A little sophistication in masculine colours!! The two SU tag punches make layering these very easy. There are now a collection of stamps that coordinate with the small tag punch as well which makes creating these small tags quick and easy. Stapled the ribbons on. The top and bottom of the card were stamped and stippled with a mask in place to create a space for the tags. 
Just loved this stamp with all the mail boxes in a row!!! I watercoloured the image which was stamped with black Staz On. The little red circle embellishes the tab which I created with the slot punch. The front of the card tucks in under the tab. Added the greeting tag with cording. Am just loving my punches for creating cool tags for my cards!! I used my 1/16" punch to create a hole on the spine to pass the cording through and also to create a bit of a depression on the card's front edge so the cording would stay in place. 
In anticipation of Father's Day I had a few cards that were more masculine in nature. Many have expressed a need for inspiration for cards for the guys in their lives! 
Cardmaking last night!! My first card used some of the colour printed background paper I created. I highlighted the paper with a small background stamp to add a bit interest! Lots of fun!! 
You may recognize this card design from one of my previous posts but I have uploaded it to highlight the decorative paper I have created and used.
Welcome Mina!! She is my first grandchild and was born at the end of April!! Baby and Mom are doing well. I offered to make baby announcements. I finished them yesterday!!
I stamped the panel card with the SU harlequin background in pink pigment ink for a subtle background and I see that it is barely noticeable on the scan.
I cropped a picture of Mina on the day she was born and laser printed it on heavy copy paper. Mina is colour printed on the frames. I used the SU large tag punch to create the hole in the frame by punching it one way and then reversing and punching out the leftover corners. Easier than cutting them out by hand. After corner rounding I used the same pink to highlight the edges and the stipple background stamp to add a bit of texture to the front. Mounted the photos in the frames.
I created the four tags, colour printed them on white cardstock and punched them out with the 1.25" punch. I layered them onto a 1 3/8" punched shape in pink. Punched a hole at the top and tied in some pink baby yarn. The tags have the baby information - name, date and hour of birth, weight and length and the blog that her Dad created for her photos!!
I colour printed the bottom banner, ripped the top edge, glued the bottom to the panel and punched two holes on the top corners where I tied some white baby yarn. This creates a little pocket for the tags. Very happy with the way this baby announcment worked out!! Much happier that I will be seeing them all in person in just over two weeks. I just know that I am going to love being a grandmother!!!
Have a creative day!!
Therese
This little folder is created using two envelopes. You fold one envelope flap into the envelope and insert the other envelope's flap into it. Once glued, it creates a little folder with two pockets for filling with anything you like. We filled ours with seed packets and stamped the inside and outside with flowers!! A ribbon is placed between the top envelope and the layered front and is tied to the side. A wonderul little package perfect for filling!! Might be just what you need for your MOM on her special day!!
In the afternoon we had 4 porjects which rotated through our groups. Here is a little photo wallet!! Very cute!! There is a decorated belly band to keep it closed. Inside three little sliders where you can insert photos, gift cards, journalling, recipes, etc. These little envelopes also flip over to reveal yet more space to journal, embellish, or decorate. The little ribbons make pulling the sliders in and out very easy. This would be great as a brag book or as an memorable little album of a special event! 
Stamp Camp on Saturday!! Had a wonderful day of stamping and connecting with other stampers!! We created a variety of projects. A One Sheet Wonder technique in the morning using a 12x12 sheet of designer paper - Oh chocolat!. We cut our paper (template provided ) and then stamped and coloured our images (shimmer cardstock). We had supplies to create 16 cards which was all precut. I did not manage to finish my cards in the 3 hours provided but managed to fully assemble 3 and parts of others. I finished them up this morning and here is a sample of the 5 desgns. We had a variety of colours - pink , blue and green - in each design. We learned to tie our ribbon in double knots using both ends of a length ribbon. Then to cut the two sides to the right length to fit our needs. This makes tying knots easier, eliminates sloppy ribbons on card fronts and conserves ribbon!!
On one of my groups, we just had another challenge. The hostess chooses a stamp she finds challenging to use and everyone signs up to play by sending her two pieces of cardstock and a SASE. She stamps them with the image and sends them back. Once we receive our images we have a week to get creative!! This medallion image took a little while to inspire me with a project. This is what I came up with.
I watercoloured my image with colours that would coordinate with the flowers I had chosen for the inside - a rak that arrived a couple of weeks ago. I cut out the image close to the outside edges and then cut it in half. Scored my mustard cardstock to accommodate the one half and folded it in. Doubled the measurement and scored again for the other half of the front. I trimmed the second flap to exactly meet the first. I "speckled" it with ink. I glued the image halves to the two flaps then trimmed the top edges and highlighted all the edges with ink. I used a push pin to mark the center of the image through to the back. I layered the flowers onto a gold brad and inserted it into the hole and spread the tangs on the back. I trimmed the center of the images with a punch to accommodate the brad then tucked the flaps under the head of the brad. To hide the brad tangs on the back I layered two punched daisies over them.
Very happy with my creation!! Today I emailed the scan to all the participants. I am always amazed how everyone comes up with such creative projects with the same image!! So much fun to do and such great inspiration for the hostess who actually owns the stamp!! We all get to keep our creations so it is a low cost bit of fun!! Highly recommend this to all of you to do within your groups - online, stamp clubs or just some friends who get together to stamp. Look forward to seeing your art on your blogs!!
Therese
Mixed Media Market
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mixedmediamarket/
A quick and easy card! We all need some quick and easy ideas for those days when you need a card NOW!! I stamped a small rectangle (1/8 sheet) of polished stone with a large flower stamp in brown memories ink. I layered it onto a coordinating layer with a ripped edge. The front of the card was all over stamped with another flower stamp and the layers were all glued together. A greeting could easily be added to the border.
Polished stone gives such a punch of colour and excitement to any card which makes it perfect for this quick and easy one!!
Therese
Spring is in the air so I thought it would be fun to create some flowers for my cards. These flowers are created using 1" punched circles!! I used 5 for the petals, 1 for the center and layered another stamped circle over that one. I used the small oval punch to create leaves. Once the flowers were all glued together I arranged them onto the card front so they would be overlapping the two sides and in the middle. I then trimmed the blue cardstock close to the edges of the flowers and leaves and layered a white piece in behind. The flowers could be made up in any colour and you can usually use scraps for your punched shapes! The blue cardstock was also speckled with ink.
Therese
Had my cardmaking session this past week and this was one of the cards!
I used a sheet of coffee bean paper I got at the swap last weekend and cut it into small rectangles. Created a tag card which I all over stamped with a script stamp and layered the coffee bean paper on the bottom. Colour printed the Thanks a latte! and ripped the top and bottom edges then trimmed the piece to the edges of the card. Coloured my dollar store reinforcements with a brown pad. I punched a hole at the top and added the reinforcement. Strung a small piece of fiber through the hole and then tied it with a double knot to the front of the card. Added the stamped image of the cup allowing some of the greeting to show. A fun little card which was very popular with the girls!
Therese
A birthday card for my husband who is very into music.
I created some polished stone paper using SU reinkers and alcohol on glossy paper!! Fast, easy and fabulous!!! I stamped the large image from the set in black on the PS and cut it out. Then stamped the little verse with Encore Gold over the top. Have to be very careful when stamping on glossy paper with pigment ink - very slippery!! I embossed it in gold!! Layered this onto green cardstock with a ripped side. Added three gold brads to add interest and texture. Created the little greeting tag with the Little Hellos set and added it to the last brad. Stamped the composers on a seperate piece of PS and trimmed the edges even. Layered all the elements on a purple card including a band of gold paper that went under all the elements. It sits on his desk!!!
We must celebrate and be grateful for our many blessings!!!
Therese
It has been a while since I posted so I will start with my April Art Lottery submission. I decided to treat the winner with some round tags this month so I created another one of these cards with the decorative paper using the colour blocking technique. The decorative paper is one that I created with direct to paper technique when I was repairing my Colourbox pads. I really like the vibrancy and the depth of colour of this piece!! The round tags were colour printed and then punched with the SU 1.25" punch and the layer was created with the 1 3/8" punch!! Quick and easy!!
Another simple card with a bit of a twist. I cut a rectangle off the front of this card and then applied decorative paper to the flap that was left. I stamped the image added a layer and glued it to the front. I added a small square on the inside of the card for writing my message!! I just love this image!! It was one of the images in the Hostess set I earned at my SU party. 
I loved this little design that I found several different places!! I just made a rectangular card and cut off a triangle off of each side. Several of the girls were going to add a little handle to their pink cards to make a cute little girl's card that looks like a purse!! This one could truly be embellished several different ways for so many different looks!! Consider creating an apron, coveralls, brick of gold, etc. with this design. 
A triangular fold card!! I had downloaded an image of a similar card somewhere along the way and worked up my design from that image. Several of the girls at the class mentioned that Splitcoast had a tutorial posted to their site last week with all the instructions and samples. So if you are interested in more information you can check
For this month's cardmaking session I was exploring folds and shapes!! This card is a variation of the one we made at my SU party. It has a triangular base instead of a rectangular one!! In the process of designing this one I had to come up with a solution to keeping the pop up part of the card - popped up!! In the rectangular based one the paper on both sides of the slit grabs the pop up and keeps it from sliding back into the base. With the triangular base there is less pressure so I ended up adding a staple at the place I wanted the pop up to stay. The back catches the staple's little bumps and the front hides the front of the staple! It was so effective and the group enjoyed the different option for the base! I just love this Terrific Tulip set (retired) from SU. Made these cards in a lot of different colours. They are a great way to herald in the spring or to celebrate Easter!!
This is a very quick and easy faux leather technique. It requires a heat gun, a stamp, a dye ink pad and some fun foam. The fun foam softens very nicely when you heat it with a heat gun and will take the impression of a stamp. I used a feather stamp for this card and a black ink pad. It is not necessary to use ink on the stamp unless you really want to highlight the image. You could easily create a textured background instead of an accent for your card by using a large background stamp instead. Lots of possibilities with this technique! I highly recommend giving it a try. If you are not happy with the result simply reheat and redo.
Enjoy!
Therese
This is a double sided page for an Art Idea Journal - a round robin on one of my groups!! I created different layouts in each journal using the same four subjects - handmade paper, faux leather paper, paste paper and serendipity. I included the paper and instructions in each layout so the person receiving it would have samples and information for making their own. It has be so much fun to come up with a different layout for each journal. This is the final journal in the round robin. It has taken two years instead of the anticipated 6 months to get this one finished but the journals have been fabulous and well worth waiting for. Mine is all home and now just needs to be bound!! Here I created pockets with the specific paper and then printed off instuctions. I topped the instruction sheets with another paper , folded it up to fit and added it to the pocket. I also added a variety of samples of each technique to each pocket. That should supply some inspiration and some pieces to play with. I stamped each technique name with a round alphabet in a coordinating colour, punched them out with a 1" hole punch (michaels), added a hole at the top and strung them onto fiber. I made two holes at each end of the pockets and strung the little round tag titles between them and tied them taught. I used the same holes for the fiber on each side of the page.
Very happy with how this one has worked out!!
Enjoy!! Have a creative day!!
Therse
A new set of cards I created with my donated envelopes!! It was a challenge to use a different format. Two of the cards use stamped images (tulip and butterfly) but the others use images recycled from old greeting cards. One of the girls that came to my SU party likes to use old greeting cards to create her cards so I went through the bagful I received last fall and put together a package for her. While I was in the process, I decided to give it a try being as I had never recycled a card in that way before. It worked out well though it took some time to pick out images that would suit the rectangular format I was using for these cards.
I was careful not to pass on any cards that had personal information or writing from the ones that had been donated to me.
So another source of card creating fun - all the cards that others (who have not been converted to making their own) send you!!
Have a creative day!!
Therese
