Inspiration from our Talented Customers!

Every once in a while, I get lucky enough to be sent photos of artwork which customers have created using the Quietfire rubber stamps.

This beauty is from Hellen E. in Australia.  Hellen doesn't have a blog, so I'm very happy she send this to me!

And from Carole At Carole's Soulfelt Creations (I had trouble viewing her blog using IE - but it's perfect with FireFox!)

but Carole says one of her favourites is here. I'm so glad I don't have to make a choice - they're all wonderful!

 

I've been meaning to share this one for a while. Jeneen is the Queen of ATCs and she created and gave me this adorable one. This is my little black fellow, who takes great interest in assisting with anything related to Waxed Linen thread.  I swear he can hear it coming off the spool from a dead sleep at the other end of the house. *sigh*  I think three wraps around the table is his current record.   Needless to say, he and Jeneen have a interesting relationship.....  He is one happy kitty when she visits!

Thank you all for sharing your work!
To Everyone:
Please let me know if you've uploaded something you have used Quietfire products on.  I'd love to share it!
You are also welcome to add your links to our Facebook Page, too!
Thanks for visiting, Suzanne

Kozmetica Script Typeface

Meet Kozmetica Script.
Sometimes I wonder why I bother....  What an elegant beauty.
Designed by Alejandro Paul and Angel Koziupa. See more details of it here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzanne

Burberry Baby Card - Chiara

Or Do-It-Yourself Plaid!

Chiara was born a few months ago to a family that loves Burberry! Chiara even had a little Burberry dress for her christening.
Here is the result of my efforts to create the Burberry tartan using the perfect tool for the job; the Dreamweaver Stripes stencil.  I think I know this tartan pretty well by now! (One day I'll get it perfectly!)



Card Synthesis

Handlettering on cardstock

Reagents:

Mitchell Roundhand Nib

Higgins Eternal Ink 

Spellbinders Grand Calibur

Spellbinders: Classic Ovals Small, Lacey Ovals

Dreamweaver stencil – stripes

Removable Tape

Gesso

Ink Blending tool

VersaMagic Dew Drops Midnight Black

Ranger Distress Aged Mahogany

Card Blanks

Burgundy Cardstock

Fawn coloured cardstock

ribbon

Sookwang Be Creative Double sided tape

Glue Dots and Pop Dots

Thanks for visiting!

Suzanne

Baby Card & Album - Sofianne

Recently my friend had her first grandchild.

It's hard to decide what to send when you don't know what they have and don't have! I knew there would be a card....  I wandered through a baby store and came out bewildered.  And then I remembered I'm a bookbinder....  I thought I could probably come up with something that no one else would give!

I started out with these adorable little rocking horse stickers from Martha Stewart and designed with Spellbinders around their colour scheme.  Here is the card.

I love the dimensional effect that the Pop Dots give.  And when you layer the Edgeabilities just right, you get this little heart peaking through.

One of my favourite thing about Spellbinders is the ovals.  You can draw and cut a circle pretty easily, but ovals....  that's another thing.  And you get this gorgeous embossed edge.  Absolutely classy.  It knocks anything you make up a notch (or two!).

Here is the album made to match the card - it's designed as a little coffee table brag book!

And here is where I get on my bookbinder's soapbox (it's been a while!). These stab bindings look so lovely and you can dress them up so beautifully, but really they're a horrible binding for a Western book.  The Japanese binding uses soft oriental paper and a soft cover and having the book lie flat and the pages fold over the previous page isn't such a big issue.

Adapting the binding for Western uses requires some finesse.

Here is a photo I took before I bound the book.  You can see the spacers between the pages, inserted so the book won't yawn at the foredges when photos are added.  You can also see the pages are scored sequentially so that they will fold over the page before it.

Card Synthesis:

Card Blanks

"Sofianne" handlettered with a Mitchell Roundhand Nib

Winsor & Newton Maganese Blue watercolour

Arches Text Wove paper

Spellbinders Grand Calibur

Spellbinders: Classic Ovals Small, Classic Ovals Large, Lacy Ovals, Edgeabilities Classic Petal

Coordinations Core Color

Sookwang Be Creative Double-sided Tape

Glue Dots, Pop Dots

Ribbon

Brag Book Synthesis:

Pre-cut bookboard

Black acid-free cardstock

Self-adhesive Linen Hinging Tape

Oriental paper

Coordinations Core Color

Spellbinders - as in the card above

Scor-it-All

Drill

Glue, Xyron

Ribbon

Nerves of Steel ('cause I haven't made one in so long!!!)

Thanks for looking!
Suzanne

Donald Jackson on Today

Thanks to Roann Mathias for the Facebook heads up about this interview on msnbc.com!
The last time I saw Donald Jackson was up in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, where I was living.  He came to teach a workshop.  He is very entertaining - unfortunately it didn't really show up in this interview! Too bad!

I was so sick that weekend.  He very sweetly gave me a pat on the shoulder.  I didn't bother telling him I wasn't contagious.  I was pregnant!  (Never been so sick in my whole life!)

If this video makes you want to know more, here is the website for the Saint John's Bible

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Thanks for visiting! Suzanne

Terre Fry - Snowflakes are the Fairydust

Congratulations to artist
Terre Fry
for her full page spread in the current issue of
Paper Creations magazine!

In the article Terre lists all the supplies and describes how she created her card. In addition to an excellent close-up photo of the project, there is a diagram in the pattern pull-out so you can precisely position all of the elements and layers in the card.

Absolutely beautiful Terre!!
Thanks so much for using Quietfire Rubber!

Snowflakes are the Fairydust is available here.



If the Broom Fits

Here is my contribution to this week's Created byhand Challenge!
This week's theme is Witches/Circle Dies

NOTE:

This week two lucky Challenge participants will each receive one of the stamps from the new Quietfire Wicked set. Names will be randomly chosen and posted with the Sampler!  Happy creating!

Card Synthesis

Reagents:

Flying Kitty image from the internet
Cardblanks

If the Broom Fits & Wicked
Golden Ivory Waves – Decorative paper for moon
Spellbinders Fleur De Lis Accents
Spellbinders Standard Circles Large
Tim Holtz Kraft Glassine paper
Archival Ink Black
VersaMark Ink

Thanks for stopping by!
Suzanne

A Grandmother Pretends

Judi Kauffman is becoming a frequent guest designer at Quietfire Design.  Her latest: A batch of Halloween cards and an ATC. 

Two of Judi's friends have recently become grandmothers, so she was elated to find a stamp that so perfectly fits their new role (the Erma Bombeck quote).  

Judi used black ink for all stamping, both black ink and metallic copper ink to smudge and alter the edges of the pieces.  The bats are punched from Black Iris Shimmer Sheetz (Shimmer Sheetz is from Elizabeth Craft Designs, the punch is from Stampin' Up!), the spider web border is a Martha Stewart around the Page duo, the spider is a Cuttlebug die.  Judi said she's not sure if the ghost and pumpkiin brads are still available or not (she got them several years ago from Stainslaus Imports), but it would be easy to find alternatives.

Thanks for sharing Judi!!
Suzanne

Birthday Card!

Made for my friend Susan in Connecticut! (ahem, way late.  Sorry!)

Card Synthesis:

Handlettering on Arches Text Wove

Mitchell Roundhand Nib
Manganese Blue watercolour

Spellbinders Grand Calibur

Spellbinders

•  Grand Rectangles
•  Classic Rectangles Small
•  Fleur De Lis Rectangles
•  Grand Shapeabilities Wonderful Wings

Nestabling, Turquoise Fleur De Lis Rectangles
VersaMagic Dew Drops Sea Breeze
Card Blanks
Core Color (Core’dinations)
Sookwang Be Creative Double sided tape
Glue Dots, Pop Dots


Thanks for dropping by!
Suzanne

Ancient Manuscript Making

Thanks to Georgia Angelopoulos for pointing this out to me.  Great viewing for any beginning calligrapher or bookbinder!  Some things haven't changed much over the centuries.

Interesting, I was taught to add the slit to my quill last - but whatever works - and I ain't gonna argue with Thomas Ingmire!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all Canadians!

Card Synthesis

Ecoline Inks: Vermilion, Safron Yellow, Grass Green, Lemon Yellow

Mitchell Roundhand Nib

Brushes

Arches CP 140# watercolour paper

Tim Holtz Sizzlet Strip - Autumn Gatherings

Sookwang Be Creative Double-sided adhesive sheets

Glitter Ritz Microfine Glitter, Autumn Leaves set, Chartreuse, Peridot

Spellbinders Grand Calibur

Spellbinders Grand Nestabilities: Rectangles, Labels 4

Cardstock

Take it easy on the turkey!

Thanks for dropping by!

What's Not to Like?

Judi Kauffman and I had a long phone interview prior to her beautifully written article in Scrapbooking.com which appeared a few days ago. During the conversation, I stopped her at one point and said "Say that again", and so a rubber stamp was "born"!

Judi is not a minimalist when it comes to stamping envelopes!  The ones she shared with us will ferry her Halloween cards in style.  She used two of the new Quietfire Design stamps, a black cat from Cherry Pie Art Stamps, candy corn from Rubber Stamps of America, M candy from Toomuchfun Rubberstamps, and a tiny ghost and spider from Rubber Stamp Tapestry.     

{I just *love* that cat!  Except for the eye colour, it could be the one who is planning to pussy-foot all over my keyboard.....}

I think we all want to be on Judi's mailing list! Thanks for sharing Judi!

Steve Jobs and Calligraphy

I have never been enough of a geek to pay much attention to the movers and shakers of the technological innovations of the last few decades (I just use their creations!), but it has been fascinating this week to learn more about Steve Jobs and Apple and how he has changed the world.

Thanks to byhandartist Jane Super who added the link to the video below on her Facebook Page today. As I listened, my ears perked up at the mention of Reed College - and I'm thinking, oh my, he's another westcoast boy - going to school in a hotbed of calligraphic artists. Lucky guy! And then he goes on to mention how dropping out of college led to attending a calligraphy class (any one know who the teacher was?) and years later to quality type in the creation of the Mac.  It's one of the first story he tells on this video, but it's well worth listening to the whole thing.  If you continue you will understand one of the YouTube comments shown with many thumbs up. I added my thumbs up.

I hope he looked in the mirror yesterday and said 'yes'.

RIP Steve Jobs

Boo! ATC size

I went to an ATC trade on Sunday!  Yes, miracles happen - I got out of the house.  The stampers will have a go at me for being so lousy at thermal embossing....  Sorry!!!  I need more practice, right?

ATC Synthesis:

Quietfire Wicked Halloween Rubber Stamps

Tim Holtz Candlelight Fright Sizzix die

Black cardstock

Sizzix Big Shot

Ranger Ultrafine Silver embossing powder

ATC Synthesis:

Midnight Dreary Cardstock

Quietfire Wicked Halloween Rubber Stamps

Tim Holtz Candlelight Fright Sizzix die

Black cardstock

Sizzix Big Shot

Ranger Ultrafine Gold embossing powder

Meet the Artist - Scrapbooking.com

I'm a little in shock.  I usually like to think of myself as like the Wizard of Oz hiding behind the curtain making things look bigger than they are.... 
Thanks to Judi Kauffman for this amazing Meet the Artist article (when I grow up I want to write like you!) and to Scrapbooking.com for publishing it!

A drawing student once asked me how she would know if something was art. I answered in a typical teacher fashion by saying she’d know it when she saw it. Suzanne Cannon’s rubber stamps are works of art. The first time I saw them I knew: Each letter, each curve, each tiny detail is evidence that a skilled human hand has created the calligraphy. This kind of artistry and mastery takes years of practice combined with a love of words. My instincts were confirmed when I called Suzanne in 2005 to interview her for a profile I'd been hired to write for a trade magazine. We became friends and finally met in person in January 2011.....

Read the whole article here. 

One of my card from the Scrapbooking.com article

Or listen to the YouTube version here!

Thanks for reading!
Suzanne