Embossed card

A variety of embossing on this card! Used a new embossing/die cutting die to create the heart oval on this card! I embellished it with purple ink and afterwards added some white Brilliance ink to give it a bit of pearlescence. I traced the edges onto a coordinating decorative paper and trimmed it inside the line so it would layer nicely behind the oval. I tied on a short piece of white ribbon with a single knot, added double sided tape behind the little heart and added some coordinating glitter for just a bit of bling before I layered them. I used a new Tim Holtz embossing folder - Regal Flourishes - to emboss the edges of the card by inserting the sides in different sections of the folder at an angle and partially embossing the cardstock until I had embossed all the edges. I slipped in the little greeting - colour printed and punched with the word window punch (SU) - in under the swirls at the bottom.

This oval is the perfect size for cardmaking and I really like how this card turned out!!

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

Sympathy card

Needed a sympathy card this week so I decided to use my newly acquired Sizzix tree embossing folder. I embossed the tree on dark green cardstock, trimmed the edges, rounded the corners and distressed the edges. Cut an ivory layer and did the same then layered them. I mounted this element to a card front which I had previously embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. I added a ribbon tied with a double knot and a layered greeting.

Therese

Christmas skinny

I started this project wanting to create a Skinny - 3x5" for an exchange on one of my groups. I started thinking about a theme and what I would like to create and in the process checked my to do list to see if there was any inspiration there. Christmas cards - I am behind on the challenges on Sylvia's blog so I decided to see if I could combine this challenge and the skinny swap. It was a done deal once I established that the skinny would fit in a #8 envelope!!
I also discovered that cards that fit in #8 envelopes also make very efficient use of 12x12 scrapbook paper - 8 layers per sheet!! So I started with the scrapbook paper layer, chose some taupe cardstock that coordinated and cut them to size - 11" x 3.5" scored and folded at 6.25". Another efficient aspect of this process is that the scrap -11" x 1.5"- that is left from cutting the two cards from one piece of letter sized cardstock is the perfect width for completing the front of the card. So I trimmed the leftovers to 3.5" x 1.5", attached them with double sided tape which also helped to adhere my decorative paper to the card front and left the inside nice and neat!! I added a piece of paper lace that I created with my new SU punch - perfect little scalloped border with the holes already punched!! Next, I went looking for an image that would coordinate - this SU snowflake with the Peace greeting was perfect with its somewhat distressed look. To fulfill the requirement for the February swap there had to be some musical element - so I stamped a strip of cardstock with SU musical wheel stamp. I distressed the top edge, cut the bottom edge with scallop scissors and pierced a hole in each scallop. Now I needed embellishments!! I added a snowflake punchie in white attached with a mini white brad and a metal snowflake layered onto a string bow and attached with glue dots.

I used my sewing machine, a needle dedicated to paper and some white thread to add a lot of stitching - to both sides of the musical strip, to attach the scallop paper lace to the bottom of the decorative paper and then all the way around it as well. I added the snowflake punchie, the stamped image and the metal snowflake over the bow!! I distressed the edge of the card with ink. The edges of the decorative paper and the image, as well as, the top of the strip were all distressed with my SU distress tool (fancy thread cutter as used in sewing).

So in the end, I have a skinny for the swap and 7 Christmas cards to add to my stash!!

Have you started on your Christmas cards? You will be a happy camper come November when they are all done!! Check the links I have on the right hand side of my blog that lists some of the Christmas card challenge blogs that I use as inspiration.

I am off to add inserts and envelopes to these before I add them to my box!!

Therese

Criss Cross card

Created this card - a criss cross card - for a swap on AFTCM!! I love the way it turned out!! I started with a 5.5" x 11" strip of cardstock which I scored at 4.25", 8.5" which left about 2.5" on the end which I folded to the front on the left hand side. As this card evolved I thought that I should have considered making it 4.25" x 11" so that the wonderful edge of my inside card would always be visible. Alas, I did not have the complete vision when I started! I used my new (last night - Thanks Diane!) Sizzix die - Ornate Frame to create the inside card - love the little corners and the bit of a scallop on this die!! I added a border punched layer, some die cut decorative paper and a stamped scallop circle (Nestibilities) with a little rhinestone!! The stamp is from Quietfire - love those flourishes!! They are having a Blog Hop today and tomorrow and are giving away rubber stamps and Spellbinder dies so follow the link, click on "Blog" on their home page and check it out!!
For the outside I layered on decorative paper and created a band for the lower section. For the band, I started with a strip of pink cardstock to which I glued two pieces of this beautiful pink fabric embellishment - one on each side. I used my new scallop ribbon border punch (SU) to create a short piece of paper ribbon with ivory cardstock. I cut a slot between the holes at every second spot and threaded through pink 1/4" ribbon - love the look. I think this punch has huge potential!! I wrapped my strip around the card, trimmed the ends to be even and glued them to each other. I glued the paper and ribbon layer over that which covered the joint. I created the metal accent by gluing an embossed metal button (cut off the shank with a hacksaw) to a filigree scallop using a large glue dot. I also used a large glue dot to adhere it to the band.

Voila, a Victorian inspired card to cheer someone!! I really enjoyed taking the time to make this a special card! It was great to use some of my new tools as well.

Therese

Grunge background!

I created this background in response to a grunge challenge on one of my groups!!!!!!!

I have never created a full fledged digital collage before though I have dabbled with graphics. I am very pleased with how it worked out!! It has been a time consuming task because I am not very familiar with all of my graphics programs and I needed to find all the elements I included. Most were scavenged from picture fonts because they automatically come with transparent backgrounds!! I did start with one of my glue resist backgrounds which I used when creating these cards.

So I challenge you to download this background, create some art with it, come back and leave me a comment so I can check it out!! It is so cool!!

Therese

Card Holder and template

Created this cool little holder that fits 4 cards!!

Needed a bit of a gift for a woman who has been gracious and so I made up this holder so I could present her with a few cards to express my appreciation!! The design is based on the Create-a-lope way of making envelopes. I bought the template many years ago and have created digital files based on the original concept several times for different projects.

I printed my file on the back of the cardstock, scored and folded the lines, trimmed the corners and added a few glue dots to keep the holder together. Added four cards and tied it closed with a length of ribbon (26"or so)!

Great way to package a set of cards for gift giving!!

Therese

Angel policy: You can download and make holders with this template. Please send your friends to this post on my blog to download their own copy for their use.

You do not have permission to copy and distribute this file in any manner and/or claim it as your own when submitting cards for publication!!

Zentangle cards!!

More zentangle cards! In an effort to have cards on hand and keep cut up supplies from accumulating I made up these cards this past week. The supplies were extras from this class. I will add greetings to them when I am ready to use them!! I did have a morning of creating Zentangles to have enough to make up all the kits I had. I love to create these little interesting pieces of art - all originals!!

Therese

St. Patrick's card

Imagine having your birthday on St. Patrick's Day!! I saw a cloverleaf made with hearts on Splitcoast Stampers at the beginning of March and later discovered one of the girls on one of my groups has a March 17 birthday so I decided to make her a card. Needless to say, it will be late because I only got to it this week!! Handmade cards are always a nice surprise in our mail boxes!!

I die cut the hearts (CB), scored them down the middle and glued them to a white layer. I cut a stem and glued it in place. Several layers, a bit of bling and a layered greeting!! Quick and easy!!

Click on the image to see that I used a tracing wheel - a very well loved one - to add texture to the card front and around the edges of the white layers!! Totally fun!! Well used ones can only be purchased at a thrift store or garage sale but are well worth buying if you find one!! They do not pierce the cardstock, instead they just deboss it so you can easily make all sorts of gorgeous curvy lines in a hurry!! I do have a new one as well which I am sure will pierce cardstock which would add a totally different look!!

Thrifty Tip - I coloured my bling with Sharpie markers!! I usually buy clear rhinestones so I can make them any colour I need to coordinate with my project using my markers!! You could use alcohol inks as well - just apply with qtip!!

Have fun!!

Therese

Beeswax - Bloom, Just, Peace

After a bit more research on the internet and watching a few videos I have made a few more beeswax collages. In this one, I used design elements I had left over from this project. I started with a coaster which I discovered is very absorbent - it would have been better for me to glue the light blue background to the coaster and then add my elements with beeswax but with enough wax all the elements are now firmly attached to the coaster. I drew the stems on the background paper with a green marker, used layered punchies for the flowers and added some die cut butterflies. The fence die cut was attached with wax and the words were laid over it. I coloured my letters with pencil crayon, outlined them in black Sharpie and cut them out before adding them to my collage. All the elements were dipped in the beeswax using my new tweezers, laid on the collage and burnished with an old gift card (any piece of hard plastic would do) to ensure that the elements are well attached. I started with the fence and words, added the letters and flowers in layers and finally added the butterflies. I did add some wax with a brush over some areas to make sure that all the elements had enough wax to keep them in place and used my heat gun to settle all elements into place. The elements do float when you heat the collage so sometimes it is tricky getting everything to stay in place.

Once I was finished collaging I buffed the wax and added some mica poweder (Pearl Ex - interference blue) to the edges and a bit on the flowers and butterflies.

For this one, I glued the stamped background paper to the coaster before I started and that worked well. I used die cuts, punchies and some laser printed words I had in my basket of scrap goodies to work up this collage.

In the final stage where I was adding wax and making sure all the elements were secure, I added a puddle of wax on the left hand side and pressed one of my embossing folders into it. I left it in place until the wax harden - a trip to the freezer encourages the process. Love the look of it!! Very dimensional! You could press a rubber stamp in the wax as well to get a nice impression.

I added mica powder to the edges of this one as well in a gold interference colour as well as regular gold to highlight the embossed wax area!! Very cool!!

For this collage, I used ripped pieces of book pages and music sheets to create an all over collage look on the coaster by dipping the pieces, laying them down and burnishing with the gift card. The elements I gathered from my collage bucket - newspaper stamped with acrylic paint using an embossing folder, laser printed "Peace on Earth", die cut and punchie hearts, punchie "R" and the other words were cut from stamped newspaper.

It was difficult to get the foil heart to stay embedded in the wax. I expect because it does not absorb wax so maybe it should have been added last with a dab of wax. I used silver mica powder on the edges, in a few places on the collage and to especially highlight the texture on the bottom edge.

I have really enjoyed doing these collages. For anyone trying it for the first time I would recommend starting small - ATC size would be great, prepare all your elements and build from the bottom up. Tweezers are great for dipping the small pieces and keeping "floaters" in place. Don't be in hurry - take your time and add items in one at a time. Use your heat gun carefully and not too close - if you have a one with variable speed and temperature, use a slow speed and medium - low temperature.

I will finish these off with hangers and enter them in the Art Lottery on AFTCM!!

Therese

"Glass" beads

I made these beads!!!

While surfing Craft Gossip this morning I found this post about making beads from soda bottles and thought they looked very interesting so I checked the recycle bin for supplies - NONE!!!!!!!! All the plastic went out last week!! So, on my way home from my walk this I was on the look out and found three empty bottles which I promptly washed and disinfected so I could play!!

These are so cool!! They look so much like they are made of glass. I made all these beads from one center section of a medium plastic bottle. The ones I found had #1 in the triangle on the bottom. I cut the flat mid section into strips about 3/4" x 4", coloured them
with permanent Sharpie markers, rolled the strips around a pair of long needle nose pliers, tied them off with wire and used my heat gun on medium to heat the plastic to form a bead. The plastic shrinks and becomes thicker and in the process forms a bead. After this little bit of experimenting, I prefer to roll the bead so the inside of the bottle is on the outside of the bead. I applied colour to one side, the other side and both sides - they all look good. If you use a lot heat, the plastic will bubble and create a completely different looking bead - check out the top left light green bead in the first photo.

I expect that some of these cool beads are going to end up on a mixed media charm bracelet!! Starting to collect a few interesting charms that will look wonderful together!!

Thrifty Tip: Make cool beads using what is in your recycle bin!! If you don`t have Sharpies - any alcohol based markers will do like Copics. You could also use alcohol inks, liquid acrylic inks or acrylic paints though I would apply them to the side that will be inside the bead to leave the outside shiny and clear.

These would be great on book bindings, make great charms for a bracelet, or be very cool beads for making jewelry. You can customize the colours to your project or outfit!!

Have fun!! Leave me a comment and a link if you make some beads!!

Therese

Thank you cards

I had a Stampin UP party a week ago and I am expecting the goodies we ordered to show up this week so I made thank you cards for all those who came and participated in the fun afternoon and for those who placed orders, as well.

The decorative paper is my own creation - a mix of acrylic, fabric and glitter paint. I layered the decorative paper over white cardstock that had been laser printed with the greeting.

I added a bit of ribbon which I tucked behind on the left and overlapped with a 3" embossed scallop (Nestibilities) on the right. I added a die cut butterfly (Sizzix) over the scallop which has been embellished with stamping and an iridescent finish - nail polish!! It was the perfect blue/green colour and gave the butterflies just enough bling without being overwhelming. I layered this accent on the card front which is just 4.75 wide. These will be accompanied by #8 (6 3/4) envelopes.

I have taken a closeup of the butterfly to let you see the details and hopefully some of the shimmer!!

Thrifty Tip: Consider using nail polish when you are looking for a durable finish on accents! It comes in a million colours, can be purchased inexpensively and stays wet long enough to add glitter or other embellishments and and in some cases can be somewhat translucent which allows a lower layer to show through. In this case - the stamping was done first and the finish applied afterwards . When you paint it onto an absorbent surface like the cardstock I used here it will be less glossy but a couple of coats fixes that.

Therese

Christmas Cards - monochromatic challenge

Christmas cards!! I have started on Christmas cards so I will have the amount I need in November!! I started in January last year but for some reason I have had a slow start this year but I am planning on catching up!! I created these for Sylvia's Christmas Card Challenge for March - Monochromatic!!

I started with the ribbon, found cardstock to coordinate and auditioned my stamps to see what would work. I had originally wanted to use the stand of trees from the Lovely as a Tree (SU) set but it was a bit too long to work well. I am happy with the fir tree. I stamped it in white pigment ink and embossed it with a mixture of white embossing powder and Iridescent Ice (SU). Added a little greeting and embossed it the same way. I layered this element onto a white layer with distressed edges.

I added the ribbon, a green punchie with a small white snowflake sequin and attached it with a tiny white brad. I embossed the background green layer using the Swiss Dots embossing folder (CB), ran my white pigment pad gently over the bumps and embossed them with the same mixture of embossing powders. Added a couple of pieces of ribbon and mounted it to a white card front. The image layer is attached to the card front using 3D foam tape to raise it from the surface for a bit of dimension. I made six of these cards!! I do plan on adding inserts and envelopes yet before I store these away because that will finish them off completely and they will only require addresses, postage and a newsletter to be on their way!! I had not prepared inserts last year for most of the cards I made and it just took more time to get them out the door!!

Have you started your Christmas cards?? I highly recommend doing them monthly!! There are so many benefits including spending a bit more time to make them special, having a variety of designs and they are ready to go when you are ready to send them!! I have several Christmas card challenge blogs listed at the top of "Places I like to visit" on the right hand sidebar. Go check them out and see if you can get inspired to start your Christmas cards early this year!!

Therese

Beeswax collage - Home

Another technique I have been wanting to try for a while - a long while. Today was the day!

I used half of a game board (6"x9") as my substrate. For beeswax, I melted sheets of beeswax normally used to make rolled candles. For melting, I used a small crock pot in which I placed a small metal can (salmon). It took about a 1/2 hour to heat everything up but it worked perfectly. I used a utility natural bristled brush for applying the wax.

A few photos of the steps I went through while working on my collage.

#1 - The substrate - The game pieces have long been incorporated into collage bins and the boards have been just sitting so I decided to use one of them. I cut it in half and sanded the design off the paper of the playing surface so I would not have it showing through my collage and to keep the back of the board - a nice pebbly black surface - as the back of my collage.

#2 - I laser printed my collage images - vintage world map, neighborhood of houses, a large house and a woman standing - and trimmed them close. I downloaded the images from this Flicker Collage collection. The link is also on my sidebar under Online Resources - Collage Images. I referred to this video by Suze Weinberg to get started. All of my pieces were large so I applied beeswax to my substrate, laid my images down and used my heat gun to apply heat which melted the wax and incorporated the images into it. I added wax with the brush when needed. It is best to have something that helps spread the wax evenly over the surface. I used a crumpled piece of wax paper which worked reasonably well but was not ideal. I will try a skewer next time, using the pointy end for the fine work and laying it over to work the large areas.

#3 - I have collaged all the large images and have temporarily placed the red foil heart and the lace at the bottom.

#4 - All the words have been incorporated. The words were handwritten - black sharpie or white gel pen - on white tissue paper, dipped into the wax and positioned. It was more difficult than I thought to keep them straight and positioned correctly because as soon as I applied heat they were prone to moving around in the melted wax. It might have been more practical to use printed words from books or even laser printed ones.

Here is the finished collage. To attach the lace I applied wax to the bottom section with the brush, dipped the end of the lace in the wax and put it down on one edge and proceeded to position the rest of it by heating small sections and laying it down. I added some small hydrangea flowers to the collage which required more wax than I expected to keep them in place. I punched some holes in the top corners with my Cropadile and inserted and set large eyelets. Tied in a black ribbon to create a hanger.

I am pretty happy with my collage and look forward to trying it again with other materials - magazine images, paper napkins and adding some glitz like Suze did in her video!!

Therese

Charms ready to go!!

I have managed to embellish some of my polymer clay charms by adding jump rings and some sort of little embellishment from my metals drawer and for some, bling as well. Most of the embellishments I added to the jump ring so that they would stay loose and interactive. For a few I added them using large glue dots. Seems to work very well. I was not able to pull them back off so I am expecting they are there to stay.

To the beads I made, I added a few commercial beads and a fancy little end. I am not very proficient in wire work so the ends are not as pretty as I would like but reasonable. Not sure what else I could be putting on the ends of the wire to keep the beads from falling off. Will have to do some on line research and see what I can find.

Now the question will be - Which ones do I use for the swap? and What will I do with the rest of them?? Maybe a few RAKs are in order!!

Therese

Charms!!

Clay charm swap - that is what started this flurry of activity!! I dug out a set of polymer clay - Sculpey - that my sister gave me four years ago for Christmas and started making shapes to use in the creation of charms for swapping. It was totally fun and my first time using polymer clay. I added Pearl Ex to some of them before I baked them - worked pretty well. I created a bit of a container for baking my clay charms by covering a metal pie plate with foil in hopes of not contaminating my oven too much!!

I looked up some basic instructions on the internet and then just started playing. So will have to see how I can embellish these into charms for the swap. I impressed them with some of my CB embossing folders. I really liked how well that worked and the Pearl Ex nicely highlighted the designs.

Therese

Cardmaking - March - scallops & flowers

Just to change things up a bit I created these cards to fit in #8 (6 3/4) envelopes!! I used letter sized cardstock and cut the card 11" x 3.5" and folded it at 6 1/4" which leaves a 4 3/4" flap on the front. I added a 3" scallop (Nestibilities) that overlaps the edge of the front flap by half and creates a neat place to add an accent on the front of the card. In this case, I layered silk flowers, added a sequin and attached them together using a brad. I used a glue dot to attach this element to the scallop. When gluing the scallop to the front flap I applied glue to the flap to ensure that I did not glue the card closed. The single layer insert is hidden behind the front flap. I added a printed greeting to the red one and a stamped greeting to the yellow one.

Quick & easy meets Clean & Simple!! You gotta love it!!

With Daylight Saving time we have more hours of daylight!! Have a great day!!

Therese

Cardmaking - March - flower images

These cards feature colour printed flower images - I had a bunch of them in my stash and do not clearly recall where I bought them. Certainly, stickers or 3D card elements could easily be substituted for the images. Cutting images from junk mail, seed catalogs or commercial cards would also work.

I colour printed the greetings onto white cardstock to coordinate with the image and mounted the images at the top. Added a piece of wider ribbon just below and glued both ends to the back of the element using double sided tape. The slim ribbon is tied to it using double knots which creates a nice dip making a perfect little accent for this card. The bottom edge is trimmed using decorative scissors but could be torn instead for a different look. This accent element was mounted to the card front which had an embossed layer glued to it.

Keep your eyes open for interesting images that can be used for cardmaking - there are all kinds of places to get them and sometimes even for free!!

Therese

Cardmaking - March - tulip card

Some tulip cards for spring!! Was inspired by a card that featured a tulip created from ovals when I was creating my exchange card a few days ago so I played with the concept and came up with this tulip using the large oval punch (SU). I hand cut a stem and leaves for my tulip from a scrap of green cardstock. I chalked the ovals and the greenery to give them more dimension. For this card I layered an embossed (Swiss Dots - CB) white cardstock rectangle over black and mounted that to my card front. To create the tulip, I glued my three ovals to each other. After placing the elements on my card to make sure everything fit I glued the stem, leaves and tulip to my card front. I brought some cling mount greeting stamps (SU) and each person could add a greeting if they wished.

Tulips say "Spring"!! This would make a lovely Easter or Mother's Day card!!

Therese

Cardmaking - March - waterfall card

We made waterfall cards at cardmaking last night!! They are fun!!

I loosely followed this tutorial at Splitcoast Stampers. I modified the waterfall strip to 8.5"x 2" which I scored at 2", 2 5/8", 3 1/4" and 3 7/8" to create steps that were 5/8" instead of 3/4" to make better use of letter sized cardstock. I left out the extra layers on the waterfall images as well which gives the card a different look. On the samples here I used stamping and a cut out element on the black and caramel card and a stamped serendipity technique (One Sheet Wonder) on the other. I also created ones with colour printed letters (baby and bday) and stamped images (flower and butterflies). The waterfall images are 1 3/4" square. A stamped greeting can be added to the back portion of the waterfall.

If you have not tried making one of these you should. They are so dimensional when the waterfall is activated!! Check out the video link on this post a few days ago to SEE how cool the waterfall is!!