Tim Holtz wildflower dies and some hand decorated paper for this sympathy card

My uncle passed away last week and the funeral was this week.  I started with the hand decorated background which was created using watercolour and plastic wrap.  The soft colours were just right for this sympathy card.   I ripped the background in two and die cut the top portion using my new TH Wildflower thinlit dies.  I reassembled the pieces on a dark green layer and then mounted the large element to an off white card.  I added a layered greeting.  I used a laser printed greeting from my stash which was created using a font and punched with the Modern Label punch (SU).  I layered two circle punchies to create an accent for it.  I embossed the green one with a flower from an embossing folder (CB) and layered it onto a yellow one before added the printed label punchie which I adhered to my card front using 3D foam tape. 
It was so good to see so many of my cousins which I had not seen in over 20 years at the funeral and it was wonderful celebration of my uncles life.  He will be missed!          Therese

Some fun vellum combined with some bright images

These cards both feature a vellum layer!!  The one on the left has some cool bunny vellum which I cut just slightly smaller than my card front.  I created my focal element and positioned it before stamping and embossing my greeting.  The focal element combines a bright laser printed image of Easter eggs (Anji's Antics) which I watercoloured and layered onto yellow cardstock.  I mounted the focal element to the vellum and then applied double sided tape to the back of it where I knew that it would not show through to the front and then adhered this large element to a purple card front.  You have to be really careful when thermal embossing on vellum as the vellum can warp a bit.  You can see that there is a bit of warping even if I was very careful not to apply too much heat for too long.  I am a bit out of practice!!  Really like these bright Easter eggs and I added just a bit of clear glitter gel pen to them as a final touch. 

For my next card, I mounted a hand decorated background paper (watercolour and plastic wrap) in red and pinks to coordinate with my focal image to the front of a purple card. I trimmed the laser printed image (Pixabay), ripped a piece of vellum to frame it nicely and adhered it to the back of the image using double side tape.  I applied double sided tape to the back of this element where it was hidden from the front and adhered it to my embellished card front. 

Therese

Get well card with silk flowers and lace

Another card for my stash!!  I found this short piece of lace mixed in with my seam binding and set it aside because it perfectly matched the cardstock I had used for this card.  I dug through my background stash and found this watercolour/plastic wrap one that had the perfect colour combination to coordinate with the lace.  I trimmed it to size, added the lace adhering both ends to the back of the back ground paper with double sided tape. I perused my silk flowers and found a large white one and a small lavender one which worked perfectly so I layered them and added them to this layer using a small yellow brad.  I adhered this whole layer to the lavender card front which I had set aside.  I punched a purple label and added a little laser printed greeting punchie (SU) and adhered it to the front o my card with 3D foam tape.

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

Decorative paper

 Created decorative paper in my class with the same group of young people I created handmade paper with a few weeks ago.  This is a quick and easy technique for making decorative paper.
We used coated paper 28 lb bond paper, watercolours and plastic wrap!!  We started with a letter sized piece of paper, covered it with water using a foam brush, added several colours of watercolour over that and while everything was still wet we covered the whole surface with a piece of plastic wrap which we manipulated with our fingers to create a lot of wrinkles.  It is best not to mix the colours too much and to have enough paint to give you vibrant colours in your finished paper.  The larger sheets were trimmed to yield two 5" x 8" sheets which we will use in the "Line a Day" journals we are creating!!
I have used this technique very successfully with acrylic inks and acrylic paints as well.  You can pretty much use what you have.  Have also used a variety of papers - watercolour paper, cardstock and bond - again, use what you have.

Therese