Christmas card - O Holy Night

I just love Splitcoast Stampers for the wonderful inspiration it provides for all card makers - me in particular!!  I have seen several cards using a wonderful nativity stamp so I challenged myself to create something similar with digital images.  I started with the Mary, Joseph and baby image from Two Heart Designs and added a stable which I drew in Corel Draw around the figures.  I drew the star and added it to the stable.  I am happy with the way it turned out!!  I layered my digital image over some digital sheet music which I downloaded from Free Vintage Digital Stamps and modified with Photoshop Elements to this earthy taupe colour.  I added O Holy Night in a bold font, colour printed four to a sheet, trimmed them apart and then tore the edges to create this wonderful rustic layer for my card.  I simply added a length of black ribbon between the two elements and tied a short piece to it using a single knot to simulate a bow!!  Voila!  A quick and easy card!!  
I hope you will be inspired to make a few Christmas cards every month from now until the end of November!!  Have fun!!


Therese

Christmas card - Joy!

This card features some really nice decorative paper!!  To let the paper shine I added a simple colour printed image over the paper and a simple cardstock layer below it.  For a bit of bling I used a glitter gel pen on the greeting.
My inspiration for this card was one of a series of cards I found on Splitcoast Stampers.  The series was developed by Gisele for creating 16 cards using one piece of 12 x12 decorative paper.  The paper she used was perfectly suited for this "One sheet Wonder" technique.  You can check out all of the cards in the series on her blog, I  SPI.  Here is another set of cards she created!!
There are so many reasons for creating Christmas cards early - one of them is to get a chance to play with all that wonderful Christmas paper we have in our stashes and come up with cards that highlight them in the best possible way!!  Enjoy!

Therese

Christmas card - snowman

I found this card on Splitcoast Stampers that featured a snowman face and thought it was so effective that I thought I would see what I could come up with.  I created a frame and some masks to get the look I was going for using this digital image from Rusty Pickle - Silly Shells Digital Creations!!  I am pretty happy with the way it turned out!!  I laser printed the image, watercoloured it, added some glitter to the hat and nose and trimmed it leaving a bit of a white border.  I layered decorative paper onto my card front, added two large embossed rick rack die cuts, added my image layered onto orange using 3D foam tape and added a layered snowflake embellishment.
I really love this decorative paper and am very close to the end of my supply!!  I used it here, here and here!

Therese

Christmas card - Believe

When I was delivering kits from my last Christmas card class I had a friend ask for a set of kits, so this week I set about making up another set of Christmas cards for her!!
I love this image with the baby Jesus and Santa!!  I downloaded it from Melonheadz Illustrations along with the greeting which I modified to suit the image.  I laser printed the image and greeting, watercoloured both of them, layered them on red, stapled on two lengths of seam binding and glued the whole piece to a green card front.  Lots of wonderful digital images over at Nikki's blog so go and check it out!!
Great time to start on your Christmas cards!!  It really is wonderful to have them all made and ready to go come the end of November!!  If you need inspiration or direction you can check out the links to the Christmas challenge blogs I have on my blog - right hand side!!  My sister is running one this year - check it out here!
Therese

Steam punk cards

I made a couple of cards using the film strip art I created last week.  I challenged myself to create a digital collage with a bit of a steam punk feel to go with it.  I used images downloaded from Dover.  I am on their email list and they regularly send links to free samples from the many excellent books they publish.  Follow the link and sign up!!
I created clear backgrounds using Photoshop Elements for the man, the train, the airship and the border.  I layered them over two different floral backgrounds and colour printed them.  I trimmed my film strip to fit across the card, double knotted a piece of black vintage seam binding on the right and tied on a little metal star embellishment.
These are considered hybrid projects because they combine digital art with some hands on paper crafting!!  I am liking combining the two!!

Therese

Film strip art

Had a couple of days of crafty fun with my friend, Linda, last week.  We had lunch and a play date with a friend and made some great film strip art!!  We cut the film strip using  the TH die and black cardstock then stamped several small images from collage type stamps to place in behind with black Staz ON.   I coloured mine with Pan Pastels, trimmed the images to fit in the openings and then glued them into place.  Once I was finished I spritzed the whole thing with a glimmer mist which sealed my pastels as well as gave the whole thing some shimmer.  We had a great afternoon and I was blessed to spend it with such talented women.
Linda is taking an online card class so some time was spent working on cards.  Check out her blog and see the cool cards she made.
She is a great cook so the food is always wonderful when I am there.  So all it all it was a great visit!!
Be sure to make some time over the summer to get together with your friends - do something fun, eat some good food and make some memories!!

Therese

Embossed metal frame

I created this metallic frame for a friend who is relocating - it will be a good place to put a photo of her artsy friends!!
I started with a square wood frame and glued textured items to it - die cut chipboard letters, corrugated cardboard flowers, twine swirls, mesh tape and punchies.  I used double sided tape to attach all the elements except the mesh tape with is self adhesive.  Next, I covered all the front and the inside and outside edges with metal foil tape.  Yes, the kind you buy at the hardware store!!  I simply cut it into pieces and just started layering it on. Check out the photo below which I took as I was in the process of applying tape.   As you can see it doesn't matter what your pieces look like because they will all be covered and you will only see their shape and texture.

Once it was all covered I used a stylus to burnish around all the elements which added definition to the metal. I trimmed the metal tape to the back edge of the frame with an exacto knife and burnished the inside and outside edges with a wooden popsicle stick.  Once everything was burnished to my satisfaction I added yet more texture by scribing swirls, squiggly lines and dots along some of the tape edges.  Then, it was time to cover it all with black acrylic paint.  I wiped some of it off to reveal the texture I had created in the tape.  On hind sight, I might have left on more black to create a bit more contrast but I am happy with how it looks. I lightly sanded the letters to make sure they stood out and added a bit of silver and gold Perfect Pearls in a few areas.  I painted the back with black acrylic paint as well and sealed it front and back with a clear spray sealer so nothing would rub off.
Here are a few tutorials I used for inspiration:
http://beyondthefringecrafts.blogspot.ca/2012/06/industrial-metal-frame.html
http://beyondthefringecrafts.blogspot.ca/2012/06/metal-foil-tape-card.html
http://www.scrapbook.com/blogs/206/view/168127.html
I can see using this technique to make decorative paper for masculine cards and other projects where you want a bit of an industrial look!!

Therese

Card of Appreciation

I created this card for DH.  One of his choir members is moving on and he wanted a nice card to give her.  I went for subtly beautiful with lots of texture and muted colour.  I love the way it turned out!  I used a large pearly white envelope and created a white card that fit inside.  I layered on a piece of shimmer paper which I embossed at the top and bottom.  In between I scored a couple of lines right next to both embossed edges with my score tool and added a piece of white lace in between then sponged the edges just a bit before I glued it to the card front.  I laser printed this blossom image I downloaded from  Beccy's blog, watercoloured it, layered it onto a border punched layer, added some half pearls and attached it to the card front using 3D foam tape.  As a final touch I watercoloured a flower confetti, added a white brad in the center and glued it to the corner of the top layer.
She has been an invaluable part of the choir and will be missed!  We wish her well in her new pursuits!!

Therese

African themed card

On AFTCM, I joined an African themed card swap.  After a bit of brainstorming I came up with a sketch from which I created this card.  I applied strips of black and gold lame fabric around the edges of my card using double sided tape.  The fabric is bold and graphic - perfect of my African theme.  Inside this frame I created an gold embossed element which highlights the poem, Dawn of Tomorrow, by Chidi A Okoye about the arrival of a new day for Africa.  I used an embossing pen to sketch the elements and gold embossed them as I went - the border, the inside frame, the zigzag border and finally the heart.  I trimmed out the center of the heart and used bleach in a pointed nib to write the poem on the card front so it would show through the open heart.  I added clear plastic and some 3D foam tape to the back of the heart, added some gold micro beads on the card front and glued my heart element down encapsulating the beads creating a shaker element.  I added a piece of gros grain ribbon tied with a little gold coloured heart charm which adds some texture and a bit more dimension to my card.  There are several different colours of gold which provides richness and symbolizes the riches of Africa.
I enjoyed creating my own element for this card and playing with lines and gold embossing powder!!
Therese

Memory Glass pendant

On AFTCM, I signed up for a 1x3 glass pendant swap which I have been working off and on for the last few days.  Having never soldered before I did a bit of research to find some instructions and information.  Discovered that jewelery should be soldered with lead free solder  - a no brainer but I had not considered that when I signed up for the swap.  So as an alternative, I started searching for the Ranger Memory glass frames which hold the slides.  Was not able to find any locally so I needed to find a different way.  Someone on the list suggested that most solder is now lead free so I did a search on the Canadian Tire website and lo and behold they do have a variety of lead free solder so off I went and bought a roll.  I am a happy camper!!  I created a collage sheet using images from Graphics Fairy for the inside of my pendant - background paper, butterfly, script, flourish and a scroll border.  I delved deep into my Photoshop Element skills and developed some new ones on my way to making all these elements suitable for my collage.  I made a yellow butterfly from the blue one, gave them all transparent backgrounds and changed the colour of several of them.  I found lots of helpful information on line for doing what needed to be done but I did have to stretch my PSE muscles and follow the instructions CAREFULLY.  What a great resource the internet really is!!!
So my pendant is finished!! The front and back are similar which means you can wear with on either side and the charms flip over from back to front.  I cut a strip off of my laser printed collage sheet and cut two 1x3 pieces for the inside.  Glued them back to back with only a LITTLE dab of glue because moisture between the two glasses combined with the heat from the soldering causes steam which could ruin the look.  I applied copper foil tape (1/4") all the way around being sure to center the glass/collage sandwich and then burnished all the copper tape with a wood burnisher ( popsicle stick).  Then, I started soldering with DH's variable temperature soldering iron (600F) following directions I found on line.  Here is a link to a video on Stampington that was useful as well. Worked out pretty well.  Adding the jump ring was a real challenge.  I ended up adding solder to the wire and then creating the jump rings which worked better.  Not a bad job of soldering for my second soldering project.  I created a prototype with the other solder just to see if I could do it.  I sanded off any little bumps and nibs, cleaned the glass and polished up the whole thing.  This morning I added a little butterfly charm and a few beads with a jump ring, tied on a length of white seam binding and added an adjustable waxed cord.
I love joining swaps and challenging myself to learn new techniques!!

Therese

Casablanca Arch swap

On AFTCM,  I joined an arch swap with the theme of Casablanca.  I did some internet research and found a poet  - Abhallah Zrika - from Casablanca who has been jailed for his prose poetry and a quote where he expresses his wonder at the power of words.  In the process, I found out a lot about the region and their culture.  Beautiful architecture and tiled buildings!  I found a blog that talked about mosaics and how to create some simple patterns so I decided to create a tiled wall for my arch using one of his simple shapes.  I added an inner arch where I

added some arabic words and a hamsa  - a protection symbol that is used to attract the magic of life and repel evil - it is a lovely hand with a heart!!  I added a cage to protect the words and symbolize this poet's struggle with freedom and two white doves to symbolize peace and the pureness of following one's bliss.  I watercoloured all the squares blue - used extensively in their buildings - and added clear dimensional paint to make them look like tiles.  Once they were dry I added a clear sealer to the rest of the wall to make it look tiled.  As a final touch I added a short piece of white seam binding tied to the cage with a single knot and some blue half pearls to the bottom edge to add a bit of texture.
On the back I used the same hamsa symbol and this quote - " Words are a precious thing; everything can live in them." by Abdallah.   I used my "new to me" score tool (Thanks, Carol) to create a cross hatch pattern inside the inner arch and added my own quote in handwriting!!
A totally fun project which I am really happy with!!  It is off to my partner in today's mail.  


Therese

Paint technique swap card

On Just Cards we were challenged to try this paint technique and create a swap card with the resulting paper.  I love creating background papers so I joined the swap!!  For the technique you use dimensional paint to create a pattern on your substrate and while it is still wet you drip on several colours of acrylic paint and drag a credit cart through it.  As you can see I created swirls with my dimensional paint and used two different greens, a yellow and gold for the other colours.  Great look!!   You end up with globs of paint on the side of your paper after dragging your credit card over the whole thing so I used that paint on three more sheets of paper applying the paint using the credit card.  Creates a really cool look and lots of texture - more background paper.  Used some of those sheets for these cards.
For my card I printed a greeting and cactus image from Arthurs Clipart onto a laser transparency and trimmed it to leave an even border all the way around on my card front.  Trimmed my decorative paper to the same size, added a length of seam binding between the image and the greeting and attached it to the card using four small black brads.  I tied a small length of caramel seam binding to the green using a single knot to simulate a bow.
Swaps are fun because they often challenge you to try something you have never tried before.  This was a fun technique I will be using again.

Therese

White Wedding swap card

Joined a swap on Just Cards with "W" as the theme and decided to create a white wedding card.  The digital image I downloaded from Graphics Fairy - love the simplicity of this silhouette image.  I laser printed it onto a quarter sheet of white cardstock, embossed it with the Scroll embossing folder, trimmed it and mounted it to a white card front.  I used a sponging template I cut for previous cards and sponged on Gleams Pearl acrylic paint to create the oval shape and then highlighted her dress, headpiece and flowers with the same paint.  It is on its way to my swap partner!!
If you have yet to visit Graphics Fairy I would highly recommend her site!!  It is a wonderful online resource for a wide variety of  craft projects!!  Click the link to her Craft Blog and see what others are creating with her images!  You will be amazed - lots of very cool items - from cakes to home decor!!  


Therese

Cards, Cards, Cards - Christmas - a bit of bling

What's the best thing about making Christmas cards??  You can add bling as often as you like!!
Here is another design inspired by Splitcoast Stampers.  I have been seeing this embossing folder used in every format and with several different techniques for the center image so I decided to see if I could find a way to use this embossing folder - Cuttlebug Flourished Frame - for a card in this class.  I perused my digital images and found that these ones had almost the perfect proportions for the frame!!  These are by Melissa Jenkins and were downloaded from her blog when she was offering free images regularly.  They were perfect!!  I laser printed them to the right size, watercoloured them and used 3D foam tape to layer them over the embossed layer which I had already glued to my card front.  Just a few rhinestones glued to the flourishes finished off these cards!!  THRIFTY TIP:  Check out this link on my sister's blog that talks about using a fine tip bottle for applying glue.  The rhinestones we used today did not have a sticky back so I brought my little fine tip glue bottle - works so well.  My bottle used to be filled with dimensional fabric paint made by Tulip, I think.  I used the paint to make decorative paper and filled the cleaned out, empty bottle with white glue.  Just a little dab will do you and it dries clear so if the glue expands a bit beyond the edge of the rhinestone it just disappears once the glue is dry.  I am willing to bet that in your stash of crafty supplies you have a bottle with a fine tip which you could use for this purpose!  If you don't, no worries, there are several glues out there made specifically for paper crafting that have fine tips so check out your local craft or scrapbooking store.

Therese

Cards, Cards, Cards - Christmas - Folk art tree

I love this little folk art tree image!!  I found it on Laura`s blog called Pop N Stick.  She has several other cool digital images you can use for card making so check out her site!!  Here is a direct link to the tree.
I layered the tree to coloured cardstock, added a border punched strip and a  rectangle of decorative Christmas paper which I glued to a coordinating card front to make up this card.  I added a bit of ribbon to the decorative paper, sponged my eyelet edge, watercoloured my image and added this little greeting on my insert - Christmas is about what`s in your heart, not what`s under the tree. Wishing you a merry little Christmas!!
Making your own cards gives you so much flexibility!!  You can add your own little twists, use your favorite colour combinations and add meaningful greetings!!

Therese

Cards, Cards, Cards - Christmas - Vintage look

Christmas cards with a bit of a vintage feel!!  These cards feature images from a font called Christmas Cheer which I downloaded from the internet last week.  You can find it here.  I used the JOY, PEACE, NOEL and the winter scene with the house for these cards.  In Corel Draw, I sized the images to fit nicely in my largest oval Nestibilities, laser printed them eight to a page and cut them out individually.  I sponged the edges of my oval, my card and my button and watercoloured my image. I added a black label frame die cut (SX) embossed with a victorian embossing folder and placed some vintage seam binding in between.  These were layered onto a card front which was stamped using my Worn background stamp (SU) in brown.   I added a button and a bow which is a new technique I picked up this week off of Nancy Ward`s blog - Paper Friendly.  You can find the tutorial on Vicki Wizniuk`s blog - Wizards Hangout.  Basically, you take a length of ribbon, cross the ends, bring the center of the loop to the cross over, insert it into a loop of twine on the back of the button, tighten and tie off with a double knot.  Check out the tutorial and you will see how easy it is!!  I used a chipboard button which I die cut from a cereal box which was just the right colour to go with this card and used black cotton crochet thread to tie off the bow.  We used glue dots to attach this embellishment to our card fronts.
It is fun to create Christmas cards in non traditional colours though this one is starting to be one of my favorite combinations.  Check out these cards and these ones we made last year.  Here`s a few more and some more made a few years ago.
Don`t be afraid to think outside the box when it comes to colour combinations and images for Christmas cards.  One of the girls at class today said she would probably use these bird images for making a few Christmas cards.  I think they would make wonderful Christmas cards!!

Therese

Cards, Cards, Cards - Christmas - doilies

Christmas cards!!  We met this morning to create Christmas cards and get a head start on that process.  It always feels great to have your cards made and ready to go when December rolls around.
I have been loving the lovely cards I have seen on Splitcoast Stampers that feature the dainty Doily stamp from SU and really wanted to make a card with that lacy look!!  For this large class it means a lot of thermal embossing to get that look so I decided to see if I could find a digital solution.  Hooray!  I found one.  On the Avant Garde Collection CD (SU) there is a paper collection called Flirtatious and one of the papers is a large doily!!  I brought the image into Photo Shop Elements and replaced all of the white areas with transparent in a few clicks of the mouse following instructions from the internet.  I cannot seem to locate the exact tutorial I used but there are lots of different ones on how to do this.  I was also able to change the colour of the doily in PSE using the paint bucket so I created a white and red version to use on these Christmas cards!!    I imported the images into Corel Draw, duplicated them so I had four doilies and then  laid them out so they would each be off the page in each corner of a 8.5 x11 page.  I created a box of colour beneath the two white doilies to show them off nicely and added greetings.  Once I had them sized and positioned by eye I printed one page to see which circle punch I would need to create the centers.  I had to resize the doilies a bit so that the 1 3/8" punchies would leave a nice scalloped edge visible.  I printed these on white cardstock using a colour laser, cut them apart and trimmed them to 4" x 5.25".  I layered a coordinating circle punchie in the center of the doily, added a fiber snowflake and used a brad to attach them all together.  This element was glued to a coordinating card front.  I embellished the front with glitter glue to add just a bit of sparkle!!  I used iridescent for mine but some girls at class today used silver on the blue one and red on the red one and that really looked very nice!!  I expect a spritz of shimmer spray would be really great too!!
So I encourage you to find your newest Christmas stamp, a sketch you like,dig out some paper and get creative!!  If you prefer digital stamps check out the next few post for links to some I used for this class.

Therese

Cardmaking - June - Feathered Friends

I love these bird images!!  They are available from The Graphics Fairy.  She has a wide variety of images, backgrounds and line art - simply a great resource for digital images.
I used four different images and added a quote to each one as well as a coloured border.  I have been playing around a bit more with combining digital elements so this was a fun experiement.  In the end, it made for a quick and easy card.  I printed the image on white cardstock and we simply embossed the lower half, added a ribbon and glued the whole thing to the front of a coordinating card!!  Too easy!!   To easy to add a greeting as well with a little piece of 3D foam tape.
I will be passing on the cardmaking baton to a friend of mine who will be taking over the Wednesday night classes in September.  She is excited to be on the other side of the table and has been brainstorming and designing kits for the fall.  I look forward to catching up with the group during the Christmas card classes on the first two weekend of November!!
I have so enjoyed this group and the opportunity to share cardmaking!!  I will miss the friendships I have built, but I do need to change my focus.  My craft room is part of the unfinished basement and the finishing process has begun so I need to be cleaning up, sorting and packing up my "stuff" so the job and be finished within a reasonable timeline.
I will still be around and posting to my blog regularly!!

Therese

Cardmaking - June - Transparency

I was playing around with a paint technique for a challenge and ended up making up several sheets in these two colours - pink/red and yellow/green.  I have seen many videos and tutorials where they use old credit card to apply paint but it is the first time I have tried it.  It works really well. If you been thinking you would like to try it I encourage you to give it a go!!
I printed Dover images on transparency to layer over my decorative paper and attached them to the card front using brads.  I added three little strips of embossed coordinating cardstock to the right hand side.  On the first one I used a corner rounder and am not terribly happy with the look - I think because the top one ended up round and looks like it doesn't go with the others.  So on my second one I decided to use a different technique and I am happier with that.  I also embossed the card front which helps add texure!!  The little felt flower was added last using a glue dot.
You can sign up with Dover to get emails regularly which highlight their collections and offer free samples.  Well, worth it for the free images they offer!!  Go here to sign up!!

Therese

Cardmaking - June - Fun Greetings

It is always fun to change things up, so for this card I combined the image and the greeting.  All of the images were downloaded from CLKER and I added some fun greetings using an appropriate font.  Some of the other ones were: "Heard you needed a pick up" with a little truck, "Best Fishes" with a cute little fish, "Be Happy" with a little bee, "Butterfly Wishes" with a butterfly, "Smile" with a camera, "You're Purrr- fect" with a cute kitten and "You're so sweet" with a little cupcake!
I cut the circle elements and the scalloped layers with my Nestibilities.  Started by adding a layer of decorative paper to the card front and a length of seam binding or ribbon.  Tied on a short piece with a single knot to simulate a bow and added my main layered element over it using 3D foam tape.
It is always good to have a few greeting cards on hand that you can send to friends and family for just for fun!!  These fit the bill perfectly!!

Therese