my first card.  I trimmed the purple and mounted it to a light aqua card which fit in an envelope from my stash.  Will do for a "much love","lots of hugs" card or an anniversary card.  It is going into my stash.  Therese 

All occasion card featuring LOTS of hearts punched from hand decorated paper and one special one

 I have been wanting to make a card full of hearts like this one for quite a while.  I finally reverse engineered one I found on line to find that I needed fourteen full hearts and four halves.  I decided to use a sheet of white cardstock from my stash that I had already started altering with watercolour for my hearts.  I added several layers of watercolour in several colours to what was already there - a few marks and some very loose handwriting which I did when I bought a new set of pens and was testing the colours.  After it was dry I cut it into 1.75" strips which is what I needed for my heart punch (SU).  I alternated the direction of punching to make the most use of the strip.  I managed to punch a few halves as well from the scraps.  I chose these thirteen hearts and started gluing them down on a layer of light weight green cardstock without really knowing how wide I would need.  I glued down all the full hearts leaving a gap where the gold heart would be positioned and then added the half hearts.  I set that to press then added the machine stitching after they were dry.  I tied the threads on the back and secured them with a small piece of regular tape at each end.  I punched the gold heart and then added the scalloped die cut (SU) one behind it.  I originally had cut it from white which seemed too stark so I watercoloured the edge green instead.  It was better but I would have preferred a deeper colour but that is what I had in my watercolours.  I adhered them to each other and mounted them in the opening I had left open.  I trimmed the green layer and then mounted this large layer to a yellow card which fit in an envelope from my stash. Glad to have finally made one of these.  I have enough hearts from my piece of decorative paper to make another so I am off to make that happen.   Therese