Serendipity heart card

I had this serendipity heart sitting on my desk and decided to create an anniversary card with it. Also sitting on my desk was a few pieces of fabric which I received in a swap a while back so I decided to combine the two.  It originally was stamped with this script stamp and to make it more of a design element for this card I stamped it again using a darker ink.  Really like how that worked out.  I trimmed it down to size, added a bit of glue to my red card front and positioned the fabric in place before stitching it all the way around with red thread.  I adhered the heart to the fabric background using a small piece of double sided tape, layered on a folded piece of red seam binding and then used a white paper button and some gold embroidery thread to adhere them to my card front.  I layered a laser printed greeting to gold foil cardstock, flagged one end and stapled it to my card front incorporating a piece of folded red seam binding in the process.  Love it!

Therese

Fabric collage heart cards

 I have been playing with fabric collage and needed a few anniversary cards so I decided to combine the two and made a few cards.  

To create my fabric collages I simply took coordinating scraps and sewed them to each other by overlapping their edges and machine stitching with a coordinating thread.   

To make my cards I took each collage and cut it into heart shapes free hand.  The first two cards were cut from one collage. For the first card I cut an ivory layer and mounted two strips of green cardstock one on each long side.  Next, I colour washed two strips of vintage white bandaging that looks like cheese cloth with green watercolour and, once dry, I positioned them on the layer and adhered them to the back using double sided tape. Then I positioned my fabric collage heart and overlaid it with a short piece of ivory lace and machine stitched it in place using coordinating thread.  I layered my laser printed greeting onto the same green cardstock I used on the layer and stitched it in place as well.  I found these little ribbon bows in my stash. I placed one over the lace and sewed it on with coordinating embroidery thread tying two knots to keep it in place.  This embellished layer was adhered to a coral card front to complete my card.  Really happy with how this card worked out!  Encouraged by my first attempt I made another one!!  For this card I used a similar piece of ivory cardstock and stitched on kraft cardsstock strips on each long side.  I added some scallop edged tulle (SU) over the middle and gathered the middle portion keeping it in place using double sided tape.  I positioned my fabric collage heart over the tulle and stitched it in place, layered my laser printed greeting onto lavender cardstock and also stitched it in place.  I finished off this layer by positioning a short piece of lace over my heart and sewing on a little bow using lavender embroidery thread knotting twice to hold them in place.  I adhered this embellished layer to a peach coloured card front.  Fun!!!

For this third card, I pieced strips of blue cardstock together by adhering them to each other on the back with regular tape then embossed this layer with a circle/dot embossing folder.  I layered my fabric collage heart over a white mesh fabric, stitched it with coordinating thread and then trimmed the mesh fabric close to the heart.  I positioned this heart on my blue layer, added a handmade collaged heart button and tied them in place using rose coloured embroidery thread.  I layered my laser printed greeting onto rose cardstock and adhered it to the blue layer using double sided tape.  This embellished layer was mounted to a white card front.
Loving the artsy look of these cards!!  You can check out the collaged button instructions by clicking the link in the text or by clicking TUTORIALS above and scrolling down to the Collage Button tutorial.

Therese

Large all occasion cards

 I made up a few large cards for my sister this week. She left her supplies here last year and I am attempting to make cards for her as often as possible.  I was headed to her house yesterday so I brought along what I had made.
The happy bird-day greeting is from Michelle Perkett and was so fitting to combine with this bird decorative paper.  I added a ribbon with three decorative brads in the middle and some ivory borders cut with deckle decorative scissors on either side of the bird paper.  I watercoloured the image and layered it onto red before adhering it to the front of the card with 3D foam tape.
The second card features some very soft looking green flourish paper over ivory cardstock which I combined with a softly watercoloured stamped maple leaf image.  I layered the image with green cardstock, added a length of ivory tulle which I tied on, embellished it with several points of green ribbon which I attached using double sided tape on the back and then adhered it to the front of the card using 3D foam tape.  I layered the punched greeting with a green one which I cut in half and adhered to the back before adding to my card front.

The third one features a book image from CLKER which I combined with the quote before colour printing it.  It was colour washed with watercolour and then double layered in brown cardstock and red decorative paper.  I punched the side of the red paper with a scallop punch (SU) and pierced the scallops with a push pin.  I combined a length of coordinating ribbon over a strip of ivory cardstock and flagged the right hand side.  I mounted it over the decorative paper and then adhered the layered image over it with 3D foam tape.  I layered the punched greeting (SU) and mounted it to the card front with double sided tape.
The fourth card features a simple laser printed greeting layered on black and then onto yellow.  I layered the decorative paper onto a red card front and then added the triangle which was a black cardstock which was embossed with dots offcut from a different project.  I thought it needed a bit of something between the black and the greeting so I added an embossed strip of green layered over a strip of kraft cardstock.  That worked perfectly!

The fifth one features a CLKER image of a vintage village scene which I thought worked well with the gingham decorative paper.  I really liked the ribbon with the paper and image but it needed a bit of something behind it to add some texture and soften the look.  I found a roll of vintage white bandaging that looked a lot like cheesecloth in my stash so I dyed a couple of lengths of it with watercolour to coordinate and added that below the ribbon.  That worked!  I added a folded length of the same ribbon behind the greeting which I had also watercoloured and mounted it with 3D foam tape over the other ribbon.  Pretty happy with how all of these cards worked out!!  It has been a slow but sure process getting cards made for her but I do enjoy making the large cards and it is a different sort of challenge.  I have earmarked some large images which I gained from swaps years ago which I will watercolour  and add to the next set of cards I make for her.

Therese

Summer crazy quilted block

I have been working on a crazy quilted block for a swap on one of my groups.  After researching the cost of sending this one and getting one back in return I have decided not to participate in the swap.  It is the same place I was with the felted wool swap earlier this year.  So I have now learned the lesson but I still have most enjoyed the process of making it!!  I started by piecing some scraps onto a cotton substrate.  The finished square was to be 8" x 8" so we needed to allow at least 8.5" or 9" so that when it was sewn up it would finish at 8" square.  We were warned that stitching sometimes takes up some inches as well so I started with 9.5" to make sure mine would be large enough in the end.  I stitched on blue scraps at the top for the sky, green for a prairie horizon line, yellows for a canola field, a deeper blue on the lower right for creating a prairie lake and a gray on the very bottom for the road using my sewing machine to secure them in place.  Some were sewn to each other before stitching them down.  Others were stitched directly in place.  I started my hand stitching by stitching all of the stitch lines in a colour of thread as close to the fabric as possible.  Then I added stitching on the green horizon line to give the feeling of trees.  I did a variety of greens and then added some brown to simulate trunks and branches.  I added a white line of stem stitching to simulate a jet's vapour trail and added a little silver bead at the end to represent the plane.  After a bit I started feeling that I needed to add some machine stitching to keep the layers all

in place.  I realized that the process of adding sewing machine stitching would have been much easier before the addition of any hand stitching.  Lesson learned for next time around.   I added some beads to the tree line and eventually added a couched funky fiber to the bottom of the green to add texture and represent the shrubs that are often present there as well.
I added stitching to all of the open areas.

I added some stitched birds to the sky. I added a stitch bird to the prairie lake. I added beads to my rows of canola field and also to the water texture I added.  I have so much enjoyed travelling this province this summer.  The skies are so blue, the canola fields are so yellow and

the water reflects so perfectly the sky and the waterfowl are always swimming around and looking so at home on them.  I added a fence - brown fence posts and gray barbed wire between the bottom road and the rest of the piece.  This is what summer means to be now that I have moved back to my home province.  

So in the end no one will see my square but that is fine. I plan on making the other three squares in this Seasons series and combining them in a finished work once the year has come and gone.
I know that my square does not have the typical crazy quilt layout but I am happy with how it turned out and look forward to more stitching this year.

Therese

Fun cards with rounded squares

Made a couple of these cards with rounded squares.  I found these laser printed backgrounds from a while back and decided to fill them with some purple decorative papers.  I cut the squares 1" and rounded two corners of each using a corner rounder.  I glued them on the backgrounds, rounded two of the corners and then applied them to purple card fronts.  Quick and easy cards!!  

Therese

Artsy Cards - Collaged buttons with doodling

I needed cards for my monthly card exchange and decided to revisit collaged buttons which I created earlier this year.  They are fun to do and fairly quick.  I combined a plastic circle die cut with some paper scraps and then punched two holes to make it a button!!  Check out the this link to find out how to make them!!  OR click the Tutorial tab above and click on the Collaged Button Tutorial.  I made several and created these cards.  I traced the button onto white cardstock using a pencil and then doodled that line with a fine tip Sharpie and continued until I was happy with the design.  I considered adding colour but so far have not - maybe next time!  I tied the button to the white layer then layered it onto black and then onto coordinating card fronts.  For the top one, I used a black marker on the edge of the white, layered it onto lilac and then onto a green card front.  I added a stamped greeting to one of them.  These were fun artsy cards!!
Therese