July Card-Making Session

Dianne's bright and cheery Hello card

with gingham (not denim!) and lace and ribbon

and a little bee!

Bonnie's floral design with lace border

and enameled butterfly sticker.

Carol's dancing owl with a bloom,

colored with markers

and complemented with gingham and 

dotted Swiss rose pattern.

Sue's beautiful heat emboss resist butterfly.

A great variety of designs, a lot of learning about markers, heat embossing

sewing on paper and distress stamp pads.

Always a good time together!

Seed Collages to Attract Butterflies and Caterpillars at Natureworks

Lily wore her Monarch wings and her bright pink Wellington boots

to Natureworks garden center last week.

We were looking for Milkweed plants for their new flower garden for butterflies.

It turned out that a workshop for kids was just starting--and it was about butterflies!

Lily and Mommy made a seed collage on cardstock.

They glued seeds of plants that Monarch caterpillars love to eat.

They will put the seed collage in the ground 

and hope for some good results.

You can't tell that it was over 90 degrees and 90% humidity.

It didn't help the heat, but making giant bubbles

made us forget the heat.

We can get a 5 gallon bucket, two pieces of PVC pipe

and a washer on a cord between them.

Now, we just need her bubble recipe!

Lily knows how to do it!

Seed Collages to Attract Butterflies and Caterpillars at Natureworks

Lily wore her Monarch wings and her bright pink Wellington boots

to Natureworks garden center last week.

We were looking for Milkweed plants for their new flower garden for butterflies.

It turned out that a workshop for kids was just starting--and it was about butterflies!

Lily and Mommy made a seed collage on cardstock.

They glued seeds of plants that Monarch caterpillars love to eat.

They will put the seed collage in the ground 

and hope for some good results.

You can't tell that it was over 90 degrees and 90% humidity.

It didn't help the heat, but making giant bubbles

made us forget the heat.

We can get a 5 gallon bucket, two pieces of PVC pipe

and a washer on a cord between them.

Now, we just need her bubble recipe!

Lily knows how to do it!

June Card Crafting Session

We missed Sue who was on vacation with her husband, both of whom card craft!  We can't wait to see her photos from the seminar she took while away.

Meanwhile her fellow crafters met and made some new card designs.

Pet cards were requested by our community for a variety of reasons:  sympathy, illness or surgery, new pet. This card covered all those occasions with one simple design:  multi-colored leopard spots, a bright yellow doily to highlight the cat heart die cut.  I think the sentiment was witty and versatile for many note by pet-lovers to pet-lovers.  This was Carol's kit.

Dianne brought a thank you card, perhaps for a teacher or a hostess after a weekend visit. Of course, the watermelons were a summer theme. Three different sizes and colors of circle die cuts, the smallest, red one embossed with a polka dot pattern definitely suggest watermelon, cool and delicious.

I made another variation on the theme for a birthday card.  

The fringed patterned paper on the background could be a napkin or tablecloth.

A third variation on the same theme.

Bonnie brought kits to make another summer theme:  the lake retreat 

with Adirondack chairs and a row boat and swimming dock.

I used it for a retirement card but it could also be a get well card

or just a summer note to a friend. 

Bonnie has the patience to do most of the fussy cutting for us.

We settle into using her Copic markers to add color.

Next meeting is 

Monday, July 11th from 1-4 p.m.

at the clubhouse.

May Card-making Session

We met again this month to make some note cards--and found that we had, as usual, a variety of ideas, designs, techniques and color palettes.

Sue used embossing on the cap, diploma and sentiment.  

The brads held the sentiment in place.

A silver on white stripe made a neutral background.

Bonnie brought us dragonflies

and a smudged background on textured watercolor paper.

Of course, she included some bling with the glitter!

I tried a new style for me--rather modern or contemporary!

We used homemade foam circles die cut and mounted on stamp blocks

as well as some purchased circle stamps.

We mixed and matched ink colors on palette paper.

And added some enamel embellishments for texture.

A really nice mix of cards!

We missed Carol who could not attend.

She had the pet card which had been requested for the basket.

Next time...

April Card-Making Session

Our group of card-makers met this afternoon with some great techniques and card designs presented for our crafting session.

Sue started with a linen-stamped background with spring blossoms stamped in black on top.

We used watercolor pens and blender pens to make the blossoms in many colors.

We distressed the edges of the stamped panel to coordinating border panels 

to make an attractive and seasonal card.

Carol designed a card with a negative die cut for the clouds in the blue sky.  A die-cut hello, some flowers and a perky bird set the mood for a spring greeting note card,

Bonnie was inspired by a rainbow background and purple heat embossing powder to

design this lavender beauty.  We heat embossed the flowers first and then daubed

many colors of ink on the background.  Some dry embossed the floral design with

a coordinating embossing folder for a unique look.

My design was simple and clean--except for the paint splotches!

Using brush stroke stamps with ink pads of different colors we created the 

rainbow strokes that ended with coordinating butterflies.

A variety of sentiments and our own individual styles 

in assembling the kits and trying the new techniques and materials

allowed us to fill the basket of cards for sale and for use by Outreach Committee

with delightful and artistic note cards,

And we had a great time working and chatting together, as always!

A Special Card for an Annie Birthday

My niece's daughter will be 4 this week. She had an Annie-themed birthday party this past weekend.  It was very fun with art activities based on Annie's locket and the NYC skyline.  The guests wore red and the girl of the day wore her Annie dress.

I made Annie a special card using the NYC skyline, a rainbow and a sun.

The front had a rainy day scene of the NYC skyline.

The inside revealed a blue sky, sunshine and rainbow sentiment.

I made the gray sky with a die-cut scalloped edge as a stencil

and a make-up sponge as a dauber.  I did the same for the blue sky but

with a chalk stamp in blue.

Another hand-cut stencil of a sun ray and some yellow chalk paint

helped me make sharp edges on the sunburst with the same method.

These two sets of cloud die-cuts, one with a sunshine and matching stamps

completed the details of the scenery.

A rainbow sentiment completed the theme for the birthday girl.

A clever party theme--and a fun card theme also!