Missing a wee grandson...

Well, my gardens beckon. I have perennials to divide, weeding to do, and new plants from friends' gardens to plant...and here I sit, making cards! (lol) This one is for my little grandson Avery, who recently spent a month with me. (When we chat on the phone, I always end my conversation with "I misses your kisses," hence the computer generated text I used). I created the background for the tag by spraying watercolour paper with Ecoline Watercolour Inks, available online at Quietfire Design here in Canada.

I was able to incorporate several challenges today, which is always such fun! This cute cat and fish image came from the So Artful Challenge. I used purple and green to meet the Wednesday Stamper challenge; I used my new sequin waste stamp from Inka Stamps to meet the Chrisma Cardz Craft challenge (circles and dots); I used three Swarovski crystals to meet the "bit o' bling" Cute Card Thursday challenge; I used the Judikins postage stamp frame for the One Powerful Hour challenge; and finally, I fashioned a tag for the card to meet Theme Thursday's challenge.

Here's my treasured, impish fella:

Thanks for stopping by. I wish you all a delightful day!

Created by Hand Challenge

This week's Created by Hand challenge is insects. I used one of my own photographs and a Gentle Thoughts sentiment stamp from Quietfire Design, stamped with black Staz-On ink.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Ismaki Monday!

This card is based on today's Ismaki sketch, offered by Bea. I'm sad to read that the Ismaki sketches are ending next month, because they've provided such wonderful inspiration. Sigh. But I'll play till the end, and I always have dozens of previous Ismaki sketches saved to my computer.

THANKS for all your inspiration ladies.

This birthday card uses some new OnyxXpressions stamps with Ancient Page coal black ink.

Here's another Asian inspired card I did this morning for my brother's birthday, although it doesn't follow the Ismaki sketch.

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit my blog today.

Friendship

This week's Created by Hand challenge is to use pink and green together. I used the "friend" stamp from Quietfire Design, with a little 3-d paper decoupage and hand sewing with pearl beads.

This card was designed also to meet the Charisma Cardz challenge, which is to use flowers, lace, and pearls. (I used a lacy ribbon here, hope that fits!)

Thanks for taking the time to stop by today!

Happiness!

My friend, Dr Deborah Duerden-McDonald died a year and a half ago of inflammatory breast cancer. She was an incredibly accomplished, deeply loved, beautiful woman, inside and out, whose life was cut short far too soon, when she was only forty-two years old. Here's another post about her, if you're interested in reading a little more.

So then, why the "Happiness" title for this post?

Oh so many reasons! First, it was pure DELIGHT to create this card. Deb's best friend since high school, Sarah, has given birth to a beautiful, healthy baby girl. Sarah is in her mid forties, this is her first baby, she enjoyed a healthy happy pregnancy, a safe birth, and...well...life is GOOD! This precious child is now our friend's namesake...Anna Louise Deborah.

I've created this card for her...pink of course because she's a wee girl, because her namesake was such a "girlie girl," and also because it signifies breast cancer awareness.

And because I've become such a challenge junkie, I've done it to meet six of those too: Secret Crafters bloggers want to see a "new beginnings" theme; Saturday's Workout is "sparkle" (I've used gold mirror cardstock leaves); TGIF's challenge is pinup girls...and nobody can deny that THIS little one IS!! (lol) The Saturday Surprise challenge is "wish," and oh MY, we all have so MANY wishes for this little girl. The challenge over at Our Creative Corner is sentiments (see inside my card for the beautiful Quietfire Design sentiment), and finally, the Charisma Cardz challenge for this week is to use flowers, lace, and pearls. I white-embossed my favourite Impression Obsession background stamp on vellum for the dress overlay. Here's the Stampingtom template I used.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my rambling post today.

I hope you enjoy a HAPPY day yourselves!

Doors

The Wednesday Stamper challenge is to use multimedia.

I stamp regularly with a group of happy, talented women, and this week, we created these frame cards, where the central image is dropped into a recessed area on the inside of the card.

I created this card for my son, who's recently been accepted into a college program beginning in September. He's a child of the sixties, even though he was born in '85! His favourite group ever is the Doors, and Jim Morrison is his favourite singer. So when my friend Kim showed me this Stampsmith image of Jim Morrison, I knew I had to use it for his card.I also used one of my son's favourite Jim Morrison quotes:

"There are things known and things unknown, and between are the Doors."

So, I stamped the Jim Morrison image, then the Impression Obsession door image, then used embossing paste with a brass stencil for the music symbols. I used digital word art for the front. The outside of the card is (intentionally) completely different from the inside, both for "sixties shock value," and because he also loves a sea theme. Text computer generated, flourish stamp is Crafty Individuals, compass is Stampabilities. Hope this is sufficiently multi-media! Thank you so much for visiting today!

Peace

Card temporarily removed, back soon...

Okay...be forewarned...long post follows!

This week's theme at Gothic Arches is Peace...dear to my heart always, and particularly these days, for so many reasons, some personal, some globally political. Thank you for choosing this theme, Heather. Your own arch is wonderful...as I would expect!

I used a beautiful textured background created by Wil over at Art Creations to begin the piece. The I superimposed my own photo, taken when we visited the Canadian National Vimy Memorial just north of Aras in France. Although we thoroughly enjoyed the art and history and architexture in France, the visit to Vimy is my singular most vivid memory of our weeks there. I served decades in the Canadian Air Force, first as a medic, then after university, as a social work officer, and after a tour in Kosovo during the conflict there, I was able to see first hand the ravages and pain of war. My mother served in the Australian Women's Army Corps, and my father served in the Royal Newfoundland Navy during the Second World War. Both my parent's fathers also served, my mother's father in the Dutch Army, and my father's father in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. My husband was an Air Force aeronautical engineer. My son is enlisting in the Canadian military this summer. We have a strong, and very proud family military history.

So then this photo is of a sculpted statue, part of the Vimy Memorial, and is titled "Canada Bereft." The entire monument, designed by Canadian sculptor and architect Walter Allward, took eleven years to build. This cloaked figure stands at the front, or east side, of the monument overlooking the Douai Plain, and is the largest piece in the monument. She faces east in hope for the dawning of a new day. She represents Canada—a young nation mourning her dead. Below her is a carved tomb, draped in laurel branches and bearing a helmet and sword. She is positioned between the twin towers of the memorial, forever a symbol of our nation's grief at the 3598 soldiers who died at Vimy. Carved on the walls of the monument are the names of 11,285 Canadian soldiers who were killed in France and whose final resting place was then unknown.

I've included other photos as well. This sculpture is so incredibly evocative for me.

I used the background stamp and the torn paper edge to represent the tatters of lives left by war. I've used the title to the song "Where have all the flowers gone..." to represent young lives lost. If you click here,you can see a poignant u-tube video of the song, written by Pete Seger and performed by Joan Baez.
I stamped one of the stamps on this clock cube from Impression Obsession to represent time, which is this week's Saturday Surprise theme.

Thank you so much for visiting today, and for taking the time to read my nattering. It serves us well to reflect on this theme of peace, especially during these troubled times. Thank you again, Heather, for a reflective and peaceful Sunday morning creating this. As always, I incorporated my arch into a card.

I wish you all a day of ordinary miracles.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MITRA!!

Mitra Friant is the owner of Impression Obsession stamps, and today is her birthday. I'm so very lucky to be able to design for this generous lady with her beautiful line of stamps. I wanted to create something elegant for her, and this is the result. I stamped my favourite Impression Obsession swirl background stamp on vellum, gold embossed it, then set it behind a Nesties frame. I stamped this Impression Obsession sentiment on a transparency, black embossed it, then put the card together with some pearls, a paper flower, and some of my precious hoarded British Columbia coral beads. ;)

Please do visit the blogs of alll the other Impression Obsession designers to see their treasures for "our boss." You'll find direct links on my sidebar.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MITRA!!

Aaaahhh, the challenges!

So I've been away from home far too often this year, and having just returned yesterday, I've spent the whole morning stamping! What a TREAT!!

I wanted to share why I've been away this time. My "big sister" Katherine, who completed a thirty year career teaching high school, went back to university, and in her sixtieth year, graduated with her Master's degree in divinity last week, from McGill University in Montreal. Several family members travelled from Nova Scotia, Labrador and England to attend her graduation and to celebrate with her. The next step is that she will be ordained as a Presbyterian minister this summer, and will begin working in her own church. We're all just so PROUD of her...wanted to share.

So, now I'm HOME again, and have done several challenge cards this morning. I needed several to mail to various people, so this was a great way to catch up!

The first is for the challenge over at Created by Hand, which is "postage." I used this beautiful sentiment stamp from Quietfire Design and postage stamp frame, masked that, and used parts of this great stamp from Crafty Individuals.

Now this is actually a humourous card, which I'll be sending to my husband at work. We've decided to travel to Paris, the French Riviera and Rome this fall, which is why I selected these particular stamps. So the sentiment reads: "The longest journey is the journey inward." Inside the card, I've written:

"...been there, done that...too expensive...let's go to Paris and Rome instead."

Over at "Art Pieces," the ATC challenge is "My Country." I enjoy incorporating ATC's into my cards, so stamped Impression Obsession maple leaves (Canadian of course! lol) with Clearsnap chalk inks, and the sentiment (also from Impression Obsession) with Tsukineko Memento Black Ink. Then I glued and glittered some of the flourishes in the maple leaves. This card will be going to a friend in the UK who's experiencing some health concerns lately.

Over at Wednesday Stamper, the challenge is "under the sea," and this card with stamps from Impression Obsession again fits that theme nicely. This one will go in the post to a little grandson today.

The final two cards are for the Timeless Tuesday challenge...birthdays. I have a couple of birthdays coming up, so this challenge was timely! The first card uses a sentiment stamp and my favourite heart stamp from Impression Obsession, and the second uses some new stamps from Stampin' Up.

That's it! My morning in my stamping room is finished, and I''m off to my garden to catch up there too! It's a beautiful sunny day here in Nova Scotia, I am so HAPPY to be home. I hope that wherever you are, you have a delightful day!

Impression Obsession Designers' Challenge

So our challenge this time 'round was to use robin's egg blue, butter yellow, and spring green. I had no robin's egg blue in my stash, so my palette is a little more subdued. The scenic stamp is called "A Day at the Beach," and the sentiment is one of IO's hundreds of new releases this spring. I hope you'll have time to stop by the other Impression Obsession designers' blogs for inspiration. You'll find them all listed on my blog sidebar. Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today!

Mothers

The challenge over at Created by Hand is Mother's Day. Although my own Mum died several years ago, I create cards now for my daughter, who's raising four little boys. The photo image stamp is from Stampsmith. The sentiment stamp and the Ecoline Inks I used to create the background are from Quietfire Design. If you like these wonderful photo stamps, have a look, there's a design team call over at the Stampsmith blog!

Over at Timeless Tuesdays, the challenge is to use beads. This is a hand stitched sympathy card I just mailed off to a friend, using flat back pearls from Kaisercraft.

Thank you kindly for taking the time to visit my blog today!

Happy women!

The current Gothic Arch challenge is to use vintage women. Saturday's Workout challenge is to use collage. Saturday's surprise is an open challenge, and the TGIF challenge is to do a gothic arch ATC. I incorporated my ATC into this card, and used this wonderful butterflies rubber stamp plate from Crafty Individuals, as well as their yummy flowers silhouettes plate, embossed in gold and white. The sentiment stamp is Hero Arts.
THANK YOU for visiting today!