Another Thinking of you card

I made this card for the daughter of my friend. They are both cardmakers and she had surgery last week so I wanted to send her card with a springy feel!!  I thought this little umbrella (Broken Box Stock) would be perfect!!  I laser printed it, cut it using Nestibilities - Ovals and then watercoloured it.  I layered it over a blue oval and before I glued them together I punched the backer for my greeting (SU - Modern Label) out of the middle of the oval.  Doing it this way ensures that the layers always coordinate.
I used an alcohol ink/glossy paper background from my stash which I created when I was playing with markers a while back.  It was a bit sparse around the edges so I used a random background stamp to add a bit of colour to the edges and then stamped bubbles using a blue green ink all over the background.  I trimmed it to 4" x 5.25" and layered it onto a turquoise card front.  I cut a label (SX) from yellow cardstock, trimmed the sides off and then embossed it with a bubbles embossing folder.  I added a piece of white gros grain ribbon across the middle using double sided tape to adhere the ends to the back of the layer.  I adhered this piece to the top section of my card over my background.  I adhered my oval focal element over the ribbon using 3D foam tape.  I adhered the laser printed greeting (SU - Word Window) over the blue label punchie and adhered it to my card front just to the right and below my focal element.  This sketch is a slight modification from these kits which I created for my last card class in March.
I hope she is feeling better and that all went well with the surgery!

Therese

Thinking of you card for a cardmaking friend

A card for a friend/couple whose daughter had surgery last week.  Just want them to know that I am thinking of them!!
I had some kits sitting on my work table from my last cardmaking class at the end of March so I decided to see if I could change them up to suit the occasions I needed cards for in the next few weeks.
This card features a wax resist and watercolour background die cut into a large label shape with the TH die.  It was stamped with a flourish background in green ink as well to add some texture and interest.  I added a ribbon on the top portion and used double sided tape to adhere the ends to the back of the die cut.  I tied a short piece to the left hand side using one single knot which nicely simulates a bow.  I stippled (SU) the green card front with green ink and then adhered the label nicely centered on the card.  I watercoloured the laser printed image (Arthurs Clipart) which was die cut with Nestibilities - Classic Rounds and layered it onto a circle of green cardstock.  I used 3D foam tape to adhere this focal element to my card front over the ribbon.  I sponged the edges of my laser printed punched greeting (SU- Decorative Label) with a bit of green ink and adhered it below my focal element also using 3D foam tape.  Fun to use different images and ribbons on these cards!!

Therese

A blingy card for a special girl!

My oldest granddaughter is having a birthday and she will be celebrating with her friends and family with a Minecraft party!!  I know she loves Minecraft but I decided to celebrate her artsy side and made her a blingy purple card for her birthday!!!  I started with a purple card, added an embossed resist flourish (IO) background (white embossing powder and watercolour) and then layered on two die cut scallop borders which I blinged up with purple rhinestones and clear glitter gel pen dots.  I trimmed the fairy image (Graphics Fairy) using an oval Nestibilities, hand cut a purple oval with scallop decorative scissors to layer below it and added another white oval below that one to nicely frame the image.  I layered a laser printed oval greeting punchie (SU) over a scalloped oval (SU) in the same colour as I used on the focal element and added two tiny rhinestones the same colour as the larger ones I used on the scalloped borders.  Thrifty Tip: I actually punched it from the center of the fairy oval to ensure it was the same colour,  I added a length of white vintage seam binding over the center portion of the card and adhered both ends to the inside of the card using double sided tape.  I adhered the fairy image over it using 3D foam tape and then adhered the layered greeting just below it on the right.  I tied on another short piece of seam binding using a single knot to simulate a bow!!  I did add some glitter gel pen dots to the scallops on the fairy oval just to finish off the bling properly!!  I am sure she will love it!!

Therese

A birthday card for DH!

I always try to make DH cards special!! He loves music and coffee so I try to incorporate those two themes into them if I can. This year, I started with a sheet of music from a choral book which was water damaged.  It was already crinkly so I ripped the page into strips and wove them back together to create my background.  I stamped the weaving with a mosaic background stamp which I created using rubber cut offs (when I mounted stamps).  I stamped in two different brown colours and then washed over them with water to spread the colour a bit.  Very happy with how that worked out.
Next, I decided to use a feather sticker from the above sheet which I bought at DollarTree.  The beautifully detailed stickers are made of some sort of soft foamy material and take colour very well.  I used markers to colour my feather and added a bit of orange using a Sharpie marker!!  I adhered the sticker to a piece of acetate which was printed with "Happy Birthday" and then trimmed around it.  The printing was a bit too prominent so I just scraped through the ones that were visible which sort of distressed them and that was much better.  Next I stitched the feather element to a coffee themed tissue paper leaving "cafe" showing in several places.  I used white thread but once I was finished I thought it would have been better to use darker thread so I just ran a marker over it and that was enough to dye the thread.  I simply wiped the spare ink from acetate with a cloth!!  I ripped off the extra tissue paper to finish off this element.  Once I laid the feather element over the background I realized that I would have to create an over sized card to get all my elements on the card.  I created a dark brown card, stamped the outside front edges using cream craft ink and the same handmade mosaic stamp I used on the back ground and then rubbed in a bit of gold mica powder to create an interesting border for my card.  I glued my background to my card front.  I used a flag ended laser printed greeting over my acetate adhering it with double sided tape.  I layered a burnt orange strip which was also flag ended below the feather element and adhered it to the back using double sided tape below the greeting so it would not show.  I trimmed all the ends and then adhered this whole element over the woven background using double sided tape behind the feather and the orange strip.  I added a brown brad through all the layers to the right of the greeting.  Very happy with how this card worked out.  Just need to add a gift card and it will be ready to go!!

Therese

Foiled background and die cut acetate dragonfly!

We are hosting a Greek Feast this week and I wanted a beautiful card to give to our chef!  She offered her services for this feast to a fundraiser which was hosted earlier this year and we have just scheduled this culinary feast for this week!! She is a great cook so we know we are in for a treat.  We have invited a few friends  - it will be a fun evening!!
I created the pieces I used in this background years ago for an ATC activity.  The aluminum foil tape was adhered to strips of lightweight cardstock, coloured using alcohol inks and embossed with a script embossing folder!!    I cut the strips into pieces and started creating a mosaic by gluing the pieces to a black layer leaving a thin border all the way around.  I really like the look of it with the blues and greens all mixed together.  I chose this die cut "thanks" greeting which I created a while back and rounded the corners.  I was looking for a really nice 3D piece to use as an focal element.  I found this dragonfly die cut (SX) in my butterfly collection.  Its colours worked so well and it was just the right size to work with the greeting as well.  I used double sided tape to glue its body to the embossed background and added two tiny black brads for its eyes.  I added the greeting with double sided tape as well and then glued this large element to the front of a blue card.  I am really loving the 3D effect of this card.  The acetate dragonfly die cut was coloured with transparent acrylic paint which I created for a project a while back. Actually, way back in 2010, for a class I was teaching at the time at a local school!!  Time flies!!

Therese

Die cut Thanks!

I have been busy with other activities and am just back to working on cards so I decided to play a little before getting to the projects I needed for this week.  These two cards used some decorative paper (saran wrap and watercolour) I had sitting in my paper stash which I used for the last two cards for my January cardmaking session.  I laid the two pieces on top of each other and cut them with a pair of wavy scissors and then glued them back together using regular tape on the back matching the blue with the yellow.  I cut the two pieces in two, again with the wavy scissors, and swapped pieces so I would have the same colours in opposite corners.  I trimmed the bottom edges and found these greetings in my stash which very neatly fit in between.  They were die cut with an alphabet die set in the white and then backed with black paper.  In this case, it would not have been necessary to back them in black but they were already all glued together so I used them as they were.  I punched flowers out of the decorative paper and added coloured rhinestones in their centers once the pieces were glued in place on the black layer.  I glued the black layers to my blue and yellow card fronts.  Thinking they needed just a bit of something I added dots and dashes along the wavy edges with a fine tip black Sharpie!  That was better!!  Another two cards for my stash and a little stash busting at the same time!!

Therese

A few cards that deviated from the sketch!!

  I created both of these cards while I was in the process of making this set of birthday cards.  Needless to say, I got a little carried away and changed up the design a bit and they no longer belonged to the set I was creating.  

On the left, I added a strip of decorative paper instead of the greeting (back side of the dots paper), layered on a strip of green and mounted my layered colour printed greeting over those elements.  On the left I added this watercoloured fussy cut cat and fish image with 3D foam tape after I had sewn the decorative paper to the orange layer and adhered it to my white card front.  This card is larger than A2 to accommodate the cat image.  

Two cards that I will be adding to my card stash!!

Therese

Quick and easy birthday cards

I made these cards for a young mother who just recently had a baby!!  I know that babies require a lot of time and attention which often leads a person with a to do list that is overwhelming.  I hope these few cards will be a resource she can use for herself when she has occasions to celebrate with her family members or friends.  If not, they can be packaged to create a quick and easy gift for any occasion!!

These cards all combine a 4" x 4" square of decorative paper cut in two, an A2 card front that coordinates with the paper and a 4" x 1.25" colour printed greeting -  I made them for birthdays but they could have been a variety of greetings.    I had planned to punch the paper before creating the cards which would have given me an accent but I was distracted and forgot to do that on quite a few of the cards.  I did add blue foil below the decorative paper on the blue card which made a very nice accent on that one. I also added faux stitching or dots on the greeting in a coordinating colour. I could just as easily have used a push pin to pierce a line of holes all the way around.  So many more options!
It was a quick and easy project which I hope she will be able to use!

Therese

Snowman cards!

A few snowman Christmas cards!!  I prepped these kits for my cardmaking class last week and a couple of the girls made one.  Today,  I decided to make up the kits that were left over and add them to my Christmas card stash!!  I made up these six and am also adding the sample I made up for class for a total of 7!!  That bring my Christmas cards to 21 so far this year!!  

The background for these cards was some metallic foil snowflake gift wrap.  I added the embossed white cardstock label with the ribbon embellishment to which I attached with 3D foam my watercoloured and layered snowmen!!   The snowman on the right is from Anne's Card 4U and the one on the left is from  Jelly Park Challenges blog.  

I am happy to be keeping up with my goal of making cards ahead for Christmas!!  It helps that I make a few kits for my classes!!

Therese

Three fabric postcards with little birds

After taking a look at my list I discovered that I had two fabric postcards due in early April!!  They needed to be on their way very soon!!!  So I dug out some fabric scraps and created three backgrounds.  In my internet search I had found some birds made with a half of a circle so decided I would make several of them to add to my backgrounds.  I stitched some coordinating yellow fabric to a substrate then cut out three half circles.  I kept digging to find several scraps that I could cut into smaller half circles to create the wings on my birds.  I used fusible webbing to adhere the wings to the bird's bodies and then the same to adhere the bodies to my backgrounds.  I used a scrap of my binding material for this postcard to create tails for my birds.  I tucked the tails just below the bodies and then hand stitched all the way around the wings and the bodies with a tight blanket stitch to have them properly stitching in place.  I added a black sequin secured with a large french knot to create an eye for each of them.  A bit of black fiber is what I used to hand stitch their legs and feet.  At this point, I remembered that I should have sewn my backgrounds to the batting BEFORE stitching on my birds but knowing that it was important I made it work by machine stitching all the way around the bird in a variety of lines.   I was careful to overlap the legs so they would not look like they had been harmed in the stitching process.  I prepared several backers starting with white fabric and adding some pellon to stiffen them up.  I did not have enough for my last one so I usedt a layer of heavy fabric which worked reasonably well.  I stitched the backers with a waves or a grid design before I fused them to the back of my postcard fronts.  I trimmed all the edges to neaten them up.  On the top postcard I incorporated a green nubby fiber in my blanket stitch to finish off the edge. I like the look and it would be fun to incorporate some funky fibers such as eyelash, fuzzy and maybe several fine ones braided together to give them more body.

I did vary their positions on the background - this one is look right instead of left.  You can better see the machine stitching I did on the background on this one.  I added pink bias tape trim to finish off the edges of this postcard.  

This one is looking right and closer to earth!!  I added some blue fiber to the edge of this one using one of the stretch stitches on my sewing machine.   It worked quite well though I may have needed a more substantial fiber to mask the white innards of the postcard. Lesson learned!!  

So two of these will be off to the members of my Fabric Postcard list  which are having birthdays in early April!!  Lots of fun making these postcards but I will be back to paper cards this week in preparation for my next cardmaking class.  

Happy Creating!!

Therese

March Cardmaking - Another label with oval images

For our third card I decided to use yet another label (SX) and layered on oval images!!  For these cards we started by gluing our decorative paper to our card fronts.  We then coloured our images and layered them onto an oval of cardstock (Nestibilities) in a colour that coordinated with our backgrounds.  We punched holes on the two ends our our embossed label die cuts and inserted the ends of our ribbon and held them in place on the back with double sided tape. The short section we trimmed off was tied using a single knot to the piece we had just added to our labels to simulate a bow.

Once the labels were glued to our card fronts we added our oval focal elements overlapping the ribbon using 3D foam tape.

The tulips are from WP clipart and the little snowman is from Torico - Birdie Brown.  I have started making at least a few Christmas card kits for each class which allows those who have enough of everything else to make a Christmas one for later this year.
I will be making up the extras for my Christmas card stash!!

Therese

March Cardmaking - little flower embellishments with a bit of bling

 For my second card I created some flower embellishments by adding rhinestones to aqua diecut embossed cardstock confetti!!  I chose the background paper to work well with the embellishments I had created and added a  large double punched border strip over the decorative paper.  I did add a ribbon between the embellishments and the layer which is harder to see on the bottom card.  I used the SU eyelet punch on the top white one and the eyelet punch from MS on the bottom one.  The girls had a good time with their cards!  Some decided not to use all of the embellishments on their cards so others decided to use their extras in an all over pattern.

 I love teaching for that exact reason - others provided with the very same supplies will always come up with creative ways of using them differently!!
I provided a variety of greetings and layers for adding to the cards.

Therese

March Cardmaking - resist decorative paper and fun images

 For this month's card making class I started by prepping kits that featured these fun labels cut with the Tim Holtz - Ornamental die.  I used decorative paper which I created a while back using ivory cardstock, clear wax and a diamond texture plate.  After laying the cardstock over the texture plate I rubbed clear wax over the surface and then applied a green colour wash.  Once they were dry, I laid them coloured side down over an absorbent paper surface and used an iron to remove the wax.  I then over stamped the resist pattern using a flourish stamp and olive green ink.  I found that both ivory and pea green cardstock worked well for my cards.  I added some stippling using green ink - a soft green for the ivory and a darker one for the green - around the edges of my card fronts to add a bit of texture.  I added the ribbon across the upper portion of the label adhering both ends to the back using double sided tape and then mounted this element to my card fronts. To change things up a bit I chose to colour print my digital images onto ivory cardstock and then cut them out with my circle Nestibilities.  Once my images were watercoloured I layered them onto green and used 3D foam tape to adhere them to my card fronts overlapping the ribbon.  I tied a short piece of ribbon with a single knot to the length I had already put on to simulate a bow.  I punched out the coordinating colour printed greetings, watercoloured their edges a bit and then adhered them below the focal element.  The pansy is by Anne's "Cards 4U" and the little birdies are from Birdie Brown's.  It is always fun to create fun decorative paper to use in your cardmaking!!

Therese