On one of my groups, we just had another challenge. The hostess chooses a stamp she finds challenging to use and everyone signs up to play by sending her two pieces of cardstock and a SASE. She stamps them with the image and sends them back. Once we receive our images we have a week to get creative!! This medallion image took a little while to inspire me with a project. This is what I came up with.

I watercoloured my image with colours that would coordinate with the flowers I had chosen for the inside - a rak that arrived a couple of weeks ago. I cut out the image close to the outside edges and then cut it in half. Scored my mustard cardstock to accommodate the one half and folded it in. Doubled the measurement and scored again for the other half of the front. I trimmed the second flap to exactly meet the first. I "speckled" it with ink. I glued the image halves to the two flaps then trimmed the top edges and highlighted all the edges with ink. I used a push pin to mark the center of the image through to the back. I layered the flowers onto a gold brad and inserted it into the hole and spread the tangs on the back. I trimmed the center of the images with a punch to accommodate the brad then tucked the flaps under the head of the brad. To hide the brad tangs on the back I layered two punched daisies over them.

Very happy with my creation!! Today I emailed the scan to all the participants. I am always amazed how everyone comes up with such creative projects with the same image!! So much fun to do and such great inspiration for the hostess who actually owns the stamp!! We all get to keep our creations so it is a low cost bit of fun!! Highly recommend this to all of you to do within your groups - online, stamp clubs or just some friends who get together to stamp. Look forward to seeing your art on your blogs!!

Therese

Mixed Media Market
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mixedmediamarket/

A quick and easy card! We all need some quick and easy ideas for those days when you need a card NOW!! I stamped a small rectangle (1/8 sheet) of polished stone with a large flower stamp in brown memories ink. I layered it onto a coordinating layer with a ripped edge. The front of the card was all over stamped with another flower stamp and the layers were all glued together. A greeting could easily be added to the border.

Polished stone gives such a punch of colour and excitement to any card which makes it perfect for this quick and easy one!!

Therese

Spring is in the air so I thought it would be fun to create some flowers for my cards. These flowers are created using 1" punched circles!! I used 5 for the petals, 1 for the center and layered another stamped circle over that one. I used the small oval punch to create leaves. Once the flowers were all glued together I arranged them onto the card front so they would be overlapping the two sides and in the middle. I then trimmed the blue cardstock close to the edges of the flowers and leaves and layered a white piece in behind. The flowers could be made up in any colour and you can usually use scraps for your punched shapes! The blue cardstock was also speckled with ink.

Therese

Have not had my birthday yet but that wonderful guy I am married to bought me a Cuttlebug as an advance birthday gift!! Yeah!! I had already purchased the Divine Swirl embossing folder because I just loved it when I saw cards appearing on blogs with the embossed cardstock!! Had the thought this past week after my polished stone class that the metal tape would be perfect in the DS embossing folder!! It most certainly is!!!!!! This metal tape is sold in hardware stores for repairing heating ducts but check out the garage or basement before you go out and buy some!! I just cut the strip to 4.5" and put it through the Cuttlebug in the DS embossing folder! It is self adhesive so it just needed to be applied to the front of the card. It is very sticky so be careful when applying and treat gently to not damage the embossed elements of the tape. The image is silver embossed, watercoloured and layered onto a square of yellow cardstock. I stamped the right hand corner with a SU saying stamp in a coordinating colour.

I expect there are more possibilities for use in the embossing folders so I will keep a eye out for some other interesting options! If you find something, please leave me a comment!!

Therese

Created this one with decorative scrapbook paper! Scored and folded the card and then added the scrapbook paper. Using an 11" piece of carstock , I scored and folded the band to fit the card. I chose to have the band meet at a different place than the two fronts of the card. I trimmed the two ends to just meet and then punched two holes - one on each end - for the ribbon. I then corner rounded the corners. I added a small piece of tape to the inside of the flap to ensure that the ribbon will stay with the band when it is opened. A little piece of tape between the band and the card back will also ensure the band stays with the card once it is opened. I made this one a sympathy card but any message could be printed or stamped on the band.

Therese

Had my cardmaking session this past week and this was one of the cards!

I used a sheet of coffee bean paper I got at the swap last weekend and cut it into small rectangles. Created a tag card which I all over stamped with a script stamp and layered the coffee bean paper on the bottom. Colour printed the Thanks a latte! and ripped the top and bottom edges then trimmed the piece to the edges of the card. Coloured my dollar store reinforcements with a brown pad. I punched a hole at the top and added the reinforcement. Strung a small piece of fiber through the hole and then tied it with a double knot to the front of the card. Added the stamped image of the cup allowing some of the greeting to show. A fun little card which was very popular with the girls!

Therese

A birthday card for my husband who is very into music.

I created some polished stone paper using SU reinkers and alcohol on glossy paper!! Fast, easy and fabulous!!! I stamped the large image from the set in black on the PS and cut it out. Then stamped the little verse with Encore Gold over the top. Have to be very careful when stamping on glossy paper with pigment ink - very slippery!! I embossed it in gold!! Layered this onto green cardstock with a ripped side. Added three gold brads to add interest and texture. Created the little greeting tag with the Little Hellos set and added it to the last brad. Stamped the composers on a seperate piece of PS and trimmed the edges even. Layered all the elements on a purple card including a band of gold paper that went under all the elements. It sits on his desk!!!

We must celebrate and be grateful for our many blessings!!!

Therese

It has been a busy few weeks! I am finally here to upload my lastest creations!!

I created the petals of this flower with the two SU oval punches. Cut the small one first leaving enough room all the way around to be able to punch the larger one around it. Very cool!!

I punched two circles for the center. The yellow one has green text stamped on it. I cut the leaf and the stem free hand and added a bit of dimension with watercolour. I added the white ripped strip on the left hand side because it just needed something. Added the Happy Spring tag which is colour printed with a little piece of crochet cotton.

Seems appropriate to be making flower cards as the weather gets warmer!!

Therese

A fat book page that celebrates the joy of maple syrup so synonymous with spring!! With some internet research I discovered that maple syrup is only produced in a very small area of North America where the conditions are ideal - sugar and black maple trees growing in good, well drained soil that are exposed to warm daytime temperatures followed by cool nights which gets the sap flowing. Sap is collected for only about a month and half in the spring!!

I included a sugar maple leaf on the front of my page which is protected by a transparency. Colour printed the rest and then embellished with my stipple brush and some ink. I added information and photos to the tags which fit inside between the front and the back.

This is a monthly mingle on one of my lists and I really aprpeciate the wide scope of the themes we can use and how open the creative process in which I can engage!!

Thanks for checking out my blog and I wish you a creative day!!

Just get out your supplies and create something!!

Therese

Mixed Media Market
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mixedmediamarket/
My art blog:
http://www.tmalakart.blogspot.com/

The last of the bunch!!

X - pearl ex. I stamped with a clear ink from Perfect Pearls and then applied a variety of metallic powders to the words. It turned out very nice though scanning it was difficult. Have not really used this product before and was happy how this worked out!! Trimmed my X which was printed on a transparency and glued it with double sided tape under the black areas.

Y - yarn. It was a challenge to come up with words that related to papercrafting for each letter of the alphabet. I layered my trimmed letter onto decorative paper and then punched two holes on either side of the Y and tied on a pink piece of yarn. Layered that onto pink cardstock.

Z - zig zag. Layered my trimmed transparency with Z on it over the yellow cardstock and overlaid a black strip of CS onto which I glued yellow rick rack. I trimmed the bottom of the yellow with pinking shears to reinforce the theme!!

Done!!

Therese

U - UTEE. Punched a maple leaf and then added two layers of UTEE in Bronze. I stamped a similarly sized maple leaf into the molten UTEE. Created a cool little accent for this ATC!! Layered the U which was printed on vellum with two copper corners and used hot glue to attach the leaf element at the bottom.

V - vellum. Created decorative vellum with a daisy stamp and my Brilliance ink pad. Stamped both on the front and the back. The Brilliance dried nicely. If you were to use pigment ink would have to emboss the images to seal them. A great technique for creating just the perfect decroative vellum for your card or layout. I attached the trimmed vellum rectangle to the cardtock with clear corners.

W - wax resist. Take a piece of wax paper and create a pattern in it by folding or crumpling. Open it up and layer onto a glossy cardstock. Cover with newspaper and apply a hot iron to melt the wax onto the glossy. Then apply dye ink with a brayer!! Lots of very cool textured effects can be created with this technique!! This works on matte cardstock as well. Give it a try!! I stamped in the words with black memories.

Therese

R - resist. I used white glossy paper and embossed the coffee cup with clear EP to which I applied brown memories ink. After it was all dry I wiped the ink from the EP and layered it onto another piece of glossy with the EP side down. I applied a hot iron from the top which melted the EP onto the new piece of glossy. I actually ironed it again several times onto tissue paper as well before all the EP was melted off the original glossy. I trimmed my R which was printed on transparency and layered it onto the glossy and attached it with 4 copper brads. Then layered onto brown cardstock which had been stamped with my Harlequin stamp in Brilliance "white frost" ink. I stamped coffee with my magnetic alphabet set with the same Brilliance ink.

S - Sewing (really should have read stitching) The S is printed on vellum. I added "stitching" with a marker all the way around. I captured the vellum under two layers of cardstock which had been pricked on the scallop edge as well as at the top to create some faux stitching by drawing with a marker between the holes. Nice to have a few different ways of attaching vellum!!

T - tranfer. I printed images with my laser printer onto white paper and then applied packing tape to make a transfer. The tape needs to be burnished very well and then it is just soaked to soften the paper which can easily be rubbed off. The transfer can then be glued to a new surface. A quick and easy transfer technique which easily adds depth to your creations!! The T was trimmed and attached with double sided tape under the black parts of the letter.

Therese

More ATCs for my Alphabet ATC swap!! Have so enjoyed creating these!!

O - Oval. I created an oval tag with the two SU oval punches and stamped Create in the top one. Punched holes in either side and slid them onto a ribbon which I tucked under my decorative paper layer which I glued to cardstock. It needed something to I added the thin black line all the way around. The O is printed on transparency and trimmed then glued on with double sided tape under the black part of the letter.

P - polished stone. I printed the letter on a transparency. Once trimmed I used alcohol inks to create a polished stone effect on the back of it. I attached to white cardstock with pink eyelets (white ones which I coloured with my Sharpie markers) and then tied the bottom with pink fiber. All of this was layered onto decorative cardboard which I had cut from a tissue box.

Q- quilting. I layered blue handmade paper onto cardstock and sewed a few lines of stitching to keep thme in place. I stitched all the way around the Q which was printed on transparency incorporating a bit of bias tape ribbon on the side.

Therese

Created these with a set of cast off earrings!! As I removed the backings the inner piece of the earring popped out!! Excellent!! With that piece missing I was left with a wonderful little depression I could fill. I dug through my collage stash and found two images to use - one of an angel and the other of a teddy bear reading with his friends. I trimmed the images to fit and glued them in place then covered them with Dimensional Magic. This dried perfectly clear and created a wonderful accent piece for my ATCs. I created a background paper for each - on the left I used watercolour and overstamped with a floral decorative stamp and on the right I used my large definition stamp. I added a ribbon then glued on the accent and layered it onto cardstock. On the right hand one I also punched a hole in the layer and then glued a circle with friend stamped in it. Really happy with the way these worked out. I like filling little spaces with art. I sent one to the swap and the other to my friend, Linda!!

Therese

It has been a while since I posted so I will start with my April Art Lottery submission. I decided to treat the winner with some round tags this month so I created another one of these cards with the decorative paper using the colour blocking technique. The decorative paper is one that I created with direct to paper technique when I was repairing my Colourbox pads. I really like the vibrancy and the depth of colour of this piece!! The round tags were colour printed and then punched with the SU 1.25" punch and the layer was created with the 1 3/8" punch!! Quick and easy!!

Therese