Thinking of you card featuring a tree die cut opening, a paper scrap collage background and a little layered tag greeting

Another Thinking of you card for another friend who had surgery this past week.  

I started with a large brown card which I created to fit in a large envelope from my stash.  I pieced a collage background from green paper scraps simply using regular tape to secure them together on the back before mounting it to my card.  I die cut a tree (SX) from a rectangle of green cardstock, manually embossed the edges with a distressed embossing folder and added a line of piercing using my tracing wheel.  I mounted gold paper behind the opening before mounting this large focal element to my card front using 3D foam tape.  

I started with a little laser printed font greeting which I colour washed to coordinate with my card then added two pierced lines using my pattern tracing wheel.  I created a tag by layering two tag shapes in two different green cardstock which I had embossed, added my little greeting and then trimmed the edges of it to the side of the tag.  I punched a hole at the top and added a kraft fiber tie then mounted it to my card front using 3D foam tape.  

Therese

Card from a card kit featuring a serendipity heart die cut, some thread and a sanded embossed background

This is the final kit from this class.  I love the serendipity collage paper and this card showcases it very beautifully!!  I die cut the heart from some red serendipity paper and added three little clear rhinestones which I coloured with Sharpie markers so they would coordinate.  I corner rounded the white core cardstock, embossed it with a swirl embossing folder (D'vine swirl - CB) and sanded it to reveal the white core.  The sanding also makes the surface feel very velvety - great texture!!  I wrapped the red thread around the embossed layer and tied it off before adhering it to the red card front.  I mounted the heart using 3D foam tape over the threads!!  Great for Valentine's or an anniversary - hence there is no greeting. 

Therese

Christmas cards featuring large snowflakes layered with smaller ones and greetings

For these two cards I cut one piece of white cardstock  4.25"x 5.5" using a large snowflake die (SU).  Having carefully situated the paper on the die I was able to use both pieces - the die cut snowflake and the opening it created in the piece of white cardstock.  

The first card features the snowflake die cut which I sponged a bit on the outside edges with blue ink.  I added regular tape to the back of the openings on the ends  and applied blue glitter from the front which nicely fills them with blingy colour.  I dug through my stash of precut snowflakes and found a medium sized one which worked so I sponged its extremities as well.  I added a blue snowflake sequin and adhered all of them together using a silver brad.  I adhered it to a navy blue flecked card and added a greeting below.  The greeting is laser printed, has a flagged end and was glittered all the way around with the same glitter used on the snowflake.  I used double sided tape on the ends and a piece of 3D foam tape in the middle and added it to my card for finish it off.  Love that navy flecked cardstock as it creates a night sky in a minute!!     

For the second card, I used the piece of white cardstock which had the opening in it.  I trimmed it to 4" x 5.25" and mounted a very bright orange yellow and pink background which I created using alcohol and ink from leftover in the inkjet cartridges when we changed them out last time.  Love the contrast and how well the snowflake opening is highlighted.  I layered a pink round sequin, an orange flower sequin, a gold snowflake sequin and a fabric snowflake to create the 3D embellishment for the center which I mounted with a tiny white brad.  I found this stamped greeting in my stash, trimmed it to size and sponged its edges.  Next, I sponged the edges of the white layer to coordinate with the greeting and mounted this large element to the front of an orange card.  Added the greeting below the snowflake using double sided tape.  Love this card with its non traditional colour scheme!!    Therese

DIY washi tape, colour wash, embossing and die cut greetings

I am working on clearing my desk and have made up these two cards for putting into my stash.  Really loving these!!
I started with a little colour wash on white cardstock for the background using my little DIY foam stamp.  All four of the washi tapes on the pink card are ones I made using tissue paper and double sided tape or medical tape.  The blue and green are commercial ones and the other I made using stamped pattern tissue and double sided tape.  I used different embossing folders to manually emboss the edges of both backgrounds and them glued them to the coordinating card fronts from the kits.  I watercoloured the diecut greetings which I created using both regular and images fonts.  I mounted the greetings using #D foam tape and then embellished the cards with sequins which I adhered with double sided tape.   

Therese

Butterfly die cuts, some ribbon and some bling for a fun birthday card

I am working on my card stash and decided to use this beautiful purple background paper.  I cut it to size, added a silvery satin ribbon gluing the ends to the back of the layer.  I adhered this layer to the front of a purple card.  I chose two coordinating purple cardstocks and die cut the butterfly.  This die has the solid back which I cut out of the darker colour and the two wings which I cut out of the lighter colour. I cut the body out of a dark gray.  I adhered the body to the center of the solid layer and then added the wings gluing them only at the center.  It gives the wings a bit of depth.  I added rhinestones to the back so they would show through the center of the flowers on the wings.  I adhered this large element using double sided tape overlapping the ribbon.  I punched a laser printed greeting with the Word Window punch (SU) doing one end at a time because the paper as short.  I layered it onto a dark purple Modern Label punchie (SU)  and had room to add two little rhinestones as well.  Happy to have used this butterfly for this card as it has been languishing on the shelf!!  Therese

Card kit - Lighthouse with a wavy border

On the weekend I needed a little gift for a gift exchange so I put together a few cards from my stash and added a few that I made up from kits that are sitting on my desk from previous classes. 
This one is from this class and very similar to one that I made that day.  The light house is a digital image from ClipartPal.  I laser printed several on a sheet, trimmed them out and then die cut the tops using a Sizzix tag die.  I watercoloured the image and added a laser printed greeting which was distressed on the edge and a short piece of navy seam binding in the hole.  I layered two pieces of decorative paper to my blue card front and then layered on a navy strip which I had cut with wavy decorative scissors, pierced and that added a few lines with my tracing wheel. 
Glad to have a few card kits on hand because it makes getting cards ready quick and easy!!

Therese

Flower die cuts combined with handmade paper for great cards

I found these card kits sitting in my craft room when I was preparing for my last class and decided I should make them up and add them to my stash.   They have been sitting since March when I prepped them for this class.  It was fun to have the freedom to make them up a bit differently because time has passed and I did not have the original idea so clearly imprinted in my head.  I positioned the flowers differently and even made one a portrait card and used lace on it!!  No idea where the ribbon went - it was not in the envelope so I had to invent something new.  I sponged the off white lace with green ink to get it to coordinate but I like the look of it.  It was fun to see the decorative paper centers for the flowers as well.  So much has happened since then - so many other cards and projects created!!              Therese

Cardmaking - May - Watercoloured tags featuring digital stamps and laser printed greetings

Our last cardmaking night before the summer was this week and this is the first set of cards we made.
I had cut these tags for a different card for a previous class and eventually decided that it was too involved for the time frame so I had put the supplies aside.  I decided to see if I could change up the sketch and supplies to make a card for this class. Worked out quite well though I did trim the tags a bit so they had a square top instead of a pointy one!!
I adhered two pieces of decorative paper - a 4"x 4" or so with a 1.25" x 4" or so for a coordinating card front.  I changed the proportions a bit to suit the pieces I found in my stash.  There were a couple that I could not convince myself to cut because they were so perfect so we used them whole but we worked from the sketch anyway. The small piece went on the bottom for the first card and on the top for second card.

I embellished a strip of coordinating cardstock with decorative scissors and added some paper piercing using a push pin and a small piece of foam.  It was trimmed to length and adhered over where the papers joined.  Next, I watercoloured the tags ( Lighthouse - Arthurs Clipart , daisies in a jar - Paper Garden Projects).  Once they were dry I slipped the length of seam binding into the hole of the tag and used two little pieces of double sided tape to hold the two pieces in place.  I added the trimmed and embellished laser printed greeting to the tag using double sided tape and then glued this large element to my card front.  In some cases we had to trim the seambinding/ribbon to ensure the ends would tuck neatly into the envelope.  The greeting could have been added to the bottom or the other side for a bit of a different look.  
Really happy with how these turned out!  The spare kits will show up here over time!!

Therese

Easter cards with printed vintage graphics

For these two cards I expanded my mind to include more toned down colours for Easter cards using blues, browns and greens in deeper shades that I would ordinarily.  I am happy with them though they are a bit somber for spring Easter cards. They no doubt will suit someone.
I used a greeny blue card for the first one and added two squares of brown cardstock just off set a bit from each other.  The laser printed vintage image (Graphics Fairy) was layered onto  pink and then onto yellow before being adhered to my card front.  Love those little blue birds!!   For my second card, I used a vintage image from Clipartpal which I laser printed and trimmed.  I started with a blue card front and added a green embossed frame die cut (SX) to which I had added two punchie eyelet borders (SU) in brown top and bottom.  My image fit perfectly in the center!  I added three little ribbon flags to my image before mounting it in the opening of the frame with 3D foam tape - brown, yellow and green which I trimmed with flag ends.
It is good to stretch ourselves creatively, to expand our ideas, to do something out of our comfort zones regularly.  That is how new things are invented and fun serendipities come to bless our lives.

Therese

Concertina heart borders for cardmaking!

More concertina borders for my cards!!  I used decorative paper for these ones and cut them with the smallest heart on the large Tipsy heart die (SX).  I measured across the largest part of the die and fold a concertina (back and forth) slightly smaller so when I cut the stack the hearts would remain attached.  Just like making a string of paper dolls or snowflakes when we were kids.  Instant border!!!  I used my heart border on these cards combining them with decorative paper, a bit of embossing and lace and greetings.  I will be experimenting with different shapes!! 

I made two like the one on the left for my partners on the card exchange and the one on the right uses the two left over ends of the borders I had created which is why there is an edge through the middle of one of the hearts.  I embossed the area below the hearts and used a coordinating laser printed greeting with a bit fiber on the left hand ones.  I added lace to the other one using double sided tape to adhere it to the card front and a layered oval greeting.  

Therese

Christmas Thanks with a flourish and butterflies

I have been slowly making thank you cards for sending to the people who have been a blessing for our family over the holidays with gifts and times of fun and food!!!
This year I have chosen this beautiful music gift wrap from one of my gifts to use as a background.  I unwrapped the gift knowing that I wanted to reuse the paper so I was able to salvage almost the whole piece.  I trimmed as many 4" x 5.25" pieces as I could from the whole and then cut the leftovers into pieces that would be usable.
For this card I started with a full piece and inked it with two different inks - reddish brown and a dark red.  The paper is glossy so it takes a while for the ink to dry so I used my heat gun and then just wiped the surface to make sure it was all dry.  I like the effect - it softly spreads the colour and unifies the colour with the printing.  I cut a large flourish out of the middle and glued the background to the front of a dark red card.  I found the two butterfly punchies in my stash and glued on some gold cording to simulate bodies and antennae.  I sponged my oval punchie greeting (Papercraft Magazine) with ink to coordinate with the other elements and layered it onto a dark red scalloped oval (SU). I applied these three elements to the card front with 3D foam tape.  I will be posting the other cards in the next few days.

Therese

Christmas cards - little trees, a baby Jesus and a snowflake

 I taught three Christmas card classes yesterday as a fundraiser.  These were the first cards I taught at each class.  The kits all had the same supplies - 4"x 4" decorative paper, 1 1/8" strip of coordinating paper, 3/4" strip of coordinating cardstock, a little embossed tree die cut (SX) (CB) OR a colour printed Jesus die cut (Nesties) MDZ) and a coloured laser printed greeting punchie (SU - Word Window) with a coordinating layer (SU- modern label).

 As you can see there were several options available to the participants in designing their  cards.  The pieces could be arranged to create a portrait or landscape card with the large piece on the top or the bottom OR the left or the right.  The embellishment could be placed on the left or the right and the greeting could be positioned in quite a variety of locations.

It was fun to play with the layout to see how many options were possible.  It was also fun to work with so many different papers as well which really helped to give all the cards a bit of a different look.  I created over 200 kits for the three classes so to make the process manageable I located sheets of decorative paper which coordinated with the little trees which were already cut.  I cut each sheet of decorative 12" x12" paper into nine 4" x 4" pieces and then I found scraps of decorative papers in my stash that coordinated and cut nine strips.  Then I dug into my cardstock scraps to find coordinating pieces and cut the little strips and punched the greeting layers.  I embossed all the little trees and the cardstock strips to add texture to the card.  Once all the pieces were cut I designed my greetings, chose colours that coordinated with each decorative paper, printed and punched them all out.  As I assembled my kits I added coordinating cards, quarter sheet inserts with sayings and put all the pieces into an envelope.  One of the ladies requested all religious cards so used the little Jesus graphic from Melonheadz, digitally coloured it to coordinate with the papers I was using, laser printed what I needed on white cardstock and die cut them with my scalloped circle Nestibilities.  This is only a sampling of all the options that I created.
Everyone was happy with their cards and they created even more variety as they positioned elements diagonally, left some elements off completely and located their embellishments and greeting it yet many other locations!!
UPDATE:  I had another small class so I changed up the kits just slightly so they would not be exactly the same as the previous ones.  This is the one features a snowflake as the focal element.  I added a snowflake brad in the center to add some dimension and stability so it could be adhered with 3D foam tape.
Love the versatility of this sketch!!!!

Therese

Another quilted card!

I made up this card for a friend having a birthday this week.  I created some quilted backgrounds using scraps from my decorative paper scraps, cut them out with a label die (TH), added some faux stitching all the way around and then embossed them with an embossing folder (SU)!  I love how this dense embossing folder helps unify the quilting and gives the whole element wonderful texture.  I added a ribbon and tied on an extra piece to simulate a bow and added a layered greeting.  I made a few last week for my class. Check them out here.

Therese

Green and pink baby card

This baby card is for a couple expecting a baby girl in May.  We are not sure about the due date but I thought it would be better to be prepared rather than not.  Another modified kit from this class!! The image buggy is from WP Clipart. I laser printed it, die cut it with an oval Nesitbilities and then watercoloured it to coordinate with my background paper.  I added a pink oval slightly larger and punched my greeting layer out of it before adhering them together.  Works great and means that they always coordinate perfectly!!  I glued my decorative paper to the front of my pink card.  I embossed (SU) the light green label (SX) which I had trimmed, added a white gros grain ribbon across the center section gluing the ends to the back using double sided tape.  I glued this element to the upper portion of my card and added the oval focal element over it using 3D foam tape. I adhered the little laser printed greeting punchie (SU - word window) over the pink punchie (SU- modern label) and mounted it to the front of my card using 3D foam tape.  I love the pink and green combination!!!
Therese

Star birthday card

My youngest grandson is having a birthday at the end of the month and I made him this card.  The background is junk mail that arrived a while back and the look and feel of the paper was so much like leather I set it aside hoping to be able to use it on a card.  I decided to layer these two off cuts on either side of it and I like how the holes provide a linear feel to the card.  The stitching was part of the background so I decided to repeat it by stitching the greeting in place. If I had drawn a pencil line for the stitching it would have been better  - I will know better for next time.  I added an embossed star sequin with a gold brad on the right hand side of the greeting and several small confetti stars to the background.  I added a coordinating ribbon and glued the end to the back of the paper and then glued this large element to the front of a green card. I added a gold foil die cut star (SX) which I cut from a piece of packaging I saved a while back.  I applied the star to the card front using 3D foam tape.   A fun card for a little guy who has so much fun playing with his trains.

Therese

Winter birthday

Making a card for a guy with a winter birthday and enjoys spending time outside!!  I used a background I made using watercolour and plastic wrap which I found in my stash which simulates a northern sky fairly well.  I added two strips of ripped white cardstock to simulate snowbanks and mounted this element to the front of a speckled navy blue card.  I added a little green tree which is made from green handmade paper and was cut with a Sizzix Movers and Shapers.  I decided to add the little "be happy" greeting (SU) instead of a traditional greeting because he is a very creative and a non conventional kind

of guy.  I found this little "mustache" in my punched shapes from last winter. When I bought the paisley punch I decided to punch a bunch of them from different book and magazine pages and had not really discovered until today that I had missed getting the whole shape in some of them and they were still stuck together.  When I opened them up I thought they looked very much like a mustache and they have been all the rage in cardmaking for the last while.  Several people had used the mustache in conjunction with "staching" through the snow in Christmas cards.  I thought it would work very appropriately for his card being as he is an avid photographer and will no doubt be trudging through the snow for the next few months on his photo shoots.
I am hoping to be a little more original with my cards this year and this certainly fits that goal!!

Therese

Heart cards - double hearts

 Had a class last night for a group of young women who were having a night out - pizza, childcare and some creative time - so I planned some heart cards!!  To keep within the hour time frame I kept the cards quick and easy and did as much prep as I could.
For this card we layered embossed cardstock onto our card front, adhered our little ribbon frame image (Graphics Fairy) and then glued on with 3D foam tape our layered hearts (SU -SX) and greeting (SU).     I provided a variety of colour printed greetings so they could customize their cards for their needs.  In this case the red, black and white one would have been appropriate for Valentine's.
We can bless all the people we love with heart cards at this time of the year!!

Therese

Envelope book

Created this cute little envelope book for a swap on AFTCM!! We were free to choose a theme and any kind of envelopes we wanted!! A while back, I received a similar book from a swap hostess on another group and thought it would be perfect so decided to go with this concept.

The envelopes were cut from one 12x12 travel scrapbook paper using a Sizzix little envelope die. It gave me eight die cuts. I sponged the inside of the flaps so they would blend with the other side, folded and glued the sides to create the envelopes. I used a different 12x12 sheet of scrapbook paper to create the little cards for inside - technically twinchies - they are 2" x 2" - mostly great travel destinations - Eiffel Tour, Statue of Liberty, etc.

After cutting out my images I made a collage with the scraps and cut 1.75"x1.75" squares from it and used those to back my twinchies. I added some hand written inspirational words with a black sharpie on the collage pieces.

Now they needed to be bound to each other. I decided to create my own paper tape to use for binding. I cut off a piece of tissue paper tape from a roll that would normally be used to bind a bandage to your skin which I purchased a while back with intentions of altering it for papercrafting. It is wonderfully strong, very light and translucent. I used a sponge and inks to colour it and then stamped it in a dark brown using a collage stamp. Perfect!! Similar look to the Tim Holtz tissue paper tape!!

I used lengths to bind each envelope to the next one until I had all of my little envies bound to each other. You can see here that without a tie they want to create a circle!!

In my first photo you can see that I added a tie using seambinding and a metal embellishment that reads "Dream Big"

A fun little book to make!! You could use any envelopes to make a similar book - coin envelopes would be excellent!!

It is off to my partner in this afternoon's mail!!

Therese

My Art - Cardmaking - glittered snowflake

This snowflake looks so great in real life - so sparkly!! I used the hole from die cutting a Sizzix snowflake!! It worked out so well!! I did a few experiments before I settled on using label on the back of the hole to hold the glitter. Works really well for getting a nice coverage of glitter. I used the large label sheets (8.5" x 11") and cut a piece the size I needed to cover the snowflake and placed it on the back!! Added two long skinny pieces to the top and bottom then a large bling to the center and covered it with glitter. I gently rubbed the glitter into the adhesive to ensure good covereage. The excess shakes off quite easily and I used a little brush to get off any of the extra. I mounted this to the front of the card and added my layered greeting using 3D foam tape.

THRIFTY TIP: Consider using the hole created with you die cut a shape!! It gives you two pieces to craft with instead of one!!

These cards will surely bring good cheer to someone on my Christmas list!!
Therese

My Art - snowflake ornament

Here is another ornament I made with the Sizzix snowflake die! The coaster snowflake is layered with a plastic one and then a silver punchie!! I added another punchie to the other side to finish it off nicely!! Added a bit of crochet thread to hang it! Made a few of these - can be used on the tree, on a special gift or in a window!!

Therese