this one doesn't even need a caption!

but do feel free to write one anyway, if you'd like to!

meanwhile, if you need me, i'll be here at my computer, drinking coffee and smiling... not necessarily in that order!

happy monday, darlings!

♥♥♥

"love you" card

today's pixie project uses the fabulous CHRISTMAS IN PARIS kit, but is actually a birthday card. it looks a bit like this:

ok, technically, it looks *EXACTLY* like that; but there are more photos and a bit about the process, not to mention some of the cool items in the kit, over at the PDP blog!

under the heading of "cool & serendipitous" i offer you the fact that miss kirsty just happened to schedule this post for the very day that we are travelling to see our very sweet eldest niece, jessica whose birthday card this is! awesome, no? for once i'm not dreading the long car trip, as it offers an opportunity to work on my latest yarn-based project. by the time you read this, i hope to be knitting at 65 miles per hour!!! ciao, darlings! ♥♥♥

go HOG WILD on your birthday!

guy cards are HARD. they just are.

i used to think it was just me-- being a fan of all things pink and frilly and flowery and sparkly-- having trouble adapting stylistically, but i've heard too many other amazing cardmakers of every stripe say the same thing, so i think it may just be empirically true. thus, when i set out to make an especially important guy card, i like to arm myself with a secret weapon! such as this week's unassailably AWESOME sketchy thursday sketch:

yeah. how *FABULOUS* is that??! (told ya!) :)

i also like to have a bit of a "concept" if possible. because whereas with feminine cards one can ofttimes skate by with amazing eye candy in the form of product; i think you need an idea or a joke or... something... to make a guy card really work. since this card is for my b-i-l's imminent fiftieth birthday, and he is a big fan-- and owner of-- harley davidson motorcycles, i thought that'd be a good way in. then i thought of a (IMO) cool catchphrase and it all came together:

(patterned paper: basic grey, dcwv, ek success/harley davidson, sei, ki; stickers: pebbles; rub-ons: making memories, glitz, heidi swapp; journaling cards: k&co, little yellow bicycle; other: photo & HD logo printed on kodak premium photo paper; sentiment printed on staples' clear inkjet labels; fonts: 4990810 & susie's hand)

ok, so the sketch is rather compressed in my version, but i *THINK* you can see it! this is a 7" card, and yet i still nearly ran outta room at the end!!! in my defense, i wanted the photo & sentiment to be a decent size so you could see them; but i probably should've scaled them down just a teeny bit more. i had originally intended to make the card entirely black, white, and blue, but then i found scraps of the harley-davidson licensed diamond pane paper, and obviously i had to use that... and also it occurred to me that *GREY* is actually the perfect color for 50th birthday cards, lol!!!

in my original plan the "you are here" icon... (which came from a set of travel-themed rub-ons i stumbled upon whilst searching for something else entirely) ...pointed at the "50"; but somehow in gluing up i must've shifted the bits and on the finished card it just DID NOT FIT where i wanted it to. ah well. i think it's ok where it is...

for that matter, i am not usually the kind of cardmaker who will put your age on the front of your card in big black numerals! but this particular guy beat an especially nasty type of cancer a couple of years ago, and since then our family has been pretty darned happy about larger-number birthdays, so i really wanted to make a point of it. perspective really is *EVERYTHING* darlings, don't you think??! ♥♥♥

"a date which will live in infamy"...

...is, of course, the famous phrase franklin delano roosevelt used to describe december 7th, 1941; the day of the japanese attack on hawaii which flung the united states into WWII. but something i didn't know before we visited the fascinating complex of museums and memorials at pearl harbor, is that the original typescript of his speech read, "a date which will live in world history" and that roosevelt himself crossed out the last two words and wrote "infamy" over top in pencil, along with several other corrections and substitutions he made to the speech shortly before delivering it to the american people via radio, seventy years ago today.

(lovely husband jeff, taking a picture... though not *THIS* picture, lol!)

this is one of the many reasons why i so passionately ♥LOVE♥ museums! because although visiting pearl harbor was much higher on jeff's hawaii wish list than on mine, something i've discovered over the years is that i often learn more at places that were someone else's "pick"; and i absolutely always learn something! the times in which it's an amazing little fact such as this always feel like "touchdown" moments to me!

(flags in front of the battleship missouri)

speaking of unexpected opportunities to learn something valuable, my art journaling heroine dina wakley wrote an awesome post about making "ugly" art yesterday. if i were capable of causing this page redirect automatically to her blog, i'd be doing it right now. as it is, i shall settle for urging you, quite strongly, to click this link. consider yourself urged. (quite strongly!!!) you can thank me later! ;)

here's a photo completely unrelated to either of the above items, except it's from our recent vacation and was a serendipitous experience of great joy to me:

(delicious--and surprisingly addictive--fresh hawaiian papaya)

the papayas in hawaii were AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!! they're the thing from the trip i really reallllllly PINE FOR--apart from the twin delights of consistently warm, gorgeous weather and being on vacation with my true love, obviously! but the papaya, which i enjoyed every single morning with my yogurt, was seriously one of the highlights of the trip. and sadly, no, the ones in my new jersey supermarket are just not the same. sigh.

other than suffering from a serious papaya jones, life in these parts is very good (& quite busy!) for which i am extremely grateful! hope you are having a fabulous week!!! ♥

SOS29: light or white

it's been TOO LONG since i've played along with my lovely darlings over at shopping our stash, so let's remedy that right now! here's this week's brief, from our fearless leader miss carla:

Light and/or White and/or Meljens:

use something from your stash that represents light-

candle, fireplace, stars, Christmas lights,

or decorate a candle, make a lantern, etc,

or make a project that is mostly white

OR Use a Meljens Image!

here's my card:

(transparency: hambly; patterned paper: pink paislee, basic grey; florals & snowflake sticker: making memories; holly: prima; rub-ons: daisy d's; brad: mme; rhinestone swirls: oriental trading co; rose ribbon: tim holtz; stick pins: k&co, joanne essentials; tree die: sizzix; border punch: recollections; ink: colorbox; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape)

this thing is super-stash-based! i think everything on here is either a few years old or scraps or BOTH; only the tim holtz flowery ribbon is a recent buy, and it's actually my second pack of that stuff!

here's my card again, just so you can see the detail:

you'll have noticed i went with the "white" part of the challenge. and thus, this card fulfills a goal i have had for several years: to make a monochromatic christmas card for my aunt whose favorite color is... wait for it... *WHITE*!!! i've never really succeeded in ending up with something that is almost ENTIRELY white... until now. can i get a "WOOHOO"??!!! :)

do hop over to shopping our stash for all the details, see the fabulous DT cards, and whilst you're at it, why not join in? we'd love to have you!!! ♥

on second thought...

...i think this blouse looks *GOOD* with a few wrinkles!!! :)

(happy sunday, darlings!!!)

♥

holiday house recipe box

having spent the whole year making my christmas cards over at JINGLE BELLES, i find that now as december begins, i actually have a bit of extra time in which to make a few presents, as well! awesome! this special holiday recipe box was made using the december pixie dust paperie kit, CHRISTMAS IN PARIS. how gorgeous are those papers, eh??! miss kirsty has really outdone herself this time!

if you don't believe me, why not check out the pixie blog, where you can see additional pics of this fun project, plus my fellow pixies' work, too, as well as this month's special guest designer lynn millers!!! oh and there's still time to enter the november challenge, if you're quick!!! ♥