Heart cards - masculine

Knowing that somewhere along the way they probably would need a masculine card I designed these.  I inked and sponged the embossed layers so they would be ready to go.  We attached the ends of the twill tape to the back of the embossed cardstock using double sided tape and then glued it to the card front. To create the central element we layered two dark halves behind the metallic decorative label (SU) and glued on a little flocked heart.  It was adhered to the card front using 3D foam tape and then we glued three little punchies to the lower right side.
I like accenting embossing using ink pads because it just hits the high areas and really makes the images pop!!  For the brown one I used two colours because the first one was too brown and it really added depth to the image!!

Therese

Heart cards - double hearts

 Had a class last night for a group of young women who were having a night out - pizza, childcare and some creative time - so I planned some heart cards!!  To keep within the hour time frame I kept the cards quick and easy and did as much prep as I could.
For this card we layered embossed cardstock onto our card front, adhered our little ribbon frame image (Graphics Fairy) and then glued on with 3D foam tape our layered hearts (SU -SX) and greeting (SU).     I provided a variety of colour printed greetings so they could customize their cards for their needs.  In this case the red, black and white one would have been appropriate for Valentine's.
We can bless all the people we love with heart cards at this time of the year!!

Therese

NOEL Christmas card

My first Christmas card for this year!!  I made this one as a thank you for a friend who gave me the NOEL movers and shapers (TH) for Christmas!!  I cut it out of the center of the Ornamental die (TH) using white cardstock, embossed it using  a dot embossing folder (SU), sponged the edges with red and green ink, added red bakers twine on both sides  gluing the ends to the back, added some glittery red paper in behind, layered on an oval (NS) that I die cut with NOEL then sponged with green and finally added two ferny sprigs (MS) and three circle punchies which I embellished with red glitter glue!!  Glued this great element to a green card front which I stamped with a stipple stamp (SU) all the way around the edges!!  The red glitter paper is a wonderful mylar paper that my gift was wrapped in!!  It is fabulous and will be used in my card making!!  Valentine's is coming up and I am sure I can come up with a way to use a bit more of it!!

Therese

More handmade paper!

I taught a Papermaking - techniques class this week to a group of young people!  They were so keen!!  We made embossed paper using fabrics as well as hot glue moulds, layered papers using botanicals (pressed cedar sprigs) and images from paper napkins and duplex papers using ivory and kraft brown - a full duplex sheet as well as an interesting arty one using a  pulp drawing that was added to a sheet of plain paper in the opposite colour!!  They all worked out really well and the students made one of each!!  An hour goes by very quickly!!  Unfortunately, I did not manage any sheets so I have none to show you.  I did manage to make up the remainder of the pulps and so have some botanical papers to show you.  I added yellow petals, herbal tea and some green grass to the ivory pulp and made up about six sheets (right).  I added onion skins to the kraft brown (brown paper bags) and made up several sheets (left).  I finally mixed the two batches and added some of the green cedar I had left over and made a few more sheets (middle).
So a few more sheets to add to my stash!!  I really like the ivory with the petals!!

Therese

Masculine exchange cards

I am getting together with my card making friends tonight and needed a card for the exchange and also needed two cards to mail off for my other exchange so I made three cards this morning!!
They all feature double embossed backgrounds, a laser printed digital stamp from Beccy's of a watch which I watercoloured, a greeting and  a leaf punchie.  I really like the look of the double embossed backgrounds - lots of depth.  They require solid core cardstock and in this case I created what I needed using regular cardstock and acrylic paint.  You can click the link above and get all the details OR find double embossed backgrounds in my LABELS.
Found all the elements I needed in my stash so these came together reasonably quickly!!

Therese

More handmade paper!

Made handmade paper with another group of young people yesterday!  They were really keen and loved the whole process!!  We made some pink ones - plain and with flower petals, some blue ones - plain and with paper confetti and finally mixed the two batches and made some purple ones.
I started with white scraps from my cardmaking and crafting and created white pulp by shredding, soaking and then blending the paper.  I used paper napkins for colour.  They don't need to be soaked because they absorb water instantly.  I thoroughly blended navy blue and burgundy paper napkins and added that to the two different batches.  I added hand cut paper snippets to the blue batch - pink, purple, several different blues and some silver.  I added flower petals, grass and herbal tea to the pink batch.  Above you can see the sheets I made up when I got home with the remaining pulp. I will be teaching this same group a techniques class next week.  Looking forward to making different pulps for that class.
If you are a paper crafter I would highly recommend learning to make paper.  You will be able to use all your scraps to make paper you can use in your crafting!!  It is fun and environmentally friendly!!  If you have any questions about the process just ask!!

Therese

Sympathy card

You just never know when you will need a sympathy card and it is best to have them on hand but unfortunately I did not.  I made this card this morning for a friend who lost her father this week.  I used an image from my stash which was just the look I was wanting.  Layered it on a torn piece of coordinating cardstock and layered it onto decorative paper which I stippled around the edges with coordinating ink.  I added a coordinating and layered greeting to finish it off.  I love the softness of it!!
It is part of life but not easy to handle when those close to us pass on.  They are in a better place and we need to keep that in our hearts as we grieve.

Therese

Handmade paper

Made some paper yesterday!!  I had a class with some young people in the afternoon and made up the rest of the pulp when I got  home.  I started them off with white pulp - we made some white sheets and embossed a few.  Then I added green (blended paper napkins) to one vat so they could make some green sheets.  I added some green, red and gold confetti (snippets of paper, tissue, ribbon, etc) to another vat and added similar confetti to the green vat as well.  As you can see in the photo there are some pink bits in the green.  This is a result of some of the red bits letting colour and becoming pink in the process. It is a different look than I was expecting but that is the way it is with papermaking - you just never know exactly how all the additions will affect the overall sheets.  A fun process!!
Might be making Christmas cards with these sheets.  If you are wanting to challenge yourself to making Christmas cards over the year and would like a little inspiration I would like to recommend the Christmas Card Challenge  that my sister is hosting.  Here is the quick link to this year's challenges.  Here and here and here are the quick links to past challenges.

Therese

Thinking of you card

Friends need our support!! So today I created this card as a RAK for someone headed overseas!  She will be far from home though, I am sure her trip will be an adventure!!
I started with a kraft card base, layered on a double embossed background (so fun to make - check out instructions here) and some lace then added a mini collage element which I layered with two decorative label (SU) punchies in black.  Added my greeting which was punched with the punch (SU).
Came together fairly quickly!  I like having supplies ahead so that I don't have to do everything from scratch when I want a card!!

Therese

Felted die cut thanks

These felted snowflakes were in the little envelope of die cuts that my daughter sent me for Christmas!!  Love crafty gifts!!
On the left hand card I layered the snowflakes over a wax resist background, added some snowflake sequins and attached them to the card front using little white brads.  In keeping, with the simple look of this card I added a little circular vellum greeting which I just glued to the decorative paper!!  On the right hand card, I layered the felted snowflakes onto a brown embossed background (SU), added some string hangers which I glued to the back using double sided tape, added some sequins and attached them using brown mini brads. Thrifty Tip:  I coloured the domes of white ones with a brown sharpie - voila - brown ones!!  I added a colour printed greeting which I punched with the modern label punch (SU).

Therese

Reuse thank yous

More thank you cards!  On these three, I used the stickers and gift tags that our daughter used on our little gifts at Christmas.
The top card uses a background from my stash.  It was an experiment in using an acrylic block and ink pads to monoprint on cardstock.  It did not suit my purpose when I created it but today it was the perfect thing to layer this cute light bulb sticker on to!  I embossed the layer (SU), glued it to a coordinating card front and added a layered colour printed greeting (SU).
The left hand card has a white on white quilted background embossed with snowflakes (CB) which I found in my stash.  I added the little Santa gift tag, a layered colour printed greeting and mounted the whole thing to a coordinating card front.   The right hand card has an embossed background which I highlighted with glitter.  Once dry, I added a snowman gift tag and a layered colour printed greeting.
I have saved the tissue paper the gifts were wrapped in for making some serendipity backgrounds later on.

Therese

Thank you cards

 Christmas has come and gone and a New Year has begun!!  Wishing all of you every blessing in 2013!! I am in the process of creating cards to acknowledge our many blessings from the holiday season!!
These cards came together very serendipitously.  I started with the cool wax crayon/wallpaper backgrounds I found in my stash.  In my images stash (actually a plastic container which used to hold a set of SU stamps) I found a set of birds I had created using clear embossing powder as a resist with watercolour that worked well with them!!  I added a white layer to all the birds and found colour printed greetings which coordinated (another plastic container) and punched them out with the modern label punch (SU).  For each greeting I cut a coloured cardstock modern label punchie in two lengthwise and glued the two halves to the back of the punchie so just a bit of each would show on the top and bottom to give it a bit of pizzazz.  After layering my background to a coordinating card I attached the bird image and the greeting using 3D foam tape.
And so begins a new year of creating!!  Be sure to count your blessings this year!!

Therese

Merry Christmas!!!

Just a note to wish you all a Merry Christmas and every blessing in the New Year!!  Enjoy your friends and family and count your blessings!!

It was a trip down memory lane when we put up the tree this year as we unwrapped ornaments we have not seen for quite a few years because we have been travelling over Christmas.  They all fit on the tree!!

Therese

Large embossed Christmas cards

These are the other kits I prepared for my cardmaking session last night.  I created these for one of my Christmas card classes and still had some supplies so I prepped a few kits.  I used a variety of colours and embossing folders.  I decided to add a bit of colour to all of the ones I made by sponging very lightly over the embossed areas with ink.  I like the look!!  Before I headed for bed I decided to add a bit of bling to them as well so I added red glitter glue to the berries on the holly one, silver glitter glue to the snow flake one and several rhinestones to the tree one.  A bit of a different look from the clean and simple (CAS) look of the ones I created earlier.
I hope you have your cards ready to go and are in the home stretch in your preparations for Christmas.  I am ready other than some food preparation that will happen in the next few days.

Therese

Embossed with oval greeting

I created these greetings at the same time as the ones I used on these cards though they never made into the kits for that class.  So, yesterday, I invited my friend and her daughter over to make cards and decided to make up kits using them.  The image is from MudMaven Designs and I really love the little bird.  These were quick and easy cards to make - just a bit of colour on the greetings, layer onto the larger oval and add this element to the embossed card front using 3D foam tape.  I added a bit of glitter gel pen to greeting and its layer on this one.
We had a wonderful evening and they went home with some cards and goodies!  After they left I thought this was wonderful way to gift friends with cards because you get the gift of their company as well.

Therese

Santas with a vintage look

A few more cards created with supplies from my stash!!  I sponged the edges of my backgrounds, added seam binding and 1/8" ribbon, glued them to card fronts and added my layered colour printed Santa images.
I like how much of the background shows with the smaller images.

Therese

Santa with ruffled seam biniding

I needed just a few more Christmas cards so I went looking into my stash and found these backgrounds along with these Santa images and thought they would work well together.  I have been wanting to ruffle seam binding so decided to give it a try as this card needed a bit of texture.  I laid down a piece of double sided tape and started at the top by laying the seam binding onto the tape, making a little fold and repeating.  I really like how it turned out and it was easy to do!!  I added white 1/8" ribbon over it, tied it down with crochet cotton and added a little round greeting.  I sponged the background and added it to a black card front then layered my Santa image on red to coordinate with my seam binding.
I like the creative challenge of digging into my stash and finding supplies that I can combine to create new projects.

Therese

Iridescent Christmas RAK card

 Created this card as a RAK  - Random Act of Kindness - for a member of one of my groups.  It is always wonderful to receive a handmade card in the mail so I should really be doing this more often!!
The main element is Angelina Fiber impressed with a snowflake.  This was a fun activity with a group of friends - they had purchased a variety of colours and wanted to play.  I chose this bluish iridescent fiber and a snowflake stamp inked with blue.  Here is a tutorial if you are interested in giving it a try.  I added a silver snowflake confetti then layered it onto colour printed decorative paper which was stamped with snowflakes in blue and embellished with a blue gel pen on a blue card front and attached all the layers using a mini silver brad.  I added the torn vellum greeting afterwards - you get a very cool look when you layer the vellum over the angelina fiber - but I did have to peel up the edges of my decorative paper to tuck the ends of the greeting below it.  The soft blue of this card  seems to be just right to go with this greeting.
RAKs are such a wonderful way to spread love into the world!!

Therese

3D snowflake embellshment

 Here is a close up of the 3D snowflake embellishment I created for my Twisted Christmas cards.

I used:
1 - 1 1/4" punchie (SU)
1 - 1 3/8" punchie  (SU)
1 - snowflake punchie  (MS) (you could use confetti)
1 - sequin
1 - brad
6 - snowflake punchies

First, layer the snowflake punchie onto the 1 1/4" punchie, then that onto the 1 3/8" punchie.  Position the sequin in the center of the snowflake, make a hole and insert the brad.

Next, glue the snowflake punchies to the back of this  element positioning them with their centers aligned with the spaces between the branches of the snowflake.  Position the center of the punchies just to the outside of the edge of the layered element you just created.

This creates a nice 3D embellishment for adding to your cards, tags or back to back for making ornaments.

Enjoy!!

Therese

More Twisted Christmas cards

I created more Twisted Christmas cards.  You can see the others here. I played with the dimensions a bit so I could  put them into A2 invitation size envelopes.  You need to cut the length to 10 1/8" and you can leave the width at 4.25".  See the link above to find the tutorial on how to fold and score them.  I added decorative paper from my scraps so I just cut what I needed to cover the different areas of the cards.  These cards are cool because they have a pocket on the front and the inside.  I sealed off the front one before I added my dimensional  snowflake embellishment.  You can check out the

next post to see what I used and how I put them together!!  I added a colour printed greeting which I punched with the Window Punch (SU).
My Christmas cards went out today!!  I always write a family newsletter, print it on decorative letter head and include it in my cards to catch people up on what is going on at our house!!  I love getting news in my Christmas cards too!  Especially from those who we only write to once a year at Christmas!

Therese