Happy Hallow'en!!

 Wishing you all a wonderful Hallowe'en!!!!!   We have no snow and the temperatures are above zero - great conditions for a prairie Halloween!!!!!!!!  The little pie pumpkins are carved, the seeds are soaking and will be roasted with supper and our snack as we welcome Trick or Treaters!! Therese

All Occasion Card - double stamped vellum in a frame with a layered die cut floral embellishment

Here is another of my double stamped vellum cards.  This one features a dotted flower (SU) and I stamped the back of the vellum with three colours - yellow, orange and red.  I mounted it into a frame (SX) which I embossed with a script embossing folder (CB) and then added the piece of white bond.  I trimmed a red card and then some coordinating scrapbook paper which was a bit short on the width which left me with a gap after I tore it in two.  I dug through my flower punchie stash and found four flowers which were the perfect colours to make a layered die cut flower embellishment for my card.  I used a silver brad to hold them all together.  I adhered my frame with 3D foam tape and then added my little flower with 3D foam tape as well.  Therese
 

Birthday card - mushrooms with a fun greeting, a bit of brown raffia and some ribbon

 This is my card for my second card exchange partner!!  A very different look using another mushroom (digital - Pixabay) image which I colour printed and trimmed out of the large sheet.  I left a lot of room around this one so I could add the raffia and added a bit of watercolour to remove the starkness of the white cardstock.  The brown raffia was embellished with brown and red ink to coordinate better with the background.  I wrapped the raffia around my mushrooms after I had added some paper piercing with my pattern tracing wheel.  A bit more texture was added by applying 3 eyelets to the top right corner.  I layered this element to a kraft rectangle and distressed all the edges.  I trimmed the background, added a length of red ribbon and mounted it to my large dark brown card.  The mushroom focal element was added to my card using 3D foam tape.    It is off to my partner in today's mail!!  Therese 

Birthday card - a fun greeting on a card featuring mushrooms and collage background with eyelets and raffia

 I was playing with the fun greeting referring to a "fun- gi" combined with a mushroom for a card which will show up later because it is not quite finished yet. I made this card for one of my card exchange partners for October.  I am late getting these out but they will be in the mail today!!!  I started with a beautiful cluster of mushrooms (digital - Kisspng/Cleanpng) with a fun font greeting which I colour printed and then trimmed out of the large sheet.  I ran my pattern tracing wheel around all four edges and then layered it with green cardstock which I distressed all they way around.  I created a large dark brown card and then created a collage background using two different papers.  To add some texture I added six pewter eyelets and then ran some brown raffia through them creating a bit of a diagonal element on my background.  I adhered my background to my card and then added my mushrooms using 3D foam tape.  

Halloween treats - hot chocolate!

 I made up these cute little pouches to package hot chocolates for Halloween for grand kids!!

I used two pieces of 6" x 6" pumpkin scrapbooking paper which I glued to a 2" x  6" piece of cardstock which I scored and folded and became the bottom of the little pouch which allowed the pumpkins to all be upright.  I wrapped the hot chocolate in white tissue paper, inserted it into the cavity, added the green stem and then punched two holes where I added a length of ivory raffia to hold all the pieces together!!  Cute and relatively quick!!!  Therese

All Occasion Card - double stamped vellum in a frame with leaf die cut embellishment

Here is another one of the cards I made with my pieces of double stamped vellum.  I stamped this one with a beautiful leaf and used my Creole Spice stamp pad on the back.  I embossed my frame with a leaf embossing folder (QCutz) and added the vellum along with a white bond backer.  I trimmed a piece of decorative paper a that coordinated a bit short and tore it in two which left me with a green gap.  I mounted my leaf focal element to my card front using 3D foam tape and then added three little leaves (TH) in green, purple and orange tied with kraft raffia as my embellishment also adhered with 3D foam tape.   A nice fall card!!

Therese

All Occasion Card - double stamped vellum in a framed with some fiber and lace and a stamped heart punchie

A few weeks ago after reading about the double stamped vellum technique on Splitcoast Stampers I decided to give it a go!!  I choose some stamps and dug out the white embossing powder and vellum.  Most of the stampers had used some sort of frame so I dug out a large frame die (SX) which would make it easy to adhere the vellum.  I cut the vellum just a bit larger than the opening and stamped both sides with the same stamp - the front was embossed with white embossing powder and the back was stamped with a colour.  I had cut six pieces of vellum so I die cut six white frames to go with them.  Life got busy and I did not get back to them for a few days and have been making cards sporadically as time allowed.  This is my first card.  I embossed the frame with the Swiss Dots embossing folder (CB), adhered the heart (SU) stamped vellum to the back using double sided tape and then backed it with a piece of white bond paper which gives it a nice clean look.  I wrapped a length of white fiber to the frame tying a knot on the upper left hand corner.  I added two lengths of scalloped lace to my background before securing it to my card front.  I added my frame to my card using 3D foam tape and then embellishing the card with a coordinating white embossed heart punch in pink.  This will be great for a little girls card, Vallentine's or an anniversary.  Therese
 

All Occasion Card - simple flower on a bright and textured background

I found this background under a box I had been using for pressing finished cards a while back and with no idea of the original concept of the card I was going to create I just went with a new one!!  I added a purple ribbon across it and adhered it to the purple card I found with it then tied on a short piece to simulate a bow.  I dug through my stash of images and found this simple rose (CraftStarters) which I watercoloured to coordinate.  I ran my pattern tracing wheel around all four sides of the image before adhering it to my card front using 3D foam tape.  A quick and easy card!!!

Therese
 

Christmas Card kits - Card #3 - colour printed tags over a torn background

I always make my last card kit a quick and easy one!!  This one features a colour printed tag (Homemade Gifts Made Easy) which I downloaded from the website and colour printed then trimmed leaving a white border.  These are all different which makes the cards all different because I simply chose coordinating papers and cards.  I did add a coordinating simple ribbon embellishment to the tags by adding a bit of ribbon from the front and securing the front and back with double sided tape and then flagging the ends.  I downloaded several sets of tags which worked very well for making focal elements on Christmas cards!!  

I cut a four inch square of decorative paper and tore in into two pieces and then mounted them to my card front.  I added 3D foam tape to the tag and positioned it over the gap at a bit of an angle.    Therese

 

Christmas Card kits - Card #2 - a snowflake wreath with a bow and a printed greeting

For my second card I chose to create a wreath with colourful snowflake punchies.  These were punched from a variety of scrapbook papers - mostly scraps in several greens, dark maroon and gold.  I printed a guiding circle on the white layer to help situate the punchies in a wreath shape. At the same time I added a printed a coordinating font greeting.  Once the wreath is created I added a colourful gold bow and adhered it with a glue dot.  This large element was adhered to a dark maroon layer and then to the dark green card.  The snowflake punchies (MS) make a very effective wreath with nice feathery edges.  

Therese

 

Christmas Card kits - Card #11 - peaceful dove with an embossed vellum greeting

A friend of mine who is an enthusiastic card maker has asked for a set of Christmas card kits.  She is very creative and likes to make the card her own.  

For the first card I worked around a white dove die cut (SX).  I layered this one over a dark purple oval (Nestibilities).  It was mounted over a mottled paper (printed digital background) to which I had added a stamped and embossed PEACE greeting (Recollections) on vellum simply folding the ends to the back and securing with double sided tape.  The torn edges of the greeting go well with the mottled background.  The dove is mounted over the oval using 3D foam tape to give it a bit of dimension.  

I made a few different colours to give a bit of variety to the kits.  

Therese
 

Slow Stitching - five more little cats embellished with stitching

 I have been working on and off in the last few weeks on these cat squares.  I have added a variety of hand stitching to frame them nicely on their black squares.  These will be added to quilts somewhere along line as I get back to quilting.  It has been a busy summer with a variety of events and family occasions.  The fall has been beautiful with no hard frost yet so more jobs around the house have been added to the TO DO list.  

I acquired this wonderful vest at a sale at put on by the Ujamma Grandmas.  It was very well suited to me in the way of the colours, the french and english stitched words and the fit!!!  

I will be sharing with the others on Kathy's Quilts for her Slow Sunday Stitching!!  Be sure to check them out as there is always something to inspire there and lots of links to their projects and other stitching challenges. 

Therese

Bags, babies and beyond - Ujamma Grandma sale

I bought this wonderful wreath made up of cotton bolls still attached the stems on which they grow!!  It was a wonderful find at the Ujamma Grandmas - Bags, Babies and Beyond sale on the weekend!!  It was a room full of wonderfulness!!  Beautiful bags of every ilk, Christmas decoration, packaging, gifts, wall hangings, etc!! Delicate beautiful shawls in a rainbow of colours which would do any outfit proud!!  Jewelry, tags, pot holders, jar openers, mug rugs, table runners, coasters, napkins, etc that would suit so many occasions in style.  There were mittens, slippers, toques and hats made of so many ways from knitting to felted wool. A whole table dedicated to babies from blankets to leggings!!!  I went with my daughter.  She managed to buy quite a few gifts and I brought home this beautiful wreath which I will hang with an ivory tulle bow on my front door for the Christmas season.  The prices were all very reasonable and all the items were made by the members of the group and were of exceptional quality and workmanship!!!!  Therese 
 

Cards as a gift - Little cards using art from a daytimer calendar

My friend is treating me to a bag of cherries so I made her some little cards as a Thank You!!  These images were part of a daytimer calendar I used a few years ago.  The art is wonderful and they made wonderful little cards.  I used heavyweight 12"x12" paper for the card bases and then layered each image with green cardstock and then adhered each one to a card.  They make a nice little gift!!!

Therese
 

A birthday card with a cake, a fun background and some shiny threads

 For this card I used a dark pink card and pieced a background using two pieces of paper.  I tore the black one with shoes and added the polka dot one in the gap before adding it to my card.  I wrapped the front of my card with shiny thread in silver and pink creating an abstract pattern and securing the ends under where the image was going to be.  I watercoloured the cake, added some clear glitter then ran my pattern tracing wheel on all four edges.  I mounted it to a black rectangle and then mounted it to my card front using 3D foam tape overlapping the threads.    Therese

All occasion card featuring a row of cute flowers with a coordinating decorative paper background

I love pink and green together!!  The floral graphic (Clipartix) in pinks and greens was the starting point and I found this coordinating piece of decorative paper in my stash!! Perfect!!  I adhered the background to my pink card.  I cut the top and bottom of my stripe with scallop decorative scissors and used a push pin to pierce each scallop.  I added an embossed line next to the scallops uisng my score tool.  With a bit more distance on the top I added a line of paper piercing using my pattern tracing wheel.  I tied on a piece of pink ribbon and secured both ends with double sided tape.  I tied the remaining piece to the front one using one knot to simulate a bow then trimmed the ends.  I mounted my flowers to my card using 3D foam tape.  Quick and easy!!  Therese
 

All occasion cards featuring a trio of candles on handmade paper, eyelets and gold thread and a hand decorated background

The little candles are really the star of the show on this card.  They are a stamped image (white tissue paper) layered onto white handmade paper in the process of making the paper which incorporates it seamlessly.  I watercoloured them to coordinate with my card and background and added a little bit of clear glitter using a gel pen.  Once it was dry, I added four rows of paper piercing with my pattern tracing wheel and adhered it to a piece of dark purple cardstock.  I trimmed the bottom of the cardstock with a scallop border punch (SU) and added clear glitter dots to each scallop.  I embossed a line just above them using my score tool and then tied on a piece of gold embroidery thread after wrappin it around several times.  I tore my background paper (hand decorated iwth acrylic paints) and inserted a piece of colour printed decorative paper which coordinates well with the candles.  I glued my pieced background to my dark purple card front and mounted my candles element over the torn gap using 3D foam tape.  A versatile card!!  Therese
 

Birthday card featuring a floral cupcake (digital), ribbon and decorative paper background

For this card I choose this fun floral cupcake (digital) from Cre8tive Hands.  It was laser printed, trimmed from the sheet and watercoloured to coordinate with my background.  I like that there is good contrast in the paper and it combines blue and orange!!  I ran my tracing wheel around the edges of my cupcake and then layered it onto orange.  I added a red & orange ribbon and three little coordinating square brads to my background before adhering it to my blue card front.  I added the cupcake layer using 3D foam tape.    Therese
 

Birthday card featuring an owl (digital) with collaged paper as a background

Working on a few birthday cards!!  This one features an owl (CLKER) with a font greeting which I laser printed, trimmed out of the sheet and then watercoloured with a large moon in the background.  Really like how that worked out!!  Will be doing that again.  I mounted the owl to a black flocked paper which I punched on the bottom with a scallop punch SU) and then also punched each scallop with a 1/16" punch.  I scored a line just above the scallops with my score tool and then added three pewter eyelets.  I collaged some papers to a dark brown card to create a background and added my owl element to it using 3D foam tape.    Therese