Angel Christmas card in non traditional colours

While I was creating these Christmas cards I had two pieces of plum cardstock left over so I decided to make a couple of different cards with them.
I stamped this collage angel stamp with gold pigment ink and embossed it with clear detailed embossing powder.  I did try it with regular gold embossing powder first but that resulted in the loss of many of the the fine details in the image.  So I just turned the piece over and stamped it again on the back side.  I bleached the face and hands area which worked out really well.  I watered down the little bit of bleach I had left in my dish and colour washed it over the background.   I really like how that worked out.  When painting with bleach always use a plastic paint brush because the bleach will destroy natural fibers.  I used one from a kid's set of watercolours.  Once that was dry I fussy cut the edge which gave it a nice organic feel.  I chose a dark plum card and layered on a rose embossed layer to which I had already attached a plum ribbon.  I adhered my focal image to my card front using 3D foam tape.  Next, I tied on an extra piece of ribbon to simulate a bow to the one already on the card and for fun, I included a length of gold cording in the knot.  I like the look!  I layered my laser printed greeting punchie onto a gold label punchie and mounted that to my card front using 3D foam tape.  My focal image was then really in need of a bit of gold to help it stand out so I applied some gold metallic wax to the edges.  It was not quite enough but because it is already glued to my card front I have decided to live with it.  On my next card I used a bit of gold pigment ink on the edges and some of the same gold embossing powder which gave that image just what it needed to compete with the gold cording and the greeting.
So that is two more to add to the six I did earlier which brings my total to 8!!

Therese

Musical thank you cards

I am making a few more thank you cards with the musical gift wrap I received at Christmas.  I ripped my piece of music paper in several strips because it was not long enough to cover the whole card.  I glued the pieces to my dark brown card front to find that I had glued the pieces down upside down!!  What to do!!  I decided to use it landscape to help diffuse my mistake.  I found this short piece of wavy ribbon in my stash and thought it would add some fun texture to the card so I glued the ends to the inside of the card and then stitched it in place with my sewing machine and ivory thread.  I went looking for a focal element and found this thermally embossed image in my stash.  It would do nicely!!  I bleached it out a bit to highlight the image, added a gold layer of gift wrap before adhering it to the front of my card over the ribbon using 3D foam tape.  I layered a scalloped oval (SU) laser printed thanks greeting (Melonheadz) over a larger oval punchie (SU) in dark brown and adhered it to the front of my card using 3D foam tape.  Not sure that the mistake in music paper orientation has been mitigated but I am accepting that it is done and finished.  While I was at it I decided to make another one considering I had the supplies sitting on my desk!  Changed the orientation, cut the music paper instead of ripping it and added fiber instead of ribbon.  I punched out a notch on the spine with my slot punch (SU) and added one to the outside edge as well using a circle punch so I could tie a double knot in my fiber.
Pretty happy with the way they turned out!!

Therese

Christmas Thanks with beautiful ribbon

I am enjoying the process of using these music gift wrap backgrounds which I cut from gift wrap that was on one of my gift this past Christmas.  I rubbed this one with an old multicoloured stamp pad and then used a paper towel to blend the colours and ensure that the surface was dry.  The gift wrap is a bit glossy so it takes a while for the ink to sink in which facilitates these backgrounds. I glued it to a dark purple card front, added a length of coordinating ribbon gluing the ends to the inside of the card.  I tied on a silver cord to the wide ribbon inserting a dark sheer ribbon in the knot.  I sponged the die cut greeting to coordinate and adhered it over the ribbons using double sided tape.  Quick and easy with supplies from my stash!!

Therese

January Cardmaking - Hearts for Valentine's

I wanted to incorporate some Valentine's cards in this session for those who wanted special cards for their special someones!!
For this card, I created a chipboard frame to use for embossing only the edge of my card!!  I glued two pieces of chipboard (4.25" x 5.5") to each other and then cut a label out of the middle of it.  Now I can use the frame OR the label to selectively emboss the areas of my card I want.  I used the frame to emboss the edge of my pink card.  I cut my decorative paper to 4" x 5.25" and then cut it diagonally leaving 3/4" from the two opposite corners.  That leaves me with two identical but opposed pieces.  For this paper where the paper pattern has direction it will be best to glue the other piece to the bottom portion of the card front and arrange the other elements accordingly. For any paper that is uniform or random it will not matter how the paper is glued on.  Fun!!  This decorative paper is some I printed from images from The Morgue File.  I love the pink and gold!!  After gluing my decorative paper to my card I added a strip of my handmade faux washi tape.  I glued my two hearts to each other  - one is an embossed scalloped heart die cut (SU), the other is a heart punchie with a coordinating stamped image inside (SU).  I glued this element to my card front over the washi tape using 3D foam tape.  I trimmed my colour printed greeting, gave it a colour wash of pink and glued it to my card front just below my heart!!  I did pretty much the same thing with my second card except it has the paper on the lower portion of the card.  The paper on this card is from Digital Graphics Cafe.  I have a few card kits left over so I will try making a few portrait cards to see how well that works.  They will show when I have them made up.
Therese

January Cardmaking - a plethora of hearts!

I found a beautiful card on Splitcoast Stamper that is almost exactly this sketch!!  By the way, this site is one of the best for inspiration!!!!  Always lots of card and projects to check out!!
It had the quote "you warm my heart" which I just loved so I incorporated it into this set of cards.  I printed two greetings for each one in case not everyone is as enamored with the greeting as I was!!  I used the alternate greeting on this card.
I started with a red card front and added a white embossed layer.  I punched (SU) lots of hearts from a wide variety of decorative paper!!!  I chose a variety of silver and black & white ones for this card.  I glued them in a random fashion ( I see I was not as random as I had expected to be) onto my embossed layer.  I trimmed my coordinating laser printed greeting and adhered it over my heart punchies using a piece of 3D foam tape in the middle and double sided on each side which gives it just a bit of dimension.  I adhered the little coloured heart die cut using 3D foam tape as well.
It was a fun afternoon punching hearts from colour coordinated scraps and making up these card kits!!!
I made my second card at class and I really like this colour combination.  I decided to try a landscape format and that worked just as well.  One of the ladies had the b&w with silver combination of my first card and she chalked the edges of several of her hearts in red to help them stand out and that worked out really well.
A versatile card kit!  I have a few leftover so they will likely show up here in the next little while

Therese

January Cardmaking - Decorative paper frame

It has been a wonderful holiday season!!  I am happy to be back to a routine because that means more time for cardmaking.  This is our first cardmaking session for this year and my first card frames my focal image with strips of decorative paper.  It took a bit to figure out the math of what size the strips had to be for an A2 sized card.  The short strips are 3/4" x 3 1/8" and the longer ones are 3/4" x 4 3/8" which leaves 1/8" gaps between them, the edge and the focal image.  You can cut the strips you need out of a 1.5" x 7.5" piece of decorative paper though I cut mine mostly of scraps.  I did cut a few 3/4" x 3/4" pieces from the small leftovers to add to my stash of paper pieces for paper mosaics like these ones.   I glued the strips to mym yellow card front in the pattern you see on my image.  You can put the short one completely to the right as well which works out as well.  I water coloured my daisy (Beccy's Place) which was laser printed from a digital image after adding a font greeting.  I added a bit of stippling as well.  I trimmed the bottom with scallop decorative scissors and pierce each scallop with a push pin.  I glued my focal element in the center of my card front.  It is nicely framed by the strips!!  I cut and embossed a short piece of coordinating cardstock, trimmed the ends, tied on a bit of coordinating cording and adhered it to my card front just below the greeting.  This is another versatile sketch!!  I could have incorporated landscape designs into my focal elements but I did not even think about it!!  Another time!!  I made my second card at class.  I used embossed foil that has been coloured with alcohol ink for the frame which makes a real statement!!  The heart (Digital Graphic Cafe) was laser printed and watercoloured and given the same treatment as my previous one.  

Therese