My Art - April Cardmaking - punchies

Another card that used supplies that I had sitting around!! I used 1/2", 3/4" and 1.25" punches to punch out the circles from my folder of green scraps!! It was fun to dig through the pile and find greens that coordinated to create these punchy little accents. I used a 1 3/8" punch to create the square for mounting the circle accents. These were then mounted onto a 3 3/8" square. It makes a very striking feature on this card. These could be made in any colour - just pick your scrapbucket and start punching!! I added an INNIE - OUTIE bow at the bottom. These are easy to create and make a bow with small amount of ribbon.

Thrifty tip - INNIE - OUTIE - punch two holes about 1/4" apart for narrow, light ribbon (about 1/2" for wider thicker ribbon). Cut about 4" of ribbon and put the ends through from the front - one end in each hole. Cross them over on the back and bring them back to the front in the opposite hole. Trim the ends!! Quick & easy and frugal on ribbon!!

Therese

My Art - April Cardmaking - punchie openings

This card uses another item that has been sitting for quite a while! This is part of a sheet of circle punch outs that SU used to sell. It was tricky because I had to punch a hole inside a hole to get the border on the inside. The green layer is the SU cardstock left over. Worked it out!! I used the 1.25" punch to repunch the green, a 1 1/8" to punch the blue below it. The decorative paper is gift wrap bought at Christmas from Michaels maybe a year ago. The star is from a SEE D Christmas set. The ribbon is actually seam binding which I have had in my stash for quite a while as well but I like the texture and the lightness of it - ties very nicely!! Stamped a greeting!!
Do you have something in your stash that needs to be used up to make room for new stuff?? I challenge you to use up one thing that has been around for quite a while!!

Therese

My Art - April cardmaking - foil flower

A simple card that uses foil tops from applesauce and yogurt!! Those little foils can be used in your card making in so many ways!! I cut the scalloped shape with my Cuttelbug and a Nestabilities die and then passed them through the Cuttlebug again using a silicone mat (SU) and a Fiskars texture plate!! Worked so well!!!! Also used an embossing folder (CB) to emboss the background paper. The flower is created from sequins. These were donated to me by my sister when she was visiting. The multi pack had one one kind she wanted so left the others to use as I saw fit! The ovals had a hole at one end so I threaded five of them onto a brad to create a flower!! The greeting is colour printed.
Try to find ways of creatively reusing some of the items that you would normally recycle or throw out!! It will leave you more money to spend on art supplies or rubber!!

Therese

My Art - April cardmaking - butterflies

Fun cards at cardmaking last night!! I cased these from Toni's blog!! I loved the idea of having the clear acetate in the middle of the card!! I made the lavendar one as a sample using my SU scallop border punch but found when assembling that there was little margin for error on attaching the acetate so opted to use decorative scissors instead at the class because it allowed for more room. Very happy with the way these ones worked out. There were some really beautiful butterflies created!!
I sandwiched the acetate - stamped with StazON in black with a butterfly quote - between the cardstock and the decorative paper which makes a nice neat finish. Used double sided tape to attach to cardstock. The butterflies were embossed with metalic embossing powder and were either watercoloured or finished with colour pencils. I did both of these with watercolours. Added just a quarter sheet insert so that the clear strip would be very evident on the card front.
April features Earth Day so I was trying to find ways of being green - using what I have instead of starting with new. The acetate on these cards were cut offs left over from the glitter card I made for Christmas.

Therese

My Art - Altered book page with ATC

Did a numbers mingle on one of my groups a while back and just had time today to get that layout finished! Each person made an ATC which they sent off to another member of the group and then we had to create an altered book page incorporating the ATC we received. It is a fun way to create which is sometime outside our comfort zone!!
I gessoed my pages to begin with and then added some stamped swirls in pink. Glued down some pink tissue paper strips - one on each side then added some white acrylic paint to tone down the contrast. Added some more pink swirls on top of that. Used coloured pencils - were the closest in colour to the ATC to write the TWO and Sharpies to add the dots and the "then there were" to the left hand page. Attached the ATC to the right hand page with double sided tape. Like the way it turned out!!

Therese

My art - tea themed card

For our monthly exchange I created this tea themed card using Angelina fibers! These fibers are very sparkly which does not clearly show up on the scan of this card. I used purples and golds and stamped the teapot in black. The fibers melt into each other to highlight the stamp used. The girls bought their fibers at Stamp Fest several years ago from Class Acts.
I added a flower embellishment to the top and a tag with a tea quote at the bottom.

StampFest will be happening in Bancroft, ON again this year on July 18th!! You can check out their site by clicking Stamp Fest above. There will be demos, prizes and make and takes!!

Therese

My art - Letter folio

Letter folio!! Created this letter folio for my Mom. She was attending a retreat several weekends ago and we were to write love letters to her letting her know what she has meant to us and how she has been instrumental in our lives. Along with my letter I included this little folio created using cardstock layered with scrapbook paper. I used one 8.5" x 11" for each cover creating a flap on the inside for holding letters. The spine is cardstock which was scored and glued to each cover. I added a ribbon to each front edge that can be tied to keep all of the contents inside. I am sure my Mom had a great retreat and had a place to store her letters!!

Amazingly, some women did not recieve any letters!!!! So with Mother's Day coming up next month take some time to thank your Mother for what she has done for you. Mothers are not perfect and they often fail to meet all the needs of their children but they have done much!! I was just visiting with my daughter and her newborn son and already there has been so much done - early morning and late night feedings, laundry, meals, play time, bath time, etc, etc!! You will be blessed by concentrating on the many things she did for you rather than counting the places where she failed to meet your needs as legitimate as they were.

Therese

Cardmaking -

A card that uses punchies!! In this case, the five petal flower punch from SU. I used a pushpin at a very low angle on a soft surface (folded up newspaper) to emboss each petal from the center to the point to give them dimension and layered two to create each embellishment. The stamped one uses one of the Sale-a-brations sets. I added coloured sequins under the brads for a little bling in the centers. These can be made any colour and you probably have coloured sequins in your stash somewhere!!

Thrifty tip: I punched the three red punchies from the middle of the red rectangle layer. This saves cardstock and makes your card lighter!! Read this idea on a blog somewhere along the way and thought I would try it!! Worked quite well.

Therese

Cardmaking - Ribbon flower

Created a ribbon flower for this card!! Fun!! I used about 7" or so of 1.25" wide ribbon and ran a row of basting stitches down one side and pulled the top thread to gather it which creates the flower shape. Folded one end over and overlapped it to the other. Used a bit of hot glue to keep them together. The center is a stamped image that was coloured and cut out. I used a 3/4" cardstock punchie on the back side and attached the two together with the brad through the center of the flower which sandwiches the ribbon between them. This gave a nice surface for gluing the flower to the card front without worrying about glue coming through the flower - worked very well. The two leaves are die cut from the new SU die. Stamped the greeting in black on white and layered it with a coordinating green distressed layer and mounted it to the card with 3D foam tape. I love the texture of the ribbon on this card. Consider using fabric or some other maleable material to make your flower or using a monochromatic theme for a more elegant card. The greeting could be stamped and embossed right on the card front.

Have fun with your cardmaking by adding some of your supplies from other hobbies!!

Therese

Cardmaking - transparency flowers

I thought this would be a great spring or Easter card!! I printed the flower photo on the back side of a transparency in reverse so it would look right from the front. We made four different ones!! Easily printed four to a page on 8.5"x 11" transparencies. The trimmed transparency is glued to the layer of decorative paper which is just a bit larger with SMALL pieces of double sided tape in very dark areas so they would not show on the front. This is layered onto a white card. The decorative paper is some that I have created with acrylic paint on white bond paper. Always gives you a unique and interesting look. I added a strip of cardstock which I embellished with scallop scissors and holes (use a push pin and a cushy surface). I added the silk flower with a punchie and brad through all the layers to ensure that everything was secure. I always add a white insert so my cards can easily be refurbished and reused.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend and Easter!! We had snow last night but it will soon be gone as the sun comes out and stays til the middle of next week!! The tulips are up and living things are popping up everywhere!! The Earth offers us hope at this time of the year!! May we take it to heart and value the life we have been given and give back to the Earth in some way!!
Therese

Cardmaking - quick and easy card

Hey! I know it has taken me a while to post the March cardmaking cards. I have been out west to see my new grandson! He is awesome and doing very well. Parents are sleep deprived but hanging in hoping that the distance between feedings and sleep times will increase!! As we all know, they will!!

This was one of my quick and easy cards! It fits in a #8 envelope. The card is made from white cardstock cut 3.5" x 8.5" and folded at just short of the 6.5" mark. You can see on this one that I cut the edge with scallop scissors and punched holes with a pushpin to make an eyelet looking edge. Using a spongy mouse pad or thick fun foam works really well as a base for making the holes with a push pin. The top is covered with a small piece of decorative scrapbooking paper and the botton is a piece of cardstock which has been embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder - Floral Motif! and glued to the backside of the top flap. I stamped the greeting with pigment ink,embossed it with tinsel embossing powder for a glittery look which matches the decorative paper and punched it with the SU scallop punch. Great for a kids birthday!!

Therese