March Card Club - quick and easy all occasion cards using 4" x 4" photos from a calendar

 Our last card was a quick and easy one!!  The photos were all trimmed from photo calendars which I have received as a gift from my sister, Sylvia.  She makes up several photo calendars every year for sale and gifts.  She carries her camera with her when she is out and about with a keen eye for every photo op!!  I love her photography and the calendar images are perfect for adding to cards!!  The first card features a perfect abstract created by several bullrushes on a local pond.  Great eye!!  I cut a 4.25" x 11" card and folded it in half.  I added the photo and then a small embossed rectangle next to it.  I tied a ribbon over the small piece wrapping it all around the card and tying it off on the front with a double knot.  This card would be perfect as a sympathy card!!  

The next card features a tulip photo with a small yellow rectangle next to it and a red ribbon.  Perfect for Easter or a spring birthday!! 

Therese

March Card Club - paper pieced backgrounds with a heart and butterfly for a focal element

 For our second card we made these cards.  They all had pieced backgrounds - some with double sided paper which gave a few more options.  We played with our pieces until we were happy with them and then adhered them to our coordinating card.  Next, we assembled our focal elements.  They were all different.  

For the first I layered a red rectangle over a black one and added a silver heart punchie!  For the second one I layered a colour printed square to a green one and added a butterfly punchie that had gold thread tied to its middle to create a body and antenna.  We simply added our focal elements to our card fronts using 3D foam tape.   It is fun to provide a lot of variety in these card kits!!  Therese

 

March Card Club - tulips for spring

 Great to see my cardmaking friends again!!!  Spring is coming and I thought we would start with flowers!!  I made up the tulips using three bird wings from the Bird Punch (SU).  You glue them together with two opposite and one more behind in which ever orientation you want.  You can make them skinny or wider and in whatever colour  you want.  I got all carried away and made mine all red. This is a great use of scraps!!!  We embossed our white layer and then built our tulips on it starting with the tulip heads, then we added glue to the stems and tucked them under the flowers and finally trimmed our leaves out of a scrap of green and added them to our creation!!  We trimmed our stems if they went farther than the bottom of our rectangle.  We glued our decorative paper to our coordinating card and then added our tulips!!  We embossed our thin strip, adhered it to the other one and trimmed it to the width of our card.  Tied the ribbon to this piece, trimmed our ends and then mounted to our card front somewhere near the bottom of our flowers!!  The tulips really do look wonderful and are great for anyone with a spring birthday or would make a great Easter card.         Therese

Slow Stitching - little embellishments for handmade cards - stitching and fabric shapes

 I continue slow stitching fabric embellishments for cardmaking!!  You can check out my previous ones which combine stitching, fabric shapes and Inktense watercolour. These ones feature fabric shapes which I cut from scraps. For my first card, I cut a heart from a pink floral fabric and stitched it to my ivory square which I found in my stash of precuts.  I stitched it on with blue thread and added tiny yellow stitches all over the inside.  I added this element to a layer of interfacing using pink embroidery thread.  I added a layer of iron on interfacing to the back to keep the piece square.  I used the same pink thread to stitch it to the front of a blue card which will allow it to be removed and added to another project by the recipient.    For my second card, I cut three little cup shapes from a bright fun fabric scrap.  I pinned them to my ivory square in a pleasing arrangement and then stitched them in place using pink thread.  Next, I proceeded to add stitching in black thread to create the stems, leaves, definition in the body and some french knot to simulate the stamens.  I stitched it to interfacing using pink thread and used the same thread to stitch it to the front of a pink card.   I did stabilize the horsehair interfacing with a piece of iron interfacing on the back.  I am really liking these cards and have a little stack of them ready to be stitched.  

Therese