September Card Club - cards featuring photos printed on transparency and mounted to our card over decorative paper

 For our last card I like to make it quick and easy!!  I printed a variety of photo images which I found on Pixabay onto the back of transparencies in reverse so they would show right side to the front.  I have used this technique before but it had been a while.  The last time I used photos I had taken but this time I decided for best use of my time I would pick a few from the site.  I was looking for photos with really good contrast so the backgrounds would have quite a few places to show through especially in the white or highlighted parts.  I was able to find quite a few that worked well.  I printed a few more than I printed for the class so I will have a few spare to add to my stash once I get them made up.  

For card one I layered the swan transparency over a very shimmering blue hand decorated paper which I made a while back - just leftover paint from a project painted onto scrap paper.  It beautiful the way the shimmer comes through the transparency!!  

For my second card, I layered this vintage car over a light blue decorative paper which gave the sky a bit of colour and texture.  

I applied a small piece of double sided tape to the back of the image in a place where it is quite dark.  I adhered this to my background paper.  I placed another small piece of double sided tape to the back of the decorative paper and applied it to my card front.  I pierced a hole in each corner with a push pin and then added a small brad in each one.  This secures all the layers very nicely and leaves the front neat.  I added a full insert in these cards to hide the tangs of the brads which show on the inside of the card.  

Great all occasion cards!!!  Therese

September Card Club - handmade paper sheet embellished with embossed vellum and unique 3D elements

 For our second card I chose to use some of the small handmade paper sheets we had made at our paper making session.  For my first card, I started with a teal card and added a coordinating decorative paper.  I wrapped a strip of embossed vellum around my teal sheet of handmade paper and glued the ends to the back.  I assembled three embossed flowers to which I added a little while eyelet to keep them all in place.  Love this little floral embellishment!! I added it to the front of my card using 3D foam tape.  

For my second card I started with a deep plum card and added a piece of hand decorated paper which coordinated nicely.  I wrapped a strip of embossed silver vellum around my sheet and then glued it to my card front.  I layered an "Always" tag to a coordinating tag and added a ribbon with a tiny white brad to create my focal element.  I added to my card using 3D foam tape.  The "always" message can be used for a variety of occasion - always there for you, always my best friend, etc!!!  It was fun to use our handmade paper in our cards.  Therese

September Card Club - all occasion cards featuring embossed handmade paper sheets, ribbon and decorative paper

 It was so good to be back to cardmaking with my friends!!!  So good to see them all!!  Some of us had made handmade paper together at the end of August so I was inspired to create with the sheets we had made.  Our first card was created using white embossed handmade paper sheets.  There was a wide variety of images which helped to expand the occasions they could be used for.  I started my first card with a sheet that featured a rose.  I added some paper piercing with my pattern tracing wheel on all four edges and then adhered it to my pink decorative paper.  I folded three little lengths of ribbon in half and stapled them over the edges of my handmade paper sheet.  I added a small staple to the lower left hand side as well.  I glued this large element to a light green card!!  My favorite colour combo and a card perfect for a friend's birthday or the arrival of a little girl!!  

For my second card I chose a sheet with a little bird on it.  I repeated the paper piercing and the ribbons. These were all in teals and blues.  Again, a card for any occasion you can start with " A little birdie told me. . . . ." or perfect for the arrival of a little boy!!!  

We had a wonderful time and everyone applied their creativity to their cards to make them truly their own!!!    Therese

Sewing - casserole carrier with one of Mom's quilted squares

I made up a square casserole carrier using a quilted square that was in her stash.  I had to add a border to make it 22" but I found a large piece that worked perfectly for the border on the front, the inside of the carrier and the handle.  These are my Mom's colours - just what she loved most.  I found some blue scraps to create the loops and got it done!!  I will offer it to my sister who shares the love of blues.  

Therese

 

Large all occasion card with a watercoloured lake scene over a stamped and pieced background

This lake scene is from Public Domain Vectors.   I laser printed it, trimmed it to size and then watercoloured it.  Fun to try something new - reflection of the sky on the water in yellow, oranges and reds.  I wanted a textured background for this beautiful scene so I found some gray paper and then stamped it in a light gray ink with this harlequin stamp (SU) but because this stamp is hard to clean I got a very grayed brown image.  It worked so I just kept going.  I stamped "worn" (SU) over the top in black and that was even better.  I collaged two strip of gray to a black one and embossed that with a diamond embossing folder.  Added three pewter eyelets and tied in a piece of black ribbon.  I adhered this background to a dark gray card and then mounted by lake scene over the strip using 3D foam tape.  Very happy with how this one worked out.  Theres
 

Quilting - QAYG modified with lots of poly cotton scraps from Mom

I have finished my QAYG experiment where I have stitched scraps of fabric on one side of my flannel batting and then did the same on the other side leaving an extra seam allowance on all sides.  I did the same colour on both sides of the squares so they could easily be laid out.  I stitched the rows first finishing the seams as I went.  To finish the seams I cut strips of fabric about 1.25" wide and then folded in both sides and ironed them down.  I used a cardstock strip 1" wide to make sure that my strip would over the seam allowances after I pressed them open.  

You can see where the green square is joined to the blue square on the left hand side of the photo. The seam has been pressed open and I have the piece that will cover it laying over the open seam.  There is already a blue one stitched in place on the right.  I simply pinned it in place and stitched both sides down through all the layers.  This method makes the quilting more integral and with the seams reinforced less likely to unravel if there is tugging and so on.  I added the same sort of strips over the seams which I used to stitch the rows together. 

Here is one side of the quilt.  Here you can see all the small strips I added to cover the seams between the squares and the rows. In this method of assembly the binding only shows on one side of the quilt as it is stitched to the outer seam allowances on each side and then folded over twice onto the quilt and stitched in place.  I did the top and bottom first and then each side with square corners.  I am really happy with how scrappy it looks!!!!!  Both sides!!!!  Therese

 

Slow Stitching - a cute little folk art bird

 I found this little bird online. It is offered by Chloe Redfern - Folk art Bird.  I sized it for my piece of fabric and traced it with a Crayola Ultra Clean gray marker.  Christi Johnson in her Mystical Stitches book indicated that she had good luck getting this ink to wash out after finishing her embroidery.  With school supplies on sale last month I picked up a set of 10 for about $4 which I thought was pretty good.  I have been working on it off and on and will be posting an update very soon!! 

Therese

Papermaking session

I have a few of my friends over to make paper a while back.  We started with white paper and made a few embossed sheets that are the perfect size for the front of an A2 sized card.  I have quite a few moulds I made using hot glue so I dug out a few and everyone could choose the ones they wanted.  

 I had several batches ready to go so we made some sheets with blue paper that incorpated snippet of blue paper, white paper with geranium petals, teal paper (white coloured with paper napkin), purple with snippets, ivory with onion skins, green with snippets, warm green with naturals and snippets of paper and dark teal with snippets.  It was a very fun evening and everyone took home their stash of little sheets and laid them out so they could dry.  Mine took a little longer than I remembered - the better part of overnight and the next day.  

I used up the leftovers from the session making the larger sheets - 8.5" x 5.5".  Ivory and petals, pink and petals, more pink and tissue paper snippets, yellow with onion skins, several more batches of greens and browns with naturals as I combined previous batches with others to finish them off.  Finally, the greens and teals and the purples and I was done.  I have a stack of new papers which I hope to use in my cardmaking class at the end of the month. 

Therese

 

Large all occasion cards with fun backgrounds, ribbon & lace and cute gnome and cupcake images

My last two cards for family occasions!!  The top one started with a deep red card and then I used a hand decorated piece for the background.  I embellished it with embossing and then rubbed it with a red stamp pad.  Perfect!  I added an embellished ribbon and three little blue eyelets before adhering to my card.  The gnome is from  skogstokiga  (has bee removed).  I coloured it to coordinate, paper pierced all four sides and added it with 3D foam tape.  The next cards features a little cupcake by the same person.  I used an off white card, pink polka dot paper to which I added ribbon and lace before adding it to my card.  I watercoloured the cupcake, paper pierced all four sides and mounted it to a pink cardstock before adding it to my card with 3D foam tape. 

Therese

 

Large birthday card with a lovely girl with balloons over an embossed serendipity background

 An elegant card for a special person!!  The girl with the balloons is from Pixabay.   I colour printed it, trimmed it and then added paper piercing on all four sides before layering onto green cardstock.  I have had the pink and green serendipity in my stash for a while and it coordinated to nicely with the girl's dress.  I embossed it and added the border punched green layer and the pink ribbon before adhering to my pink card front.  I added the image using 3D foam tape.   Therese

Large all occasion cards featuring a cute little bear floating away with balloons

 I had two of these little bear images (wikiclipart) in my stash and decided to use them for this month's exchange cards.  I used a yellow card and green polka dot paper for the first one and deep purple and purple polka dot paper for the second one.  I watercoloured my bears to coordinate and the mounted them to yellow cardstock leaving extra on the side.  I trimmed with scallop decorative scissors, paper pierced the scallops with a push pin and then embossed a line with my score tool.  I added some white cording to the back before I mounted them to my cards using 3D foam tape.  Happy with them!!  Therese

Large cards with hearts

 I made up several of these cards to send for anniversaries in the next few weeks using the same basic layout.  

For the first card, I started with a green card, added two pieces of the fun pennant paper and then added a piece of white embossed with hearts.  I ran my paper tracing wheel on the top and the bottom edge before adhering it to my card between the two other pieces - overlapping just a little.  I found the two serendipity hearts in my stash and added them with double sided tape.  

For the second card I used a large red card, added two pieces of red patterned paper and added a paper punched layer of gold cardstock.  I scored two lines in the gold before adding two layered and embossed red hearts using 3D foam tape.  

For the third card I used turquoise gift wrap which I bought in London years ago, a white heart embossed layer with eyelet paper punched edges and two coordinating hand decorated and sparkly heart die cuts.  

Therese