January cardmaking - Canadian Postage stamps

I love reusing and giving items a second chance!  In this case, I have utilized cancelled stamps which have in their first life accompanied a letter through the postal system.  I was going through my box of used stamps the other day and noticed a set of four stamps which featured mailboxes in each season.

They were all the same size which I thought would make them the perfect focal elements for a set of cards!! I chose cardstock which coordinated with each image cutting the card base from one and using the other to embossed this scrolled frame with a star theme.  I glued the embossed frame to the card front and then cut black rectangles to just fit into the center of the frame.

They perfectly held the postage stamp, the little note greeting which I embossed in white using my handmade stamping jig and a little coordinating ribbon flag which I stapled in place using a little gold staple.  I used 3D foam tape to secure these focal elements to the embossed layer on my card fronts.  I used Merry Christmas as a greeting with the winter postage stamps!!  All the stamps are so representative of Canada. The fall postage stamp features a tractor mail box, a yellow school bus and harvested grain fields of the western prairie. The spring one features an east coast light house and nautical mail boxes including one with a fish head.  The summer one features mail boxes shaped like a cottage, a church and a cow in a lush backdrop of the fertile fields found in the valleys of the Canadian Shield. The winter one features a chalet and a Canada Goose mail box with the Canadian Rockies in the background.  I love how these cards turned out!!
I made four of the Christmas cards which are being added to my stash. That makes my count - 13 so far!!

Therese

A flapper fabric postcard in teal, pink and gold

On my fabric postcard group I joined a swap for January that was themed :  Teal, pink and gold!!  Very close to my favorite colours so I signed up to play!!!  I decided to use small scraps of fabric and create some flaps on the bottom portion of my teal postcard.  They were cut to 1/2" wide and I cut them to 1.5" in length and lined a group of them across the bottom of my teal fabric then stitched them into place with my sewing machine.  I placed another row above them overlapping the first row.  I also offset them just a bit and stitched that set into place. I really like this glittery butterfly fabric and the colours were all keeping with the theme.  I found a pink ribbon that coordinated, positioned it above my stitch line and stitched it into place tucking the ends underneath before stitching.  I added a layer of batting to the back and added wavy lines on the top portion and then again a few lines of stitching below the flaps to keep the batting in place.  I used fusible webbing to add an interfacing layer as well as a white backer.  I decided to create a button to introduce the gold.  I used plastic packaging, some gold foil  and several layers of fabric to create my 3D embellishment.  You can check out the tutorial I created that outlines the process of making this collage button here.  I used pink thread to sew my button embellishment to the front of my postcard.  Really happy with how this all worked out.  I was really hoping to add some beading but it seems finished just the way it is, so I anticipate that I will not be adding any.  The teal layer was large enough to fold over twice to the back and then I simple hand stitched the border in place to finish off the back of the postcard.  It will be off to my partner very soon.  

Therese

January cardmaking - embossing with die cuts

For my second card for the class features embossed white backgrounds wrapped with fiber and  punchies and die cuts as the focal elements with small greetings. A very flexible kit!
For these two cards, I used a script and flourish embossing folders.  The butterfly was die cut, embellished with watercolour and finally I tied on silver cord to create the body and antenna.  The other card features an embossed heart die cut (SU) and an embossed heart punchie (SU) layered over the fiber. Made a few of these with red hearts for anyone who might want a Valentine's card.  Both have small laser printed greetings.

These kits featured hearts in other colours for anyone who was wanting anniversary cards.  The larger heart die cuts (SU) were overlaid with a metallic heart punchie (SU) and a coordinating heart punchie was added along with window punchie greetings(SU).  All kinds of options for putting together these kits.

These cards feature more elaborate focal elements created by layering die cuts and punchies and holding them together with a brad.  I used a doily die (SX) and cut two doilies - one yellow and one blue and then swapped the centers which I taped into place.  I added a flower punchie in a coordinating colour and held everything together using a small white button brad. Those are so cute!  The pink one has two pink flower die cuts, one silver flower die cut and then a pearly white punchie all held together with a large white brad.
All the focal elements were adhered to the card fronts using 3D foam tape which accommodates the bulk of the fiber very nicely.

Therese