Another Serendipity card

I had this serendipity background sitting on my desk and needed a card for special someone so decided it would do perfectly.  After stamping it in red with my stipple stamp (SU) I trimmed the background to have an even border on a quarter sheet card, die cut a label out of the center portion and backed it with a piece of yellow cardstock.  I had a die cut greeting which I had punched the greeting out of for something else so backed it with this transparent greeting (laser printing on transparency) and it was just what it needed.  I sponged the outer edges to soften the look and adhered the whole element centered in the hole I had die cut in my background.  I added a short piece of red ribbon to the card front using a star brad!!  Really happy with how it worked out!!  I used a similar piece of serendipity for this card!!

Therese

Anniversary card

For card for my daughter and her husband whose anniversary is this week!!
This is another successful washi tape card!!  I added a white embossed layer to a pink card front.  Added three little strips of washi tape that coordinate and added the black and white chipboard heart to which I had tied a short piece of pink ribbon.  I added the laser printed and punched (SU) greeting to which I added a bit of pink sponging and some dots with a fine tip Sharpie.
Here is the first card I made with my washi tape.  It would seem I am sort of getting the hang of it!!

Therese

Window Clings!

 We had a great time with this project!!  I had covered my basement windows with cling a while back so we could enjoy the light from them without feeling like we were in a fishbowl.  The rolls were a bit too wide so I had cut them off which had left a roll about 5 inches wide.  At the time I thought they would make great window clings!! And they did!  We drew our images on quarter sheets of scrap paper, put our small pieces of window cling over them and traced our images with coloured Sharpies!!  My granddaughter made a few free hand ones as well.

I was more structured with my designs and used black Sharpies around the edges which gave them a more stained glass look.
You simply peel off the backing cellophane and apply to the window!!
Had we trimmed them close to our images we would have had a more custom look.
This was a fun creative project that has inexpensive besides!!  We got about 20 clings from one roll end.

Therese

Bottle cap pendants

Another project we tackled when my grand daughter was visiting.  We had collected several bottle caps from an event we attended and thought we would apply some creativity and turn them into pendants.
It took a little more effort to flatten these ones as they had already been crimped onto bottles.  Read - lots of prying with pliers and hammering iwth mallets!!
We printed the sayings off of the internet, glued them into our bottle caps and added beads and bling.  For some of them we also added some clear dimensional paint (clear sun catcher paint). Once they were dry we added a string and some danglies using jump rings.  We created our own jump rings using paperclips.  You just straighten the paper clip, wrap tightly around a skewer, remove and cut down one side with wire snips - quick and inexpensive jump rings!!  She took a few home to continue to craft with.

Therese

Paperclip bracelets

My grand daughter was visiting recently and she wanted to make paperclip jewelry!!  I was not sure what that meant so after a bit of an explanation we decided we would give it a go so we got started.  We straightened some paper clip, added a metal charm and made a loop to capture it.  We threaded on some beads and made another loop.  I had to use two paperclips per side but she was able to use only one.  We bent the beaded wire to conform to our wrists and added clasps!!  They turned out very well!!

Therese

Card with watercolour background

I found this watercolour background in a box on my desk and decided to turn it into a card!!  I had created it in the process of finding ways of creating fast and easy crafts do with my grandchildren using markers, coffee filters and a spray bottle.  This was a piece of white cardstock I used to print off of a coffee filter that was saturated with water and colour.
I added half of a paper doily.  The other half was included in the making of this card.  I added a piece of coordinating vintage seam binding and decided to sew it to the layer capturing the doily in between.  I glued this layer to a blue card front, added a watercoloured birdhouse image (Beccy's Place) and a double layered printed greeting.
I created the corners on my birdhouse image using a half inch circle punch.  I turned the punch over so I could see the paper, inserted the corner until it was a quarter of the circle and punched it.  Nicely done!! I like using my tools in different ways.
I am really liking these handmade backgrounds!!!

Therese

Canada geese and washi tape

Whenever I need inspiration for cardmaking I always head to the gallery at Splitcoast Stampers.  There is a veritable bevy of wonderful cards there to provide as much inspiration as I need.  I found one that featured a round focal element and some layers attached with washi tape!!  I have been wanting to use the washi tape I bought months ago and have been struggling with finding a good sketch that would make the best use of my limited colour options.  This one did the trick!!  I started with a dark gray card front, added an embossed strip of light gray cardstock using two different washi tapes - black & white plaid above and the diagonal stripes below.  Perfect!!  I found the geese (Arthurs Clipart) image in my stash as well.  I cut it round using Nesties and cut it a black layer while I was at it.  The original card had a greeting with a flagged end so I decided to add a black strip with a flagged end and a small laser printed greeting below it.  I glued the strip with the greeting attached on the card front using double sided tape and mounted the geese image using 3D foam tape.
I am encouraged by this card.  I hope to be able to incorporate more washi tape in my cards as time goes on.  I realize that having only a limited supply of colours and patterns certainly curtails my options but as this card proves I just need to keep at it and I will find more sketches that work with what I have.

Therese

Waterfall Card with glittered serendipity squares

Joined a swap on AFTCM for creating a waterfall card.  You can check out a tutorial for this card on Splitcoast Stampers.  I wanted it to be special so I created a quarter sheet of serendipity paper to highlight the squares on my waterfall.
I used red, yellow and brown in my serenditpity and if you look real close you can see some of that special paper I used on these cards.  Once it was dry, I cut it into 2" squares and cut a hole in them using the smallest flower on the TH Tattered Flower die.  I applied double sided tape to the back of them, adhered them to a coordinating yellow cardstock and trimmed them leaving an even border all the way around. I added red punchie centers, sprinkled gold glitter over the flower area which had double sided tape in it which gave me a sparkly flower in the middle of my serendipity.  Really like the way that worked out!  I found this origami paper in my stash that was just the right colour of red and glued it to my yellow card front.  I created my waterfall from a strip of darker yellow cardstock and adhered my elements to it using double sided tape. I intentionally offset them and like the effect it gave. I attached a strip of red cardstock to my waterfall to create the belt and attached this element to my card front using a gold brad on one side and gold staple on the other.  I corner rounded the right hand edge of my pull and stapled on a bit of ribbon to help with activating the waterfall.  I added a double layered oval greeting over the staple I used to attach my belt.  I love that the lines in the paper line up perfectly with my oval greeting.
I am really happy with how this card turned out.  Lots of dimension and texture and a 3D element to boot!!

Therese

Tree Fabric Collage - How to

I created this fabric collage of a tree and thought I would provide a bit of information for anyone who might be inspired to make one themselves.

I started with a floral bed sheet!!!  I cut two 9" squares from it and then cut a piece of batting just slightly smaller.

I laid the fabric on a piece of plastic and applied acrylic paint colour washes in blues and greens to create a landscape back ground for my tree.  Once the fabric was dry I used a hot iron to heat set the paint.  I do not expect this piece will ever be washed but I thought it would be best to do it anyway.  I painted both pieces similarly though there is only one in the photo.

 I found a piece of brown fabric in my stash and cut out a tree trunk, pinned it to my front piece and used my sewing machine with brown thread to sew it in place.

 Next, I dug out scraps of green and brown fabric and cut out, by hand, LOTS of leaves - really just pointy ended ovals about 1.5" long.  I used a glue stick - yes the kind you use for paper - to glue all the leaves in place making sure that I distributed the different colours through out the tree.

Once they were all in place I used my sewing machine with green thread and sewed down the center of each leaf to securely attach them all to my fabric.  Next, I created the little quilt by placing my back over my tree with the right side facing down and positioned my batting over that.  I sewed around the perimeter using a half inch seam allowance and left a 2.5" opening in the seam. I then turned it right sides out and pressed it.  I hand stitched the opening closed and then top stitched about 1/8" all the way around the edge of the piece in green thread.
I began the process of adding stitching and beads with the trunk and then did all the leaves.  I used what I had in my stash of beads - mostly round seed beads and a few longer thin ones.  I mixed the colours and tried to coordinate them with the leaf colour.  I used brown, green and blue embroidery floss to stitch on my beads.

You can check out the final project here.   It was a really fun project and I expect I will be making a few more!!  If you are inspired I hope you will give it a go!!

Therese

Fabric collage - a beautiful tree!

 On AFTCM, I joined a fabric collage swap!!  I was very excited about the possibilities because I have been enjoying making these little quilties inspired by Teesha Moore and a bigger piece just seemed like it would be more fun!!!  It is 8" x 8" and features hand painted fabric, fabric leaves, floss and beads!!!  I sewed the foundation together and then embellished it by adding hand stitching and beads.  Here are some close ups of the beading!!

I download some embroidery stitching instructions off the internet which was very helpful in figuring out how to get the beads on as I was stitching.  It was totally fun and I love how it turned out!!  I believe there will be a few more of these stitched projects in my future.
Check out my next post to see how I created this piece!!

Therese

Birthday card - hand decorated background

Was cruising Splitcoast Stampers for some inspiration the other day and found several with hand decorated backgrounds so I dug out this painted background and thought I would embellish it a bit for my card.  I lightly brushed white acrylic paint through an all over circle stencil using a foam brush to add dots which I liked very much. One person had cut up her background into three pieces so I decided to do that as well.  I first punched out the flowers and then used scissors to cut a line through the holes.  I really like how it turned out!!  I punched out "BIRTHDAY" on the bottom edge of the bottom piece and punched "HAPPY" out of black cardstock and glued it above the holes.  I glued all three pieces to a layer of black cardstock and then mounted that to my green card front!!  I added shimmery white punchies to the inside of the flowers.  Pretty good!!  It still needed a "bit of something" so I added the little dots using a fine tip Sharpie marker and three little black butterfly punchies which I attached with tiny black brads.  That was much better!!
It is amazing that creating it such a multileveled process!!  I can certainly see me using more techniques for adding more dimension to my own hand decorated papers!!

Therese

The last of the paper!!

Here are a couple more cards using that wonderful paper!  There are only scraps left which will no doubt end up in a sheet of serendipity paper somewhere down the line.
For these cards I layered the silver gray ribbon over the light rust one that came with the paper using double sided tape.  I trimmed it to length and folded the ends to the inside of the card fronts.  I attached them with double sided tape and added a piece of regular tape over that because they were not staying in place.  I added a 3D embellishment created using a flower die cut, several silk flowers, a copper sequin and silver brad. I sanded the shiny silver brads so they would have a dull finish which worked better with the paper. I watercoloured the laser printed greetings and layered them onto the rust ribbon slides and adhered them to the card fronts using 3D foam tape.
These are my exchange cards for this month and are off to my partners in tomorrow's mail.

Therese

Beach Bag Tote

This is the last sewn item I am making for fundraising at an event I am attending this summer!!
The colourful fabric is a batik print created by my brother while he attended art school and has been in my sister's stash for years.  She brought it out earlier this year and challenged me to make something out of it!!  It is beautiful and I wanted to highlight the batik as much as possible!!  I stamped the light fabric to add colour and texture to it so it would coordinate more closely with the batik.  It seemed a better fit when they were lined up on my cutting table but all in all I am pretty happy with how it turned out!!  The bag is lined with the same fabric as the handles and has a zipper at the top!!

Therese

Cards for a gift

Here I am again with this paper!!  I needed a small gift to bring along to the neighbours when they invited us over for dinner the other night.  I quickly made these four cards and packaged them in a folded wrapper tied with a ribbon.  You can see a similar one here.

I prepped the supplies for these cards:  rust card base, a layered diecut and silk flower embellishment, silver gray ribbon, rust ribbon slider and an oval laser printed greeting.  You can see from the photos that I just combined the elements differently to get several different looks including changing the

orientation.

I would normally pull cards from my stash for a last minute gift but since I moved last year and have not taught cardmaking classes the selection in my card stash has been pretty low!!
I will have to make a point of getting at least a few cards ahead!!

I like the summery look of these cards!!

Therese

 

Birthday card in kraft and black

A card for my son!!  We are fortunate to have him visiting - DH and he are doing some woodworking in the garage!
I glued my decorative paper to a layer of black cardstock.  This paper is one I brought back from London when we went a few years back.  I love the graphic look of it!!
I added a border of black cardstock punched with a multiple slot punch and trimmed with scallop decorative scissors.  I ran a length of blue vintage seam binding through the slots, glued the border to the decorative paper and glued the ends to the back of this layer using double sided tape.  I mounted my focal element over the border using 3D foam tape, tucked a laser printed greeting just below on the left and glued the whole thing to the front of a kraft card.  I layered two circles for my main element.  The loon was thermally embossed on tan using black embossing powder.  I distressed its edge, glued it to a black circle which was just a bit larger and distressed its edge as well.

Therese

Birthday greeting with that same paper!

I used more of that wonderful paper!!  I used it for my last couple of cards!  Check them out here and here!!
I love this decorative paper and am finding ways of using it up!!  For this card I used a stamped image of a sunflower which has a very different feel from the last one I used - much more artsy!!  I used my watercolour pencils as well and like the look I was able to achieve. I trimmed the image, distressed the edges and added a green greeting which was also distressed.  I decided to gather my ribbon for this card.  I simply sewed over the folds as I created them.  I added it over the decorative paper on my card using double sided tape and added a 1/4" gray ribbon over the middle to hide the stitching.  I like the look!!  I used 3D foam tape to adhere my image to my card front over the ribbon.
The summer has begun here!!  School is out and the temperature is rising!!!

Therese