Thursday, March 22, 2007

I am Woman, but I don't roar



Roar? That's for Big Cats, like lions and tigers, and... I don't need to roar, because I speak softly and carry a big stick and love with a purple passion. Hmmm! I've been having a bit of flu or something. Maybe I ought to go back to bed?


This card is a varation of the ones I'm making for an Ink-Stains swap, "I am Woman". I just received a batch of chipboard letters, and had to try one out, but there are not enough "W"s to go around.

The poem is one of mine, inspired by the wire sculpture of a friend.


Here's the card for the Ink-Stains "I am Woman" swap.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Two Stones with One Card!


Yes, folks, this card is doing double service! It's my entry for this week's Ink-Stains challenge, and it uses cs from my OSW. Don't ask how long it took to figure it out. The fact that the challenge was to use a card sketch helped. This week, the card sketch comes curtesy of Di Hickman at http://dihickman.blogspot.com/ Scroll down to her March 11 entry for the sketch. Thanks, Di!

Oh, yes, the translation of the message is, "Yoo-hoo, it's me!" Sounds better in French.

Have a great day, everyone!

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Please don't psychoanalyze Alice & co.!


I can't believe I forgot to post the card I made with one of my Alice stamps! Alice Who??? Alice of Wonderland fame, of course. Yes, I know, the caterpillar is smoking a hookah, which is traditionally loaded with some version of pot, and is, moreover, sitting on a magic mushroom. Enough said! I prefer to focus on my childhood experience of the scene, which, for me, was sheer delight at the thought of talking to a caterpillar.

In the 1950's Walt Disney film version, instead of disappearing into the surrounding grass, the caterpillar metamorphoses into a butterfly. I like to think of the possibility of transforming myself, by dint of the struggle to improve my virtues and conquer my faults. No magic mushrooms needed for that!

This was also the ink-stains weekly challenge/mingle for March 6-12. I'm including the card sketch/map for it. Site administrater Kim gives credit for the sketch to The Square Studio. Here's the link: http://papersquares.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

A few ATCs





As my profile states, I not only make cards, but ATCs, those little Art Trading Cards measuring 2½"x3½". Here are a few examples. From top to bottom; Peter Rabbit, All About Eve, Summer Daze, and Que la vie est belle! (Life is so beautiful!)

Monday, March 12, 2007

Have you tried making an OSW?





OSW=One Sheet Wonder. The idea is to take an 8½"x11" sheet of cardstock, either a printed one, or one you make yourself by stamping, or use of techniques such as brayering, direct-to-paper, polished stone, or other background technique. You then plot out how to cut the page into as many pieces usuable for making cards.

The cs I used for my OSW was a glossy purple, sparkly page. Guess that says more about me than I'd care to admit! The layout comes from another stamper/blogger who kindly offered it for personal use on her site, along with pictures of the cards she made from her OSW. Thanks, Julie! Here's Julie's blogsite address: http://mutchtostamp.blogspot.com/

I haven't used all the pieces of my page, but here's what I've done so far. Apologies for the quality of the scans, but the scanner doesn't like bling!

Friday, March 09, 2007

Stencil paste


Here's my latest Easter Card. It was made with a copper stencil and stencil paste, then coloured with Colorbox Mica Magic reinkers. My first attempt at this art form. If I had remembered to replace the template over the dried image before colouring, it would have turned out better!

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Another Easter Card


It was -20°F when I got up this morning, and it's still there at 6:00p.m. EST. What must it be like to be homeless in such weather? I've read articles in years past about homeless people freezing to death as they tried to sleep. The good samaritans can't find them all, and amazingly, some refuse to come in out of the cold.

Only a couple of years ago, here in my suburb of Ste-Foy, a man was found living in a wooded area under a makeshift plastic tent, with a fire made of branches found on the ground. It was a freezing day such as today when police forcibly removed him to a hospital. He protested, saying he was okay. He was apparently schizophrenic, and had gone off his meds.

On a lighter note, here's another Easter card. Keep warm, and give thanks for your warm clothes and home.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

History vs. Cows

This is a picture of Chaplain Allen Allensworth in full military regalia in the 1890s. An escaped slave who became the nation's highest ranking African-American army officer, he is the founder of Allensworth Colony, California's first black utopian settlement.
This picture and the accompanying story appears in the online NYTimes. To read the story on the NYT site, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the link. I promise it's a story well worth reading.

It seems that when historical or other values are in the way of profit, profit usually comes out on top. And when the historical value concerns a part of history most of us (yes, I hold American as well as Canadian citizenship) are not proud of, profit ways even heavier in the balance.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Spring has come unsprung



Winter just loves Québec! To prove it, he's given us a temp of 0°F this morning, with a windchill factor of -24°! I'll have to venture out, though, to mail some swaps. I'm telling myself it'll be invigorating.

I finally found the "lost" cards for my ink-stains Easter swap. Of course, they only turned up after I'd made another, different set. I don't mind, though, because now I'm ahead on the cards I'll send. The bunnies at tea are the ones for the swap. I usually try to make cards more in keeping with the character of the holiday, but discovered I only had greeting stamps, no truly Easter images. An excuse to stamp-shop!

What you see peeking out behind the bunnies' shoulders is the same greeting as on the second card. The top par of the PSX Bunny Tea stamped image has been painstakingly cut out. Some crookedness to this set, but given my talent for calculating and measuring, I'm surprised it turned out as good as it did.

Keep warm, and have a good afternoon.

Monday, March 05, 2007

Snow Day Art



Since the snowstorms gave me a good excuse to stay in, I went to the Splitcoast Stampers site and looked up some card layout and techniques. The Tinkerbella card has two techniques combined; the Crinkled Chalks and Joseph's Coat. I still have pieces from the pages I made with these techniques, so the experimentation was fruitful.

The big flower card was inspired by SCS card challenge 112.

Saturday, March 03, 2007

Still Snowing!

The blizzard has ended but the snow is still coming down. I think Nature is having an end-of-winter clearance sale and is tossing all her leftovers on us.


Snowfall
The sky shakes her pillowcase
And lets fall frigid feathers.
Swiftly swirling,
They smother the earth
In silent, deceptive softness.

1956, all rights reserved


This card doesn't go with the poem or the weather, but one has to have hope, eh?

Friday, March 02, 2007

...and the storm rages on!


My day of card-making got side-tracked! I was going to finish the last card for a swap I'm in, and couldn't find the two finished and one unfinished cards! I had run out of gold paper I needed for one of the card-front layers, so had put the cards aside. Now I have the paper, but where are the cards! This happens every time I put something in a safe place so I won't lose whatever it is. I have to find them before I have to cancel from the swap. Remake all of them? They're a little too complicated to do all over. Sigh!
Meanwhile, the blizzard is still going strong, much stronger than this morning. It's impressive to watch, but I pity those who have to brave it. Whiteouts have been occuring, and I can hear the snowplows roaring around, trying to keep ahead of the drifts.

I finally got one card made, as you can see. It's for this week's ink-stains (online stamping group I belong to) challenge. We're to use a stamp we have but have never used, and put ribbon on it somewhere.

Gotta go look for the missing swap cards. Have a great evening, everyone.

Friday, March 02, 2007

The Last Blizzard?


I couldn't feel cozier. Out my window, the snow is swirling like a flight of Killer Bees, and the wind is howling and blowing like the Wolf after the Three Little Pigs. But I have a cappucino and a chocolate treat beside me, and lots of ideas for cards. The card-making starts when I finish this. Ahhh, the joys of winter, which will soon be past. Yes, soon, because this is March, now, and the snowstorms which come now melt fast, revealing the dirty old snow beneath.

Needless to say, the cats hardly stuck their noses out the door. When wind blasts their faces as the door opens, they're gone. In fact, they're all tucked up in their lush tails, even cozier than I am.

I'm off to stamp, now, and if anything worthwhile comes of it, I'll be back to post the results for your, I hope, enjoyment and comments. In the meantime, keep warm!
The following poem is original, all rights reserved, 1989


Window on Winter


Geraniums smile from my kitchen window,
Response to winter’s gauntlet
Cast down in frosty confidence.
Soft green leaves taunt a hoary ghost,
Red petals warm a season’s heart,
Speak of inner, deathless Spring.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Some Enchanted Evening



This ATC was inspired by the song from "South Pacific", by Rogers and Hammerstein. It has special meaning for me. Jean had already proposed and been accepted, but we formalized it on my birthday in June, 1963, with his family and my uncle present. Jean asked me to sing "Some Enchanted Evening", and in the middle of the song, he slipped the engagement ring on my finger. He was, indeed, a romantic!


It's another lovely day, the sun is "shining with all his might", as Lewis Carroll said in one of his "Alice" books, not a cloud in sight, and it's 18°F. Why did the weatherman have to spoil that by announcing at least 15 centemetres (about 5") of snow, beginning tonight. I hope this is one of the times he's wrong.


The "Jester" in this card is based on the pattern on pg. 31 of the Feb/March issue of "The Stampers' Sampler". I added Harlequin faces the set by Chris Stern of CS Designs. I used Sparkling H2O's to colour the images, and unfortunately, my scanner doesn't do well with shiny. I have a couple of CS Designs sets and really appreciate them. They are mouse-drawn pixel art, and can be printed out over and over again. (No, I'm not getting paid to praise CS Designs!)
Well, I'll be battening the hatches in case the snow warnings prove to be true, but not before going to Second Cup this afternoon to meet a friend for coffee.
Have a great afternoon and evening, everyone.