marvelous music

Is anyone else finding it hard to believe it's the end of August?! This (Northern Hemisphere) summer seems to have flown by. I'm a summer lover so am hoping for the weather to stay nice as long as possible (although we definitely need some rain).

At Seize the Birthday this week, Jules has picked the theme make it musical.  I love listening to music and I know how to play a few instruments but I realize that my musical crafty supplies are not very plentiful. I found an SU! old set and used the bass clef (I wanted to use the treble clef too but just couldn't get it to work in the design). I did an Distress Oxide smoosh background, then penciled in the staff and then stamped the bass clef.  I was going to to go over the staff with a fine pen but I ended up liking how the pencil looked. After the card was done, I thought I should have separated birthday so it was more like how the Happy Birthday song goes. Oh well...

Hope you can play along with us! Check out the blog for the rest of the marvelous creations from the DT as well as our Surprise Party Guest Izzy.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Hope you have a terrific day.

Glenda

Card details:

Happy Birthday to You - 5½" x 4¼"  

Stamps: Hero Arts (sentiment), SU! (bass clef)

Ink: Versafine Black, SU! Blackberry Bliss, Distress Oxide Stormy Sky

Paper: Distress Watercolour Stock, white card stock

Accessories: EK Success corner rounder punch, black dots, pencil

Color Dare 95

Welcome to the Color Dare! The colours this week are Daffodil Delight, Marina Mist and Basic Black. I didn't have any Daffodil Delight or Marine Mist so I've substituted. Hope you like it! I love all the black and I've been hoarding that ribbon for a long time. The sketch is from Paper Craft Planet - sk012911. Thanks to Marisa Ritzen and her crimped hearts for reminding me about my crimper! If you upload to an online gallery, please use the keyword CD95. Please be sure to check out the rest of the fabulous creations from the rest of the design team!

• Heather Prince
• Joan Jeffery
• Marisa Ritzen
• Melissa Hubert
• Nance Leedy
• Riley Fitzgerald (our fearless leader!)

Just discovered this amazing song - Mirrorball by Elbow. I've been discovering a lot of music lately thanks to Radio Paradise.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you are feeling daring and have a chance to play along!
Have a great day,
Glenda

Card details:
happy day - 4.25"x5.5"
Stamps: Unity Following Your Heart, There She Goes Dream Big
Paper: Bazzill Fiesta, SU! Basic Black, October Afternoon Thrift Shop, A Muse Natural White (cream)
Ink: A Muse black, SU! Marigold Morning
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Basic Grey button, SU! black twine, EK Success 2 inch scallop circle punch, Making Memories ribbon, Fiskars Crimper

Random Amusing Challenge 96

Good Monday morning. I hope you had an enjoyable weekend. Mine was pretty relaxed (read: lazy) so no complaints! I was mucking around with my blog design today... what do you think?

In honour of the Winter Solstice tomorrow, this week's challenge is to make something peaceful. It doesn't have to have the word peace on it or be a holiday card... just use the theme of peace. I thought it would be a great idea in this time of chaos! If you play along please leave a comment here and link back to this post from yours. If you upload to a online gallery, please use the keyword GRAC96. Thanks so much to Donna and Sonja for playing along last week. This card was inspired by this one on Splitcoast Stampers.

Just a few random bits:

• If the sky is clear where you are tonight, be sure to look to the sky to see the full lunar eclipse. It's the first time in 400 years that a lunar eclipse has coincided with the solstice. Cool.
• Be sure to stay tuned to my blog... my 100th challenge is coming up in January and I have something very special lined up.
• Tried a new recipe last night and it turned out really well. It was Skillet Cornbread with Jack Cheese and Green Onions (I used a glass pan instead of the skillet and jalapeno Havarti instead of jack cheese). I served it with delicious Jalapeno Jack Cheese Soup - it was an absolutely fabulous combination.
• Reading the Golden City, the last book in the Traveler (Fourth Realm) Series - it's fabulous series about living off the grid and 'big brother'.
• Listening to Oh, the Boss is Coming by the Arkells (great Canadian band), All You Need is Now by Duran Duran (still love these guys - got it on the weekend as a free download on iTunes!), and Howlin' for You by the Black Keys (thinking I need to buy this CD).

Hope you have a great week and are able to spend time with those who are important to you. Have a peaceful solstice, a Merry Christmas, a belated Happy Hanukkah, a wonderful Kwanzaa... or just a peaceful week. I will be back next week with another challenge.

I hope you have time in your busy schedule to play along with my challenge this week.

Take care and thanks for stopping by, it's great to have you here.

Glenda

Card details:
Stamps: A Muse Peace be with you (retired)
Paper: A Muse Winter Sky and White, Upsy Daisy Avalanche
Ink: SU! Chocolate Chip
Accessories: A Muse white sheer ribbon, A Muse twinkle sticker, EK Success corner rounder punch, SU! snow blossom punch (retired), button

Warm... cool... and another geek-out

A little bit of everything today....

Be sure to check out my class schedule as there a bunch of classes coming up in November (including some fabulous calendar classes!).

First off is a card for this week's Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger. The inspiration piece is a sweater (warm) from Anthropologie. I was inspired by the colours and textures on the sweater. A little story about this card - I used my sewing machine (which now has a spot on my craft table, which I a big deal because space is a premium on my table and in my craft room) to make the holes for the sewing. Then hand stitched the yellow thread. Why did I do that? Because I didn't have a spool of yellow thread - just several small bits of it from hotel/travel sewing kits (they do come in handy!). I didn't have an embossing folder that was the same as the sweater texture so I used the closest one I had. This is also for Jeanne's Button Challenge for SCS Hope You Can Cling To. Thanks Cath and Jeanne for the inspiration!

I also wanted share with you some fall colour (cool) from my garden. This is a Japanese maple and it is normally a beautiful rich burgundy (which is why I bought it). Right now it is this brilliant red colour (this is not enhanced in Photoshop!). Quite amazing...love my garden.

Also wanted to tell you about something I got to do this week (geek out time). A local radio station (the Zone 91.3 FM) is doing a promotion this month (called 'My Turn') where listeners come in and play music of their choice for an hour and be a co-DJ! I got picked and it was so much fun. I love music and being a DJ was once one of my potential career choices so it was a huge thrill for me. A huge shout out to the staff there for putting this on and being so nice! So yes, I'm a music geek too...

Some people who didn't get to hear it wanted to find out my play list... here it is:

Dancefloor - Hannah Georgas (C)

Costa Rica - Vince Vaccaro (V)

Red Shag Carpet - Current Swell (V)

The Con - Tegan and Sara (C)

Felicia - The Constellations

Them Kids - Sam Roberts (C)

Poster of a Girl - Metric (C)

Closer - Kings of Leon

So Hard Done By - Tragically Hip (C)

Ghost Inside - Broken Bells

Weighty Ghost - Wintersleep (C)

Letters from the Sky - Civil Twilight

Crystalized - the XX

Loser - Beck

Some of my latest favourites as well as a few classics. The ones marked with a C are Canadian and the ones marked with a V are from right here in Victoria! I realized I should have talked more about the music but rambled on about other things instead. However, I think it went pretty well and I had a blast.

Thanks for stopping by, I always appreciate it! If you are looking for challenges to play along with, check out my challenge from Monday and the Color Dare from yesterday.

Glenda

Card details:
hello - 4.25"x5.5"
Stamps: A Muse hello
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa
Paper: A Muse white and SU! Kraft
Accessories: A Muse French Roast grosgrain stitched ribbon, Basic Grey buttons, paper piercer, SU! vintage trinkets, Cuttlebug D'vine Swirls Embossing folder, Cuttlebug, EK Success green corner rounder punch, sewing machine, yellow thread, needle

Thursday Trio

Hope you are having a great day and a great week. I've got a trio of challenges in this one card. I'm playing along with the Paper Crafts August Gallery Challenge (buttons, brads and ribbon), SCS Sketch Challenge 293 and SCS Ways to Use It 283 (Buttons). I recently found this fabulous paper from October Afternoon (the A Muse papers and ribbons match perfectly) so used it as the inspiration for this card... what do you think?

I've just started The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson and it's shaping up to be just as fabulous as The Girl Who With the Dragon Tattoo. Highly recommend these fabulous books, if you are looking for something to read. I've also found a great song you might want to check out - The Northern by Alexisonfire. It's a bit on the hard side but the vocals and melody are amazing.

Enjoy the rest of your week and weekend. Thanks for stopping by, I always appreciate it. If you are looking for some inspiration, be sure to check out my challenge for this week.

Glenda

Card details:
Best wishes - 4.25"x5.5"
Stamps: A Muse Solid Chrysanthemum and Best Wishes Fl
Paper: A Muse Robin's Egg Blue, French Roast and Natural, October Afternoon Bake the Cookies
Ink: Memento Summer Sky and Rich Cocoa, VersaMagic Spanish Olive and Jumbo Java
Accessories: A Muse French Roast and Sky Blue Polka Sheer ribbon, Fiskars Scallop Edge punch, Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Fasteners, button

Friday Bonus Track

I really needed a masculine birthday card so decided to use this great sketch from 2 Sketches for You. Thanks to Kazan for this fun sketch! This card will be very late as the birthday is Sunday and I'm mailing it today. Oops! I am overdue to send a bunch of cards so a trip to the post office is definitely in order... guess I better get writing.

Speaking of bonus tracks, what music are you listening to these days? I'm currently watching reruns of Glee and dancing around to the music from that. I would have to say though, my favourite new song is Dance Floor by Vancouver Indie Artist Hannah Georgas.

Have a great weekend. Hope the sun is shining wherever you are! Thanks for stopping by.

Glenda

Card details:
Enjoy the Ride - 3.5"x5"
Stamps: A Muse Enjoy the Ride
Paper: A Muse Navy note card, Basic Grey Lined Paper, Dream Street Striped paper, white and black card stock
Ink: Memento Paris Dusk
Accessories: Making Memories Sanding block, silver brads, EK Success Binding Edge punch, EK Success 1.5 and 1.75 inch circle punches, SU! black hemp twine, SU! library clip

Round, round we go

I wasn't planning on posting today but I whipped up this card last night and couldn't resist posting it. Surprisingly, I'm not playing along with any challenges (although I'm sure I could find one that applies, if I went hunting). I was playing with my new Martha Stewart Circle Cutter (the purchase of which I blame solely on Julie Ebersole - hee, hee - thankfully I did get it on sale) and needed to make a birthday card for my friend's daughter (did I mention that I have a really hard time with kids cards?). I rarely pat myself on the back but I am feeling particularly brilliant with this.

Still time to play along with A Muse Secret Squares... I'm still on the board so maybe it's me holding the prize...

If you are looking for my challenge, it's here. Thanks for stopping by! Glenda

p.s. Very few of you will know the song reference in the blog title. I'm not big on some 70's music, but I am quite fond of the Canadian band Trooper, and that's who the song is by. I attribute my fondness for 'older' songs to having older siblings (although I was alive when this song came out).You can hear it here.

Card details:
happy birthday - 4.24" circle
Stamps: A Muse happy birthday MG and Stitched Garden clear set
Paper: A Muse Mango Shimmer Couture, White card stock, Dream Street Sweet Confection - Bubble Gum Burst
Ink: A Muse black dye ink
Accessories: A Muse Popsicle Pink sheer polka dot ribbon, A Muse pink twinkle stickers, Martha Stewart Circle Cutter (used with EK Success glass mat), Copics - G07 Nile Green, R20 Blush, YR07 Cadmium Orange