Been a bit since I posted...the holiday rush hit us hard this year. Placed several desperate SOS calls to hubby and eldest to pick up 4 more lbs of butter (we actually ran out in the middle of baking!) or another 10 lb bag of flour (also ran out). Have NEVER been so unprepared! We made it through, but it sure added to the frazzle of preparations.
Below are versions of the gift cards we attached to 15 plates of Christmas cookies shared around the neighborhood. We bake up a storm nearly every year, but this year we gave it all way (except for 3 platters for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve). It is fun to share our holiday fav's with others...and I am amazed at how many people commented that they don't do Christmas baking any more! The kids and I can't imagine the holidays without festive cookies to nibble and share with others.
This card was a knock-off of one Susannah designed for the November Card Party at Paper Pals. We have LOVED these creative nights out together and have picked up lots of creative ideas and been forced to come up with fun designs to share. It certainly helps keep us out of a rut.
Our snowflake cards use a Reminisce paper brand design called "Snowglobe". It was a nice pattern, with the unexpected detail of brown distress marks that really appealed to us.
Snowflakes were embossed on a shimmery vellum, then ripped out and paired with a light blue parchment square to dangled loose under the ribbon.
We ran out of paper for the background, so we had to use leftover pieces to create variations. This one turned out okay.
But we soon ran out of bigger pieces, too, and had to resort to a third variation to get all our cards made.
I actually prefer this one best of all three. I like the big expanse of white because it makes the dangle tag 'pop' more. I suspect it uses the Rule of Thirds, which is why I find it the most interesting and appealing.
After all the bustle and preparations,
post holiday let-down hit harder than usual.
That old David Bowie song 'Changes' has been playing like a soundtrack in my head.
Giving up traditions is hard. Bending and accepting change is usually uncomfortable... sometimes painful.
But one must eventually 'turn and face the strain.' That particular phrase is so spot-on I have to clench down on my emotions to prevent a major 'WAH' session! Change almost always involves strain, doesn't it? Part of you yearning for the old way, and part of you looking forward to the new adventure, and both views playing tug o'war in your brain.
The tree is up and decorated. I miss the fresh, pungent scent of pine from real trees and traipsing about with the whole gang to 'hunt a tree' but the simple ease of pulling a tree from storage is a sweet deal in my kinda frantic life. And John loves not having all those fallen pine needles to deal with in January.
Gonna try to get the rest of the house decorated this afternoon. Need to restore some sense of order to the house....a dozen boxes of Christmas stuff sure hogs up the space!
I just got another phone call...my pictures....they are saved!! whoooo-hooooo!
Jason, the miracle-man at VGH Computer Services in Moscow, ID managed to pull my data back from the brink! (I'm sure prayers helped.) He thought of one more trick to try before putting in a phone call to the flash drive company at my request.
AND IT WORKED!
Hurrah!
I feel sorta like Scrooge after being visited by the 3 spirits of Christmas...
only I was visited by the spirit of 'Back-up'....
and I am a changed woman!
"Two, the magic number is two...the magic number is two...two...two."
I just got a phone call from the computer tech guys....my 4 gig flash drive is shot...and worse, they cannot recover the data.
And it's not just any data....4 years of pictures.
Yes, I know. I should have burned them to CD or had them someplace else. Actually, this was my 'someplace else' I thought the flashdrive was 'safe' and felt good that if my hard drive crashed, at least my precious family photos would be protected. Of course, I just wiped my computer recently but probably wouldn't have reloaded them anyway. Stupid.
News flash....flash drives are not 'safe'...apparently they have a pretty high failure rate.
As the tech guy drilled in to me...the magic number is 'two' not one. Two places for all important data. Two.
Just thought I'd share the info to prevent someone else having to learn the hard way.
Really feeling devastated by this loss, on top of everything else.
Oh my...Karen at Paper Pals has the coolest stuff!
Look at the amazing clear stamps I got yesterday. These are called "Elegant Flourishes" by Autumn Leaves - designer is Rhonna Farrer. I've been eyeing the hot flourish stamps for a few months now, but I really love this version. (Karen's sale helped nudge me to finally buy some.)
My creative muse is doing cartwheels!
I also picked up the Fiskars Stamp Press (12-2958) to use with these new clear stamps. You align the clear, flexible stamp on the grid, then press down. The sponges compress and you are left with a nice crisp stamped image. (photo courtesy of Fiskars company)
So, the party was wonderful - many kudos to the director and staff of Latah County Historical Society and all their volunteers. My Littles had a fabulous time making tags and cards and just soaking in the atmosphere of the old home. Here is a pic of the tree. The small round things were roses made from crepe paper. I wish I would have t
aken a close-up of them.
Here is a close up of the fans I made. The papers for the roses were chalked and tea-dipped to achieve the same tones as the wallpaper.
And here is one version of the paper filigree snowflakes.
And the display in the Gift Shop.
The Latah Eagle did a front-page write up on the McConnell Mansion Christmas party. The photo features the tree...and there are the fans I created and donated to the Mansion! They also included an inset of one of my paper filigree snowflakes, and mentioned paper quilling in the article. How cool!
I just found out about this book from my dear friend and fellow paper filigree artist (among other talented endeavors) Tracy Belair Gaito.
This latest offering from Jenn Mason is not another idea book but discusses design elements and principles and how they interact. I have been wanting to study basic design for some time, and actually began a targeted workshop-type series of articles in collaboration with Tracy, but we didn't get very far into the concept. I was 'learning as I go" and the design info came mainly from Tracy - I was mostly the word-smith.
Because I am 'intuitive' with my designs, I don't really understand WHY something does or doesn't work...I just fiddle with my paper filigree compositions until they seem 'right'. How lovely to actually LEARN the hows and whys, and maybe speed up the designing process for my paper filigree work!
Needless to say, I have pre-ordered this from Amazon. I am not sure when it will be out, but tomorrow isn't soon enough! (photo courtesy of Amazon)
I just purchased some mid-1800's hand-made lace to trim the wallpaper fans I am creating for the historic McConnell Mansion in Moscow, Idaho. On each fan I am adding a small paper filigree rose motif, a reflection of the popular artistic pastime practiced by many Victorian women. The wallpaper remnants are left from the formal parlor when the Latah Historical Society restored it. I finished 6 large fans that are already on the large Christmas tree and am working on small ones for the gift shop.
Very excited to have period-authentic trim for these ornaments!
I soon hope to share photos of the current projects, along with news of my classes, various tips and tidbits, and general musings about the creative process in general.
I also have a website, http://www.gemstatequilling.com It shows my work from 2004 to present, but it is not kept current (too hard to edit and keep content fresh).
Aren't blogs the bomb?
