MY art - Angel card

Recognize this one?? Yes, it is a complete duplicate of the black and taupe one I made earlier. Just changed the colour to blue and the greeting to Merry Christmas!!

Therese

My Art - Magazine rack card holder

I have modified the "magazine rack" card holder I created earlier this year to make it more sturdy and to ease the process of putting it together. It requires a 12 x 12 piece of cardstock and holds A2 sized cards with envelopes. You mark and score the lines, make a few cuts and fold it on all the lines. A few pieces of double sided tape in the right spots and it comes together quite easily. I just decorated it with a piece of decorative paper and added a book plate but you could decorate it with whatever your little heart desires!!

These are great for putting on your book shelf to hold any extra cards you have made for future occasions. They could also store any cards you have kept to provide inspiration!! Might also be a wonderful way to package cards for gift giving!!

Enjoy!!

Therese

My Art - angels for a special tree

Angels for a special tree!! We have a program in our community where groups decorate Christmas trees with special ornaments and over the course of the season they are raffled off to support charities. I created these angel ornaments for one of the girls from church who is doing an angel tree - all the ornaments will be angels!!
I will take the opportunity next week to go and see all the trees when local choirs will be providing Christmas music. I am looking forward to getting a boost in my Christmas spirit!!
There are so many opportunities to participate in something bigger than ourselves and make others lives better! We should participate in any that pull on our hearts strings!! It is our way of making the world a better place!!

Therese

My Art - handmade paper cards 2

These cards are also created with handmade paper!! In this case the base card is white handmade paper pulp - worth saving aside any completely white scraps you can find - which have been overlaid with images from tissue paper and paper napkins which had been cut to size. It gives a very different look and takes less time. So it really depends on the look you are going for when making your cards!! I collect paper napkins that have Christmas images when I find them for using when making cards this way.
Of course, handmade paper can be used for making cards in a multitude of ways and with every theme under the sun - both in its wet and dry state!!
These cards have a cute fun look and I think I know someone special who will appreciate one of these in a holiday package!!

Therese

My Art - handmade paper cards

I created these cards with handmade paper pulp - right on the screen!! I had several girls over a few weeks ago and we made paper pulp Christmas cards for the holidays! I love the look and feel of handmade paper and these show off what is possible. We created our shapes first using a small screen, a baster and green pulp with pine needles in it for texture. We started off with cookie cutters but most quickly progressed to creating shapes by hand which are more interesting which we embellished with red dots (thin paper napkin). We then created our sheets from the white pulp with greenery in it for our base card and added our stamped embossed greetings and the shapes we had created!! We couched our paper as usual and let them dry. Once dry, we pressed them under weight if they had become curly and wavy. I added a confetti star to the tree and a red bow to the wreath and used a needle and crochet thread to tie in my insert.
Making cards using handmade paper pulp is fun and uses up your scraps from papercrafting. I really like the natural look of these cards but you can see from my next post that other options are available for a very different look.

Therese

My art - christmas card and tag exchange

Here is the Christmas card I created for the girls from Card Club!! It features a Paper Artsy angel black embossed on taupe with a distressed and watercoloured border. It is layered over colour washed sheet music and a black card which has silver embossed greeting and snowflakes!! I added a snowflake embellishment - a black snowflake punchie (MS) over a silver fabric snowflake attached with a brad!!
I am so happy with the way this card turned out!!
Not a traditional Christmas card but that suits me fine!! We had a tag exchange this month instead of exchanging cards. I used adhesive cardstock and glitter to create my ornament. I cut the ornament with my CB using the Sizzix die and then peeled off the hanger and middle section and added silver glitter. Peeled off the top and bottom section and added black glitter. Mounted it to the tag with 3D foam tape and attached them together at the top with fiber!!
Got some really great tags in exchange - a cute little Christmas couple with gifts, large scallop circle with glittered ornaments, a glittered snowman star, a nicely layered and coloured winter tree with snowman, a glittery snowflake, a top note with evergreen trees and 3D snowflake punchies!! At least one yet to come!! We had a wonderful evening - good food and good friends always makes good memories!! I was in charge of the shoe box so I prepped some supplies for making little "magazine racks" for storing cards. I modified the design a little bit from from last time to make it more sturdy. I will see about uploading that later.

I am looking forward to Christmas and a bit of a break! I have been in cardmaking heaven for the last month and it has been very fun but I am looking forward slowing the pace of life and taking some time to "fill the cup"!!

Therese

My Art - Dec cardmaking - vellum butterfly

This card features several layers of vellum and a vellum butterfly!! The butterfly is stamped and embossed. I cut it out along the embossing and slightly folded each wing up so that it is dimensional on the card!! Added it to the card with a SMALL piece of double sided tape placed beneath its body. I used coloured vellum closest to the cardstock and added a cardstock strip below the decorative vellum which helps create another level of contrast. A greeting can be stamped on the strip or on the card front. The two vellum layers and the strip are attached to the card front with brads.

Decorative vellum: I stippled and stamped white vellum to create the decorative vellum I needed for the yellow card. I used a Memories Chalk pad and a long UM (SU). Not all inks dry on vellum. The chalk ink dried reasonably quickly and could be encouraged to hasten its pace with a little heat. Always be careful when using a heat gun on vellum - it can warp and wrinkle with too much heat.

Therese

My Art - Dec cardmaking - punchie flower

This card features a folded flower punchie which gives a really different look!! I used double sided colour printed cardstock to give dimension to the flower. You need to offset the fold so all the petals are visible. Score from the top of the bottom petal on the right to the bottom of the top petal on the left. The center is a 1/2" punchie which I distressed and coloured to help it look more part of the flower. I cut a stem and leaves from a scrap of green cardstock and glued them all to the white rectangle to which I had given a watercolour wash and distress to its edges. The band on the left hand side was punched with a border punch - scallop (SU) and eyelet (MS).
One of the girls did not glue her flower in half - she left it just folded and it adds a lot of dimension to the card because half the petals are a bit 3D on the front of the card. I thought it looked really nice.
Therese

My Art - Dec cardmaking - shimmer again!

Yet, more shimmer paper!!! The central image - stamped and embossed on shimmer paper - is trimmed, layered and mounted to the top part of the card. I punched the holes to the top layer and added the fiber before I glued it to the card front so that the filber does not show on the inside.
There is enough room on this card to add a greeting below the fiber which allows you to use this one for any occasion!!

Therese

My Art - Dec cardmaking - Thanks

I like to make thank you cards in early December so they are ready to go when I need them over the Christmas season.
This card features a computer generated THANKS - font Comet Negative - which I printed in light grey so it would not overwhelm the colours of the decorative paper I used in the background. I used watercolour to colour my letters but you could use any medium you like - chalks, pencil crayons, markers, etc. Once coloured I cut them apart leaving a white margin all the way around which acts as a frame and makes them stand out a bit. Some at class did not leave a border and it makes quite a visual difference. I mounted them with 3D foam tape to the strip which I trimmed with decorative scissors and embellished with pin pricks.
I made a variety of colours and it is always fun to play with the elements to make it your own.
Pay attention to the blessings you receive over the holidays - gifts, special events, experiences, sharing, fun, etc and be sure to let those who have touched your life know that they are appreciated!!!

Therese

My Art - Christmas cards - winter village

Another CuttleBug embossing folder!! I love this little village!! In this case, I laser printed the cardstock before I embossed the cardstock. It took a few tries in a layout program to get the words in the right place but it was quick and easy once the fronts were printed!! I added a snowflake with a brad and mounted this layer to the card front!! I touched the rooftops and the hill with the edge of my glue stick and then added glitter!! I liked it both ways - with and without glitter!!

This is certainly a quick and easy card if you are needing to make a batch of cards in an afternoon!!

I have my handmade paper cards to finish up before I can post them!! I do have several activities this week so maybe I can get to that by the end of the week.

Therese

My Art - Christmas - whimsical gifts

It took me quite a while to come up with this design to really perfectly highlight this whimsical gift image!! Persistance usually pays off!! In this case, the gifts have been gold embossed and watercoloured!! I also gold embossed the greeting on the card front. Added a rectangle of decorative paper on the left hand side and mounted the coloured image to a rectangle of coordinating cardstock. Added scallops to the one edge with the border punch (SU) and then added two holes and created an INNIE-OUTIE bow!! Punch two holes a little less than a half inch apart and using 3-4" of ribbon put one end through each hole and cross over the back and pull each end through to the front in the opposite hole!! Trim the ends for a neat looking bow!! If you are not into making bows you could just knot your ribbon and secure with a glue dot! I mounted this layer with 3D foam tape!! I made these in several different colours - blues and green, browns and golds, etc. The little gifties look great coloured in a wide variety of colours!!

Therese

My Art - Christmas cards - angel

An angel on shimmer paper!! Not noticeable on the scan but great in real life!! The angel is gold embossed and could certainly be enhanced with chalks or watercolour to add another level of interest to this card!! The card front was embossed with a holly embossing folder that my friend lent me! New for this season!! This is a large embossing folder (CB) about 5"x7" which does the whole front without any margins!!
I added an oval and short piece of ribbon which is attached to the card front with a brad. The part of the oval that hangs off the card is simply folded to the inside and secured with a glue dot which has the benefit of also covering the tangs of the brad!!
The image is layered onto a coordinating layer and glued over the other edge of the ribbon which I secured with double sided tape because the embossed surface has so little surface to hold glue.

Therese

My Art - Christmas cards - poinsettia

This one features the more traditional colours of Christmas - green and red!! The background paper is a foil gift wrap I purchased last year and was able to find cardstock that matched perfectly!! The vellum with its nicely torn edges is secured beneath the top strip with a short piece of double sided tape. The strip has a scalloped edge (SU border punch) which I highlighted with gold gel pen. The poinsettia is created using several elements - a gold brad, yellow glittery sequin, a yellow flower punchie, a light red 5 petal punchie (SU), a darker red 5 petal punchie and a green one which has been cut up into individual leaves. I assembled the poinsettia with the brad and mounted the leaves on the back of the dark layer. Using two different hues of red gives the poinsettia more dimension as does using a push pin at a very low angle to simply score a line from the center of the punchie to the point of each petal. The petals can then be folded a bit which makes them look more real. I did the same to the leaves. The completed poinsettia is attached through all the layers of the card front with the brad, nicely centered on the vellum.
The vellum nicely captures the light reflected by the gold sections of this shiny foil paper!! It was nice to create a card with a more traditional Christmas feeling to it. A greeting could easily be added to the front!!
Check out the stores while you are out shopping this season for a roll of good quality gift wrap you can use when creating your Christmas cards for next year!! Better yet make up your cards over the holidays when you are surrounded by the sights, sounds and scents of the season!! There is inspiration absolutely everywhere once the tree is up, the lights are on and the house and neighbourhood have taken on the mantel of the season.
You might even want to take a few photographs to use in your art in the future!! A beautiful nativity, a snow angel or a great snowman!!

Therese

My Art - Christmas cards - embossed tree

More Christmas cards!! It has been fun to come up with yet more Christmas cards! These are from today's class!!
This is an embossed Christmas tree created with one of the latest CB embossing folders which is on many's want list this season!!
I cut the card stock to size - it leaves most of the base off - before I embossed the images. It made it easier to center the image on the cardstock. I added the ribbon to the embossed layer by folding the edges to the back and securing with double sided tape. Glued the decorative paper to the card front and glued the embossed layer over that. I chalked the edges of the oval just a little to highlight it nicely and have it stand off a bit from the very white background. The greeting is embossed with pearl embossing powder to give it a soft look and I mounted the oval with 3D foam tape to give the card a bit of dimension!!
If you were making only a few of these you could consider chalking some of the elements on the tree or adding some bling with little crystals.
I kept the design simple for a quick and easy card.

Therese

My Art - Dad's card

My Dad's 80th birthday card!! I count myself very fortunate that he is doing well considering the health challenges he faces and that he is still living with my Mom independantly in their own home. He knows he has limits but still finds ways of doing the things he most loves to do which I think goes a long way to extending life.
I added a thin layer of cherry wood to the top part. My Dad was a carpenter most of his life and wood has been an important part of his life. This particular piece is from a night light my husband is buidling for our newest grandchild.
I stamped the covered bridge (SU) onto shimmer paper I made - so fun!! Layered it on cardstock and added a ribbon and embossed greeting!! Really like the way it turned out!!!
Thrifty Tip: Make your own shimmer paper!! Add some mica enhanced product to rubbing alcohol in a mister bottle and spray away!! I have sprayed it on black, red and white! You can spray it on any colour!!
I used regular drug store rubbing alcohol. Mica enhanced product includes the following - shimmer acrylic paint (SU) does an awesome job. My SU demo recommends the white frost or the champagne mist. I used white mica powder that I bought a LONG time ago for highlighting friendly plastic. Others have used shimmery metallic acrylic paint, Pearl Ex, Perfect Pearls, etc. with good success. Be sure to spray from about a foot away and give it several light layers of shimmer. I used about 1/2" teaspoon of mica powder to 4-5 tablespoons of rubbing alcohol. Your level of shimmer will be more or less depending on how much mica product you use so experiment until you find a level that suits you.

Have fun and if you have not yet finished your Christmas cards - add some shimmer!! You can spray your cards once they are finished to add just a bit of shimmer but be really careful if you have any unprotected stamping on the fronts. Too much shimmery alcohol may make the inks bleed!!

Therese

My Art - All Occasion - embossed birthday

This set of cards featured an embossed birthday greeting that was easily coloured using watercolours, pencil crayons or chalks! Works great for a class where there are different skill levels. We layered decorative paper at the top and an embossed layer over it at the bottom. The top edge of the bottom layer was trimmed with decorative scissor and I added a line of pierced holes as well. The coloured greeting was layered onto a coordinating layer and we punched the corner and added a ribbon accent. Quick and easy! Always good for the last card in a large cardmaking session!!
It was a great class and everyone had a good time. It is always good to spend time with friends being creative!! The bonus is that you have some unique gifts to give!!

Therese

My Art - All Occasion - quotes

This set of cards featured quotes - there are so many great quote stamps out there now!! The quotes were stamped in brown on white and we embellished them with decorative scissors, push pins and chalk!! The bottom of the card is embossed with an embossing folder I created. I wanted the embossing to go all the way across the bottom of the card. To create the embossing folder I cut wavy lines in a piece of cardboard that was wider than the 5.5" I needed for the bottom of the card. I created a cardboard folder to hold my embossing layer and glued every second strip to one side and all the other ones to the other side. It worked very well but cardboard does not hold up to a lot of use as does the plastic ones that are commercially available. I am very happy with the results and expect I will probably create more as I want a look that is not yet commercially available!!
Decorative paper and silk flowers complete the look of this card!!

Therese

My Art - All Occasions - acetate

I created the top card for the class because it required less time to finish. The bottom card was my first try at this design. It has the advantage of a colourful image but does not have the contrast of coloured cardstock which adds appeal to the second card.
I sandwiched the acetate between the flap on the left hand side and the layer I added on the inside to hide the double sided tape which also adds some interest because it shows through the acetate!! Layering the white embossed image on the acetate layer can be tricky. I started with the white layer which I glued to the inside of the card front. Lay it, properly centered, on the inside of the card with double sided tape well to the center facing up and close the front over it. Perfectly positioned!! Now just add double sided tape to the back of the image and position it on the front of the card evenly centered on the white layer. I added a decorative fiber tie on the right hand side to add some dimension to this card.

Love the clean lines of this card and it has a elegant look done in a colour and a neutral!!

Therese

My art - All Occasion cards - calendar pages

Calendar pages for cards!! These images were cut from calendar pages from a 365 day calendar. This is a great way to get a lot of images that are somewhat related for making cards for gifts!! Collect the pages as time goes by and choose a day a month to make cards! At the end of the year you have over 300 cards for giving as gifts!! The trimmed images were glued to the card front and a colour printed greeting was embellished with a black sharpie marker and added at the bottom.

Therese