happy thanksgiving!

personally, i am not a fan of pumpkin pie*, so in my opinion, "nawt pie yet" is indeed the perfect state to which pumpkins ought aspire. i realize i am in the minority on this issue, so i do hope your pumpkin IS pie already, if you like it that way; and that whether or not you are celebrating thanksgiving today, your day is a particularly lovely one...

...preferably involving the pie of your choosing!

~♥~

*i don't like carrot cake, either...or any sweet made from rhubarb. imo, vegetables should play to their strength and remain sidedishes, leaving the dessert realm to those better qualified to pull it off successfully: fruits, nuts, chocolate and so forth. but that's just me. :)

head's up

or in this case, HEADER'S up. the new blog header, i mean. when i looked back through last year's posts for 52Q-question #43, i realized that the paper-pieced one with the deer was made in october of 2008...and much as i still loooooove that thing, an entire year is a bit long on one artwork, imo! since i've been having so much fun choosing and playing with digi-elements, i decided to make something a little different.

so whaddaya think?

(materials: my real-life notebookpaper collage, scanned, cropped & resized; digi elements: chandelier image & shadow: scrap-n-fonts; hipster plumes korners & edges no.4: anna aspnes, designer digitals; damask brush & inked edges tool kit: house of 3; fonts: bleeding cowboys & broken 15)

i think it's kind of fun and dramatic and a bit wintery. i used my notebook paper collage as the base... (however this is not THE thing i told you about that i had in mind; that's still coming, after the person whose birthday card it is receives it, probably next week) ...some assorted digi-stuffs, and a couple of my favorite fonts. i'm pretty pleased with it, actually.

i have a new avatar pic, as well. which i didn't need to post here...but somehow i can never figure out how to get it to load on the sidebar without linking to it online. so it's here.*

i'm definitely going back to changing my header out every 3 or 4 months, though. i think it's more fun to have lots of different ones which rotate; some created digitally and others made the old fashioned way. maybe the *next* one will have monstas??! ;)

*eta half an hour later: my photo is HERE...where it's not is on my sidebar...and in the course of trying to PUT IT on my sidebar, i have managed to make my profile inaccessible! (even though when i access it through dashboard, the "make profile accessible" box *IS* checked. and i saved it. abuncha times.) and i am completely out of time for this now until the weekend. arrrrgh. blogger...some days it's WORTH EVERY PENNY, eh?! (arrrrgggggh!)**

**eta--AGAIN--an additional hour after THAT: i managed to nip back online for 15 min and i *think* i've fixed everything now. my profile's re-linked, and my photo is (finally) on there. it's HUUUUUUUUGE, but i'll worry about that at a later date. surely someplace in the world it's an acceptable hour at which to have a margarita. i'm off to find that place! :)

can you tell i was feverish when i made this??!

maybe just a smidge, right?! ;)

well, i was feverish...and achey...and grumpy...and possessed of a runny nose & hacking cough. which is why i was home on a day that lovely husband jeff was at work. which is how i could make a card for him that would actually be a surprise! (99% of my cardmaking takes place in the living room whilst sat next to the man in front of the tv!)

(monstas cut from paperchase giftwrap; page from an old book; ranger glossy cardstock; dcwv glitter cardstock; (which... HOORAY!... i've finally found a way to really PERMANENTLY attach stuff to it: helllllllllo, sewing machine!!!) sei & wordsworth letter stickers (each practically old enough to be considered "vintage", lol!) plus a few vinyl letters from staples; tombow mono runner & 3m foam tape adhesives)

LHJ and i don't generally "do" gifts to each other on our birthdays, christmas, etc. which other people tend to think is a bit sad, but here's our thought process: we are so amazingly, wonderfully, hugely FORTUNATE as to not really *need* anything. we have lovely and amazing friends and families who show up on our big occasions wth presents and cards and treats-a-plenty. when we were first married, we bowed to the pressure of "it's-a-holiday-GO-BUY-A-GIFT!" and, i mean, you've BEEN THERE, right?! yeah. it ain't pretty.

so we resolved: SKIP the big occasions...but...when either of us happens upon something we think the other will love, we buy it & give it, right then, for no particular reason. or...when either of us happens upon something we *personally* want (but can't realllllly justify buying) we get it anyway... and then go home and thank the other for the thoughtful gift! :)

of course, we don't *IGNORE* birthdays or anniversaries! instead of presents, we hide little notes, or candies, in each other's lunches, or cars. there are phone calls at work, or appallingly-sung messages left on the home machine as a surprise. post-it-note banners have been known to appear on the bathroom mirror just before dawn. excursions are made to favorite restaurants, or to the beach, or a museum. i draw monstas with funny greetings. jeff stops at wegman's and gets all the ingredients for my favorite dinner. it's completely different than what everyone else does...but it works for US!

having said all that, it just so happened that i stumbled upon two things in the last two weeks that i KNOW jeff would really like AND i had excellent coupons in my hand both times. so it seemed silly NOT to grab up the newest nigella cookbook and a tony bourdain dvd!

and now, before i sign off for the day, i'am going to shock you by showing a use for my beloved paperchase MONSTA giftwrap that i've never attempted before:

i have actually

WRAPPED GIFTS WITH IT!!!

(& it worked really well, actually!) :)

i went a little kerrrrrr-AAAAAY-zee!

(i know, i know--*SO* unlike me!)

you know what those physic dudes say: "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." yesterday i showed you a card that was calm, restrained, and full of restful white space. this one isn't ANY of those things, which is quite hilarious when you consider that i made it using scraps from the other one.

but i've got ahead of myself. first the sketch:

it's this past week's super sketchy sunday (day 260) from 365 cards, and i LOVE IT. i'll be using this again for sure. though perhaps not quite as...ahem..."exuberantly" as this:

(patterned paper: paper co, dcwv, vintage sheet music; cardstock: core'dinations & staples; frosted acrylic: shortcuts; rub-ons & gem flourishes: prima; diecut snowflake & brad: making memories; ink: colorbox & bazzill; adhesives: tombow mono runner, gluedots, 3m foam tape; other: sewing machine, edge distresser, basic grey chipboard snowflake used as a template)

i have to say this was one of the most fun cards in the world to make! i'd pre-cut the snowflakes earlier in the week (more on that in a minute) and i had the scraps from the layered tree card sitting next to me. the prima rub-ons were brand new... (someday SOMETHING made by prima will stay intact for more than a day in my house!) ...and i knew immediately i wanted the outflung flourishy bits from the sketch to be crystals.

it took me a few minutes to figure out how i could *support* the crystals if they were going to flourish themselves right off the card base, but as soon as i found a leftover sheet of shortcuts' frosted acrylic, i was good to go. i affixed the gems to the snowflake, starting in the center, and then when i got out to the edge i placed a larger-than-necessary bit of acrylic under the snowflake to catch the "overhanging" ones. i anchored the acrylic securely to the back of the flakewith gluedots, and then trimmed carefully around each flourish. et voila!

finally, two words about said gorgeous snowflake: NEVER AGAIN. i traced a basic grey chipboard ornament that i absolutely adore, and i LOVE the result, but cutting this baby out was a B*TCH and a half. you know me, my middle name is "fussycutting" but yeeeeeeowza! all those little curls and curves and reverses which make it look so lovely and so intricate were waaaay too much on the old carpals. i cut three layers of this at once...and two of 'em are on this card. the third will show up at some point and then i will...regretfully...go back to ordinary store-bought flakes!

keep the xmas card sketches coming, wouldja please?!

because they are definitely helpin' me get going on the holiday greetings!!! for example, this sketch:


card positioning systems' #142, to be precise, was of invaluable assistance last night in the making of this card:

(patterned paper: paper co, k&co, doodlebug, basic grey, love elsie, vintage ledge & a bit of plain white computer paper; cardstock: staples; big honkin' felt rickrack: american crafts; metal snowflake & gem brad: making memories; snowflake sticker: k&co; ink: bazzill; embroidery floss: dmc; adhesives: tombow mono runner, 3m foam tape, gluedots)

as you can see, for the first time in about 3 weeks, i have *NOT* machine stitched on this card. nope. i went back to hand-stiching! (wellllll......it just needed *something*...but there's a practical reason, too--that gauzy india paper makes it rather hard to adhere anything securely on top!) i am quite pleased with the newest version of my torn-layers xmas tree, as well (fair warning: you'll be seeing THIS again, folks!) : i traced a bazzill "big chip" for the cute shape, used a whole bunch of tiiiiiiiiny green scraps to build the layers from the bottom up, inked very lightly in medium gray around the edges and popped the whole thing on foam tape. the white background was a complete accident--i was headed in a totally different direction--but when i found this piece of filmy sparkly goodness, i did an abrupt about-face. i love the finished product, i think it's almost a bit heidi van laar-ish*, don't you??! :)

check another card off the BIG LIST, missus claus!!!

~♥~

*HAPPY BIRTHDAY, heidi!!! ♥♥♥

it's not officially the holiday cardmaking season until i've made the first monsta card

ok, *NOW* it's officially the holiday cardmaking season!

~♥♥♥~

the eagle-eyed sketch fanciers amongst you will have spotted that my card is based on laura's awesome sketch #39 from 2sketches 4you:

speaking of 2S4Y, imagine my surprise when i stopped by the other day to grab the sketch and discovered my photo underneath this cool badge:

quite a fabulous honor, for which i thank kazan and laura! it's also a lovely coincidence, since, as a matter of fact, this blogger ♥'s 2S4Y!

**********

(materials: monsta cut from paperchase giftwrap; patterned paper: dcwv, vintage ledger paper, paper source glitter giftwrap; glitter cardstock: dcwv; santa hat sticker: recollections; metal snowflake: making memories; fibers: basic grey; snowflake sticker: k&co; fuzzy heart brad: doodlebug; ink: colorbox; adhesives: tombow mono runner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine...and yes, at some point i will stop sewing on EVERY SINGLE CARD...perhaps early in 2010...2011 at the *very* latest...)

the sandpiper makes his greeting card debut!

(before we get going, lemme just warn you: i am inordinately...some might say OBNOXIOUSLY...pleased with this card, as the following post makes all too clear. if you're not in the mood for braggy, self-satisfied, card-making-derring-do...my blog is NOT the place for you today. of course, in the time it took me to write this disclaimer, i *could* have just toned down the post, couldn't i? and yet i did not. go figure.) :)

you may remember that a week or so ago i received an awesome sandpiper stamp hand-carved by the lovely gina of tyggereye art. i don't think i mentioned at the time that one of the reasons i had to have this particular stamp is that, as soon as i saw it, it reminded me very strongly of some pics i took in florida a couple of years ago at a beach LHJ & i visited near the home of my late maternal grandparents. when i saw the stamp, the memory of that particularly happy evening came rushing back to me, and i knew right away i wanted to make a card which combined gina's beautiful drawing with one of my photos, and some fun vintagey bits. i don't always have a perfectly clear destination in mind when i start making a card, but this time i did, and somehow i was confident that i would also be able to translate what was in my head onto the page.

and i was *RIGHT*!!!
wanna see?

(hand-carved sandpiper stamp: tyggereye art; beach photo: lauren (printed on kodak premium gloss paper & then distressed); vintage bits: text from a russian book, sheet music, copper metallic ribbon, shells from a rummage sale necklace; patterned paper: graphic 45, paper company, current; cardstock: staples; inks: ranger & colorbox; coloring of bird: copic markers, prismacolor pencils, staz-on (white) & bazzill (dark grey around edges) ink pads, uniball white pen for eye; adhesives: xyron, uhu gluestick, tombow mono runner, 3m foam tapehot glue gun; other: sewing machine, edge distresser, clear glitter glue)

one of the things of which i am most proud on this card is my coloring. i've confessed this before...and you'll have noticed yourself...i am generally *not* a great colorer, when it comes to shading, and putting in highlights and blending and so forth. but this time i wanted to be as realistic as possible*--and actually, gina has carved so much detail into the feathers and around his little eye, that it wasn't at all difficult to see exactly WHERE i should put which color. also, i happened to have one of my bird books out for something else, and being able to look at a real sandpiper gave me the rest of the info i needed.

photo of actual sandpiper...check
(tacky) necklace made of (cool) tiny shells...yes, please!

here's a close up of the sandpiper (mounted on foam tape for extra dimension) which also features the ribbon, shells & stitching:

after printing my 4 x 6" pic on glossy photo paper, i sanded and distressed the edges before tacking it with tiny dots of adhesive to a torn mat of vintage sheet music and a neatly trimmed piece of patterned paper. then i machine stitched as close to the photo's edge as possible to secure the layers. in retrospect, i realize that sub-consciously i used laura's sketch 38 again when i stitched a vertical panel to the spine edge of the card before applying the finished panel (but then, it's absolutely NEVER a bad idea to emulate ANYONE from 2S4Y, is it??!) and after i hand-cranked the sewing machine to attach my scrunched up length of vintage metallic ribbon, i hot glued the tiny shells in place.

of course the only possible destination for such a card would be the stamp artist herself, so i immediately sent this baby off to gina, who, i am happy to report, has received him safely and given him a very good home! i still have a few additional sand-piper-based ideas...which i will probably not get to until after xmas...but somehow i think this one will always have a special place in my he{art}!!! ♥

*by which i mean, "as realistic as possible given that i have stamped him on a page from a beautifully yellowed old russian-language machinists' manual." obviously. :)