My Art - OSW cards #2

Here are four more cards I created with the other half of the "DTP" onto which I stamped a flower in blue pigment ink and embossed with sparkly embossing powder - not very visible in the scan. I used just ink to stamp the little flourishes in between the flowers and then used my stipple stamp to add some texture and embossed those as well. I used blue cardstock scraps with my accents on white cards.
I like the sparkly look these cards have - gives them just a little "wow"!!

We all need a little "wow" in our life!!

Therese

My Art - OSW cards

Had a sheet of cardstock I decorated with the "direct to paper" technique and pigment ink a while back and decided to stamp on it to create a sheet of decorative paper to make a few cards. I cut the sheet in half and stamped this cool flower and "my garden" in dark blue and leaves in green. I cut it up to make the accents and teamed them up with a leaf green cardstock on white cards. The five petal flowers are table confetti available in the wedding section of Michaels - they have a nice pearl finish!! I added blue rhinstones their centers on the card in the lower left hand corner.
It was fun to use different tehniques and add element to create my cards. Dug through my scraps for coordinating pieces and greetings.

Therese

Mini mag holder template/diagram

This is the diagram I created for the mini mag card holder. I scored all the lines to begin with and then cut on the solid lines and folded on the dashed lines. It takes advantage of a full 12x12 piece of cardstock and makes a holder that is 4.5" deep, 6" high and almost 3" wide.

I modified a pattern I found on Blythe's blog!!

Would make a perfect holder to present a "gift of cards"!! Great for teachers gifts for the upcoming holiday season!! It is coming!!

Therese

My Art - mini magazine card holder

Created this cool little magazine holder for cards!! Modified the design I found on Blythe's blog to take advantage of a full sheet of 12x12 cardstock. These are really cool and are the perfect size for holding A2 sized cards with their envelopes!! You could make several for your studio to store cards that are ready to be sent out - maybe one for each month or one for each occasion!

I started by scoring all the lines onto the 12x12 cardstock, then made cuts with my exacto knife and ruler where I needed them. I, then, folded all the lines neatly and assembled the holder to see that everything fit properly. I used double sided adhesive to glue it all together. I added a strip of decorative paper and a bookplate (Sizzix die cut) which I attached with a couple of brads. Check the next post for the diagram/template of how I scored, cut and folded my cardstock to create this holder.

Therese

My Art - Thank you cards

Made some thankyou cards this weekend!!! I used a pad of 6 x 6 scrapbooking paper I bought a while back which has a rose theme. These feature three sheets of the same patterned paper combined with caramel, cocoa and plum cardstocks. It was fun to try to do something different on each one. A few have fibers, others have stamping as well and most have some sort of decorative punching (scallop SU, doily MS)!! Very happy with how these turned out!!

Therese

My Art - frame

One of my friends is having a significant birthday - a time for celebrating all that is GOOD!!!

I decorated a square wood frame (Michaels) with decorative scrapbooking paper, grosgrain ribbon and some paper flowers!!

I am very happy with the way it turned out!!

I primed and painted the frame before I modge podged on the papers. Once I was done I sprayed it with matt clear finish to keep it looking good for years!!

I made the card after I had decorated the frame so used the same papers!! The image is one I received in a swap - was just perfect! I watercoloured the flowers and ladybug!! Added a layered greeting over the brown grosgrain ribbon!!

Every day is a good time to celebrate all that is good about being YOU!! Be sure to let your friends know that you appreciate who they are!!

Therese

My Art - altered book page

An altered book page which incorporates an altered puzzle piece that we swapped on one of my groups!! Our theme was summer and Linda created this adorable puzzle piece with a little girl at the sea shore!! This layout sort of just developed - I started by finding hand decorated paper for the beach portion of the left hand page and modified it a bit so the puzzle piece would blend. Tore a blue piece of bond and stippled it so it would blend with the beach and added a horizon. Added the window muntin bars using strips of brown cardstock. The "curtains" are a used dryer sheet ironed flat and cut into two. I used double sided tape to adhere them to the page as well as so attach the brown cornice at the top of the page. On the right hand page I used a swirl stencil and blue and caramel ink pads for stippling the colour on the page after I glued down the blue rectangle and the sand coloured tissue paper strips. It features a poem quote by Charles Kingsley which I laser printed and altered once it was glued in place. I added handwriting to the cornice and along the various lines in my layout!! Totally fun to do!!

Have a great weekend, everyone!!

Therese

My Art - collaged tag

One evening we decided to play a little and created this cool little tag which was inspired by a blog post - one of the many that Linda follows with her Google Reader.
We used plastic packaging for the large clear tag and ran it through the Cuttlebug in the Textile embossing folder. Created a coordinating green cardstock tag and collaged the front!! Added some fibers and voila!! - a cool little tag we can add to our altered books somewhere along the line!!

I would highly recommend getting together with your creative friends and making "stuff"!! It is so fun to have people who understand you and that you can brainstorm with.
We visited some garage sales, attended the Women's Art Festival with a few of her friends and went to a stage production on Sunday afternoon. Great R&R for me!!

I am grateful for Linda's hospitality and willingness to share her life with me. She has a suppotive husband who was gracious and understanding. I am blessed!!

Therese

My Art - first coptic bound book

Linda and I both wanted to learn some bookbinding techniques and decided to start with making a coptic bound book. We perused our personal libraries for instructions and searched the internet for more information as well. We had several books between us that had some instructions, printed some instructions from the internet and found several video tutorials that were helpful. Here is where you will find the video tutorial we found most helpful when we made our books!! It took amazingly little time for us to make our books!! Less than an afternoon to make our covers, signatures and to bind our books!!! They are quite loose because we did not tie off our original thread because we were following printed instructions when we first began. I will be redoing mine to make it tighter!! We used book board which we covered with paper. I used hand decorated paper on mine which was created with the leftover acrylic paint from the creation of the pages for the mini book in my previous post applied to a brown paper envelope from our shopping trip to the local art store. I used 28 lb colour laser paper in my signatures - 4 sheets per signature - 3 signatures. I may consider adding signatures when I redo my binding. I used waxed crochet thread for binding as I did not have any waxed linen. We used a cropadile to make the holes in our covers and an awl to make the necessary holes in our signatures. This technique does create an exposed spine which makes it easy to add danglies, fibers and charms!! With this binding every page in the book opens flat and is fully accessible which makes it a great choice for an art journal or altered book.
If you have been interested in bookbinding I would encourage you to give it a try. Very fun!! Customize a book with your favorite papers for both the covers and the signatures best suited to just what you want!!

Therese

My art - mini book

A mini book to celebrate a gathering of friends!! This is a little memory book we created as a bit of a surprise for those who attended a dinner party that Linda hosted on Monday night!! We collaged coasters for the covers and used food and friend quotes on the inside cardstock pages. Over the evening we took group photos and secretly printed them up. Just before dessert, Linda passed around the books and had everyone glue in the photos. A variety of charms, beads and fibers were also passed around so everyone could embellish their books to reflect their personal style. Totally fun!! The books were bound with black 3/4" Zutter metal bindings.
The dinner party went off without a hitch and the food was so great. The appetizers were potluck! We talked, visited and munched on a great variety of fun snacky food. Fresh salmon steaks were cooked on a plank on the BBQ for dinner and served with fresh garden salad!! The salmon was so good!!!!!!! We had cheesecake for dessert!!
An evening of good food, good conversation and good friends makes great memories!!

Therese

My Art - handmade paper

Taught a papermaking class and made paper with my friends last week!! I really enjoy the process and the end results of making paper!!

The top three include natural elements - flower petals, herbal tea and palm leaves/grass. I started with used white office bond paper that was headed for the recycle bin and added yellow paper for one batch (right) and orange for the other batch (middle). The paper on the left hand side was the leftovers of the two above batches.

The bottom three include hand made paper confetti!! The base pulp for these papers was SU cardstock scraps donated to me by my local SU demos (Catherine and Dorothy). It makes wonderful paper!! Used a mixture of colours so I could have enough to make a batch.

If you are a papercrafter I would certainly recommend that you turn your scraps into handmade paper!! It is fun and easy and requires very few tools. If papermaking is not your thing, try to find a local papermaker and donate your scraps!! It is the ultimate in recycling!!

Therese

My Art - summer puzzle piece

Just returned from a trip out west for a family reunion on my Mom's side and a visit with my daugther, son in law and grand daughter!! It was a good time all around. My granddaughter is just over two and talking miles a minute and always a going concern!! Fun!! Really nice to spend time with our kids!! The reunion was great and so nice to reconnect with extended family members!! Great to be out in the country and feel the breeze and see nothing but fields on the horizon!!

Worked on my Summer Puzzle piece for a mingle on my altered books group!! I glued 9 small pieces together to make the equivalent of an ATC size and then added papers to simulate sea and sky! Added double sided tape to the bottom and glued on some sand and a sea shell - picked on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico years ago!! Added a sequin sun and drew in some birds and sailboats!! A typical scene here on the Bay of Quinte in the summer!!

Great weather here so far!!

Therese

Creative - not papercrafting

Here is the other thing I have been doing this week - valances for the windows!! It is a job I have been putting off and I finally decided on Monday morning to just get at it. I did some on line research and chose to make them very clean and simple!! This is the one above the kitchen sink which had to be made differently because it had to be mounted with a tension rod. The other six will be mounted to wood planks (1x4 for the smaller windows & 1x6 for the patio doors) and attached above the windows with L brackets. The boards have been cut and trimmed with nice round corners on the front and will be primed and painted before the valances are attached.
It is nice to have them done!! Looking forward to seeing how much difference there will be to the look of the rooms once they are all up!! I should take before and after pictures!! I have enjoyed sewing again.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Therese

Refurbished cards for donation

WOW!! I just counted the cards I have refurbished in the last week and it is almost 100!!! The job of refurbishing cards is really easy when there is an insert in the card. I just remove the old one and insert a new one, add a new envelope and the card is ready for donation. This method also preserves the person's artwork and credits!! So if you are making cards I would like to recommend that you start adding inserts - makes adding your message really easy because the insert is a light neutral colour (I use white or ivory) and it makes reusing the card very easy!!
The majority of these are A2 sized handmade cards I have recieved in exchanges or swaps. The others are commercial cards I received from a fellow cardmaker which I have refurbished. I have envelopes donated by another fellow cardmaker which makes refurbishing these cards easier too. The commercial ones are usually large and the larger envelopes make it much easier to make them ready to be used again!! I like the commercial ones especially for sympathy cards because they have such wonderful images!! These will be going tomy local family resource center to use as they see fit - to cheer someone who needs it, for special occasions among the volunteers, for thanking those who contribute time, goods and money for all the worthwhile programs they run, and for the families who have suffered the loss of a loved one!!

So remember, add inserts to your cards!!! It is the green thing to do!!

Therese

My Art - Birdie cards

Used my new birdie stamp to create these cards as a gift for the stepdaughter of a friend of mine who will be getting married this summer!! I immediately loved this little swirly bird and thought he would be a great accent on the thankyou cards I wanted to create! I stamped him in a peachy pigment ink and embossed him with pearl embossing powder which just softens the image so nicely. I layered him onto a rectangle of peach cardstock - I distressed both of their edges. Used this 1/2" pink lace as ribbon and just tied it around the card front with a double knot! Love the look!! The decorative paper is scrapbook paper which is layered onto the white card.

I really got the soft wedding look I was wanting for these cards!!

I usually give cards as gifts for newlyweds or new mothers because I know it is a hectic time and with the cards ready to go it is one less thing they have to worry about.

A simple sketch that can be used for a wide variety of occasions by just changing up the components - scrapbook paper, ribbon and an image!!

If the summer is your time to catch up and get more creative time, make up a few cards for the year ahead so when the time comes for those special occasions you will have cards ready at hand.

Happy summer to you all!!

Therese

My Art - altered book page with bird ATC

I worked on my altered book page today and am happy to say that it is finished and I am happy with it. The bird ATC is one I received in a swap. Part two of the swap is to incorporate it into an altered book page. I enjoy the challenge of making art with a jumping off point!! The quote on the ATC - "Birds of a feather gather together. Robert Brown" spoke to me of the comfort of like minded people and I wanted to show through this page that there is a blessing of more vibrancy and sometimes some colourful chaos when we spread our wings and explore the world outside of our comfort zone.
I started with even rectangles on the left and slowly made them with more uneven edges and different sizes until I had four torn edges. Then I just created a serendipity collage with the colours and added a few punchy colours as well. I hand wrote my words with Sharpie markers - first in yellow and then in brown. Different papers affected how much bleed there was to the writing which I think adds some "chaos" to the words as well. I added some stippled swirls as well just for fun!!
We need to be willing to go to unfamiliar places in our lives so we can come to know ourselves better and have a better appreciation of our strengths and weaknesses!! Art is a great place to step out of our comfort zones and try something new!! A new tool, new technique, new paper, different colour, etc!!

Therese

MM - scrabble necklace

Love Scrabble and have bought a few games so I can create with the tiles!! Love them!!

I created these necklaces to bring to the Merchants Mill where I have quite a few items for sale. It is a wonderful little shop with a wide variety of handmade items made by local craftspeople and artists.

Made them as affirmation/reminders of what is important in our lives!! This one is a reminder that BE ing is more important than doing!! I have one of these I wear quite often just to help me stay in the moment and respond to life as positively as I can.

Some of the others are reminders to never give up, to do your best, to choose wisely your thoughts, words and actions because you are in the process of creating your life with them, etc!!


I hope they will find individuals who will appreciate them and take them home!!

We are having a wonderfully breezy totally sunny summer's day!! The best kind in my books!!

Therese

MM - Enclosure cards

I created a variety of encloure cards for sale at Merchants Mill .

It was fun to create a bunch of little cards!! I was often able to find just the right piece of paper or cardstock in my scrap bucket!! I made 36 of them featuring embossed paper (CB - embossing folders), ribbons, lace daisies, stickers, embossed foil, confetti, etc.



Therese

My Art - Bird ATC

I am so happy with my little birdie ATCs!! They worked out better than I had envisioned. I need one ATC for a swap on one of my groups but while I was at it I created these four!!

I downloaded the bird template from Pixels and IceCream. It is a ways down if you are looking for it (2009-02-17). I printed it on the back of the blue cardstock and then cut him out. I added a black brad for the eye, cut out a wing from blue paper and applied it with 3D foam tape, added a swirly tail in silver wire similar to what he had before I cut it off and a little triangle beak!! I highlighted his edges in blue ink.
I created the backgrounds using a few layers of altered paper - stamped, sanded, distressed, ripped, etc, the layers until they looked good with each other. I also created the flowers using punchies (1.25", 1", 3/4" for the bigger ones, 1", 3/4" and 1/2" (handcut) for the smaller ones. I inked them, distressed the edges and then mashed them up before I layered them with a brad. Hand cut some leaves which I also inked up to add depth and glued them to the back of the flowers. Mounted this embellishment to the ATC with 3D foam tape. I was reminded by the roses on Andrea Walford's blog (july1, 2009) that I had seen recently somewhere in my travels an altered flower which was done in a similar fashion. Could not remember the details so just went with it and I am happy with the way they turned out.
I mounted the bird onto the ATC and then added legs using a black fine line Sharpie marker! I like him better with long legs.
So one of these little guys is headed out to my swap partner in today's mail. I have a few more birds in pieces on my desk which I should build while I can still find them all and maybe they will show up in my art down the road a bit!!

We had a great Canada Day!! Started with breakfast in the park (thanks to the LIONS) and ended with fireworks!! We are very fortunate to have a very decent display of fireworks (15 minutes!!) considering we live in a very small city!! We are also fortunate to be able to watch them from home from our second story window!! A bit of rain in between but we need the moisture to keep everything growing!! Celebrate all that is good each and every day!!

Therese

My Art - Baby cards

It is always a special time when a baby is welcomed into the world!! Our neighbor had a baby girl last week so I made her some cards that she can use for sending thankyou notes for gifts, etc. It is always a busy time when there is a new baby in the house and having the cards on hand expedits the process of getting the notes on their way!!
The giraffe is a SU image from the Little Hello's set. I used the Swiss Dots embossing folder on the white layer and the SU border punch on the upper edge of it.

Therese