My Art - Tart tags

We are having a fundraiser garage/bake sale tomorrow at our church to raise funds for an orphanage in Mexico. I made a LOT of tarts - raspberry, almond, butter and chocolate!! Decided to spiff them up so packaged them nicely and added these cool little tags!! Punched scallop circles with the SU scallop punch, added a 1 3/8" coordinating layer and then the details which I printed on my computer and punched with the 1 1/4" punch. Stampin UP now makes a 1 3/4" punch which would add another layer! Have that one on my Wish list!!

I have begun to change up the way I eat so I will not be having any of the wonderful tarts I made. I am avoiding high glycemic foods because they cause an insulin response in the body and cause fat to be stored. Who knew!!! If you can keep your blood sugars low and avoid having an insulin response you can force your body to get the fuel it needs from your fat stores!! Excellent!! It does require that I do not combine carbohydrates (rice, bread, pasta) and proteins in the same meal but on average that has not been too difficult to manage. You can eat as many low glycemic vegetables as you want!! If you want more information check out Suzanne Sommer's books on the subject of low glycemic index foods and food combining for weight loss. I have taken several books out of the library that addresses this issue. I have lost a few pounds and feel much better. I would highly recommend this approach to eating to anyone who really wants to take off the extra weight without lots of rules and counting of calories.

Therese

My Art - September Cardmaking #4

Another card that fits into my stash of #8 envelopes!! The stash is slowly dwindling and I am trying to decide if I will get another box of them when I run out! It has been fun to challenge myself to create in a different format.
To fit the #8 envelope I cut my cardstock to 3.5 "x 11" and folded at 1" and 7.25". Used a piece of decorative cardstock - double sided colour printed - to bridge the gap between the two edges. Added a punch with an eyelet. Found instructions online somewhere on how to set eyelets and am finding the process more consistent. I am using the Making Memories eyelet setter and a little hammer. When setting the eyelet just hammer the setter on the back of the eyelet until it starts to spread and then use the hammer directly on the back of the eyelet to firmly set it. Works much better than continuing to use the setter which I found often distorted the eyelet. Punched a slot (SU slot punch) and added a bit of a cord to wrap around the circle to keep the card closed.
The greeting is stamped in Memories Black which is permanent and allows it to be watercoloured. Layered it onto coordinating cardstock and then to the left of the card. Added a bit of overstamping on the brown one to add a bit of depth to the cardstock.
Therese

My Art - exchange card

Have been playing with my new embossing folders for the Cuttlebug! Love the Swiss Dot one which I used on the top of this card! It is my new favorite one after the D'vine Swirl. I do really like the bird one I used on the bottom of this card as well. I added a bit of colour with my pigment stamp pads but I expect you could use chalk, pastels and even watercolour instead. I cut the bookplate with my Sizzix die using my Cuttlebug and layered my greeting under it. Added a strip to cover the joint between the embossed layers, a ribbon and a flower accent. Really love the softness of this card!!
Stampin Up has a Big Shot in their new catalog!! I think I can use all of them in my Cuttlebug but would need to buy the long cutting plates to use the big dies for the little basket and the star!! I was over at my SU demo's open house and she was doing demonstrations!! It is a very cool machine and if I did not already have one I would be buying the Big Shot. My daughter has a Big Kick and so I did some comparing online and can find no huge difference between the Big Kick and the Big Shot.

Therese

My Art - Card making #1

With the fall comes the back to our regular life so I am back to my cardmaking sessions!! It has been fun to prepare for this class and it was great to be back to this great group of people!! I have added a morning class to the schedule so I had one person come on Wednesday morning!! It is so much fun to help people stretch their creative muscles.
I stamped the background of this card with my SU stipple stamp and some bleach. I made a stamp pad with a foam tray, a paper towel and a bit of bleach. Works great! Be sure to clean your stamps right after using them. We stippled a bit more colour on it at class using the large kids paint brushes you can buy at the dollar stores and a coordinating stamp pad. I also added a bit of colour to my silk flower with the stipple brush and my stamp pad. I buy light coloured silks so they are easily modified in this way. Trimmed the strip by tearing the edges (options - deco scissors), stippled the edges and stamped my greeting. Glued this to the card. Layered the skeleton leaf with a very light layer of glue on the back and attached the flower accent over the bottom of the leaf stem to permanently attach it to the card front. Quick and easy!!!
Therese

My Art - September Cardmaking #3

I challenged myself to come up with a card that used handmade paper!! For the fall I usually combine pressed leaves and handmade paper but decided I needed to change it up this year.
I used the Swiss Dot embossing folder for the background in white or ivory. Stamped the SU Always greeting and punched it out with the large SU oval punch. Layered it on coordinating cardstock and cut them out with decorative scissors. Added some fiber to the embossed layer then added the greeting with 3D foam tape which adds some dimesion to the card. The 3D foam tape also is very effective on the embossed paper and ensures the fiber will stay in place as well. I created the flower using incrementally larger pieces of coordinating handmade paper. Just ripped the first little round shape and then used it as a guideline as I ripped the other just a bit larger. I did add stippling to the third layer because the colours were pretty close to the same and they needed to contrast a little more. Love the texture of the handmade paper!! Ripped out a couple of leaves, glued the layers to each other and used hot glue to mount the flower to my card!!
I would highly recommend learning to make paper so you can use up your scraps!! It is easy and fun!!

Therese

My Art - September Cardmaking #2

Inspired by my exchange card I decided to play with fall colours and made up a few of these with the hydrangeas leftover from the bunches I bought for last year's Christmas card class. These had some orange in them so worked very well with the fall colours. The bookplates are gold on these ones which I die cut from some matte gold cardstock I bought on my last trip to Cleveland.
I did some of them up with more of a male theme using the distress lines and paisley embossing folders!! I like playing with different materials using the same card map. You could easily substitute decorative paper - your own or scrapbooking paper - instead of the embossed layers for a totally different look. Consider creating a different flower accent with punchies instead. So many possibilities!!
Therese