Countdown to more images!!

Here is another countdown to St. Patrick's Day image countdown! These are also linkware - provide a link on a site before you down load!

http://artist-how-to.com/Countdown.htm

I am hoping to be able to create with some of these later today!!

Enjoy!

Therese

Countdown!

Hey! Lisa is having another countdown for St. Patrick's Day and Easter! You can check out her linkware images on her site:

http://countdown.tentwostudios.com/

Celebrate St.Patrick's Day tomorrow by creating some green art!! Lots to choose from!!

Therese

My Art - Photo holder

These little photo holders were the last project I made with my students the last week before March break. It was a fun little project and for their versions I allotted them a piece of shrink plastic to make an embelishment or a tag for their holders. Shrink plastic was very popular!! I also brought in some recyclable plastic which acts very much like shrink plastic so they had a ball!!
I used large binder clips (2") as a base for these photo holders. The cardstock cover is tied on at the top to keep the two arms tight to each other which allows the photo to be held in place when inserted between the two. I got the basic idea of using a binder clip to make a photo holder from SCS but modified the design to suit my needs. This version allows more space to decorate and to personalize the holder. I provided the students with a variety of collage materials and some 3D elements to decorate their holders. They are so open to just going for it and created some very nice holders!!
I used a piece of cardstock about 3" x 8.5" which I scored at 3.5" and 4.5". I punched the holes to tie where the binder clip handles narrow which keeps the whole cover very nicely in place.
A quick and easy gift idea that can be changed up or down to be suitable for a kindergarten class or the next gathering of your craft group!! Great little idea for Mother's Day!!

Enjoy! Be creative!

My Art - Lots of monogram cards

Here are all the monogram cards I made for myself. It was very interesting because the students added watercolour washes to the backgrounds of some of theirs for a very interesting look.

Check them out here:
http://www.tmalakrsc.blogspot.com/

It was a very fun project and helped them to appreciate hand lettering in the very short period of time they had to learn it!!

Therese

My Art - Monogram cards

Here is what one of my monogram cards looked like. I watercoloured the letter. Very happy with my new version of T. Monogram cards are great for sending little notes of thanks or appreciation. When you have used your own lettering they are much more unique.

Therese

My Art - Kersal Monogram

This is a Kersal letter!! I taught my class of students to make a Kersal letter so they could create their own monogram cards!! A very versatile lettering style!! They each created an original which I scanned and laser printed so they would have monogram cards of their best work. I borrowed this lettering form from one of the artists on the ByHand group. Thanks, Yogi!!

We used pencils for our practice sheets and then a Sharpie Ultra Fine on coated paper to make our good copies. They made as many as they wanted and in the end picked one to be their best one!!

Therese

My Art - Yalphamingle - A

Our fat book page mingle has morphed into the Yalpha mingle!! I am so glad it is continuing on!! This year we will be featuring letters on our pages!! I started with A but it could have been any letter!! Though my letter looks black it is actually covered with silver foil paper! I got a new Cropadile at my SU party and really like it! It sets eyelets better than anything else I have used in the past - still not always perfectly but pretty close!! And in a breeze of time and with no banging!! A win - win in my books!! It sets several different sizes of eyelets along with other embellishments like snaps, etc. So I played with it for this page. Added black eyelets to attach my letter and three silver ones to the right hand edge. I added fiber to those!! The Cropadile is not as versatile as the Memories setter in that it cannot set them in the middle of a page so I will likely not liquidate the Memories setter just yet. My friend, Linda, used her Cropadile to punch a hole in a thick plastic game piece when we were making danglies at her house! Cut it like butter!! The Cropadile punches two sizes of holes and because of the design easily punches them through metal and any sort of chipboard, etc!! A versalile piece of kit!!
I laser printed ALWAYS and the list on a laser transparency! Very fun to make your own transparencies!! Printed off some keys and some large letters for future Yalpha mingle pages while I was at it to fill an 8.5"x11" page!! I have more art to scan and put up so maybe later this week.

Thanks for checking out my blog and get creative this week!

Therese

My Art - "Faux Silk" Thank you cards

These are the Thank you cards I made for the gang that came over for my Stampin Up party a few weeks ago. I have a wonderful SU demo who does a great job of presenting SU and always has great Make and Take cards!! We had a great time as usual!!

I bought a box of 500 envelopes (#8 - 3 5/8" x 6 1/4") because they were perfect for the monogram cards I was doing with a class of students a few weeks ago. So now I am experimenting with them for regular cards!! For these cards I cut 8.5" x 11" down to 3.5" x 11" and added a white layer on the front to make up the few inches I was short. Worked out quite well. The panel is made with the "faux silk" technique.
Take a piece of tissue paper and stamp and colour the images. Cut cardstock smaller than the size of the tissue paper - 1/2" -1" smaller on all sides. Crunch the tissue up into a ball and carefully unball leaving the wrinkles in. Cover the cardstock all over with glue and gently place the tissue paper on it leaving some hanging over on all edges. Gently press the tissue paper into the glue all over. You want a nice all over textured look. Then turn over the cardstock and glue down the overlapping edges of tissue to the back.
Makes a very nice feature element for your projects - cards as well as scrapbooks and altered art! The greeting is colour printed and layered with the SU circle punches!!
I would encourage you to experiment with different envelopes! It helps you think outside the box!!

Therese
where spring is trying really hard to melt the snow!!

My Art - cardmaking - flowers

Another very versatile card which can be changed up very easily to accomodate different occasions and themes!! Decorative paper has been added at the bottom and top of the card, a watercoloured image has been layered on the left and a greeting stamped on the right. Quick and easy if you are creating a variety of cards for different occasions - just change the image and the greeting!

Enjoy being creative!!


Therese
Mixed Media Market
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mixedmediamarket/

My Art - cardmaking - Blue asian

The bookplate on this card looks like silver metal but it is not! I used a Sizzix book plate die in my Cuttlebug machine to cut these out of scrap silver coated cardboard!! Worked so perfectly!! I am always saving interesting packaging and recyclables for use in my crafting!!
The background paper is some I printed with my cyan and magenta ink when my colour printer ran out of yellow ink. I downloaded a wide variety of backgrounds from the internet and tiled them in a layout program to create decorative paper!! Worked out so well. I have printed them on coated colour laser paper which nicely absorbs the inks and keeps the colour vibrant!!
The decorative paper is trimmed just smaller than the card, a coordinating strip of cardstock is added to the bottom of the card, a greeting glued to the back of the bookplate, a ribbon inserted to span the width of the card and glued in place. Added the layered silk flowers with a silver brad.

Therese

My Art - cardmaking - fabric pansies

I used fabric on this card!! There is so much wonderful fabric avaible that can so nicely be incorporated into cardmaking. Consider using scraps from your quilting or sewing. Easily create coordinating cards for gifts you may be giving. A large amount of Christmas cards can also be made in very short order using fabric!! Just keep an eye out for a pattern that is easily cut out!!

I used Heat and Bond on the back of the fabric and it just needed to be ironed to the front of the card. There are other products (stitch witchery) out there that can be used as well. Ask at your local fabric or craft store. I bought mine at Michaels years ago.

Added a metal embossed butterfly with 3D foam tape and a flight path in black marker. The stitched border in gold gel pen mimicks the gold in the fabric. A greeting could easily be added as well.

So consider what supplies you might already have on hand for making a quick sets of fabric cards!!

Therese

My Art - cardmaking yellow flower

The embellishment on this card is a button with some fiber!! I used the SU scallop punch (love it!!) for the bottom layer of the flower with brown cardstock!! Layered onto that rust and peachy circles (1.25" and 1"). Tied the bright yellow fiber onto the button and hot glued it into place. For the stem I cut a piece of green cardstock to which I tied similar coloured ribbon. I stamped the little wish greeting (SU) in olive green. The left hand side is adorned with a floral border by Magenta trimmed to the scalloped edge. Once I glued the border into place I added the stem and then glued the flower into place with hot glue. A little card that heralds the hope that is spring!!

Therese

My Art - cardmaking - Ribbon slide buckle in brown

Just found these on my desk!! This month at cardmaking I was featuring cards with embellishments!! I had bought a few packages of these buckles a while back and thought they would fit into this classe nicely. A fairly simple card which can be changed up to any season and occasion by just changing your supplies. I used decorative scrapbook paper which I stamped over to give it a bit more interest. I like doing that!! Added a colour printed greeting that is tucked nicely under the ribbon. The buckle is a ribbon slide which works best with 3/8" ribbon. In this case, I used brown which I purchased last year some time. I added some 3D foam tape under the buckle to keep it secure as it is relatively heavy compared to the card. I nice masculine card!!\
Therese

RSC - on hold!!

Just a note that Rubber Stamp Club is on hold until the fall! Michaels is revamping their classes and coming up with a completely new format!! Wilton's will be staying on and I expect we can expect to see a similar format for future classes!! This will take effect on March 11th and new classes should start to appear by some time in September!! I am looking forward to seeing what is coming and how the new classes will be structured. You should start seeing this take place in your local Michaels very soon!!

Therese

My Art - coaster calendar

Decided to let the art students have a bit of collage fun so we created coaster calendars last week. I provided each with some coasters and a little baggie of colour coordinated paper, images and bits of this and that!! The coasters were first covered with paste paper and then collaged with a variety of images. It is always fun to have time to play!! We added some 3D elements - one being a shrink plastic charm with the quote "Art washes away from the soul the dust of every day life". Shrink plastic was a hit!! We added the calendar on the right hand side in a little plastic pocket which, come the end of the year, can be refilled or can hold a photo!! I really like making these!!

Therese

My Art - Journal

I have been keeping just ahead of a cold - lots of Vitamin C, echinacea and green tea and as much rest as my schedule will allow so it has meant less creative time. Here is the journal I created with my art students. The base is watercolour paper folded and glued together with double sided tape and fabric tape. I hope they will consider added more decorative elements as the mood strikes them. The journal has a stack of pages incorporated into it with a little metal holder. Not sure what they are called - two prongs with backer and metal strip with two holes for the front with two slides that hold the prongs in place. This will allow them to remove pages or replace the whole stack and reuse the journal. We each created our own decorative element for the front and added it with brads. The folded flap incorporates an elastic which keeps it closed. I also created journal prompts for them and a little holder that will easily fit in their journal.
I talked a bit about journaling and how important it is as a self discovery tool. Many of us expect everyone else to pay attention to us and listen to what we have to say without giving ourselves the same opportunity. What comes out of us DOES say something about US and in the process of writing it down we may start to see patterns and be surprised by what we have in there that needs unleashing. Very often, if we let out what we have inside, it completes the process and we can let it go!! So it was a creative project on several levels. We are always called upon to witness our experiences!!
Therese

My Art - Handmade Paper Cards

Handmade paper cards!! These are a project I am doing with a school in the area where the students get exposed to a variety of art and crafts! In the first 45 minute session we made the blue paper sheets and laminated the images to a sheet of white handmade paper. The second day we made the cards with the blue paper - just folded them in half, ripped apart the images on the white one and watercoloured them. The images were hot glued to the front of the blue handmade paper cards. Inserts were glued inside and they made envelopes for them using a quick and easy template by Green Sneakers that utilizes a square of paper.

The blue handmade paper is recycled white bond paper - used and printed. I added some blue construction paper for colour. The last blender full I only blended slightly so there would be some larger bits that would show up as accents in the paper. I also added some herbal tea (used) and some blue flower botanicals that were slightly blended as well.

The white handmade paper is also from used bond paper. I rip off any white areas in my sheets when I am setting paper aside for papermaking in a separate box so I have the ability to make plain white paper with no black bits. I also save all of my white paper and cardstock scraps in the same box.

The images are stamped on tissue paper with waterproof Memories ink and laminated to the wet sheet! They look like part of the paper. Some of the edges lifted a bit while we were watercolouring them so we just applied a bit of glue behind the tissue paper image laid them back down. Good as new. The dragonfly and leaf are silver embossed. The effect was not quite what I had envisioned. The embossing powder was too shiny and reflects too much light which is not enough contrast for the watercolour. Live and learn. I have in the past also laminated embossed greetings into my handmade paper cards which works very well. In this case we used white tissue paper on white handmade paper.

It was great to get my hands in paper again and the students enjoyed the process and the results.

Happy Valentine's Day!! I am celebrating on the weekend with a great meals cooked at home with my DH!

Therese

My Art - Exchange cards

Just had to use my Sizzix die one more time!! Decided to make some white and gold hearts from the leftover Serendipity piece I made for my litte house blessing!! These are for a monthly card exchange I participate in. I layered the heart on gold and trimmed by hand. Makes you appreciate a die cut!! Tried several different backgrounds with very little luck so went with a standby - the Cuttlebug D'vine swirl! I used my to SU oval punches to create a frame from my handwritten "love". Worked out really well. I coloured the edges of the gold frame with watercolour to make it blend with the gold front and it helped a lot to make it look more like a metal frame. I applied all of the elements to a textured premade card!!

I have been staying ahead of the snow today!! I shoveled 4 times and it will need it again in the morning!

Have a great weekend!!

Therese

Stamp Club - New classes

I am going to be teaching classes at Michaels!! I have scheduled three classes - "Pressing out the details", Rubber Stamping THE BASICS, and Waterfall cards. The first in February and the other two in March!!

You can check out more info and see more samples here:

http://tmalakrsc.blogspot.com/

Thanks for checking it out!!

Therese

My Art - House Blessing

This project is a year old.
I made several of these for my children last year for Christmas. I was short of the white and gold serendipity collage so mine has been sitting on my desk since last year. Tonight I decided to finish it. The white and gold serendipity was quick and easy. The frame was purchased at $1 store and painted white. I trimmed the white and gold serendipity to fit in the back of the frame and used 3D foam tape to attach the heart leaving it curved a little to create a little pocket for my blessing.
It will sit by the front door to bless all those who come and go from our house!!

It is nice to have a piece of my art on display in my house. I hope there will be more pieces that will show up over the course of the year!!

Therese