Large all occasion card featuring a watercoloured swan over a paper pieced background in warm blue tones

I have started on my cards for next month's special occasions for my family.  I started by creating a paper pieced background using scraps of warm blue papers.  I trimmed all of them into stripes and glued them next to each other in an X pattern on a scrap piece of bond.  I used a zigzag stitch stamp and light aqua ink to add lines of "stitching" to each joint in the pattern.  Love how it looks!!  I added a length of light green ribbon across the trimmed background before adhering it to a large warm blue card front. I chose a beautiful swan image (CLKER) which I laser printed on white cardstock and then watercoloured.  I ran my pattern tracing wheel around all the edges and then layered it onto an extra wide coordinating layer.  I added a scalloped border (SU) on the right and then used my score tool to emboss four lines.  I used a 1/16" hole punch to add holes to each scallop.  I adhered the image over the background using 3D foam tape.  I have used this technique before and it was nice to revisit it!!

Therese

 

May Card Club - Card #3 - all occasion cards featuring a punchy balloon with a string over a decorative background

This was our last card for the evening.  I punched these little balloons from a decorative strip of watercolour paper to which I had applied a variety of liquid acrylic inks in very vibrant colours.  I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to fairly easily punch the watercolour paper.  After, punching a good little pile in a wide variety of colours I decided to mount them to coordinating layers of cardstock.  I choose a variety of sizes and colours.  I embossed the smaller one and sometimes trimmed or embellished the larger one  - added paper piercing on the middle card.  I tied the black thread to the balloon with a double knot and then mounted it to my layered cardstocks with 3D foam tape.  I adhered my backgrounds to my card fronts and then added my little balloon as suited my fancy.  We had a fun creative evening!!  This group always makes these kits their own and find ways to combine the pieces to make their cards unique!!  We will be back together in September after a summer break!!  Therese

 

May Card Club - Card #2 - a butterfly, postage stamp, ribbon and a doily combined to make a fun collage

For our second card I started with the little postage stamp stickers.  I have had these quite a while and have several times tried to incorporate them into my cards with not much luck.  This time around I am very pleased to have found a great way to include them!!  I added a coordinating butterfly sticker, a coordinating punchie of decorative paper, some ribbon and a small paper doily.  These elements were all collaged to a piece of coordinating decorative paper to create our cards.  It was fun to have so many different colours and textures with the papers and ribbon.  We started by gluing the doily to the decorative paper, added the ribbon and then the circle punchie.  We secured the ribbon ends to the back of the background paper and mounted this large element to our card fronts.  Then we added the postage stamp stickers and the butterflies.  We tied a short piece of ribbon to the one on our card to simulate a bow.    Really like how these worked out!!  Therese
 

May Card Club - Card #1 - all occasion cards featuring embossed and sanded background with ribbon and a small image

It was great to get back with my friends for a cardmaking evening!!!  For our first card, I started with  some embellished mesh which I created a while back using stamps and a variety of different colours of embossing powders including yellow, blue, pink, and metallics.  It was a fun creative time and I had quite a few pieces when I was finished.  I cut them up to make an accent layer on the cards for these kits.  I combined them with a coordinating piece of white core cardstock which I trimmed to layer nicely on a regular card in a coordinating colour.  We trimmed the outside edge the white core cardstock in a wavy pattern and then embossed them.  Next we sanded the embossing which reveled the white core and then added a bit of distressing to the outside edge with our sand paper or the distress tool.    We trimmed our mesh to have a wavy edge as well.  We used double sided tape to adhere the mesh to the white core piece and then added our ribbon which we tucked to the back and secured with double sided tape.  This large element was adhered to the front of our card.  I had provided a wide variety of images - both embossed and printed and let them choose the ones they wanted.  For these two - on the left a silver embossed flower which was fussy cut and then watercoloured to coordinate.  For the right one, a stamped bouquet of roses (SU) which I watercoloured to coordinate, trimmed with a wavy edge and then added paper piercing with my pattern tracing tool.  Might have been better to use a push pin to get a more even line but it worked out reasonably well.  I mounted my images to my card fronts using 3D foam tape.  These cards are colourful and have a lot of texture!!  Therese

Sewing - Black and turquoise casserole carrier for a 9" x 13" pan

This is the other casserole carrier I have been working on.  It also has cotton on the outside and a cotton/poly batting on the inside.  I had originally thought I would add two zippers to this one and reconsidered and added only one opening zipper on the top instead.  The zipper is a bit offset and to secure the casserole inside I added two black ties on each end with enough length for them to tie with a bow which makes them easy to undo.  I added turquoise handles which nicely complements the outer fabric.  The inside fabric is all colourful bottles and jars on a black background which worked really well.  I will be donating this casserole carrier to the Gramma Link Africa merchandise table at the Everything Rhubarb tea.  

Therese
 

Everything Rhubarb - a Gramma Link Africa event

 

The Gramma Link Africa group is hosting a tea on June 24th celebrate Everything Rhubarb!!

It will be a fun event and I look forward to seeing many of you there!!

Therese

Sewing - Brown, yellow and taupe gray casserole carrier for 9" x 13" pan

 I finally finished off this 9" x 13" casserole carrier which I started a while back.  It has an all around zipper which opens wide which easily allows the casserole to be put into the carrier and then the top flap is brought over and the zipper done up to keep the contents secure.  It took several goes for me to get the zipper installed properly but luckily I discovered my mistakes before getting all the way around which was less time consuming.  Two layers of cotton fabric with a cotton/poly batting which I quilting together before adding the brown handles.    I will be donating this carrier to the Gramma Link Africa merchandise table at our Everything Rhubarb tea in June.  Therese

Slow Stitching - handmade cards embellished with hand stitched elements

A few cards created with some beautiful fabric that found while sorting for the Gramma Africa Link fabric sale.  I trimmed out a few embroidered elements for hand stitching to the same interfacing I have been using for my other little pieces of stitching.  The fabric is very lustrous and it was easy to stitch to the interfacing.   I mounted the elements to embossed dark brown layered and then mounted them to ivory cards.  I have several yet to finish - they will show up here in time.  

Here are the cards I made up with the hand stitched pieces I showed you a while back.  I simply used double sided tape to secure my little pieces of hand stitched art to coordinating card fronts.  I have really enjoyed making these up and I will be bringing some to our next Gramma Africa Link event - our Everything Rhubarb tea in June.    

I am linking to Kathy's Quilts.  She hosts Slow Sunday Stitching every week and I will be linking these to her post for today.   I did do more slow stitching today which I hope I will be able to link up next week.  Always great inspiration on her blog!!  Go and check them out!!  Therese

Slow Stitching - some little stitched elements for adding to handmade cards

 I have been working on these small stitched elements which I will be adding to handmade cards.  The butterfly, leaves and bird are images which I traced out with a light gray pigment pen onto the off white cotton scraps and then embroidered with stem stitch in the appropriate colours.  I embellished these with Serwent Inktense watercolours.  I was very careful this time to not use too much water and to start all my applications to the interior of the designs and managed to get very little bleeding of colour outside the designs.  The watercolour becomes permanent once it dries.  After they were dry I also used the iron to flatten them out and they look great.  Really, loving the process!!

The other two are fabric elements which have been cut out of fabric and stitched to the cotton pieces.  The heart has purple stem stitch all the way around and stab stitches in three different colours on the inside.  The other flowers were little half circles trimmed from fun fabrica and stitched down using stem stitch in black floss and then added french knots and then some stems with leaves.  

I stitched all of these to the horsehair interface which very nicely simulates linen fabric.  I will add these to coordinating card front to finish them up. Will post them here once they are done.  You can check out a few more here and here and here.    Therese

Shirt savers - special request

 I have been working on a special request - six adult shirt savers!!  A friend and I committed to making a dozen of these before the fabric sale and decided with that commitment over we would get started.  I had made one of these for Dad when he went into care and had a pattern already worked up after some internet research to establish a size - approximately 36" x 18".  

I had to modify my pattern a little bit because the request specified a soft closure rather than a mechanical one (velcro, snaps, etc).  After a bit of research and some inquiries to some who work in the industry we were able to get a visual of the sort of closure that they had requested.  It entails pulling one of the ends through a hole in the other piece and folding it over to keep the shirt saver on.  It gives a very quick release as well when removing and nothing to worry about when they are sent off to the laundry.  I made up a couple patterns and my partner and I got started.  I passed on the cotton and flannel we had set aside as there was only enough to make six of them.  I dug through my stash of fabric and came up with several different pieces of cotton and a large piece of flannel.  Fortunately, there was a smaller scrap of flannel in what we had picked out and I was able to get another piece from the end of the large one we had set aside.  The piece I had made four so I was good to go!!!  I had cut all six out last week and was able to get all the sewing done today!!  We decided to sew the cotton and flannel with good sides together and leave an opening so we could turn the whole thing inside out.  I added two rows of stitching all the way around and then cut a slot (1.25") in one of the sides to which I added a length of seam binding.  I then stitched the two sides to each other before finishing off the edge with another length of seam binding.  It makes a neat finish and easily identifies where the slot is.  I had cut a 1.5" slot in my prototype but it was made out of different fabric and three layers.  I decided to start with 1.25" because these were lighter and I am glad I did.  I put the cotton on the front and flannel on the back but really these are reversible and can be used with either side to the front and with the colours I chose should be gender neutral on at least one side.  I hope the person we made them for will be happy with our efforts and I am sure they will be put to good use!!!  Therese

Birthday card featuring an origami dress, fun ribbon and background and an embellished greeting

I am really having fun with folding origami dresses!!!  I folded another one for this birthday card for one o of my grand daughters.   Check out Tuscon Happenings for instructions in PDF format.  I added battenburg lace at the waist and embellished it with a silver flower sequin which I adhered with a tiny silver brad.  I tore my fun background paper and backed the opening with ivory paper than added a bright pink ribbon which I secured inside the card with double sided tape.  I added the dress with 3D foam tape and then worked on my colour printed font greeting.  I trimmed and paper pierced the edges, added an embossed line which I created using my score tool.  I added two pink eyelets and then tied yellow cording to it.  I mounted it to my card using double sided tape.  I made the back of the dress neat so that she could remove it and use it as a book mark!!   Therese

 

Large anniversary card featuring a split double sided background and a heart border with a greeting layered over red cardstock

 This anniversary card features a double sided background which I sliced and repositioned so you could see some of each side.  I added a ribbon to where they joined before mounting it to a large red card!!  The heart border (CLKER) is laser printed and watercoloured.  I added the greeting before printing and then mounted this element to a red cardstock layer which was border punched and embossed with a line using my score tool.  Twenty years for them!  Where does the time go!!  Therese

Slow Stitching - Fancy hand stitched floral elements

 Over the course of our sorting of fabric for the GrammaLink  Africa Fabric Sale I came across a scrap of shimmery fabric that had been discarded because of it was in pieces and not appropriate for the sale that contained these wonderful flowers along with a few more designs.  I thought they would do well as focal elements for cards so I saved off a few of the scraps and have cut out the flowers with some borders so I could layer them with the horsehair interfacing which I will lay over some embossed brown cardstock backgrounds which will be added to card fronts.  Not sure what colour of cards yet.  I used coordinating embroidery floss to stitch the flowers to the horsehair and will then just use double sided tape to secure them to the embossed backgrounds.  Will post the cards when they are finally finished.  Therese

Birthday card featuring an origami dress and some sewing die cuts

 

My youngest daughter is having a birthday!!  She runs a business in called Winnipeg Sews and so I made her a card with that theme.  I folded the origami dress from a pattern I found on line.  I used a 6.5" square and it worked well on a large card.  The die cut arrived in an exchange card this week!!!  They were lavender so I just used a black permanent marker and changed them to black which worked really good with my dress and the background.  I think pattern tissue would have been better for the background but I did not know exactly where to find it so went with a quicker option.  I adhered the dress and then added the die cuts - scissors (I added a tiny gold brad), the measuring tape, the sewing machine and the spool of thread.  I trimmed a little banner greeting and added it last using 3D foam tape!!!  Really happy with how it worked out!!  Therese

Large cards featuring origami dresses embellished with flower sequins, ribbon on coordinating backgrounds

Our Card Exchange is back on and I made these cards for my Exchange partners.  I found the origami instructions on line after finding a card that featured one while I was searching for inspiration on line.  There are a few different instructions for a few different designs.  I chose the one published at Tuscon Happenings.  It has a downloadable PDF pattern for this design.  

I cut two 6.5" squares and followed the instructions and ended up with dresses that are 5.5" tall and 5" wide which worked really well for my large cards.  For the first one,  I added green lace at the waist and then added a pink flower sequin with a tiny silver brad.  I used a blue card base and cut a piece of herringbone paper to fit.  I stamped some dots and added some faux stitching in blue before adding the green satin ribbon.  I tied a short piece to the top portion with a single knot to simulate a bow.  I mounted the dresses to the front of my cards using 3D foam tape.  

For my second card, I folded the dress from a soft blue patterned paper.  I added white lace with a little fabric  snowflake/flower which I watercoloured to coordinate with my dress which I attached with a tiny white brad.  I added coordinating blue ribbon to my feathery neutral background paper and then mounted it to my blue card.  I tied on a short piece to simulate a bow then added the dress.  A fun way to embellish a card!!

Therese