Thank you card featuring sanded white core background, polka dot vellum and a little punchie greeting

I started with a small envelope and made a white card to fit inside.  I trimmed a piece of teal white core cardstock, embossed it with a dots embossing folder (SU) and sanded it to remove the top layer and reveal the white core.  I cut a piece of vellum with silver polka dots  just a bit smaller than my teal layer and adhered it to the teal one placing tiny pieces of double sided tape below the silver dots.  I added a little embossed and sanded strip of the teal over the vellum, flagged the end and added a black brad to adhere it to the other layers.  I added a piece of double sided tape behind the little laser printed greeting punchie and adhered it on the strip.  I adhered this large element to the front of my white card.  Love the look of this one!!

Therese

Thank you card featuring gift wrap background, a punched accent and a little punchie greeting

For this card, I started with a smaller envelope and created a white card to fit inside.  I tore a piece of this beautiful teal gift wrap (from England) and layered another piece of the same paper in behind with back facing front which is this beautiful pink colour.  You can see a hint of the pattern showing through the pink.  I punched a flower on the right hand side, flipped it and adhered it back into the opening using regular tape on the back to keep it in place.  I added a teal sequin on the front and a little silver brad to keep it in place.  I found the coordinating pink greeting in my stash.  I sponged its edges with teal ink and adhered to my card front over the torn gap using 3D foam tape.  I have enjoyed time in my craft room making these cards!!             Therese

Slow Stitching - #3 of my third set of rainbow squares

I have finished my third square for my third set of rainbow squares.  This red one had a fairly wonky cross stitched element which I adjusted and pinned but I see still did not manage to get it stitched in place very square to the edge.  So it is!!  No plan for stitching this one other than doing one side at a time.  I like the colours in this one and the embroidery thread is a variety of colours as well.   Three more to go and then I will see about working up some quilting squares to around them - still working on the exact pattern I will be using.          Therese

Thank you card featuring laser printed digital background, seam binding and a punchie greeting embellished with clear dimensional paint

For this card, I started with the colour printed background which I trimmed to size and adhered to a very deep rose card.  I added a length of deep rose seam binding just leaving one end flagged.  I mounted a laser printed (digital) punchie (SU) greeting which was watercoloured to coordinate with the paper.  I added clear dimensional paint to the center where the Thanks is and let it dry before mounting it to the front of my card using 3D foam tape.            Therese

Thank you card featuring gift wrap, die cut gears, handmade washi tape and a little punchie greeting

After the holidays I always send cards to those who have blessed us with gifts over the season!  I got started with this card.  I started with a burnt orange card, added the kraft and black background (gift wrap from England) and then layered on three gears die cuts (TH-SX) in ivory, kraft and black.  I added a length of handmade washi tape from my stash (clothes pattern paper and double sided tape) over the bottom edge of all of them to give me a horizontal element to anchor my greeting.  The greeting ( laser printed punchie - Modern Label Punch - SU) I found in my stash, sponged the edges and added dots using a sharpie marker. I adhered it to my card using 3D foam tape.    I love the look of that washi tape and it is so easy to do.  Click on the link to go to the tutorial.    It is amazing how long supplies last - our trip to London was over a decade ago!!!            Therese

Slow Stitching - #2 of my third set of rainbow squares

I am enjoying stitching my little cross stitched elements to my squares!!  As in my last one, I did this orange very similarly.  I stitched the little cross stitched heart embellishment down first and then added strips of fabric all they way around pinning as I went.  For this square, I started by stitching with coordinating floss all the way around the center and then just kept going around the middle.  I stitched the edges as I encountered them.  I did not realize that I had incorporated one little strip that was the same as the background square until I had already stitched it down.  It makes it look like there is a blank spot so I will be careful of that in the future!!    Therese

Christmas cards featuring embossed foil gift wrap backgrounds, little greetings and vellum or fiber

 These are the last two cards I was able to make from the one piece of gift wrap salvaged from the Community Dinner we attended with our friends and neighbours. 
For this first card, I embossed the layered giftwrap/paper combo with the ornaments.  The bottom seemed plain in comparison so I added some dots to it by manually embossing them in place.  After gluing this layer to the front of my green card I added a length of red fiber to the top above the ornaments adhering the ends to the inside with double sided tape and then tied on a short piece to simulate a bow.  Next, I  added a little stamped punchie greeting over the fiber using 3D foam tape on the back.  I sponged and added dots with a gel pen to embellish the little greeting. 
For my other card, I embossed the layer background with snowflakes, added a strip of vellum before adhering it to my green card.  I added a layered snowflake embellishment (large silver, small silver foil, tiny red) over the vellum and tucked a small font greeting to the left of the vellum and snowflake.    Therese

Exchange cards featuring wood grain tags, botanical prints and wildflower die cuts

My Exchange cards for this month!  I started with a hammered botanical print which I created with my Big Shot a while back!!  I trimmed them to fit on my brown layers which are just a slight bit smaller than the green cards created to fit in my smaller envelopes.  I sponged their edges with green and brown ink.  I used wood grain tags cut from Christmas crackers which our daughter included in our box of gifts.  I ran my tracing wheel over them and sponged their edges.  I added some coordinating fiber to the tops, added them to the botanical layer using 3D foam tape and then ran their ends to the back using regular tape to secure them.  I die cut two wildflowers (TH-SX) from brown cardstock and used white glue to adhere them to the tags.  I adhered the botanical layers to the brown and then to the front of my green cards.  Love the soft look of those botanical backgrounds!!

Therese

Christmas cards with embossed foil gift wrap, fiber ribbon and colour printed images

For these two cards I glued foil gift wrap (Community Christmas Dinner gift) to scrap paper and then embossed it with a poinsettia embossing folder (SU) before trimming them to size for my red cards.  On the first one, I added the green fiber ribbon to the card after adhering the background to the card.  I layered the Christmas image -Joyeux Noel - from my stash onto red and then mounted it to my card using 3D foam tape.  I tied an extra length of the ribbon to the right of the image.  On the second card, I added the green ribbon to the background before adhering to my card front and then tied on three lengths of red fiber as accents.  I mounted a similar image - Merry Christmas - from my stash to red cardstock before adhering it to my card front using 3D foam tape.   This paper does so well with being embossed!  Really nice cards!!           Therese

Christmas cards from foil gift wrap from the season

 A few more cards from the gift wrap I collected at the Community Christmas dinner!!  Thanks to my neighbour who very carefully unwrapping her gift so I could have the paper!!  For these two cards I glued the gift wrap to scrap paper and then embossed them with two different snowflake embossing folders before trimming them to fit on my red cards!!
For the first one, I coloured the JOY in light blue shimmery watercolour, distressed the edge and adhered it to the front of the card using 3D foam tape.  I die cut two leafy branches (TH- SX) from silver foil cardstock and mounted one above and the other below which very nicely yielded a wreath shape.  Love the way the paper looks embossed and the little branches looking like a wreath!!
For the second card, I coloured the JOY using a pink/red shimmery watercolour, ran the pattern tracing wheel around the edges and mounted it to my card front using 3D foam tape.  I added a little silver foil star punchie using 3D foam tape as well.  Really happy with these two!  Therese

Slow Stitching - #1 in third set of rainbow squares

Here is my first square incorporating the little cross stitched hearts I made earlier.  I positioned the little yellow heart embellishment and then stitched all the way to secure it properly to my base square.  I added strips of fabric around it and pinned them into place before starting my stitching.  Generally, I did one side before moving on to the other sides using coordinating floss.  I stitched down the edges as I went when they did not incorporate into the basic stitching.  I like how this one worked out!!           Therese

Thank you card featuring a layered punchie greeting with a length of folded seam binding

For this thank you card I started with a pink card and added the patterned scrapbook paper background.  I found a coordinating oval font greeting punchie (SU) in my stash and sponged its edges in pink.  I adhered it to a green punched oval (SU) and then to a scalloped oval punchie from vellum.  I cut a piece of deep rose seam binding and folded it in half and crossed the ends.  I added a small piece of double sided tape where they crossed to keep the two lengths together and added another piece to adhere it to the front of my card.  I added 3D foam tape to the back of my greeting and positioned it over the fold seam binding!  Pink and green is my favorite colour combination so I am inclined to really like this card and it soft background and greeting with a bit of punch with the seam binding!!          Therese

Christmas cards with gift wrap from gifts

We attended a Community Christmas dinner on Christmas day and our neighbours won a prize!!  I loved the paper so she very carefully unwrapped it so I could reuse the paper!!  It was beautiful foiled paper in this diamond pattern!!
So for this card I trimmed the gift wrap and glued it to scrap paper to give it a bit of weight and then trimmed it to size for my green card.  As foil is want to do you can see the little areas where the glue was a little heavier which I found a bit disappointing.  I hoped that they would be less visible when the glue dried but not really.  Anyway, I added a silver ribbon from top to bottom and tied the ends together on the front.  After trimming the ends, I added silver shimmer paint to the JOY on this laser printed greeting which I had in my stash.  It is a fun font to use for large greetings.  I ran my tracing wheel on all four sides before mounting it to the front of my card using 3D foam tape.

Slow Stitching - cross stitched heart accents

I have stitched up six little hearts for my next set of rainbow squares in my Slow Stitching project!!  They are all different and some have been modified from the patterns in my book!!  It has taken several days to get them done and I will now be able to get started on my third set of squares!!

Therese

Birthday day card with a fun fold and lots of candles!!!!!

 I am getting started on my 2020 family cards as some have their birthdays early in the new year!!  I made this one for my brother.  It has a LOT of candles which were created by using strips of decorative papers.  I rounded their tops a bit by hand and then glued them all across my card.  It is a Z fold card so the back is full size and the front is folded over to the right which leaves the whole length available for decorating!!  I hand cut gold foil (Christmas chocolate) for the flames of each candle and added a wick with a black sharpie!  I had embossed the top edges with this sort of starburst design which I thought look a lot like the glow of a flame.  Next time, I will try to get the flames all in the middle of a glow which will be more effective!!  I added a length of green fiber ribbon to the card using double sided tape to secure the edges to the back and a few places along the way to keep lined up from the front to the back.  I found this large greeting in my stash.  I used the corner punch on it and on the navy layer as well.  I watercoloured the greeting, layered the greeting and the navy rectangle and adhered it to only the front piece of my card which allows it to move with the front.  I added white embossed layer to the inside for my handwritten wishes for him.  It is nice to be back to making cards!!!!!!  Therese

Slow Stitching - cross stitch embellishments for my next rainbow set

I have a large book of cross stitch projects which I at one time thought I would like to make up a few projects but after trying several of the small ones I found that I did not much like how long it took to complete a project and I don't have all the colours of floss.  So, I have decided to work up a few small motifs from the book into little embellishments for my third set of rainbow squares.  There are a lot to choose from and I am considering several different hearts.  We shall see!!        Therese

Slow Stitching - #6 in the second set of rainbow squares

I played with floss colours and the direction of stitching on my little fabric strips for my background on this one as well.  My heart is hand cut from two pieces of fabric which I stitched together.  I used white floss to stitch it to my background and then ran a length of the same floss under all the stitches which gives a bit of a neat look.  I have several more sets of rainbow squares cut so I will see if I can come up with a different way of stitching them up!!     Therese

Slow Stitching - #5 - second set of rainbow squares

This is #5 - the blue one from my second set of rainbow squares in my Slow Stitching project!!
For this one I used small strips as well for the back ground and did vertical stitching on the top portion and horizontal stitching on the bottom section in a variety of colours of blue floss.  I used white floss to stitch on my hand cut heart.  Not quite as much contrast on this one but I like it!!

Therese

Wild and crazy dryer balls made of felted wool scraps, an old sock and bright jersey fabric

 Dryer balls!!!!!!!!!  I love how these turned out!!  I was less than successful getting wool to felt in hot water and the dryer as so many online tutorials indicate it can be done.  In the end, I did find one place where the lady simply stuff an old sock with other old socks until it was the size and weight she wanted to make her dryer balls SO..... I just decided to make my own version.  I have a bag full of small felted wool scraps which my daughter gifted me so I used them to create a ball wrapping it with yarn as I went to keep all the pieces together.  When it was big enough I stuffed the ball into a piece of old sock and tied off both end using cording woven through the sock and tied off.  I have made a supply of these for my dryer and because they have sock wrappers they are boring brown and black but do the job. 

I decided to gift my daughter a set of six of these dryer balls for Christmas so I decided to give them a make over before wrapping them.  I dug through my fabric stash and found this really stretchy jersey top which was too large for me and I upcycled it into covers for the dryer balls.  I cut a 5" square of the jersey, I fold it in half and stitched up the side using zig zag first and then next to it a line of straight stitching using very short stitches.  You can see the seam on the right hand side of this ball.  I turned it inside out and stuffed a dryer ball into it - amazing how much that jersey stretches!!!  Then I used a large needle and cording to make a line of running stitch on one end about where the fabric meets if you stretch it into place.  Once all they way around I tightened ed only slightly the stitching and then tucked the extra fabric inside and under the edge of the line of running stitch.  As I pulled the ends of the cording tight I kept tucking the inner fabric inside so that once the two ends were as tight as they could be you no longer can see the sock dryer ball.  I tied a square knot and then pulled the ends into the ball to hide them.  I did the same thing on the other end. Dressed up those dryer balls pretty nicely!!!!   

 I wrapped them in one of the Bento Bags I made earlier this year and they fill it perfectly!!!

It will be a happy little surprise for her for Christmas!!!         Therese

Slow Stitching - All three floral hand stitched collage bookmarks

I managed to get a shot of all three bookmarks together before they are sent on their way to their new homes!!  

Therese