Fairy Cardmaker

My Paper Studio Tour

2012-01-29T22:43:00.000-05:00

I'm on to the third configuration of my paper crafting studio within the last two years. I think I'm settled now. You can see the pictures from configuration one here: First Studio Tour.

The second configuration was very short lived (about 3 months). I made it in order to make room for a large 6 foot by 2.5 foot table I bought from a Scrapbook Store closing sale.

I broke up my two Ikea desks which were back to back in a large square shape in my first room layout. I made an L-Shape and shoved one desk over by a window. That was going to be my "guest seat" and mine was in the alley.

I was sitting on my pilates ball (since it doesn't get any other use!) but it kept rolling under my table when I got up, so that didn't make it to configuration three. It was also a little bit tight in the alley, even though I am a small person.

I did really like how m y white cubes fit just under the window though. They did look nice there. However, being right handed, sitting to the left of the room light was not good. Since most of my crafting is at night with artificial light, my right hand cast a shadow on my work. That wasn't very good for cutting. (Besides, I missed sitting by the window!)

Enter: Configuration Three!

(Sorry for the slightly blurry picture. I have a room video (silent, text only) that you can see better.

The table I snagged from the store closing fits perfectly along the back wall of my room: from the far wall to the closest door opening. So, that's where I stuffed it. You can see my corkboard under it. That is what I use to pin my paper quilling. Under the table is a wire cube configuration with my Accucut Grandemark dies in it.

Here, I have stepped in to the room. The door I came in is on the right. The closest (with the door removed) is in front of me and my Accucut Grandemark and large table is on the left. My white cubes have migrated to the closet.

This is the view if I stand between the white cubes in my closet. My Ikea desks are now in an L-Shape. My guest can sit right there in the middle of the room and I sit beside the window. The left wall is the "junk wall". I've designed a ScrapNCube wall studio (on paper) for future purchase. It will house all my papers and stamp stuff. My paper is currently in the white cubes. Once I transplant all the paper, most of the stuff along this wall will go in the cubes in the closet. Also on my "upgrade" list is some seating. I have had my chair since highschool. I plan to get a storage ottoman or small storage bench instead. That way, I can use the real estate under my butt for more storage!

A couple of storage ideas in my room: my stickles holder, copic storage and ribbon organization.

This is a 12 inch by 36 inch pine board I got at Home Depot. I covered it with scrapbook paper (3 sheets). My husband helped me pick out some conduit clamps and I picked the coat hangers. I measured out and he assembled it all for me and mounted it to the wall. I saw this idea from the Crafty Storage blog.

Here's a picture of the conduit clamps. They had silver metal and this plastic grey. I knew I had a paper to match the grey. Home Depot sells them in packs of 5 and 20 (or 25). (I was not big on painting the metal ones.)

My copic markers sit in these stacking kitchen drawer organizers that I got at Solutions (an organization store). The black Kettle Creek purse (canvas and shaped like a mini duffle bag - yes, acquired in the 80's!!!) holds my Letraset markers.) These are in the cubby by my left leg when I am sitting at my desk.

Lastly, my ribbon storage. If there is a lot left on the spool, I leave it on the spool. If there is not a tonne left, I take it off and hang it. I don't like getting part-way through a project and running out of ribbon. When the ribbon is hanging, I can tell how much I have left.

This is my homemade version of the Ribbon Ring. (The real thing is way better looking than mine). I stapled each ribbon to a cardstock tag. If the ribbon is too long, I loop it and use a straight pin at the base of the cardstock through all the loops. Each ribbon has its own cardstock tag and the tags are grouped by colour families and put on a jump ring by punching a hole in the cardstock. Most groups are by colour but all my Christmas ones are their own group.

Now that you've seen the "still version", you can click to watch the video version on my Vimeo channel. (Sorry for the camera shake. I'm still new to videos!)

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Winter Joy with a Quilled Snowflake

2012-01-21T17:16:00.001-05:00

Voila! Here is the Joy Fold card I will be showing my creative crew at my next workshop benefiting the Southern Ontario Animal Rescue (SOAR). A Joy Fold card is somewhat like a card within a card. Sometimes it's just fun to have a different kind of fold. It certainly makes your cards stand out more!

This card features a polar bear stamp by C.C. Designs and a die cut snowflake by Boss Kut.

I used a beautiful foil paper by SEI. I'm not sure if it shows well in the photo.

I used a sentiment stamp from Little Paper Shop on the inside. I really like this sentiment. It's one of my winter favourites. It reads: "Snowflakes are the flowers of winter."

With such a lovely sentiment, I decided I would try my hand at a paper quilled snowflake. I've never tried one before. The required symmetry has always put me off. I know that I am not good at making uniform shapes with quilling. I didn't plan it out. I had an idea in my head and just went at it.

This was the result:

Borrowing some gamer lingo, this result is what I would call an EPIC FAIL! The circles were easy, but the delicate swirls are a complete disaster.

I decided to make a second attempt. I made it bigger, too, in hopes of reducing the mangling that happened when I handled the pieces. This time, I assembled all the parts first and then attached them to the centering anchor. First, I made the circles, some snowshoe shapes and some hearts.

Then, I put the circles in the snowshoes and then I put the snowshoes inside the hearts. Lastly, I attached the hearts to the centre.

It's still lopsided, but better. It took me a long time to make it too! I guess practice makes perfect. While it is far from perfect, it was good enough to try it on my card. (It's actually a little too big, but good enough!)

I will have to keep trying to get better. My next experiment, I will replace the hearts with two tear drops. The circle and snowshoe is really an eyeball shape. *sigh* We'll see! Maybe in my trials I'll hit on something that is easier but still looks complicated. (One can hope!)

Playing with my new toy...

2012-01-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

... an Accucut Grandemark die cutting machine. I splurged on it and got a number of dies that I can use to make mini albums. (Well, okay three of them are actually mini-album dies.) This is my first experiment. I made a coupon holder or receipt holder book.

I made a video of how it opens in a fan shape. (Click the image to go to the video! If you have choppy video, pause for a bit while some of the video loads ahead of time. Then play smoothly.)

I used a tutorial I found on Club Scrap. I really like Tricia Morris as a project instructor. She is animated yet still very clear and easy to follow.

My next project will be the sample card for the first workshop of 2012 benefiting the Southern Ontario Animal Rescue. We are learning the "Joy Fold" card. It's a bit like small card on a bigger one. Well... you'll see when I post it!

One UFO Down!

2012-01-14T21:13:00.000-05:00

I did it! In fact, I doubly did it! I completed one UnFinished Object that has been on my to-do list for a couple of years. I made a Holiday Card Keeper from a pocket page mini-album tutorial I found by LittlePeaceOfMyHrt.

(This is the project sitting in the centre of my desk in my last post about UFOs.)

I actually modified the measurements of the tutorial. The tutorial creates a pocket page that is 6 inches long by 5 inches wide and binds it in a landscape position. I would do that for a mini-album to help stop dust from falling in the pockets. However, for my card keeper, I wanted to bind it in a portrait orientation. So, I made my pockets 5.5 inches wide by 6 inches tall to make room for the binding. The pockets on the insides of the covers are 5.25 inches wide by 5.75 inches tall.

How did I double do it? Not only did I finish this project, but I made a video to show it off. My first video!! I shot it with my point and shoot camera and I even added captions. I'm so proud of me and my very bare bones basic video. You can see the insides of my Holiday Card Keeper in this short video on my new Vimeo Channel!

Watch Video

I hope everyone is keeping crafty!

UFOs - UnFinished Objects

2012-01-07T11:17:00.000-05:00

I have four projects in the works right now. I decided to take part in the friendly inspiration thread on Two Peas in a Bucket about UFOs or "UnFinished Objects". Here, you can see my desk with three of my UFOs: a winter mini album, a holiday card keeper (see my 2012 resolutions) and the next shipment of my custom fairy card order. (The fourth project is still my wedding album.)

The card keeper is in the middle. I will post the finished project when it is done. My problem is that I'm waiting on my new machine with new dies to finish this and my winter album. (The winter album is under all the blue stuff in the top left corner). I bought a snowflake die that would look smashing on these projects. (I also bought chipboard in that order which I need to make the covers for my card keeper.)

The bits of my custom fairy card order is in the top right. The last time I did an order like this, the planned papers and bits were scattered everywhere in my paper studio. I re-arranged my studio in October to make room for the new machine. I worked with that for about 2 months. Then I decided to re-arrange again. The light is in the centre of the room. I realized I need to sit on the right side of the room so the light is to my left so that my right hand will not cast a shadow when I am writing or using scissors.

During my post-Holiday clean up, I found an unused Mimi paper keeper. It came with my Mimi tote bag. So, I piled up all the papers I have chosen for my custom order in to it and now it sits neatly on one corner of my desk (except for the bits I'm working on that are out).

I promise to do the room tour as soon as my newest tool arrives and is in place! I know I've been promising for a while. So long, in fact, that the last set up of my room that was never seen has already been redone! I think I am happy now. I just need that crowning jewel of my equipment arsenal. (There's one piece of furniture I'm eyeballing too, but that is for another year.)

What UFOs are you working on?

Crafty Resolutions?

2011-12-29T18:10:00.002-05:00

Got em'? I've got a few but the biggest is getting more organized! How do you organize your holiday cards? I am terribly disorganized. I try to send my handmade ones but a) I get bored of the same design and b) I have so many retail ones from the charities to which I donate. Because I get bored of the same design, I change it up now and then. Unfortunately, then I cannot remember who got what design each year, so I’m afraid of sending a repeat design!

I really think I need to make a cookie-cutter design per year. I can vary the colours, maybe also the main embellishment but I should stick to one pattern. I try to send handmade to only those who would appreciate them because of the large time investment. I have to say, my track record for sending handmade holiday cards is terrible. Birthday, I’ve done fairly well, but not holiday.

How do you keep track of who you have sent to? I really need to make a master list that I can re-use year over year. I think I will make a small ring-bound book. I will make pocket pages where each pocket is big enough for a card and the front of the pocket will have a label. That way, I can label who is getting what card and see how many I’ve made and how far I have to go. I can always add more pages as more people enter my list and I can also replace labels as people leave my list.

I also have this dream of making an event calendar for birthdays and anniversaries. The front page would be a picture of the person(s) and the date. The back of the page would have a pocket for the card I plan to send. That way, I can make a card when I feel like it, store it for when it is needed and also not forget that I made it. Each event would be displayed until its date passes. Then you turn the page of the event calendar and the next event is displayed until its date passes and so on. (The plan might fall down if there are many events all bunched closely together though. Meh – nothing’s perfect.)

There you have it. Those are my two main organizational goals. One day, I might actually carry them out. What works for you? Advice is welcome!

Snails and Smiles

2011-12-18T00:15:00.001-05:00

Two Peas in the Bucket is an online scrapbooking and stamping store. They have an extensive user gallery and forums. I like to go there for inspiration or, sometimes, to discuss products and learn new techniques. During the summer, a mother posted on the forums about her son having gone through rehab. She was (rightfully) very proud and also very sensitive to his fragile state. She asked the Two Peas members to send handmade cards in a card drive. Harnessing the “Power of the Peas” happens frequently on that board and it is nice to see total strangers helping each other.

Now, making cards for teenage boys is not easy. Luckily, I have my three nephews, so I am frequently picking up “boy appropriate” paper goodies. To send some encouragement to this boy, I made this card with a digital image from A Day for Daisies:

It’s called “snail ride”. I bought it to use on a future card for a nephew’s birthday with the planned sentiment of “Enjoy the Ride”. However, it worked beautifully for this teenage boy who is turning his life around with only great effort and personal struggle. “Slow and Steady” is the message. After all, all things worth having are worth the effort!

I used the manliest colours I could find (I really need to get some more Copics!) and I tried to make the snail’s shell look like stone (along the “rock steady” theme). The thing with A Day for Daisies snails is that the shell has such a lovely swirl. They can look like little roses when coloured. A more expert inker could probably make them look like speckled sea shells. Not being so expert, I went with stone for this masculine card. I think it turned out okay.

Getting my fairy fix

2011-12-11T16:26:00.001-05:00

I loved this "extra cream fairy" digital image from "A Day for Daisies" as soon as I saw it, but I was having trouble coming up with a sentiment. Then I married it with the Etsy for Animals December challenge to create something that is a treat. That's when I thought of the "enjoy a little extra cream" birthday sentiment.

Sentiment woes, however, was not my only problem. The first fairies I made were big. I had planned to make them the dominant element of my card. Unfortunately, the sentiment is long winded, so it had to be bigger than I intended. I made both pieces and then laid them out how planned and they were too big for the card! Eeek!

I first wanted to use my damask embossing folder on some metallic brown cardstock I had. That cardstock is a deep rich brown, like black coffee. I thought it was the perfect fit. So, I embossed a fancy square die cut to mat the fairy's and I choose a patterned paper to match it and then..... it was too busy. Way too busy. The fairy's sweetness was drowned out by the competing patterns.

So, I removed the patterned paper and I used a monochrome glittered paper. Still too busy - glitter versus metallic mat. Remove the glitter. I tried a different embossing folder on the card front to serve as a stand-in for patterned paper then. Still too busy!! Argh!

Then, the sky opened and light shone down on the box that finally arrived: my wholesale order. I was completely out of white cardstock for the last three weeks. I had made emergency runs to the local scrapbook store to buy some at retail to finish some custom orders. In my wholesale order of cardstock, I also had some patterned papers for my newest die cut fairy birthday cards custom order. (I desperately needed some double sided patterned papers to go with that too.)

In there was some paper by Basic Grey that was perfect for these digital image fairies! (Plus a stamp: Magical Birthday Wishes. YES! This will be showing up on some future fairies.) Here's how I finally got the fairy to fit on a card.

See how the paper is still somewhat plain but not totally boring? That's the perfect way to make the fairy be the focal image. What a life saver! Since the bigger fairy was made as part of an Etsy for Animals challenge, 10% of it's proceeds will be donated to the Southern Ontario Animal Rescue.

I made sure the next round of fairies were printed a little smaller.

If you click on the next picture, you will see the metallic of the brown mats and the glitter I used to outline the wings. In my earlier attempts at this card, I tried to colour the whole wings in with the glitter gel pen, but it was too big of an area to cover. I was getting hideous streak marks everywhere. So, I tried my very lightest yellow on the larger fairy card and outlined with glitter to give an illusion of colour. Then, I decided to just outline the plain white and I like that better. I considered trying to draw spider lines like a dragonfly wing, but decided against it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

I really like this image. With my new "Magical Birthday Wishes" stamp, I also decided to spring for a dragon stamp from A Day for Daisies. That will give me the "boy" version of this card. Woohoo! All these fairies were coloured with my copic markers and cut out by hand. I don't have the patience to superblend, so I only used two colours per area instead of the recommended three. For the pink dress, I used only one pink marker and I used my colourless blender to make the highlights. The coffee cream was hard to blend because the paper I used seemed to go transparent if I wet it too much. I might have to investigate some more copic friendly papers. (Know any?)

Here comes the snow

2011-12-07T20:18:00.001-05:00

Here's a set of quick custom Holiday cards I made. I had a set in my iCraft shop with cool tones: blue and aqua. My customer requested red and blue. I had trouble picturing ANYthing that would work. Mix a warm tone and a cool tone for a winter card? It just would not compute.

I got the message just before bed one night. I laid awake thinking about it, trying to figure out how to combine them. I spent the next day at work thinking about it off and on too and nothing was coming to me. I was stressing a little bit. I finally put it from my mind and decided I would have to wait until I was home and could see what kind of paper was in my stash. (Then, I had to think if I even had enough red for the quantity of cards requested as I don't work with red much at all, actually! I quickly squashed that thought too so I could do my work.)

After supper came the test. What does the Fairy Cardmaker have in her tickle trunk (dating myself, but I really liked Mr. Dress Up as a child.) I pulled two reds and started to play match maker. I looked at my sample design my customer had pointed out and thought about layering. I thought, well, I'll just make the red have a little wee border. Then it will be mostly blue with a red highlight. (I'm biased - my favourite colour is blue!)

Turned out differently. Red is front and centre. And I like it. I am surprised: both that I was able to put blue and red together and that I like it. Wonderful thing: my customer liked it too! It just served to remind me that getting pushed out of your comfort zone can have surprisingly pleasing results!

I'm still behind in my cards though - I have a large custom order with a delivery schedule. I am only 1/4 of the way through the first delivery. Plus I have a personal 65th birthday that needs a card super fast. I have an idea for that one, so I'm off to it!

Custom Frenzy

2011-11-29T21:10:00.001-05:00

Challenge is good. I've been a little ambivalent about some changes happening at work. Half of my job is going to be removed from me over the next five years - the half that I fought for and wrote the job description for. I'm going to regress back to what I was doing before. I'm also going to have to re-prove my skills for my old function now that I'm returning to it full-time. On the other hand, the opportunities and the ceiling for me at work just sky-rocketted a whole lot higher.

So, while I see the next 5 years are a setback for me, it's a temporary set back. It has made me realize that, new growth is found through challenge. I fear change. I accept that life is about change - from year to year, from day to day, from moment to moment even. I face it, but I'm allowed to still fear it. So long as I face it. If you don't, you go the way of the dinosaur.

Which brings me to my first custom order: a die cut dinosaur.

So, I've gotten a frenzy of custom orders this month. It's a challenge for sure. These orders make me smile and fret at the same time. The day job comes first and it has its own host of challenges right now (and for the next foreseeable five years). With that going on, will I be able to get enough supplies in for these custom orders? Will I meet the deadlines? Will I even be able to create what is desired?

Well, I had to say no to a couple designs. I knew I didn't have the talent to make them. If I can't draw it, I can't break it down to basic shapes and, therefore, can't reproduce it on my computer. Lucky for me, the customer gave me choices. As soon as I saw the choices - one stood out. An image immediately came to my mind and I sketched it down:

At first, I planned to cut the dinosaur body separate from the spikes because the body is one colour and the spikes are another. Then, I realized I could cut the dinosaur FULL in silhouette - body, spikes and all. I could then cut the body without the spikes and just layer it on top of the full silhouette. The spikes will stick out and be placed perfectly every time. I won't have to place each spike by hand. (Nor will I have to place that itty bitty eyeball. It can be the same colour as the spikes if I just cut it as a window through the body layer.)

Here's what it looks like on my computer screen.

And here is is all finished as a Christmas ornament. The names are too small to make with die cut letters. I put a gel pen in my machine and drew them. Then I just coloured them in.

I like that this ornament doesn't have to be an ornament. It can be a door hanger! One day, I will have time to make some plain ones, but not until my other custom orders are happily on their way. I'll tell you about the others later!

It's a keeper!

2011-11-20T16:49:00.001-05:00

I made my first match box treasure box a little while back. I've been meaning to make more ever since and have also been thinking about artist collaboration but I have only brainstormed and not much more than that. Yes, it takes me a LOOOOONG time to execute an idea. But, as I said, I've been wanting to make room for a new machine and that means cranking out old project ideas.

This is my baby boy keepsake box. I upgraded the box pulls from my awkward button knobs on my first box to ribbon pulls. I think this is much better!

I found a little poem on a quote site and used it for the outside of the box. I completed it to suit my box with the inside poem.

(Click to Enlarge)

I'm happy with how it turned out. My brainstorming is leading me towards smaller themed boxes. At my pace, I'm sure I'll get to it in a year or two!

Little Quilled Angels

2011-11-14T20:27:00.001-05:00

I snagged a big table for my paper studio from my favourite local scrapbook store's closing sale. I bought it to hold the big honkin' machine I've been drooling over for nearly a year. However, to make room for it, I had to move one of my microwave carts out. Until I can buy the wall unit I want, I can't abandon the cart, so it's in the hallway.

Plus, my new table is just littered with unfinished projects. I tried to tell myself that if I finished these projects, then I could buy my machine. No toys if I don't sit myself down to use them!

Some of my unfinished bits are these quilling strips I cut from cardstock. I think I'm going to try real quilling strips on my next round of goods to buy. However, I had cut these for a class, so they were all the right size to make little paper quilled angels.

When I was pulling out some Christmas paper to donate to Creating for a Cure (which I talked about a couple weeks ago), I realized just how much Holiday paper I have. Put two and two together, and I have some more paper quilled angels!

I love the colours in this paper combo (from Die Cuts with a View). It reminds me of snowflakes on a calm day. When the wind is still, that is when winter is beautiful.

It's a small start, but it's a start!

Are you a Beanie or a Bonnet?

2011-11-08T20:41:00.002-05:00

This weekend, my workshop gals and I are making beanie hat gift card holders! We are using the tutorial posted by Carolina Buchting on Splitcoast Stampers. I provide guidance and pre-cut materials and workshop fee covers materials and a donation to the Southern Ontario Animal Rescue.

Our kits use this teal-green, white polka-dotted paper. Depending how you dress the brim, you can make it a birthday bonnet or a boyish beanie! I was so impressed with how easy it was to put together. I had to alter the instructions a little because I don't have a handheld Crop-a-Dile. I have the Crop-A-Dile II Big Bite, so I could not easily slip it between the layers to punch my hole and set my eyelet.

I like my revised way better anyway. It's easier to work with flat pieces. The other revision I made was to round the corners of the brim at the top. I think it makes it look more like the brim is going around the hat instead of the sharp edges in the original samples.

I made whole bunch of these, they were so easy (and fun!)

On some I used buttons and a straight-bottomed brim. I think that style lends itself better towards males. I also created a Naked Baby Beanie! Now, before you all report me to the authorities, the "naked" applies to the BEANIE. These beanies aren't dressed in any patterned paper. I simply embossed the cardstock, added ribbon and didn't even dress up the eyelet hinge.

I used a Stampin' Up! punch for the brim lace on them. On the others, I used decorative scalloped scissors. Any border punch or border die would work though!

This one is my best attempt at a male winter hat. The reveal is in the next photo. The gift card sits under the cap! The cap is hinged and tucks behind the brim. Open it up and reveal your gift card! (It would work as a money holder too.)

Of course, I had to make some that were holiday themed

I think it's going to be a VERY fast class but oh so fun!

The Holidays Are IN!

2011-11-07T07:30:00.000-05:00

Now that October is gone, it is time to turn my brain on to the idea of Christmas. Yes! I feel the holiday spirit weaving its way in to my thoughts.

On Saturday, I went to the "Made by Hand" show at the International Centre in Mississauga. I think it was the first ever. It featured only local Ontario artists. I saw many shops that I recognized from iCraft and Etsy. Among them, I met:

Ahkriti, a jewellery maker on iCraft - a hardworking, inspiring lady with a great eye for colours
Thunderpeep, a digital artist selling stationery and other papercraft both on iCraft and Etsy, an artist with fabulously crisp and out-of-the-box designs
Sewlutionsbyamo, a handmade leather accessories shop on Etsy (including wallets and cuffs), one I have long looked at on Etsy for seamlessly practical AND fashionable items

I went to the show originally just to check it out. It was larger than I thought it would be. I also noticed on the flyer that the door proceeds sponsored Crafting for a Cure. Door tickets were amazingly low for an International Centre event (only $1 or $2). My entry was free because I brought the flyer. I went to their site (WARNING: Some pages launch video immediately.) I found that they take product donations. So, since I wasn't contributing to door proceeds, I rummaged through my scraproom and donated: a whole bunch of Christmas paper, two unopened Tombow Aqua glues, one opened and one unopened Scotch photo splits, a bunch of stickers, some cardstock alphabets (punch outs) and some ribbons. It was probably a 2 inch thick stack of stuff plus the ribbons and glues on top.

Dropping off my donation at the entrance put me in a warm fuzzy mood. I wandered for a bit first, not really looking hard because I hadn't intended to buy anything in particular. I saw some hand painted ornaments that I really liked though. There was a deal to buy 5, so I made a little set out of them. Once I bought that, then I remembered I needed a tree topper too. I found a couple but I bought the smaller one because our tree is not super tall. The topper is pictured at the top of this post. I LOVE the contrast of the jingle bell colours against the neutrals of the angel. Plus, the jingle bells are such a happy sound! The other things I bought were gifts, so I'm not going to mention them here. All in all, I was very happy with my purchases.

It was a good kick off to the Holidays! We had a family skate that night. We rented an indoor ice rink. When you split the cost between a few families, it was quite affordable and less intimidating for the little ones than a public skate. Our nephews started out shaky and nervous but were having fun by the end. We let them take it slow and their confidence kept building over the hour. Skating was another happy holiday feeling!

Sunday, I worked on my workshop samples and instructions. The item was much easier to make than I imagined! I made a whole bunch of samples AND all the kits too. (I'll post those soon.)

There's something in the air, I tell you. Something good.

Mousy Birthday

2011-10-31T10:00:00.000-04:00

I finished my Grammie's custom order of cards for this year. I included 10 holiday cards, a handful of Thank-you cards and two birthday cards. Here's a peek at one of the holiday cards:

It's a snowflake holiday card. I used a BossKut snowflake die and an Quickutz snowflake embossing folder. I love the look of embossing. The die cut seemed to match the style of the embossing folder, so I went with it.

I also made these mousy birthday cards. I tried to keep them masculine, but the mouse is a girl. So, I think it makes this card gender neutral. Since Grammie is a girl and she is the sender, the mouse can be her and it can be sent to girls or boys.

I coloured them with my copics. I also used a sparkle gel pen on the flower centres for a touch of glitz. The digital image is from Di's Digi Downloads. She has some really cute critters.

These ones are larger than normal cards. I had some 4.5 by 7 inch envelopes that I wanted to use up. However, I don't like making cards larger than 6 inches. At 6 inches I can get 2 from a 12 x 12 inch page of cardstock. So, I cut these envelopes down and added a patterned paper flap. I got the idea from the tailored envelope tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers.

Next on the to-do list: Make the sample for my upcoming workshop! This one is going to be finished just under the wire. That seems to be the trend as of late!

Fall Auction Date for Dog Rescue

2011-10-26T21:13:00.001-04:00

The date of the Speaking of Dogs online auction has been announced! They will have over 200 items available, including my dog mini-album. My album is one of the less expensive donations but a lot of supporters have donated BIG ticket items too. Please remember to check out the offerings from FRIDAY NOVEMBER 4th, 9am to SUNDAY NOVEMBER 13th, 9 pm EST.

Handmade Journals - Kards for Kids

2011-10-24T21:24:00.003-04:00

Some time ago, I mentioned the Kards for Kids blog where a working mom volunteer gathers cards donated by cardmakers to take to Toronto's Sick Kids Hospital. The nurses there had requested some notebooks too for the parents to keep track of appointments and medications and such. So, I decided to try altering some notebooks.

(Click for larger picture.)

I tried to make the blue ones as masculine options for the dads. All these stamps are from Hampton Art. I really like the elegance of the leaves. Speaking of stamps, I originally heard about this card drive from High Hopes Rubber Stamps, a stamp shop out in the prairies of Canada. They sponsored one of the drives. Bela, the drive organizer, is a stamper too. She is a Close to My Heart Hostess, which is a home-based stamping business (like Stampin' Up! and others).

The red journals are embossed with the raised part of the design inked in red. I mailed these off on the weekend. Bela is in Oshawa, a city north of Toronto. She makes regular drop offs to Sick Kids Hospital throughout the year. She has a dedicated crew of cardmakers, and I have been watching for almost a year. It feels good to have finally made something to contribute!

Gray is still Foxy!

2011-10-19T15:35:00.000-04:00

My husband complains that the grey sneaking in to his hair ages him. I say it makes him more distinguished and, no, I’m not just saying it. I mean it! If you think back to caveman days, men who were brash, irresponsible, unskilled or just plain stupid died young. It makes sense that, in the eyes of women, men ripen with age. Besides, being upset over grey hair is better than being upset over no hair! Despite his silver streaks, my husband’s hair is still thick and soft. My fingers don’t care what colour it is!

I made this card for him. His birthday is Halloween. He saw the card already (somehow), so it's not a surprise anymore. It's still blank inside, so the poem I'll have to come up with will be the surprise.

Now, is it the same for women? Not really. Even using caveman logic: younger women bear children; older women don’t. Greying on a lady is not as acceptable in our society (thanks a lot, media!). Grey on a lady can still look good in my books if the hair still has a smooth texture, although the more uniform the colour, the better. It’s the transition period between gray and vibrant colour that is tough. Just like growing out your bangs: the in-between stage is horrific. Bangs or no bangs is okay. All grey or no gray is okay. In-between looks frazzled. Sigh, what’s a girl to do?

Dog Mini Album for Charity Auction

2011-10-14T15:03:00.000-04:00

Speaking of Dogs animal rescue (in Toronto) will be hosting it's online charity auction in November 2011. I have created a new mini album this year to donate to the auction. (You can see some of last year's donated album in an older post.) This mini album has a total of 24-26 spaces for photos and journaling.

I started with the chipboard cover using a digital stamp that I hand coloured. The dog stamp is "Rustic Kolar" from K'n K Designs and the papers are largely from the American Crafts "City Park" collection plus some scraps I had around.

There are two pull out tags which can have a photo on one side and journaling on the back.

There is also an accordion page (my first!). I had trouble figuring out how to close it. I wanted to use this paw print ribbon I snagged from the closing of Scrapalicious (my local scrapbook store), but it's too thick to tie. I dug around my crafty stuff and found some Velcro dots, so I cut them down and used those. It worked fairly well, I think.

Since the album is bound by jump rings, owners can add their own pages at any time or re-arrange the page order.

I'm no mini-album expert. I may try to simplify the process by choosing a few layouts and repeating them with different papers or by choosing a uniform colour scheme. I still have a lot of room to experiment!

I hope my album helps generate some well-deserved funds for the canines and their volunteers!

Calico Kitty

2011-10-01T10:00:00.000-04:00

Just a very quick post today. Someone had commented on my kitty in the window card post about seeing my die cut kitty in calico colours. I thought I had one, but I couldn't find it. So, I made a new one. I made this one a wee bit smaller than the one I had before. The original size was large for scrapbook pages but this one would do well on a card. (That's where it's likely going to end up anyway!)

Hope you like it! (His snout almost looks like a big bushy moustache!)

Plus, since it's Halloween month, here's a version of just the silhouette on a pumpking that I made last year:

Big Impacts from Small Things

2011-09-25T14:12:00.002-04:00

My mother-in-law, who is truly a shining example of a mother (I’m so lucky to have such wonderful in-laws!), received some unpleasant health news. Not knowing things is just as stressful as receiving concrete bad news. I’m a firm believer that stress does physically manifest itself. Similarly, positivity can improve physical health. (My 90-year-old grandmother is proof of that!)

So, I made an encouragement card to remind her to keep her chin up. There is no point on dwelling things that you cannot change or undo. We can only keep going forward and aiming for the stars. One of my favourite quotes is: “Aim for the moon. Even if you miss, you will still land amongst the stars.”

I didn’t have a starry sky image (although I’ve been eyeing some nice ones!) but I did have this image from A Day for Daisies of a wee little snail perched high up on a flower. (Yes, I have some strange obsession with these snails. I love how they look like little travelling rosebuds!) The digital stamp is named “Hang in There” but I liked it better to convey the message “Look how Far You’ve Come”. I wrote on the inside: “Keep Looking Up. You’ll be surprised how high you can climb.” I thought it was a nice form of encouragement. (In fact, it might make for a nice graduation card too – if only there was an itty bitty graduation cap for that snail!)

Turns out the health news has been dealt with and we are expecting no further tests or treatments! Hooray!
Happy thoughts for everyone!

If you find yourself in need of an encouragement card, I put a blue one in my Etsy Shop and a brown one in my iCraft shop.

Thank Goodness for Little Boys & give a poem a home

2011-09-19T17:49:00.001-04:00

It's very hard to craft for boys. Lucky for me, I have three nephews and no nieces so I am constantly trying to come up with cards for little boys. A co-worker of mine was going off for maternity leave at the end of August. She and her husband had their third child and they knew it was going to be a boy. She has two little girls already, so a boy is going to be a brand new experience for them!

When I saw this digital stamp image from A Day for Daisies, I knew this was the perfect one for her!

I also composed a little poem for her. (It can be for any baby: girl or boy.)

(Click photo to enlarge.)

Their son was born on labour day 2011! Here's a picture of the little sprite.

Take Note

2011-09-11T22:13:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I held a workshop for my creative crew. We learned how to make easel cards. On one of the cards, we inked an embossed pattern which really makes it pop.

I also showed my crew how cookie-cutter dies work. They are see though so that you can see where you are placing the cut. We used my cookie-cutter dies to cut out the F and the Friend sentiments. What I like about inking plain white embossed paper is that you can use the same colour as your stamped image to create a perfect match. There is no guess work about ink colours and cardstock colours.

I also showed my girls how this technique can be applied to other projects like these composition notebooks.

I made some of these with the red flowers and will be donating them to the Kards for Kids drive for the Toronto Sick Kids Hospital. They have asked for some notebooks to give the parents to keep track of appointments and other important medical information.

I might even make a batch of these for the Executive Administrators at work this year for Christmas.

Another Kitty in the Window

2011-09-04T18:37:00.002-04:00

We had another Executive Administrator depart the firm's employment. She's one of my creative crew, so I will still get to see her and hear all the juice from her new firm. (wink) She is also going back to school to pursue a Chartered Accountant designation. She has a high level of commitment so I'm sure she will be fine as she works her way through the courses. If she needs a little help, well, she'll be surrounded by accountants at work!

I know she has a grey cat and a black cat at home. I also know she has a tough time photographing her black one. So, I decided to create her card with a black cat!

This paper die cut cat is my own original design. I meant for it to be cartoony with its giant paws and all. It is made in pieces so I could make a patchwork calico cat if I wanted too. (I outlined his snout with grey ink but it didn't come out well in the photos.) This kitty is looking through a window in the card front. I've worked at the same firm since my co-operative terms at university so, when people leave, I feel like I'm watching them go from a window - never to step outside the walls myself. It's a scary world out there and I watch them all go off in to the wild yonder.

On the outside, I put the cat's thought bubble on a piece of projector transparency so the dots could hang through the window. The full cat die cut is on the inside with my message. This window was cut with my new nesting bracket squares from Lifestyle Crafts. I got kinds of nesting dies and I have been playing with them a lot lately! We'll be using them for my upcoming easel card class too! Weeee!

Pantone Colours 2011 - The Brown Collection

2011-08-30T20:16:00.000-04:00

Pantone comes out with colours for each season. The Fall 2011 "in-colours" are somewhat soft or mute which, for me, symbolizes how summer recedes into Fall.

Dee, from DeeCaffeinated, has featured my card in a treasury that highlights some of the cooler tones in the Fall in-colours. Mine is the card with butterflies which shows the colours nougat and phlox.

'Pantone Fall 2011 Color Outlook - Quarry, Coffee Liqueur, Nougat, Cedar' by DeeCaffeinated

Inspired by the Pantone 2011 Fall Color outlook http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/pantone.aspx?pg=20835&ca=4Previously curated treasuries in Bamboo and Honeysuckle

Thanksgiving / Fall Gif... ThisandThatCra... $3.99	Brown Orange Gold Fall ... ScrappyTudeStu... $98.00	Autumn Floral Bib Neckl... PrettyPigDesig... $30.00
Victoria - Sterling sil... lamazonian $195.00	Encouragement Card Butt... fairycardmaker $4.25	French fine art photogr... lumieredumatin $15.00
16x16 Accent Pillow COV... pasqueflower $12.50	Crazy Lace Agate Bracel... FireflyMyst $24.00	Journal Notebook Handma... MandarinMoon $45.00
Camellia & Green Tea So... tillydesigns $5.50	Freshwater Multi color ... vintagerelics $25.00	Copper and Fire Agate W... SnowHandmadeJe... $35.00
Autumn Quatrefoil Fresh... taradawn $18.00	Cream cushion with gree... bettymo25 $60.00	Metallic Spiral Rope Ne... CarefreeJewelr... $15.00
Degrade Green Mohair C... Starpompon $80.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

You can see Dee's other Pantone Fall 2011 colour finds on her blog: Designed by Dee.

More Handmade Holidays for SOAR!

2011-08-28T08:00:00.003-04:00

I made a couple more Christmas cards to put in the pile that will be donated to the Southern Ontario Animal Rescue this year. You can read about the first batch in my earlier post. Claire, one of my creative crew, also took some extra envelopes home to make more bagalopes for SOAR's annual Howliday Party. She's made 10 more of these, with the super cute black paw ribbons!

I had to make some cards for a co-worker who is moving on in her career (yes, another one! More on that later.) So, I designed a quick Christmas card and used a sentiment I had stamped for a previous class (I have so many extras still). It turned out cute so I made another one to put in the SOAR pile! It's the snowflake one.

It was really fast to emboss and then ink the raised design. It has a very distressed look which adds to the texture. I really like how it turned out so I'm making more cards with that technique.

For the reindeer (which is a gorgeous Harmonie stamp - Harmonie being a Canadian company), I used up some scraps. I created the patchwork background from some scraps of Christmas paper. I put the reindeer on foam tape to make it pop out from the slightly busy background better.

I'm sure I'll think of some more designs between now and the end of October. :)

Can't find my sketchbook

2011-08-21T16:37:00.000-04:00

You know it's time to clean when you can't find stuff.

I've been toying with ideas for my shops. Since the beginning, I considered selling digital stamps of my artwork and die cut designs. However, it's a really painstaking process to electronically clean them up properly. (Either that, or I'm doing it the hard way for not knowing any better!) I've also toyed with importing my drawings to my digital cutter software and making them in to die cuts. My dragon ones, in particular, would be silhouette cuts - meaning, I would cut them and use the negative as a mat. I'd put a paper behind it to fill in the cut details and then mount it in a frame or to a note pad cover or a magnet. Something.

But I can't find my sketchbook. It's been bothering me for a couple months. I've looked where all my other sketchbooks are, but I can't find the one that has the sketch above. While this sketch is over a decade old, but I know I saw the book in our new house because I scanned this image to give to someone who wanted a dragon logo for her business cards. I thought it was a good candidate because it's a single tone. You could print it in any colour you want and you would only need one colour. I've looked in every place that I stash any of my art stuff.

I've also been drooling over a new machine. A BIG, expensive new machine. There are two on the market that are fairly compatible with each other in features and price. One has a higher upfront investment and one has a higher replacement parts investment. Both offer custom die cut designs. That means, I could take my sketches or electronic designs and have them converted into manual die cut designs. (I actually find it easier to mass produce on a manual system rather than my electronic cutter.)

Ooooooooo.... the temptations! Well, I am somewhat glad to say that, since I can't find my sketchbook anyway, this decision can happily sit on hold. It's going to be on the back burner for at least a couple years. I"m sure my book will turn up and I'll wonder why I ever put it wherever it is hiding!

Quilled Cat Farewell

2011-08-16T21:22:00.001-04:00

One of our executive administrators has found a job downtown and moved on in her career. So, I had to make a farewell card for her. I know she likes cats, so I made sure to use one! I used my quilled kitty and made a window card. I actually ordered some frames to make a shaped window but it didn't arrive in time, so I had to use the only window-like die cut I had at the time, which is just a scalloped square.

This is actually a version of my quilled cat love you window card. Instead of dangling a heart, though, this kitty has an upbeat balloon! It says, "Congrats on your new job." Then, on the inside, it says, "You will be missed."

The kitty is a little bulky to be on the inside, but since I was hand-delivering it, it wasn't really a problem. I popped the balloon up on foam tape so it would have the same dimension as the quilled cat.

She liked it!

Monkey Birthday Card at 7 yrs - Give a Poem a Home

2011-08-09T18:49:00.001-04:00

My collection of poems is ever growing. I have always loved to write so I welcome the continual challenge! I considered freelancing for fun and tried to find a greeting card company to accept my submissions, but my search didn't go very well!

Oh well, more free poems for you! This little card, I made for my eldest nephew's recent 7th birthday. He was born in the year of the monkey, so when this monkey digital stamp was offered as a freebie from Dustin Pike, I had to snag it! When he offers freebies, he tends to offer both an uncoloured black and white image and a coloured one. Normally, I like to colour the images myself, but I was in a rush this time, so I used the pre-coloured one.

It was absolutely perfect for my nephew's birthday! Like, I said, I was in a rush so I kept the design simple. Simple works best for masculine cards anyway! Where my contribution to this card comes in is the poem on the inside.

This birthday poem is for a 7 year old, but it could work for an 11 year old too! It goes like this:

To a little monkey turning seven,

Hope your birthday is pure heaven.

With lots of smiles and lots of fun,

Laugh and play ‘til the day is done!

Happy Birthday from us to you.

Hope you enjoy the whole day through.

Taming the Lace

2011-08-03T21:48:00.000-04:00

So, I decided to challenge myself to work with lace. I needed to make a happy engagement card for my uncle. He has spent his 50 years as a bachelor and now has finally found "the one". Hooray! So I set out to make a lovey dovey card and I wanted to use lace.

The lace did not want to behave. It was very unruly, curling and bubbling here, there, everywhere! Since I knew I was putting a panel over top of it, I decided to cheat and put some tape underneath the lace.

I got you good, wild lace! For the panel going over top of it, I knew the lace would be bulky under half. So I double mounted the top portion of the panel with foam tape and single mounted the portion going over top of the lace.

Tah-dah! I used a sparkly marker on pink the hearts of the stamped tree. It looks much sweeter in person.

For a first time using lace, what do you think? I'm not a very frilly girl, so I don't know if I will use this medium again. You never know unless you try though!

Design Elements – My Style Journey

2011-07-31T11:52:00.001-04:00

This is the final post in my style journey series. I have already meandered through The Basics and Page Arrangement. Now we'll talk about Design Elements. Although there are nearly endless embellishments to use (and I own a hefty smattering of them), I noticed two elements in particular that frequently appear on my pages.

CORNER ROUNDING

(This layout was inspired by the "Happy Parents" layout below!)

While I do have a love of straight lines, I tend not to love hard corners much. I use my corner rounders a lot. I think it helps to make my leading lines more fluid and continuous than choppy and abrupt. I especially like rounding two of the four corners to create a little more design interest.

It really is a simple thing: nothing fancy in the slightest, yet still effective to me. I’ve been eyeing the Cropadile two-in-one Corner Chomper and can’t wait to have it. I use both my ¼ inch and my half inch corner rounders with regular frequency, so it will be nice to have one tool that cuts both sizes.

CLEAN AND FLAT

No lumpy bumpy layouts for me: no bulky flowers, no metal or charms and rare chipboard. I don’t mind distressing edges but not whole pages. My style is definitely not shabby-chic, vintage, grunge or steam punk. (While I love the look of steam punk, it’s just not how I design.) My go-to embellishments are cardstock die cuts (or punches), buttons and pearls/dewdrops. I’m starting to get into stamps and a little bit of ribbon.

While flipping through my albums, I found I disliked the pages with stickers and pre-designed borders the most. I prefer to "frame" my layouts, more than "border" them.

Guess that means I can give away my deco scissors (except the scalloped ones!) and put all my stickers in to the next LSS garage sale! Some stickers are okay, if they are large focal ones or dimensional but no longer will I buy the ones that came in a pack or a large sheet just because I thought was getting more stickers for my money.

SUMMARY:
To recap, my own personal style is:

Big Titles
Lots of Cardstock
No particular colour preference
Good use of negative space, preferably via photo clusters
Straight-lines paired with corner rounding
Clean and flat

There. Now that I have examined my own work, I know what I should and should not buy.

DO BUY:

cardstock,
die cuts/punches/stamps
buttons
pearls/dewdrops/rhinestones
corner rounders

DON'T BUY:

Patterned paper stacks
Anything just because I like the colour
Brads/Eyelets
Stickers
Ribbon (I have enough for the amount I use!)

I hope this personal guide can help you review your own style and cut your frivolous shopping in half too!

Page Arrangements – My Style Journey

2011-07-27T19:07:00.000-04:00

Continuing on my style journey, we've already covered the basics. Now we're going to consider page arranges: how do I like to place my designs?

WHITE SPACE

I learned that I like white space. My pages are not all about what I put on them; they are also about what I don’t put on them. White space can be used to corral the eye. I feel like my pages that make good use of white space (or negative space since it isn’t always “white”) look the most like magazine pages.

I find an easy way to make good use of negative and positive space is to use a cluster photo layout. I like when my photos are somewhat bordered in a cohesive pattern.

LEADING LINES

I like straight lines and geometric shapes. I do deviate from straight lines and block shapes with fair frequency. In those cases, I find the use of symmetry helps bring back some definition to the layout when the clean lines are absent. These techniques lead the eye around the page.

While I tend to favour straight lines, I do have a soft spot for circles. I use these in smaller bits: pearls, dew drops, buttons, or stacked medallion-type embellishments. I don’t use eyelets much, even though they are circular. I bought a Crop-a-dile II to set them and it really does make it easy! I’m finding, however, that I prefer circles that don’t have a “backing” on the other side of the paper the way eyelets and brads do. That means, I'm allowed to buy buttons, pearls/dewdrops and rhinestones, but brads and eyelets are off the list until I am completely out of them.

Pattern Seeker – My Style Journey

2011-07-23T16:28:00.000-04:00

I am the pattern seeker. That’s right. I’m transforming my scrapbooking and cardmaking habits from being the product seeker to a pattern seeker. I was inspired by a question on the Two Peas in a Bucket scrapbooking forum. Someone asked how scrapbookers found their style. Someone responded with a link to a series of blog posts where another scrapper documented her style reboot. Here’s my journey.

When I read the question on Two Peas, I already had an idea of my style. “Clean and simple” is my style but that definition is pretty general. So, while I have an idea of my style, it’s still a fuzzy idea. Let’s see if I can bring some clarity.

Some people suggested looking at the layouts and designers you admire, follow or bookmark. Others suggested looking back at your own work and choosing your favourite layouts. I know that the artwork I admire is often not an artwork I can imitate. I like it but it’s not my style. So, I decided looking at my own work would be a better place to start. I’d rather analyze what I actually do than just what I like to fawn over.

I went through my scrapbooks and bookmarked a lot of pages. (I don’t think I marked ANY pages in my two oldest scrapbooks. That made me a little sad!) As I marked them I started to notice common elements and I began a list. That list is what I’m going to share with you to help you see pattern possibilities in your own work too.

BIG WORDS
The first thing I noticed is that almost all of my favourite layouts have titles. These are not just any titles. They are BIG titles. The title is a major element of my page. They range in size but are rarely smaller than half the size of the photographs. Often, they are larger than the photographs. Some people don't title their pages at all. They prefer to let the photographs take centre stage. For me, though, titles are a must!

CARDSTOCK QUEEN
I also noticed that all those big and beautiful titles are all cut from cardstock: no patterned paper or chipboard, no rubons or stickers. In fact, cardstock plays a key role in all my pages: number one as the title, but also for the negative space showing (we’ll get to that in a later post) and because I like to use die cuts as my primary embellishment. There tends to be only one or two patterned papers on my pages. That means I can buy lots of cardstock but no more patterned paper stacks for me. I don’t need 300 pages of patterns I will never use. I will buy my patterned papers by the sheet from now on!

COLOUR SCHMULLER
I have no tendency towards any particular colour or colour styles (bright, mute, primary, pastel, warm, cool). The cardstock that the layout is sitting on is the grounding neutral, be it white, black or any shade of brown (maybe grey too). To that, I add one or two patterned papers that suit the photo rather than any colour preference of my own. That means, I should resist buying supplies just because I like the colour. The chance of me building a layout around the colour of a supply is slim to none. So, even though it would look smashing in my stash, I’m not going to fall for it anymore!

These are the basic building blocks of my style: titles, cardstocks and and the absence of recurring colours. Next time, we're going to analyze how I actually put it on the page. I found a pattern in the orientation of elements on my pages that is common to all my favourite layouts. Stay tuned to find out what it is!

The Handwritten Word

2011-07-16T21:13:00.002-04:00

Is it still important to work on your penmanship? Everything is typed nowadays. Even the Uniform Final Examination that all aspiring Chartered Accountants across Canada must pass to receive their designation has gone digital. You type all your case writing in MS Word on a laptop, your quantitative analysis is in Excel and your reference material is electronic and searchable. You only get paper if your laptop goes kaput during the exam. Gone are the days of crafting your answer on paper and triple checking all your calculations.

Before the exam went digital, many aspiring accounts failed because exam markers could not read their handwriting. They often belly-ached how unfair that was. I always said, "Is it? Your ability to write clearly enough that another person can read it is a critical element to your ability to communicate." They always replied, "When would I ever hand write anything to a client? Everything is typed."

I just read an article summarizing the effects of handwriting on the development of different brain processes. Using mechanized writing changes the processes used in your brain. Handwriting may actually exercise your brain better. The article reports on a study that indicates handwriting is more complicated than typing because it involves three brain processes:

Visual: Seeing what is on the paper in front of you.
Motor: Using your fine motor skills to actually put the pen to paper and form the letters to make the words.
Cognitive: Remembering the shapes of the letters requires a different type of feedback from the brain.

I know I still hand write quite a bit at work. I do type everything in the end, but I usually start with pencil and paper. I seem to organize my thoughts better and also sustain a higher level of focus when I am handwriting than when I am typing. Perhaps there is a greater perceived commitment to your words when you put pen to paper than when you are typing and, therefore, there is more thought to it and more information stored, sorted and organized in your brain before you commit to physically writing it down. I can't explain why, but typing feels like a linear process to me while handwriting feels more fluid and artistic - the page is a blank canvas and I can start writing anywhere on it with complete freedom.

Sometimes I type my sentiments to go inside my cards, and sometimes I hand write them still. Sometimes when I send a card, though, I also send a mini letter on a small piece of paper. That is always handwritten because I want my recipient to "know" me. To know that it was me, and recognizably me, who thought of them and took the time to write to them. Handwriting is personal. And, now, thanks to this article, it's also smart!

You can read the full article here: Why Does Writing Make us Smarter?

I'M FEATURED by Miss BittyKnacks

2011-07-12T20:32:00.000-04:00

I have a feature interview over on MissBittyKnacks' blog!
Read the interview.

MissBittyKnacks has a shop on Etsy full of original art in mixed media collages, clay sculpture, paper mache, assemblage, and paintings of a whimsical nature. Click here to view her collection.

Christmas in July 2011 – Cards for SOAR

2011-07-11T20:30:00.001-04:00

My creative crew and I got together again this year to make some holiday cards for SOAR to use for 2011. Each person made one goodie bag and at least one holiday card. My crew got to take home instructions of how to make the goodie bag (that I found here) and had the opportunity to learn paper quilling.

For the cards, I used two sketches from Clean and Simple “Fall To Layouts”. The reason I love their sketches is that they are simple. The sketches start as the base model and you can keep them that way or ritz them up! For example, you can replace a strip with a ribbon, or add a background mat, buttons, anything you want!

Each person was free to do their own thing or to use the sketches as inspiration. I made these two samples based on the sketches to help them spark ideas. I left mine simple so that they could be mass produced if one so desired. One included a simple paper quilled angel if anyone wanted to learn the technique.

Here are the goodie bags. I had 4 particpants, so they made four bags and I made two. One particapnt took home 5 more baggie kits. I will also make some more for SOAR to give out at their Howliday party hosted in November. I kept them very simple (bare “bones” you could say!) so that making many wouldn’t be so tremendously time consuming.

Now for the cards my particpants made! Claire made one based on the quilled angel model. The gold glitter really stands out against the neutral grey-ish colours.

Debbie made one by layering some ribbons and using a Martha Stewart "Joy" punch. The layered pointsettias look like a natural extension of the mistletoe design.

My sister, Lara, made hers with Debbie's Creative Memories snowflake punch, a dimensional dog sticker and a snowflake button with a stamped sentiment. I like how it looks like the doggie is chasing the snowflakes.

Norma was on a roll! She tried a few new techniques. She tried the "Joy" punch and the snowflake punch, dimensional ornaments and also a paper crimper that Debbie brought. She also used buttons, ribbon and some Die Cuts with a View card bases. I especially like how the one in the middle is proportioned. The papers match beautifully and the sentiment stands out well against even a busy background.

I actually got to particpate in this workshop instead of only teaching. I used the quilled angel model again and made a card with a Stampin' Up! Christmas Tree stamp.

We have a total of 9 cards. It's not much but it's not the end! I'm sure more cards will trickle in between now and November and I plan to make a few more myself too!

All you need is love!

2011-07-02T17:33:00.003-04:00

Love comes in many forms: you can love your family, a place or thing, an activity. Love that you are born in to is easy. Finding that special someone to spend your life with: not so easy. How do you know when it’s love? Well, clichés become cliché for a reason. A saying becomes cliché when it is overused. It is usually overused when there is an element of truth to it. So, when I say that my husband completes me, it’s more than cliché. It’s true!

Finding someone who compliments your personality and your way of going about daily life is rare. There are billions of people out there – what are the chances that you will find the one that completes you? Well, love also includes compromise. When you love someone, you are able to accept that they are not perfect and you will love them flaws and all. In return, they will love you flaws and all. The one you love is the one with whom you can be your truest, silliest, goofiest, geekiest, clumsiest self and not be ashamed. Why? Because when you love them, they become part of you and you part of them. There is no veil between you. Love is complete trust and endless acceptance. I chose our wedding invitation for the quote it had on it: “The path to true love is so narrow that two cannot walk it unless they become one.”

Love is like a perennial flower: it weathers winters when it shrivels and feels like it is slipping away but then it blooms again in the spring. When conditions are harsh on the surface, it has roots deeply entwined in shared memories, nourishing the new buds to come.

Love should be celebrated in all its forms, shapes and sizes. So many people will not truly know love. Some are born to loveless relationships. Some are born and stripped of family so young that they must wait many years before they will have their first touch of love. Some wade through years of false loves and seeming insurmountable heartaches until they finally find the one that fits.

Does it matter if it is a man and a woman, or two women or two men? Love – true love – is so hard to come by I think we should accept it in all its varied blossoms. If one person makes another feel complete, then let them be together. Let them be free to find happiness. So long as we can all respect each other and not harm each other, then I say thumbs up to love in all its forms!

Fairy Inspiration

2011-06-26T15:00:00.000-04:00

As I've mentioned, I adore the digital stamp images by Tammy at A Day for Daisies. I used another of her stamps for some office decor. A few years ago, I had a very busy year. I was working a lot of hours. It happens but it usually happens in spurts. This particular year though, there was no break. It was a sustained level of activity and it was running me down.

I forget where I saw it, but I found an awesome quote from Franklin. D. Roosevelt: "When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on!" I had a soccer ball with an alligator clip as a promo item from BMO in my office (meant to hold a picture). I wrote out this quote and kept it right in front of my computer monitor. (Yes, once upon a time, I had *a* computer monitor. Now I have three!!)

Anyhow, it is LONG since overdue to make this quote in to something beautiful. (I don't even follow soccer!) Plus, I found another quote to display so this one had to be bumped from the soccer ball.

Enter, my fairy friend!

(Click picture for larger view.)

Isn't this image darling? It's called Dandelion Delivery. I originally bought it for cardmaking for something like "Special Delivery" or even "Enjoy the Ride". Instead, it lends it self really well for this quote.

(Click picture for larger view.)

I coloured them with copics and promarkers and a little bit of sparkle gel pens. If I knew how to colour with distress inks, I think this image would work beautifully with those. While I used it for an inspirational encouragement quote, I think this image would make fantastic nursery decor too!

I hope these images bring you a smile as they do for me. Look for them soon in my shops!

My Grammie, the Cover Girl!

2011-06-19T10:00:00.004-04:00

(Well... sort of)

My grandmother turned 90 this past April. We are only celebrating now because it's hard to get the whole family together at once and June is better weather than early April. My grandmother is an elegant lady. She is graceful and calm. (Come to think of it, I have never seen her angry in all my life!). She always looks for the positive side of things. I'm convinced her steady positivity is a major factor in the longevity of her life.

I saw some pictures of her back in Jamaica on a dock in the beautiful sunshine. She is a beautiful woman and, despite being short, seemed quite leggy in that photo! It sure looked cover girl quality to me! I wanted to make a card that would be elegant like Grammie.

Here's what I came up with:

These papers are all from Die Cuts with a View. The two end pieces are glitter paper and the clock is fully glittered too. I like the patchwork effect of this card, seeming to transition through many patterns the way life transitions through many stages and many memories.

Although the colours are neutral enough to be masculine, the glitter is what makes this card upscale enough for Grammie in my mind!

(Click photo for enlarged version to see glitter.)

I have to admit, though. It wasn't entirely my idea. These papers (even the clock) came from a paper stack. The stack shows a smattering of all the papers on the front cover. I thought it looked pretty neat that way and so I picked a few that I liked in combination. After all, most papers in a stack are meant to co-ordinate with each other anyway!

So that's why this is a "Cover" Girl card! Why not take your cues from the manufacturer's themselves? They have a whole army of designers who come up with this stuff!

My Grammie is such a wonderful person. She could grace the cover of anything anytime in my book!

Quick Tip: Faux Chipboard

2011-06-15T21:08:00.000-04:00

Chipboard has long been all the rage with Scrapbookers. I've shied away because it always seemed like so much work: either paint it, or trace it on to paper, cover it and then sand down all the edges.

The one thing I do like about chipboard, though, is the dimension. It's a great way to achieve depth on a page but still with a flat surface (non-bulbous, unlike a pearl or rhinestone). For the lazy, like me, there are pre-made, pre-decorated chipboard embellishments. However, I don't like to waste anything. I hate buying a package of embellishments because I like 70% of them and then I get stuck hoarding the other 30% because I can't bring myself to throw money away yet I have no desire to use them!

Somewhere along my creative travels, I picked up this tip on how to make faux chipboard. If you have a die cutter, you can just cut multiples of the same image out of cardstock and stack them! I find 4 or 5 stacks works best. Plus, you can cut the top layer from your favourite patterned paper and - PRESTO - instantly decorated faux chipboard. No fuss, no waste! The best part is, you can make them from your paper scraps!

(click to enlarge to see dimension of stacked tag)

These fairy tags were made entirely with Quickutz dies (now Lifestyles Crafts). I used one of their tags, dragonfly wings, the Leprechaun's arms and belt buckle for the head, and a decorative photo corner for the dress. Easy peasy!

Citrus Butterfly Magnet

2011-06-07T23:28:00.003-04:00

Continuing on my magnet making kick, I have made another butterfly magnet. This one meets two different challenges too:

Flutterby Wednesday - open so long as you use a fairy, butterfly or angel

PaperPlay - Summer Citrus Splash: greens, yellows and oranges

Unfortunately, I was a tad too late to enter the Flutterby one. No matter, it still inspired a part of my creation!

I love the width of the butterfly on this stamp. I also love how the red pops against the more muted yellow and the orange. Hooray for colour challenges! I am not normally drawn to citrus colours, so I am pleased with how this turned out. On this design, I used a Stampin' Up word stamp on the bottom half and then sponged more ink over it to make it appear faded. Then I used a darker ink to stamp the scroll.

You can see the original prototype for my butterfly magnet in an earlier post. I actually made one in between these two designs which is already listed in my shops.

I already had two prototypes for this design as well, which are now on the fridges of my sisters (my sister and my sister-in-law!) I quite enjoy these magnets! I will probably come up with at least one more design.

Generations rubbing elbows in the workplace

2011-06-05T12:03:00.001-04:00

I read another great article in CA Magazine. It is about how different generations behave in the workplace and also how the signals from one generation can be misinterpreted by another. It has some fabulous insights as to how to engage each generation or what motivates each generation.

I remember Psych101 had a brief stint on behaviour and the enormity of the shift from dictatorship workplaces to participative workplaces that the boomers were able to create from the traditionals. (Traditionals, to me, are the workers in the industrial age hayday.)

GenX (that's me!), further moved the participative workplace to a collaborative one, elevating the status of the worker and turning the pyramid on its head. Boss' jobs became whatever made the workers' jobs better, because happy wokers are good workers and who better to come up with innovation than those on the front line.

Now, being GenX, I completely do not understand GenY. Believe me, my family has listened to me on many occasions ranting at the dinner table about it. This article helped me to see, "OoooOH..... so THAT'S why they do that." It helped me to understand what they think they are doing versus what I see them doing. I agree with most of the article but there are a few points I strongly protest!

It's really quite a good read! The full article is here: Talkin' 'bout my generation.

Have a read then come back and tell me what you think of it. Did you learn anything?

A Tool-tastic Wedding Card

2011-05-29T11:23:00.001-04:00

There’s an upcoming wedding that I am attending. The couple has everything already – having been together for many years and already owning their own house. I knew all along that money was going to be my gift, but I wanted to make something special too. I wanted to make something distinctly “Lisa.”

Since I’m on this magnet kick, I decided to do that. I admit that it might be a bit cheesy to have a personalized wedding magnet but I figured it’s better than them tattooing each other’s names on themselves! The magnet itself is very simple. The card, however, is a totally different story.
I decided I would house this magnet right inside the card so that I can put it in the card bin with everything else. It’s just easier than passing it on to someone for safekeeping for the night and risk it getting lost in the partying with my cheque inside! I made the card big: 5 x 7. I also used a whole arsenal of tools to make it! I can’t recall when I last used so many things on one project!

Click for larger view.

Firstly, I cut all the pieces with my Bosskut Gazelle. The doves are a design by Bosskut Designs. The lacy circle and sentiment frame I drew myself in the software. Next, I used my Quickutz/Lifestyle Crafts Epic Six to emboss the lacy circle with a Stampin’ Up! embossing folder. I also reached for my Stampin’ Up! stampajig to stamp the sentiment squarely in the frame. Lastly, I used my newest tool, the Cropadile Big Bite to set the eyelets. I actually crushed the eyelets the first two setting attempts but, once I figured out the pressure, the second frame was finished just fine.

I must confess, this orange and metal tool definitely looks worthy of the husband’s tool chest. Its construction worker colours make it look heavy duty! He actually wanted to see it and fiddled with it while inspecting it until I told him to stop squeezing the wrong block plates together and then he promptly gave it back. (He once raided my studio when I wasn’t home and broke a hand-punch of mine trying to punch through something-other-than-paper and now he’s wary of breaking my other tools. I did tell him that this one was capable of punching through leather if he needed though.)

I popped the doves and the sentiment up with foam tape so they wouldn’t look so blah-white. I love how this colour scheme turned out. I think it has a real Parisian look. Do you? I almost don’t want to part with it! I used my last scrap of that red paper for the background (it’s DCVW). I’m sure I can reproduce this card with other paper (but every time I say that, I rarely actually get around to making the same design again!)

Here’s the magnet that I will tuck inside. I put the ribbon hanger there so that it can be easily pulled off the fridge/office cabinets or it can be hung from a nail for room décor instead. I made the words equidistant from the edges of the circle but I guess I should have made them equidistant from the trunk of the tree. Oh well, live and learn!

It’s just a little something anyway. The monetary gift will be the real gift but, with this card, there will be no mistaking who it came from!

Hello Mojo Monday 191

2011-05-22T13:07:00.002-04:00

It's been a while since I participated in a card making challenge. It's a long weekend in Canada and I told myself that, if ever I will find the time to participate, it is this weekend. So, here is my entry for the Mojo Monday Sketch challenge 191 - submitted JUST under the wire before tomorrow's new sketch comes out.

This is the sketch from Mojo Monday's blog. This sketch site is one of my favourites. Their sketches are very clear to see and their design team is great at turning and flipping sketches so you can see it from all angles. I turned mine to a portrait orientation with the ribbon strip at the bottom and I left out the square. My ribbon strip is just a paper strip though.

This is another image from A Day for Daisies digital stamps on Etsy. I had mentioned the story-telling quality of her images before and she has since released a Snow White and Cinderalla-esque set of digital images. (So lovely!) You can check out more on her blog, if you like.

(Click for Larger View)

I coloured my fairy with Copic markers, blending a red and yellow for the wings. I also used a sparkle gel pen to colour the orange flowers in her dress, but it doesn't show up well in the photo. The shading in the hair (hardly visible in the photo), was done by blending a Copic marker and a Promarker since I don't have two yellows in Copics.

In closing, hooray for Mojo Monday helping me to keep my Mojo flowing!

Butterfly Magnet - Prototype

2011-05-15T16:46:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post from me today. I've been working on a new thing for my shop: magnets. Really, I should be taking and editing pictures of my volumes of cards to list, but that's boring! We had guests this weekend so I had to pick and choose what I would spend my time doing and making brand new stuff was more fun.

This is the prototype. There's one on my mother-in-law's fridge and this one is for mine. It's pretty plain in the background so I'll tweak it before it lands in my shop. I'll have to get more magnets first though! I've burned through the three trial magnets I bought.

What do you think? I got some new butterfly stamps from Hampton Art when I went shopping on Mother's Day with my sister. I love them. I coloured this one with one Copic and one Letraset marker (soooo happy these markers play nice together!). I used a Sakura sparkle gel pen on the green dots in the wings and a gold-ish one inside the wings (click photo to enlarge). The paper die cut flowers are my own design. I exhausted my pearl stash on making these two magnets, so I will have to vary the design again.

I plan to play around with some designs over the coming long weekend and hope to have some listed within a couple of weeks! These guys are 3 x 3 inches - quite a decent size that should be able to hold up a full 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper on your fridge or office cupboards. Great for recipes and childrens' artwork!

A Boy's First Birthday - Give a Poem a Home

2011-05-08T19:07:00.001-04:00

Today is my nephew's first birthday. So, I made sure that one of the cards from my embossing workshop for charity was a birthday card. I made it gender neutral - a small swap of colours would make this card suitable for either a girl or boy. I was desperately poking around the web for a last minute digital stamp suitable for a masculine birthday. I searched for "birthday", "cakes", "cupcakes" (men and food go well, don't they?), "party". I found lots of great images (and snagged a few) but nothing really caught my eye for my nephew.

Then, I saw one where a critter was peeking out from behind a gift. It wasn't quite what I wanted but the gift was easily reproduced. So, I scrounged through my die cuts to figure out what to pair with it.

This is the Santa Bear that I designed on my Bosskut Gazelle. I may even put his Santa hat back on and use this design on my Christmas cards this year. I could cut his hat and the gift from patterned papers if I liked. Here, I used a Stampin' Up! background stamp to create the gift wrap pattern.

Here, we used the embossing just as an accent. I will be giving this card to my nephew at his party later. I have written a little First Birthday poem for the inside. Feel free to use and adapt as necessary!

For the Birthday Boy who has turned one,

Hope your day is really fun.

Call all your friends and family out

To smile and sing and dance about

And give a Birthday Cheer to you

With gifts, of course, and some cake too!

Dry Emboss Workshop

2011-04-30T13:38:00.000-04:00

Well, tax season is winding up. Monday is the last day for Canadians to file personal taxes. Appears to me that, on my workshop schedule, I have a workshop planned for next Saturday. What was I thinking - not giving myself more of a breather after taxes? How will I be ready?!

Well, one of the sample cards is made. A second sample is 90% made. The third sample is still parked in my head (plus a hastily made sketch). After I get the samples done, then I have to proliferate them in to kits. There will be some busy nights this week, but I'm sure I can be ready!

This is the first one. (I actually used the same layout with a different embellishment and sentiment for a birthday card for my Dad too.) I love this embossing folder from Stampin' Up! that I bought from my cousin's wife who is a demonstrator (see her blog). It gives such a deep and rich impression. On the second card, we'll be using some other stamped images and on the third... I don't know yet!

For those readers who will be in attendance, please read on for your materials list.

As always, the workshop runs from 1-4pm and includes light snacks. $5 of every workshop fee is donated to SOAR. Workshop fees work in 2 tiers: $8 if you bring all your own supplies and $12 if you need to purchase the full workshop kit.

To bring your own kit, you will need:

basics: scissors, adhesives, pencil, ruler, eraser, journaling markers
3 card bases and envelopes
1 cardfront (a piece of cardstock the size of the entire cardfront)
1 piece of cardstock slightly smaller than a cardfront and a co-ordinating strip of cardstock (1.5 inches by the width of your card in landscape position)
1 patterned paper half the size of a cardfront and 3 strips of co-ordinating cardstock (3 different colours or at least 2 different colours) each 1 inch by the width of your card
any focal embellishments you want - die cuts, stamps, whatever (if you have nothing of this sort, I will let you use any of my stamps)'
If you are unsure of any of these sizes, just bring full sized pieces of cardstock that co-ordinate with each other and well cut them down the day of the class. (8.5x11 pieces are fine for this class.)

Fantastic 'Phants!

2011-04-23T13:05:00.001-04:00

One of my nephews is having his first birthday in May. My sister hand made all of her invitations. (It isn't a big too-doo, so we're not talking 50+ invitations or anything but still up to 20 maybe.) She's been loving her Promarker AquaMarkers by Letraset that she picked up at Scrapfest Kitchener. She used them to colour this elephant stamp by Hot off the Press.

I can see this little guy done in all kinds of colours: yellow, purple, grey, brown, even a white elephant with just some very faint blue or grey accent lines might look great on an all white card. Even a pink elephant would work for girls. I like that elephants are gender neutral and you choose to dress up the surroundings can make it more feminine or masculine.

So, I told my sister about the Kards for Kids donation call. A person in Oshawa collects donated cards, sorts them by recipient (parents or kids and sorts through different age brackets) and then delivers them to the Toronto Sick Kids Hospital. I saw the Christmas call, but I didn't have an appropriate High Hopes Rubber Stamp to use, so I couldn't enter. I didn't see a stamp restriction on this one, so I called up my sister and said she should make some more elephants for the kids. I'm hoping to also donate some cards, but it will depend how fast I can create in May. April is totally shot until May 2nd - our 2011 Canadian tax filing deadline (since April 30 falls on a weekend.)

It's hard to tell in the photo, but my sister cut around the elephant and popped it up on foam tape. When I look at it in a room the little shadow under his butt makes him look like he is really sitting there! It's quite cute. She also used Glossy Accents on his eyeball and bow (which you also can't see in the photo). Glossy Accents is a glue that hardens clear like an epoxy sticker finish (or clear embossing). I convinced her to buy a bottle when I bought my first bottle. Well, she beat me to its use! (Thank goodness ONE of us is creating this April or I'd have nothing to post about!)

If you're a cardmaker, or even if you have excess cards made from before, consider donating to this cause, won't you?

Little Treasure Box

2011-04-16T17:42:00.003-04:00

Okay, so maybe I'm a little jealous of my sister getting awesome new stamps. I had put some stamps in my favourites on Etsy for a while but never had any money to buy them. Along came my custom fairy order and, voila, new stamps for me!

A Day for Daisies on Etsy has an excellent flow in all of her images. Maybe it's just me, but the way they are illustrated reminds me of the Beatrix Potter books and other old-fashioned story books. I am mesmerised by the one I have used here, "Skirt of Flowers". It is incredibly elegant.

Click Image for Larger View

So, I decided it would make a perfect pair with my new die cuts that I got at Scrapfest! I got a matchbox die and I've been meaning to make one of these boxes for a couple of years. I kept telling myself that I could make the matchbox - that I didn't need a die - but it is truly faster to crank something through the die cutting machine when you are making multiples rather than make them from scratch. So, I caved. And, boy, am I glad!

I've seen these boxes around a lot in stamping forums. Since I finally got around to trying an easel card, and discovered how stinkin' easy they are, I knew it was time to tackle this box. The box is made of 4 large matchboxes. I used a brad and a button to make something to pull the drawers out. Each side has a drawer. The top of the box is made from an easel card.

(Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of a drawer pulled out!) The top and bottom are 6 by 6 inches squared. It's a decent size really. This one reads: Beauty is in the little things". I meant it to hold small jewelery like rings and earrings. However, this kind of treasure box could hold paperclips, buttons, thumb tacks, brads, rhinestones, lots of little things!

I coloured the stamp with Copic markers, except for the red flowers. Those are done with a Sharpie pen because I find the red Copic is not forgiving if I can't stay within the lines. The petals were too small to risk it. (I didn't have the right skin-tone for blending. I had to use a pinkish tone so she does look a little sunburned! Oh well!) The background stamp is from Stampin' Up! (I love that stamp!) Then I just rubbed ink all over it.

I'd like to make more of this kind of box, but I'll have to figure out what to do with them first!

Kitchener ScrapFest 2011

2011-04-10T11:59:00.000-04:00

This year I attended the Kitchener ScrapFest. I don’t usually make any weekend plans in April. Being a Chartered Accountant in an accounting firm usually comes with a few working weekends in April’s tax time. This year, however, my sister was anxious to check out the merchants and maybe snag a deal on a manual die cutting machine. So, off we went! The area for vendors is the same size as the area for crops. BOTH areas were full!

I took a picture of the booths for the stores where I regularly shop. There’s a third store about 45 minutes from home that was in attendance but I only shop there once in a while and they didn’t bring a lot of product. They were hosting a make and take mostly. I didn’t take a picture.

The first one is Scrapalicious. I ordered a couple new metal dies from them and asked them to bring them to the show since we would both be there. Their booth was full of stuff. I love the examples they have on display in the store and the booth had some I hadn’t seen before.

One person was doing a demonstration with microfine glitter, outline stickers and Copic markers. I didn’t realize Copics could also transfer colour to transparent glitter. I didn’t watch all of the demonstration because I was anxious to pick up my package first.

The other store I frequent is Scrapbook Queens. I really liked that the people who worked in the booth all wore glitter crowns so it was easy to tell who worked there and who didn’t. The Scrapalicous workers all wore the same pink sweater too (pink is the colour of the store’s custom cupake logo.)

Sometimes it’s the little things that matter in your booth! For example, I also saw a booth where the entire floor was covered with those foam square puzzle-piece type mats. I’ll bet that helped the workers A LOT because standing on a concrete floor all day is hard on your feet and your back. They make those squares in colours, black or grey, so you could choose to have it blend in with the floor or choose to colour co-ordinate it with your booth.

TWO booths included paper quilling goods. I was surprised. I bought a circle sizer, an ABC guide and some strips. These are real and proper quilling strips which I have not had the luxury of working with before. After tax season, I will be playing around with them for sure!

The highlight of the day was a new (or new-to-me) stamp maker: The Artful Stamper. They had both detailed/realistic designs and some whimsical ones too. The level of detail in the stamps is stunning and the designs are just beautiful. Some of the samples were to die for, but I recognized that there was A LOT of X-acto knife work done to cut out and layer most of them. One of their artists was there who was also launching her own line of stamps. Her name is Ryn Tanaka and her line is Designs by Ryn. (I guess I was meant to meet her because I have named some of my characters and one art drawing “Ryn”. It was my way of feminizing my husband’s name, Ryan. It’s the only Ryn I had ever heard of before today!)

My sister fell in love with one of her several humming bird stamps. We decided to keep the booth in mind and, after we got what we came for, if there was money left-over, that’s where it was going!

Besides a manual die-cutter, my sister was looking for Tombow markers which are watercolour markers. We couldn’t find any at all! She did do a make’n’take with Crayola water colour markers. They are a “direct-to-stamp” technique. It was so easy, the kids can do it! Still, we were hunting for Tombows to have something to compare. Then, I happened to spy some Pro-Markers that said “AquaPainters” on them. Sure enough, they are watercolour markers. The booth owner kindly showed us how they worked and my sister was sold! They were EXACTLY what she needed!

Forget the manual die-cutter – she scooped up a set of AquaPainters and we skadoodled back to The Artful Stamper and she snagged the hummingbird (and a cute santa kitty. I picked up a fairy and some mushrooms for the background.) As soon as we got home she started colouring. She was all smiles and joy the whole time. Here is her work-in-progress. The reeds are an embossing folder I have from Quickutz. She coloured them in with the AquaPainters. Then she stamped and coloured the hummingbird and cut out all around it. When these pieces go on a finished card, the bird will be popped out with foam tape. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?

Me, I have plans for my new die cut shapes. If those plans ever get carried out, I’ll be sure to post them! If you would like to go to ScrapFest too, there's another one in Oshawa in October.

A New Journey - Sailboat Cards

2011-04-02T12:23:00.001-04:00

Some time ago, two employees left our firm - both male. Boy, is it ever hard to come with cards for men. The two most manly designs I have in my handmade paper die cut arsenal are my sailboat and my train engine. Both represent going places, so I figured they would work for a card like this. I chose the sailboat die cut.

I was looking at the scroll that I made for tea cup steam and thought, if I turned it sideways, it looks like wave crests. I think it turned out kind of neat for the waves. I also used sanding on a bubble embossed background. If you use sandpaper, that makes it more manly, right? (tee hee) I made the sentiment on my Boss Kut Gazelle electronic cutter too.

Just a reminder to Canadians - it's April now! That means.... TAX TIME! Remember that your personal tax filing deadline is April 30th. Even if you made no income or your income is less than the basic personal exemption, it is important to file. You can get a basic refund or other credits. If you have income but it is less than the basic personal exemption, or if you are in full time qualifying post-secondary school, filing will create tax pools for you: your RRSP deduction limit pool or your tuition and education credits pool, respectively.

The moral is: every adult has to file. So just do it!.

Lastly, as an update, the Shutter Card Worskhop generated $40 for the Southern Ontario Animal Rescue. I have updated the blog post with a link to an instructional video I found on Splitcoast Stampers for those of you who want to try it too!

A birthday flower for me

2011-03-25T22:31:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone! I just wanted to post another handmade card I received for my birthday (a little late, but better late than never). This one was made by my sister. She likes rubber stamping. She is good with colour. I framed a couple of her watercolour paintings that she made in highschool. I used to have them hanging in my old house but, alas, I have zero paintings up in my new one. (Must work on that, I s'pose!)

I don't always have the patience to wait for things to dry, so sometimes stamping is frustrating to me. She, on the other hand, not only stamped this image but also coloured it with watercolours.

I think these colours are very warm and inviting. In fact, they match the walls in my house! My sister embossed over the flower and then cut it out by hand.

Just to be different, she didn't use an embossing glue. She just wet the image again with a little water, put on the power and heat set it. It caused a slight amount of uneven coverage but you have to really be inspecting the flower up to your face to find it (or carefully testing it with your fingers).

The blending of the paint also helps to "hide" the coverage of the powder, so I think it turned out just fine! You like?

Shutter Card Workshop 2011

2011-03-20T11:59:00.002-04:00

For my Creative Crew, the first workshop of 2011 has arrived! Next weekend, on March the 26th, we will be learning how to make the Shutter Card.

There are several ways you can fold the inner parts of these cards. I have always done it the same way: with a T-shape in the front and back. I think it looks more complicated, and therefore COOL, that way. You can, however, fold it more like a gate fold card with an accordian in the middle. I think that way leaves less room for writing though.

It's a girly theme for this class! Flowers with a golden metallic paper and the sentiment: For You.

Let's get in to the details!

Check your emails for pricing. $5 from every workshop fee will be donated to SOAR.
As always, there will be a kit version available which makes the exact card pictured here.

Materials
If making this card from scratch with your own supplies, you will need:

one piece of cardstock 5.5 by 12 inches
one piece of patterned paper 6 by 8.25 inches
one piece of co-ordinating patterned paper 3 by 8 inches
Embellishments
Sentiment (optional)
Adhesive

Recommended Supplies For Everyone:

Scissors
Bone folder
Xacto Knife (if you have one you are particularly proficient with)
Scoreboard, if you have one
Small cutter (good for the little strips)
Inks if you like inking edges
Bling, if you like adding bling
Any other neato tools you enjoy (sanding, distressing, piercing...)

Don't forget the Raffle! 100% of Raffle Ticket proceeds will go to SOAR. Raffle tickets are $5.00. The main raffle prize is the Colour Me sample pack (in 12 x 12) made by Hot Off the Press!

Click the picture for a video (the link is for the 8.5 x 11 version but I have the 12 x 12).

Hope to see you this Spring! (Today is the first day of Spring - Hooray!)

UPDATE: My creative crew and I generated $40 to donate to the Southern Ontario Animal Rescue!
For those of you who want to create at home, here's an instructional video on this card: Tri-Shutter Card

Twirled Easels

2011-03-17T20:47:00.002-04:00

It's been a while since I made a quilled card. I have my first workshop of the year coming up and it's a tri-shutter card (like this). I wanted to make another "non-standard" shape card as a sample to show the class for a future class. I've been meaning to make an easel card for over a year.

Well, I put 1 & 1 together and made a paper quilled easel card so that I could combine the Paper Twirlies challenge with my experimental easel card! Must be Spring: it seems everything is just coming together. The Southern Ontario Animal Rescue has a new person in charge of newsletters, the Paper Twirlies Team on Etsy is firing up for its first team challenge and there is actually daylight in the sky when I leave work. (Yahoo!)

The paper twirlies challenge is "Spring Wake Up". Well, there are two things I do religiously every morning: brush my teeth and set the kettle for tea! Now, I have done quilled cups of steam before. I really wanted to do something different this time. I tried to make a percolator so that it would go with my planned sentiment. That failed. Big time. So... here's my tea cup. The "new" part is the type of card:

This is an easel card. It stands up on its own. The message on the inside props up the outside of the card. Your sentiment is written higher up on the inside so that, in "display mode", your message is privately tucked away. I also tried to make this card outside my norm by choosing a really bright paper. I tend to use neutrals and muted colours as I strive for calmness and elegance. This one is a little more lively and whimsical. (Too bad the percolator idea failed. It would have suited the sentiment more.)

I wish I had started making easel cards earlier! I made one for my iCraft shop too. I contacted the new SOAR newsletter gal and mentioned that I sell cards with some proceeds going to SOAR. She said she would include a snippet about it for the members in a future mailing. So my next easel card has a quilled dog with some proceeds going to SOAR:

Here's a picture of how it stands propped up:

These are quite fun! Hooray for challenges to kick start your mojo!

And just for fun for you, here's my failed percolator.

Isn't it sad? All lumpy and empty and lopsided. Doesn't look very appealing to drink at all!

Little Dragon Buddies

2011-03-12T10:49:00.003-05:00

My paper quilled dragons are my favourite creations. (I still have the prototype on my shelf in my studio.) Over the years, I have gathered advice about my art and some tips I gleaned from all over the web just reading. Someone once told me that these dragons would make fantastic mobiles. I thought that was a fantastic idea – especially for boys’ rooms. I have three nephews and sometimes I get tired of robots and vehicles. (They are venturing into weapons now, but have not yet hit the sports stage!)

Well, I haven’t figured out how to make a mobile yet, but I did make something for a boy’s room! I was inspired to sit down and finally put this thing together when I saw this framed alphabet art made with polymer clay by Subtle Details. Isn’t it darling? It’s called “Sing with Me”. I’ve been a long-time fan of polymer clay and this artist has such a clean and elegant style. If you click the picture below, you'll also see what she made for her little boy's name!

If you would like to see what I made… read on!

Introducing, paper quilled dragon monogram shadow boxes! I used a big “D” for this one. I will eventually make some other letters, but I wanted to start with D is for Dragon.

I love that I can pick any colour I want and it’s just cardstock. There’s no struggling to match patterns of paper. Somehow, though, I am always surprised how long it takes to make one of these. (The spine is especially finicky!)

10% of the sale of this one will go to SOAR

I was so bolstered by this success that I decided to try out some other paper home décor ideas. One of the girls at work is getting married, so I made her a photo display. I first made a shadow box for myself as a tester with the Stampin’ Up! word stamp I used here. I antiqued the papers with ink and used my own die cut flowers. This one is just an 8 x 10 photo display, not a shadow box. (I had trouble squishing the pearls under the glass.)

I’m giving it to her today (along with a monetary gift). I hope she likes it!

Birthday Butterflies (with poem)

2011-03-06T17:38:00.000-05:00

My birthday was this past week. I didn't really have a list to give anyone, save for my husband. (I got a new paper cutter so I've been working it out.) My mother-in-law is one of my frequent class participants (and also a great advertiser for me!). Since working with me, she has been making cards for every occasion that she can.

This is the card she made me for my birthday. I like the flow on the front and the tucking of the ribbon under the paper.

If you look closely, the dimensional butterflies also have glitter on them.

She wrote me a lovely poem on the inside. She comes up with a lot great card sentiments! Here's what mine says:
Have a very happy birthday
And remember when it's past
Hope each new day in every way
Is nicer than the last!

I'm proud and honoured to get this card!

Now, a little order of business. I have been busy changing the face of my blog and my shops. I have new banners and avatars and new business cards. As I learn more, a few more tweaks may be coming to the blog. (Please bear with me!) The first order of business, though, is a new URL. Over the next few days, my blog will be moved to a new address: http://www.fairycardmaker.com/ and no longer http://www.fairycardmaker.blogspot.com/. What does that mean for you? Nothing! The old address will automatically point to the new one. So, you can update your bookmarks if you wish, but you don't really have to.

Adventures in Light Box Land

2011-02-28T21:31:00.001-05:00

So... third time to charm? That's right, I'm on my third homemade lightbox in as many weeks. At first, I just wanted to do something about my blue wall being in all my product pictures. Sometimes, it works. Sometimes, it just doesn't work for the picture. So, I decided to make a lightbox.

Mistake # 1.....

I used what I had on hand. I had one piece of foam core that I savagely cut in half and tried to lay up against my blue wall. Blue reflected on it anyway so that didn't work. So, I cut it down and tried to make a box with the pieces. My box was not sturdy. It was lopsided and the back was taller than the other pieces, so the tissue paper light-diffusing "roof" was not very good. If that wasn't enough, I used packing tape only and it kept coming off. Plus, you could see it on the inside of the back wall, so I had to keep editing it out on my photos.

That's Ghetto Box.

Mistake #2 ...

Then, I was all inspired by a post from the Etsy "Sellers Assisting Sellers" team (SASsy) captain who posted about her light box. So, I dug out a bigger box from our closet by filling two smaller boxes with its content. I went to the dollar store for white bristol board and my husband was kind enough to cut up the box for me. I filled it with white paper and lined it with bristol board and I was so happy.

This picture is after I tore out the bristol board. I was so unhappy with it. I guess, since it was from the dollar store, that's why it wasn't "white" white. It was white-ish under the macro lense of my camera. I actually liked the pictures from Ghetto Box more. The foam core gave a better texture and the flat bottom (instead of the curved bristol board) was easier to stand my cards up on. So, I decided, it was time for attempt number three.

If Ghetto Box and Big Box got together and had a baby, that would be the box I have now.

I bought more foam core, foam adhesive and new tissue paper. I cut windows in this box's sides for more light (since I only have one lamp and not two like The House of Mouse does). I measured everything carefully this time and I used a heavy duty craft knife that I found in the kitchen. (It's quite nice. I don't know where it came from but it's mine now!) This box is the size of the Big Box but the style of the Ghetto Box.

Are my photos better now? What do you think?

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

I'm no expert still, but I HOPE I'm moving in the right direction!

Back in the day...

2011-02-23T22:26:00.004-05:00

I was inspired by fantasy artist and fellow Etsy seller, Aquariann's, blog post about her new sketch to dig out an old drawing of my own. She was posting about how her latest dragon is inspired by frost and fire dragons. Well, once upon a time...

...there was a dwarf paladin named Calura.

Calura lived in a massive multi-player online role-playing game (MMORPG) called, Everquest. Aptly named, I'd say. Quests went on forEVER. Every playable class has their own really long, arduous quests that are impossible to complete without a raid force. These were called, Epic Quests. At this point in the game's evolution, Calura's Epic Quest was to obtain the flaming paladin sword. Now, the graphics on this sword (actual animated fire) were entirely pathetic by today's standard but, back then, anything with any kind of animation was super cool!

To get this sword, one step of the quest involved obtaining two halves of a book from two different dragons. One half dropped from the ice dragon, Lady Vox. The other half dropped from her lover, the fire dragon, Lord Nagafen (or "Naggy" for short). These dragons were raid bosses. These were 72-man raids - that's right, 72 players had to work together to bring these bad boys down. Most players didn't know each other and were all over the world, so some weren't so great at English. This was before two way voice communication in these games - everything had to be typed out. (Hooray for macros!)

I was lucky enough to tag along on a Lady Vox raid organized by someone else and, not only did the book drop (because it has a low chance of dropping on any given kill), but I also won it! First try! Yes! Naggy, on the other hand, was stingy. The dragons are on a 24 hour spawn timer. Everytime you kill it, it spawns 24 hours later. (This was done to prevent "farming" the dragon to get all its treasures - meaning, killing it over and over, one after the other until you have acquired all of its possible loot and even some in multiples. Today's games use a different mechanism to control this issue.) Heaven forbid some other raid beat you to the spawn. There were times we waited outside the lair for hours praying that the group ahead of us would fail (repeatedly) and give up!

I organized and lead a 72-man raid NINE times to get that book! Well, it was 8 for me because I always pre-claimed the drop - I always locked out the dragon's loot (which raid leaders can do) so I could loot the book before anyone else. Because I pre-claimed the book, I always promised I would run one more raid after obtaining my book to give others a chance to win it (if it dropped again). Guess what - the book dropped again on the ninth run! Seven runs with zip and then TWO drops in a row!

I'll always remember the first raid. Player groups were limited to 6 players. So, I organized the 72 people based on classes and levels into groups of 6. I sent my groups in to Nagafen's lair in waves. Nagafen casts a fear spell which makes you lose control of your player for a short time and they run around like crazy. Having your entire raid force feared at the same time is very bad.

I was standing down the steps from the entrance of his lair. I shouted, "GROUPS 1 AND 2 - GO GO GO!". In they went. I waited about 10 seconds. "GROUPS 3 AND 4 - GO GO GO!". As those groups hustled up the steps, groups 1 and 2 were fleeing the lair in sheer terror, involuntarily running around like chickens (some in to the lava moat surrounding Naggy's lair) and I'm thinking.... wait... didn't I just send you in there 10 seconds ago? Hmm... this doesn't bode well. "GROUPS 5 AND 6 (I was always in one of those two groups) - GO GO GO!" By now, people are confused which way to run because the "feared" people are running in random directions and others start following them. Those of us who resisted the fear are are feeling exposed and vulnerable now that there are fewer targets at which the dragon could choose to swat next. We would be screaming for the remaining groups to get their butts in the lair and help us wail on the dragon. Yeah... those were the days.

When I went to turn in the combined book to the quest giver, he ate my book! (Meaning, I turned it in and the quest failed to progress.) I was SO disheartened! I had to send a ticket to the gamemasters and they had to check the log that I really had the book and I really gave it to the quest guy. They returned my book and then watched me try the turn in again. THEN, the cool flaming sword was MINE.

It wasn't until the entire graphics engine in the game got a giant overhaul that Calura gained fire red hair in low pigtails and golden eyes. (Plus the sword's flames got a respectable upgrade.) Many moons later, after level cap increases, Epic 2.0 came out. I started to do it but lost steam. I guess Naggy won in the end.

These renderings of my dwarf paladin were drawn either at the end if highschool or early university - years ago is the point. When I couldn't get the hang of blending with my Letraset markers, I started experimenting with acrylic paint. I painted on sketchbook paper so the paper crinkled pretty badly. Still, it was one of my better works! Plus too, to date, no other MMORPG character has come close to stalwart Calura.

Pizza Box Card Workshop

2011-02-19T14:52:00.002-05:00

I haven’t been able to have a workshop yet this year. I’ve scheduled one for the end of March in the hopes that my custom order will be all wrapped up and shipped by then. I thought I would share one of the workshops from 2010. It was a pizza box workshop where we made 4 x 4 pizza boxes and 4 notecards.

I had designed a sample and matching cards. However, when my creative crew arrived, I allowed them to mix and match the cards they would make for inside their boxes. I made enough parts to make 24 boxes, even though we were only making 8! (My little fingers were sore from all the stamping!)

I learned the pizza box shape from Splitcoast Stampers. They have a great wealth of tutorials. While I had made samples and kits that would faithfully reproduce the samples, my creative crew likes to differentiate themselves. It’s great to see them exercise the techniques they have learned to do their own things with their kits, supplemented by their own paper craft stashes.

Here are the samples I made.

And here are the editions they made!

Give a Poem a Home - Valentine's 2011

2011-02-14T21:54:00.000-05:00

I already showed you the card I made for my husband on Valentine's Day 2011 in an earlier post. Here's the poem I wrote for the inside:

Your love fills me

Like the sap of a tree.

It flows through my veins

And brings life to me.

The branches are

Our years together

Each budding with memories

That we'll keep forever.

We've put down our roots

And we're standing strong

And I'll keep on loving you

My whole life long.

From Scraps to Smiles - Mini Thank-You Notes

2011-02-11T21:53:00.000-05:00

I am always looking for ways to use up scraps. I’m a pack rat and I hate to throw away even the tiniest piece of nice paper. (I *have* gotten better at it! Really!) I’ve been trying to clean up my scrapbook studio. I have actually made good progress but the bits from my fairy custom order keep spreading! (I will take pictures of my reorganization after the order is complete.)

On my cleaning travels, I found some paper quilled bits. They were left over from a card I made last year but with which I wasn’t terribly thrilled. I made these bits in preparation for version 2 but version 2 was never made.

So I went to pile it in my “bits bin” and there I found the bits from my holiday goodie gifts. Those boxes result in a good number of 2 x 4 bits, scored in the middle. Since they make 2 x 2 mini cards, I decided to keep those bits and use them to make thank-you notes for my shop. Since stuff isn’t flying off my shelves, I’ve been lazy about making the thank-you notes.

I made at least this one. I made it for my custom fairy order. The patterned paper is actually a scrap from one of the fairy cards! That’s why I thought it would be clever to use it on the thank-you card. It matched perfectly with the blue cardstock. The paper quilled bits were just the right size. I dug in my “bits bin” and found a paper die cut flower where I had put glitter in the centre. Tah dah! From scraps to smiles!

Giver Her Flowers

2011-02-07T22:02:00.000-05:00

After stamping up my nephew's card, I decided to keep the stamping going and try out my newest Stampin' Up! stamp set. Afterall, the PaperPlay challenge this week is to Stamp it Out! Actually, I was able to make this card in to a double challenge feature. PalsPaperArts has a colour combo challenge this week, based on Stampin' Up! colours:

I already know where this card is going. I just have to remember I made it already when the time comes! I also have a few stashed for my new plan for products in 2011.

This style of stamp is called a "two-step stamping" set. First, you stamp the outline and then you stamp the coloured parts. The coloured parts are meant to not fit perfectly on the outline, so that you get a watercolour kind of effect. It's a pretty neat technique!

I also made myself a ghetto lightbox from foam core so I'm trying it out. I am missing a plain white piece of bristol board fo rthe backdrop, so you still see a harsh line in the background but it's got to be better than my blue wall. I have to hold the camera so close that the front of the card kind of warps, like looking through a peephole. *sigh* I probably need a bigger box. Ghetto-box will have to do for now.

Guest Writer on the Revamp Your Etsy Shop Blog Series

2011-02-06T19:12:00.021-05:00

Just a quick note today to let you all know that there is a blog series starting tomorrow on all the various aspects of your Etsy shop. You can learn, step by step, how to tweak your shop. Most of the lessons are written by guest writers. My section will be about your Shop Announcement. Here are the topics:

Avatars & Banners - Meagan: Baby Swank
Profile Bio - Rachael: Little Birdie Baby Shop
Location, Favorites and the Activity Stream - Christine: Quirefly
Shop Announcement - Lisa: Fairy Cardmaker
Alchemy & Custom Orders - Amber: Twisted Ribbons Bows
Message to Buyers - Affie: Crafty Bird Creations
Shop Policies - Meagan: Baby Swank
Shop Sections, Featured Listings, Rearranging Your Shop - Kimberly: Cinnamon Spice
Google Analytics - Annie Dees
Product Descriptions - Stacie: Sparrow Blu
Tagging - Donna: Zoe Girl Designs
Pricing: Overhead - Harriette: Harriete Estel Berman
Packaging and Shipping - Affie: Crafty Bird Creations
Photography - Part 1 - Alex: Terraine
Photography - Part 2 - Alex: Terraine
Branding - Mayi: Mayi Carles
Marketing - Sarah: Makery Blog
Social Networking - April: Blacksburg Belle
SEO - Mary: SEO Web Design
Seasons and Holidays - Missie: Sykin and NW Wonders

The series starts tomorrow on Baby Swank's blog and goes to the end of June, so there is lots of work ahead and lots of time to soak in the knowledge. You can sign up for her newsletter on her blog to ensure you don't miss an article!

Wishing great success to us all in 2011!

Give a Poem a Home - 5 Year Old Birthday Boy

2011-02-03T21:54:00.003-05:00

Well, I did manage to make the first birthday card of the month. I have three male birthdays to prepare for this month, but I can't promise they will all be handmade! This one had to be, though, because it's for my nephew. All my nephews have had only handmade birthday cards from me and hubby since they were born.

This card is made with a digital stamp. I have a few stamps that work for men. I was going to use a little train, but I think my sister and I bought the same stamp from Michaels, so I tried very hard not to use it! (Of course, then, I started to fixate on the train.) Then it hit me. The only way to totally steer clear of any possible duplicate images was for me to use a digital stamp. (My sister doesn't have a printer!) I sifted through my small collection of digital stamps on my computer and found this one. It's perfect for a little boy, don't you think?

I got this stamp as a freebie from Pollycraft - I think it was last summer. It was free for a limited time but now you can buy him from her Cuthbert and Kiki line. (I just wanted to say, she has a Critters and Cogs line that is PERFECT for little boys too, and her monster named Fluffy is THE CUTEST monster I have ever seen! One day, he will be mine.)

I coloured Cuthbert with Copic markers and mixed in a few Letrasets where I didn't have a colour in Copic. (What are those? Read about them here.) This nephew loves green, so Cuthbert's shirt is a light green to match the patterned paper.

I tried something new with this stamp: paper piecing with stamps. I stamped Cuthbert twice and coloured his hands and balloons and his head twice. Then I cut everything out: his full image plus the extra pieces. (Let me tell you, balloon strings are not fun to cut around!) I used some foam tape to pop up the extra bits.

I hope you like him. (Actually, I really only hope my nephew likes him!) Here's the poem I wrote for the inside:

It seems that yesterday, you were born and now you are five!

My, you're a very fast growing young guy!

You are darling and sweet, energetic and smart.

Yes, indeed, we think you're a real work of art!

We just want to say, "Happy Birthday To You"

And may all your birthday dreams come true!

Envelope Tutorial - How to Make Card Envelopes

2011-01-30T12:14:00.001-05:00

Personally, I don’t like the taste of the lick’n’stick kind of envelopes. If I have to use them, I run water over my finger and then run my finger over the envelope glue. If I’m doing a lot of them (like at Christmas), then I wet a Q-Tip and use that! Office supply stores offer water bottles with sponges on the top and other places (like my post office) have a wheel that turns in a mini vat of water.

My dislike of envelope glue is what has driven me to make invitation sized cards (4.25 x 5.5 inches). I can go to Staples and buy a box of envelopes that are peel’n’seal. Now, sometimes, I use envelopes that come from charities to which I donate. I pick a few cards to keep and toss the rest in the recycling box and hoard the envelopes. Then I cut cardstock to fit those dimensions.

Other times, I make my own envelopes. I have tried many sizes. Most sizes were fed to me. There were instructions that came with my Scor Pal and my Enveloper paper scoring boards. However, before I splurged on either of them, I used to make my own envelopes. I prefer my own template over the Scor Pal and the Enveloper. The Enveloper makes triangle flap closures and I prefer the rectangles. As for the Scor Pal instructions, I like my side flaps a little wider than theirs. Here are my dimensions for a standard invitation sized card:

Click for larger view. PICTURE IS NOT TO SCALE!

Start with a paper that is 7.75 inches wide by 10 inches long.
With the 7.75 inch side at the top of your page, score down the 10 inch length at 1 inch in from either side of the 7.75 inch width.
Now turn the paper so the 10 inch side is the top of the page. Score down the 7.75 inch length of your page at 2.5 inches and 6.75 inches.
Cut away the corners along their fold lines to create 1 inch wide flaps in the middle of your page.
Use a corner rounder everywhere.
The 2.5 inch flap is your finished envelope flap.
The opposite side is the bottom of your envelope. Fold in the side flaps and adhere the bottom of the envelope to the flaps. (Make sure you only put glue along the edges of the bottom of the envelope and not on the flaps because the bottom is shorter than your side flaps.)
Put double sided tape along the flap closure to create your own peel’n’seal mechanism!

Sometimes, I make bigger cards. I try not to exceed 6 inches on any card’s dimensions so that I can always get at least two cards out of a 12 x 12 piece of cardstock. Then I had to make an envelope to match. Here are the envelope dimensions to hold a card that is 6 inches by 4.5 inches:

Start with a paper that is 8.25 inches wide by 11 inches long.
With the 8.25 inch side at the top of your page, score down the 11 inch length at 1 inch in from either side of the 8.25 inch width.
Now turn the paper so the 11 inch side is the top of the page. Score down the 8.25 inch length of your page at 3.5inches and 8.25 inches.
Cut away the corners along their fold lines to create 1 inch wide flaps in the middle of your page.
Use a corner rounder everywhere.
The 2.75 inch flap is your finished envelope flap.
The opposite side is the bottom of your envelope. Fold in the side flaps and adhere the bottom of the envelope to the flaps. (Make sure you only put glue along the edges of the bottom of the envelope and not on the flaps because the bottom is shorter than your side flaps.)
Put double sided tape along the flap closure to create your own peel’n’seal mechanism!

Here is a picture of the comparative sizes of the Standard A2 (1/4 fold) card envelope to the larger one:

Now, I have also made a couple sizes of mini envelopes for my own use as thank-you notes. It’s a fabulous way to use up scrap paper! A super tiny envelope is 2 inches by 1.5 inches. I generally put a single sided (i.e. not folded) note in these. To make this envelope, here are the dimensions:

Start with a paper that is 3 inches wide by 3.5 inches long.
With the 3 inch side at the top of your page, score down the 3.5 inch length at 0.5 inches and at 2.5 inches.
Now turn the paper so the 3.5 inch side is the top of the page. Score down the 3 inch length of your page at 1.25 inches and 2.75 inches.
Cut away the corners along their fold lines to create 0.5 inch wide flaps in the middle of your page.
Use a corner rounder everywhere (if you have a tiny one).
The 0.75 inch flap is your finished envelope flap.
The opposite side is the bottom of your envelope. Fold in the side flaps and adhere the bottom of the envelope to the flaps. (Make sure you only put glue along the edges of the bottom of the envelope and not on the flaps because the bottom is shorter than your side flaps.)

A little bit larger to hold mini folded notes is an envelope whose dimensions are 3 inches by 2.25 inches. Here are the dimensions to use:

Start with a paper that is 4 inches wide by 5 inches long.
With the 4 inch side at the top of your page, score down the 5 inch length at 0.5 inches and at 3.5 inches.
Now turn the paper so the 5 inch side is the top of the page. Score down the 4 inch length of your page at 1 inch and 3.25 inches.
Cut away the corners along their fold lines to create 0.5 inch wide flaps in the middle of your page.
Use a corner rounder everywhere (if you have a tiny one).
The 1 inch flap is your finished envelope flap.
The opposite side is the bottom of your envelope. Fold in the side flaps and adhere the bottom of the envelope to the flaps. (Make sure you only put glue along the edges of the bottom of the envelope and not on the flaps because the bottom is shorter than your side flaps.)
Put double sided tape along the flap closure to create your own peel’n’seal mechanism!

I hope this is helpful to some of you! You can use almost any papers to make these envelopes now! You can use scrapbook papers, old calendar pages, a good quality thick wrapping paper, or other papers you can find! (I would avoid newsprint though, as the ink may rub off on the card inside.)

From OOOPS to TAH DAH! Valentine’s Day Card 2011

2011-01-25T21:16:00.001-05:00

So, I got my butt in gear and made my husband’s Valentine’s Day card. I still have to decide what to put on the inside, but I was very glad that I got it done. I make cards whenever I can but most of the ones I make I do for listing in my shops. I don’t often get to make for myself. Figures, right after I finished this one I realized I have a little boy’s birthday card to make that is even earlier than Valentine’s Day! Gotta get a move on! I actually have three male birthdays in February for which I should be making cards right now. Boy, if shopping for men is hard, crafting for men is too!

I have long since realized that artful projects for men are difficult. I’ve said before that scrapbooking papers take their cues from the fashion industry and that statement holds true for the relationship of men’s fashion choices to women’s. There are A LOT more products geared towards women.

Lucky for me, I have a tonne of papers for our wedding album. Since I am making slooooow progress at those scrapbook pages, I occasionally raid the papers for other projects. This project actually started out as a scrapbook page for my wedding album. However, once I cut the scalloped edges, I felt they were too small for my page. I was a little disappointed because it’s a lovely paper and I only had the one sheet. I had cut two mats (for facing pages) and now it was ruined. OOOOPS – sigh.

Or was it? The smaller scallops suit a card very well because the card is small. So, I repurposed the lovely paper and trimmed it down for my hubby’s card. I tied a knot instead of a bow because knots are more manly. Plus too, I felt a knot was appropriate as a little “love knot”. TAH DAH!

A little birdy told me I might have a bridal shower to attend this winter, so I made a second one for that. It’s a perfectly gender neutral card! The stamp image is from Hot Off The Press. It’s a small, very affordable set and I fell in love with it when I saw it. In my view, trees can be seen as masculine (for their strength and rigid steadfastness) or feminine (for bearing fruit). I knew I wanted to use this love tree stamp for my male-oriented love cards.

I like the design. I based it on a sketch but the stamp was too big for the sketch, so I altered the design to accommodate it. Now I can play around with the colours of the paper, the card base and the stamp ink to make variations!

Oh yes, I have plans for this card.

Boys and their Toys (plus a scrapbook page)

2011-01-22T13:43:00.004-05:00

So, I'm trying to do some scrapbooking to get through my stockpile of photos. My desire to take photos diminishes as my backlog grows. This task requires me to pick and choose the photos I want to develop. I wanted to share a couple from our holiday battle royales.

My husband, Ryan, always plays with our nephews. Our nephew, David, is a big Star Wars fan. Ryan found some light sabers and they often duel. Our other nephew, Connor, likes Transformers which is a little more gun-based. At his birthday this past year, there was a water gun battle and both boys really loved it. So, for Christmas, my husband bought what felt like a whole armory of Nerf guns for the boys and one for himself so he could play with them. (Isn't it the BEST uncle who not only buys toys the boys will obsess over but who always spends the time to occupy them with those toys instead of leaving he parents to drown in requests to play?)

Not only did he buy the guns, but he wrapped them himself too. While he was wrapping, he realized the boys have multiple clips totalling 60 darts. His Nerf gun had only one 25-round clip (of which he did buy two). He decided the ammo discrepancy was not going to be pretty if two nephews were unloading 60 rounds into him each! So, he went and got himself a different Nerf gun, which allowed another body to join in the game.

We met with his side of the family first for the holidays, so David got his present first.

He thoroughly enjoyed firing darts back and forth with Uncle Ryan. His dad and I scrambled to keep the clips filled - chasing darts all over. Even Poppa was helping to keep the clips loaded. Once, Uncle Ryan exclaimed "You're out [of darts]!" and David immediately shouted, "Load me up, Dad!" It sure doesn't take them long to grasp the concepts of weaponry.

A few days later, we met with my family and gave them advanced notice not to come unarmed!

Connor loved the Nerf gun. His dad, back left, used Ryan's first gun. Uncle Mike, back right, brought a dart gun with him and Uncle Ryan, in the front, has the same Nerf gun model as Connor.

David's dad, who had to work for the day and could not accompany his family to an out-of-town family function, was invited to dinner. Ryan persuaded him to "borrow" David's Nerf gun too. There was a LOT of darts flying around. Here's a picture of the "reload" break.

LOTS of darts. Connor's baby brother, Callum, who has just started to crawl, was fascinated by the flying darts and kept crawling towards them to snag the ones that landed. He just wanted to play too, but I'm afraid he's quite a bit smaller than the Nerf guns!

Of course I have to include the third nephew in this post, so here is the most recent scrapbook page I did for his baby book. This is the most awesome picture I've seen. It could have come straight from a magazine! The most amazing part? It was taken in a grocery store! Yes, the photo lab at Fortinos (which is the top of the line grocery chain for Loblaws, one of the largest grocery chains in our area) took this photograph.

Who needs props when you've got Daddy's Hands?!

My first blog award!

2011-01-17T22:57:00.001-05:00

I have been honoured with a blog award - actually two! Aquariann, a fantasy art shop on Etsy, passed the Stylish blogger aware and Versatile blogger awards on to me.

A a gracious recipient, I am to:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded me these awards

2. Share 7 things about myself

3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers

4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award!

(Do I even follow 15 blogs? Guess we'll find out)

I found Aqariann's blog on Etsy. It might have been in a post calling out to various zodiac signs for interviews. I can't quite recall, but I'm glad I happened upon her. Her avatar (one of her own pieces) has such an engaging gaze! I always spot it in the forums. Her blog feels like snippets of myself! We share very much of the same interests. I like lurking around her blog. Thanks for these awards, Aquariann!

Now to set about my tasks! Facts about me:

1. Western Zodiac: Pisces. I married a Scorpio. We are both water signs and our signs are compatible.
2. Eastern Zodiac: Horse. I married a Tiger. Our signs are compatible. Surely this is good fortune that we are compatible under BOTH zodiacs!!
3. Favourite colour: blue - must be something to do with the water sign?
4. I love languages and writing. I wanted to be a translator, but I knew my job would be replaced by machines before I would be ready to retire. So, I became a Chartered Accountant instead.
5. I can probably count the things that I can cook on one hand. I think I would starve if not for my husband.
6. I have casually played MMORPG's since university.
7. I have three recurring dreams: two are just strangely disturbing or uncomfortable and one is a night terror. I've never had the night terror when sleeping with company. (I shared a bed and then separate beds but shared a room with my sister until the beginning of highschool and now I have hubby!) I've only had the night terror 4 or 5 times in my lifetime. Thank-goodness it isn't frequent!

Alright and 15 blogs:
1. Digital Artist Diane Carubia from Di's Digital Downloads. She frequently posts new drawings and I just love looking at them. I have a few that I need to try out. (I'm still hesitant with stamping and digital stamping.)
2. Digital Artist Mo Manning. I LOVE the flow of this art. Plus I LOVE that it is multicultural - the same person is published with many hairstyles so that we can celebrate all kinds of people.
3. Nun-of-a-Kind. Linda has just a fun sense of humour. It's always uplifting to read about the Sisterhood!
4. Felicity Lingle. Felicity has a wonderful down to earth point of view without being boring in the least! I could learn a lot.
5. Quilly Nilly. Tracey puts a punch of colour in every design. Her art is very happy to look at. Being a glass-half-empty kinda gal myself, new posts on her blog always lift my spirits.
6. Jodi Kutz Stampin' Up! This is my cousins' wife. Never a dull moment in their house with two children zipping around. She always weaves a story in with her art.
7. Indie CEO. Linda offers sage advice and always trying to motivate us entrepreneurs!
8. Embellish Magazine. The design team for their challenges is awe-inspiring. I enjoy scrolling through their projects.
9. Etsy for Animals. The team's treasuries get posted here with items for sale on Etsy that support animal causes. There are also articles on different animal topics - like care for different kinds of animals.
10. Tracy's Treasures. Tracy found me first. After a while, I realized she is on Two Peas in a Bucket which is the scrapbooking forum I haunt from time to time. Her blog is the perfect mix of paper crafting, life and food. It's a great variety with a good story teller fashion. I imagine Tracy as someone you would hang around at a party with 10 other people enraptured in her tales of life.

That's it. I'm out of blogs! Sorry I can't make it to 15.

There's a New Fairy in Town!

2011-01-15T15:15:00.001-05:00

I did it. I drew.

So, I had my banners done by graphic artists. I do love my blue fairy and the wee ones that inspect my cards like fairy quality control. However, the font has always bothered me a little and the blue is EVERYwhere instead of just on the fairy. Okay, to be honest I just get bored of designs from time to time! So, it was time for a change.

I got in on a sale on Etsy by WinchesterLambourne. It was an incredibly good deal and Winchester ended up flooded with orders. So, I had to wait a wee bit but it was no big deal. It wasn't holding up any launch or promotion. Once I made my way up the queue, then I got super fast, felt like to-the-minute service!

I chose a stock background design and I decided to keep it simple. Clean and simple is my style and my selling point. Clean and simple is easy to mail, hands down. There were lots of digital fairies available, many of which were breathtaking, but few of which suited what I wanted. So, I took pencil to paper and made a simple line drawing of a fairy.

She is now nestled in my Etsy Shop Banner with a fancy title, courtesy of Winchester!

Digital stamps is something I've been meaning to investigate further. I am not very quick at picking up all this techy stuff though. I spent 3 hours digitally "touching up" the scan of my hand drawn art. 3 hours for something I took half an hour to draw! Digital stamp work is not something I'm going to go headlong in to. I will continue to toy with it, as I have been toying with it for 2 years now.

As part of my order, I also received an avatar sized snippet of the shop banner background so that I could tinker with an avatar. Here's what I came up with after 2 hours today. It is actually version 5 of 7 attempts.

Do you like it? I like it. The question is... how long will I like it for? Hee hee.

The Power of the Written Word

2011-01-05T22:18:00.000-05:00

I wanted to share a blog post I found. I normally don't just follow random blogs. I generally only follow the blogs I actually have an interest in. This one was a random exception though. I ended up following this person from people posting their blogs on Etsy. Every now and then I check out the posts. This one struck me: The Mother Load.

I didn't know until this post that this blogger and artist is deaf. Her post about the power of the written word is inspiring. She has pen pals from all over the place and it has filled her with culture and perspective. I feel ignorant by comparison! Yet, there are many things I can enjoy that she cannot that I take for granted on a daily basis.

Felicity writes of a mountainous pile of mismatched packages: "Dear Penpals, This is every piece of mail I received in 2010. You know I'm deaf. I can't chat with people over coffee. I can't call people on the phone to discuss banal minutiae. I can't go to the movies or watch TV or discuss popular culture."

I'm afraid the written word is a dying art. Time comes at such a premium these days, hence the rise of email and texting, and twitter and all other forms of e-spam. We inundate ourselves with to-the-moment information but what we gain in quantity, we lose in quality.

If you take the time to sit down and put pen to paper for one person and one person only, that means something to them. Plus, going to the post office is also a sign of that extra nugget of effort. Emails and mass mail letters are not nearly as special as a letter from me to you. Yes, you and you alone. Wouldn't that make you feel special?

The Jim Henson movie, the Dark Crystal, said it perfectly. Two characters come across symbols carved in a rock. One says that he knows what it is: it's writing. The other asks what writing is. He replies, "Words that stay."

Not long after my mother died when I was cleaning out her apartment, I found some notes of hers in binders - mostly her keeping track of things like car repairs and bill payments and other ordinary things. I instantly recognized the shape of her letters. They resemble my grandmother's handwriting and all of my mother's sisters have their own spin on it but Grandma's handwriting is still recognizable as the original matriarch. I examined the paper. I could feel the stroke impressions in the back of the paper. It was so tangible. It was a tiny, everyday piece of her left behind for me to see and touch. Words that stay, indeed.

Go ahead. Read Felicity's blog post. You will smile.

Flight of the Fairies

2010-12-31T16:43:00.002-05:00

I am excited about my latest custom order. I have been extremely fortunate to land one big custom order per year and this one will be 2011’s. This order is special to me because the card chosen is a fairy birthday card that features my own original fairy die cut. The only problem is that I don’t carry enough supplies to make many duplicates of the same card. I actually bore easily of repeat papers. Normally, that trait works out well for handmade items! There are rarely more than ten of any design I make with most designs not surpassing six. This time, though, I need to make a hundred!

Here is the original card that sparked the order:

While I bore quickly of the same paper patterns, I do like to reuse layouts. Even when I scrapbook, I go back through my pages and will repeat a layout I had that I especially liked. By varying the colours (and sometimes the page elements), I can get what I think is an equally pleasing yet different design. So, that’s the solution for this custom order. Fae, fae, everywhere in different colours and patterns so fair! Using the same design in many colours makes this project 10 times more interesting for me!

Here are some examples of varying colour schemes (click for larger views):

Grey Spotlight

Urban Garden

Grey Oppulence

Whilst cleaning up my studio, I’ve realized that I tend to buy papers in sets of two or four. (Surely, this is a scrapbooker’s habit!) With only 2 to 4 pages of any one design, that means A LOT of combinations to make 100 cards! I do have a lot of paper though. I pulled enough paper from my stash to fill half the order and I ran out and bought some papers from a line I've been itching to try for the rest!

Naming these fae cards has also been fun!

Teal Treasure

Fireside Fairy

I have to admit, I jealousy hoard some of the papers. I hang on to the ones I find especially pleasing thinking that I will use it only when that *perfect* project comes along that just *deserves* this paper. Well, this holiday, I have been re-arranging the studio for better workflow. (I mean, I have an entire room for my stuff but the space I have clear on my desk to work in is only 1 square foot!) So, while reviewing my goodies and finding more suitable homes for them in my room, I have also taken a hard look at the protected stash. I have chosen to part with some of my favourite papers just for this project.
Here’s one of them:

Linen Closet

I just love the main paper on this card. It has a very fine and delicate look to it with a hint of innocence. Nonetheless, its time has come! This paper will fly away with the next contingent of fae by the end of January. Everybody wave good-bye!

Merry Christmas 2010 - Naughty or Nice?

2010-12-25T11:59:00.003-05:00

Merry Christmas to all!

This Christmas, I made something for the Executive Administrators in our office. There are a total of 9 of them. Professional Administrators' Appreciation Day is in April. Well, for a chartered accounting firm, April is an extremely busy time of year. I wouldn't have time to make handmade gifts then, so I choose to give them something at Christmas.

I had seen a poem last year about reindeer and snowman poop. I altered the lines only slightly to make my gifts. Some of the people in our office can't have chocolate, so they got mints instead.

I saw a tutorial for this box on Splitcoast Stampers. That box was made from one sheet, which meant the bottom of the box was a single layer. I needed a more reinforced box to hold heavy chocolate almonds and mints. So, I redesigned it so that the basket is made from one sheet and the tongue is a second sheet. That way, I have at least two layers all around the basket.

The snowman papers are from Dream Street and the reindeer papers are from Die Cuts with a View. I had made something over a year ago that produced all these extra white circles. I made them into snowpeople for my boxes. Two were for men, so they have top hats. Two were for women so one has ear muffs and one has a tuque with a pompom on top. I designed all the paper die cut hats myself. The reindeer is a stamp from Stampin' Up. (I bought it last year just for this purpose!)

Here is my version of the poem. (Click for a larger view.) Here is the original version of the poem:

I heard you've been naughty.
So, listen, here's the scoop.
Santa's going green,
So you get reindeer poop! (or snowman poop)
- Santa.

I didn't like that the poem didn't make the connection between lumps of coal and going green. So, that's why I altered the poem to read:

I hear you've been naughty
But, this year, coal won't do.
To reduce my carbon footprint,
It's reindeer poop for you! (or snowman poop)
- Santa

The admin seemed to like their gifts. I'm quite happy with how they turned out!

Come rain, snow or shine! Snowman card for the Post office

2010-12-18T16:58:00.001-05:00

I really like my post office. It's near by and the workers are knowledgeable and never grumpy. I hear lots of horror stories of misinformed and nasty postal workers around the continent on various forums. I feel lucky that mine are very steadfast. I sometimes even get service with a smile too!

I had an extra paper die cut snowman. (This one was my prototype.) I attached him to a card, which is also made from scraps of another project, and I will be bringing him to the post office on my next trip. I happened to get a large custom order from my iCraft shop, so I want to bring in my snowman when I show up with a big fat parcel, proud as a hen with a barn full o' chicks.

I have used this paper from Jillibean Soup on several cards. I LOVE its neutrality and it matches Bazzill Fawn cardstock to a T! When I give cards to people I don't closely know, I like to keep it non-religious. (You never know who does and does not celebrate actual Christmas.) I was not sure how the detailed, elegant paper would pair with my whimsical paper die cut snowman. I think, with the whimsical stamped sentiment (from Michael's), it turned out nice! In fact, I might make a couple more. I still haven't finished sending Christmas cards. Just like last year, the last batch will certainly be late. (Better late than never though!)

One of a Kind - Nun of a Kind!

2010-12-05T14:49:00.001-05:00

This year was the first year I attended the One of a Kind show in Toronto. The number of booths of artisans and crafters was mind boggling. We started at row Z and by the time we stopped for lunch, I was only at row Q! I thought I wasn't going to get through it all in one day! (But I did).

I went this year to meet the creator of Nun of a Kind. Linda, the creator, was kind enough to share with me a couple of her extra exhibitor tickets. Small world, you know, she lives in a place neighbouring my hometown of Sarnia! So, we had taken to chatting and reading each others' blogs. I purchased a few Sisters for the ladies in my life a while ago (and one for myself, of course!).

Here's a picture I snapped of the booth. If you click on it, you can get a MUCH larger view.

Linda, the maestro behind Nun of a Kind, is over at the podium checkout and her friend Cathy helped man the booth - or woman the booth, I suppose! Cathy is also an accomplished sewer as you can see from her Etsy shop: ZigZagStitches.

What I love most about the Sisters is that it celebrates, in a very fun, creative, light-spirited way, all the different things women can be. Also, the idea of Sisters is so encompassing of any womanly relationship you might have. There is an inclusivity and belonging to The Nunnery that is a feel-good kind of thing!

Several nuns debuted at this show. One that was entered in to the "Love" exhibit at the centre of the show was the Sister who loves to cook: "Amelia Love".

You can just see her from the back of my photo here. She has the giant poofy white chef's hat on over her habit. Totally adorable!

In the back row are the holiday items. I bought a Santa for myself. I really liked the white ones, but there was one with a little polar bear that I had to have. So, I went for red so the polar bear stood out more. I got a little Frosted Folk to be my white winter wonderland piece. The Santas are just superb - having a light filling, they have just the right amount of weight to stand up sturdy. Another artisan at the show (who made fabulously detailed fairy figures) asked to see my Santa. (His head and hat were sticking out of my bag and the jingle bell rang wherever I went.) He was impressed with how well it stood up too!

Nun of a Kind is one fabulous way celebrate and support sisterhoods everywhere and I just wanted to share!

Snowy Blues

2010-12-02T22:35:00.001-05:00

No, I'm not down in the dumps and no, it's not snowing yet (thank goodness!) but over on the Crafty Ho's challenge blog, this week's challenge is an inspiration photo of a *very large* snowman.

Last year, I designed a die cut snowman. I wanted him to look like folk art. I didn't like how he turned out. I went back to the drawing board on this one. Once I had the new snowman paper die cut designed, I saw the error of my ways on the first one. I gave him some touch ups but I have not yet made anything with him. Once I finished the new one, though, I was ready to make something with him right away!

I made life easy for myself: I found a sketch challenge to go with this snowman theme. The sketch is from the Card Positioning Systems challenge blog for CPS 195:

In addition, I experimented with monochromatic colour schemes in my last post. In keeping with that idea, I made this card monochromatic too. This time, instead of using different shades of the same family, I used the exact same cardstock and differentiated the layers using embossing patterns. This card, therefore, also qualifies for the PaperPlay Monocrhomatic challenge this week! Woohoo! Three challenges in one card!

This is my chubby little paper die cut snowman! I gave him a black outline to make him appear more bold. It does add a slightly whimsical cartoon-y effect too, which contrasts the embossed simpleness a little.

I'll tell you a secret about this card: Once I did the black background, I didn't know what colour to make his hat! I don't have a dark gray cardstock, so you know what I did? I coloured some white cardstock grey with my Letraset Tria alcohol-based markers. Worked well, I think! Here's a close up of the embossing.

I used Stampin' Up! ribbon on this card. I must admit, this ribbon is MUCH nicer to tie in bows than dollar store ribbon. The quality is recognizably better by far. I don't think I will ever buy another spool of dollar ribbon!

This paper die cut snowman is going in my personal pile of Christmas cards. Someone I know will be getting this little guy! I haven't picked who yet though. If I ever get around to cutting out the folk art version of my paper die cut snowmen, I'll try to remember to snap a picture to show you before I send him on his merry way!