Vintage Valentine's cards with collaged hearts

This Valentine's card features a beautiful collaged heart element which I laser printed and then die cut with my round Nestibilities.  I layered the die cut onto a scalloped circle which I also cut with my Nestibilities from kraft cardstock.  I glued them together and then added dots in each scallop using a white gel pen.  For my background I trimmed a piece of decorative paper and added short length of ribbon to the bottom edge which echoed the scallop design element very nicely.  I used double sided tape to attach my background to my brown card front and properly secure my lace at the bottom.  I added a strip of red cardstock then layered my focal element over it.  I trimmed both ends of my laser printed greeting and adhered it to my card front using a small piece of 3D foam tape in the middle and double sided tape on both ends which gives it a bit of dimension.  Pretty happy with this one too!!

Therese

Serendipity background on this Valentine's card

Another Valentine's card for my stash!!  This one features a serendipity background which has been hanging around in my stash for a while.  I layered gold gift wrap on the front of my red card before I adhered my background to which I had already attached a red organza ribbon.  I laser printed this digital heart image (Melonheadz) on white cardstock, fussy cut it and coloured it with watercolour.  I adhered it to the front of my card using 3D foam tape positioning it over my ribbon then tied on a short piece of ribbon using one knot to simulate a bow just above my image.  Done!  I love using serendipity backgrounds because they are so interesting!!

Therese

One becomes two! Reusing a card front to make two cards

These two cards were created from one larger used card front.  I first trimmed the original card to leave a rectangle with the bird on the handle.  After trimming off that portion I trimmed the top and bottom to create a layer for an A2 sized card.  It was a bit short on the length so I added a punched border to the back leaving only one row of holes showing.  That worked perfectly - adds a bit of texture and colour! I mounted this layer onto a dark green card front.  

For the other card I embossed and sanded a stamped wax resist background I made a while back.  The wax resist used clear wax on an ivory cardstock and I had added green watercolour.  I had stamped a flourish stamp in green after that.  I really like how much texture embossing and sanding this background gave my card!!  I trimmed it to fit on my A2 sized card, added an ivory organza ribbon and mounted it to my dark green card front.  I added the rectangle I had trimmed off the used card on the right hand side using 3D foam tape and then added a layered punchie greeting on the left hand side.  Pretty happy with how both of these turned out!!  Added these to my stash!!

Therese

A few more framed image cards from kits!

I made up a couple of cards from the decorative paper frame card kits from my last card class.  The one on the left features a heart from Digital Graphics Cafe and the one on the right a little bear from Birdie Brown.  The images were watercoloured, trimmed on the bottom with decorative scissors and paper pierced before being mounted into the framed opening.  I trimmed the ends of the embossed cardstock strips, added a bit of fiber and mounted them to the front of the cards using 3D foam tape in the middle and double sided on each end to give it a bit of dimension.     Therese

Two love birds framed in floral paper for Valentine's

Valentine's is coming fast and I have made another card for my stash!  This one features a love bird image which I downloaded from Paper Crafts Magazine a while back.  I started with my decorative paper frame which I used on my class cards - four strips of gift wrap neatly cut to make a nice frame on an A2 sized card.  I cut a piece of black cardstock to fit inside (2.25" x 3.5"), added my watercoloured image then added faux stitching around the edge using a white gel pen and hand lettered the little greeting.  I glued this to the inside of my frame to finish off my card.  We all know couples who immediately come to mind when we hear a reference to "love birds".  A perfect card for them!!

Therese

Penpal cards for Guides

My grand daughter is in Guides and this year my daughter is helping out with the troupe.  They are doing a penpal project and she asked me if I could come up with some cards that would be appropriate.  I had created these cards with used Canadian postage stamps earlier this year and thought I would be able to come up with something similar for this project.  As I played with the concept I thought maybe the design required too many steps to be completed in the time allotted and did not have any creative options for the girls to add their own twist to the cards.
After playing in my used postage stamps stash I came up with this design.  It is a #8 card with a shortened front flap which just happens to hold 20 regular sized postage stamps! I applied mine in a very orderly manner to create a very tight mosaic pattern but I will not be applying that criteria to the girls.  They will be allowed to create any background they wish with the 20 stamps I supply.  Some have all the same stamps for the background and others have a variety within the run of stamps available with the series they were part of.  Needless to say, there were a few days of sorting stamps and removing many from their paper backers before I had enough for the 34 girls in the troupe but it was a good stash buster!!  Once I had all the stamps ready for the backgrounds I searched the rest of my collection for stamps that featured well known Canadian people or activities.  I found Canadian astronauts, hockey players, Canadian singers/songwriters along with  provincial landscapes, etc.  These larger stamps were layered on black and became the focal elements for the cards which can be added to the cards to create either a portrait or landscape card.  I embossed small rectangles to glue to the bottom of the inside back of the cards which were colour coordianted with the front.  So I think there will be enough flexibility in this sketch for the girls to add their own twist to their cards.  I will be teaching the class next week if the weather holds and I can attend the meeting.  If not, I have delivered the card kits to my daughter and she will guide the girls through the process of making the cards for their penpals.

Therese

Another few cards created with plethora of hearts card kits

 I made a few more cards with the plethora of heart card kits from my last card class. I changed up the layout somewhat for these ones looking to see how many possibilities exist!!  I used a portrait format for the two top ones, laid the little accent heart on one of  the other ones and sponged my greeting before adding it.  

For this one I chose a landscape format, eliminated one of the hearts and put the greeting in between the two row of hearts.  I watercoloured the greeting before adhering it to my card front!!  Really liking this one too!  I am also really enjoying the colour variations and interested created by using different papers.

This is truly a wonderful way to use paper scraps along with any of your punches - flowers, balloons, etc!!

Have fun!

Therese

New handmade cards with reused focal elements

 I was going through a box of card fronts that my sister gave me a few weeks ago and decided to reuse some of the images from them to create focal elements for new cards.
For this first one, I cut out the main element on the card front and trimmed it very close to the small line frame.  I mounted it to a piece of dark blue cardstock and added red vintage seam binding to two opposite corners.  I mounted this element to a light blue card front.  I added a sponged laser printed punchie greeting (SU Word Window) on the upper right  using double sided tape.

For my next card, I trimmed the pink cardstock around the cat image even on three sides leaving a larger section on the bottom.   I added a length of white fiber below the image wrapping it around several times and securing the ends to the middle with double sided tape.  I sponged the edges of an oval greeting punchie  (SU) with green and then layered it onto a green scallop oval (SU) which I punched from some junk mail.  I adhered it below the cat image and over the white fiber using 3D foam tape.  I punched four pieces of white cardstock using the ribbon border punch (SU).  I mounted double sided tape on all four sides on the back of my cat element and adhered the ribbon border to the back of the image leaving about half showing.  I trimmed the ends with scalloped decorative scissors which very closely simulated the scallops on the ribbon border.  Really like how that turned out!!  I mounted this large element to a pink card front.

For this card, I trimmed around the iris image leaving about the same amount of blue border on the top and left, more on the bottom and even more on the right.  I added a trimmed vellum greeting, folded the ends to the back and secured them with regular tape.  I added a scalloped border (SU) in purple on the right hand side and pierced all the scallops with a push pin.  I mounted this element to the front of a white card.  Finding that it still needed a bit of something I rummaged around in my little stash of butterfly punchies and found this little white embossed one which I thought would do very nicely as a 3D embellishment.  I tied a silver cord around the body section, tied a double knot and then trimmed the ends a bit long which created body and antennae for my little butterfly.  I mounted it to my card front using a small piece of double sided adhesive.
I am happy with my new cards with reused elements!!

Therese

Valentine's cards featuring vintage images and embossed layers

Another few Valentine's cards.  These ones feature colour printed vintage images from Sweetly Scrapped.   The first one features a couple of very cute clowns.  I laser printed them, trimmed around the edges and rounded the corners. I custom embossed a white layer using my chipboard embossing tool and some custom lines that I added using my scoring tool.  I positioned the image on the back to help ensure that the space I left between the lines would accommodate my image.  I adhered my image with 3D foam tape and then added a length of white fiber before gluing this whole element to the front of a red card.  I dug through my heart punchies stash and found these three little hearts that accented my card perfectly!!  Love it!!

My second card features a cute little girl with an umbrella in a forest of birch trees.  I laser printed the image, trimmed around it then rounded the corners by hand. I embossed a peach piece of cardstock with this beautiful delicate flourish then added a length of white vintage seam binding.  I adhered my image using 3D foam tape positioning it over the seam binding.  I glued the whole element to the front of a green card.  After tying on a short piece of seam binding to the length I already had, it still needed a bit of something so I went looking for some options.  I found these ivory/pink sequins which worked perfectly!  I adhered them to the front of my card using glue dots and then added little dots of iridescent glitter glue in the centers.  Really happy with how it all worked out!!   My third card is very similar to my first one - vintage image with rounded corners added to a white custom embossed layer embellished with three little heart punchies!!  The images already have enough message that these cards really did not need any additional greetings!!

Therese

Christmas Thanks with a blue feather

What fun it has been to use these gift wrap backgrounds from one of my Christmas gifts!! This piece was a bit short so I cut it into three pieces, stamped them with hand made foam stamps (circle and dot) and a swirl in blue to coordinate with my card front.  I glued the three pieces to my card front starting with the top and the bottom and centering the other one in between.  I added black cardstock strips in between for a nice dramatic effect.  The feather is a foam sticker which I embellished with permanent markers in several colours of blue and black on the outside edges.  I cut a rectangle of blue cardstock and adhered my sticker to it.  It still needed a bit of something so I used blue ink and my stipple stamp to soften its look. Perfect! I adhered this element at a bit of a slant on my card front and added a layered punchie greeting.

Therese

Scrappy tree Christmas card

While I was making these cards  I found two pieces that featured these cool trees in my Christmas designer paper scraps which I had trimmed off of a page of scrapping booking paper while I was working on these cards.  Once trimmed they were perfect for putting on A2 sized cards. The sky part was bothering me a bit - it was so plain and even in colour so I decided to change it up a bit.  First, I sanded the area which was good but did not give me quite the effect I was looking for so I used my Swiss Dot embossing folder and a small hammer and embossed the area around the trees then sanded the embossing.  That was more what I was looking for so on the second one I did not bother to sand until after I had embossed the sky area!!  I stitched the layer to a green card front using my sewing machine and ivory thread,  then added a little laser printed greeting punchie using double sided tape. Done!  These were pretty quick and I really like the texture that the embossing and sanding added!!  Adding these two to my stash of 8 making it 10!!             Therese

Vintage collaged hearts Valentine's cards

A while back I had cut out several of these vintage collaged heart images so I decided to make a few more Valentine's cards with them.
For my first card, I layered the colour printed image of the collaged heart over a kraft scalloped oval (Nestibilities).  I embossed a brown layer with a distressed line embossing folder.  I added a red gros grain ribbon on that layer to which I had already added three ivory sequins with gold mini brads.  I added 3D foam tape to the back of my focal element and mounted it over the ribbon. I added a layered punchie greeting to the lower right hand side.

For this card, I cut a brown cardstock layer, I embossed the top portion twice with a twiggy border embossing folder and then added an embossed wavy line in between.  Next, I glued a piece of red floral decorative paper to the bottom and finished off this layer by stitching on a length of green ribbon with an attached length of scalloped white lace over the edge of the decorative paper.  I then stitched all the way around to adhered all these element securely.  I glued this layer to a brown card front and added my layered focal element over the ribbon using 3D foam tape.  I pierced scallops on my focal element with a push pin to continue the stitched

theme.  I flagged the end of  the little laser printed greeting and adhered it to the front of the card with double sided tape.
For my third card, I added a piece of red floral decorative paper to the top portion of my brown card front and then embossed the bottom edge with a lace border punch (SU).  I added a strip of red cardstock to visually combine the two then glued my layered focal element over that lining up the scallops.  I added a little laser printed greeting over the red strip.  It still needed a bit of something so I added clear rhinestones to the scallops on the focal element!  That added an extra bit of attention to my focal element.  Done!

So I have three more cards to add to my stash for Valentine's!!!  It was fun to use some common elements on different cards!! Looking back I could have made at least one of these a portrait card.  Next time!!

Therese

Refurbished Valentine's card reusing a fun card

This is a fun "reuse" project!!  I reused a Valentine's card that arrived a while back along with a bunch of Christmas ones which I used for doing Paper Mosaic backgrounds.  I trimmed the main card to 4"x 5.25" to fit on an A2 sized card. I used a portion of trimmings to create the greeting.  I stamped the greeting in black on vellum, embossed it with clear embossing powder, coloured it with markers, layered it onto the pink cardstock rectangle I had rescued and glued both ends to the back.  I added four little daisies in pink and adhered them with white tiny brads.  I glued this whole element to the bottom section of my card using double sided tape.  I love the fun image!!!
I hope you consider reusing some of the images that come into your life with good wishes on them and give them a new life to bless another along the way.

Therese

Angel Christmas card in non traditional colours

While I was creating these Christmas cards I had two pieces of plum cardstock left over so I decided to make a couple of different cards with them.
I stamped this collage angel stamp with gold pigment ink and embossed it with clear detailed embossing powder.  I did try it with regular gold embossing powder first but that resulted in the loss of many of the the fine details in the image.  So I just turned the piece over and stamped it again on the back side.  I bleached the face and hands area which worked out really well.  I watered down the little bit of bleach I had left in my dish and colour washed it over the background.   I really like how that worked out.  When painting with bleach always use a plastic paint brush because the bleach will destroy natural fibers.  I used one from a kid's set of watercolours.  Once that was dry I fussy cut the edge which gave it a nice organic feel.  I chose a dark plum card and layered on a rose embossed layer to which I had already attached a plum ribbon.  I adhered my focal image to my card front using 3D foam tape.  Next, I tied on an extra piece of ribbon to simulate a bow to the one already on the card and for fun, I included a length of gold cording in the knot.  I like the look!  I layered my laser printed greeting punchie onto a gold label punchie and mounted that to my card front using 3D foam tape.  My focal image was then really in need of a bit of gold to help it stand out so I applied some gold metallic wax to the edges.  It was not quite enough but because it is already glued to my card front I have decided to live with it.  On my next card I used a bit of gold pigment ink on the edges and some of the same gold embossing powder which gave that image just what it needed to compete with the gold cording and the greeting.
So that is two more to add to the six I did earlier which brings my total to 8!!

Therese

Musical thank you cards

I am making a few more thank you cards with the musical gift wrap I received at Christmas.  I ripped my piece of music paper in several strips because it was not long enough to cover the whole card.  I glued the pieces to my dark brown card front to find that I had glued the pieces down upside down!!  What to do!!  I decided to use it landscape to help diffuse my mistake.  I found this short piece of wavy ribbon in my stash and thought it would add some fun texture to the card so I glued the ends to the inside of the card and then stitched it in place with my sewing machine and ivory thread.  I went looking for a focal element and found this thermally embossed image in my stash.  It would do nicely!!  I bleached it out a bit to highlight the image, added a gold layer of gift wrap before adhering it to the front of my card over the ribbon using 3D foam tape.  I layered a scalloped oval (SU) laser printed thanks greeting (Melonheadz) over a larger oval punchie (SU) in dark brown and adhered it to the front of my card using 3D foam tape.  Not sure that the mistake in music paper orientation has been mitigated but I am accepting that it is done and finished.  While I was at it I decided to make another one considering I had the supplies sitting on my desk!  Changed the orientation, cut the music paper instead of ripping it and added fiber instead of ribbon.  I punched out a notch on the spine with my slot punch (SU) and added one to the outside edge as well using a circle punch so I could tie a double knot in my fiber.
Pretty happy with the way they turned out!!

Therese

Christmas Thanks with beautiful ribbon

I am enjoying the process of using these music gift wrap backgrounds which I cut from gift wrap that was on one of my gift this past Christmas.  I rubbed this one with an old multicoloured stamp pad and then used a paper towel to blend the colours and ensure that the surface was dry.  The gift wrap is a bit glossy so it takes a while for the ink to sink in which facilitates these backgrounds. I glued it to a dark purple card front, added a length of coordinating ribbon gluing the ends to the inside of the card.  I tied on a silver cord to the wide ribbon inserting a dark sheer ribbon in the knot.  I sponged the die cut greeting to coordinate and adhered it over the ribbons using double sided tape.  Quick and easy with supplies from my stash!!

Therese

January Cardmaking - Hearts for Valentine's

I wanted to incorporate some Valentine's cards in this session for those who wanted special cards for their special someones!!
For this card, I created a chipboard frame to use for embossing only the edge of my card!!  I glued two pieces of chipboard (4.25" x 5.5") to each other and then cut a label out of the middle of it.  Now I can use the frame OR the label to selectively emboss the areas of my card I want.  I used the frame to emboss the edge of my pink card.  I cut my decorative paper to 4" x 5.25" and then cut it diagonally leaving 3/4" from the two opposite corners.  That leaves me with two identical but opposed pieces.  For this paper where the paper pattern has direction it will be best to glue the other piece to the bottom portion of the card front and arrange the other elements accordingly. For any paper that is uniform or random it will not matter how the paper is glued on.  Fun!!  This decorative paper is some I printed from images from The Morgue File.  I love the pink and gold!!  After gluing my decorative paper to my card I added a strip of my handmade faux washi tape.  I glued my two hearts to each other  - one is an embossed scalloped heart die cut (SU), the other is a heart punchie with a coordinating stamped image inside (SU).  I glued this element to my card front over the washi tape using 3D foam tape.  I trimmed my colour printed greeting, gave it a colour wash of pink and glued it to my card front just below my heart!!  I did pretty much the same thing with my second card except it has the paper on the lower portion of the card.  The paper on this card is from Digital Graphics Cafe.  I have a few card kits left over so I will try making a few portrait cards to see how well that works.  They will show when I have them made up.
Therese

January Cardmaking - a plethora of hearts!

I found a beautiful card on Splitcoast Stamper that is almost exactly this sketch!!  By the way, this site is one of the best for inspiration!!!!  Always lots of card and projects to check out!!
It had the quote "you warm my heart" which I just loved so I incorporated it into this set of cards.  I printed two greetings for each one in case not everyone is as enamored with the greeting as I was!!  I used the alternate greeting on this card.
I started with a red card front and added a white embossed layer.  I punched (SU) lots of hearts from a wide variety of decorative paper!!!  I chose a variety of silver and black & white ones for this card.  I glued them in a random fashion ( I see I was not as random as I had expected to be) onto my embossed layer.  I trimmed my coordinating laser printed greeting and adhered it over my heart punchies using a piece of 3D foam tape in the middle and double sided on each side which gives it just a bit of dimension.  I adhered the little coloured heart die cut using 3D foam tape as well.
It was a fun afternoon punching hearts from colour coordinated scraps and making up these card kits!!!
I made my second card at class and I really like this colour combination.  I decided to try a landscape format and that worked just as well.  One of the ladies had the b&w with silver combination of my first card and she chalked the edges of several of her hearts in red to help them stand out and that worked out really well.
A versatile card kit!  I have a few leftover so they will likely show up here in the next little while

Therese

January Cardmaking - Decorative paper frame

It has been a wonderful holiday season!!  I am happy to be back to a routine because that means more time for cardmaking.  This is our first cardmaking session for this year and my first card frames my focal image with strips of decorative paper.  It took a bit to figure out the math of what size the strips had to be for an A2 sized card.  The short strips are 3/4" x 3 1/8" and the longer ones are 3/4" x 4 3/8" which leaves 1/8" gaps between them, the edge and the focal image.  You can cut the strips you need out of a 1.5" x 7.5" piece of decorative paper though I cut mine mostly of scraps.  I did cut a few 3/4" x 3/4" pieces from the small leftovers to add to my stash of paper pieces for paper mosaics like these ones.   I glued the strips to mym yellow card front in the pattern you see on my image.  You can put the short one completely to the right as well which works out as well.  I water coloured my daisy (Beccy's Place) which was laser printed from a digital image after adding a font greeting.  I added a bit of stippling as well.  I trimmed the bottom with scallop decorative scissors and pierce each scallop with a push pin.  I glued my focal element in the center of my card front.  It is nicely framed by the strips!!  I cut and embossed a short piece of coordinating cardstock, trimmed the ends, tied on a bit of coordinating cording and adhered it to my card front just below the greeting.  This is another versatile sketch!!  I could have incorporated landscape designs into my focal elements but I did not even think about it!!  Another time!!  I made my second card at class.  I used embossed foil that has been coloured with alcohol ink for the frame which makes a real statement!!  The heart (Digital Graphic Cafe) was laser printed and watercoloured and given the same treatment as my previous one.  

Therese

Christmas Thanks with ivory and pink

For this card I added red ink to the music gift wrap and wiped it off blending it all in in the process.  I used a foam dot stamp to add pink dots in an all over pattern and then layered an ivory punched border (SU) on the bottom.  I layered the background onto a pink card and added to lengths of gros grain ribbon - one pink and one ivory - gluing the ends to the inside of the card using double sided tape.  I cut their ends opposite to create a chevron end and layered on a punchie greeting using 3D foam tape.  I created the greeting using a sponged laser printed digital image from Birds Cards which I punched out with a circle punch and then layered onto a pink scallop circle (SU) punchie.  I pierced all the scallops with a push pin.
I am really enjoying the process of creating cards with these gift wrap backgrounds which I cut from paper that my sister used on my Christmas gift.

Therese