Birthday card featuring torn background paper, a stamped vellum in a frame and a little bird punchie

Another July card - this one for my Mom for her birthday!  Blue is her favorite colour so I always try to incorporate it in her cards.  I started with a large white card I created to fit in a large envelope from my stash.  I found a file folder with some ephemera from a swap a while back.  I found this blue background which was created with masking tape which was the right colour.  I trimmed it and then tore it in two.  I adhered the two pieces to the top and bottom of my card leaving a gap in between.  I used my rectangle Nestibiities to cut an opening in a piece of blue cardstock and then trimmed it to be a frame.  I cut a piece of vellum to fit behind the frame and stamped a twig wreath on it with silver pigment ink and then embossed it with clear embossing powder.  It gave a very subtle look which worked very well for my layout.  I adhered the vellum to the frame and then mounted the frame to my card front.  I added a little bird to the middle of the wreath.  I punched it from decorative paper, added the beak detail and then used a tiny black brad to create its eye.  I punched the wing and embossed it as well.  I assembled the bird and mounted it over the vellum with 3D foam tape.  To finish off my card, I added a sponged punchie greeting on the bottom edge of the frame.  Really like how this card worked out and I am enjoying using supplies and tools which have not be on my "go-to" list in quite a while.  FUN!!!!!   Therese   

Birthday card from a kit featuring an embossed circle, watercoloured funky flowers and a stamped and layered greeting

Still working on getting the final bunch of card kits from the September card making class made up into cards.  For this one I embossed the circle and trimmed off a sliver and mounted it to my card to which I had already adhered my background of scrapbook paper.  I die cut the image of three flowers (Black Berry Jelly) using my Nestibitilities, watercoloured the image and the sponged the edge with blue and green ink.  I mounted this focal element to my card front overlapping the circle.  To continue the theme I created a layered stamped greeting.  I stamped the greeting in green, punched it with a 1.25" punch (SU) and then layered it onto a 1 3/8" turquoise circle punchie.  I added a blue sequin flower using a green  rhinestone brad and mounted this little greeting to my card front using 3D foam tape.  Enjoying the process of using card kits and changing up the sketch.

Therese

Thank you card featuring an embossed sanded white core background, an embellished silk flower and a flagged vellum greeting

For this thank you card, I started with a coral piece of white core cardstock which I trimmed to fit the white card I created to fit in my small envelope.  I embossed this layer with a floral embossing folder (SU) and sanded it. I took a small strip of the same paper and embossed it with polka dots and sanded it as well.  I adhered it to the main layer after tucking a small vellum greeting beneath it.  I added a little silk flower embellished with a white sequin and silver brad to secure the vellum greeting to the other layers.  I adhered this large layer to the front of my white card.  I flagged the end of the vellum greeting to finish off my card!!!!!!  Therese

Thank you card featuring sanded white core background, polka dot vellum and a little punchie greeting

I started with a small envelope and made a white card to fit inside.  I trimmed a piece of teal white core cardstock, embossed it with a dots embossing folder (SU) and sanded it to remove the top layer and reveal the white core.  I cut a piece of vellum with silver polka dots  just a bit smaller than my teal layer and adhered it to the teal one placing tiny pieces of double sided tape below the silver dots.  I added a little embossed and sanded strip of the teal over the vellum, flagged the end and added a black brad to adhere it to the other layers.  I added a piece of double sided tape behind the little laser printed greeting punchie and adhered it on the strip.  I adhered this large element to the front of my white card.  Love the look of this one!!

Therese

Thank you card featuring gift wrap background, a punched accent and a little punchie greeting

For this card, I started with a smaller envelope and created a white card to fit inside.  I tore a piece of this beautiful teal gift wrap (from England) and layered another piece of the same paper in behind with back facing front which is this beautiful pink colour.  You can see a hint of the pattern showing through the pink.  I punched a flower on the right hand side, flipped it and adhered it back into the opening using regular tape on the back to keep it in place.  I added a teal sequin on the front and a little silver brad to keep it in place.  I found the coordinating pink greeting in my stash.  I sponged its edges with teal ink and adhered to my card front over the torn gap using 3D foam tape.  I have enjoyed time in my craft room making these cards!!             Therese

Christmas cards featuring embossed foil gift wrap backgrounds, little greetings and vellum or fiber

 These are the last two cards I was able to make from the one piece of gift wrap salvaged from the Community Dinner we attended with our friends and neighbours. 
For this first card, I embossed the layered giftwrap/paper combo with the ornaments.  The bottom seemed plain in comparison so I added some dots to it by manually embossing them in place.  After gluing this layer to the front of my green card I added a length of red fiber to the top above the ornaments adhering the ends to the inside with double sided tape and then tied on a short piece to simulate a bow.  Next, I  added a little stamped punchie greeting over the fiber using 3D foam tape on the back.  I sponged and added dots with a gel pen to embellish the little greeting. 
For my other card, I embossed the layer background with snowflakes, added a strip of vellum before adhering it to my green card.  I added a layered snowflake embellishment (large silver, small silver foil, tiny red) over the vellum and tucked a small font greeting to the left of the vellum and snowflake.    Therese

A Christmas card featuring a white snowman paper cast, an sanded embossed background and a snowflake embellishment

For this card I started with the little paper cast of a snowman I found in my stash!!  I will have to make more of these as they are so beautiful!!  I embossed and sanded a piece of blue white core cardstock which nicely simulated a snowy sky.  I adhered my little paper cast to the background and added a layered snowflake with a tiny white brad to the background.  I mounted this large element to a white card for finish it off!!

Therese

Christmas cards featuring reused panels with ribbon and greetings

A few more cards for my stash of Christmas cards!!  

This first one features a small card front which was square so once trimmed was just the perfect size to layer onto my green card front.  I added a black layer to which I adhered the Santa image and the layered laser printed greeting.  The second card features an image trimmed from the center of a large card.  I fussy cut the two corners with an exacto knife so I could slide on my stamped greeting.  I added a little holly brad on the right before gluing this large element to the front of a red card.  

My third card features art from a friend of mine years ago.  I simply trimmed the card front, added a red ribbon gluing the ends to the back and added a little laser printed font greeting which I had trimmed with scallop decorative scissors and used a push pin to paper pierce the scallops.  I simply tied a short end of ribbon to the front using a single knot to simulate a bow.    Therese

Christmas card using a card front, ribbon and a snowflake embellishment

For this card, I trimmed the card down to fit on an A2 sized card but there was some writing I had to remove which left me with not enough height for my card so I cut the greeting off the bottom and then removed the section with the handwriting.  To fill the gap I added a wide red gros grain ribbon tucking both ends to the inside where they were secured with double sided tape.  I added a double snowflake embellishment which I secured with a tiny black brad over the ribbon on the left hand side which finished it off nicely.  I mounted all my pieces to a coordinating black card front.  Worked really well!!          Therese

Christmas card with a snowflake brad, green tag and rhinestones

Here is another card I made with the donated supplies.  This card was already started but I did add a few elements to finish it.  The green tag was already attached to the card but the snowflake element was damaged so I removed it.  I was able to cover up the glue marks where the snowflake had been by adding this large bell sticker (it also needed double sided tape support) and then I added a red rub on greeting below the sticker.  That finished off the tag very nicely.  It seems somewhat a drift on the large area of striped decorative paper so I chose a strip of red paper and positioned it below the tag and that helped.  After gluing the strip in place I mounted the tag with assisted foam squares from the supplies. I added three little clear rhinestone on the right which is always appropriate for Christmas cards!!  Pretty happy with the way this one came out.  Therese

Birthday card featuring a layered floral focal element, decorative paper background and an embossed greeting

My youngest granddaughter has a birthday coming up and I made this card for her.  It has a fun and funky flower element which can be removed to put it in her room or in a window. 
I started with a large envelope and created a blue card to fit inside.  I trimmed a piece of decorative paper which has some glitter on it somewhat smaller than my card and cut it into four pieces.  I used a corner punch to trim two corners on each rectangle and then glued them in place with even margins on my card front.  I created the flower using a variety of flowers I found in my flower stash - a large die cut, an orange post it note flower, a coral die cut and a layered center created from a scalloped circle, a circle punchie of decorative paper, a 5 petal flower punchie, a sequin and a brad to hold them all together.  I punched a small hole on the top and strung a white cord through to create a hanger.  I positioned the flower on my card so the center was in the middle of the card and brought the hanger to the inside of the card and secured it with tape.  I put a tiny piece of double sided tape below the flower just to keep it in place until it is removed.  I trimmed a glittery embossed greeting, sponged the edges in pink and glued it to the front of my card using double sided tape.  It will be a fun card for her and she will be so happy to have something she can keep for herself to decorate her room!!     Therese

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A large card featuring a reused panel and a watercoloured flower image - my own digital stamp!

This is my last card for my sister in this cardmaking session!!  I reused the second panel from one I made recently with the scalloped edge.  Unfortunately, I had already used the other layer to make the other card so I could not trace the pattern so I just made it up - drew it in with a pencil and trimmed it with small scissors!!  It worked out well!!  Better than I expected!!  I decided to frame this floral image.  This is a digital stamp that I made myself!!!! You can check out the pages of doodling I did while I was watching a doodling video on YouTube!!  I did not always follow her instructions and did not do all the ones that she made but I was pretty happy with my pages of doodling.  I recently found these in my craft room and decided to scan them so I could use them as digital stamps.  I scanned all of the pages but only isolated about a half dozen images so far.  I cleaned them up digitally before saving and printing them.  I am pretty happy with this one!!!!!  After printing I trimmed the image to fit in the opening I had cut in my panel with a rectangle die (Nestibilities).  I added a ribbon below the opening and then a little gold star brad over the knot leaving the ends to extend on both sides. I adhered this large element to my large green card.   I watercoloured my image and added it in the opening using 3D foam tape.  I will certainly be doodling more pages of images - maybe butterflies or mushrooms next time!!  There are a LOT of doodling videos online!!  I will be making myself a few more digital stamps!!           Therese

A quick and easy card created with a reused card front with a beautiful saying & great artwork

Still making cards for my sister and this one was pretty easy!  I loved the artwork and the greeting so I decided to use it as it was!!  Unfortunately, the one side was straight because I had trimmed it from the original card so I used the other piece of the card and traced the scallops onto the back and cut them out!!!!!!!!!!  I am very happy with how that worked out!!  I did add a little gold star brad because it just needed a little bit of texture and dimension!!  I created a large blue card and simply glued this large element to the front of it!! 

Therese

A birthday card for my Mom (85) featuring a blue tag, an embossed collage background and a beautiful silk flower

My Mom will be 85 at the end of the month and we will be celebrating with her!!!!!  Blue is her favorite colour so I always like to include it when I am making a card for her.  I started with a large blue envelope and made a blue card to fit.  Next, I worked on a blue and white collage background. I dug through my scrap paper bucket and found a variety of white and blue pieces - a bit of watercolour trimmed from a decorative paper piece, some glittery gift wrap, tissue paper, etc.  I dug out a piece of scrap paper and glued on my white and blue scraps which included a few pieces of sheet music.  Once it was dry I embossed it with a large embossing folder which I had to do in three different runs to get it all done.  I stitched on two lengths of while lace and then adhered a length of white seam binding over the stitching tucking the ends to the back and adhering them with double sided tape.  I found this tag in my stash which coordinated so I added a small ribbon at the top and adhered it over my lace.  I found the greeting in my stash, trimmed it to size, distressed its edges and glued it to my tag.  A trip to my silk flower stash yielded these blue and white silk flowers which I layered and secured with a white button brad.  I added it to my collage background before adhering this large element to my blue card front.  I am very happy with how it turned out!!  My Mom is an amazing woman who has lived her life within certain confines but did it with grace.  This is a perfect card for her!!  She has been a seamstress and quilter most of her life hence the stitching and button brad!!             Therese

Thank you cards featuring hand printed maple leaves, laser printed greetings and some border texture

A couple more Thank you cards!!  I found these printed maple leaves a while back and they have been hovering in my craft room for a bit!!  I printed these a while back using acrylic paint onto my own handmade paper!!  I trimmed down their backgrounds and added greetings - a punched greeting (SU- Word Window) with a copper brad and a vellum greeting folded over the edge of the handmade paper.  I added texture to their borders using an embossing folder on one and my tracing wheel on the other before mounting them onto coordinating card fronts.  Love these printed leaves!!  Therese

May Cardmaking - a little birdie with a cage and stamped greeting

This sketch I used more than a year ago for a class and with a few kits still sitting in my craft room I decided to make them work for this class. 
We added a beak and a tiny black brad for an eye to our bird die cut (TH).  Some added a bit of chalk for colour on theirs to make it more realistic.  We inserted our birds into the cage and added the wing using 3D foam tape which gave it a bit of dimension.  We added double sided tape on the bottom section to adhere it to the decorative paper which also allowed us to add some rhinestones at the bottom - bonus!!  We added the ribbon at the top of the cage, slipped on our stamped greeting tag and once adhered to the paper we were able to glue the end to the back using double sided tape.  We tied another short piece to it using a single knot which simulates a bow.  We then adhered this large element to our coordinating card front.  In order to not have the greeting be to floppy we used a small piece of 3D foam tape to adhere it in place.  Most of the decorative papers had some sort of accent on the edge which helped to situate the bird cage and give the card interest.    Therese

Mother's Day card featuring an embossed frame, a little blue bird and a beribboned greeting

I made this card for my Mom for Mother's Day!  I am again using my stash of large envelopes so I found one that would suit and made a white card to fit.  Blue is her favorite colour so I chose a background paper that featured blue prominently though not boldly and trimmed a piece that would leave a small border all the way around.  I added an embossed frame made from silver cardstock.  I love how well it goes with the paper!!  After adhering it in place I created the little blue bird using the SU bird punch.  I punched the bird and the wing from blue cardstock, added a beak with a black marker and filled it in with yellow gel pen then added a tiny black brad to create its eye.  I embossed the wing and sponged it a bit to highlight the embossing and added to my bird using 3D foam tape.  The branch I found in my stash and watercoloured it green. I used white glue from a fine tip applicator to adhere it into place in the frame and then added my little bird.  I added blue ribbon to my little greeting tag (Desert Diva) which I laser printed, trimmed and sponged with blue.  I adhered it to my card using 3D foam tape.  Pretty happy with how it turned out.  Therese

Harry Potter theme birthday card featuring a digital greeting, a shaker element and a book mark with quotes

My oldest granddaughter will be having a birthday soon so I got a card ready for her.  She is a fan of Harry Potter and has read all the books.  I decided to make her birthday card with a HP theme.  I started with a large black card.  I laser printed a script background, the birthday greeting (Pixabay) and the two sides of the fun HP bookmark on the same sheet of 8.5 x 11 cardstock.  I trimmed out the bookmark pieces, glued them to each other and then punched a hole to which I added a length of black ribbon.  I found some very good HP quotes online which were all designed and ready to go.  I trimmed the greeting, sponged the edges with black and layered it onto a gold paper.  Wanting to add a fun element I decided to add a shaker element to it so I cut a hole in the script background layer using a circle Nestibilities.  I created a shaker sandwich - a square of transparent plastic to which I added a foam tape border large enough to be hidden by the background paper filled with sequins, beads, heart paper punchies and some glitter.  I removed the release paper from the foam tape and placed another sheet of plastic over top.  Much easier to manage once the shaker element is sealed.  I mounted it behind the opening in the background using double sided tape, added a gear cut from gold cardstock and finished off with a gold brad that went through the shaker element.  Afterwards, I wanted to add a ribbon and fortunately there was room between the pieces of double sided tape to get my ribbon through.  I glued one end to the back on the edge of the round opening and the other end went over the top and was adhered to the back as well.  I mounted this large element to the front of my large black card.  I mounted my large collage greeting with 3D foam tape over the ribbon.  Lastly, I tied a short piece of the same ribbon to the one on the front between the greeting and the opening to simulate a bow!!! I am really happy how it turned out!!!           Therese

March Cardmaking - decorative paper, fun tags and a bit of embossing

For our second card I designed this one which features the tag I cut out of the first card which you can find here.   We used scissors or corner rounders to trim the corners of our tags, coloured our images if they needed it and then added a folded length of ribbon using a coordinating tiny brad.  I used watercolour and chalk on my tags. We adhered our decorative paper (4" x 5.25") to a coordinating card front, embossed our strip of cardstock and then mounted it over the paper,  trimming it to fit.  We mounted our tags with images to the front of our cards using 3D foam tape overlapping the embossed strips. To finish off our cards we trimmed our ribbon ends.   The little owl is from Michelle Perkett and the penny farthing is from StampinUP.    It is always fun to add font greetings to images and it gives you the flexibility to have them be for any occasion you prefer.  

Therese

Handmade card featuring a beautiful cross, faux stitching and handmade paper

A while back I was asked to make a few cards featuring crosses for special occasions through out the year.  I am in need of a few more so I have started with this one.  This beautiful cross was downloaded from Art by Jean and she has some beautiful images and backgrounds there for all sort of occasions. I colour printed the cross onto white cardstock, trimmed it to size and added a yellow scallop punched border (SU)on the right hand side.  I mounted the image to a coordinating piece of handmade paper which I made myself and added a tiny black brad to the center of the cross.  I mounted this large element to a navy card front.  After I was done, I thought it still needed a bit of something so I added a bit of faux stitching around the image and that was better.  A card for any occasion!!

Therese