The Quietfire Design 2012 Christmas Blog Hop!

Happy Friday! Today is the last day Quietfire Design 2012 Christmas Hop.  If you missed any of the days, here’s our schedule:

• Monday, Oct 15th: Yogi ,Wanda
• Tuesday,Oct 16th: Robyn, Holly
• Wednesday, Oct17th: Sherry
• Thursday, Oct 18th: Monica , Terre 
• Friday, Oct 19th: Suzanne

Remember to leave comments on each of the Blog Hop posts to be eligible for the draws.  Each designer is doing a random draw from their list of comments and the lucky winner from each blog will receive a grab bag of Quietfire Design rubber stamps!  Make sure you’ve commented by midnight Friday, October 19th.

Just let me say, the Design Team has really outdone themselves and we should all stand for a round of applause!  Absolutely awesome!  Thank you, ladies!

So, here is my offering (the first of two).

 I opted for a vintage looking kraft tag featuring a smaller sentiment tag and a frosted poinsettia. Poinsettias seem to be a recurring theme in this blog hop!

I stamped the large Flourishes 1 with VersaMark and clear embossed it.  It showed up quite darkly.  Then I  sponged Distress Mahogany and Antique Linen around the edges of the tags.

I used two of the Christmas Cuddlers: Christmas and Joy, stamping Christmas with Versafine and Joy with Brilliance which is very opaque.  I think I could probably have gone with a bit brighter colour for Joy...  Trust me, it looks better in real life!


I sort of got carried away with the snow texture stuff, but it sure gave the poinsettia some life! The center of the poinsettia is a Metal Staples Brad from Graphic 45. Very cool!

Here are some thumbnail links to the products I used for this project:

Starry Excel Tin

Another thing I've been wanting to do for weeks was to decorate an Excel mint tin....  Now this started back when I was teaching and vending over at WOOL in Vancouver.  My BFF Susan saved my life by helping me for the day.  Well, she has developed this addiction for Excel mints.  I looked at the little tins and thought they'd be pretty easy to decorate......

So here is one that I've finished.

Here is the view from of top with the decorated tin beside the "naked" tin.  (I'm assuming these tins are available in other countries.  You may not have the French though!)

Now let me just say that it's a good thing I did this project, because I flipped the decorated tin open and almost died.  It was stuffed with money!  That is where we'd put the float when we didn't need it anymore and then promptly forgot about it!  I'm feeling a bit rich tonight.

I quite like the little star from the Peace on Earth & O Little Town set.  Unfortunately when I embossed it, it lost a bit of its "attitude", but it's still a bouncy little thing.
I adore this Bo Bunny Snowfall pad of decorated paper.  It is blues and browns and I'm such a sucker for that combination.  I can't believe I had ribbon that matched the paper. I guess there is a reason I keep things forever. (Yes, there is that minty green in the paper, as well)

This was pretty easy!  I'm not sure what I'm going to put in the tin now.  Maybe Excel mints!!! (not a wad of rolled up bills!)
Here are thumbnail links of the products I used for the Starry Tin.



Thanks for stopping by! Make sure you leave a comment to be eligible for the draw!

Good Luck! Suzanne

Our Christmas Blog Hop Is On Now!

Please join us this week, October 15-19, 2012 as we share our creative ideas for using the new Quietfire Design Christmas stamps.

Each day designers will be posting brand new artwork they have created using the new rubber stamps. Visit their blogs on the day of their featured project, post a comment on their Blog Hop post and you will be eligible to win a grab bag of Quietfire Design rubber stamps! Each Designer will randomly choose a winner from the comments on their own Blog Hop post, so make sure you’ve commented by midnight Friday, October 19th. Tell your friends!

All winners will be posted on the Quietfire Style blog on Sunday October 21st. If you are one of our lucky winners, please contact Suzanne privately with your snail mail address.

Here is our schedule:

Monday, Oct 15th: Yogi ,Wanda

Tuesday,Oct 16th: Robyn, Holly

Wednesday, Oct 17th: Sherry

Thursday, Oct 18th: Monica, Terre

Friday, Oct 19th: Suzanne

The new stamps are available for sale now, and will be shipping this week.

Happy creating! Suzanne

One of Our Own Needs a Helping Hand

Our hearts go out to Design Team Member Darsie Bruno. Yesterday morning her home was destroyed by fire. I simply cannot imagine going through what Darsie is experiencing. We know you will want to support Darsie with art supplies so she can begin making her special beautiful creations again, but right now she has no where to put them, so a fundraiser has been initiated to get her back on her feet.

You will find JustRite, Spellbinders, Splitcoast Stampers and probably a lot more groups and individuals who Darsie has touched with her inspiring artwork, trying to help out. We hope you will, too! This is a PayPal fund that has been set up by Spellbinders, but there is a whole team at work!

Darsie's Facebook Page is here if you want to leave her a message personally.

You're not alone Darsie! Sending you soothing good wishes.

Suzanne and the Quietfire Design Team

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all the Canadians!

We had our turkey early as small fry (not so small now) was coming in from Edmonton for the weekend.  There has been lots of turkey soup consumed since Saturday!

So here, at last, is a Thanksgiving card.  I think it took  more time to assemble than the turkey took to cook!

I couldn't resist this paper.  It's beautiful!

 

Thanks for having a look! Suzanne

 

 

A Wicked New Flipbook!

We have a new flipbook!  See how our Designers use our rubber stamps for Halloween!

Click here to go to the Flipbook - I can't embed it here because there is too much code for my little brain (and perhaps Blogger's brain, as well!)
Enjoy!
(just a note - sometimes it works better in a browser that is *not* Internet Explorer)

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzanne

Demystifying Pointed Pen Flourishing

If you're a newbie to pointed pen flourishing and wish to know more, you should you should run, not walk to a workshop taught by Heather Held.

(My apologies to Heather for this less than flattering photo of her - but at least you'll recognize her when you meet her!  I was so busy creating marks on paper, the last thing I thought of was taking the perfect portrait!)

Just watching Heather work is one of the best ways to learn.

All these photos are from the second day. The first day was letterforms.  It was good Copperplate practice time which was much needed!!  I now have some insight into the differences between Copperplate and Spencerian.  I'm definitely a Copperplate girl.

The heart of the flourishing we learned from Heather was the Universal Line of Beauty which you can see below.

 From there we learned this basic cartouche and then it was all about embellishing that basic cartouche.

 

 

You can see how Heather turns her paper every which way.  What a scary concept for me!  And I almost died not using a guard sheet.  To me, it's like driving without a seatbelt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got exactly what I needed from Day 2 of Heather's workshop. You can stare and admire pointed pen flourishing in old books and reproductions till the cows come home and that's where it stays. In the books! Not one person in that workshop had a piece of flourishing they couldn't be proud of.

It was amazing.

Heather Held is a very calligraphically determined person. It's obvious from the moment she begins teaching that pointed pen is her passion. 

Near the end of the second day we began working on coloured paper with Dr. Martin's Bleedproof White.  The trick is getting the consistency of the gouache just right for the nib you're using!

 

Then we graduated to adding colour...  This is Heather's work, of course.

 

 

 

 

And lastly, I'll share a couple of my own things.  I threw out *a lot* of practice pages.

I just want to acknowledge Christiane for ruining my life by introducing me to the Esterbrook 357 vintage nib which is no longer made.  I hope I can make this nib last forever.

 

Yes, that should be Esterbrook!

 

I haven't had so much calligraphic fun since the pigs ate grandma (as the saying goes) thanks to Heather! 

We'll all be able to recognize work by Heather's students.  Just look for that basic cartouche. See it? vbg.

 

Thanks to the Fairbank Calligraphy Society in Victoria for hosting Heather's workshop and thank *you* for stopping by and reading!

Suzanne

 

Heather Held is a Canadian calligrapher and you can be inspired by visiting her website here.

 

 

A Chance to Win!

Hop right over to the Paper Crafts Connection Blog for a chance to win a selection of Quietfire Rubber Stamps!

 

Designer Betsy Veldman has use our stamps to create a delightful Christmas project!  Thanks Betsy!

The deadline is this Friday.
Thanks for stopping by! Suzanne

Happy Birthday Susan!

This really is a birthday card - for a very special person who shares the birth date with my mother, another very special person!  And ahem, it really is going to be late getting to CT!!

 

Happy Birthday Susan!

 

and for those who are interested, here are some of the details.

 

 

 

Learn to Write Your Hurts - Card

I wanted to create another card using Bibi's Nature Prints, but this time try using watercolour pencils to stamp the image.

I used one of the stamps from #01 Love Those Leaves set. I chose a selection of green, yellow and orange watercolour pencils and dipped the tip of the pencil in water.  I coloured the surface of the stamp here and there with each dampened pencil.

Then I spritzed the whole image using the fine spray from a Mini Mister and stamped onto the Sun Kiss decorated paper.  I repeated this two more times so I had a line of leaves. I wanted a bit more variety in the leaf colour, but I guess I wasn't adventurous enough with my watercolour pencils! (I'm kind of sneaking this card in when I should be doing something else!  You know that feeling?) The quotation was stamped with Olympia Green VersaFine ink after the leaves had dried.

Romantic Rectangles die was used to cut out the Sun Kiss paper.  I could have layerd and layed, but thought that this looked pretty good the way it was, except for needed a little shading around the edge of the diecut.   I used Distress Forest Moss and Shabby Shutter for that. I used Pop Dots to mount the decorated die cut and give dimension to the card.

To finish off, I coloured three pearls with Pesto alcohol ink and added them in the bottom right-hand corner. 

Here are the supplies and links!  Thanks for looking, Suzanne

Happy Anniversary Card

This is a little Happy Anniversary card to celebrate the second anniversary of Nature's Print Shop.  Congratulations Bibi!  Bibi uses *real* plants and foliage to create her prints for rubber stamps.  There is a real art to that!

To celebrate, Bibi is having a sale on her Etsy shop - you can pick up that link on her blog.  When I saw her Etsy shop, she inspired me to finally get mine active after being an Etsy member for two years! 

Happy Anniversary Bibi!

I've used stamps from two of Bibi's sets:
#01 Love Those Leaves and #10 Weed Love

I didn't mean this to turn out quite so delicately.  I'm sorry it doesn't show off the leaves well.  I seem to be stuck in this colour scheme....

 

Reagents:

VersaMagic Dew Drops: Aquatic Splash, Oasis Green and Sea Breeze

Ribbon