Birthday card featuring letter scrapbook paper, ribbon and a greeting with a paper button

My youngest granddaugther is so looking forward to school so I added bold letters to her birthday card!!  I decided to try the slimline card style using a #8 envelope which are common and available locally.  I created a yellow card to fit inside.  The scrapbook paper was a strip of letters so I cut it in two and stacked them.  I added a yellow ribbon over where they join and secured the ends to the back before adding it to my yellow card front.  I found a coordinating greeting in my stash, sponged its edges and added a little brown paper button (CB die cut) with gold string tied to it.  I mounted the greeting over the ribbon and then tied a short piece of ribbon to the one on the card to simulate a bow.  

Tall slim Christmas cards that feature two different snowman

I decided to make some Christmas cards for my daughter while I was at it.  I have enjoyed making individual cards for birthdays but decided it would be more efficient to make all the Christmas cards using the same sketch.  I started with purple cardstock which coordinated with the handmade purple paste paper I dug out of my stash. I added my decorative paper to my short card fronts and then added a length of double sided tape on the very bottom edge and then added a strip of white which was cut on the top edge using a wavy blade cutter and which I had embellished with several lines of texture using my tracing wheel.  I am loving my tracing wheel!!  The images are digitals from Dearie Dolls which I laser printed, trimmed and then watercoloured.  I cut several strips of silver decorative paper, border punched the edges and added my images then scored a few lines to define the bottom edge.  I tied on a piece of colourful fiber that coordinated then glued this large element to my card front.  I embellished the centers of the snowflakes with clear rhinestones. 
I made the next set exactly the same way using a different snow man from Dearie Dolls and another piece of paste paper from my stash.  Really happy with how these turned out!! Therese

A kid's card that features a fun alien robot

For this kid's birthday card I lengthened my front with a piece of brown cardstock the same as I had used for the card holding them together using regular tape on the front.  I added my piece of decorative paper over everything which helps keep the pieces in place.  I trimmed the image, (a cute alien robot from Dearie Dolls) watercoloured it and added some copper metallic watercolour to some of his parts so he would coordinate with the decorative paper.  I added a blue layer to my image and then adhered it to my card front using 3D foam tape.  I trimmed my laser printed greeting, flagged one end, sponged the edges with blue ink and then slipped the other end under the image and adhering the flagged end with double sided tape.  It was fun to change the orientation on this card. 

Therese

Kid's birthday card that features an embossed background

For this kid's birthday card - part of a set I am making for my daughter - I decided to use embossed rectangles for my background like I did for these Christmas cards and these ones too!  I started by lengthening my card using a rectangle of green which I positioned over a piece of double sided tape which I positioned on the very edge of my card front and then trimming it to the edge of my card.  I embossed some rectangles with the circles and glued them in place on my card front leaving a gap for my greeting.  I watercoloured my image, layered it onto brown and adhered it to my card front using 3D foam tape.  I flagged the ends of my laser printed greeting and then added texture with my tracing wheel before adhering it to my card front between the background and the green strip on the bottom.  I added a few lines of texture to the green strip as well. 

Therese

Christmas cards with triangle trees and stamped snowbanks

My daughter has been organizing her Christmas list and noted that she needed some Christmas cards for the kid's teachers so I put together some card kits to work on with the grand kids. 
I made up cards for the #8 envelopes.  Because I cut them from letter sized cardstock I had to add a rectangle to the card fronts to make them as long as the backs which fortunately is covered by the background paper. 
For this card I used a light blue floral paper which I stamped all over with a snowflake stamp in blue ink.  I glued it on my card front leaving an even border.  I stamped the greeting (SU) on a strip of 1.5" white cardstock in red ink then cut out a wavy line to create a snow bank.  I ended up using the cut off to create a second snowbank by trimming it's length and inserting in behind the first one.  I glued both ends of my first snow bank down with double sided tape to allow space in behind for tucking in my trees.  The second snow bank was just glued a bit on the bottom edge before being inserted in behind.  I auditioned all the little triangle trees and when I liked the arrangement I glued them down one at a time starting with those at the back and working my way to the front.  You can see that some of my trees are duplex which I created by gluing two leftover halves together.  The halves are the leftovers at the end of a strip of decorative paper after you have trimmed as many triangles as you can in between.  I like the collagey look of them!!  I punched a little star from yellow card stock and glued it above one of the trees using 3D foam tape.  Pretty happy with how they turned out!!  My oldest grand daughter made up a few of these in between the creation of the little felties for her teachers. 
I like that this design is flexible - the background could be stamped or not, you could use as many or as few trees as you wanted, you could use one snowbank or two. Here is one my grand daughter put together.  She is long time card maker so she just did her own thing which was wonderful!!  By the end of the day I had 20 cards ready for my daughter in a variety of colour schemes - another check in the box for Christmas preparations!!  Therese

Kid's birthday card which features a cute cupcake

For this card - part of a set of kid's birthday cards I am making for my daughter - features a cute cupcake image from Dearie Dolls.   I laser printed it, trimmed it out and then watercoloured it.  I used a pink card front which I lengthened to the right size using a rectangle of white.  I added a piece of pink harlequin paper to the top portion before adding a pink rectangle over the joint of the cardstocks using double sided tape to keep everything where it belonged.  I trimmed my laser printed greeting, distressed the top and bottom edges and then tied on a piece of coordinating ribbon before adhering it place over the pink strip.  I trimmed the ends to the edge of the card.  I watercoloured the image and layered it onto pink cardstock before adding it to my card.
Enjoying making cards for my grand children to use for their friends birthdays. 

Therese

Kid's birthday card that features a cute little cat

Another card for the set I am preparing for my daughter.  I am using #8 envelopes.  I added a rectangle of the same pink cardstock to the front flap of this one, held it in place with regular tape and then glued my full length piece of decorative paper over the top which helps reinforce the join between the two pieces.  I did add a length of turquoise ribbon to the decorative paper before gluing it down and then tied on a short piece with one knot to simulate a bow.  I trimmed my little greeting giving it flagged ends and then added some texture with my pattern tracing wheel before adding a bit of colour to the edges.  I glued it over the ribbon using 3D foam tape.  I watercoloured my laser printed image (Dearie Dolls) of a cat with a wedge of birthday cake.  I added two triangles to two of the corners and then glued this focal element to the top portion of my card over the ribbon and above the short piece.  This simulated bow works well because you can slide it along and put it just where you want it after you have tied it. 

Therese

Kid's birthday card with a cute little mouse

Another kid's birthday card for my daughter that features a cute little mouse with a cupcake.  This is a digital image from Dearie Dolls which I laser printed on white cardstock, trimmed out and watercoloured.  This card front was a bit short as well so I added my decorative paper and then used double sided tape to glue a strip of brown in place to finish off my card.  The decorative paper was a sheet of scrapbook paper which I stamped and embossed with copper embossing powder.  I watercoloured the image, layered it onto brown and mounted it to my card front.  I trimmed my laser printed font greeting, flagged the ends and sponged all the way around with brown ink before adhering it to my card front.   I had little brown hearts left over from these Christmas cards sitting on my desk so added one to the greeting. 
I am enjoying creating single cards again.  I have teaching Christmas card classes lately which entails lots of cards that use the same sketch. 

Therese

Cat card

 I made this card for my sister who had to put down her cat this week.  It is always hard to have to let go of a pet who has been part of the family for so long!!  It is a loss.

I used cat fabric for the background and stitched it on so she can remove it and use it as she wishes.  She is a quilter so she may consider making herself a mug rug or coaster with it which can remind her of her special buddy.  I added a little grass die cut at the bottom cause you know that cats and grass belong together.  I layered tow coordinating tags and stamped "thinking of you" on the top one and simply hand stitched it on so it could easily be removed.

This card fits in a #8 envelope.

Therese

Kids Birthday cards - blue and yellow hexagons

I love the soft look of these cards!  I combined the colour printed hexagon paper with digital images from Best Clipart.  By cutting the paper in different places I was able to hightlight the yellow in one and the blue in the other.  I watercoloured the laser printed images, layered them onto coordinating die cuts and adhered them over seam binding that was added to the decorative paper.  I tied on a short piece with one knot to simulate a bow on both of  them.  I added star dust glitter to the scallops on the left hand card.
I hope this little stash of cards will come in handy in the coming year for my daughter and her kids.

Therese

Kids Birthday cards featuring fun nature characters

Really fun paper with funky animals!  I combined the paper with green card fronts and digital images from Best Clipart.  I added layered watercoloured images over ribbon/fibers changing up the orientation for each one.  In positioning my focal element I tried to leave exposed as many of the animals as possible.  I love the funky owl peeking from under the ribbon the left hand card!!   Therese

Kids Birthday Cards - bright and bold

Love this bright bold paper!!  I combined it with green card fronts and digital images from Best Clipart.  I watercoloured the images to coordinate with the paper and then layered them onto die cut circles (Nestibilities) .
For the left hand card I layered the focal image onto a red scalloped circle (Nestibilities) which I adhered to the front of my card.  I added stardust glitter dots to all the scallops and then a short piece of bright green rick rack to add texture and interest.
For the right hand card, I added a length of the bright green rick rack to the decorative paper before adhering it to my green card front.  I coloured and layered my focal element and glued it centered on my card over the rick rack.  The layouts were really were dictated by the bold elements in the paper.   Totally fun cards!!         Therese

Kids Birthday cards featuring stripes

For both of these cards I used striped decorative paper on blue cards along with two digital images from Best Clipart.  I watercoloured the images to coordinate with the background and added ribbon/fiber accents.
For the left hand card, I stitched blue gros grain ribbon to a piece of wider yellow gros grain incorporating a short piece of fiber in the process.  After adhering the ribbon and paper to my card front I added a short piece of light blue ribbon over the fiber and tied a single knot to secure the both of them .  I adhered the layered focal element to the left of the tied ribbon.  On the right hand card, I used the same fiber cutting three lengths.  I overlaid them and stitched them together near the top to created the loops.  I adhered this element to my decorated card front and adhered the watercoloured and layered focal element over it.  I like the rainbow colours in the fiber!!   Therese

Card exchange cards that can be reused

I made a set of cards today for my card exchange.  I am using #8 envelopes and therefore used oversized cardstock to make my cards - 121/2" x 3 3/8" to make a 6 1/4" x 3 3/8" card.  I used a brown cardstock which I purchase in pad form a while back.  I cut a strip of decorative paper 3 1/8" wide off of a 12" x 12" inch sheet and cut it in two to make backgrounds for both cards.  I chose the same elements - a digital laser printed flower (Digital Graphics Cafe), a laser printed digital greeting (Beccy's Place), a strip of kraft cardstock and a couple of small strips of pink.  You can see that I changed the orientation of the cards - one landscape and the other portrait which required that I use the elements using a different layout.  On the left hand card, I glued my background paper to my card front and then added a length of kraft cardstock that has been embossed with a polka dot embossing folder.  I tied a piece of white seam binding to the top section and adhered it to my card front.  I watercoloured the flower image to coordinate with the background paper, layered it onto yellow and glued it to my card with a bit of angle.  I embellished the greeting by trimming the bottom edge with scalloped decorative scissors then added a bit of watercolour.  I used my distress tool on the small pink rectangle before adhering it to my card below my image then added the greeting between the two.
For the right hand card I embossed the kraft strip with a plaid embossing folder and flagged both ends before adhering it to my card front to which I had already glued my decorative paper.   I watercoloured my flower image, layered it onto yellow and glued it to my card at a bit of angle.  I embossed the pink strip, flagged the one end then tucked it under my image before adhering it into place.  I watercoloured the greeting after trimming off the bottom with some wavy scallop scissors and then adhered it below the pink strip and overlapping the bottom of the flower image.  I added single layer inserts on the back inside of the cards and reused instructions on the back.  Happy with how these turned out and they will be off to my swap partners early next week.        Therese

Birthday Card Set - a little boy with a frog on a very bold and bright background

The final card for my set of sixteen cards!!  You can check out this post to get the details for why and how I created this large set of cards.
For this card I started with a bright blue card front and added the green decorative paper before adhering the bottom border that was punched with a Martha Stewart border punch.  I wanted to back the image with white because a green face is simply no fun.  So I trimmed a strip of white cardstock and punched the top with one chevron (SU).  I tested my image to see if it would fit and folded the left hand edge back a quarter inch to create a flap I could use to attach it to the back of the white strip. I watercoloured the image on the back being very careful not to use too much water because vellum has an aversion to it.  I was not as success as I have been in the past but that is sometimes the way it goes.  After my image was dry I attached it to the white strip using double sided tape on the flap on the left hand side.  I added a bit of glue stick behind the greeting but that was not enough to keep it down because of the buckling from my colouring so I added two little black brads to help out.  That worked quite well.  I tucked the white strip behind the border and trimmed it at the top of the green layer before gluing it into place. The image is from Dearie Dolls.  Lots of free digital images there!!      Therese

Birthday Card Set - birds of a feather scrapbooking element on some great polka dot decorative paper

My second last card for this large set of cards!!  To find out why and how I created these cards you can check out this post.
For this card, I started with a blue green card to which I added this very cool polka dot background paper which I got from my sister as we were playing with making #8 cards.  I added a blue green strip near the center to cover up some fold lines.  My sister, Sylvia, also gave me this large focal element which was part of a large scrapbooking paper which featured some great saying and beautiful doodly art before it was all the rage.  I watercoloured the image and glued it to the front of my card overlapping the little strip.  All that was needed after that was a little greeting which in this case was a watercoloured oval punchie with a laser printed greeting over a scalloped oval punchie (SU).  It was adhered to the card using double sided tape.

Therese

Birthday Card Set - Soft and subtle dragonfly die cut card

We are nearing the end of this card set!!  Only a few more to go!!  If you want to know why and how I made these cards you can check out this post.

For this card I started with a kraft card front and added  crackled decorative paper in a coordinating colour.  I created a textured strip to put across the lower portion by first stamping a crackle stamp in brown on brown cardstock then embossing with a textured embossing folder.  To add a bit of dimension I also touched it here and there with a brown ink pad to create some contrast.  I glued the strip to my card front and then layered on a decorative label punchie greeting which was embellished with shimmer watercolours just like the dragonfly.  The dragonfly got the same treatment as the ones on these cards.  Another pass through the Big Shot in the original die along with the embossing mat to highlight the embossed areas, a bit of shimmer watercolour applied with a small brush and then a small piece of double sided tape behind the body section before being applied to the card front.  I used a coordinating fine tipped marker to make a dotted line for the flight path and this card was done!!

Therese

Birthday Card Set - a few flowers and another shimmery dragonfly

You can check out this post to find the details of why and how I have been creating this set of cards.

I started with a pink card and added the pink striped decorative paper.  I added a strip of brown across the lower portion and added a laser printed greeting which had been embellished with watercolour.  The dragonfly is left over from making these cards so I put the dragonfly back into the die and passed it through the Big Shot a couple of times to make sure it was embossed sufficiently to show all the detail.  With it still in the die I applied shinnery watercolours to the various sections to coordinate with my background.  I popped it out of the die, added a short piece of double side tape just behind its body and positioned on my card front.  That leaves the wings and tail free which helps give it some dimension.  I used a marker and created a dotted line to create its flight path and my card was finished!!

Therese

Birthday Card Set - a background created with stripes of decorative paper and cute little cupcake digital image

I have been making card for a gift and if you want all the details of why and how you can check out this post.
For this card I started with a white card but you cannot see any of it because I created my background right on the front of the card from edge to edge.  I started with the little strawberries from my stash and added several other papers that coordinated then added two stripes of red cardstock.  I still needed one and figured it should be green to coordinate with the strawberries and I found a scrap of this green polka dot paper and I thought it was perfect!!  So I played with the layout and then glued them all in place one at a time trimming them to the edge of my card.  I watercoloured my laser printed greeting (Melonheadz) using coordinating colours and added it to my card front using 3D foam tape.  The plain red stripe needed a bit of something so I added pink and green sequins to it using glue dots - that was better.  Now, the green one looked a little plain so I added two lines of clear glitter gel pen and some pink daisy punchies as well.  They were calling for clear rhinestones even before I got them all in place.  I used the clear glitter gel pen to add dots to the little scallops on the strawberry strips.  Finally, I just had to add some clear heart bling to the last strip of pink decorative paper which seemed to complete the design.  Way more blinged up that what I usually make but I am sure a little girl will be most pleased on her birthday to receive this cool blingy card on her birthday!!

Therese

Birthday Card Set - a fun cupcake digital image with some very graphic decorative paper

Yet another card for the set!!  Click here to get all the details on why and how I am making these cards.

For this card I started with a dark brown card and combined two pieces of coordinating decorative paper to create a background.  I added a thin strip of brown cardstock over the place where they joined which gave the whole card a very dramatic look!!  I watercoloured the cute cupcake (Melonheadz) with shimmery watercolours in very subtle shades to coordinate with the background.  I added a thin border to the image using a dark brown permanent marker to help it stand against the bold paper before adhering it to my card front with double sided tape.  I added a bit of shading to the laser printed oval greeting, layered it onto a brown oval punchie and adhered it to the front of my card using double sided tape.  Really love how this one turned out!!

Therese