Statistical Anomaly - Yay! Snow on Christmas Day!

It hardy ever happens here on the wet coast! I hope you're having a magical day, too!

 

Merry Christmas!

What is Christmas without a hippo!?  I had a hard time finding a good quality version of this ad.  Telus no longer has it on their YouTube channel.

Hazina never fails to make me smile.  She's the hippo at the Vancouver Zoo.  I must get there one day and see her in person.

I hope you have a hippopotamus size Christmas!

 *Note: This is from the Telus 2005 Christmas campaign

Merry Christmas, Mich!

You have to come home to get the card at New Year's!  Drive safely!

Happy Birthday Yogi!

How daunting.  Making a birthday card for Yogi Grunwald....  It's like sending coal to Newcastle!!!

Happy Birthday Yogi!  (Yes, it's original lettering! and yes, it will be late arriving!)
Have a great day - treat yourself!

 

 

 

Lettered with a 3-1/2 Mitchell Roundhand Nib using Dr. Martin's Bleedproof white on Core'dination's cardstock (the smooth side!!).  The Spellbinder's die is the Cut Fold Tuck Spectacular Spin.

Let it Snow - Teabag Folded Snowflake

Pop on over to Quietfire Creations to see all the details of this card.  I loved how it turned out!

 

In Memory :: John Stolarski

It's that time of year when you have the opportunity to re-connect with friends you may not have seen in many years. You dash off a happy note with your card mentioning something you may have shared years ago, suddenly forgetting the relentless march of time - as though you were magically transported back and nothing has changed.
 

And then the return card comes, with the unfamiliar handwriting and the return address that, although familiar, is not quite right. That happened last night.

 
 So why am I sharing this?  Because a friend, a dear friend of my parents, is gone. But the loss is significant here because this person sparked my fascination with lettering.  Oh, so long ago. 

 
 I guess I was 10 years old.  We’d moved to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and as we looked out the back window of our new house to the neighbour’s, we saw the largest cage we had *ever* seen.  It never took my mother long to solve a puzzle.  That was how we met John Stolarski and his family.  John was an RCMP Dogmaster.  And he loved Italic lettering.  He shared nibs and ink with me and an instruction book that I cannot remember the name of. He took my parents to an RCMP Ball in Regina. He took me out on the bald prairie one weekend, asked for my scarf and told me to go hide.  Then he laughed at my saucer-eyed expression when his huge German Shepherd suddenly found my scent and came roaring over a little rise towards me.  And when we had our first son many years later, he and Mildred brought the gift of a wonderful stuffed bunny with bendy ears.  I remember sitting beside John watching him give that bunny life and character by rearranging his ears, chuckling the whole time. "Mr. B" still sits on the shelf behind my chair. His ears are pretty worn out now, though!
 
John passed away a few weeks ago and it feels like I’ve lost my parents all over again.
 
Our paths weave in and out and lives tangle and stray and often come back together.  I haven’t seen the Stolarskis in years.  But the memories are still vivid and never forgotten.  
 
John never stopped addressing Christmas cards in his jet black, strong Italic hand.  Watch for the next black cloud in the sky.  Perhaps John has spilled his bottle of ink.

My deepest sympathy to Mildred and Shawnee for their loss.  And my apologies to John that this quote, lettered many years ago, isn't even Italic!



I Will Honour Christmas - Card

I do love these Memory Box Dies!  It was impossible to resist that little version of Furry Woodland Creatures (those eating machines which devour precious flowers with great abandon....).  It seems every time I drive into Comox I see one or three and have to stop to let them cross the street.  I swear there is a field near here that grows them like a crop!  And I love every one of them.

I went for white and the blue grey of Distress Weathered Wood for this card.  There is one touch of red in this card - it's a simple bow made of waxed linen thread.

 

Here are the thumbnail links to the products.  The Embossing Folder is Spellbinders M-Bossabilities and it was diecut with Spellbinders Grand Ovals. If you find the links don't work, then the product may be sold out.

Thanks for stopping by! Suzanne

I Will Honour Christmas MB Deer Trio MB Wreath Die Grand Calibur Distress Inks Coloured Cardstock Double-sided Tape Pop Dots Glue Dots 4-ply Waxed Linen Thread

InLinkz.com

12-12-12-12

Now how much fun is that?!

 

Monogrammed Gift Tags

I've been wanting to make these since the dies came out!  At last I found a few minutes to play.  The idea is pretty basic, but what you do with it can be exceptional! I chose the Capitals, Double Stroke (link is below) and opted for using chipboard. I knew I wanted to use the leafy ribbon for a garland.


I found out very quickly that Distress inks bleed on the chipboard, so there is no point in using it for work with detailed stamps.  I was happy with Versafine Olympia green as well as some other pigment inks, but chose the Versafine because it had the best green!  I did use Distress inks for sponging around the outside edges of the tags.


I wanted to do a vertical garland, but this looks awesome as a swag garland as well!  For the vertical version, you might want to use some strategically placed Glue Dots and hang it against a wall so it doesn't twist.  The leafy ribbon is a bit of a free spirit!  On the other hand, you can make two of each tag and glue them back to back with the ribbon running between.  Then it won't matter which way the garland twists.  The bells at the bottom give it some weight so it hangs straight.











Here is a close-up of the bottom tag. I used Distress Markers and a Gold Gel Extreme for the dots. The buttons are threaded with 4-Ply Waxed Linen Thread which makes it easy.  The buttons are held on with my beloved Glue Dots.

Here are some tags made for gifts.

This tag was stamped and clear embossed.  The Holly motif is from I'm Telling You He Comes Down the Chimney stamp set and coloured with Distress Markers.

 

Unfortunately, this one doesn't show that it is glittered!  I re-inked my Essential Glue Pad, stamped the letter and then added Glitter Ritz from the Vintage Christmas set.  Then I didn't touch it for 24 hours.  I even burnished it a bit with my fingers.  Gee I wish it showed in the photo!

This tag is embossed with Gold Embossing powder and embellished with the little copper bells.  Pretty darn easy!

Thanks for having a look! Suzanne

Here are the thumbnail links to the products: 

Flourished Noel - Card

I'm letting the paper do the heavy lifting for me today!  Gorgeous, isn't it?   The Christmas ball ornament was sponged with Brilliance Galaxy Gold and the Quietfire stamps were stamped with Versafine Crimson.

Thanks for visiting!  Happy creating, Suzanne

Here are thumbnail links to most of the items I used today:

Lest We Forget

11 a.m. 11/11/12

Season's Greetings Card

Recently we were talking about stamping in a circle and Holly did this wonderful blog post.  I gave it a little test with this card!  I was fascinated to see the holly motif, when repeated, turned into a square!

Without the little ring of decorated paper, the card seemed bare. Hard to believe that little addion seemed to help!

The holly leaves and berries were coloured with Distress Markers and I made a crude little jig so I would be stamping at 90 degress from the last holly sprig.  I definitely used a stamp positioner to position the Season's Greetings!

 

Thanks for stopping by!  Suzanne

Here are thumbnail links to most of the supplies I used for this card.

I Will Honour Christmas

You know when I first penned this, I asked the Design Team about the British spelling of honour and would it bother anyone?  They said they liked it.  And after all, I rationalized, it was a quote of Dickens....

 

This card turned into a little bit of everything.  It's has Spellbinders and Memory Box and Sizzix.  I just adore this little Sizzlit snowman. He was coloured with Distress Markers and actually has some blue sponging around the edge of his body because he was originally going to be on a white background. He's such a happy little guy, I want to put him on all my cards!

 

I've always loved a card that Wanda did a few years ago with the Merry Christmas snowflakes as a background using a resist technique. (The links on that page will probably not work because we have a new website - Sorry!)  So my version was to stamp the snowflake stamp with VersaMark ink, sprinkle with clear embossing powder and heat; then sponge Distress Tumbled Glass and Broken China over the paper.

Now Wanda would have known that she had to remove the clear embossing before she stamped over it with VersaFine Lagoon Blue, but she wasn't here!  And her ESP wasn't working!  However, it's not too much of a mess....

It was a little bit of a trick to trim the Memory Box die behind the Spellbinders Grand Decorative Oval diecut, but I more or less finessed it!

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look!  Suzanne

Here are the supplies I used.

Happy Haunting!

Ever since Sherry used Mr. Bones for her haunted shrine on the Quietfire Creations Blog, I've needed to have my own Mr. Bones.  Well, how about a family, some of who are just "hanging" around?
Have a fun evening!

On-top-of-the-world Mr. Bones

 

 

Just-Hangin'-Around Mr. Bones

 

 

 Exercising Mr. Bones

 

Relaxing Mr. Bones

 

Stay safe - and stay out of the candy! (send it to me.  KIDDING!)

I'm Telling You...

 I have to confess, I started this card about a year ago and just never got to finishing it for Christmas!  Ahem. It has hung around the whole time having been moved countless times.  I guess its survival shows that it was meant to be finished!

I chose the Tim Holtz Bricked embossing folder and rubbed Fired Brick Distress Ink over the high points, then quickly sprinkled the surface with Distress Embossing Powder Fired Brick and Tea Dye, then heat set.  I was really pleased with the brick texture!

The rest is just cutting, stamping and layering as shown.  I got into that texured snow again....
I hope you find it a fun card! Thanks for stopping by!

Here are the supplies I used:

Rejoice - Teabag Folded Tree Card

I really, really wanted to learn how to do the Christmas Tree that Sharon Reinhart teaches in her online class!  So I took the class.  Hey! I can do this! So here is my tree added to a card.  This is definitely not the end of my teabag folding!

Sharon teaches the Fabulous Paper Folds online class at Annie's and it's so easy to follow. I really like online classes that I access forever.
Think I'm going to have to try the Iris Folded tree next!

Kaisercraft makes such gorgeous papers.  I love the richness of this one. I sponged Crimson Versafine around the edges of the Floral Oval die cut and the edges of the front panel.

I thought the rondelle star bead (I finally got these put on the site!  The thumbnail link is below) topped with a pearl, made a good decoration for the top of the tree.  I considered adding pearls all over the tree....  Hmm. Maybe next time!

Thanks for visiting!
Here are thumbnail links to the products I used!

And the Winners Are....

Thanks everyone who followed our Christmas Blog Hop this last week!  We loved all your comments!

Winners please email me (contact email over in the right hand sidebar!) with your snailmail address.  If you have not contacted me and heard back from me by midnight Friday, we will draw again.

Drum roll please!

From Yogi's Blog:
June said...
Absolutely beautiful work. I love these stamps

Have a great day

From Robyn's Blog:
Diane S. said...
What awesome ornaments! I love them-what a great idea for Christmas

From Wanda's Blog:
Carolyn Adams said...
Gorgeous card, Wanda, and a great tutorial! Not too sure I'd have the patience for more than one of these!

From Monica's Blog:
JM Craftygal said...
Another beautiful and useful upcycle project, I love it! Thanks for sharing, Jutta

From Holly's Blog:
Max
These blocks are lovely. The stamps look great! Now I know how to use up my leftover stamp blocks. Thank you for the great idea.

From Sherry's Blog:
kmeddy.blogspot.com
Beautiful cards, beautiful grandchild! What can I say!

 

From Suzanne's Blog:
Nan G
Gorgeous vintage poinsettia tag! Love all of the snow! What did you use? And your tin is fab! Love it's colors. Great hop so many inspiring ideas. Thanks!

From Terre's Blog:
Beach Girl 115 said...So beautiful! I love both your card with its awesome poinsettia and the glittery snowflake tag.

Congratulations to the winners! 

Drop by our Quietfire Creations Blog any time.  We upload three projects a week for your enjoyment and inspiration!