My art - celebrating the season card

I made this card for a couple who do not celebrate Christmas.
I used a monochrome theme and added texture. Cut the trees with Quickutz tree die, switched the snowflakes and embossed each piece with Cuttlebug embossing folders - Script, D'vine swirl and Swiss Dot. Ripped a few pieces of off white cardstock for the snowbanks and embossed the card front with Swiss Dots to simulate snow falling. I had to do it in two passes to get it all so there is a portion beneath the darkest tree that has been unembossed because of the border of the folder. The tree covers it very nicely. I glued the snowbanks at their bottoms so I could later tuck in the trees. The darker strip of cardstock simulates ribbon and I glued the stippled embossed oval over it.
Thrifty Tip: The "PEACE" I embossed on the oval is part of a QK Christmas greetings embossing folder. The greetings are all too close together to be able to emboss it all and then cut out the greetings. So to get only the word I wanted I put a piece of cardstock in the folder in the appropriate position, placed a piece of matboard smaller than the word over part of the word and hit it a few times and moved the matboard to cover another area of the word and hit it a few times. Worked great!! There was a shadow of one of the adjacent greetings so I just used a bone folder to make that area flat again. You have to be very careful not to do more than the area you want but it does give you the versatility of using only parts of your embossing folders!!

My last card for the season! All the others are already gone or will be on their way today!! Shopping is mostly done and all the parcels to family went over a week ago so they all should arrive before Christmas.

The spirit of Christmas is love - for yourself, others and the world. Celebrate with your family and friends the love you share for each other!! Keep love in your thoughts and it will spill into your words and deeds over the season and you will have the best Christmas ever!!

Wishing you love, peace and joy this season!!

Therese

MY art - Angel card

Recognize this one?? Yes, it is a complete duplicate of the black and taupe one I made earlier. Just changed the colour to blue and the greeting to Merry Christmas!!

Therese

My Art - Magazine rack card holder

I have modified the "magazine rack" card holder I created earlier this year to make it more sturdy and to ease the process of putting it together. It requires a 12 x 12 piece of cardstock and holds A2 sized cards with envelopes. You mark and score the lines, make a few cuts and fold it on all the lines. A few pieces of double sided tape in the right spots and it comes together quite easily. I just decorated it with a piece of decorative paper and added a book plate but you could decorate it with whatever your little heart desires!!

These are great for putting on your book shelf to hold any extra cards you have made for future occasions. They could also store any cards you have kept to provide inspiration!! Might also be a wonderful way to package cards for gift giving!!

Enjoy!!

Therese

My Art - angels for a special tree

Angels for a special tree!! We have a program in our community where groups decorate Christmas trees with special ornaments and over the course of the season they are raffled off to support charities. I created these angel ornaments for one of the girls from church who is doing an angel tree - all the ornaments will be angels!!
I will take the opportunity next week to go and see all the trees when local choirs will be providing Christmas music. I am looking forward to getting a boost in my Christmas spirit!!
There are so many opportunities to participate in something bigger than ourselves and make others lives better! We should participate in any that pull on our hearts strings!! It is our way of making the world a better place!!

Therese

My Art - handmade paper cards 2

These cards are also created with handmade paper!! In this case the base card is white handmade paper pulp - worth saving aside any completely white scraps you can find - which have been overlaid with images from tissue paper and paper napkins which had been cut to size. It gives a very different look and takes less time. So it really depends on the look you are going for when making your cards!! I collect paper napkins that have Christmas images when I find them for using when making cards this way.
Of course, handmade paper can be used for making cards in a multitude of ways and with every theme under the sun - both in its wet and dry state!!
These cards have a cute fun look and I think I know someone special who will appreciate one of these in a holiday package!!

Therese

My Art - handmade paper cards

I created these cards with handmade paper pulp - right on the screen!! I had several girls over a few weeks ago and we made paper pulp Christmas cards for the holidays! I love the look and feel of handmade paper and these show off what is possible. We created our shapes first using a small screen, a baster and green pulp with pine needles in it for texture. We started off with cookie cutters but most quickly progressed to creating shapes by hand which are more interesting which we embellished with red dots (thin paper napkin). We then created our sheets from the white pulp with greenery in it for our base card and added our stamped embossed greetings and the shapes we had created!! We couched our paper as usual and let them dry. Once dry, we pressed them under weight if they had become curly and wavy. I added a confetti star to the tree and a red bow to the wreath and used a needle and crochet thread to tie in my insert.
Making cards using handmade paper pulp is fun and uses up your scraps from papercrafting. I really like the natural look of these cards but you can see from my next post that other options are available for a very different look.

Therese

My art - christmas card and tag exchange

Here is the Christmas card I created for the girls from Card Club!! It features a Paper Artsy angel black embossed on taupe with a distressed and watercoloured border. It is layered over colour washed sheet music and a black card which has silver embossed greeting and snowflakes!! I added a snowflake embellishment - a black snowflake punchie (MS) over a silver fabric snowflake attached with a brad!!
I am so happy with the way this card turned out!!
Not a traditional Christmas card but that suits me fine!! We had a tag exchange this month instead of exchanging cards. I used adhesive cardstock and glitter to create my ornament. I cut the ornament with my CB using the Sizzix die and then peeled off the hanger and middle section and added silver glitter. Peeled off the top and bottom section and added black glitter. Mounted it to the tag with 3D foam tape and attached them together at the top with fiber!!
Got some really great tags in exchange - a cute little Christmas couple with gifts, large scallop circle with glittered ornaments, a glittered snowman star, a nicely layered and coloured winter tree with snowman, a glittery snowflake, a top note with evergreen trees and 3D snowflake punchies!! At least one yet to come!! We had a wonderful evening - good food and good friends always makes good memories!! I was in charge of the shoe box so I prepped some supplies for making little "magazine racks" for storing cards. I modified the design a little bit from from last time to make it more sturdy. I will see about uploading that later.

I am looking forward to Christmas and a bit of a break! I have been in cardmaking heaven for the last month and it has been very fun but I am looking forward slowing the pace of life and taking some time to "fill the cup"!!

Therese

My Art - Dec cardmaking - vellum butterfly

This card features several layers of vellum and a vellum butterfly!! The butterfly is stamped and embossed. I cut it out along the embossing and slightly folded each wing up so that it is dimensional on the card!! Added it to the card with a SMALL piece of double sided tape placed beneath its body. I used coloured vellum closest to the cardstock and added a cardstock strip below the decorative vellum which helps create another level of contrast. A greeting can be stamped on the strip or on the card front. The two vellum layers and the strip are attached to the card front with brads.

Decorative vellum: I stippled and stamped white vellum to create the decorative vellum I needed for the yellow card. I used a Memories Chalk pad and a long UM (SU). Not all inks dry on vellum. The chalk ink dried reasonably quickly and could be encouraged to hasten its pace with a little heat. Always be careful when using a heat gun on vellum - it can warp and wrinkle with too much heat.

Therese

My Art - Dec cardmaking - punchie flower

This card features a folded flower punchie which gives a really different look!! I used double sided colour printed cardstock to give dimension to the flower. You need to offset the fold so all the petals are visible. Score from the top of the bottom petal on the right to the bottom of the top petal on the left. The center is a 1/2" punchie which I distressed and coloured to help it look more part of the flower. I cut a stem and leaves from a scrap of green cardstock and glued them all to the white rectangle to which I had given a watercolour wash and distress to its edges. The band on the left hand side was punched with a border punch - scallop (SU) and eyelet (MS).
One of the girls did not glue her flower in half - she left it just folded and it adds a lot of dimension to the card because half the petals are a bit 3D on the front of the card. I thought it looked really nice.
Therese

My Art - Dec cardmaking - shimmer again!

Yet, more shimmer paper!!! The central image - stamped and embossed on shimmer paper - is trimmed, layered and mounted to the top part of the card. I punched the holes to the top layer and added the fiber before I glued it to the card front so that the filber does not show on the inside.
There is enough room on this card to add a greeting below the fiber which allows you to use this one for any occasion!!

Therese

My Art - Dec cardmaking - Thanks

I like to make thank you cards in early December so they are ready to go when I need them over the Christmas season.
This card features a computer generated THANKS - font Comet Negative - which I printed in light grey so it would not overwhelm the colours of the decorative paper I used in the background. I used watercolour to colour my letters but you could use any medium you like - chalks, pencil crayons, markers, etc. Once coloured I cut them apart leaving a white margin all the way around which acts as a frame and makes them stand out a bit. Some at class did not leave a border and it makes quite a visual difference. I mounted them with 3D foam tape to the strip which I trimmed with decorative scissors and embellished with pin pricks.
I made a variety of colours and it is always fun to play with the elements to make it your own.
Pay attention to the blessings you receive over the holidays - gifts, special events, experiences, sharing, fun, etc and be sure to let those who have touched your life know that they are appreciated!!!

Therese

My Art - Christmas cards - winter village

Another CuttleBug embossing folder!! I love this little village!! In this case, I laser printed the cardstock before I embossed the cardstock. It took a few tries in a layout program to get the words in the right place but it was quick and easy once the fronts were printed!! I added a snowflake with a brad and mounted this layer to the card front!! I touched the rooftops and the hill with the edge of my glue stick and then added glitter!! I liked it both ways - with and without glitter!!

This is certainly a quick and easy card if you are needing to make a batch of cards in an afternoon!!

I have my handmade paper cards to finish up before I can post them!! I do have several activities this week so maybe I can get to that by the end of the week.

Therese

My Art - Christmas - whimsical gifts

It took me quite a while to come up with this design to really perfectly highlight this whimsical gift image!! Persistance usually pays off!! In this case, the gifts have been gold embossed and watercoloured!! I also gold embossed the greeting on the card front. Added a rectangle of decorative paper on the left hand side and mounted the coloured image to a rectangle of coordinating cardstock. Added scallops to the one edge with the border punch (SU) and then added two holes and created an INNIE-OUTIE bow!! Punch two holes a little less than a half inch apart and using 3-4" of ribbon put one end through each hole and cross over the back and pull each end through to the front in the opposite hole!! Trim the ends for a neat looking bow!! If you are not into making bows you could just knot your ribbon and secure with a glue dot! I mounted this layer with 3D foam tape!! I made these in several different colours - blues and green, browns and golds, etc. The little gifties look great coloured in a wide variety of colours!!

Therese

My Art - Christmas cards - angel

An angel on shimmer paper!! Not noticeable on the scan but great in real life!! The angel is gold embossed and could certainly be enhanced with chalks or watercolour to add another level of interest to this card!! The card front was embossed with a holly embossing folder that my friend lent me! New for this season!! This is a large embossing folder (CB) about 5"x7" which does the whole front without any margins!!
I added an oval and short piece of ribbon which is attached to the card front with a brad. The part of the oval that hangs off the card is simply folded to the inside and secured with a glue dot which has the benefit of also covering the tangs of the brad!!
The image is layered onto a coordinating layer and glued over the other edge of the ribbon which I secured with double sided tape because the embossed surface has so little surface to hold glue.

Therese

My Art - Christmas cards - poinsettia

This one features the more traditional colours of Christmas - green and red!! The background paper is a foil gift wrap I purchased last year and was able to find cardstock that matched perfectly!! The vellum with its nicely torn edges is secured beneath the top strip with a short piece of double sided tape. The strip has a scalloped edge (SU border punch) which I highlighted with gold gel pen. The poinsettia is created using several elements - a gold brad, yellow glittery sequin, a yellow flower punchie, a light red 5 petal punchie (SU), a darker red 5 petal punchie and a green one which has been cut up into individual leaves. I assembled the poinsettia with the brad and mounted the leaves on the back of the dark layer. Using two different hues of red gives the poinsettia more dimension as does using a push pin at a very low angle to simply score a line from the center of the punchie to the point of each petal. The petals can then be folded a bit which makes them look more real. I did the same to the leaves. The completed poinsettia is attached through all the layers of the card front with the brad, nicely centered on the vellum.
The vellum nicely captures the light reflected by the gold sections of this shiny foil paper!! It was nice to create a card with a more traditional Christmas feeling to it. A greeting could easily be added to the front!!
Check out the stores while you are out shopping this season for a roll of good quality gift wrap you can use when creating your Christmas cards for next year!! Better yet make up your cards over the holidays when you are surrounded by the sights, sounds and scents of the season!! There is inspiration absolutely everywhere once the tree is up, the lights are on and the house and neighbourhood have taken on the mantel of the season.
You might even want to take a few photographs to use in your art in the future!! A beautiful nativity, a snow angel or a great snowman!!

Therese

My Art - Christmas cards - embossed tree

More Christmas cards!! It has been fun to come up with yet more Christmas cards! These are from today's class!!
This is an embossed Christmas tree created with one of the latest CB embossing folders which is on many's want list this season!!
I cut the card stock to size - it leaves most of the base off - before I embossed the images. It made it easier to center the image on the cardstock. I added the ribbon to the embossed layer by folding the edges to the back and securing with double sided tape. Glued the decorative paper to the card front and glued the embossed layer over that. I chalked the edges of the oval just a little to highlight it nicely and have it stand off a bit from the very white background. The greeting is embossed with pearl embossing powder to give it a soft look and I mounted the oval with 3D foam tape to give the card a bit of dimension!!
If you were making only a few of these you could consider chalking some of the elements on the tree or adding some bling with little crystals.
I kept the design simple for a quick and easy card.

Therese

My Art - Dad's card

My Dad's 80th birthday card!! I count myself very fortunate that he is doing well considering the health challenges he faces and that he is still living with my Mom independantly in their own home. He knows he has limits but still finds ways of doing the things he most loves to do which I think goes a long way to extending life.
I added a thin layer of cherry wood to the top part. My Dad was a carpenter most of his life and wood has been an important part of his life. This particular piece is from a night light my husband is buidling for our newest grandchild.
I stamped the covered bridge (SU) onto shimmer paper I made - so fun!! Layered it on cardstock and added a ribbon and embossed greeting!! Really like the way it turned out!!!
Thrifty Tip: Make your own shimmer paper!! Add some mica enhanced product to rubbing alcohol in a mister bottle and spray away!! I have sprayed it on black, red and white! You can spray it on any colour!!
I used regular drug store rubbing alcohol. Mica enhanced product includes the following - shimmer acrylic paint (SU) does an awesome job. My SU demo recommends the white frost or the champagne mist. I used white mica powder that I bought a LONG time ago for highlighting friendly plastic. Others have used shimmery metallic acrylic paint, Pearl Ex, Perfect Pearls, etc. with good success. Be sure to spray from about a foot away and give it several light layers of shimmer. I used about 1/2" teaspoon of mica powder to 4-5 tablespoons of rubbing alcohol. Your level of shimmer will be more or less depending on how much mica product you use so experiment until you find a level that suits you.

Have fun and if you have not yet finished your Christmas cards - add some shimmer!! You can spray your cards once they are finished to add just a bit of shimmer but be really careful if you have any unprotected stamping on the fronts. Too much shimmery alcohol may make the inks bleed!!

Therese

My Art - All Occasion - embossed birthday

This set of cards featured an embossed birthday greeting that was easily coloured using watercolours, pencil crayons or chalks! Works great for a class where there are different skill levels. We layered decorative paper at the top and an embossed layer over it at the bottom. The top edge of the bottom layer was trimmed with decorative scissor and I added a line of pierced holes as well. The coloured greeting was layered onto a coordinating layer and we punched the corner and added a ribbon accent. Quick and easy! Always good for the last card in a large cardmaking session!!
It was a great class and everyone had a good time. It is always good to spend time with friends being creative!! The bonus is that you have some unique gifts to give!!

Therese

My Art - All Occasion - quotes

This set of cards featured quotes - there are so many great quote stamps out there now!! The quotes were stamped in brown on white and we embellished them with decorative scissors, push pins and chalk!! The bottom of the card is embossed with an embossing folder I created. I wanted the embossing to go all the way across the bottom of the card. To create the embossing folder I cut wavy lines in a piece of cardboard that was wider than the 5.5" I needed for the bottom of the card. I created a cardboard folder to hold my embossing layer and glued every second strip to one side and all the other ones to the other side. It worked very well but cardboard does not hold up to a lot of use as does the plastic ones that are commercially available. I am very happy with the results and expect I will probably create more as I want a look that is not yet commercially available!!
Decorative paper and silk flowers complete the look of this card!!

Therese

My Art - All Occasions - acetate

I created the top card for the class because it required less time to finish. The bottom card was my first try at this design. It has the advantage of a colourful image but does not have the contrast of coloured cardstock which adds appeal to the second card.
I sandwiched the acetate between the flap on the left hand side and the layer I added on the inside to hide the double sided tape which also adds some interest because it shows through the acetate!! Layering the white embossed image on the acetate layer can be tricky. I started with the white layer which I glued to the inside of the card front. Lay it, properly centered, on the inside of the card with double sided tape well to the center facing up and close the front over it. Perfectly positioned!! Now just add double sided tape to the back of the image and position it on the front of the card evenly centered on the white layer. I added a decorative fiber tie on the right hand side to add some dimension to this card.

Love the clean lines of this card and it has a elegant look done in a colour and a neutral!!

Therese

My art - All Occasion cards - calendar pages

Calendar pages for cards!! These images were cut from calendar pages from a 365 day calendar. This is a great way to get a lot of images that are somewhat related for making cards for gifts!! Collect the pages as time goes by and choose a day a month to make cards! At the end of the year you have over 300 cards for giving as gifts!! The trimmed images were glued to the card front and a colour printed greeting was embellished with a black sharpie marker and added at the bottom.

Therese

My Art - All Occasion cards - flower & flourish

Christmas is coming!! A friend of mine and her coworkers and friends decided to make their gifts this year so they asked me to put together some all occasion cards to make as gifts!! They will be packaging them in card holders for a great presentation!!

This is the first card we made in class. Lots of embossing on this one - the background, the two nestie flowers and the center!! I usually made them different just to change up the design a bit.

The flower embellishment is created using two nestibilities diecuts. I snipped each of the dips on the scallop to create petals for my flower. Added an embossed center to really give it the look of a flower. I die cut the flourish and mounted it to the back of the flower. The background was trimmed to the embossed edge and glued to the front of the card and the ribbon was added. I saved on ribbon by tying both ends in a double (square) knot and then cutting the ribbon. Glued the ends to the inside of the card with double sided tape. The flower embellishment was mounted to the card front using 3D foam tape. I made the kits different colours to provide a bit of variety in the cards.

Consider giving handmade cards to those hard to buy for people on your list and are always a good choice for teachers and other service providers in your life. Handmade cards bless lots of people - you when you make them, others when you give them as gifts and yet others who will receive them on their special day!!

Therese

Card Holder instructions!

The little card holders have been very popular and if you are looking for the instructions please follow the link below OR check the right hand side of my blog under TUTORIALS where you will find a permanent link to the instructions under CARD HOLDER INSTRUCTIONS!!

http://tmalakart.blogspot.com/2009/09/my-art-card-holder.html

If you have any further questions please send an email or give me a call!!

Enjoy!!

Therese

My Art - Cardmaking - snowman

I so loved this handmade paper when I made it!! Looks like large fluffy snowflakes coming down from the sky!! I knew I wanted to use it with a snowman!! I used an acrylic ornament to create a papercast of this great little snowman just the size I needed for this card!! I attached my handmade paper to my card front and used hot glue to attach the snowman paper cast. Added some white fiber on the left hand side with a snowflake punchie and a white snowflake brad. Added another snowflake punchie to the lower right hand side with a regular white brad.

I love the handmade look of this card and the soft white of the papercast!! I will be making more handmade paper with confetti to create this look of falling snow!!

Therese

My Art - Cardmaking - glittered snowflake

This snowflake looks so great in real life - so sparkly!! I used the hole from die cutting a Sizzix snowflake!! It worked out so well!! I did a few experiments before I settled on using label on the back of the hole to hold the glitter. Works really well for getting a nice coverage of glitter. I used the large label sheets (8.5" x 11") and cut a piece the size I needed to cover the snowflake and placed it on the back!! Added two long skinny pieces to the top and bottom then a large bling to the center and covered it with glitter. I gently rubbed the glitter into the adhesive to ensure good covereage. The excess shakes off quite easily and I used a little brush to get off any of the extra. I mounted this to the front of the card and added my layered greeting using 3D foam tape.

THRIFTY TIP: Consider using the hole created with you die cut a shape!! It gives you two pieces to craft with instead of one!!

These cards will surely bring good cheer to someone on my Christmas list!!
Therese

My Art - Cardmaking - snowflakes!

Had fun designing these cards! Have seen similar ones on Splitcoast a while back and thought I would give it a try. The base of the card is 3.5"x 4.25". I attached some decorative paper to the front, added a snowflake embossed strip and a multi layered circle greeting to the lower part and a layered embellishment to the top part. The circle embellishment was created using nestabilities scallop circle die cuts and plastic snowflakes!! They fit nicely in the A2 sized envelopes!!

Therese

My Art - Cardmaking - reindeer

I have been busy with classes and not at my blog as often as I used to.
This is the first of the cards from this week's cardmaking session. The embellishment was created using decorative circles which were cardstock stickers that someone gave me a while back. There were reindeers, snowman and holly. I mounted them onto a scalloped circle which I cut with a nestabilities die and my Cuttlebug machine. I gave them all coordinating circles. I stamped the top with a long UM (SU) in white pigment ink and embossed with white embossing powder.
THRIFTY TIP: I unmounted the rubber from a wheel and am using it with an acrylic mount which makes it much easier to use with conventional stamp pads.
The lower part was embossed with the D'vine Swirl embossing folder (CB). I added a piece of ribbon to cover the joint between the two, tucked the ends to the inside of the card and adhered them with double sided tape. The embellishment and the colour printed greeting were mounted to the card front with 3D foam tape to give them dimension. I punched the greeting with the window punch from SU.
I like using my tools and I certainly used quite a few on this card. It was an easy one to put together once all the pieces were finished.
Have you started your Christmas cards yet? I have a few already to go!!

Therese

My Art - Christmas cards - holly

Wanted to really highlight the wonderful flocked decorative paper on this card and the holly embossing folder (CB) did just what I needed it to do!! It was hard to cover up any of it!! Used decorative scissors on the white rectangle and tucked it below the flocked paper. Could have cut both edges and placed it over the edge of the flocked paper instead. Used my distress tool on the edges of the greeting and the green layer and mounted them to the front of the card using 3Dfoam tape. The saying went so perfectly with the flocked paper and the embossing!!

A friend of mine had given me several 12x12 sheets - some green and some red so I also made some with green cardstock and a red layer behind the greeting.

Love that paper!!

A great way to wind up the class! Everyone went home with a good variety of cards! A great way to send their holiday greetings to all those that are special to them!!

Therese

My Art - Christmas cards - snowflakes

This card features snowflake sequins!! I made these in green, red, blue and pink!! The three rectangles were put through the snowflake embossing folder (CB) and then glued to the card front (4.25x11). I then wrapped the fiber around the card and tied a double knot. I mounted the sequin over a fiber snowflake and then to the little square with a silver brad. Mounted this element to the card front with 3D foam tape to allow room for the fiber below. Added some dots around the edge of the square with a white marker/gel pen.

Another quick and easy!!

Therese

My Art - Christmas cards - a forest of trees

I love the trees on this card!! Each card has 7 trees made from Basic Grey decorative paper called Wassail. LOVE IT!!! I made the trees using the same method I described earlier by marking triangles on the back of the 12x12 cardstock. It is double sided cardstock so there was a wide variety for each person to make this forest of trees their own!! I stamped the greeting on a white rectangle and each person was able to customize their snowbanks!! The snowbanks were trimmed to the size of the card front and then the ribbon added. Then, the forest was created and glued in place and the snowbank glued on over the top of the bottoms. There are three different heights of trees - 4", 3.5" and 2.5". Love the graphic look of this card!!

Therese

My Art - Christmas cards - dove

You can see that this design is versatile!! It was a good thing because somehow I managed to include both landscape and portrait greeting inserts with these kits! No idea how that happened!! So we had some cards created in each format. Good thing one of my participants was working ahead and had a keen eye. She spotted my mistake and we were able to warn the others to watch for the change in format.
I stamped the top of the card with a swirly leaf stamp (SU). This was a wheel which I unmounted and use with an acrylic mount. Makes it easy to use with regular stamp pads!! The ribbon covers the edge of the design. The embossed dove is layered onto the coordinating square and mounted to the card front with 3D foam tape. I let everyone stamp on their own greeting (SU). I used pearlized cardstock for the dove to give this card a bit of elegance. Another design which could be made in batches!!
Therese

My Art - Christmas cards - sparkly tree

This was my first card for my large Christmas class the first weekend of November!! I started with this stunning green, red and silver handmade paper from India (100% cotton). I cut the 12x12 sheet into triangles by marking off 4" for the height of the tree and then 3" for the width of the tree on the back of the paper. Then I drew lines to join the marks which gave me over 20 trees per sheet of paper!! I gave each one a little brown tree trunk and glued it to an embossed (Swiss Dot) red layer which had been trimmed to evenly fit on the white card front. Added a silver star punchie and a stamped greeting which I attached with two silver brads. I ripped the edges of the white greeting but I could have used decorative scissors instead. Worked out really well!! A fairly easy card if you are wanting to make a batch of them for your holiday greetings this year!!

It is time to be thinking about getting those done. I brought music and everyone enjoyed the morning making their cards!! It is great to have some time to make all the cards in one sitting and they are ready to be signed, addressed and sent along their way.

Check out the new postage stamps for this season! Went on sale at the beginning of November! Buy them soon!!

Therese

My Art - Pocket calendars

These are pocket calendars I upcycled!! Purchased them at a local dollar store and created new covers for them! It is a quick and easy way to make personalized gifts for everyone on your list and they certainly will think of you every time they dig it out to check their availability for a project or a lunch!! Everyone should have one in their briefcase or purse and it really does help to keep you from double booking!!

Make a few for your friends!!

Therese

My Art - snowflake ornament

Here is another ornament I made with the Sizzix snowflake die! The coaster snowflake is layered with a plastic one and then a silver punchie!! I added another punchie to the other side to finish it off nicely!! Added a bit of crochet thread to hang it! Made a few of these - can be used on the tree, on a special gift or in a window!!

Therese

My Art - Oct cardmaking - heartfelt greetings

These cards feature die cut felt shapes!! Fun!! I added cardstock accents and brads to attach the felt shape to the card front but they could have been just glued instead!! Once I attached my felt accent I stamped a single word greeting (SU) and used a push pin to add a pin pricked design that incorporated the word and the felt accent. I freehanded my pin pricked design but you may wish to draw a light pencil line to follow and then erase it when you are done.

Really love the simplicity of this card!!

Therese

My Art - Oct cardmaking - glossy card

Here is another card created with the glossy cardstock that I recovered from my presentation folders!! I embossed this one with the harlequin embossing folder (CB), added a couple of strips of cardstock and a round greeting embellishment (SU)!! I used a large metal brad in the center of the embellishement to keep this card looking masculine!!

Check out the Christmas one I made with teal here!!

They were really popular last night and there are no kits left!!

Therese

My Art - Oct cardmaking - sunflower & ladybug

Love this card! I struggled with the design of this card - the cardstock was ivory and making the whole thing look too warm to properly show off the little ladybug. I finally decided to try adding black to the edge of the card and that worked perfectly to tie in that lady bug accent. I used a black marker and drew a line around the edge of the card front. FRUGAL TIP: This is a great technique if you are wanting to have the look of a separate layer without the bulk and also when you do not have the right colour of cardstock but have a marker that you can use to simulate it!!
I embossed the background layer using my Cuttlebug with a silicone texture mat and a flooring sample!! The sample had a simple hexagon textured design and with a custom sandwich in my CB I was able to texturize my cardstock!! Always be on the look out for everyday items that can be used in your art!!
Because of the proportions of my watercoloured image to my green layer I needed it to be as wide as possible so I modified my border punch (SU) so that the scalloped edge would punch closer to the edge of the cardstock. Typically you lose about 1/4" of cardstock when you punch the edge with a border punch. SO.... I just added an 1/8" piece of matboard to the throat of my punch so that the cardstock would not go in as far when I punched it. Worked like a dream!!
I see in the scan that the ribbon looks the same colour as the background cardstock but in real life it is a nice deep ochre colour and velvety!!
The little ladybug is actually a postage stamp!! Bought what I needed at the post office - 1 cent postage - for less than a dollar!! So these little stickers cost ONE CENT!! It is the best deal going anywhere and they are very cute!! I layered the ladybug onto a rectangle of black cardstock and mounted it to the card using 3D foam tape.

Therese

My Art - Oct cardmaking - glitter

Had another great group of cardmakers at my October class last night!!
These cards feature decorative cardstock which I printed on my inkjet printer. It was double sided so each person could choose which side they wanted to use for their card. The images were silver embossed and then glued to the white square - some of which were embossed (CB) and some were not due to an oversight when I was prepping. I did think that prep had been done in record time!! Once this element was glued to the decorative cardstock I ripped the bottom edge and punched some shapes along it. I turned over this piece and applied tape to the back to cover the holes I had punched. I sprinkled glitter on the front and rubbed it in a bit so the glitter would be well adhered and shook off the excess. It created such a nice effect. All that was left to be done was to glue the whole thing to the front of the card!!
I like the idea of using tape to apply glitter. I was thinking that I could cut shapes from labels or adhesive cardstock and apply glitter to those!! A technique I will be persuing in my future classes.

Therese

My art - exchange card

I made another Christmas card for my exchange this month. It really is best to start Christmas cards earlier in the year to avoid a rush in November. It does also allow you to make several different designs and sort of play with your supplies to come up with new designs. Under the crunch of time we rarely do our best work.

The glossy paper on this card came from a presentation folder!! Bought years ago at one of the office supplies stores. Loved this teal colour! There were also - olive green, deep purple and rust!! I have purchased new file folders with beautiful butterflies on them for my desk so these were now ready to join the stash and I decided to incorporate them into my card class tomorrow night.

I used the Snowflake CB embossing folder on the glossy teal and the D'vine swirl on the strip which I highlighted with white pigment ink. I used a strip of pearly carstock below the swirly strip. The round greeting (SU) was stamped and white embossed on a scrap of the glossy then layered onto a darker teal. They are held together with a medium white snowflake brad. I attached this embellishment with 3D foam tape.
Very happy with the outcome of this card!! It is nice and sparkly without glitter!!
Cardmaking for October is tomorrow night and all my kits are ready to go along with my instruction sheet!! I have never been prepared this far in advance before so it is a good feeling. Will post those cards after class tomorrow unless I actually have time before then!!

Therese

My Art - creative binder

I have decided to try to put all of my creative brainstorming in one place as opposed to bits of paper all over the place. There are several projects on hold because I cannot find the paper I mused the details on!!!
I altered a small binder. I sanded the front and glued down my own decorative paper. I added masking tape all the way around and then painted it with a dark maroon acrylic paint to coordinate with the binder cover. I stamped the bird in black StazON onto the decorative paper and then added some lustre in red and gold. Added beeswax over that to just seal everything and keep any colour from rubbing off.

Inside I have some blank pages for doodling and drawing as well as lined pages for making notes, etc.

Very happy with my new little book and am hoping to keep myself better organized.

Therese

My art - calendar cover

How many days before the new year?? I decided to buy myself a new calendar for my purse because I am finding I use it often and it has helped me stay organized and prevents double booking myself with activities. I bought an inexpensive calendar that had the "guts" I wanted and created a new cover for it tonight!! Consider just altering the current cover if it is heavy enough.

I watercoloured a piece of cardstock, stamped my angel in the light brown and then just the border in the dark brown a little offset. Added the rosette in dark brown all the way around the edges and on the back. Now I have a cool designer calendar that will look great all year and make me happy every time I take it out and use it!!

Add your artistic touch to things that you use in your life. It will give you a unique one of a kind look and make you happy!!

These calendars make great gifts as well for girl friends, co workers and those people who have everything. Customize them for each person.

Make a few extra for sale at your local bazaar/craft sale or to donate to a fundraiser for your favorite charity!! It is the season!!

Therese

MS - Leafy moths

One of the girls at Book Club last night was talking about getting UFO - unfinished craft projects done for the holidays. As I was going through my box of pressed leaves for a different project I found these skeleton leaves I have had for a few years and remembered seeing a project online that used them. The project is called Leafy Moths on Martha Stewart.
So I dug them out along with my bucket of sticks and made some moths!! They are huge and would be great on the edge of a pot, frame, candle or basket handle, on a bare branch as a fall and winter decoration or even as a package decoration!! With a magnet glued to the back they would be great on the fridge or file cabinet as well.

So I challenge you to find something in your stash today that can be finished! OR a project you can create with what you have on hand.

Therese

My Art - snowflake ornament

Snowflake ornaments!! I created these yesterday though it took me all day to come up with a design I liked I did manage to get a dozen of them made after supper. The photo shows you the back and front of the same ornament.
I used the Snowflake #2 (Sizzix) to cut the snowflake from a chipboard coaster. Cut the smallest and the largest flower from the four flower set (CB) out of coaster as well. Was able to use scraps from the snowflake to cut the small one. I used the snowflake from the snowflake and embossing folder set (CB) to cut the coloured snowflake from a variety of blue cardstocks and punched a matching snowflake (MS). I layered the punchie onto the large flower and attached them together with a silver brad. I placed the coloured snowflake behind the large coaster snowflake and pulled all the legs of the coloured snowflake to the front. I placed the small flower on the front of the large snowflake and attached all three to each other with another silver brad. I then used hot glue to attach the flower/punchie element to the other side of the large snowflake element. This gives a finished look to both sides and each one a distinctively different look. I added a pearl cotton hanger to finish it off!! Really happy with the look of this ornament!! Certainly could be used on the front of a Christmas card as a gift/card combo or could be used as a package topper as well.
I had a variety of other inspirations for snowflake ornaments and maybe some of those will also see the light of day as the prep for the holiday craft season continues to inspire me. It is amazing how a deadline will put your creativity into action.
So set yourself a goal today - whatever it is - Christmas cards by December 1, handmade cards for the girls at the office, gift list by November 1 and then start looking for ideas and inspiration daily - a store front window, a sign on the highway, a jingle on the radio, a colour combination in the garden, internet blog hopping, etc and jot down your ideas in a journal or book. Pretty soon you will have what you need for the creative projects on your holiday gift list.

Therese

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