Felt Lovers Beware

Now if you're a felt lover, you may already know about HandBEHG Felts.

I was on my way out of the building at CHA in January (yes, it's taken me this long to "gather" myself to share this) and this booth swiveled my head.  Almost as swivelled as May Arts Ribbon booth!  But not quite.

I was totally and completely charmed by the brightness, the variety and the sheer fun this booth displayed. I ADORE the bags of felt balls. (I'm feeling the need for a pair of felt ball earrings) You should know that I won't be getting in any of these products - they had pretty stiff order minimums, but I still wanted to share this with you. 

Smile!

May Your Home - Canadian Scrapbooker May Challenge

Here is my offering for the Canadian Scrapbooker May Challenge. I know, I'm not a scrapbooker, but I had no trouble adjusting when I had the new stamps and those adorable wooden House Icons to play with!

 

And here is my interpretation!

 

 

I used Aegean Blue VersaMagic ink to match the Graphic 45 Paper. I've had the little wooden tulip for an eon and couldn't believe how well it matched. This project turned out to be heavy on the Spellbinders products and by hunting around the dies I had, I was able to find something to fit where I needed it! 

Thumbnail links to most of the products I have used are listed below. Just ask if you have any questions.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzanne

Home - Congrats! VersaMagic French Country 8x8 House Icons in a Box Patterns & Solids Imperial Gold Labels 4 Houses 1 Dies Damask Accents Botanical Swirls Spellbinders Whimsy Grand Calibur Key Charms Double-sided Tape Coloured Cardstock

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Shapes and Colours of the Southwest 2013

Although I spent quite a bit of time organizing this slideshow, Photobucket has a mind of its own....  Sorry!

 

Photos are from the Grand Canyon, Sedona, Monument Valley, Mesa Verde and the delightful sandstorm in New Mexico. It's hard to take photos in the Grand Canyon without the whole thing looking washed out and flat, so the best time of day is sunrise or sunset.  We had a *lot* of photos!  This is about 3% of the total.

You'll see in this collection a photo of Mother Nature's fingerprint kit - all my prints on the door of the car had been preserved by blowing sand!  There is one photo of me in four different States at the same time: Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado!  How often do you get to do that? (not my best side, but not my worst either!)

The colours were fabulous.  Thanks to everyone who emailed suggestions.  It's obvious we needed two more weeks to see everything at a more leisurely pace.
Thanks for having a look!
Suzanne

If you'd like to see the photos bigger you can go watch on Photobucket: http://s285.photobucket.com/user/quietfireca/slideshow/Southwest%202013

The Star Book for CBBAG

Welcome aboard BC Ferries

Last weekend I sailed (literally) to Vancouver to teach the Star Book to an eager group of fledging bookbinders.  I was delighted to finally meet people belonging to names I've known only online.  A round of applause for Joni S for coming up from Oregon for the class!







Making some Book Cradles to take to Vancouver



Book Kits all ready to go!

I should have taken more photos.  The venue was spectacular: Creekside Community Rec Center in False Creek which is all part of the legacy of the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.  We were entertained early on by many busy bodies warming up outside our windows for Dragon Boat practice.  Unfortunately it was a pretty rainy day for them, but a perfect day to be binding books!

CBBAG is the Canadian Bookbinder and Book Artists Guild and this workshop was sponsored by the BC Lower Mainland Chapter.  I got the feeling they would love to have some new members and if you're interested in bookbinding they are planning lots more workshops.  You may see their website here: http://vanbookarts.wordpress.com/  Contact information is there, too.

 

A huge thanks to everyone who attended. You were a wonderful group!

And you are so lucky to have such a fantastic location for workshops. Floor to ceiling windows, overlooking False Creek. Lots of tables and a great organizing committee. 

Thank you for having me.

Happy binding!

 

And I love the tote bag (celebrating the 25th anniversary of CBBAG) I purchased while I was there:

 

Twinkling Happy Easter

Hi artlings!  Happy Easter! This "little" Easter project seemed quick and simple enough in my head, but somehow took much longer than I expected!
Easter Sunday is almost over, but I wanted to share this bevy of bunnies.  Ok, I know, not a bevy!
 

I wanted to decorate these buns in different ways. I drew this bunny years ago for a card-making class I taught, and it's been a template on the Techniques Pages for eons as a pdf.  The first time I made one, I covered it with a used dryer sheet to make it a fuzzy bunny.  When I printed the template out the other day, I was shocked to see how bad the quality was.  Bad Suzanne. So I got my fledgling Illustrator skills to work and remade The Buns.  He's much better now! There are two bunnies on the pdf now, one with the fold and one without.

I used 140lb Arches CP paper for this flock.  The paper was painted with washes of Twinkling H20's in pastel colours, then when dry, the templates were cut out. 



The turquoise buns was my attempt at stamping using the Twinkling H2Os.  I think I could have done better. The stamping solution was a more concentrated version of the background wash colour.  I brushed it onto the stamp.

 

The embossed bunny was done with the new Spellbinders Ornamental Swirls 3D Embossing Folder.  Holy smokes!  The depth of the embossing is phenomenal.  I did moisten the watercolour paper before I put it through the Grand Calibur, but it really wasn't a happy sandwich - a bit too thick for safety.  But, it's ok.  Our kitties survived the bunny sandwich shooting out the backside of the machine.  vbg!

The hand-lettered bunny was done with a more concentrated solution of the Twinkling H2Os.  It was applied to the Mitchell nib with a brush and lettered directly on the coloured watercolour paper.

 

I used the little flower in the Spellbinder's Page Maps Whimsy set and added a pearl to their centers.  The die cut buttons came from the same set.

Because the watercolour paper was so thick, I opted not to make a folded card, but instead I cut down the Tim Holtz Small Easel so it fit behind the bunnies and allowed them to stand up.

Hope you had a Hoppy Easter!  Now these little guys will be put away for next year....  Maybe I'll have twice as many when I open the bin next year!

Thanks for hopping in!
Suzanne

Mitchell Roundhand Nib Spellbinders Whimsy Pearls Grand Calibur Double-sided Tape Mini Mister

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God Grant Me the Serenity

I've wanted to do this quote for a long time.

This is my Becca Feeken wannabe card! In its simplest form, of course. How did I do?  I used her Spellbinders die design and the Becca Bow Maker, too! (Thumbnail links to the products are below)

God Grant Me the Serenity is on of the new rubber stamps available at Quietfire Design.  Here are the three new stamps and right now they can be found in the New Stamps Department!

Thanks for stopping by for a peek!  Suzanne

Serenity Prayer VersaMagic Filigree Delight Soho Ribbon Becca's Peg Bow Maker Pearls Double-sided Tape Pop Dots Coloured Cardstock Grand Calibur

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