Christmas Card Class #1 - A joyous card embellished with a star

For my last card I wanted a quick and easy one!  I used a decorative font to format JOY and printed it in dark green onto ivory cardstock.  I trimmed the greeting out and used a fine brush to colour in the three letters with red watercolour - love the look!!  I glued it onto my decorative paper (4" x 5.25") which I had glued to a coordinating card front.  The little silver star punchie which I added with 3D foam tape adds just enough interest and texture to this card and finishes it off nicely!!
Used some beautiful and sparkly handmade paper for my second card!         Therese

Christmas Card Class #1 - a peaceful dove

For my second card I wanted to use this beautiful dove die from Spellbinders.  I have had it for a while but have not really used it a lot.  I bought it because it is such a versatile image and certainly would make great Christmas cards.
So I cut out doves from white cardstock and then cut the PEACE (SX) word from the same cardstock using only the one word from this long Sizzlit die (peace, love, joy).  Next, I went looking for backgrounds that would be suitable for these doves.  I found some hand decorated paper I made a while back when I sister was visiting which really worked well.  We had used watercolours and added salt which creates the starburst which simulate stars or snowflakes depending on how you look at it!!  Once my backgrounds were trimmed out I cut coordinating card fronts.  When it came time to combine the doves with the background papers I found that some backgrounds would be best with ivory accents so I cut a few ivory doves and words to go with those backgrounds.
I started assembling my card by gluing my dove to the top portion of my background and then adding the word PEACE to the bottom portion.  I used a fine tip glue applicator for the words which kept the glue where it was supposed to be.  The layout looked a bit sparse but I was really not wanting to detract from the main elements too much so I added some wavy lines with my pattern tracing wheel.  That was much better! Still needed something - I decided to add a small heart at an intersecting point of the lines between my dove and the word.  That was perfect!!
My second card features some burgundy holly gift wrap as a background which works very well too!
Love the simplicity of this card with those beautiful elements which pretty much stand on their own!!

Therese

Christmas Card Class #1 - A wonky tree Christmas card

For our first card for this class I decided to use some supplies I found in my stash - navy rectangles with one torn edge.  I decided to use them to frame a space in which I am featuring a wonky tree.  I have seen several of these over the years and I decided to do some searching on my favorite website for some inspiration - Splitcoast Stampers!!  Always the very best place to get some good ideas!!

I started with a white card as I would be using it to simulate a snowbank.  

Next, I dug through my stash of decorative papers and found several that would nicely simulate a blue or night sky.  I trimmed out rectangles that were about 4" x 5 1/4".  They did not have to be precise but I needed them large enough so the navy strips would cover their sides.  I tore a wavy strip off the bottom edge which once glued to the white card front would create my snowbank.  I glued the sky paper to the front of the white card lining up the top edge of the paper with the top of the card.  When I placed the navy strips over the decorative paper they seems too flat so I decided to embellish them with embossing.  I chose to do it by hand so as to not ruin the beautiful torn edges on these pieces.  Before gluing the strips into place I realized that I would have to make sure that there was enough room for my wonky tree in the space between them.  

So, I dug out my stash of Christmas papers and cut all sorts of triangles - not necessarily the same size or even from side to side.  It was quite easy to trim them by hand with a large pair of scissors that easily spanned the lengths I needed.  I started putting them in piles that somewhat coordinated and balanced the greens, reds and blues. With a bit of experimenting I figured I needed 4-5 triangles to make my tree tall enough for this card.  I dug through my brown scrap bin and found some small pieces of brown cardstock to create trunks for my wonky trees.  After trying out one of my trees on my card front I realized that I needed a star as well so I dug out some yellow cardstock and punched a few stars.  

With all the pieces I needed I auditioned one of my trees in the space between my navy strips and it was perfect.  Some others will require trimming.  So I glued down my trunk and then adhered four triangles to create my tree and finished it off with a little yellow star!  I am pretty happy with how this card worked out.  Next, I found some little round greetings in my stash so I layered them on coordinating cardstock and added them to my card front using 3D foam tape.  I am playing around with adding stitching to the triangles or dots to the outside of them.  Not sure, so for now it will remain as it is!!

Therese

Rural farm scene for this quick and easy Christmas card

For my class tonight one of my participants ordered a set of cards with this barn scene which I used last year.  Her DH is in the agricultural business and it makes the most appropriate card!! 

I colour printed the barn image (Pixabay) on white cardstock several to a page and trimmed the images apart to 4" x 5.25".  I wrapped some coordinating nubby blue fiber around this large element several times and secured the ends on the back with tape.  I glued this element to a black card front and then adhered my laser printed oval punchie greeting over the fiber using 3D foam tape.  It makes cards that come together quickly and look great!!!

Therese

A fisherman on the lake on this large card

My last large card for this session!!  I have six in all to give my sister when I see her later this week.  

Again, a dark brown card front on which I glued some geometric scrapbook paper leaving an even border all the way around.  I watercoloured the image of this fisherman (Great Canadian Stamp Company), trimmed it a bit and adhered it to a coppery metallic cardstock which I trimmed to leave a large margin on the right which I textured with my tracing wheel.  I added several piece of ribbon to in the top right hand corner using double sided tape and then adhered the whole element to my embellished card front.  Love the colours on this one!!

Therese