Easter card with a beautiful iris collage element

Another Easter card to add to the stash!!  This one started with this beautiful iris collage element which I received as a RAK in an exchange card years ago.  I found the green embossed layer in my background stash and decided to layer it to a navy layer which I embossed with the Swiss Dot embossing folder.  Before gluing them together I added a length of ivory ribbon on the lower portion of the green layer. I glued this whole element to the front of an ivory card front.  I added my iris image to the top portion a bit askew and my oval punchie stamped greeting (SU) below that overlapping the ribbon. A fairly quick and easy card as several of the elements were ready to go!!

Cardmaking - March - feature little birdie sticky notes

These cards feature birdie stick notes my sister shared with me.  She is always looking for cool things to use on her cards and so she gave me a few for my birthday a while back.  You can see here another card I made recently with one.  I started these cards by choosing background paper which I adhered to coordinating cards.  I die cut some grass (SX) which I glued to the bottom of the card.  I embellished the stick note birds with a black brad eye, a hand cut yellow beak and a paisley punchie wing!!  For the first card I placed the bird on a branch (TH Tree SX) which was created using a strip of brown cardstock die cut with the TH Tree die.  The branch was then pruned of odd and stubby pieces.  The greeting is stamped (SU) and layered twice onto coordinating circles of cardstock and mounted to the card using 3D foam tape.  For the second card I drew the bird some legs and feet using a fine tipped permanent marker.  Very happy with how this any occasion cards worked out!!

Cardmaking - March - more handmade paper combined with vellum images

More handmade paper on these cards!!

In this case I took small sheets of  seed paper which were smallish for the front of a card and ripped them into strips and collaged them together to make a larger piece which I trimmed to size before running the sewing machine around the edge to make a mechanical connection to hold them all together.  I glued this background to the front of a coordinating card.  I laser printed images with greetings on vellum and used two halves of an embossed label (SU) to attach them to my handmade paper background by apply double sided tape to the back of the pieces and overlapping the edge of the vellum when I adhered them to the card front.  I coloured the back of the image with chalk which gives the image a some muted look.  The flower bouquet image is digital from Beccy's Place, the flower wreath is a digital from Melonheadz, and the little girl image is from Heather Ellis which I believe I downloaded from Paper Crafts Magazine quite a while back.  

Therese

Cardmaking - March - handmade paper, flowers and ribbon

We got together again this week and made cards!!  It is always great to have your friends over for a visit and do something creative while you are catching up!!!  

This was our first card of the evening!!  I decided to see if I could include my own handmade paper into a card for this month!!  I dug out the couple of boxes and was quickly convinced that it would be easy enough to feature handmade paper on a card.  I had forgotten how many beautiful papers I had created over the years!!  

I tore the papers to size and found coordinating card fronts.  I added a ribbon - after I glued my handmade paper to my card on the first one ( was a little distracted ) and to the handmade paper layer in the case of the green one.  I had to make sure that I positioned it low enough so I could center my focal element over it.  For the red card, I die cut a flower (SX TH Tattered Flowers) from red cardstock, embossed it with Swiss Dots (CB) and added a circle punchie cut from decorative paper.  I glued it over the ribbon and added a layered punchie greeting (SU) on the lower right.  I had a small piece of ribbon left over so I tied it to the length on the front with one knot to simulate a bow.  

For the green card, I cut a poinsettia (Spellbinders) from three different red cardstock and embossed them before gluing them to each other. I added a small yellow circle in the center.  I cut a few green "leaves" using the largest poinsettia die which I added around the edges after I glued my assembled flower to my card front.  I added a layered punchie greeting to the lower right.  

I have not made any Christmas cards yet this month so I can now count ONE towards my goal of making six for this month!!  

Therese

Grungy card with beautiful butterfly embellishment

This card started with the butterfly! The background it is mounted to is two triangles which I taped to each other using handmade faux washi tape and then trimmed to the right size.  I layered this background to black cardstock before adding my butterfly using 3D foam tape and drawing in a little flight path with a fine tipped permanent marker.  The beautifully printed butterfly is a magnet which I bought years ago. I used edge cutters to trim off the magnet.  I added two lengths of gold embossed mesh (window screening) to the back of my focal element - one top right, the other lower left.  Now I needed a background!  I was looking through my decorative paper backgrounds and found this one but it had a kraft background which did not work as well as I wanted so I simply colour washed it with some orange watercolour and that worked much better.  I glued the decorative paper to an orange card front then added my focal element at at bit of an angle.  I colour washed my laser printed punchie greeting in the same way and adhered it below my focal element with 3D foam tape.
I bought this gift wrap paper in London, England and it is the first time I have considered colouring it.  Very good quality as it held up very well to the watercolour and the black printing resisted it!!

Therese

Die cut rose in turquoise and green

I received this rose die cut as a RAK in one of my exchange cards a while back!!  It was just as you see it when I received it so I am guessing it was coloured with Copic markers - beautiful!!  I found some coordinating cardstock and stamped it with a script background (SU) in turquoise ink.  I cut a rectangle of white cardstock that was just big enough for the rose, embossed it with the Swiss Dot embossing folder and layered it onto a brown cardstock rectangle.  I used a fine tip glue applicator (fabric paint bottle filled with white glue) to adhere the rose and leaf into place and then added a laser printed vellum greeting in brown.  I folded over the ends of the greeting and adhered them to the back of this element before gluing the element to my stamped card front.  Love the look of it!!

Therese

Sticky note birdie on this card!

Who doesn't love cute little birds??  This one is a sticky note!!  My sister is always on the look out for cool embellishments for her cards and found these a while back.  She gave me a few and this might be the first I have used of them!!  I started by stamping the greeting in the lower right hand corner in dark blue ink on my white layer.  I embossed distressed lines above that and added a rectangle of striped decorative paper to the left of this. The little bird was the perfect colour so I added a bit more glue and positioned him in the middle of the card.  I used a black permanent marker to draw him a pair of legs.  I added a tiny black brad for the eye and trimmed a tiny scrap of yellow to create a beak.  He was looking pretty good but a wing would add some dimension!!  I remembered my paisley punch - it would make a great wing!!!!  It sure did so I finished him off with a fancy white wing!!
Love how it turned out!!

Therese

A fabric postcard that features little fabric collages

I used some of these little fabric collages that I created a while back to embellish this fabric postcard.  I started with a yellow fabric rectangle and positioned the little collages on - four on top and four on the bottom.  I stitched them down using a single line of stitching in yellow thread.  I added an unfolded length of black bias trim in between and stitched it into place as well.  I trimmed a little quote from a sheet of fusible fabric that my sister printed for me on her inkjet printer.  I fused it into place over the black bias tape and then hand stitched a flower embellishment to the right of it.   The embellishment combines little green silk leaves, a red silk flower with a yellow button center.  Next, I embellished all the squares by stitching on some fun pieces - a peach silk flower with a yellow sequin center held in place with  yellow seed bead, an little silver leaf embellishment, a little red button, a plastic butterfly embellishment, a white sequin flower with an orange flower sequin center held in place with a yellow seed bead, a silver metal butterfly charm, a little red heart sequin and a gold star sequin layered with a little red flower sequin held in place with a yellow seed bead.   I created a backer and stitched it to my front then couched the black fiber braid to the outside edge using a zig zag stitch on my sewing machine.  I am really happy with how this one worked out and the little fabric collages are just how I wanted them to look.  It is off to my partner for the birthday swap.                  Therese

Cards made by reusing beautiful floral cards

A few more cards created with beautiful used cards!!  The top two were made from one card front which I cut in half.  I used the bottom on the left hand card and added a embossed die cut of a lacy border (SU) on the top portion to hide the writing.  I added just a bit of gray watercolour to the border to tone down the white and give it a bit of dimension.  I fussy cut a little laser printed floral wreath (Melonheadz) and watercoloured it to coordinate with the border.  I added just a touch of gray watercolour to soften and shade the edge of this element as well.  I stamped a greeting in the open area and positioned the wreath to the left of it.  I glued this large element to the front of a blue card.  For my second card I used the top half of the card.  I added a length of scalloped lace across the bottom edge securing the ends to the back of the image using double sided tape.  I really wanted to add some dimension and thought maybe I could overlay the printed butterfly in the border with another.  I spotted a container of butterflies on my desk from another project and found this one that would work perfectly.  These are plastic butterfly magnets with beautiful colour and detail which I bought years ago.  I removed the magnet and trimmed the back side before adding 3D foam tape to adhere it over the printed one!! Perfect!!!  

For the left hand card I used an inner flap from a large used card. You can check out the card I made with the image on the front of the card here.  I wanted to add a bit of dimension so I punched a white eyelet border (SU) and glued it to the left hand edge of the image and then added an off white organza ribbon which I doubled knotted on the front leaving the ends long.  I stamped a little greeting (SU) on the lower portion of the image and embossed it in gold.  I glued this large element to a pink card front.  

For the right had card I fussy cut around the flowers from another card front and then trimmed it down to fit on my pink card.  This card front was left over from a card kit so it was embossed on the edges but that worked well for this card.  I stamped and embossed the Easter greeting onto a strip of vellum, tore both edges of the strip and then positioned it on my image then folded back both ends which I taped to the back.  I punched a butterfly from a scrap of the card front and embellished it with a bit of watercolour before stitching it to my image.   To finish off my card I glued this large element to the pink card.            

Hope you will all consider reusing the cards you receive from others in fun and creative ways for making other cards!!    Four or five, nicely packaged, make a nice hostess gift or can even be a blog give away prize!!

Therese

Reusing cards - beautiful flowers for Easter cards

Easter cards!! It will be here before we know it!!
I have chosen to repurpose some commercial cards that were donated to me to create some new ones.
I managed to make two cards from one large beautiful card!!  I trimmed out the large red camellia to begin with.  The layer was just a bit too wide so I trimmed out about 3/16" and taped the pieces back together on the back so that I would not lose the gold decorative edges.  I added an ivory ribbon where they join and glued the whole layer to a red card front.  I stamped the little Easter greeting (SU) in the empty space between the flowers in gold pigment ink and embossed it in gold embossing powder.  Worked perfectly with this beautiful image and the gold borders.
For the next card I used the cut off from the first card that featured a small spray of flowers with gold borders which worked here because I used the whole piece - 5.5" tall.  It was not wide enough so I took a strip of the shimmery card, die cut the scalloped edge with a SU Thinlit then embossed it with the coordinating lacy embossing folder. Perfect!!  I sponged the front edge with gold pigment ink to coordinate with the gold edging and used double sided tape to adhere them together where they overlapped.  I cut out the little rose from the inside, trimmed it into a tag, manually embossed the edges and sponged all the edges with a bit of pink and green.  Next, I applied some gold pigment ink then some gold embossing powder to highlight the dry embossing.  I added a little gold embossed Easter greeting (SU) stamped on vellum.  I tore the edges and folded the ends to the back and secured with regular tape.  Next, I added a pink organza ribbon to my layer and threaded on the tag before securing the ends to the back with double sided tape.  Finally, I glued this large layer to the front of an ivory card.  The tag hides the printing that was on the front of the original card.

In comparison, this card was easy!!  I trimmed the tulip image from the large card, added a layered greeting and a little vellum butterfly punchie!!
I used a scrap from the original card below my trimmed laser printed Easter greeting.  I used just a whiff of glue stick between the vellum and the decorative paper before I attached them to the image layer using a tiny black brad and trimmed them to the edge.  I glued this large layer to a red card front.  I punched the little butterfly from a vellum scrap and adhered it to the card front using a tiny strip of double sided tape which just highlights his body!!

Very happy with how these cards turned out and it was fun to reuse cards in my cardmaking!!

Therese

Cards from kits - changed up the sketch and added images

 Still making up kits from my last class.  These ones were heart themed for Valentine's so needed to be changed up to be appropriate for another occasion.  For the first one, I combined the decorative paper from two kits which provided me with a full 4" x 5.25" background.  I simply taped them together on the back before gluing it to the coordinating card front.  I watercoloured a cupcake image (Melonheadz) from my stash and added pearly paint to the icing and the star.  Fun!!  I layered it onto a green rectangle and added a border die cut to which I added gold glitter glue dots and some green watercolour half circles.  I glued this focal element to the front of my card.  I layered my colour laser printed greeting and added it to the bottom of my card below the image.  My favorite colour combo - pink and green!!  For my second card, I added the piece of decorative paper from the kit then added a piece of white vintage seam binding gluing the ends to the inside of the card.  I snipped a slot on the spine of the card using my slot punch (SU) to allow the end of the seam binding to be glued to the inside.  I found this coordinating vintage birthday image in my stash (clipart CD) so I trimmed it and added it over the seam binding using 3D foam tape.  I tied a short length of seam binding to the length on the card using a single knot to simulate a bow!! I had embossed borders on these card kits which you can see on this card.

It was really hard to change up this kit because the paper had hearts on it and it was red!!  So I decided to layer the greeting over gold embossed mesh (window screening)  then onto a trimmed (decorative scissors) rectangle of red and flagged all the ends.  I plucked these watercoloured and gold embossed hearts from an old card.  They worked really well for this anniversary card!!
The polka dot papers are from Digital Graphics Cafe and the heart one if from the Morgue File.
Again it was a fun challenge to use up these supplies to make up some new cards!!

Therese

More cards from kits - decorative paper framed images

 A few more cards made up from kits from my last class.  I have made several up others over the last little while but this is not a very flexible kit in that the supplies pretty much need to be made up using this sketch.  It does allow a lot of variety in regards to occasions though as you can see these are baby and birthday, Valentine's here, anniversary here and sympathy here.

They are easy to put together - simply glue the strips to create a frame on the card front and then colour the image and glue it inside the frame before gluing the little strip of embossed card stock over the bottom of it.  I discovered that the decorative paper for the little balloon bear was double sided so I used two strip of each design. That worked out really well and adds a bit of interest.
For the next two which were both the same cupcake image (Digital Graphics Cafe)  I used pearly paint on the icing and clear dimensional paint on the little hearts which was fun!!    The little horse is from Beccy's Place and the little bear is from Birdie Brown.      Therese

Cards from card kits - hearts with embossed layers

 I have had these kits sitting on my desk for more than a month!!  I got started on making cards with them a few days ago.  I decided to change them up because I find it difficult to make lots of any one design.  Click here to check out the original design. I have made several other sketches since then - these ones and this one.
For these two, I used only one of the decorative paper hearts and layered them onto scalloped heart die cuts from previous kits and then onto the embossed backgrounds.  For the first one, I layered on some gold embossed mesh (window screening) then added strip of red decorative paper.  I added the layered hearts using 3D foam tape and trimmed the greeting before I tucked it below the mesh.  For the second one, I ripped the embossed layer to create a strip of brown over which I glued my layered heart.  I trimmed my greeting and tucked it just below the heart and then added the little brown heart die cut.  The blue heart was punched from a hand decorated layer from an old ATC.  Love the dimension of it!!

For these two I used three hearts!!  I ripped the embossed layer for the first cards to create a contrasting line and glued my hearts over the gap.  I trimmed and layered my greeting before tucking it below my last heart.  As a final touch I added the little red heart die cut to the bottom heart to help draw the eye to the greeting.  Using only three hearts on the blue one simplified the design and gave the card a cleaner look!  Used the little heart die cut on the far end of my greeting.
It has been fun to reinvent cards with these card kits!!              Therese

Two fun cards with reused die cut elements

The focal elements on these two cards have been die cut from used cards!!  They are great!!  

For the first card, I used this cute little birthday card image which was die cut (Nestibilities) from the back of a large card.  I started with a yellow card front which I stamped with a circle foam stamp in yellow. I added a coordinating pink layer with a distressed edge.  I cut a hole in the green layer using a Nestibilities Circle die to accommodate and frame the cake die cut then embossed it with a dots embossing folder.  I tied on a little orange yellow picot ribbon on the right hand side before I glued it to the card.  I adhered the focal image using 3D foam tape inside the hote in the green layer.  I layered a pink laser printed greeting oval punchie greeting to a scalloped oval punchie and adhered below the image.  Cute card for a little girl's birthday!!  

The second card features a little rose die cut which was cut from the inside of a used card.  I stated with an ivory card front and added a dark green layer.  I embossed a layer of pink paper and then layered on two rectangles of pink/ivory decorative paper.  I trimmed a scrap of the green cardstock on both ends and glued it to the left hand side of my card and then adhered the rose die cut over it using 3D foam tape.  Finally, I stamped the greeting in dark pink next to the focal element.  Pink and green - so I am loving it!!

Therese 

Baby card with pinks and greens!

I love pink and green together!!  I colour printed the little clothes line graphic (Pixabay) and layered it onto pink.  I cut the background paper to fit my card with a small border all the way around, then a thin strip of pink cardstock and then a length of scalloped pink cardstock which I had embellished with pearl fabric paint dots.  I added a length of white vintage seam binding to my background before I layered them all onto a green card front.  I added my layered image using 3D foam tape and then added the layered greeting punchie below it.  Finally, I tied a short piece of seam binding to the length on my card with one knot to simulate a bow.      Therese

Digital images, lace doily and some embossing for a get well card

A fun get well card!!!  I laser printed the image (Pixabay), trimmed it then added a piece of a paper lace doily to the bottom edge.  I embossed the top edge of a blue card using a dots border embossing folder then glued my image element below it.  I stamped the greeting on the lower right hand corner with blue ink.
The doily was rescued from a plate when we were out a while back and I knew I would find a place for it!!

Therese

Bleached backgrounds with handmade paper for these sympathy cards

These pieces of paper have been sitting since Christmas and arrived wrapped around gifts from my daughter!! She knew they would not go to waste!!  I finally unearthed them and decided to make a few cards with them. I started by modifying the dark blue gift wrap using a handmade stamp and some bleach!!  The handmade stamp is just rubber trimmings glued to a piece of wood!!  I spread some bleach on a plate and used it as a stamp pad and stamped all over the blue paper after crinkling and ironing it flat several times.  You can see the whole sheet below.

The other piece of paper was commercial handmade paper with natural additions which is beautiful and has texture on the one side.
For the first card I combined the two.  I glued the beautiful deckle edge of the brown one to a scrap of the blue one and trimmed the piece down to 4" x 5.25" which I then glued to a dark blue card front.  I watercoloured the butterfly (CLKER), layered it onto a brown rectangle with distressed edges.  I slipped a little laser printed greeting in between the two and adhered this large element to the front of my card over the join in my background.  It still needed a bit of something so I added some dots on the left hand side of the brown layer and that worked.  Love the look!
For my second card, I stitched a torn strip of the blue paper to a full background of the brown paper and stamped the greeting below in blue then glued it to a dark blue card front.  I embossed the wings of the little butterfly punchie (SU), tied on a brown fiber to create its body and then glued it to the front of my card using a small piece of a glue dot to allow the wings to be free.
I am looking forward to making a few more cards with these papers!!

Therese

Serendipity backgrounds, ribbon and digital greetings!

When I was making the scrappy backgrounds I discovered some serendipity backgrounds which I had made previously so I trimmed out a couple from one of my sheets and made these two cards.
These serendipity backgrounds have a tissue paper overlay which makes them much more subtle than the regular ones.  I used the lattice embossing folder on them which makes them almost look like fabric!!  For the left hand card, I zig zag stitched all the way around with green thread and stamped all over it with a round foam stamp in three different colours.  I glued the background to the front of a yellow card, added two lengths of gros grain ribbon on the left hand side - yellow and green. I watercoloured the greeting (Mud Maven Designs) image and added faux stitching all the way around with a green marker.  I adhered the greeting to the front of my card over the ribbons.    I love this image greeting in that it mimics hand stitching which works very well for this card!!
For my second card I stitched the background to a yellow card front after I had added a piece of yellow printed ribbon.  Those polka dots are fun!  I watercoloured the greeting (Mud Maven Designs), layered in onto purple and used 3D foam tape to adhere it to my card front over the ribbon.  I added three little butterfly punchies in the same purple. Like that!!

Therese

Thinking of you for a friend

A friend of ours was hospitalized last week and fortunately he is doing well and back home today.
I made him a card and some snacks though he has to be careful what he eats and will require some diet modification in the next few weeks.
I started with a navy blue card and adhered a layer of naturals handmade paper to the front, added a colour printed image of a light house then a strip of hand decorated navy gift wrap.  To finish off I added a little punchie greeting.
We must be grateful for every thing and all that is good!!

Therese

Reusing elements from handmade cards

  In the stack of cards that were donated I found some handmade cards.  They were not A2 sized so I chose to use the main elements as focal elements for my cards.  For the first card I cut out this beautiful hand painted image of three rose buds.  I had to cut them apart and recombine them with the leaves at the bottom so I watercoloured the space in between in green which tied them together quite nicely.  I stitched this focal element to a pink rectangle then layered a piece of dark green below on which I mounted a laser printed greeting punchie which I sponged a bit around the edges.  Layered this large element to a dark green card front.  

For my second card, I trimmed the focal element from the card, added an embossed pink rectangle to the bottom and glued it to an orange card front.  I glued a strip of yellow cardstock where they joined an then added a layered punchie greeting.  The greeting is a digital by Bird's cards to which I added a font greeting, laser printed and watercoloured.  I glued it to a white scallop punchie and thinking that it needed a bit of something else - I pierced the scallops!  That was better.  I adhered it to my card using 3D foam tape.

For my third card, I reused this beautiful tulip element.  I tore the bottom section and left a gap when I glued the elements to a green card front.  I tied some white fiber in the gap.  I stamped and gold embossed the greeting (SU), punched it out (SU) and layered it onto a gold scalloped oval(SU)  which I adhered over the fiber using 3D foam tape.
Easter is coming up and it is nice to have a few cards ahead.

Therese

More scrappy background cards!

 A couple more embossed scrappy background cards!!
For the card on the left, I trimmed my background to 4"x 5.25", added a length of vintage turquoise seam binding and glued it to a turquoise card.  I watercoloured the greeting (Mud Maven Designs), layered it onto blue and then added it to my card using 3D foam tape.  I tied a short piece of seam binding to the one on the card with one knot to simulate a bow.
For the card on the right, I trimmed my background and added a strip of purple to the top and bottom before adding two lengths of scallop lace and a pink ribbon in between.  I glued this large element to the front of a bright green card.  I watercoloured the image (Melonheadz Designs), layered it onto green and distressed the edge before adhering it over the ribbon on my card using 3D foam tape.  I added a layered punchie greeting which I created using a laser printed punchie (Word Window -SU) over a label (Modern Label - SU).
Fun cards to make and these cute little images are a perfect pairing with them.

Therese

Little fabric collages

Inspired by some online fabric postcards I decided to create some fabric collages that I could cut up to create little shapes for sewing to fabric postcards.  I started with some waist band fusible pellon which I bought at a thrift store.  I trimmed four pieces about 10" x 1.25", laid them one at a time fusible facing up on my ironing board and started applying tiny fabric scraps and tack fusing them into place with the iron.  I just kept adding scraps in a variety of directions and colours until the whole piece was covered with fabric.  Then I really applied the iron over the whole surface to ensure that everything was fused properly.  Repeated the same procedure for the remaing three pieces.  Because I wanted the small pieces I trimmed out of these strips to really be collaged it required very small pieces of fabric - some were as small as 1/8" by 1".

 I am very happy with how that worked out and with the fusible on only the one side of the pellon it worked very well to tack the little pieces into place.  Once I had finished the fusing I thought I would add some interest by stitching all over them with thread.  I used what I had - ends of spools, etc that had colours that coordinating a bit.  I mostly stitched along the length but did a few very wavy lines to add interest.  I pressed them all nicely once the stitching was done.  Stitching has added some stability to the pieces and they cut apart quite nicely to create some very nice little fabric collages.  You can see all the ones I created with my four strips below.  They are approximately 1.25"x 1.25".  I will be using these for at least one or two fabric postcards and I will  have leftovers for other fabric projects - maybe an art quiltie or two!!                  Therese

Scrappy backgrounds for quilted looking cards

 I dug out my scraps the other day and made a whole bunch of backgrounds.  I used straight edged scraps and glued them down to a substrate of paper or cardstock one at a time next to each other until the whole surface had been filled.  I trimmed as I needed to the edges or to make the pieces fit.  I embossed them once they were dry.
Here are some of the cards I made with the backgrounds I created.
The greetings are digital images from Mud Maven Designs.  She has some very cool greetings on her site!!  Worth checking out!!
I trimmed my background to 4" x 5.25", added a two lengths of scallop lace with pink ribbon between them.  I watercoloured the greeting, layered onto dark pink and adhered it to my card over the ribbon.  I layered two silk flowers and adhered them to my card front using a yellow brad.  I love that the greeting has a little graphic!!

 For this card I thought the greeting was most appropriate!!!  I trimmed my background to 4" x 5.25", I glued several short pieces of ribbon to back of the image and then stitched it to the background.  I glued this large element to the front of a black card.  I watercoloured the flowers on the greeting - adds a nice touch to have the graphics included with the greeting.

For this card, I trimmed my background to 4" x 5.25", added a brown gros grain ribbon cross the top portion and glued it to a blue card front.  I watercoloured the greeting, layered it onto a rectangle of green cardstock leaving extra on the right hand side which I punched with a scallop border punch (SU).  I added two lines with a glitter gel pen and then a little drop of blue glitter glue in each of the scallops to finish it off.
I really love the look of these backgrounds and they are super easy to make and use up scraps.  A great activity to do with the kids or with a group of friends when you are wanting to be creative together.               Therese

Fabric postcard with a geometric pattern and hand stitching

 I am part of a birthday swap on my fabric postcard group - Trading Fabric Post Cards.  I have seen cards where the shapes of the images in the fabric have been hand embroidered so I decided I would try that on this one.  The fabric has geometric patterns and elements and a wonderful colour combination of red, purple, sienna and turquoise with a bit of blue and black!!  You can see below a before shot of the fabric - the strip is printed and part of the fabric. I wanted it to be highlighted so I added an extra layer of batting just behind the strip and stitched it into place before stitching the same size piece of batting to the front of my postcard.

With the batting in place I started adding hand stitching - first around all the elements in the areas above and below the strip.  I took same colour embroidery floss and did running stitch around all of the elements doing all one colour at the time starting with the black, then the purple, turquoise, blue and finally the yellow.  I wanted to highlight the red area as well so I just added short tiny stitches randomly in all of those areas.  I like the texture that the hand stitching provides!!  Next, I added hand stitching to the squares in the strip.  In this area I added hand stitching in a different colour than the printing. For example on the black center elements I used red and purple to highlight them.  I used the those same colours on the outside borders and in the black corner elements as well.  Lastly, I added yellow to the corners of all the squares.  Wanting to bling it up a bit I added sequins in the center of the squares which I just stitched in place using large french knots.  As I was stitching I was thinking of a theme regarding having special days.  I was inspired to make one of the squares a gift by stitching a gold ribbon to the top to simulate a bow and to add the quote which reads" today - the present".  The squares reminded me that often every day looks very much like the one that came before with a few changes.  We get to choose to see it as "the present" that it is and certainly when we celebrate a birthday we get to make it special by adding to it activities, people and things that have meaning for us.   The quote is hand written on iron on fabric label tape, coloured with watercolour and ironed into place below the gift.  To make the bow, I simply folded gold ribbon to make a V and stitched it into place above the square that became the gift.  I added a white backer to which I had stitched some pellon and stitched my front and back together very close to the edge all the way around.  I braided three lengths of black fiber and used black thread in a zig zag stitch to finish off my post card.  I am pretty happy with it!!  Very different that some of the others I have created.  You can check them out here. This one is off to my partner to arrive before her March birthday.      Therese

Creating shamrocks with hearts for cards!

For these St. Patrick's Day cards I used heart punchies and die cuts to create shamrocks for my cards - an idea I found on line.  I cut two different sizes in different green decorative papers, layered them and stitched them together.  On the right hand one, I stitched them to the white layer at the same time.  With no St. Patrick's Day stamp I chose to create the layers I needed in Corel Draw using fonts and printed the quarter sheets with the greeting already on them.  For the first card I embossed the white layer with the Swiss Dots embossing folder on the top and manually embossed the bottom portion to avoid embossing the printed greeting.  I layered on my stitched shamrock, added the white fiber knotting it into place and then layered this whole element to the front of a green card.

For the second one, I added ribbon between the shamrock and the laser printed greeting then stitched the white layer to a green card front.  I did add green rhinestones to their centers which nicely covers up the convergence of the stem and the leaves.
For the next two cards I created shamrocks with hearts as well. For the left hand one I used smaller hearts to make a shamrock that would fit on a smaller rectangle which had a laser printed greeting.  I added a rhinestone in the center and sponged the edges of the rectangle with green ink to finish off my focal element.  I added a strip of white vintage seam binding to an embossed green rectangle of cardstock before I glued it to a white card front.  I added my focal element over the seam binding using 3D foam tape and then tied a short piece of seam binding to the piece on the card with one knot to simulate a bow!!  
For the next card, I embossed a white layer which had a laser printed greeting on it avoiding embossing the greeting.  I added a strip of gold fiber ribbon and then glued it to a green layer and then layered the whole element to a white card front.  I created my shamrock by gluing the hearts over each other and then glued them to a green square of cardstock.  I added this focal element to my card using double sided tape. 
Glad to have a bit of variety in my cards!!  

Therese

Changed up images in card kits to make St. Patrick's Day cards!

More St. Patrick Day cards!!  These both feature digital images I found on line!!  I do not have any stamps so the digital images worked fine.  They came from colouring page sites.  I started with kits from this January card class.   I substituted the images for the hearts!  I glued the laser printed decorative paper (Digital Graphics Cafe) to my embossed card fronts, added faux washi tape to the one on the right and then layered on my layered watercoloured images.  I added a little laser printed greeting to the bottom of the image on the right hand card along with a little rhinestone in the center of the shamrock.  These worked out great and making cards from kits always speeds the process!!

Therese

Vintage fabric postcard crazy quilted in pinks and greens

 I signed up for a Vintage Postcard swap on one of my groups - TFPC.  I decided to make it using crazy quilting fabric piecing and embellish it with hand stitching.
I started with a little cross stitch which I started months ago and finally finished.  There was some unraveling involved which may have contributed to the delay.  I machine stitched my little cross stitch to a piece of muslin and then started adding pieces of fancy fabric in pinks and greens - my favorite colour combination.

 These little scraps of fancy fabrics were a RAK in a swap I participated in on my Crazy Quilting group.  Judith asked all of us what our favorite colours were and a little package arrived along with our swap.  As you can see, they are very nice fabrics and it did not take very much of each to create this postcard so there are will be a few more from those scraps.  I have done the piecing technique before where you add strips all around a central element for crazy quilting but I obviously should have reviewed the instructions before I started.  I eventually had to top stitch some of the pieces in place so some review will have to happen before I do it next time.  Fortunately, crazy quilting is very forgiving and

there are few rules to be followed.  You can see above what my postcard looked like before I started stitching it.  It is always fun to add stitching and embellishments!!  I have a stitching book with directions for lots of stitches but the most fun is combining them to make nice borders to embellish the seams.  I started by adding the lace and also created a stitched butterfly and a sequin flower with a stem.  The flower border was fun too which was the element with the most colour.  I am pretty happy with all the stitching - it took a whole day!!  Once the stitching was finished I cut it down to size but because of how I finished my hand stitching I was not wanting to cut my threads so my post card is a bit larger than the traditional 4" x 6" that we normally create on the group.  Hopefully, that won't be too much of an issue for my swap partner.  I created a white layer for the back and added a piece of pellon to it before I stitched the front and back together with straight stitch all the way around the edge.  I am expanding my options for finishing the edges.  This is the first time I have ever used ziz zag on the edge.  I wanted to embellish that a little bit so I crocheted a single chain from pink yard and couched that into the stitching.  I originally used green thread over the pink yard - that was not good!!  So I unraveled that and used pink thread instead and that was much better.  I really like how the edge worked out!!  I will be doing that again!!  So my postcard is ready to go and will be mailed off to my swap partner in the next few days.  Therese

Reusing beautiful images from cards for making new cards

 I have received a stack of used cards and am reusing the images to make new cards!!!  It is a win-win!! I have chosen the smallest cards to reuse as the images are to the right scale for A2 cards.  

For the first one, I chose these beautiful poppies, trimmed the image and layered it onto green and then layered this element to the front of a pink card.  My favorite colour combination!!  I trimmed the gold greeting from the original card, layered it onto pink and then onto my card front on a bit of a diagonal.  Excellent!!

For my second card, I trimmed down the image, tied a length of white fiber on the top between the greeting and the image and then glued this element to a green card front.  Done!!

For my third card, I trimmed the owl from the card and reused the borders from the card on the top and the bottom of the image.  I glued these to a brown card front and added a laser printed greeting below the image. 

For my fourth card, I trimmed the all over floral card front to 4" x 5.25" and added a length of vintage green seam binding before gluing it to the front of a green card.  I layered a laser printed and watercoloured circle greeting (Bird's Cards) to a colour washed scallop circle punchie (SU) which was pierced in all the scallops and adhered it to my card front using 3D foam tape.  I tied on a short length of seam binding to the one on the card with one knot to simulate a bow.  

So a few more cards to add to the stash!!

Therese