Birthday card featuring a stamped background, ribbon and a leafy frame for my font greeting

 Another March family card!!  I started with a large black card which fit in an envelope from my stash.  I started my background with a colour printed digital from Morgue File.  I "discovered" a stash of stamps which have not been used and one of them is a Paper Artsy set with trees, eggs, leaves and a word stamp.  It was great to find this stash so I decided to use the tree stamp on this background.  I stamped it several times with red ink on by printed page.  I added over that an all over stamping in brown of the leaves from that set.  Once dry, I trimmed it to size, added a black grosgrain ribbon across the middle and mounted it to my card front.  I chose the greeting from my stash - laser printed font - and decided to use this gold parchment like paper to frame it.  I cut it to size, stamped leaves (Sugarloaf) on the two corners and gold embossed them.  I cut around the edges of my leaves with my exacto knif to allow the greeting to be tucked under.  I found an embossing folder that had the perfect sized frame for my greeting so I used my stylus to emboss it from the debossed side of the folder.  The paper split on the vertical lines a little but was good on the horizontal lines so that must be the way the fibers were lined up in production.  Not too serious!!  I wanted to add a bit of texture to the rest of my paper so I used a script embossing folder under my paper and rubbed some clear wax on the areas around the greeting and the leaves.  I then heated the paper melting the wax and leaving a subtle texture.  I will be experimenting more with that technique.  I mounted my greeting in the middle of the embossed frame and thought I wanted to finish the outside edges with "something" but was being cautious because of the trouble I had earlier with embossing.  I decided to burn the edges!!  Have not done that in quite a while.  Remember doing that quite a bit in my early stamping years.  I used two gold brads to attach this focal element to my card front.  It was fun to use a new stamp set and some try some "old" techniques.  Therese

Birthday card featuring a vintage blue truck, red corrugated paper and some ribbon

 Working on cards to send to my family in March.  This one features a stamped vintage truck from Class Act Stamps.  I stamped with Black Versafine on white cardstock and used watercolour to create a background for it.  I used a clear glitter gel pen on the hubcabs, bumpers, handles and windows.  I added paper piercing on all four sides with my pattern tracing wheel.  I added a wide black grosgrain ribbon to a piece of red corrugated paper which was trimmed on the sides and cut raggedly on the top and bottom.  Have not used this sort of paper in quite a while and rediscovered my stash - mostly packaging from light bulbs.  I created a large black card to fit in an envelope from my stash and mounted my background - colour printed digital image from Morgue File - leaving a tiny border.  I mounted my focal element to my card and finished it off with a small laser printed font greeting which I colour washed to coordinate.  I also ran my pattern tracing wheel on the top and bottom of edge of the greeting to add some paper pierced texture.    Therese

SISTER STASH - All occasion card with a large flower (digital) with a bright paper background and a bit of ribbon

This card is another I created using the bright papers I found in the paper crafting stash my sister left here a while back.  I started with a large warm red card and I added the bright paper which I trimmed with my deckle decorative scissors (Fiskars).  I cut, embossed and sanded a strip of green white core cardstock to fit in the opening then fish tailed the ends.  I mounted the flower (CLKER) which is a digital I downloaded, sized and colour printed onto white cardstock.  After trimming it out I distressed its edges and added a row of paper piercing on all four sides using my pattern tracing wheel.  I mounted it to a piece of the same green cardstock as the strip which I sanded on the edges a bit to reveal the white core.  I layered this onto a piece of the same warm red cardstock I used for the card.  Having left some room below the flower I tied a short piece of white grosgrain ribbon with white cording and adhered it in the space using a large glue dot. I trimmed the ends diagonally to finish it off.  I mounted my large floral element to my card front using 3D foam tape.  This is the last card using this paper during this session.  There remains several sheets which will revisit at another time.  Therese

SISTER STASH - An all occasion card featuring a paper pieced background, a cute cat (digital) and some bling

 Another card using those wonderful bright papers!!  Again this card has a paper pieced background created on a large black card.  I ended up with a little strip without paper so I filled it with pink rhinestones.  It worked perfectly!!  The little cat (CLKER) is a digital which I colour printed onto white cardstock and trimmed out.  I layered it with dark red and then added a black layer leaving a larger margin on the left hand side.  I punched it with the scallop border punch (Stampin UP) and added yet more rhinestones to each scallop - pink rounds and clear hearts!!    Therese

Card Exchange - birthday cards with mixed media book page backgrounds, flower and stamped greetings

Being inspired by some videos that I have watched lately I decided to give a try using book pages and acrylic paints in a watercolour fashion.  Totally fun!!!!!!!  I picked two sheets from a large dictionary and then marked in pencil the boundaries of where I would trim them down for my two large black cards which I created to fit in large envelopes from my stash.  I dug through a bin of acrylic paints which was mostly small little containers like those for "paint by numbers" which I have accumulated over the years.  I discovered that several were completely dried up.  It was good to do a bit of vetting in that bin.  I started with two different large butterfly stamps (left - Magenta  right - Sugarloaf) which I have not used in quite a while.  I stamped them in black (Versafine) and embossed them with black embossing powder which I thought would resist quite nicely the paint.  I used a very watered down gray paint to highlight the area around the butterflies which softened the printed words.  I watered down my paints significantly to colour my butterflies which allowed the print from the page to show through and watered them yet some more to paint my background in a very random fashion.  I did tried to wipe off the black lines of my butterflies before the paints dried but in some places where the paint dried on the embossed lines the paint was hard to remove later.  I was being very careful because these pages are very thin and I did not want to make holes anywhere.  Once I finished painting the background and the butterflies I let the pages dry completely.  Next I added some black lines using a fine tip Sharpie marker.  I did two squiggly lines all the way around and then some scripty looking ones in the center area around the butterflies.  The lines are really loose and only simulate hand writing.  Like how that worked out.  I felt I needed to anchor the butterflies in some way and decided to add a black line from top to bottom to accomplish that.  I used a wide tip Sharpie and a ruler and ran the line so it appears to be behind the butterflies.  I really like how that worked out.  Next, I worked on adding greetings.  I found two flower punchies in my stash.  They are punched from a cream and black scrapbook paper with very a vintage looking pattern.  Worked well with my backgrounds.  I watercoloured them a bit to soften their contrast, added black flower punchies and attached them together with a copper brad which echoes the copper paint I used on the butterflies and which I spattered on the backgrounds.  I softened the black flowers with doodles made with a copperish looking gel pen.  I found the greetings in my stash and decided to highlight them with blue so they would draw out that colour from my butterflies.  I cut them assymetrically and ran my pattern tracing wheel on all four sides.  I adhered my backgrounds to my black card fronts, added the flowers using 3D foam tape and then tucked the greetings under them.  It was so much fun and I love the look.  It was good to get some sorting done in that bin as well and I will surely be using acrylics to colour images again.  I have often used my leftover acrylic paint to make backgrounds and did so again this time around.  I save all my papers and paper towels so I can reuse them.  I used napkins and paper towels coloured in this fashion to create my heart art for support of the front line workers and the heart art I made for my Mom. These cards are for my partners in my Card Exchange for the month of March.  They are on their way!!  Therese

SISTER STASH - An all occasion card featuring a die cut flower and hand cut stem and leaves

Still working with the coordinating papers I found in the stash of paper crafting supplies my sister left here a while back.  It has been fun to play with these papers and see what I can come up with for cards.  I started with a large black card and added a pink letter paper for the background with a torn edged brighter piece at the bottom. I used the flower I die cut from the 4" square from one of my previous cards and added a large circle punchie to center.  I used a scrap of black and cut a stem and a couple of leaves then ripped a small piece to simulate the ground.  I auditioned all the pieces before gluing them in place. I used 3D foam tape for the flower.  Really like this one!!  Therese

SISTER STASH - All occasion card featuring coordinating papers in pink, black, pink and orange and three little square floral elements

 For this card I used the same papers as I did on my last card.  I started with a large deep red card and then I paper pieced the background from the scraps I had on hand.  I added a strip of black cardstock across the card just above the middle.  Next, I created my three little floral elements.  I started with three little squares of light pink and added three different squares of decorative paper from which I had punched a flower.  After gluing them in place I added red centers to finish them off.  I auditioned on my card front and they needed a bit of contrast from the background so I used a black marker to distress the outside edges.  That was better.  I adhered them diagonally over the black strip. Done!!  I added the three little flowers to the insert inside my card.  I always add bond paper inserts to my cards so they can be reused.   Therese

SISTER STASH - All occasion card with coordinating decorative papers, a flower and some embossed flags

I found a little stack of 8" x 8" papers in the stash of paper crafting supplies my sister left here a while back and thought it would be fun to make a few cards with them.  

For this card, I started with black card and added the background by cutting the piece diagonally to make up the difference between 8" and the 8.25" that I needed for my background.  I cut a 4"x4" piece and die cut a flower (Nestibilities) from it.  I layered it onto a larger piece of  orange and then added a center which consists of a dark pink circle punchie and an embossed yellow one which has been highlighted with black ink.  I embossed three little black strips with a distressed embossing folder (Cuttlebug) and then fish tailed the ends.  I tucked them up beneath the four inch piece.  When I laid this large element onto my card front it needed a bit of something so I added a vertical strip of pink letter paper which worked well.  I added my large floral element using 3D foam tape to finish my card.   Therese
 

SISTER STASH - An all occasion card featuring a feather stamped background, some peacock feather paper and a bright yellow butterfly

 It has been fun to play with someone's stash of paper crafting supplies.  My sister left a few bins with paper crafting supplies here after visiting for a weekend and I agreed to make cards for her with it!!  I have made quite a few and now with a bit of time on my hands I thought I would make an effort to quite a good stash made up for her.  This card started with a large white card to which I added a layered green background made of sturdy tissue paper.  I stamped the one piece with a feather stamp in green and overlapped it over the other one which I stamped with a script stamp in the same green.  I had several pieces of the peacock paper - the last of it  - and decided to trim out three pieces in increasing sizes, then wove a piece of green cardstock between them before gluing them all down onto my background.  I found this coordinating yellow butterfly in my stash! I adhered it to my card front using double sided tape behind the body which leaves the wings free to add depth to my card.  Therese

SISTER STASH - All occasion card with a gingham/distressed background and a cute bunny with a large turnip

Still working on getting the stash of cards I made for my sister blogged!!  This one started with a large taupe card which will fit in the envelopes she has on hand.  For my background I sandwiched a piece of coordinating gingham paper between two pieces of distressed red paper and adhered them with regular tape on the back.  I trimmed the rabbit from a large sheet of scrap booking paper from my stash.  It was the perfect size to cut with the large scalloped circle (StampinUP).  Once cut I used a round Nestibilities as a guide to add the faux stitching around the edge.  Worked perfectly!!  I added a strip of the distressed paper onto the gingham piece and tucked the scalloped circle behind.  I added three little black punchies to the strip to finish off my card.  
 

SISTER STASH - An all occasion card featuring three balloons and some bright paper

I have been working on being creative with the cards I am making for my sister with the stash of paper crafting supplies she left here a while back.  I have always liked balloons on cards but with only a small punch it limits where I can use them.  For this large card I started with a red card and added the bright striped paper!!  I used my Nestibilities to cut three circles which I wanted to turn into balloons.  After die cutting the circles I embossed them and sanded the blue one to reveal the white core.  To create the knot in the neck of the balloons I took a scrap of the same cardstocks and cut a strip with a triangle shape at the end which I adhered to the back of the balloons which quite nicely simulated the knots.  Next, I sponged all their edges with coordinating ink and then tied dark gray threads to all the balloons.  I die cut a purple fence to tie them to and tore a piece of green cardstock for the grass.  I adhered the grass and then tucked the fence into it.  I used white glue in a fine tip applicator on the fence.  Worked really well.   I used a large needle to get the strings of the balloons wrapped around the top rail of the fence.  I will certainly be making balloons this way again!!  I like the way they turned out.  Therese
 

SISTER STASH - Birthday card with bright background paper and four embossed gifts

 For this card I started with a large blue card and added some very bright striped decorative paper using two pieces with the striped going in different directions.  I cut four rectangles from coordinating cardstock and embossed them.  I sanded the blue one because it was white core cardstock to add more texture.  I used a flower die (Cuttlebug) to cut a swirly yellow flower which I used to simulate a bow on the top of the blue gift.  I attached it to the back of the gift with double sided tape and then cut a strip from the same cardstock to create the ribbon on the front.  I did the same for the other three gifts.  After auditioning them for placement I adhered them to the front of my card using 3D foam tape on the yellow and pink one and just glue on the blue and green ones.  The gifts and bright colours make this a great birthday card for a child or any one who is young at heart!!  Another for the card stash I am creating for my sister who left some paper crafting supplies here a few years ago.   Therese

SISTER STASH - All occasion card with more cute birds, decorative papers and one special one

For this card I started with a large white card.  I gathered my supplies - the bird panel, an orange background, a green textured layer and some coordinating ribbon.  I cut the bird out of the cute paper and then cut the orange scalloped circle (Nestibilities)to mat it from the orange background before I adhered it to my card. I added the borders to the bird panel and glued this large element over my background.  I adhered the bird to the scalloped circle and decided to trim the corners of the green paper with a corner punch before assembling my focal element.  In the process I decided to add the long strip of aqua paper which was on my desk and then added the green layer.  Wanting a bit of something to off set the strip I added two lengths of this beautiful red ribbon to the back of my bird before adhering it over the green paper.  It was fun to maximize the use of this bird paper.  The few leftover scraps might show up in a collage somewhere down the road.  

Therese

SISTER STASH - All occasion Card featuring cute little birds, stitched decorative papers and some maple leaf embellishments

This is one of the most fun papers that I found in the stash of papers that my sister left here a while back.  I have made several cards with it before and I am nearing the end of all this cuteness!  I started with a large white card which fits in the envelopes she has on hand.  I added a large orange layer and then worked on getting the other elements ready.  The borders were on the edges of a 12" x 12" sheet and had been trimmed off in a previous session.  The coordinated nicely. I took several small pieces of the bird paper to create my central element after I had trimmed out my little red bird (Nestiblilities).  I then added the borders on each side.  The borders were embellished with my pattern wheel before being glued down.  I die cut a scalloped circle (Nestibilities) from the same coordinating orange paper.  I adhered it over the birdie strip but it did not pop quite as much as I wanted it to so I added the two little strips of orange which were sitting on my cutting table.  That framed it nicely and was an improvement.  Thinking it still needed something red to coordinate with the glittery red bird I went looking for something in my stash.  I found these bright red maple leaf embellishments which were just the right colour.  I added them to my card using large glue dots.  That was much better!!  Therese
 

SISTER STASH - All occasion card featuring a cute flower (digital), a band of sanded & embossed cardstock and decorative paper

Another card for my sister's stash!!  This one started with a large red card to fit in her envelopes.  I added two pieces of this colourful polka dot paper and then a strip of embossed and sanded cardstock to cover the gap in between.  The flower was colour printed on white cardstock, trimmed out and then the edges distressed.  I matted it with this dark red textured paper and trimmed the bottom edge with a scallop border punch (StampinUP) and finally added an embossed line using my score tool.  I mounted this large focal element to my card front using 3D foam tape and then finished it off by adding clear rhinestones to each of the scallops in the border.  

Therese
 

SISTER STASH - All occasion card with beautiful strawberry paper and a great cupcake with a strawberry on top

I really loved this strawberry paper when I found it in my sister's stash of paper crafting supplies she left here a few years ago.  I have been making cards for her here and there but recently decided to make a more serious effort to make her a stash of cards.  

I chose a dark green cardstock for the large card I created to fit in the large envelopes she has on hand.  I trimmed a couple pieces from the paper which nicely featured the strawberries and mounted them to the top and bottom of my card. I trimmed a piece of coordinating textured paper, trimmed the top and bottom edges with scallop decorative scissors and then used a push pin to pierce each scallop.  I adhered this piece to overlap the strawberry ones.  I added a strip of texture white cardstock with a fish tail end.  I added watercolour around the cupcake to just soften the background from stark white as I colour printed this digital image of a cupcake (CLKER) on white cardstock.  To add a bit more texture I ran my pattern tracing wheel along all four edges.  I layered the cupcake image onto dark green cardstock and then mounted it to my card front using 3D foam tape.  Love this one!!

Therese

SISTER STASH - All occasion card with an airplane, eyelets and blue green duplex paper

Still getting the cards I made for my sister blogged here.  She left some paper crafting supplies here a while back after I agreed to make some cards for her with them.  It was good to get quite a few made!!  

This one features a colour printed image of an airplane which I down loaded off of CLKER.  I chose this blue green paper to go with my image and because it was double sided I trimmed out the middle section and flipped it and put the pieces back together with regular tape.  Wanting to add a bit more interest I used a zigzag stamp (Hero Arts) and dark blue ink to stamp on the line where the papers join.  I really like how it looks and will have to keep that process in mind.  I have several other "stitch" stamps which would be effective is other situations.  I adhered the decorative paper to a coordinating blue card and used a scrap to mat my image.  I added pewter eyelets in the corners and then mounted this focal element to my card using 3D foam tape.  To finish off my card I added a border around my background using a clear glitter pen.  

Therese

 

A birthday card featuring a cute camping image (digital), a font greeting and a punchie button

 This card is for my other grandson whose birthday is a few days earlier though they will be celebrating together at home this year due to restrictions.   I created a green card to fit in an envelope from my stash.  I added a green and taupe decorative paper (gift wrap) leaving a small border.  The camping image is one I downloaded from Pixabay and laser printed onto white cardstock.  I trimmed it out with a circle die (Nestibilities - Classic Circles) then watercoloured it lightly - a bit of blue in the sky and green for the trees and hills.  The tent and the fire were already coloured.  I trimmed another circle as mat for my image from a coordinating taupe cardstock, adhered them together and mounted this focal element to the left on my card front.  I trimmed out the font greeting, colourwashed it and added it to the lower edge.  I found a green punched button (Sweetly Scrapped) in my stash which coordinated very nicely.  I added brown thread to it and mounted it between my focal element and my greeting.  

Both of these cards will soon be on their way to arrive in time!!         Therese

All occasion card shaker card with a floral theme in yellow's and gray's

My friend is having surgery next week so I made her this card to cheer her up.  

I started with a large envelope from my stash and created a gray card to fit inside then added a layer of this elegant floral paper. 

After deciding to make it a shaker card I went looking for the packaging from my rolls of double sided tape which I have recently saved for this purpose.  I have four of them.  I took one and trimmed all the way around the central depression which is a trough that the roll of tape sits in when packaged.  I die cut a large label out of textured yellow  cardstock  (Tim Holtz Sizzix. Ornamental) and backed it with a strip of gray cardstock which I embossed with the Cuttle Bug Swiss Dots embossing folder. I used my Classic Round Nestibiities to cut an opening that would accommodate the shaker I was creating.  I applied double sided tape on the edges of my plastic shaker piece and adhered it into the opening from the back.  That looked good!!  I decided to back it with a piece of clear plastic which I cut from packaging using a larger round Nestibilities.  I filled the depression with little glass beads and flowers in silver and yellow.  Once I thought I had enough in there I added double sided tape all the way around and attached the large clear plastic circle which nicely sealed all the little fun bits inside.  I decided that I needed to add a flower under the shaker so there would be something interesting to see when the elements were all sitting on the bottom of the shaker.  I die cut, embossed and layered a flower in grays and yellows which I glued to my card front once I had positioned my shaker.  With my flower in place I adhered my shaker element to my card.  I added faux stitching to the yellow layer along with a few rhinestones to finish my card.  

 You can see below the packaging I used to create my shaker and how I cut it.

Therese

 

SISTER STASH - All occasion card with a piece background, a cute cupcake with a cherry on top and some bling

I am really enjoying revisiting these cards as I blog them. I created them a while back with supplies which my sister left here a few years ago after I promised to make cards for her with them.  I have made several batches for her and thought it was time to make a few more.  I did organize them all by colour this time when I had everything laid out so it will be a little easier to find coordinating papers and cardstock when I made the next set!!  For this card, I started with a deep red card (85" x 5.5") that will fit in her large envelopes.  I had one piece which I trimmed to fit on the card and had a strip from which I punched the circles using a 3/4" circle punch.  Worked really well and I really like the look of them.  I added a strip of texture red paper with fish tail ends over the large piece and then added my layered cupcake image.  The cupcake image was colour printed.  It is a digital image I downloaded from CLKER.  I layered it onto a coordinating green cardstock and punched the bottom edge with a daisy border punch (Martha Stewart).  I adhered it to my card front over the red strip and then added clear rhinestones to the middle of each little daisy to finish off my card.  Therese