A Christmas card featuring a colour printed page background, a die cut ornament and a punched greeting

I am playing catch up with my commitment to make Christmas cards monthly this year.  I am using large and odd sized envelopes from my stash in an effort to make them disappear!!  I chose the envelope and made a dark maroon card to fit in it.  I had the ornament and greeting picked out from my January session of Christmas cards when I made these.  I went digging into my stash to find a background that would work and found this one which I printed a while back when I was working on these cards. It is a digital collage which I colour printed onto a page from a bible.  It worked with the sky of my little round image so I went with it.  I trimmed it to size and adhered to my card front.  I tied cording to the top of my ornament die cut and adhered my little circle image after sponging it around the edge a bit with brown ink.  The image was die cut from a Christmas card I received years ago and was a supply for a different project a while back.  I mounted the ornament to my card front using 3D foam tape and adhered the cording to the inside of my card using double sided tape.  The greeting (Quietfire Designs) was stamped onto ivory, punched out and then layered onto a coordinating scalloped oval punchie (SU).  I layered them and then mounted it to the front of my card with 3D foam tape as well.  I love how bright the image is compared to the background - it really stands out!!  Another one down!!              Therese

September cardmaking - decorative paper, an image and ribbon for these birthday cards

For our second card I combined decorative paper (colour laser printed digital images) with coordinating cardstock.  Next we added coordinating ribbon gluing both ends to the inside front with double side tape.  The images were then layered and added with 3D foam tape over the ribbon.  To finish off the cards I tied a short piece of ribbon to the one on the front with a single knot to simulate a bow!!  I did add a punched and layered font greeting to the one on the right.  The pink birthday greeting is from Kisspng which I colour printed and the poppies is from CLKER which I watercoloured - both digital image sources.  This is a very flexible sketch which always makes great cards!            Therese

Thank you card - cherry blossom digital image, embossed white core layer and a bit of ribbon

This card features a digital image from KISSPNG, a new digital image site I discovered in the last few days!!  I colour printed the image, trimmed it to size and distressed the edges.  I mounted it to an embossed layer in the same peachy colour as the flowers.  This was white core cardstock so I sanded it a bit to highlight the embossing which is a nice floral design (SU).  I adhered the image to the embossed layer, added a small piece of brown folded  ribbon using a tiny black brad and glued this layer to a dark brown one which I had trimmed with scallop decorative scissors.  I pierced each scallop with a push pin - an easy way to add texture to this card.  I mounted this large layer to a white card front and added a small laser printed greeting (Desert Diva) which I had flagged and sponged in brown to finish off my card.  Love how everything works so well together!!             Therese

Large cards from my sister's stash!!

My sister visited a few years ago and left a bit of her stash behind so I have been making cards for her when I get a chance.  Knowing that I would be seeing her I set about making a few cards for her.  I have been enjoying these large format cards - 5.5" x 8.5".  

For the first card I started with some large images which I printed when I was working on another project.  I usually fill a half sheet of images or greetings while I am at it when I am colour printing.  This little bear with the balloon (Pixabay) is one of my favorites from La Petite Femme on Pixabay!!  I started with a red card and mounted a fun scrapbooking paper to it.  I added a strip of brown cardstock about a third down from the top.  I added  short pieces of coordinating ribbon to the back of the image and added a line of faux stitching before mounting it to a dark red layer and adhering to my card front using 3D foam tape.  The colour printed greeting I found in my stash and was just what I needed.  I trimmed it, layered it onto brown and flagged the right hand side.  I mounted it below the image to the left hand side of the card.  Love it!!
For the next card I used a dark pink card and mounted this fun background paper to it after cutting it twice to made four different sized pieces.  I added a length of pink polka dotted ribbon about one third down using double sided tape to keep it in place.  I layered the colour printed balloons (CLKER) onto yellow cardstock, trimmed it and mounted it over the ribbon on the the top of the card using 3D foam tape.  I added another length of the ribbon to the lower portion and mounted the laser printed greeting which I had also mounted to yellow cardstock over it!!  A fun birthday card!!

For the next card I started with a light pink card and mounted to it some beautiful shimmery pink embossed decorative paper.  I found the two halves of a paper doily in my stash and cut out the centers with a doily thinlit die (SX).  I embossed the dark pink layer for my rose image (CLKER) using a lace border die (SU) on top and bottom and fussy cut the edges.  I mounted the lace doily pieces to the back of this piece using double sided tape.  I inserted the lace between the paper doily and the rose layer before mounting this large element to my card front.  I adhered the ends of the lace to the inside of the card using double sided tape and added the laser printed greeting to the rose image to finish of my card.  Thinking it still needed " a bit of something" I added two clear rhinestones to either side of the greeting.  Done!!

For my next card I started with an off white card and mounted a layer of this fun striped scrapbook paper which I had backed with a layer of brown cardstock.  I layered the colour printed image of the brown coffee cup with blue cardstock and mounted on the top portion of my card.  I layered the laser printed greeting with the same blue cardstock and adhered it below the cup image using 3D foam tape as well.  Thinking it needed a bit of something I stamped and embossed with clear embossing powder a little coffee bean from one of my stamp sets.  I fussy cut it  and mounted it to my greeting!!  Much better!!
For my next two cards I used that same little bear image from Pixabay - la petite femme!!   For the first one I created a card using red and black embossed cardstock by just taping together the pieces I needed.  I added a strip of shimmery pink embossed paper which I flagged on the left hand side.  I added the laser printed digital image of the little bear with a balloon onto the red section of the card and added the laser printed chalkboard greeting overlapping the image and the pink strip.  Love how it worked out. 

Very pleased with how the first one turned out I decided to use the same colour scheme for my second one!  The triangle is what I had trimmed off the black layer for my first card so I mounted it to the top of a red card so it would highlight the greeting.  I used a polka dot border embossing folder to emboss a strip of dots on my card front before adding my bear image and the chalkboard greeting.  Love this one too!!
So a few cards for my sister made in one afternoon of creating!!                 Therese

Embossing and sanding gives this background texture and highlights the car!

I used a card kit from my May class to create this card.  The focal image is an old car digital image (Arthur"s Clipart) which I laser printed, die cut (Nestibilities)  and watercoloured to coordinate with my background.  I added clear glitter ink to all of the chromed areas - bumper, wheel spokes, lights, etc.  I layered this focal image to a blue layer, added some coordinating green ribbon which was folded, trimmed and glued to the back.  The background was created using coloured cardstock which was colour printed, stenciled, stamped and then embossed with a scroll frame embossing folder.  The embossing was slowly sanding to reveal the original green cardstock.   The sanding adds some soft texture to this background.  The background was layered onto a navy card front and the focal image was added using 3D foam tape.  A fun card appropriate for Father's Day or a guy birthday!!
Therese

Christmas cards with used postage stamps and colour printed book page backgrounds

It has taken me more than week to create this set of Christmas cards!!!  The inspiration for using postage stamps came from these cards I created for my grand daughter's Guide troupe for their penpal project.  After searching on line to see what others had created with postage stamps I was inspired to combine a stenciled text background with a framed postage stamp.  

I went through my used postage stamps and culled about 50 stamps that I thought would make good focal elements for my cards.  I needed some sort of text for the backgrounds and deliberated which book I had in my stash that would be appropriate.  I remembered that I had rescued a bible from a box during our Trash to Treasure week which had been soaked by the previous evening's downpour and was now twice the size it had been previously and was straining against its binding.  I had set it over the furnace vent at home and it took several days for it to dry completely.  The pages would make perfect backgrounds of my Christmas cards - the right text size and content.  

I decided that NOEL would be the word I would use on the backgrounds for my nativity postage stamps. To simulate the stenciled background of the inspiration card I thought I might use a large stamp set to stamp on my background.  Unfortunately, the stamps were too large and I had to come up with another way to get the same look.  I decided to use my colour ink jet printer to print the words instead of stenciling them.  I used Corel Draw to layout NOEL in a font that was large enough to fill out the layer I would need for my A2 sized cards.  It took a little tweaking to get it all set up correctly.  Next, I applied some transparency to the word so I could get a more stenciled look to the letters.  I cut a few pages from the front of the bible and ironed them flat with a little steam.  That worked quite well.  Next, I colour printed two backgrounds on one page and cut them apart.  They did not seem to be quite what I remembered that the inspiration card had looked like so I went back and had a look and realized that the inspiration card the text piece was smaller than the whole background and the stenciling extended out to the next layer.  So I went back to Corel Draw and rejigged my document so I could print on a different size of paper.  I cut two pieces of text background, adhered them to white cardstock and then put them through the printer to print my NOEL onto them.  That was much better and so I created coordinating printed backgrounds for a dozen cards.  I layered the text/cardstock backgrounds I had created onto a coordinating lightweight cardstock and then used my sewing machine and coordinating thread to sew them together.  I adhered this layer to a coordinating card front.  To create my focal element I glued my postage stamp to a coordinating cardstock and adhered it to my embellished card front using 3D foam tape.
On this card I used a Mary and Joseph stamp from New Zealand!!  It is a beautiful stamp!!  I printed the NOEL in blue, layered onto purple and then onto a blue card front.  I layered the stamp onto black cardstock and mounted it to my card front with 3D foam tape.

These are the rest of the cards I created with Canadian used Christmas postage  stamps.
You can see that the card on the right has the small printed NOEL which I originally printed and realized it was smaller than I had wanted it to be.  The last one in this collection has been created with the other one small one.

They have a bit of a different look but the concept still works.  I have set aside the rest of the postage to work on later maybe using a different word and maybe a portrait layout.
With the addition of these fourteen Christmas cards I am up to 46 for the year!  Therese

Christmas cards - embossed images combined with greetings

 These are part of the second set of cards we created at the classes yesterday.  I used five small Sizzix embossing folders which I have not used very much if at all since I bought them.  I see that I have one missing - the little Christmas tree!!
I cut 8.5" x 11 colour printed papers into four and trimmed them to 4" x 5.25", found coordinating cardstock for the cards and then some coordinating 1/8" ribbon.  It took a couple of times to create the rectangles for embossing with the greeting in exactly the right place so that I could emboss the top, add the ribbon over the greeting, trim the bottom with decorative scissors and have everything balanced. Once I worked it out I printed the greetings on neutral cardstock - white or ivory to coordinate with my decorative papers.  Next, I embossed them two at a time with my Big Shot and trimmed the bottom edge with the scalloped scissors.  Each kit included a card, decorative paper, an embossed image, ribbon, an insert with a saying in an envelope.  The participants glued the decorative paper to the front of the folded card leaving a even margin all the way around.  Next, they had to adhere the ribbon below the embossed image, trim the long end off, and tie the leftover piece onto the front to simulate a bow.  Next they used a push pin with a foam to pierce each little scallop.  I forgot this step on one of mine.  This focal element was then glued to the front of the card over the decorative paper.  Again, there was much creativity applied to the process of designing the cards which is one of the reasons I love to teach - I learn so much from those who come to learn from me.

Again, I used a wide variety of papers so the cards easily differentiated.   Because I had provided portrait inserts most created portrait cards but there were a few who when they came to put in their insert discovered they had created landscape cards. No problem, I had printed spare inserts in both formats so that if this situation arose, I could simply provide them an insert that was appropriate to their design.
UPDATE:  Had another small class with these kits so I changed the focal element so the cards would not be the same.  I used a triple embossing die which produces three images.  I choose to use the ornament one as it fit nicely with this card design.  I printed the greeting on the same size cardstock as for the Merry Christmas/Joy to the World ones and simply glued the little embossed ornament to the top.  Worked out really well!!

Therese

September Cardmaking - a card featuring a die cut leaf

 My first card for September's cardmaking class.  I started by choosing this cool paper for my background.  I love it for fall cards!!  I am very near the last piece of this one!! Next, I die cut the leaves from some coordinating pieces of cardstock (4" x 2.75"). It was a little tricky as this leaf (TH) is on a large die (Tattered Leaves) along with several others so I drew guidelines in pencil on the foam to help me position the cardstock correctly every time!  I decided to create my greetings on vellum so printed a bunch in coordinating colours.  I started by gluing my background to my card front.  I had a variety of coordinating colours.  Next, I slipped the greeting (4.25" x 3/4") through my die cut leaf and lined up the greeting where I wanted it to be and stapled it in place.  I trimmed away the vellum end sticking out from behind the die cut.  I added 3D foam tape to the back of the die cut and mounted it on my card front.  I flagged the end of the vellum greeting and stapled it again.  On the left hand card I could not add a staple because the throat of my stapler was not deep enough so I just used a small piece of double sided tape on the back of the vellum just below the words.  It worked perfectly and does not show on the front.  So two different options for this card kit and after class we discussed maybe using a landscape layout so I will consider that for my left over kits.

Update:

Here are a few more I made up since class last week.  We had talked at the end of the class that maybe a bit of sponging would look nice on the edges of the leaf so I gave that a try.  I also added glitter faux stitching on the one leaf die cut on the left hand side.  I did manage to find quite a few layouts that worked with the elements in this kit.  I like to change things up a bit when I am making multiples of any card.
Therese

Scrappy collage and cards

I am always looking for ways to use my scraps so I dug out these 3/4" wide strips from my stash and decided to find a way to use them up.  I cut these for making a patchwork layout  for a journal class a few years ago, then for a log cabin patchwork for a cardmaking class and used a few more for paper beads for another class.  They are sorted by colour so I picked green and pink  - my favorite combination - and glued them end to end then side by side on an 8.5" x 11 scrap of used printer paper which was sitting by the printer.  Once dry, I cut it into quarters and stamped two of them with pink ink and the other two with green ink using a newspaper column background stamp (IO).  I cut one of the green quarters into two and started cardmaking!!

Here is the first card I made.  I cut the 2.75" x 4.25" into four, interchanged the pieces and glued them to a piece of brown cardstock then trimmed it to leave an even border all the way around.  I attached it to my stippled card front by stitching all the way around with my sewing machine using brown thread.  I added a layered flower using a small white brad.  I added a punched (SU) laser printed greeting which I had sponged and stippled with green ink.

For this card I used one of the collages I had stamped with pink.  I cut the quarter into two and used one of the halves for this card.  I cut the 2.75" x 4.25" piece randomly into six pieces, glued them to brown cardstock and then machine stitched all the way around using brown thread. I trimmed the brown cardstock to leave a large border on the bottom to accommodate my laser printed greeting and an even border on the three other edges.  I added my sponged greeting and a coffee cup image which I had punched with a 1.75" circle punch (SU) and layered with pink before I glued the whole piece to a kraft card front.
Two cards ready to go for the new year!!  That leaves me three full quarter sheets of this collage to play with later on and the possibility of creating another six cards with this collage which I created out of scraps!!  I like the artsy and unique look I get when I create these collages for my cards.

Therese