Harry Potter theme birthday card featuring a digital greeting, a shaker element and a book mark with quotes

My oldest granddaughter will be having a birthday soon so I got a card ready for her.  She is a fan of Harry Potter and has read all the books.  I decided to make her birthday card with a HP theme.  I started with a large black card.  I laser printed a script background, the birthday greeting (Pixabay) and the two sides of the fun HP bookmark on the same sheet of 8.5 x 11 cardstock.  I trimmed out the bookmark pieces, glued them to each other and then punched a hole to which I added a length of black ribbon.  I found some very good HP quotes online which were all designed and ready to go.  I trimmed the greeting, sponged the edges with black and layered it onto a gold paper.  Wanting to add a fun element I decided to add a shaker element to it so I cut a hole in the script background layer using a circle Nestibilities.  I created a shaker sandwich - a square of transparent plastic to which I added a foam tape border large enough to be hidden by the background paper filled with sequins, beads, heart paper punchies and some glitter.  I removed the release paper from the foam tape and placed another sheet of plastic over top.  Much easier to manage once the shaker element is sealed.  I mounted it behind the opening in the background using double sided tape, added a gear cut from gold cardstock and finished off with a gold brad that went through the shaker element.  Afterwards, I wanted to add a ribbon and fortunately there was room between the pieces of double sided tape to get my ribbon through.  I glued one end to the back on the edge of the round opening and the other end went over the top and was adhered to the back as well.  I mounted this large element to the front of my large black card.  I mounted my large collage greeting with 3D foam tape over the ribbon.  Lastly, I tied a short piece of the same ribbon to the one on the front between the greeting and the opening to simulate a bow!!! I am really happy how it turned out!!!           Therese

A baby girl card featuring a cute digital image of a clothesline, some decorative paper strips and an embossed strip

For this baby card I used a card kit I created for the March Cardmaking Class.  I changed up a few of the decorative paper strips to emphasize the pink theme.  I used a portrait format for this one and added a strip of double sided tape across and laid all the ends of my strips into it.  I embossed a brown strip of cardstock and adhered it over the ends to make a neat finish.  I trimmed all the ends with little flag ends before adhering this large element to the front of my brown card.   I watercoloured the image of a few cute dresses on a clothesline (Melonheadz) which I substituted into the kit to make it a baby card.  Like my last one, I had extra cardstock on the bottom so I trimmed it with scallop decorative scissors and paper pierced each scallop to add interest and texture.  I mounted the layered image to my card using 3D foam tape.

Therese

Baby card featuring a cute little horse digital, strips of decorative paper and a vellum greeting

Needing some baby cards for my stash so I went digging through some card kits from previous classes to see if I had any that could easily be made up.  No luck but I was able to convert this one into a baby card by simply changing the image to this cute little horse one (Melonheadz) which I had in my image stash and adding a vellum greeting also from my greetings stash!!
So I added a strip of double sided tape across the yellow layer and adhered the ends of my paper strips to it.  I embossed the navy strip, adhered it over the ends and trimmed it to the edges to finish that nicely.  I trimmed the ends of the strips in a diagonal pattern and adhered this large element to the navy card front.  I watercoloured the laser printed image and layered it onto a green rectangle and had enough spare to trim the bottom with scallop decorative scissors.  I used a push pin to pierce each scallop which adds a nice touch of texture.  I used a small piece of double sided tape to adhere the vellum greeting to my card before mounting my layered image using 3D foam tape.  You can see the other cards I made with these kits here.  They were part of my March Cardmaking class.                   Therese

Large birthday cards that feature a shaker element, some decorative paper and some custom die cut greetings

 I saw a tutorial on shaker cards recently and thought I should give them a go.  It has been a while since I made one.  I created some custom greetings in Corel Draw and printed them on white cardstock.  After trimming them out I got started. 
For the first card, I chose a large orange envelope and created an ivory card to fit inside.  I added two pieces of this beautiful sunflower gift wrap to the front and overlaid a strip of yellow cardstock over where they joined.  To create my shaker greeting I die cut a star, added a piece of transparent plastic to the opening and then made a border of 3D foam tape which I cut quite thin so I could place it around the star shape.  I filled the opening with sequins, paper punched stars, beads, etc and then placed another square of transparency over it after I had removed the release tape.  It was a bit of a challenge in that I had to have a steady hand to keep all the little bits inside the opening while I removed the release paper.  I then mounted my shaker greeting to a background created using brown and orange cardstock.  I punched little stars on the bottom edge, applied double sided tape to the back and rubbed in some copper glitter.  Love it!! I mounted my large shaker greeting to the front of my card over the strip of yellow and I was done!!    It will take a few more to get the hang of it so I decided to make a couple more using pretty close to the same sketch.

For the second one I used another large envelop and created a white card to fit inside.  I added a green embossed layer and added a strip of brown cardstock with a strip of orange over it.  I added glitter glue in blue and green and adhered it to my card once it was dry.  I cut a yellow strip of cardstock, flagged the end and adhered it to my card.  I created my shaker greeting by die cutting a square, adding my transparent layers and filling the inside with glass beads - clear and gold along with some green sequins.  I used a brown marker and added a bow to the top of the square and dots all the way around.  I mounted it to a brown square of cardstock before adhering it to the front of my card using 3D foam tape.  Love the glitter glue border on this one!!
For my third card I chose a large lavender envelope and created a white card to fit inside. I layer on a piece of purple cardstock and then a beautiful piece of floral decorative paper.  I added a flagged strip of yellow paper to this one as well.  I die cut a circle to this greeting, added the transparencies and foam tape to create my shaker which I filled with glass beads, sequins and a bit of glitter.  I corner rounded the three corners I had access to, sponged the edges and mounted my shaker greeting to my card front using 3D foam tape.  I added a little string to my circle a balloon using a fine tip sharpie.  Another good one!!  One of these is off to my sister for her birthday and the other two are off to my card exchange partners for this month. 
Really enjoyed making these but they do require some time to get those shakers made without having little beads running in every direction!!            Therese

Birthday card with cool tool background paper and fun chalk board greeting

This card is for DH for his upcoming birthday!!  I chose this really cool background paper which I received in a swap a while ago and mounted it to a large black card front.  I cut a fun shape from silver cardstock and added a strip of red and black washi tape down the middle.  After mounting it to my card front I added a fussy cut chalk board greeting which was laser printed from a digital file.  I adhered it with two red brads which are silver brads coloured with a red Sharpie permanent marker.  I really love how it worked out!!!  He is a wonderful woodworker so I am sure he will appreciate the fun paper.  Therese

Felted Wool coasters

 My grand daughter is raising money for a trip and I have made up a few felted wool coasters to be sold at her next event. 
The felted wool comes from her Mom who enjoys felting wool and creating wonderful items from it.  This was felted wool from a reversible coat which was ivory one one side and beige on the other.  I cut the panels into four inch squares with a rotary cutter and mat.  I rounded the corners by fussy cutting them with scissors.  I machine stitched around the edges to create a bit of a border using thread in coordinating colours - beige on the ivory side and ivory on the beige side.   Next, I used tapestry wool to embroider designs onto the coasters.  I found a few ideas on line and then made up a few others after I got a bit of feel for the process and what I could do with it.  I am really happy with how they turned out!!  Every dollar counts so I hope they sell out!!                 Therese

Doodles

 I was exploring a card design a few weeks ago that required doodling to finish it off so I decided to try a few pages to see how easy it would be for the participants to make doodles happen.  I found several You Tube videos of people doing some doodling and decided to follow along and see how easily it went. 

 It was difficult enough for me so I decided not to go with that card design for my class but I did really enjoy the doodling and I think I may clean some of these up and use them as digital images in my card making. 

I may have to do that regularly and see what happens.  Having my own art to use in my card making would be really fun!!

Therese

Paperclip jewelry

 

Paper clip jewelry!!  On our trip to the second hand store in the last few days my grand daughter picked up a free crafting book which creates jewelry using paper clips!!  She spent the afternoon yesterday trying several of the techniques and making several items of jewelry for herself!!   Therese

And yet more charms!!!!

These are the charms I made while my grand daughter was visiting!  She invented the process and I decided to make a few as well because they looked so awesome!!  Teen idol charms from the Goodwill were sanded, coloured with nail polish or gesso and then glitter glue was added in a variety of colours and nicely mixed up to create some very sparkly charms!! We added the butterflies - plastic decoration cut from some head bands purchased a while back.  We finished the edges with Sharpie or rhinestones. They came with the jumprings and lobster claw catches on them.  Love how they turned out.  She will be selling them at a fundraising event in a few weeks!!!!!!!!!  Therese

More charms!!!!!!!

 Another set of charms which my granddaughter made this week!  Some will be sold at the fundraiser and the Key chains she made to go with the little stitched penguins she is making for a different event for her Girl Guide troupe.  These started as fun flower stickers - see left on the lower right! She added coordinating circle punchies and added her own greetings, symbols and art using glitter gel pens.  I drilled holes in them and she added jump rings and lobster claws to finish them off!!!!           Therese

Charms!!!!!!!

 Charms!!!!!!!!!!  My granddaughter is visiting for spring break and she has been busy creating charms for a fundraising event for Girl Guides!!
We started with plastic charms I acquired at the Goodwill a few weeks ago thinking that they would make a good substrate for creating on.  We dug out sandpaper, nail polish and glitter glue and then added the little butterfly accents and just went from there!! We finished the edges with coloured Sharpie markers and/or clear rhinestones!!!   They are awesome in real life!!
These are all of the ones she made - double sided so I took photos of both sides!!        Therese

March Cardmaking - an embossed cardstock with strips of fun paper and a laser printed digital greeting

For our last card I designed this one which was fairly quick and easy!!  I cut a layer 4" x 5.25" to which we applied a strip of double sided tape into which we laid our strips of paper until it was covered all the way across.  Next we embossed a coordinating strip of cardstock and adhered it over the ends we had placed on the double sided tape.  Next, we flagged the bottoms of each strip in an interesting pattern and adhered this large element to a coordinating card front.  The laser printed greetings (Desert Diva) were distressed and then glued to a coordinating layer which were also distressed.  They were adhere to each other and mounted to the front of our card using 3D foam tape.  This sketch was very flexible in that the card could be used in both orientations.  I created one of each with my cards.  The cardstock strip and the flagged strips could also have been mounted on the short width which also gave the option for both orientations by changing the way the greeting was mounted.  A fun card to finish off our evening!!  

March Cardmaking - decorative paper, fun tags and a bit of embossing

For our second card I designed this one which features the tag I cut out of the first card which you can find here.   We used scissors or corner rounders to trim the corners of our tags, coloured our images if they needed it and then added a folded length of ribbon using a coordinating tiny brad.  I used watercolour and chalk on my tags. We adhered our decorative paper (4" x 5.25") to a coordinating card front, embossed our strip of cardstock and then mounted it over the paper,  trimming it to fit.  We mounted our tags with images to the front of our cards using 3D foam tape overlapping the embossed strips. To finish off our cards we trimmed our ribbon ends.   The little owl is from Michelle Perkett and the penny farthing is from StampinUP.    It is always fun to add font greetings to images and it gives you the flexibility to have them be for any occasion you prefer.  

Therese

March Cardmaking - golden die cut, beautiful background paper and a gold embossed greeting

Another fun evening with the girls making cards!!!!  For our first card I created these simply elegant ones!!  I cut the frame out of white cardstock.  In order to be efficient I laid out the tag for the next card in the center of the frame which made the off cut useful.  I created registration marks on my magnet sheet for the Big Shot and positioned my rectangle Nestibility so it would cut out a frame in the way that I wanted.  I left space on the bottom so that the girls could gold emboss the greeting of their choice from the Sincere Salutations set (SU).  That was a new experience for all of them so we had a few practice runs and everyone managed to get their greeting well embossed.  I ran the tracing wheel around my frame before I added the decorative paper behind the opening and glued this layer to my coordinating card front.  We then added our coordinating gold die cuts using white glue in a fine tip applicator to ensure a neat finish.  The leaf is Tim Holtz and the dragonfly is Spellbinders.  Very happy with these elegant cards!!           Therese

Card with a cross featuring a bit of bling and some beautiful paper

Another cross card!! I started with a gray card for this one and added a beautiful foiled gift wrap background paper.  I laser printed the cross on white cardstock, trimmed it to size and mounted it to a rectangle of silver cardstock.  I added a rhinestone to the middle of the cross and added clear glitter  with a gel pen to several places on the cross.  I mounted the image to my card using 3D foam tape.  Another versatile card suitable for a variety of occasions including Easter which will soon be here!!          Therese

Graduation card that features gros grain ribbon, colour printed background and some bling

It will soon be that season of transition where people move on from being students to the next step in their lives and so I made this card.  I will probably need a few more but it is a start. 
I started with a colour printed background from Altered Bits and mounted it to a green card front.  I found this greeting in one of my past files and it does not have any credits so I am not sure where it came from but I really like the message!!  I laser printed it onto white cardstock, trimmed it to size, watercoloured the cap and sponged its edges a bit before mounting it to a brown cardstock layer with a distressed edge.  I added a piece of green gros grain ribbon with flagged ends to my card then mounted my greeting over it using 3D foam tape.  Just a little bit of bling finished it off nicely!!           Therese

Handmade card featuring a beautiful cross, faux stitching and handmade paper

A while back I was asked to make a few cards featuring crosses for special occasions through out the year.  I am in need of a few more so I have started with this one.  This beautiful cross was downloaded from Art by Jean and she has some beautiful images and backgrounds there for all sort of occasions. I colour printed the cross onto white cardstock, trimmed it to size and added a yellow scallop punched border (SU)on the right hand side.  I mounted the image to a coordinating piece of handmade paper which I made myself and added a tiny black brad to the center of the cross.  I mounted this large element to a navy card front.  After I was done, I thought it still needed a bit of something so I added a bit of faux stitching around the image and that was better.  A card for any occasion!!

Therese

Christmas cards featuring embossed snowmen, decorative paper and little greetings

 Here are my first set of Christmas cards for March!  I have committed to making Christmas cards every month so that I will have them all made by December!!  I am using up my stash of envelopes so these are long and slim.  I made white cards to fit in the green envelopes and got started.
I dug through my Christmas paper stash and found several that would do.  For my first card I used a leafy blue background paper.  It was just a touch short so I cut it before adhering to my white card.  I added an embossed layer of light blue cardstock and a little strip of darker blue over it.  I mounted the little snowman image onto red and then over the strips using 3D foam tape.  When I auditioned my little layered greeting - laser printed Word Window punchie - Modern Label in red - SU) it seemed a little lonely so I kept digging in my scraps and found a little flourish that coordinated with the darker strip which very nicely added a "bit of something" to my greeting which was just what it needed.  Glued the flourish with white glue and mounted the greeting with 3D foam tape.  The others are very similar but in a landscape rather than a portrait orientation.  I see that I have used the snowmen in both the embossed and debossed versions so this one works in both aspects.  I am happy to have a few cards made for this month.  I am hoping to make a few more by the end of the month.             Therese

Christmas card using plank background, a flagged strip and a watercoloured nativity image

This is the last Christmas card I made for my February catch up on my commitment to make some cards every month so I will have what I need when December comes around. 
The background was sitting on my desk since my January card making session.  I created a red card to coordinate with the red envelope I had chosen.  I adhered the black and white wood gift wrap to it and went looking for an image that would work with it.  I found this little nativity which I thought would be good.  I watercoloured it to coordinate and then layered it with green cardstock.  I found the little greeting in my stash and layered it with the same green.  Once I was putting my card together I decided it needed a flagged strip of red behind the image so I added it before placing my other elements with 3D foam tape.  Still thinking it needed "a bit of something" I added three little red circle punchies above the greeting.  That was better!!!!!!  Glad to have caught up on my Christmas cards and will have see about getting my March ones done soon!!!!!!            Therese

A Christmas card - reused image with a few runs of the tracing wheel!!

Loved this image from Christmas packaging this year and so I saved it!!  I had to trim it a bit to use on the front of an A2 card but it works!!  I added two rows of pierced holes using my pattern tracing wheel  - one at the top and one at the bottom!!  Layered it onto a gray card front to finish it off!!

Therese

Christmas cards - reused gift wrap, tree die cuts and fun greetings

In an effort to have Christmas cards ready to go by the beginning of December I am again this year committing to getting some made every month.  I did not get any made in February so I am playing catch up this month.  I had the gift wrap backgrounds cut out for these cards since January.  They have been sitting in my craft room waiting!!  I had a bit of time to play so I decided to get started on them.  I cut white card fronts for all of them as they all have green envelopes.  I glued the backgrounds on and then started with some fun!!  I gave them all some sort of white embossed strip and added to them as I went - one with a flagged end and purple and white bakers twine tied around it, another with green ribbon, the next one scallop edges, a purple strip and red fiber tied on one end and the last one has a flagged end, a strip of red and white fiber added to that.  I dug some die cut trees from my stash to use as the focal element which I adhered with 3D foam tape.  I added little greetings from my stash - gold embossed joy layered onto a red scalloped oval, a little laser printed Word Window punchie, a punchie greeting layered onto a Modern Label punchie in red and a laser printed greeting punched with an oval punch (SU).  After finishing off the cards I added glitter glue to the trees!!!!!!!  I added a garland and then some ornaments using a variety of colours of glitter glue.  Discovered several that are dried out but that is the way it goes - use it or lose it!!!  After they were dried I pressed them all!! They are in need of inserts but I am considering doing those all in one go as I will be having a wide variety of sizes in my cards and they will all have to be custom made.  It was very fun to play and make some bright and colourful cards!!          Therese

A Christmas card featuring a colour printed page background, a die cut ornament and a punched greeting

I am playing catch up with my commitment to make Christmas cards monthly this year.  I am using large and odd sized envelopes from my stash in an effort to make them disappear!!  I chose the envelope and made a dark maroon card to fit in it.  I had the ornament and greeting picked out from my January session of Christmas cards when I made these.  I went digging into my stash to find a background that would work and found this one which I printed a while back when I was working on these cards. It is a digital collage which I colour printed onto a page from a bible.  It worked with the sky of my little round image so I went with it.  I trimmed it to size and adhered to my card front.  I tied cording to the top of my ornament die cut and adhered my little circle image after sponging it around the edge a bit with brown ink.  The image was die cut from a Christmas card I received years ago and was a supply for a different project a while back.  I mounted the ornament to my card front using 3D foam tape and adhered the cording to the inside of my card using double sided tape.  The greeting (Quietfire Designs) was stamped onto ivory, punched out and then layered onto a coordinating scalloped oval punchie (SU).  I layered them and then mounted it to the front of my card with 3D foam tape as well.  I love how bright the image is compared to the background - it really stands out!!  Another one down!!              Therese

Small cards as a gift - decorative paper, ribbon and punched greetings

I created these four cards as a gift set for a friend who has loaned me her precious books to read.  They are the Angelic Letter Series by Henry Ripplinger. It has taken months to read them but the story is excellent and lots of good teaching in between.  The last in the series just came out this summer so I will have to see where I can find it!! 

I started with small turquoise envelopes which were gifted to me.  I created white cards to fit inside.  I added a layer of this decorative paper (gift wrap) to them. 

Then I went looking for a greeting I could use.  I found this one which is from a Stampin UP set.  I stamped it a few different colours that coordinated with the paper and then punched them out with a 1.25" circle punch (SU).  I created layers for them using a 1 3/8" punch (SU) in coordinating colours.  I added a little folded ribbon flag to each one before using 3D foam tape to adhere them to the fronts of my cards!!  These are real cute and with that greeting can be used for a variety of occasions!!!  I have really appreciated her generosity knowing that these books are precious to her!!         Therese

Exchange cards which feature flower images, beautiful background paper and lacy borders

These two cards are for my card exchange partners for this month.  I chose two flower images from UNIKO and created two similar looking cards.  For the card on the left I used a large purple envelope, created a white card to fit in it and added a purple layer.  I added a piece of beautiful paper to the right hand side and then an embellished border on the right hand side.  The border was created from white cardstock which was punched with a MS lacy border punch, scored with three lines on my score tool and then had a row of pierced holes on the left using my pattern tracing wheel.  I adhered it over the edge of the paper using double sided tape.  I watercoloured the image, added clear glitter over the coloured border and added it to my card front using 3D foam tape.  

I repeated the sketch for the card on the right.  I used real lace and ribbon to create my border but other than that it evolved in the same way.  They are off to my partners!!        Therese

Birthday card featuring a digital stamp, a collage background and some gold shimmer!

 For this birthday card I started with a large red envelope and created a black card to fit inside. 
I used paper scraps from my stash to created a collage background on the front of the card.  It was fun to piece it all together and see how great it worked out.  I added three little gold sequins in one of the little spaces.  I found the greeting/image in my stash.  It is a digital stamp I created which was inspired by a card I found on Splitcoast Stampers.  It was a collage of Unity Stamps.  I watercoloured the laser printed image with coordinating colours and used gold shimmer paint for one of the candles and the stars!!  Much more shimmery in real life!!  I added some circles to the right hand side of the image before adhering it to the front of my card at a bit of an angle.  Love how it turned out!!!           Therese

Card set - decorative papers, laser printed greetings and embellishments

For my last two cards for my card set I used some of the beautiful paper I discovered a while back!!  For the first one I mounted two strips which I had trimmed to size to the top and bottom of my beige card.  I used my pattern tracing wheel to add pierced lines to the top and bottom edge of my printed greeting.  I added a sequin and brad to the left hand side of the greeting before mounting it to the front of my card using double sided tape over the area where my papers met.   Love the paper on this one!

I used the same beautiful paper I used on several others for the second card.  I mounted the trimmed paper to a dark rose card front, added a flag in the same cardstock as my card front and finally added my layered greeting with 3D foam tape.  The greeting is laser printed using a font called NOEL. I watercoloured it and layered it onto gold paper before mounting it to my card.  The gold coordinates with the gold embellishments in the paper.  

It has been so much fun to play with paper again and making cards for friends I always a most wonderful way to pass the time!!!

Therese

Card set - butterflies, decorative paper and embossed scalloped circles

Another two cards for my card set!!  These both feature butterflies from a card mobile I got while back in a birthday card from my daughter.  

For the card on the left, I started with a textured beige card, mounted a piece of decorative scrapbook paper, an embossed scalloped circle die cut and my embellished butterfly.  I added a little die cut body to my butterfly to coordinate with the foiled elements on its wings!!

For the second card I trimmed four rectangles of this beautiful gift wrap and corner punched two corners on each one before adhering them to my beige card front.  I mounted the embellished butterfly to the green embossed scalloped circle die cut and centered it on my card front to finish it off.   Therese

Card set - ribbon, vellum and oval greetings

Two more cards towards my set of cards!!  Both of these cards started with green card fronts but really went off in their own directions after that!!

For the first I trimmed a beautiful piece of decorative paper and mounted it to a navy blue rectangle of cardstock which I then adhered to my green card front.  I found this stamped greeting in my stash, die cut it into an oval and then distressed its edges.  I used the coordinating layer label to die cut a navy layer which I embossed with polka dots before I mounted the greeting.  I added a length of gold ribbon to the center of my card and mounted the layered greeting over it!!!  

For the next card, I punched the greeting from one I found in my stash, added a blue oval punchie (SU) and then cut a large oval from some textured vellum to add to the back.  I adhered them all together with double sided tape.  I found coordinating colour printed cardstock from which I cut four rectangles.  I corner punched two corners on each of them and then mounted them to my green card front.  I like the look of this combination of rectangles.  I mounted my greeting to the center over the area where the rectangles meet.  

Therese