A large fabric collage created from small strips of scrap fabric

I created this fabric collage background fabric piece the other day by simply sewing small strips of fabric that coordinate loosely onto a substrate fabric.  It is 6" wide which will be just perfect for making fabric postcards for swap I have coming up later this year.  The pieces on the right hand side were tightly woven before being sewn down.  The darker middle section was much more loosely woven before being stitched into place.  It was fun to play with these small pieces of fabric which I found at a thrift store a while back.  Once I have made projects with this piece I will come back and them them here.  

Therese

A birthday card for DH!

I always try to make DH cards special!! He loves music and coffee so I try to incorporate those two themes into them if I can. This year, I started with a sheet of music from a choral book which was water damaged.  It was already crinkly so I ripped the page into strips and wove them back together to create my background.  I stamped the weaving with a mosaic background stamp which I created using rubber cut offs (when I mounted stamps).  I stamped in two different brown colours and then washed over them with water to spread the colour a bit.  Very happy with how that worked out.
Next, I decided to use a feather sticker from the above sheet which I bought at DollarTree.  The beautifully detailed stickers are made of some sort of soft foamy material and take colour very well.  I used markers to colour my feather and added a bit of orange using a Sharpie marker!!  I adhered the sticker to a piece of acetate which was printed with "Happy Birthday" and then trimmed around it.  The printing was a bit too prominent so I just scraped through the ones that were visible which sort of distressed them and that was much better.  Next I stitched the feather element to a coffee themed tissue paper leaving "cafe" showing in several places.  I used white thread but once I was finished I thought it would have been better to use darker thread so I just ran a marker over it and that was enough to dye the thread.  I simply wiped the spare ink from acetate with a cloth!!  I ripped off the extra tissue paper to finish off this element.  Once I laid the feather element over the background I realized that I would have to create an over sized card to get all my elements on the card.  I created a dark brown card, stamped the outside front edges using cream craft ink and the same handmade mosaic stamp I used on the back ground and then rubbed in a bit of gold mica powder to create an interesting border for my card.  I glued my background to my card front.  I used a flag ended laser printed greeting over my acetate adhering it with double sided tape.  I layered a burnt orange strip which was also flag ended below the feather element and adhered it to the back using double sided tape below the greeting so it would not show.  I trimmed all the ends and then adhered this whole element over the woven background using double sided tape behind the feather and the orange strip.  I added a brown brad through all the layers to the right of the greeting.  Very happy with how this card worked out.  Just need to add a gift card and it will be ready to go!!

Therese

Series of Cards #2

 A few more cards from the series of cards I started a while back!  These all use the same supplies and I am trying to follow a set of sketches I made in my first session!!

For this one, I glued my decorative paper piece to the top of my stamped and distressed yellow card front and then distressed my paper as well.  I added my embossed flower accent on the bottom of the card front and added "laugh" above the flower.  I did find a vellum greeting in my stash and added it to the lower right hand side.  It is a bit grungy for the paper but works for me.

 For this card  I started with a pink card front.  I cut my decorative paper into twelve inchies and glued them down as evenly as I could.  I added wavy lines in between using a white gel pen.  Adhered my embossed flower accent with 3D foam tape and added a bit of a collage as well. I stamped an "A" on my little heart tag and added a small piece of seam binding and layered it behind the stamped "delight" word.  Just a bit of fun and I like the look!

For this card, I trimmed my decorative paper into five pieces and glued them evenly on the top of my yellow card front, added a green strip of cardstock which I stamped with a chunky homemade stamp in green ink, added my distressed and embossed flower accent with 3D foam tape over everything.  Then I decided I liked the grungy look of my strip and did the same to the card edges. Added my "smile" word and a sponged greeting.

 For this card, I created a weaving using two pieces of decorative paper both ripped into strips.  I wove one set into the other using the pink for one set and the printed side for the other.  I glued it to the card front and embossed it with a swirl embossing folder (TH) and then distressed the whole front using a sponge and green ink.  After adhering my embossed flower accent I created another embellishment by stapling my "giggle" word to a tag using a small gold staple.  The tag features some embossed ribbon I created when my sister was visiting a month or so ago.

For this card, I cut my decorative paper into 3/4" strips alternating the sides so they would fit into each other.  In the end, once I decided to include the "bliss" word I just glued them on as I saw fit to the pink layer.   I decided to emboss the right hand side of this layer using my small vine embossing folder (CB) and my little craft hammer so I could have the embossing just where I wanted it.  I first learn this technique from Yogi!  I adhered my embossed and distressed flower accent with 3D foam tape and then added my "bliss" word and greeting.



I will be sending a couple of these off for one of my card exchanges - not sure which ones yet and the others will end up in my stash.  Was really fun to play with these again and I still have some supplies so more cards will be put up when I get them made.

Baby card

Baby cards!!  Made this card up from a kit and it is perfect for a bright and sassy baby card!!  You can see a few more from this sketch here.
The strips of paper are simply woven and glued to the embossed card front as a unit.  The cute little horse image is from Beccy's Place.  It is watercoloured and mounted to a coordinating scallop circle (Nesties) which I embellished with dots using a white gel pen and mounted to the card front using 3D foam tape.  The little greeting was a tag I created using the SU eyelet border punch but the square end seemed out of place so I simply punched the other end as well which created more balance!!

Therese

Cardmaking - April - woven accent

In the spirit of making the most of the supplies I have on hand and in celebration of Earth Day I decided to use the stash of paper strips I have accumulated as I trim paper for other projects.  I love how these worked out, though, I really prefer the randomness of the red one.  The one on the left used cut offs from these cards and I am really happy how bright the colours were next to the yellow cardstock but after I glued down the piece and added the image I thought it was just a little too square and even but taking it apart would have been problematic because these are made using wax crayons.  The butterfly image I downloaded from CLKER and the heart is from Torico, I laser printed them and use 1 3/4" punch to cut them out. Used a scalloped Nestibilities circle die to cut the layer.  The little patch of woven strips works really well over the embossed card fronts.
Therese

Handmade Paper Art book - paper weaving

This page features a panel of woven handmade paper. I cut a piece of white cardstock 5"x5" and added double sided tape to each side. I did not remove the carrier from the tape right away. To start the weaving, the carrier was removed from one side and strips of handmade paper were placed side by side over it adhering them to the square. It was then fairly easy to weave strips into them using just a simple over and under pattern. Once the weaving covered all the white cardstock the carrier from the last three strips of double sided tape was removed and the paper weaving pressed into them to secure it. Any pieces overlapping the edges were trimmed, any ends that were flapping were glued down and the weaving was glued to the handmade paper sheet. Both the quote and the trimmed embossed handmade paper (from the first day) were coloured and layered onto the page overlapping the weaving and attached using brads.

I like this quote because it emphasizes that our life is the accumulation of days!! It seems more manageable to make changes in your life when you can start with making changes only for one day!!

Therese