My Art - heart ornaments

Heart ornaments!! When my sister was visiting we found this tutorial on line for creating these cute heart ornaments. Quick and easy!! Because we used double sided cardstock for our version we were not able to staple the 8 pieces of cardstock together so we invented a process using one length of ribbon that bound the bottom, created a hanger and allowed us to hang some bling off the bottom!! I have also changed up the size a bit to make them smaller. I made them in a variety of colours. It takes a few to get the hang of it and not have strips of paper all over the place but in the end I have a bunch of them hanging on the tree which will find their way to Merchants Mill and finally to a new home for the holidays!! These would be great a package toppers as well. It's only 87 days to Christmas so we do have to start planning!!

Therese

My Art - wedding card

This is the wedding card I made for my cousin!! I am loving the white on white texture!! Used the doily lace punch (MS) on the bottom of the front flap and then stamped the words using Dune -colourbox pigment ink - and embossed it with pastel embossing powder. Love the soft champagne colour!! I made myself a template for embossing lines which I did at the top, below the lace and just above the punched edge. Worked out quite well.
TIP: to make a template for embossing a line use heavy weight acetate and cut a long rectangle out of it just a little less than 1/8" wide and just over 5.5" long. Use a stylus for embossing.
Found the lace in my stash and folded both ends to the inside and attached with double sided tape.

I really like the texture the lace adds as well as the wonderful look of white on white!!

Therese

My art - cards for gift

More cards!! Made a set of twelve of these as a wedding gift for my cousin who is getting married soon. I have not used this stamp set much - Happy Harmony (SU) and wanted to make it work for a set of cards. The wonderful wedding invitation was ivory and chocolate - really awesome looking so I decide to stay within that family of colours for the cards. The central image is the flowers from this set stamped three times without reinking using a dark chocolate ink. I layered them onto chocolate brown. The base is taupe cardstock which I stamped with my stipple stamp (SU) and then passed through my Cuttlebug with the Textile embossing folder (CB). I added the focal element with 3D foam tape and stamped the words below and to the left of the embossing - great quotes!! I used three of the quotes in the set because I thought they made really great all occasion cards!!

I hope they have a wonderful wedding day and remember to always stay in touch and respect each other and themselves!!

I did make a couple extra which are on their way to their destinations as my CCE exchange cards for September!!
I am really enjoying this cardmaking streak I have been having!!

Therese

My Art - black and taupe male cards

Needed a male birthday card so decided to make more than one while I was at it!! In the end they were not all male cards but I used the same decorative paper and duplex cardstock for all the cards. It was really fun to play and just make cards.

Top left: I used one of my Heated Pearl dragonflies on this card. Used the pieces I had ripped off the edges of two of the other cards to add texture above and below the decorative paper. Overlaid a small black ribbon over the wide taupe grosgrain - new to me technique. The small greeting is embossed with black embossing powder!

Bottom left: Another dragonfly!! This one had a lot of gold and copper in it so I used copper brads in the middle of the flower and three below the focal element. Black embossed the greeting and flowery flourish (clear stamp). Also did some piercing on this card. Read somewhere about this thrifty tip!! You can use plastic canvas to make evenly spaced holes in your cards. I bought a piece of that a while back and cut it into strips to be used for cardmaking and matched them up with strips of old mousepads which are thick and foamy. All you need then is a sharp push pin and you are set to go!

Top middle: A dragonfly, some piercing, a few flowers and flourishes!! I added clear dimensional paint to the flower centers to highlight them. They got a little squished in the process of pressing the card but still look good. I had really wanted to add small rhinestones but did not have any the right size or colour!! How can that be possible with a drawer full of bling??

Bottom middle: The pine tree from Lovely as a tree set (SU) stamped in brown. More piercing!!

Right left: Pine tree again. I used a little foam circle (from the middle of a fun foam snowflake) to stamp a little dot in each corner of the image and then highlighted them with clear dimensional paint. They were dry and looking good and are now less shiny and bumpy than they were because I pressed the cards. Still happy with the way they look!! Added a strip of cardstock and a circle greeting.

Right right: Stamped the tag on kraft and black embossed it. This is a new to me stamp that I finally used!! We all have a few of those around. Embossed the decorative paper using the numbers embossing folder (CB). Because the paper was taller than would fit in the embossing folder I did not fold it. I just laid the paper on the debossed side of the folder and then put a silicone texture mat over it and ran it through my Cuttlebug and it embossed the paper!! It is great to find a new way to use the tools you have. Added some black ink to highlight the numbers. Stamped a journalling block on the right hand side of the card several times to add texture. Added the greeting! I added a black embossed star to the tag and tied it to the card using thin black ribbon.

It was a fun afternoon of making cards and I have six cards ready to go!! It does make sense to make several cards at a time while you have all your supplies out and are in a creative mood!!

Therese

My Art - September cardmaking - alcohol inks

These cards feature tags cut from plastic packaging!! Free art supplies! Gotta love it!!
I used a tag die (Sizzix) and my Cuttlebug to cut out the tags from the clear plastic. Stamped them with black StazON on the front and then applied alcohol inks (Ranger) to the backs in a variety of colours!! They are so vibrant!! To help them stand out from the card fronts I added a white vellum tag to the back. I attached the two tags at the very top with a LITTLE piece of double sided tape. This keeps them centered on each other once they are strung onto the fiber. You have to be careful when you put the double sided tape on the back side of the tag. You cannot remove the double sided tape without also removing the alcohol ink so if you accidently place the tape off the edge of the tag just trim away the excess to the edge of the tag. It was so fun picking colours to highlight the colours in the tags! Each card has an embossed layer - leaves (CB) and roses (SU) and some coordinating fiber!! Layered greetings can easily be added to these cards in a neutral colour.

Therese

My Art - September cardmaking - handmade paper

These cards feature handmade paper created at home!! The green was created using a variety of green SU cardstock - mostly Old Olive and Kiwi Kiss. I used lace I have had in my stash for a few years on these cards and am happy with the way they turned out. Used double sided tape to attach the lace to the handmade paper. Added some decorative elements (apple punchies-coffee beans) to one set of corners and brads to the other. I put the brads through all the layers to keep all the elements well attached to the card front. I always add inserts to my cards so they hide anything that shows on the inside card front.

Find something in your stash and challenge yourself to use it in your next cardmaking session!! It can be a lot of fun to create with stuff you already have and easier on the pocket book as well.

Therese

My Art - September cardmaking - pressed flowers

We had a large group at cardmaking on Wednesday!! It was great to see a few new faces and a few we had not seen in a while. Because of the number of kits that I needed to have on hand I ended up creating a few Christmas ones!! You will see a similarity between these cards and the one I posted earlier for my exchange card. Same sketch!!
The yellow cards feature pressed yellow and white daisies. I captured them between a piece of cardstock and some tulle which I wrapped to the back and held in place with double sided tape! I partially embossed the card front (CB) and added a greeting on a strip of cardstock which has been distressed or on a ribbon slider (Sizzlets). The focal element on the Christmas card features a piece of "fabric" embossed with silver snowflakes layered on mirror silver cardstock. I added a silver brad to one snowflake to make it stand out from the others.

I regularly press flowers from my garden or the by ways I frequent when I walk for use in my cardmaking. I just pressed some Queen Anne's Lace flowers for creating some unique Christmas cards for my upcoming classes. You can check here and here for ones I have created in the past. I love using natural materials!!

I highly recommend that you create with anything you love!!

Therese

My Art - September cardmaking - leaves

My sister is visiting!! We spent a day last week sight seeing and visited a scrapbook store!! I bought several new embossing folders including this one by Quickutz of leaves!! So fun!! I had not seen QK embossing folders before. It was nice to see some new patterns.

I used it here in a new way!! I added colour using dye ink (SU Basic Brown) a brayer! Open your embossing folder and apply the ink (dye or pigment - NOT PERMANENT- on the side of the folder that has the debossed image - the holes. Using the brayer reduces the chance of ink accumulating in the holes and gives you good covereage. Once the ink has been applied just insert your paper/cardstock and emboss as usual. Gives your embossed papers an entirely different look. Really like the way it turned out!! I added an image that was gold embossed and watercoloured layered on red cardstock as the focal element!!
Fall is arriving here daily! Leaves are turning colour, the sky is blue!! and the nights are cooler.

Therese

My Art - Portfolio

I created this little portfolio for my god daughter for her birthday! Filled it with papercrafting goodies - images, layers, cards and envelopes!! She loves scrapbooking and paper crafting!

Therese

MM - sticky note books

Sticky note books!! A new bunch delivered to Merchants Mill a few weeks ago!! These are a handy little gift which almost everyone can use - by the phone, in a briefcase or purse or on your desk!! They are highly personal and no one will be able to claim them as their own!! They are refillable too!!

The Merchant's Mill is now open Friday, Saturday and Sundaysfrom 10am to 6pm!! Drop by and check out their wonderful selection of great gifts!!

Therese

My Art - Exchange card

Had some friends over the other night to play!! We have decided this year to do Shoe Box swaps as our activity for the year. Each person in the group provides supplies for a little project which we will create during our get togethers. We made Stair Step Cards this month with some boats and a lot of waves!! Fun!!

Here is the card I created for my exchange!! The main element is "holiday gift wrap" sold at Liquidation World a few years ago. It is like woven polyester with silver snowflakes printed on it. It looks like fabric!! Very cool!! I did buy several different ones - used one with snowmen on it in last year's Christmas cards.
I wrapped a small piece of this fabric around a blue piece of cardstock and layered it onto white pearlescent cardstock which I had trimmed with deckle edged scissors (Fiskars). Added a silver brad to the center of the main snowflake to create focal point. I used the snowflake embossing folder (CB) on the right hand side of the card and layered a silver embossed greeting over another piece of trimmed pearl paper and tucked it under the main element.
Really like the look of the card. You will see later that I incorporated this design in my cardmaking class this month!!

Therese

My Art - birthday cards

Created some birthday cards!! I used die cuts (Sizzix) along with a variety of punchies as layers to create the flowers on these cards!! The stems are leaf die cuts (SU). I stippled some of the elements to help them blend and look good with the rest of the pieces. The dragonflies were left over from a previous class. Added some decorative papers and some script stamping!! Was fun to play with lots of pieces and come up with some cool cards!!
One was sent off to a special person! Hope she enjoyed her birthday!! Love you!!

Therese

My Art - card holder

I created the template for this little card holder a while back and thought I had already uploaded it to my blog but checked last night and alas I had not!! So here it is!!
I created the template and printed it on the back of scrapbooking cardstock. Once printed, it is just a matter of scoring all the lines, folding them, making four cuts and applying two pieces of double sided tape and assembling the little box!! There is enough space at the top to accomodate a variety of closures. On this one I just punched the two top pieces with oval punch (SU) and added a ribbon to keep it closed. You could punch two smaller holes and thread in ribbon, twine or fibers. You could cut one shorter and fold the other one over it and add a magnet or velcro as the closure, All sorts of options!!
It holds 4 (or more) standard A2 sized cards with their envelopes and makes a wonderful presentation for anyone wanting to gift cards as gifts!! With Christmas on the horizon consider making your office coworkers, neighbours, girl friends, elderly family members, etc some handmade cards as gifts! You will have a great time making them and they will be proud to be sending them to their friends!!

Therese

My Art - invitation #1

These are samples I have made up for a friend who is looking for wedding invitations!! It was so fun to play with paper and create some beautifully embossed cards!!

This invitation has it all - elegance, dimension and some bling!!
Added clear rhinestones to the centers of the white confetti flowers (M) and layered them onto this beautiful ribbon (M). Tucked the ends behind a layer that was embossed with D'vine Swirl (CB). Glued this layer to the front of the white card. Added two red punched hearts!!

Gorgeous!!

Therese

My Art - invitation #2

I used the Manhattan Flower embossing folder (SU) to emboss the vellum on this one and the doily border punch (MS) on the top flap. Tied a short piece of ribbon to the one that goes across to make a soft knot for the top.

Love the soft elegance of this card!!

Therese

My Art - invitation #3

This one is very similar to the previous one! Used the D'vine Swirl embossing folder for the top and bottom flaps as well as the small heart. Cut the hearts using a Sizzix die.

Therese

My Art -- Invitations! #4

Used the Birds and Swirls embossing folder (CB) on each side of this one and added a layered flower embellishment. I cut the flowers with a Sizzix die and embossed the large flower with the Swiss Dots embossing folder (CB) and the small one with one of the birds from the Birds and Swirls (CB) embossing folder.

Therese