Birthday card featuring a sanded embossed layer, a serendipity gift and some fiber

I found this card kit that would work well for a card for my friend so I put it together!!  You can check out the other cards here that I made for my January card class.
The background had already been embossed using white core cardstock and sanded.  The corners had been trimmed as well.  I tied the fiber around the embossed layer leaving the ends where I was going to apply the embellishment and adhered it to my red card front.  The little gift has been created using serendipity paper and had red fiber tied to it to create a gift.  I used 3D foam tape to apply the tape to the front of my card and I was done!!  I love the look of sanded cardstock and it has the most luxurious feel as well.      Therese

Anniversary card that features a hand embossed metal heart, an embossed background and braided fiber

I created this card for DH for our anniversary!!  He is a music guy so I like to include sheet music when I make a card for him.  I started with an oversized envelope and made an ivory card that fits inside. 
I manually embossed the red metal heart which was in my stash with swirls and then found these TH die cuts which I cut a while back when I was visiting my friend, Linda.  I combined a large sheet music heart with a black inner piece and then sponged all the way around in black so it would contrast against the polka dot embossed background.  I chose three different fibers - white flat, red bumpy and black crochet thread and braided them together to create a fiber accent for my card.  I added a black border to both ends of my white/watercolour background, positioned my fiber gluing the ends to the back and then mounted this to a red layer leaving a small margin all the way around.  I mounted the red heart with 3D foam tape and then added the musical heart below it.  I glued this large element to my ivory card.  Finally, I added a small laser printed greeting which I sponged with a bit of red so it would stand out a bit using 3D foam tape.  I seem to always gravitate to hearts for anniversary cards though I don't need much of an excuse to use hearts on any of my cards - one of my favorite elements.    Therese

Birthday card featuring stars, sequins and fiber

Still working on cards for my friend and this card kit worked well for what I needed. You can check out the other cards I made for that class back in January here.
Several openings had been created in the green layer using a star die and a long reach star punch and Happy Birthday had been gold embossed as well.  I tied the red string onto the layer through the large star opening and to the edge of the layer tying it off with a double knot. I adhered the yellow decorative paper behind the openings and then glued it to the front of my blue card.  I added the three blue sequins using glue dots.  Fun to use openings on the front of cards allowing you to see another layer!!  Therese

A birthday card with a baseball theme

A friend asked if I could create a birthday card with a baseball theme.  I used an image I printed a while back that features a dotted background like baseball uniforms often are, a baseball bat and the large baseball with a birthday greeting.  I fussy cut the top edge of the image, watercoloured the bat and added a shadow on the baseball and a bit of distressing on the edges.  I mounted it to a dark brown card front which I manually embossed on the top edge using a wood grain embossing folder. 

Therese

Birthday card from a kit featuring paper strips, laser printed digital greeting and some embossing

I am preparing a package of cards for a friend and have managed to find most of what I need from my card stash - amazing!!
For the balance of the cards I dug through my supply of card kits and found this one that would make a great versatile card.  You can see the others I made here for my March card making class a while back.
I started by adhering my decorative paper strips to the back of my embossed green strip.  I simply applied a strip of double sided tape and placed them neatly in place.  I embossed the top portion of my navy layer and applied the decorative paper layer I had just created so that it covered the bottom edge of the embossing.  I adhered this large layer to my medium blue card front and then trimmed the strips diagonally so they would end above the bottom of the navy layer.  The greeting is a digital one from Desert Diva which I laser printed on white cardstock and trimmed to size.  I sponged its edges in green and then mounted it to a blue layer with distressed edges.  I mounted it to my card front using 3D foam tape.   Using card kits to make cards is so quick and easy when all the pieces are already prepared and ready to go!!!!!!!!!!    Therese

Birthday card that features a reused panel and a decorative border

I made this card for  my sister in law for her upcoming birthday!!  I started with a large envelope and created a purple card to fit inside.  I trimmed down the panel of the used card to fit on the card I had created.  There was extra space on the one side so I created a green layer which I border punched on the left hand side with an eyelet punch (SU).  I simply layered the trimmed panel to the green layer and then to my card front.  A quick and easy card!!!!

Therese

Confirmation card featuring a beautiful cross, dove confetti and an embossed background

I created this card for a friend who has someone special being confirmed this weekend.  I laser printed this beautiful crosss onto white cardstock and trimmed it to size.  I watercoloured it and then added the tiny dove confetti!!  Perfect!!  I added a length of green ribbon to a yellow embossed layer  and adhered the ends to the back.  I mounted this layer to the front of a red card.  I mounted my large image to my card over the ribbon using 3D foam tape.  Very happy with how it worked out!!!!

Therese

Father's Day card featuring a digital image of a lantern, decorative paper and dimensional paint

I created this card for DH for Father's Day!!  I found this image on Anne's Cards 4U site.  On her image the handle was cut off and I thought it would look funny on my card so I did a little digital magic and created a handle with a section of the handle that was there by digitally cutting and pasting it. It required only a slight bit of clean up and looks very good!!!!!!!!
I started with a large envelope and created a dark green card to fit inside.  I trimmed a piece of scrapbook paper and adhered it to my card front.  I laser printed the digital image of the lantern along with a font greeting onto white cardstock and watercoloured it to coordinate with my card.  I added texture with my tracing wheel to the edges, used my distress tool to rough up the edges a bit more and then added some gray watercolour as well to age it a bit.  I loved the glow of the lantern so I added clear dimensional magic to the globe to give it the look of glass.  Love how that turned out.  After it was dry (overnight) I added my image to my card front using 3D foam tape. 
It has been a bit of a stretch to created these cards.  I have used larger images and more bold colour schemes!  It has been fun and I will continue to challenge myself to add a bit of the unexpected to my cards!!           Therese

Birthday card featuring a tea set, a font greeting and a great colour scheme

I made this card for my sister for her birthday!!!  We are twins and are now living closer than we ever have before.  We see each other more often but not as much as we expected considering the much closer distance.  I will have to make an effort to drop a few commitments so I can have more time with her.  I chose a large envelope and created a green card to fit inside.  She is a tea person so I thought this digital image from Anne's Card 4U would be most appropriate. I added a font greeting and printed it on white cardstock, trimmed it out of the sheet and watercoloured it in pink and green.  My most favorite colour scheme and one she really appreciates as well.  I coordinated the colours with the papers I had chosen for the background and added some paper piercing using my tracing wheel then layered it with green paper.  I added some sponging to my green card to help it coordinate with my green paper, adhered my pink paper to it and then added a pink strip with a flagged end before adhering my layered image to my card front using 3D foam tape.  We will be connecting with her next week as I have a prior commitment for the weekend.  

Therese

Father's Day card featuring a cardinal, a font greeting and strips of background paper

For our other son in law I made this card!!  Again, stretching a bit creatively!!  I chose a large envelope and created a brown card to fit inside.  I dug through my paper stash and found some coordinating paper strips and layered them onto a piece of double sided tape I had placed at the top of my card trimming the bottoms diagonally to create a background.  I printed the cardinal digital stamp from Anne's Cards 4U along with a font greeting onto white cardstock, trimmed it out of the sheet, and watercoloured it.  I added a pierced border using my tracing wheel and then watercoloured the edges just a bit.  I mounted the coloured image over the background using 3D foam tape. 

Therese

Father's day featuring a funny digital, some watercolour and bright background paper

 This card is for our son in law for Father's Day!!  I am stretching my creative muscles and going out of my comfort zone with images and paper. 
I thought this image was funky!!  It is my Anne's Cards 4U.  I chose a large envelope and made a dark blue card that fit inside.  I added the fun party background paper, trimmed it and glued it to the card front.  I printed the digital image with a font greeting onto white cardstock, trimmed it out and watercoloured it.  I added a faux stitching border, a small piece of coordinating ribbon and adhered it to my card front using 3D foam tape. 
I am usually much safer and coordinating with my images and colour choices so in an effort to stretch my creativity I decided to be a bit bolder.  I used the red flag and the blue bag to echo the colours in the background paper.  I used a clear gel pen on the metal and glass parts which adds a bit of shimmer which works well.          Therese

Graduation card from a card kit which features layered die cut, embellished scrapbook paper and a laser printed greeting

With a few requests for graduation cards I made another.  This is a card kit from the May card class.  This scrapbook paper has been in my stash a long time and I decided it needed some embellishing before I would every be able to use it so I stamped with a variety of stamps using a variety of green ink pads.  It was orginally the dark plaid which you can see on the flaps.  The back had been white and it got the stamping treatment as well.  I was much happier with it after the embellishing!!!  I cut the four little rectangles, scored their corners and fold over the flaps before adhering them to my green card front.  I layered the star and the circle to create my central focal element.  I adhere it in place using 3D foam tape.  I cut through my stash of greetings and found this one which I laser printed from a digital stamp I downloaded from Desert Diva.  I trimmed it down a bit, flagged one end and sponged it with green ink.  Thinking it still needed "a bit of something" I auditioned several options before deciding on this white star eyelet.  I punched a hole and set the eyelet on the left hand side of my greeting and the hole seemed large and empty so I added a glue dot on the back and a clear rhinestone to the front.  That was much better!!!!!!  I adhered it to the front of my card using 3D foam tape.  To finish it off I added clear glitter to the star and the cap on my greeting!!  Love it!!         Therese

Graduation cards from card kits featuring hand decorated paper, metallic die cuts and gold embossed greetings

It is the time of the year when graduations are happening everywhere!  I received a request for more so I made up these two from kits which I did a while back as well.  

I embossed the stamped greeting with gold embossing powder, adhered the decorative paper to the back of the frame and adhered this large element to the front of a coordinating card front.  I added tiny dots of white glue to the back of the die cut greenery (TH) which were cut from metallic cardstock and then gently placed them on my card fronts.  Just a bit of pressure to make sure they were in contact and then left them to dry.  It is not pretty when the white glue squishes out from under the leaves.  Really quick and easy to make cards up from kits!!!!!!!!!!  You can check out the last  one I made here.  That is the end of those card kits so I will have to invent something new for next time!!

Therese

Exchange cards featuring hammered botanical paper, a die cut butterfly and ribbon and bling

I created these two cards for my Card Exchange partners for this month.  I started with half sheets of hammered botanical paper which I created a while back with my Big Shot.  It is a very cool process where you place fresh botanicals - flowers, leaves, etc - between two sheets of white cardstock and pass it through your die cut machine which acts as a press and creates these cool images.  I added blue watercolour to the edges of these prints which really changed them up for me and made them look more like art.   I chose two large envelopes and made cards for them.
For my first card I created a light green card and added a decorative butterfly die cut in purple.  I adhered it using 3D foam tape and added clear glitter on the body and a few of the pieces in the wings.  I found a piece or torn green decorative paper in my stash and it coordinated perfectly so I placed it just below my butterfly which helped ground the background paper.  I added five tiny rhinestones to one of the dips to create a focal point and added the flight trail with a coordinating pen.  I glued this large element to my card front and then added purple dots to each side which nicely repeats the dots in the flight path.  I decided it did not need a greeting so I added an insert and I was done!!!
My second card was created in a very similar process.  I created a blue card for this one and added the same blue watercolour to the edges of my hammered botanical paper.  I so love the look!!  I found a torn strip of paper in my stash that coordinated so I added to the bottom of my decorative paper.  I added the butterfly using 3D foam tape and added some details using a clear glitter gel pen.  I added the same flight path using a coordinating marker and was pretty happy with it.  But it still needed "a bit of something" so I auditioned a few things and settled on this green gros grain ribbon which coordinated very nicely.  I added it to my decorative paper adhering the ends to the back using double sided tape.  I tied the remaining short end to the front using a single knot to simulate a bow.  That was better!!!!!!!!!!!  Again, I chose not to put a greeting on this card.  It holds its own without it.  Therese

Birthday card featuring a gardening image and a torn greeting

Still making cards for family!!  I chose this calendar page because the image depicts the tools of a gardener which the person I made it for certainly is. 
I trimmed the image from the calendar page leaving a white border.  I layered it onto navy blue leaving some spare cardstock on the bottom.  I chose a large envelope and made a brown card to fit into it.  I layered on a green layer leaving a very small border.  When I laid the layered image on the card it was a bit short so I simply tore the bottom section and adhered both pieces onto the green on my card front leaving an even border.  I tore the two edges of the laser printed greeting and adhered it to my card using 3D foam tape.  I like the look of the two different torn pieces being layered over each other. 

Therese

Birthday card featuring a reused image, a layered greeting and some bling

A card for my friend's birthday coming up soon!! 
I really liked the quote on this card front and decided to make a card with it.  I chose a large envelope and made a dark pink card to fit inside.  I added a purple layer which coordinated nicely with the flowers in my image.  To transition the image to my card front I used a scalloped border punch (SU) on the bottom edge and added clear rhinestones in each scallop.  I added a coordinating pink ribbon across the image before adhering it to my layered card front.  I found this oval laser printed greeting in my stash and the coordinating silver scalloped oval as well.  I layered them an adhered this element to my card using 3D foam tape.  Finishes the card very nicely!!!!!!!

Therese

May Cardmaking - felted wool acorns with hand stitching and some torn decorative paper

I had used this card sketch for my last All Occasion Class which these ladies did not attend.  You can check out the cards here.  I cut these little acorns from felted wool and added some handstitching to give them a bit of definition.  The kits included rectangles or squares which gave them several options for lay outs.  For this one I tore a square of decorative paper and mounted the two pieces for a coordinating piece of  cardstock. I glued that to a coordinating card front.  The little acorns were glued in the gap and one was added to the bottom section.  I provided little greetings but chose not to put one on this card.  I may add an appropriate one when I decide where it will be going!! 
This was a our last card - always a quick and easy one!! 
We will be taking the summer off and get back to cardmaking in September. 

Therese

May Cardmaking - a little birdie with a cage and stamped greeting

This sketch I used more than a year ago for a class and with a few kits still sitting in my craft room I decided to make them work for this class. 
We added a beak and a tiny black brad for an eye to our bird die cut (TH).  Some added a bit of chalk for colour on theirs to make it more realistic.  We inserted our birds into the cage and added the wing using 3D foam tape which gave it a bit of dimension.  We added double sided tape on the bottom section to adhere it to the decorative paper which also allowed us to add some rhinestones at the bottom - bonus!!  We added the ribbon at the top of the cage, slipped on our stamped greeting tag and once adhered to the paper we were able to glue the end to the back using double sided tape.  We tied another short piece to it using a single knot which simulates a bow.  We then adhered this large element to our coordinating card front.  In order to not have the greeting be to floppy we used a small piece of 3D foam tape to adhere it in place.  Most of the decorative papers had some sort of accent on the edge which helped to situate the bird cage and give the card interest.    Therese

May Cardmaking - a fun fold with a central element and a little greeting

Our last cardmaking session before the summer!!  We met last week and had a fun evening making cards. 
I prepped kits for the evening using some of my previous sketches from other classes I have had recently. 
For this card I cut double sided decorative paper into four even rectangles and we scored and folded one corner and once glued to our card fronts it created an opening in the center of the card. I punched 1.75" circles which we embossed before adding them to our opening.  I created a variety of 3D embellishments to add to the middle.  On this card, I added a butterfly punchie cut from serendipity paper which coordinated nicely with my decorative paper.  I sponged the edges and tied on gold cording to create antennae.  The greeting is laser printed, punched with a Word Window (SU) punch and layered onto a coordinating Modern Label (SU) punchie.  Love the look!!  Lots of texture and dimension!!  You can check out here the ones from the last class.
Therese

This birthday card features original art, a tiny greeting and a bit of embossing

Needing some cards for family birthdays that are coming up next month. 
The art on this card was done in watercolour and finished off using shimmery gel pens in a variety of colours.  It is beautiful!  Not sure how I acquired it but I have kept it knowing it should have the opportunity to have another life!!  I trimmed it down and then found a large envelope which would allow me to create a card large enough to hold it.  I created a black card for my envelope, added a red layer of cardstock which I embossed on both ends with a polka dot border embossing folder. I adhered the trimmed image to the red layer and added this layer to the black card.  Not wanting to take away from the art I added a very small stamped greeting which I layered with red to make it noticeable.  I added some black dots to it to help it coordinate with the image.  Perfect!! 

Therese

Birthday card that features a light house, some ribbon and a chalkboard greeting

More family birthday cards!!  I started with a large envelope and made a black card to fit inside knowing that I would be using this light house image which I trimmed from a used card.  I trimmed a red layer just a  bit smaller than the black card and embossed a line across the upper portion.  I used a black stamp pad to highlight the embossed dots and then added a bit all the way around to soften the transition from red to black.  I adhered my image to the upper left which left room on the lower right for my greeting.  I chose a chalkboard greeting from my stash that worked well and added some bits of coordinating ribbon before adding it to my card front using 3D foam tape.             Therese