Fabric Flower - Red and White

Now that I had a vase maybe I needed a fabric flower to go into it.  Well, that was a rabbit hole.

There are all types of tutorials on line.

There have been 4 versions to get to this final flower. 

I have combined a die cut flower which was proportionally too small for the vase.  I am lucky to have a sister who attended design school who gives me feedback.

Okay, back to the drawing board.  The large flower is made with 12 circles of fabric. Four 4.5" circles red, four 4.00 circles in cream, and four 3.75" circles in red again.  These are folded in quarters and adhered to a base circle which measures about 3.75 inches.  They recommended hot glue which I followed but would not do it again. I will stitch the next ones.  I then made a hole through the large one and inserted the gold wire which attached the smaller flower's layers together through it.  I used a pop can tab to provide leverage to tighten the wire to the large flower.  I then stitched a backer piece of matching red fabric to cover the ugly bits.

The wire is four lengths of 24 gauge wire measuring 20" all twisted together to a final length of about 13 inches.  You can see how in this Wire Twisting video. 

Card Club - June - Star Birthday

I printed the greeting layer.  I wrapped the diecut open border around both ends and taped the ends to the back of the white layer.  I placed the black polka dots washi tape below the greeting.  I ripped the bottom edge of the greeting layer then adhered it to the card front. Decide on the placement of your star brads.  I used a push pin to create holes through the card front then placed the prongs of the red star brads through spreading them apart on the inside of the card. 

Christmas Bird House

I'm adding to my Christmas Card Count.

I started with a kraft card in the portrait tall orientation.  I added a strip of off white striped vellum and mounted it offset from the center. I selected the bird house die cut from the vintage K&Company Cardstock and Acetate die cut set.  I used Tombow Acetate Adhesive on the acetate greetings and adhered them below the bird house.

Choo Choo Train Christmas Card

I started with a die cut from a set of Vintage Cardstock & Acetates from K&Company.  I chose a black card to match the color of the engine which I laid in the landscape/wide orientation. I used a piece of off white vellum which worked with the vintage image.  I held it in place with 4 tiny black brads in the four corners. I then adhered the train die cut to the vellum.  I used Tombow Vellum Adhesive on the clear acetate greeting (it's red but scanned black) and adhered it below the train.  I used a thin black marker and added smoke from the chimney by hand.

Submitting to 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - May Stash Challenge - Dies or Punches.

Vintage Snowman

I started with the Vintage Snowman die cut from K&Company Cardstock & Acetate set.  I chose a green card which worked with the bow in the gift he is holding.  I searched my stash for a off white vellum which happened to have stripes.  I attached it to the card front with 4 tiny red brads in all four corners.  I adhered the snowman die cut to the vellum layer.  I used vellum adhesive by Tombow to adhered the acetate greetings placed below the gift.  I added an acetate snowflake in the top right hand corner held in place with a tiny red brad.

These die cut sets really facilitate the making of cards because all the elements coordinate nicely.

Submitting to the challenge at Holly Jolly - Traditional Colors.

Card Club - Sept - Qtr Sheet Ripped Split

I chose a red card.  I ripped the black and white designer paper in two.  To keep the white edge on the bottom piece I ripped with my right hand towards me.  I then placed the bottom piece with the ripped edge in my right hand and did it again.  I glued the pieces to the top then the bottom edges of the card revealing the card stock in the middle.  The accent was cut with the Stampin Up Blossom Party die in white and black with a quarter ink circle in the centre. This accent was placed on the right hand side.  I placed a greeting made with the SU Modern Label punchie in black and a color printed greeting punched with the Word Window.  This was adhered on the left hand side.

Here's another alternative provided where there was a heart accent inside of flowers.

Christmas Card Challenge - Sept - Skate Diecut Banner

Here's my card for this month's Christmas Card challenge.  I challenge myself to make cards all year long so that I will have the ones I need by December 1st.  How is your card making going?  I hope you are on track.  I think I'm a little behind.

The focus of the challenge is to include with skates, die cut and a banner.  I cut the Tim Holtz Bigz Die - Ice Skates from some warm blue card stock.  I cut the skate blade again from blue metallic card stock and trimmed it and adhered over the card stock skate. I laced it with some heavy crochet cotton and finished it with a bow at the top. I added a white snowflake punch to the ankle area. I chose a deep warm blue card.  I embossed a white layer with the large Cuttlebug Snowflake embossing folder.  I added a banner greeting which was stamped with Stampin Up sentiment from the Home for Christmas set with Marina Mist on the same card stock as the skate.  I trimmed it close and use the Triple Banner punch to flag both ends and mounted it onto a piece of dark warm blue card stock.

Map Hello

I started with a map I purchased at the ReUse Centre. I selected a blue card which coordinated with it well.  Check this post of the process of creating the distress map paper. Once I distressed the map paper I glued it to the card front with a glue stick and pressed it down with my hands lightly trying to keep some of the texture I had added.  I selected some coordinating card stock in a warm amber color and cut that to the right width.  I ripped the top and bottom layer to add to the texture of the card.  With the card on the left I used 2 pieces to make it tall enough and I did not want the join to show so eventually decided to cover it with a strip cut off the map piece.  Happy with that. 

The greeting was cut with the Sizzix Hello Phrase die in dark grey, light grey and a light blue to coordinate with the colors in the map.  These were adhered together offset a just little, the light grey one up and the dark grey one down from the central light blue one. I put the dark grey at the bottom, the blue at the top with the medium grey in the middle of the stack. The stacked greeting was then adhered to the card front over the amber colored strip of card stock. 

I am submitting to the following challenges:

Daring Card Makers - Talking Texture 

City Crafters Challenges - Mood Board
Stampin Celebration - Inspiration Photo












I'm sending these cards off to 2 of my friends in my monthly card exchange group.

Art Calendar - Handmade Gift

I created this art calendar with some of my photos. As I indicated in this earlier post, I processed each photo in hopes of creating an image that looked more like a painting.  Some I'm really happy with others not as much.  Pretty good for my first time. I printed them at home on matte photo paper so they would be more like paintings.

The calendar pages are 8.5" square with a half inch added to the binding edge. The calendar was printed on the 8.5 x 9 inch sheet of white card stock.  The binding is Zutter.

Then I wanted to create a frame.  I could not find a die in my collection large enough and to the right proportions so I turned to my Cricut. After spending a long time with several cartridges and doing some test cuttings I selected the Elegant Edges cartridge.  I cut the borders to 6.75" wide which filled the 8.5" square pages nicely.  I added a piece of vellum under the photo which helped define the space for the photo as well as align all the pieces. I centered the vellum on the page then added the pieces over top. I cut all the borders from black card stock.  I did have to trim the vellum where it showed through the holes in the borders. That was tedious.  I added one of the die cuts from inside the borders next to the photo to balance the rectangular space.

The cover has the numbers 2015 cut with the Sizzix Go Go Boots Sizzlet Alphabet dies.

Card Club - November - Christmas Foliage

This card is designed around some die cuts I purchased last year.  There were pine cones, poinsettias, camelias, and others.  I had bought several sets so with combining I had enough elements for the kits for this double class.  This year I saw the card stock that matched the elements so I purchased a pack. There was this ginger pattern and a red damask type patterned paper in the pack.  There was some grey pearl card stock as well.  I matched up the papers and cut both to 4.00 x 5.25 inches then cut them at 3" at the same time then just swapped the pieces.  Once paired they were taped together and then adhered to the card front as one piece.  I added the ribbon over the join and taped the ends to the inside of the card.  The element was then adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape.

Christmas Card Challenge - Oct - Tools Dies

The challenge for October is Tools - Dies.  This could include: Thick Dies from Sizzix or other companies, Electronic Cutters such as Cricut or Silhouette, or Sizzlets, or thin dies such as Spellbinders Nestabilities, Framelits, Thinlits,  Wow hasn't the world of diecutting grown!!










I selected a Flip Card and used the Sizzix Framelits Die Set 11PK Card Circle Flip-its #2. I selected the circle to repeat the circles in the DSP. I cut the card base from a bright green card stock.  Then I cut the layers from Basic Grey Fruitcake Berry Branch DSP. I cut a scallop circle to place on the circle flip.  I added white Martha Stewart snowflake punchie with a glue dot to hold it in place.  I added a piece of cotton ribbon in deep red to the left hand side and knotted it and trimmed the ends.  This is really nice ribbon and was bought at my local arts and crafts store in the Christmas ribbon section.

The picture on the right is of the card open.

Card - Earth Day - Chipboard Eiffel Tower

Next card in my Earth Day collection.

I cut the Eiffel Tower from cereal box cardboard with the Tim Holtz Eiffel Tower die. I applied TH Distress Stain in Antique Linen but it does not show much.  I rubbed the edges with a black ink pad.  I embossed the ivory linen card stock layer with the TH Postale embossing folder. I wrapped the layer with caramel seam binding and tied it to the left card front.  This was glued to the card front. The Eiffel tower is adhered to the card front with 3D Foam tape.

Card Club - November - Mitten

I started with the felt mitten die cut.  I chose to coordinate the color of the card and snowflake to the color of the mitten.  I then added a neutral silver embossed decorative paper for the background and the label on the mitten cuff. The label is the Stampin Up Decorative Label.  The snowflake and the mitten are held in place with a tiny silver brad.  Black, white, green and red are the mitten colors used in this class. 





Here's the black one and I switched the thumb to the other side just for a change.

Challenge - CCT - Diecuts or Punches

I made this challenge at Cute Card Thursday which was Dies or Punches.  and All Beautiful Cards  which was Monochromatic.  I started with a warm white card.  I cut a Tim Holtz Cabinet die from designer paper in white/craft texture.  I cut the window into the shape with a QuicKutz die.  I printed the stars, snowflakes and hill in Crumb Cake and Soft Suede on the original card.  I added a layer of Soft Suede behind the curve and the bottom. I glued the cabinet window onto the card.  I added a branch die cut with Impression Obesession die of a branch (DEI021-N) in Soft Suede.  The snowflake in the curve at the top is a Martha Stewart punchie on Soft Suede.

R2G Card Kits - Five Petal on DSP

I started with Stampin Up Apricot Appeal card stock.  I added a SU Top Note die in SU Rose Red DSP.  Once the Top Note was adhered I wrapped Apricot Appeal ribbon across the bottom part of the card ensuring that the placement of my flower.  I taped the ends of the ribbon to the inside of the card.  I then layered the large SU 5 Petal flower and the smaller one and placed them over the ribbon.  I made hole through the flowers, ribbon, top note and card front.  I placed the tiny gold brad through and spread the prongs on the inside of the card.  The sentiment was color printed to match the card and punched with the SU Modern Label punch.  It is mounted to the card front with 3D foam tape. This kit includes Rose Red, Certainly Celery, Close to Cocoa, and Almost Amethyst.

Challenge - HJ - Lots of Layers

I made this card the challenge at Holly Jolly this week which is Lots of Layers.  I started with a navy card.  I chose white and light blue card stock and cut both at the same time with one of the Apothecary Dies.  I layered the white piece to the card front leave a small border all the way around.  Then I glued the light blue die cut into the hole in the white card stock. Then I cut the SU Snowflake #2 in the same navy card stock as the card.  I then cut and layered the largest snowflake from the SU! Snow Flurry Bigz die in white, the medium one from the same light blue card stock.  I added a 1/2" circle punchie in the card color in the center.  I punched a SU! Modern Label punchie and stamped my greeting in navy and punched it with the SU Word Window punch. Layered them and mounted to the card front with 3D tape.

R2G Card Kits - Die Cut Flower

Here's another Ready 2 Go card kit.  This one includes die cut flowers.  I chose yellow and pink card stock for the card layer in these kits, of course to coordinate with the colors in the flowers.  I added Cuttlebug embossed frame layers in white.  The pink cards have the Rebecca Frame and the yellow have the Scroll Frame.  The die cut flower is mounted on the centre of the card with 3D Foam tape.  Great cards for any occasion where a handwritten note is needed.  You can check my other R2G card kits here.

Card - Christmas Felt Ribbon

Here's another sample I made for my May Christmas card challenge.  I started with the ribbon.  I selected a navy card with a gold card stock layer embossed with the SU Petals a Plenty folder.  This was glued to the card front.  I placed the ribbon across the card then placed the double poinsettias to the right hand side.  I added a red sequin onto the brushed gold brad then placed it into the centre of the flowers then into the hole made with a push pin.  Once placed the prongs are spread on the inside of the card.  I added 2 more brushed gold brads on either end of the ribbon, inserted in holes made with a push pin.  The greeting is color printed and punched with the SU Word Window punch which is layered onto a SU Modern Label punchie.  This accent is mounted onto the card front with 3D foam tape.

All Occasion Stack Class - Scroll with Watercolor DP

I started this card with the ivory scroll die cut.  It's from a set of wedding DIY invitations I bought on sale at Michaels. The die cut was trimmed to leave even borders all around. I cut another layer of ivory from the invitation which I mounted to the card which just left a small border of the card color. I selected the card color based on the watercolor designer paper. I selected DP in warm yellow, purple, red, and blue. I glued the scroll die cut to the left side of the watercolor DP being careful not to put adhesive in the holes.  I added a small button in the top right hand corner with a Zot which matches the card color.

R2G Card Kit - Felt Daisy

Here's another Ready to Go Card Kit. 
Here's a very simple card.  I matched the card to the color of the felt daisy.  The other colors in the kit are yellow and red daisies.  I found some green designer paper to cut with the Sizzix Bigz Frame Back Ornate #8. I cut the white circle backing the daisy with one of the circle Nestabilities.  A tiny white brad holds the daisy onto the circle.  I wrapped the white seam binding around the card front across the label leaving the ends free. I then adhered the daisy accent in the center of the label.  With the ribbon now secure I tied a knot and trimmed the ends.  I struggled about adding something else such as embossing or faux stitching but decided against it as I wanted a simple card.