Christmas is coming!

 I've been working away on my Christmas cards lately.  Just because making regular cards was not time consuming enough... I decided to up my game and make fabric postcards too.  

I was introduced to this idea last year.  So I entered a swap with my guild and made these.

The darker one was swapped along with the start ornament.  My mom got the Noel card.  Both were appreciated. 

This year I'm making one to swap that has been sent and finishing up 12 more to give away!

Hugs!

It's Christmas time!

 Hello!

I love Christmas. 
So nice to hear from family and friends, lots of good cheer and secret making, but also SOOO chaotic!
In the past few years though it's been hard to get into the jolly time of year.
So if you too are having a hard time, hang in there!  
There will be a better day!
That's all we can do.  Just keep trying.

I made my mom's Christmas cards in time for her October birthday again this year.  
She like cutesy and Suzy's Zoo by Susy Spafford. 
So I took some wrapping paper I bought last year and fashioned some cards for her and my seester!  (that's not a typo, just the way we call each other)

Then a friend asked me for some cards for her business, so I made her some fun ones.

And finally I finished mine in early December. 
I used the same background paper on all of them and the same greeting inside, but used up all the stray embellishments I had collected over the years.

We sent them out a little later that I prefer, but there you go. 

Just aim for done and not perfection! 
I learned that this year! 
How about you?  What did you learn this year?

Happy Christmas everyone and keep safe!

Hugs!
Cindy

Fabric postcards

Hi!

 I participated in a fabric postcard swap this year.
It took me a while to find the Pellon Peltex 9292F Stabilizer, but once I got into the groove, it was fun!

My first ones are quite plain, but I got to play with the font feature on my sewing machine and spent a happy afternoon playing and adding decorative stitches with gold thread.

That's a paper pieced ornament next to it.  I sent it to my swap partner too.

The second one gets given to someone special.

Next year I understand we may do it again, so I'm gathering ideas to make more elaborate ones!

Hugs!

Cindy

Revelations...

 Hey!

So many revelations have been confirmed in the past few weeks. I have to say it has affected me deeply.  If you know me, you know I really hate being lied to.  I tell the truth and I expect those around me to do the same.  To find out that the church has lied to me in not disclosing their involvement with the residential schools atrocities has shaken me to the core.  I was raised to treat  all around me to be equal, and expected all others to do the same... Naïve, I know now...  I have been educating myself on the facts of the past and have tried in my own way to show that I stand with ALL Canadians, regardless of their perceived worth as decided by others.  I craft.  This is how I get through feelings, and even this has caused me to pause.  How to help without offending?  

I recently found a group of ladies up here in Northern Ontario who wish to try to show our support.  Vanessa Grenier started a Facebook group called Quilts For Survivors.  She is collecting 16 1/2" blocks to make quilts for survivors of the Residential school system.  She cannot take names, nor can she guarantee that all survivors will receive one.  Sadly there are too many for that.... But she will try to make sure someone from each province and territory receives one.  She mentioned that she wanted cards to go with, so I created a card with a poem Dianna Klatt wrote for this occasion. 

I also created this block and will try to make more today.

Check this out if you wish and help if you can!

Hugs!
Cindy

Alice!

 Hello!

I recently participated in a journal page swap.  Ladies all over the world were swapping pages through  Jennibellie's Journal Workshops (ning.com) This particular swap was Alice in Wonderland themed. I LOVE Alice!!!!

So here is my page

The main fellow is a stamp by La La Land Crafts.  He's called Luka (Mad Hatter Luka)
Also used stamps of mushrooms and leaves by Dylusions
The tiny head of the Cheshire cat  is a stamp I did not identify the maker with... sorry!

I look forward to seeing other's interpretations!
Cindy

May the 4th be with you!

 Hi!

My girlfriend asked me to make a couple of these cards for friends of hers.  

I liked it enough to make an extra on for my mom... also a Star Wars fan.

Shrinky Dinks are still useful!  Printed out and coloured some logos I found online, hole punched them then shrunk them!  Tie them to a card I stamped and then tried to make look like space....

Hugs!

Cindy

Busy, busy, gotta stay busy!

 Hello!

It's been a while since I bought myself new stamps, as I am phasing out of that to do more Quilting.  But I very happily offered to help a friend out with providing some cards for her business.  She sells Epicure.  I have NO food stamps except chocolate.  So I went to another friend, Wanda, that sells Stampin' Up!  and placed an order for these yummy stamps that I will use for quite a while.  

Though I am phasing out stamping, I have too many supplies to not keep making cards when asked, and for our own purposes.  And I still enjoy it!  

So here is my latest batch of playing with colour and style, just for you Trixi! 

Hugs!
Cindy

Happy Valentines Day!

 Hi!

It is so hard to keep happy these days....
Cold, locked in, worry, you name it!

But it's Valentines Day...

So Friday I went out and dropped off a little care packages to some girlfriends I've been missing.  Just a couple cookies and a card.  Sent one to my mom and sister too.

I've been hording these chalk sprays for a while too.  So, primed them up with water and went outside for a few minutes to do some graffiti on the snow....

Try to keep doing things!

Hugs!

Cindy

Happy Creative New Year!

 Hello!

A little late, but happy New Year!  I hope 2021 is more creative and fulfilling for you!
I plan it to be for me!

To start off, I'll share some more cards I just created.  It's winter and snowing outside, so of course I'm making water and fish cards!!!  I miss swimming and being in the water, so I guess this is where my thoughts are.

I keep all sorts of things to make into cards, including empty tissue boxes.  I had saved a few that were water themed and today we made them into 12 cards!

So start with some cards using as much of the box to show off the patterns....

Then use a hexi punch to use as much of the leftovers as possible....

The Hexi punch and greeting are from Stampin' Up!

All adding a stamped image that I coloured in.  The Koi is from the US company About Art Accents and the Octopus is unknown, I got him in an image swap.  Both ate coloured with Smooch paints that are in little nail polish type bottles with a built in brush.  I love the shimmery effect of these paints.

So now I've got 12 more cards to sell or use for notes to friends.  Because we NEED to keep in touch!

Hugs All!

Cindy

Merry Christmas!

 Hello!

Now that most of my cards have arrived, I can post this year's card.  

This year was not as bad as previous year's in the motivation department.

I happily worked on these and looked forward to sending them out, compared to the last few years of just giving up, or forcing myself to do so.  Winter blues, or SADS is common, and it hits me usually in late October, early November.  I have a light box I use each morning and oddly, this year's Covid restrictions motivated me!  

I wanted to make a little tea kit to share with some members of our Quilt Guild who were really feeling isolated, so I made some large mats or Mug Rugs as some say.  Combined with a tea packet, a treat and my card I went around to their houses to leave a surprise.  Some I had to notify ahead of time as they lived in apartments, but most I just left and ran.  Brought Kara with me and I finished feeling quite up!

In each card, I also usually include a letter with our updates of the year.  

This year I decided to share a poem I found on the internet....

I've since discovered the author is Shawna Hickling from Calgary, AB, Canada

Hugs to all!

And I wish you a healthy and happy 2021!

Happy Canada Day!!!

Hello 'Eh!

We really do say this more often than we realize. LOL!

I had a friend recently ask me to make her a pile of Canada cards.

I really enjoyed getting into it and making them fun.

My original card was this (along with a summer one)   It was made in 1995.

The batch she got was very similar, but not exact due to no longer having some of the stamps from then.

Now for my house decorations!

Due to no public gatherings, we were encouraged to decorate our homes and send in pictures.  

Here are mine!

Hugs!

Cindy

Merry Christmas!

Hello!

I still make some cards for special occasions and of course Christmas!

This year I made these cards for my sister and mother to send to family and friends.

Our cards looked like this.

I also participated in an ABC tag swap with friends from Alberta.  Each year we get given a letter of the alphabet and need to make 26 identical tags with the theme of Winter Wonderland.  My letter this year was 'T'.  We then get a full alphabet back each year.

I've only got a few more letters to do until I have done the entire alphabet!  Yay!  I hope your winter celebrations are filled with love and family!  See you in 2020!

Hugs,
Cindy :)

Fabric cards

Hello!

I have been quilting quite a bit.  There are SO many pretty fabrics out there!  I hate to see smaller pieces just discarded because they cannot be used for a larger project.  Case in point of this kitty fabric. 

I used it to cover a cloth bag, but there was a left over bit about 8x12".  So I used a rotary pinking blade to cut out the kitty panels and made some decorative bits to accent the inside of the card.  And made cards! One of the ladies at the quilt class I take liked them so much she purchased them all!

I used the same technique for cutting out these Asian lady blocks from a panel of fabric.  These were for my AOSA Yahoo group.  I made a few birthday cards and sent along three panels for the lies to play with, as a gift.

Hugs!
Cindy

New Year thoughts

Hello!

Here we go, ANOTHER person giving new year thoughts!
I do love my blog, but have been neglecting it this year due to focusing on family and health.
I realised when I DID do something creative I got a lot of positive vibes from it and wanted more!

A few years ago, I read that it is more important to add something than remove something as a resolution.  This way you will be more successful in completing it.  So I have tried to do so, within my limitations.

This year I am going to try to commit a minimum of 1 day a month to each of my passions: card making, scrapbooking, quilting and blogging!  Obviously I will do more, but setting aside one full guilt free day of playing on these areas will keep me motivated and feeling fulfilled, relaxed and happy.

I just finished a yearly challenge of sending a birthday card to each of the ladies who wished to receive one on my Yahoo group About Oriental Stamp Artists.  Some months were a little late, but all of them got a card.  Here are some examples:

Hoping your 2019 is full of fun and creativity!
Hugs!
Cindy

Asian Art

Hello!

I've been trying to keep up with my card exchanges on a Yahoo Group I belong called About Oriental Stamp Art.  The group sets up exchanges based on a theme and we join in on whichever we like.  We also have a birthday list that I have made a priority to send out to each who have listed their birthday this year.  Here are some samples:

Year of the Dog exchange (My Fave year as I was also born in this year!)

A layout is posted and we interpret it as we like.

Red, Green and Brown to be used on the card

This was my February birthday card, I believe

Another layout challenge

Till next time!

Busy Times

Well another year is well on its way.
I've been creating when I get a chance, learning to create a calming routine, quilting and connecting with friends and family.
I am still making cards at the Vintage Co-Op here in the Soo. and I'm combining jewellery with my cards.  'Cardlery', my husband calls it! LOL!

 Rhonda sells beautiful pieces and some of them are pretty small!  So we thought putting them on a card, ready for gifting would be a great idea.  Pins, charms, earrings and even hair clips!

Let me know if you see something you like!
Hugs!