November Cardmaking - Christmas cards with lace, foil, decorative paper and a silver embossed Peace On Earth

For our last card we made these fairly quick cards.  We started by adding a strip of silver foil to our decorative paper securing the ends to the back with double sided tape.  Next, we overlaid it with a length of lace which we secure in the same manner.  This large layer was then adhered to the front of a coordinating card.  We coloured our images and embellished our edges with decorative scissors or by tearing.  I tore the edges on both of mine and added a bit of green chalk on my torn edge which echoed the center of the poinsettias.  I added clear glitter with a gel pen to my dove which appears very glittery in real life and a little more mottled in the photo above.  I really liked how the subtle silver behind the lace echoed the silver embossing on the stamped images.

It was a most enjoyable evening and they have a few special cards to send this Christmas season!!

Therese

I made this card for a friend having a birthday soon!!!  I used a card kit from my stash and as often happens I was inspired to change it up a bit.  I adhered the decorative paper to my green card front and then added the embossed strip with a flagged end even with it on the right hand side.  I watercoloured this cute little gift image (Michelle Perkett) which was laser printed.  I trimmed the image into a tag shape and added a slot at the top then applied chalk around the edges to soften its edges.  I modified the ribbon in the slot to be better suited to the landscape format.  I adhered it with double sided tape.  I mounted the tag to my card using 3D foam tape.  You can check out the others here.        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

Exchange cards featuring a lace background, sequins and laser printed greetings

I made up these cards for my Card Exchange partners for this month.  I found a piece of plastic in my stash which was printed with a lacy floral pattern which was saved from a used greeting card.  I trimmed out two pieces (2.75" x 5.5") and layered them onto maroon cardstock.  I used double sided tape behind the most solid parts of the images to secure the plastic to the card stock.  I mounted these elements to green card fronts.  I used laser printed greetings from my stash which feature a butterfly oval frame from Birdie Brown and a font greeting.  I chalked the inside with a coordinating red and sponged the outside with a coordinating green ink.  Mounted the greetings to the card fronts using 3D foam tape.  They still needed a bit of something so I added three sequins to each card securing them with small pieces of glue dot and added clear glitter dots to the butterflies on the greetings.  That as better!!  They are off to my partners in today's mail.             Therese

May Cardmaking - gold foiled tissue with vellum flourishes

I love this gold foiled tissue paper!!!!!!!!!! It is so brilliantly gold - check out the second photo!!!  I added colour from the back side using watercolour.  Once dry, I glued the tissue paper to a 4" x 5.25" white cardstock to keep the colours vivid turning the edges to the back and gluing them in place.  I glued these backgrounds to coordinating card fronts.  I die cut flourishes (SX) to accent my cards.  The two right ones are vellum.  The far right - the vellum was chalked to coordinate with the background.  The middle one was coloured using Sharpie markers which made it very vibrant.  The one on the left was cut from white cardstock instead of vellum in an effort to give it some contrast against the uncoloured tissue paper and in order to keep the whole card elegant.  After some discussion at class I ascertained that I could have cut the flourish from coordinating cardstock to get the high contrast which was achieved with the Sharpie marker.  I used the modern label punch (SU) to punch out some backers for my greetings from some very shiny gold card which coordinated very nicely.  I glued the flourish to the background and then mounted my layered punchie greeting over it using 3D foam tape.  You can see that the card works in both orientations and that the angle of the light really highlights the gold in the tissue paper giving these card a wonderfully fun appeal.            Therese

March Cardmaking - a handmade card featuring a little birdie in a cage

 

Little birdie cards are so versatile because they can be used for so many occasions!!

For our first card for cardmaking this time I decided we would make some!!  I choose decorative paper which had a decorative element on the left hand side and we positioned our little birds with their cages to the right of them.  This used some scrapbook paper which has been languishing in my stash because some of the papers were made for specialty layouts and had decorative elements that were not uniform.  A few more pages cut up and out of the bin!! 

Started by adhering the decorative paper to the coordinating card fronts.  Next, I cut the cages (TH SX) out of coordinating cardstock, trimmed off the finial and manually embossed the top with a round element from a gear embossing folder.  I die cut the birds and then the wings a different colour.  I started with the bird - created a beak with a marker and added a tiny black brad to create its eye.  I did not want mine behind the cage so I positioned it so it had its head sticking between the bars of the cage and glued the lower branch to the back of the cage.  I added the wing next using a little double sided tape.  Next, I added the hanging ribbon through the hole at the top, secured it with tape and slid on the little birdie tag before mounting this large element to my card front using white glue applied with a fine tip applicator.  The little tags were cut with a tag die (SX), stamped with a little stamp from a birdie set (SU) using a stamping jig and then had a little string tied on.  Next, I wrapped the ribbon to the inside of the card and secured it with double sided tape and tied the off cut to the front with a single knot to simulate a bow.  To finish off my card I glued rhinestones inside the holes at the bottom of the cage with white glue and secured my tag with 3D foam tape.  In the end, I added a bit of chalk to the tag to soften its edges.  Some of the girls did not secure the bird cage to the card which left it swinging which was also a nice effect.  It could then easily be removed and hung in a window or reused.  

Therese

Christmas cards with embossing and colour

 I needed a few more Christmas cards for this year so I made the last of the card kits I had on hand from this set of cards from my November class.  I love these images!!  I gold embossed the star in gold and the candle in silver, added a coordinating layer beneath - silver for the candles and red for the star.  These elements were then layered onto a card front which was layered with decorative paper using 3D foam tape.  These are quick and easy once you have your embossing done.  I coloured the star's center with a bit of yellow watercolour as well as the flame on the candles.  I did the body of the candle using chalk which gives them a nice soft look. 
Will prep these today and I will be finished my Christmas cards for this year.  I have only a few kits left from this class which I will make up and start by Christmas card stash for next year!!

Therese

Combining handmade paper, a die cut envelope and a tag to make a card

This card features a die cut envelope which I cut from heavy weight paper which holds a tag with a ribbon.  This was may sample for a past class and when the time came to get the kits ready I decided that the card would take longer to assemble than I had time for so it was scrapped and I went with a different design.  I found the supplies recently when preparing these kits for my recent card making class and you can see that they worked very well for that class.
For this card, I layered a piece of 4" x 5.25" handmade paper onto a coordinating dark purple card front.  I folded the die cut envelope and glued it together before chalking the edges to coordinate with the hand made paper.  I watercoloured the image (floral bird house - Anne's cards) on the tag and chalked the edges to coordinate with the envelope. I added a ribbon and used double sided tape to secure it in place.  I inserted the tag in the envelope and glued this element to my card front.  I added a layered punchie greeting to the top right hand corner to finish off my card.
I will add it to my card stash.           Therese

A card from a kit with velllum and handmade paper

I made up this card from a card kit from my last class.  I love the handmade paper background for this card and used the colour scheme to colour the image using peach, pink, green and brown.  I coloured on the back of the vellum which mutes the colour slightly and protects it from being rubbed off.  I used an embossed label punchie as the mechanical means of attaching the vellum to the stitched handmade paper background.  I used double sided tape to attach the vellum and another piece to attach the whole thing to the background.  This whole element was adhered to the brown card front using a glue stick.
This one is off to a special person having a birthday very soon.

Therese

Cardmaking - March - more handmade paper combined with vellum images

More handmade paper on these cards!!

In this case I took small sheets of  seed paper which were smallish for the front of a card and ripped them into strips and collaged them together to make a larger piece which I trimmed to size before running the sewing machine around the edge to make a mechanical connection to hold them all together.  I glued this background to the front of a coordinating card.  I laser printed images with greetings on vellum and used two halves of an embossed label (SU) to attach them to my handmade paper background by apply double sided tape to the back of the pieces and overlapping the edge of the vellum when I adhered them to the card front.  I coloured the back of the image with chalk which gives the image a some muted look.  The flower bouquet image is digital from Beccy's Place, the flower wreath is a digital from Melonheadz, and the little girl image is from Heather Ellis which I believe I downloaded from Paper Crafts Magazine quite a while back.  

Therese

Delicate pink and green cards

 I am in the process of using up some pink gingham announcements from a "To be sorted" box and here are a couple more cards I made.
For these two I simply folded the half sheet announcement in half to make a quarter sheet card.  I used a strip of white cardstock and punched one edge with a scalloped border punch (SU) and the other with the slot punch.  I found some pink ribbon that coordinated and added it to the slots before I used double sided tape to adhere it to the left hand side of the card.  For the top one I used a laser printed tulip image (CLKER). I watercoloured it and sponged the edges in green so it would show up nicely on the card front.  I slipped the left hand edge under the border and glued it in place.  I sponged an oval greeting (SU) with green and added it over the image using 3D foam tape.

For this card, I layered the image over a green backer and used chalks to colour it.  I added a scroll greeting (CLKER) which I chalked to coordinate with the card.

The little girl is a digital image from Lilac and Lavendar. I used this image on these cards as well.

Therese

Pink and green baby card

I am working on cleaning up my "To be sorted" boxes and in one of them I found a package of pink gingham announcement cards which I bought somewhere for a really good price knowing for sure that I would get some quick inspiration and in no time at all I would have a pile of cute cards.  It has been years and so far that has not happened so this week I thought I would see if I could get some cards made with them.
I started by cutting the half sheet down to quarter sheet and punching the non ginghamed edge with an eyelet border punch (SU).  I backed the edge with a strip of green layer  - two of my favorite colours together.  I found this laser printed vellum with a baby buggy in my image stash which worked very nicely so I trimmed it down to the right size and chalked the back to add colour. I positioned it on the card, punched two holes with my Cropadile and used vintage green seam binding to create an innie - outie bow.  I mounted this element to a white card front to finish it off.
I just remembered that I did use a few last year to create these cards.

Therese

Angel card

Another card for giving!!  I found the angel (laser printed on transparency) in my stash.  This blue glittery hand decorated paper I made a while back worked well with the image and I found this greeting that did the same.  I attached the image to the decorated paper using black mini brads, tied on some black fiber and then glued the whole element to a black card front.  I ripped the edges of the saying, chalked them then added it to the card front using 3D foam tape overlapping the fiber.
It was fun to work with fiber again!!  It is amazing how many options there are for decorating cards!!

Therese

Cardmaking - October - step card

Have been seeing step cards on blogs for a while and thought I would give it a go!! I watched a few videos, checked out a few tutorials and decided for my first attempt I would create only one step. You can check out this tutorial over at Splitcoast Stampers which gives step by step instructions for a center step card. They are some times also referred to as stair cards if you want to search for a few examples or tutorials.

Once I figured out my dimensions, I designed a layout with the cutting/folding lines and printed them on the back of the cardstock which made the process of creating the cards in class much less time consuming.
We made one cut and scored three fold lines. The last fold (bottom of the step) was created during the process of getting the card to fold flat. Worked out quite well!! To decorate the front panel I cut a small piece of decorative paper into three little rectangles, trimmed the tops into a slant, and positioned them making sure there was enough room for the flames above them. Glued them into place and trimmed any over hang at the bottom. Added wicks with a black sharpie marker and glued the flames into place with 3D foam tape. The flames are actually wing punchies from the SU bird punch!! Love versatile tools! I added some colour to my flames to give them a bit of dimension. I used watercolour on the top one and chalks on the bottom one - some used pencil crayons in class. Tie fiber to the card front overlapping the candles. With no place for a regular insert in this card I decided to add a flap with a greeting so there would be a place to write a message. I created this cool digital stamp!! I really liked the one put out by SU recently in their Delightful Dozen set so I decided to create my own. I used Corel Draw to lay out all the words in different fonts. Really happy with the way it turned out!! Can see a few more of these greetings in my future. Printed them in colour on white cardstock to coordinate with the card front, folded them and glued the back flap to the back of the step. The front flap can be tucked inside the step as well.

I really like the look of this dimensional card!!

Therese

Cardmaking - September - chalkboard

What a cute little chalkboard card!! It is a real chalkboard!! I created it using some chalkboard sticky backed poster paper I purchased at Michaels. So fun!!

I die cut the frame using the large frame (SX) die though I did fold the cardstock in half before cutting to ensure that the frame would fit the width of the card. The original size is about a quarter inch short. I embossed the die cut frame using the distressed lines embossing folder (CB) which gives it the wood texture I was looking for then rounded the corners. I mounted the chalkboard piece to the back of the frame, removed the backing and adhered the entire element to the front of a white card. I printed the apple and leaf (digital stamp from ABCteach) and cut them out. Created a stem using a scrap of brown cardstock and mounted them all to the card front using 3D foam tape. Added the greeting using chalk!! The cool thing is that it can be erased and a new one written in!! I included a little post it note in the card kit to be included in the card informing the recipient that they can use the card front as a little chalkboard!! Would be cool in a locker or on the fridge for leaving little notes!!

Therese

Cardmaking with a friend!

I had a young friend over this afternoon to do some cardmaking!! You can see here the card she made for me. I had preprinted a variety of digital images (Meljens Designs) onto white cardstock and let her choose which one she wanted. She had me pick the cardstock and then used chalks to colour the little butterfly fairy image. She used the decorative scissors to cut around the edges of her image then used a push pin to paper pierce the edges. She used a different pair of scissors on the bottom edge of the card and then embossed the front and the back with a swirl embossing folder.
With that finished she layered her image and glued that element to the card front!!

She used glitter glue to create a nice design on the inside of the card as well!!! It is not dry yet but she did add her handwritten message to the inside before she added glitter glue.

Yeah! and "Good job" to her for creating a wonderful card for me!!

It is so fun to create with kids!! They are so spontaneous!! They love using tools and always know which colour they want to use!!

We will be meeting again over the summer to glitter pinecones which we picked on our way home from the park!!

Therese

Handmade Paper Art book - metal embossing

This page features metal embossed flowers in a garden on some light blue handmade paper!! I die cut some silver foil (pie plate) into flowers shapes and we used pencils to draw designs using light pressure which embossed the metal. It is best to place the metal on a giving surface - in our case, we used folded newspaper which works really well. I added a flower garden using a black Sharpie and coloured the flowers and stems with chalk. Glued down the fence die cut (made longer by folding the cardstock in the same way I lengthened the film strip) and added the embellished quote with brads. The handmade paper butterfly die cut (cut from sheets made the first day) was embellished with chalk or pencil crayon and details were added using Sharpie markers. The butterfly was stapled to the background in its body area and the black body shape was glued over it nicely concealing the staples. The embossed metal flowers were embellished with yellow centers and attached to the page with brads.

We always have choice to make the best of the circumstances of our lives and bloom!!

Therese

Butterlfy card - Circle of Friends

Made cards with a new group last night - some very enthusiastic newbies!! Circle of Friends was created to bring people together to celebrate every day life!! A great group!! They have weekly outings and monthly meetings.

We started off with a flower and butterfly card. Glued decorative paper with a wave on the bottom of the card and added flower punchies (SU) along the wavy edge. Chalked our butterflies (SU) and mounted them with 3D foam tape. Added body definition and antenna with a fine black marker as well as a flight path with little black dots. The last thing was to add iridescent glitter glue to the flower centers and set them aside until the glitter glue was dry.

A quick and easy card sketch!! Change up the colours and the punchies and you can make a card for any occasion!!

Therese

Christmas cards for challenges - snowmen

Created these cards for a couple challenges - Snowman and mostly green at Christmas Cards All Year Round

and snowmen was the theme for Tracy's Christmas Card Challenge #3 on her blog.

I am pretty happy with how they turned out!!! I used a brass stencil and embossed the snowman (do not know manufacturer - gifted to me) on an off white cardstock circle (3"). I added a bit of chalk to highlight the details - nose, hat, etc. I find it works best if you apply the chalk with the stencil in place - less mess. I added faux stitching to the outer edge with a micro tip marker. I layered him onto a scalloped circle (Nestibilities die) cut from green cardstock which had been embellished with clear glittered 3D paint. Coordinates nicely with the glitter on the decorative cardstock I used below him which features numbers and some cool colours - pink being one of them - so I added a pink paper ribbon just below the scalloped border which I punched (SU) on the upper edge. Added two snowflake embellishments. The large one features a micro mini white brad (M), an iridescent confetti snowflake, a fabric snowflake, a diecut snowflake all layered onto some tulle and attached to the front of the card with the brad. The upper one is a fiber snowflake layered over a confetti snowflake, also attached with a micro mini white brad.

I am super happy to be participating in the Christmas challenges because I will have my cards ready for next Christmas when it arrives and it will be the very first year in 20 years or more of cardmaking that MY cards will be ready when I need them!!!!

Thanks to the girls who are willing to make up the challenges and put them out there!!

Therese

Cardmaking - March - embossing

Another great session of cardmaking last night!! It is always great to be spending time creating with like minded people!! Does me good!!
A card that features embossing!! The background is created with the Script embossing folder (CB) which is trimmed to the edge of the embossed design and layered onto coloured cardstock. The central image is dry embossed using a stylus, brass stencil and a light table!! I used chalk to highlight the image. The frame around this rectangle was created by embossing a nestability rectangle. First time doing it and it works wonderfully. You need a silicon mat to emboss with the nesties which pushes the paper into the blank areas. You can do the same with stencils (brass or otherwise) or texture plates!! Layered the image onto another rectangle of colour and added a tied ribbon with a glue dot.

Fun to revisit techniques that I haven't used in a while!! Certainly do like the embossed look and the embossing folders make that so easy!!

Therese