A birthday card featuring fun decorative paper, an embossed strip and a tag with image and greeting

A few more cards for my stash from card kits.  These card kits were featured in my March Cardmaking class.   The bicycle (SU) and greeting were combined in Corel Draw and printed on white cardstock.  They were trimmed into rectangles and then the corners were cut to create the tag.  I used my slot punch (SU) to cut the slot for the twill tape which was adhered with double side tape. I sponged the outer edges and then added faux stitching with a fine tipped Sharpie marker.  I adhered the decorative paper to the kraft card front and added an embossed strip before adding the tag using 3D foam tape.   

Therese

Cards for kids!

 My daughter was looking for kids birthday cards with french greetings so I offered to make some for her.  I decided to use a variety of graphics from Melonheadz Illustrating for images on all the cards.  She has a good selection and lots of cute ones for kids.  I laser printed the images I chose in black on white cardstock and after choosing some decorative papers I also colour printed some coordinating greetings using a variety of fonts.  I cut apart all the images and the greetings.  

Here's how I created these:  I started by choosing an image, then a decorative paper that I thought would work well and then a greeting that coordinated.  At my workspace, I decided how I would put together these elements by just playing with them until I got some inspiration.  I started by choosing a card base that coordinated with the paper and then decided how the decorative paper would be used on the card.  Some were scraps so they did not fully cover the front so I just went with it and found a layout that worked.  For the first two (above) I used a cute butterfly image.  I watercoloured them to coordinate with the decorative paper and layered them with a coordinating cardstock.  For the pink one, I layered the image with gray and left cardstock on the bottom of the image, trimmed it with scallop decorative scissors and then used a push pin to pierce each scallop.  I also used the scallop scissors on the top edge of the decorative paper.  I trimmed my greeting, added a double ribbon on the left hand side after punching it with the ribbon border punch.  I flagged the right hand side and then mounted in to gray cardstock as well and trimmed it to have an even border all the way around.  I adhered my image to the card front with 3D foam tape and then glued my greeting in the same manner.    For the right hand card, I used two pieces of coordinating decorative paper and glued them side by side on a green card front.  Layered my watercoloured image with green cardstock and adhered it to the card front using double sided tape.  I layered the greeting with both green and peach then trimmed it to have an even border all the way around.  I still needed a bit of something so I added a 3D embellishment that featured a handmade paper flower with a pearly peach button in the middle.  I adhered it with a glue dot to keep the thickness of this element to a minimum.  

Above, the card on the left features that cute little butterfly as well.  I glued my two pieces of decorative paper to my pink card front, added a strip of dark pink cardstock which I had cut on both sides with the scallop decorative scissors and pierced in the scallops which also featured a length of yellow satin ribbon through its center.  I layered the image with green and yellow and the greeting with the same dark pink leaving a even border all the way around.  I did add a small layered flower embellishment to the lower edge of the image here as well.  For the right hand card I layered my decorative paper to black and then to the blue card front.  I tucked my greeting below the green ribbon I had added to that layer and then adhered my layered watercoloured image over the ribbon on the left hand side.  I love this cute birthday cake image!!

Above, the card on the left features three piece of decorative paper layered over a light blue card front.  I layered my watercoloured sheep image with dark brown and light blue and then adhered it to the card front using 3D foam tape.  I layered the trimmed greeting in brown and adhered it with 3D foam tape as well overlapping the image and to the lower right.   For the card on the right, I used two strips of decorative paper on a dark brown card front and added a dark brown fabric trim over the gap tucking both ends behind the paper.  I layered the little airplane image which I had watercoloured onto green cardstock and adhered it over the trim using 3D foam tape.  I layered the greeting in green as well and adhered it to the card front using 3D foam tape.  

Above,  the card on the left features the cutest little monkey!!  I layered my greeting in a gap I had cut in the decorative paper and trimmed it to its edge.  I mounted this element to a dark brown card front and added three little brown hearts to the left of my greeting.   I layered the image with two light green triangles and mounted this element to my card front above the greeting.  I love this cute tree paper with this little monkey.  I love the little bat guy too!!  I used him on the other card in combination with some orange and blue decorative paper which I cut using wave decorative scissors.  I embossed the right hand side of my blue card front, glued my decorative paper in place and then adhered my little watercoloured bat guy which is layered with yellow cardstock over where they meet.  I trimmed the greeting, added a little button embellishment and adhered this element to my card front below the image.  

Above,  the left card features a beautiful image of a basket of flowers which I watercoloured to coordinate with my decorative paper.  I mounted the image to a large rectangle of pink, trimmed the right hand side with scallop scissors, pierced all the scallops and added my flagged greeting below that.  There was just enough room in between to add a length of green satin ribbon to which I tied a short piece to simulate a bow.  I used a eyelet border punch on my decorative paper, sponged the edge a bit and glued it to a yellow card front.  I then glued my focal element over the decorative paper.  The card on the right features a cute little bee with a beautiful bow!!  I layered the watercoloured image and the greeting to a large rectangle of red and added five clear rhinestones in between.  I punched the left hand side of my cherry decorative paper with a ribbon border punch and strung some red twill tape through the slots and glued the ends to the back.  I glued my decorative paper to my dark green card front and added my focal element with 3D foam tape.  

Above,  both of these cards feature the same butterfly image watercoloured to coordinate with the card's decorative paper.  For the one on the left, I cut a hole in the decorative paper and layered the butterfly on the back.  I adhered this element to my yellow card front and added my trimmed and embellished greeting below the image.  On the right, I glued the decorative paper which I had trimmed on the right with the scallop scissors to the left hand side of the card, added my layered greeting and the trimmed greeting layer below it. 

It was totally fun to create these cards. I like that the images gives the cards a similar feel even with the wide variety of sketches, papers and colours I used to create them.  It was fun to just play and create without an agenda!! I know my daughter will appreciate having cards on hand when those birthday party invitations start rolling in!!  

Therese

Scrappy background with a star embellishment

 This is the final card I made with the scrappy backgrounds I created a few weeks ago.  I cut the piece I had into three both ways and glued them equidistant from each other on a kraft card front.  I stamped over all with my stipple stamp (SU) with brown ink which works to unify all the pieces with the card.  I positioned a length of brown twill tape near the middle and tucked a stamped greeting below it and used my sewing machine to stitch both of them into place.  The greeting looked a little plain so I stippled it as well with brown ink.  My focal point is a 3D embellishment which features an punchie star, a scalloped circle and another of those brown and gold paper medallions!!!  You can see here, here and here the other cards that feature these medallions.  Anyone know what tasty treat was housed in them?  Click on the my FEATURED POST on the upper right hand side or click this link and leave me a comment!!  This card is going into my stash.

Therese

Heart cards - masculine

Knowing that somewhere along the way they probably would need a masculine card I designed these.  I inked and sponged the embossed layers so they would be ready to go.  We attached the ends of the twill tape to the back of the embossed cardstock using double sided tape and then glued it to the card front. To create the central element we layered two dark halves behind the metallic decorative label (SU) and glued on a little flocked heart.  It was adhered to the card front using 3D foam tape and then we glued three little punchies to the lower right side.
I like accenting embossing using ink pads because it just hits the high areas and really makes the images pop!!  For the brown one I used two colours because the first one was too brown and it really added depth to the image!!

Therese

Father's Day card

Made this card for my DH for Father's Day.  I just received some grunge board elements as a prize from one of my groups and thought that the coffee cup one would work so popped out the pieces and painted them up with brown, tan and gold acrylic paint.  Once they were dry I reassembled the pieces and highlighted the cup with some clear dimensional paint.  I love the way it worked out.  The music background has been downloaded from Free Vintage Digital Stamps and colour printed.  I added some black twill and caramel seam binding and mounted my layered element over them using 3D foam tape.  Add a layered greeting with a bit of bling!!
He loves music and coffee so I thought this worked pretty well for him!!

Therese

Cardmaking - May - classic cars

Father's Day is coming up so I prepped a few of these cards for my cardmaking class last night. I prepared several different greetings so the cards could be customized though my "For you, Dad" was not flexible enough for the ones in the group that needed a card for Father's Day for their husbands or sons, so the next time the greeting will say Happy Father's Day!! Without a greeting, it is well suited to a variety of occasions!!

The cars are from a font I downloaded off the internet called OLD CARS. I used four different ones even though both of my cards ended up with the same car!! Must be the one I like the best!!

Layered decorative paper and added a fabric trim. On the first one I colour washed the twill and at class I decided to use colour pencils. They worked remarkable well for removing the starkness of the new twill and helping to integrate it into the look of the card. I laid the short piece over the longer one and tied them together with a piece of string. This works well for giving you the look of a bow without the bulk. Watercoloured the laser printed image, trimmed it close and mounted it above the trim using 3D foam tape. I colour washed the greetings before adding them to my cards. For a more balanced design, I added three little black cardstock punchies to the top left hand corner. A little Dimensional Magic or a similar clear gloss product would give them a bit more shine!! In an effort to use what I have, I will be adding some to mine! Unfortunately, it takes too long to dry for use in the class room.

The guys in our lives need to be celebrated for all they contribute!! Make your special people a card today!! "Just because" is enough of a reason!!

Therese

Masculine card

I created this card as a follow up to my exchange card in hopes of being able to work out a card design for my next class.

I used double sided tape punched with my 1/4" punch to create my little domes of glossiness. They grabbed the embossing powder really well and heated up nicely though gave a more pebbled effect. The little punchies are more touchy to get positioned and more easily damaged in the process so not ideal for the class room. I also tied my twill with a string instead of using a double knot. It is easier for most people to manage that process and creates a card with less "lumps" to catch in the postal template. If the card catches in the template it requires more postage to send.

I am back to the drawing board to see what I can do to change up this design to suit my class.

Therese

Class Act contest card - masculine

The card exchange tomorrow evening is themed masculine so I checked out Class Act challenge#5 guidelines - use a masculine image in combination with fabric and/or stitching - and used them as my starting off point!! I stamped and black embossed Class Act's classic car, watercoloured it and trimmed it closely. I added faux stitching with a fine tipped Sharpie marker to my decorative paper, glued it to the top part of my card front, added a colour washed fabric twill which is double knotted and included a colourwashed laser printed greeting. I added the car using 3D foam tape to add a bit of dimension. Thought it needed just a bit of something, so I added three mini glue dots and sprinkled on black embossing powder expecting the embossing powder would be immediately adhered to them. Not so, I had to rub in the embossing powder to get it to stick to the glue dots - who knew! After heating them with the heat gun I had three nice little domes of black glossiness!! Just what I wanted and just the thing to finish off my card.

So check out Class Act's challenge #5, dig out your masculine images and start creating!! If you use a Class Act stamp you will get two chances to win.

While you are there check out the great cards created by their design team!!

Therese

DH Birthday card with digital image

DH's birthday is next week and I thought I would get his card made early as we are celebrating on the weekend!! I incorporated a lot of texture by using dyed fabric tape, mesh and corrugated cardboard!! He has treated himself to a new tool so I thought this image was appropriate!! I downloaded the image from Beccy's blog. She has some really great digital stamps!! Her newest one is a cute bunny which would make great Easter/spring cards.

This scrap of corrugated cardboard was headed to the recycle bin but instead I ripped the paper off one side to reveal the corrugations and distressed it with some walnut ink. The fabric tape was also distressed with walnut ink - just painted it on and dried it with my heat tool!! I painted the laser printed image with walnut ink and added silver pencil crayon to the metal parts - perfect!! Once I started layering the pieces on my card I added a piece of mesh (drywall tape) which is so appropriate!! Added a small round layered greeting with 3D foam tape!!

It is great to have such a perfect image for making this card!! Be sure to check out Beccy's blog!! I have added a link under Online Digital Resource on the right hand side of my blog!

Therese

Transportation - Steampunk ATCs

Have been working on ATCs for the last day or so!! The theme is Transportation in the Steampunk style!! I first had to do some research to figure out what Steampunk was and then do some searching around on the internet for images!! I did find some free images that would suit the theme so I resized them and printed off my sheet and got busy!! The backgrounds I downloaded from Cemerony - Freebie 11 which is a colourful map of Paris that I thought would be appropriate. The gentleman I downloaded from this Flicker collage group from an artist - artbychristi. The train is a Dover clipart image. The car is just one from the internet somewhere. The lady's dress is from a paper doll image - thought it had credits on the page but, alas, no!! I will see if I can find it and link it when I do. The lady's head is from one of Kelly Burton's collage sheets - I just cut out the head and layered it onto the dress. The woman's face is also cut from somewhere ages ago and I do not know where I got the original.

For the left one I printed the background to which I had added the gentleman's face then using acrylic medium I glued the transparency with the car over it. I surrounded the woman's face with an open metal ring and added some clear acrylic medium to glue them to each other and give it a nice glossy look. The round letters are a set of typewriter letters I created for myself before there were fonts that would do the same thing. I just punch them out with a 1/2" punch. The word " journey" is printed on label using a Dymo font. I added an A inside a black cogged washer - no idea where it came from. You can find star washers - toothed lock washers - at a hardware store and colour them with alcohol inks or Sharpies that would give you the same look.

The one on the right has lots of layers. I coloured the dress and added the head and collar from another image. I trimmed the oval gentleman, glued him to the altered tag, added twill with a safety pin and a little gold heart charm. The train is trimmed close, coloured and glued to the bottom edge. I did add a bit of a book page behind the lady so she would stand out more from the busy background. The little metal disc - $1 store years ago - seems to just belong there!!

So now onto the rest of my day!!

Therese