White on white anniversary or Valentine's card

After some success with making a white on white anniversary card I was on a roll so I worked on this card. 
The central medallion was created by layering three lace doily die cuts (SX) to which I added a pearly daisy punchie and a small round flower punchie.  I tied them all together using a rhinestone brad layered over a silver sequin.  I layered the embossed heart background over a white card after adding the length of white satin ribbon near the bottom.  I tied a short piece of white fiber to the left hand side with a double knot to add some interest and texture.  I adhered the medallion with 3D foam tape and then used white glue from a fine tip applicator to adhere the "love" (SX) die over the ribbon.  I placed a bit of weight on it until the glue was dry to keep it in place and flat. 
This card would certainly be appropriate for a wedding, anniversary or Valentine's Day!!  Gotta love versatility!!   
Therese

Christmas cards for Red & Heart challenge

I have made six of these Christmas cards for February's  Red & Heart Christmas card challenge on my sister, Sylvia's blog.  They were inspired by a card I found on Splitcoast Stampers. That is where I most often get my inspiration.  I created my card in a landscape format instead of portrait and used a stamped greeting instead of a folded label one but most of the other elements are the same.  

I started by digging the heart punchies (SU) from my little stash bin.  They were not all the same colour so I coordinated my card to the heart colour.  I decided some of my backgrounds would be ivory and others would be white, I cut my quarter sheets and embossed them with a fancy oval embossing folder (SX) then stamped my greeting (SU) using green ink.  I did manipulate the stamp (SU) a bit so it would be curved when I stamped it and that worked great.  I trimmed my backgrounds to leave a small margin all the way around and glued them to my card fronts.  Next, I punched my birds from white and ivory cardstock scraps then I punched the branches from scraps of green cardstock. I decided to have some birds facing one way and others facing the other.  I wish I had assembled one to start because I would have realized that having the branch pointing to the greeting was a great design feature but deciding to change the directions the birds faced negated that on some of my cards.  I will know better next time! I added the eye to the bird using a fine tip permanent marker and I very lightly outlined the beak using a pencil.  I sponged their edges and used small pieces of glue dot to adhere the branches to their beaks.  I added pearl paint to the wings to give them some texture and add a bit of bling to the cards.  Next, I layered my elements onto my cards starting with the hearts, then the bird and finally the pearly wings went on with 3D foam tape.  

I am very happy to have my February Christmas cards already made and hope to keep up with them all year so come November I will have them all ready to send out.  

Therese

My Art - Christmas cards - dove

You can see that this design is versatile!! It was a good thing because somehow I managed to include both landscape and portrait greeting inserts with these kits! No idea how that happened!! So we had some cards created in each format. Good thing one of my participants was working ahead and had a keen eye. She spotted my mistake and we were able to warn the others to watch for the change in format.
I stamped the top of the card with a swirly leaf stamp (SU). This was a wheel which I unmounted and use with an acrylic mount. Makes it easy to use with regular stamp pads!! The ribbon covers the edge of the design. The embossed dove is layered onto the coordinating square and mounted to the card front with 3D foam tape. I let everyone stamp on their own greeting (SU). I used pearlized cardstock for the dove to give this card a bit of elegance. Another design which could be made in batches!!
Therese

My Art - June cardmaking - baby wipe card

This card is the result of a challenge I set myself at my All Occasions card class. Several of the girls were using baby wipes to keep their fingers from getting too sticky while they were creating. At the end of the class the pile of used baby wipes was headed to the garbage and I decided instead I would see if I could create something art worthy with them. I brought them home and rinsed them out to get any leftover solution out of them and then applied inks to them while they were still damp. The inks ran very nicely and as I stacked them one on top of each other they ran into each other as well. Made some very interesting background material. They are very light and airy and I decided to use an iron to hurry them along - NOT a good idea!! They are very sensitive to heat and melt quickly. So I thought that using the heat gun would be a better option. Only a very slight bit better. The heat did melt the babywipes but I did find that it took a little longer and it was more controllable so you would get some neat effects by melting in some areas and not in others. Not what I needed for this project so in the end, they were left to air dry!!
On this card the top part is a piece of cardstock that has been embossed with a Fiskars texture plate using a silicone mat and my Cuttlebug in the right sandwich. Happy with the way it turned out. Somewhat more subtle than using the embossing folders just because of the nature of the tool. The bottom part is altered baby wipes. I just ripped the top edge and then glued it to the card front and then trimmed it to the card edge. I added a silver embossed image on pearly cardstock which I coloured in with watercolours. Some of the girls used chalks and that worked very well too. I expect markers might be Ok as well. Added the pearly flower which is table confetti sold at Michaels in the wedding section. They are sold in a little bucket in a variety of colours. I thought the white was most versatile because they can be coloured with markers, inks, etc to suit what you need for your project!! Used my distressing tool (SU) on the edges of the layers for the image.
If you use baby wipes for cleaning your stamps yours are already altered by the time you are finished using them. Consider using them in your art!! I expect these would be very nice included in fabric art as well because the material has a nice texture and I expect it would sew up nicely.
Challenge yourself to use or repurpose some items that you use regularly in your home into your art!! Maybe cardboard packaging from a tissue box for ATCs, clear plastic packaging for making clear accents on your cards, etc. Use your imagination!!

Therese