Saturday, November 28, 2009

My Art - Christmas cards - winter village

Another CuttleBug embossing folder!! I love this little village!! In this case, I laser printed the cardstock before I embossed the cardstock. It took a few tries in a layout program to get the words in the right place but it was quick and easy once the fronts were printed!! I added a snowflake with a brad and mounted this layer to the card front!! I touched the rooftops and the hill with the edge of my glue stick and then added glitter!! I liked it both ways - with and without glitter!!

This is certainly a quick and easy card if you are needing to make a batch of cards in an afternoon!!

I have my handmade paper cards to finish up before I can post them!! I do have several activities this week so maybe I can get to that by the end of the week.

Therese

My Art - Christmas - whimsical gifts

It took me quite a while to come up with this design to really perfectly highlight this whimsical gift image!! Persistance usually pays off!! In this case, the gifts have been gold embossed and watercoloured!! I also gold embossed the greeting on the card front. Added a rectangle of decorative paper on the left hand side and mounted the coloured image to a rectangle of coordinating cardstock. Added scallops to the one edge with the border punch (SU) and then added two holes and created an INNIE-OUTIE bow!! Punch two holes a little less than a half inch apart and using 3-4" of ribbon put one end through each hole and cross over the back and pull each end through to the front in the opposite hole!! Trim the ends for a neat looking bow!! If you are not into making bows you could just knot your ribbon and secure with a glue dot! I mounted this layer with 3D foam tape!! I made these in several different colours - blues and green, browns and golds, etc. The little gifties look great coloured in a wide variety of colours!!

Therese

My Art - Christmas cards - angel

An angel on shimmer paper!! Not noticeable on the scan but great in real life!! The angel is gold embossed and could certainly be enhanced with chalks or watercolour to add another level of interest to this card!! The card front was embossed with a holly embossing folder that my friend lent me! New for this season!! This is a large embossing folder (CB) about 5"x7" which does the whole front without any margins!!
I added an oval and short piece of ribbon which is attached to the card front with a brad. The part of the oval that hangs off the card is simply folded to the inside and secured with a glue dot which has the benefit of also covering the tangs of the brad!!
The image is layered onto a coordinating layer and glued over the other edge of the ribbon which I secured with double sided tape because the embossed surface has so little surface to hold glue.

Therese

My Art - Christmas cards - poinsettia

This one features the more traditional colours of Christmas - green and red!! The background paper is a foil gift wrap I purchased last year and was able to find cardstock that matched perfectly!! The vellum with its nicely torn edges is secured beneath the top strip with a short piece of double sided tape. The strip has a scalloped edge (SU border punch) which I highlighted with gold gel pen. The poinsettia is created using several elements - a gold brad, yellow glittery sequin, a yellow flower punchie, a light red 5 petal punchie (SU), a darker red 5 petal punchie and a green one which has been cut up into individual leaves. I assembled the poinsettia with the brad and mounted the leaves on the back of the dark layer. Using two different hues of red gives the poinsettia more dimension as does using a push pin at a very low angle to simply score a line from the center of the punchie to the point of each petal. The petals can then be folded a bit which makes them look more real. I did the same to the leaves. The completed poinsettia is attached through all the layers of the card front with the brad, nicely centered on the vellum.
The vellum nicely captures the light reflected by the gold sections of this shiny foil paper!! It was nice to create a card with a more traditional Christmas feeling to it. A greeting could easily be added to the front!!
Check out the stores while you are out shopping this season for a roll of good quality gift wrap you can use when creating your Christmas cards for next year!! Better yet make up your cards over the holidays when you are surrounded by the sights, sounds and scents of the season!! There is inspiration absolutely everywhere once the tree is up, the lights are on and the house and neighbourhood have taken on the mantel of the season.
You might even want to take a few photographs to use in your art in the future!! A beautiful nativity, a snow angel or a great snowman!!

Therese

My Art - Christmas cards - embossed tree

More Christmas cards!! It has been fun to come up with yet more Christmas cards! These are from today's class!!
This is an embossed Christmas tree created with one of the latest CB embossing folders which is on many's want list this season!!
I cut the card stock to size - it leaves most of the base off - before I embossed the images. It made it easier to center the image on the cardstock. I added the ribbon to the embossed layer by folding the edges to the back and securing with double sided tape. Glued the decorative paper to the card front and glued the embossed layer over that. I chalked the edges of the oval just a little to highlight it nicely and have it stand off a bit from the very white background. The greeting is embossed with pearl embossing powder to give it a soft look and I mounted the oval with 3D foam tape to give the card a bit of dimension!!
If you were making only a few of these you could consider chalking some of the elements on the tree or adding some bling with little crystals.
I kept the design simple for a quick and easy card.

Therese