Quietfire Style

Day 9 of the 12 Days of Christmas

2009-12-24T11:35:00.001-08:00

On the 9th day of Christmas..... Oooo, nice Joanne!

This came from Joanne in BC on a very cool card.

A beautifully decorated and beaded bamboo tile! It's around my neck as I type this! To see more of Joanne's creations, visit her bloggy here: http://okanaganspirit.blogspot.com/

Thank you so much Joanne!

Oh, ya, and then there was my pressy on Day 9. Ahem, I used it as a Weekly Project this week and you can see it here:
http://www.quietfiredesign.com/Galleries/Projects/FramedSnowflakeSuzanne.htm

Day 1 Redux

2009-12-24T11:28:00.000-08:00

On the first day of Christmas.....Canada Post said - too bad for you! It will arrive on Day 8!

This is from Ruth in OK! And I was so excited I didn't photograph the wrapping!!
What a great idea! Ruth decorated a page and slipped it into an acrylic frame, then added a calendar, coordinating ribbon and a post-it note to the front. Brilliant!
Oh, and it's a magnet, too!!! It's on it's way to the fridge as soon as I can get if off the filing cabinet. Thanks Ruth!

Day 8 of the 12 Days of Christmas

2009-12-24T11:18:00.001-08:00

On the 8th Day of Christmas, Santa said, Suzanne, you better get moving, you're waaaay behind!

The 8th day package came from Sue in Alberta with this very cool wrapping!

It's an angel magnet! Very, very cool Sue! Thank you so much! It's now happily on my filing cabinet.
Here is a close-up!

Day 7 - The 12 Days of Christmas

2009-12-22T19:35:00.000-08:00

On the 7th Day of Christmas...... oh, so Sweet!

Love the wrapping!

This is a little scrabble pendant from Beth in KY! Thank you so much Beth! Love the musical notes. Love the colours! Love it!!

Day 6 of the 12 Days of Christmas

2009-12-18T13:13:00.001-08:00

On the 6th Day of Christmas - in the nick of time, it arrived in the mail!

Canvas decorated coasters from Jane in Lethbridge, AB!

Already on the table sending out seasonal cheer! Thanks so much Jane!

Day 5 of the 12 Days of Christmas

2009-12-18T09:13:00.000-08:00

On the 5th Day of Christmas.... something special from Kathleen in Cranbrook!

A wee dragonfly arrived! Thanks you so much Kathleen! What a sweetie this is!

Turning over the dragonfly was the biggest surprise! Scrabble tile jewellery. O!

Day 4 of the 12 Days of Christmas

2009-12-16T19:51:00.001-08:00

On the 4th Day of Christmas.... Well, it was another bumper day! Two presents!

This first one is from Daphne in Ontario.

Oh, wow! An amazing little purse! What texture! What colour! It is a Phone holder.

Here it is opened.

And here is an up-close photo so you can hopefully see the texture. Beautful! Thank you so much Daphne!

Present number 2 of Day 4 is from Wanda in Iowa.

Awesome Wanda! Simply awesome! (Did you and Daphne get together on colour?? vbg)

Not only did Wanda make a beautiful case, but it's filled with double-sided cards stamped with Quietfire Rubber. Isn't it time for you to be back on the Design Team Wanda?......

Thank you so much Wanda! This is beautiful! Now I see I neglected to flip one of the cards over. Oops. Well, it will be my little secret what is on the back!

Day 3 of the 12 Days of Christmas

2009-12-16T19:37:00.000-08:00

On the third day of Christmas..... It's a cup cozy from Wendy on the Lower Mainland!

Now isn't this just beyond adorable. Gotta go make a cup .... hmmm.... TEA! Too late in the day for coffee.
Thank you so much Wendy!

Day 2 of the 12 Days of Christmas

2009-12-16T19:22:00.000-08:00

On the second day of Christmas.... there was a blue and a red giftie.

It's a Paper Bag Book from Jane S, here on Vancouver Island! I've never even seen a Paper Bag Book, much less made one. Inspection time!! Thank you so much Jane!

And since we had so many players, there are some days we get to open two awesome gifts, so there is a Shaker Snowman ornament from Carmen G. in Ontario! Click on the photo to see it larger. How do you make these things???? It's a mystery - but don't worry, I'm not going to de-construct it to find out. I can see a pending glitter disaster before it happens. Maybe.

Thank you Carmen! It will go on our tree this weekend!

Day 1 of the Twelve Days of Christmas

2009-12-16T19:02:00.001-08:00

On the first day of Christmas....
I opened this!

Now isn't this just the cutest little decoration you've ever seen? Needle Felting by Judy in the Okanagan! Very cool. Thank you so much Judy!!

The byhandartists 12 Days of Christmas Swap - The Basket

2009-12-16T18:24:00.000-08:00

Now this swap is just too cool. I've never played in it before and boy, have it been missing out! These little package keep coming in the mail!! What's not to like? - even before you start opening them.

Here is my basket filled with the presents which have arrived. Sweet! Thanks to everyone playing for the joy of anticipation!

All the presents are numbered and each day we will open a new offering from a different swapper!

Tape Glitz

2009-12-01T16:13:00.000-08:00

I was just wrapping up my gifties for the 12 Days of Christmas exchange on the byhandartists list. Each giftie needs to be marked for the day in which it should be opened, so I opted for tags. Now holding those tags on presented me with a dilemma.... should I just tape them on? Surely I could come up with something more interesting....
Luckily I had some transfer foil on my drafting table which attracted my attention.... and then never far away is the double-sided tape.....

I thought this was a bit more interesting than just taping the tag on....

Happy creating! Suzanne

A Final Card and the Grand Prize Winner

2009-11-25T01:12:00.000-08:00

The Grand Prize Winner of the random draw for $100 worth of Quietfire Rubber Stamps is

Daria!

Congratulations! Please email me!

Here is what she said (I'm still chuckling):

Well, heck! I kept track of every single stamp used. LOL. All of the artwork was wonderful, and even though I was late for some of them, I enjoyed seeing them.I wasn't able to leave a comment on Monica's blog today since I didn't fall into any of the categories she has set to leave a message. So I'll just say it here:Monica, I loved your card and the idea of using the ornament. Thank you for the advice about doing a little at a time when embossing over a line from a VersaMark pen. I tried that once and made a terrible mess doing it all at once.Thank you to everyone!

Once again thank you to the Quietfire Design Team members and alumni who played! Links to their blog posts have been added to the Project Gallery should you be looking for them at a later date.

This card was made with the Spellbinder's Wizard, the Dreamweaver Poinsettia stencil (run throught the Wizard), Spellbinders Fancy Tags and Cuttlebug D'Vine Swirls embossing folder. Peace is from the Textured Holiday Words.

Happy creating everyone! Thanks so much for playing in the Blog Hop. We hope we've inspired you!
Suzanne

End of the Blog Hop - Grand Prize Day!

2009-11-23T08:25:00.000-08:00

Click on each photo to go to the blog entry!

Welcome back to my blog! I hope you've enjoyed the Hop!

A HUGE thanks to the talented Quietfire Design Team who have contributed their time, talent and enthusiasm!

Visit their blogs often for more inspiration - they're amazing!

Although we've been telling you all week that you'd have to keep track of the stamps, I've decided that we'll make life easy! Just leave a comment here on this post for a chance to win $100 worth of Quietfire Rubber Stamps.

Congratulations to the Winners so far:
The Winners of a $25 selection of Quietfire Rubber Stamps:
Yogi's draw: Jan Castle
Kristy's draw: Vicki Holdwick
Kim's draw: Sandi
From Deborah's draw: Suzanne C.
From Suzanne's draw: Delores Azary
Wanda's draw: Marianne C.
Becca's draw: Janet Castle (for a second time!!!!)
Monica's draw: Gail O.

Grand Prize Winner: Leave your comments here to be entered!

Create without Limits!
Suzanne

Blog Hop Winner for my blog!

2009-11-21T10:21:00.000-08:00

Thanks so much to everyone who visited and commented on my blog yesterday!
I'm delighted to hear that everyone is enjoying the Blog Hop.

The Friday winner, picked from a Random Number Generator, is:

Delores Azary

I love the accordion book! That is so much fun! You are right, you could make a
beautiful star book with that! Delores Azary

Congratulations Delores! Please email me! suzanne@quietfiredesign.com

Now today, everyone should be visiting Wanda's Blog to see more inspiring artwork!

Happy Hopping! Suzanne

A Purple Christmas - Quietfire Design Blog Hop!

2009-11-20T01:50:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our very first Quietfire Design Blog Hop. We've seen some really lovely artwork this week so far! They really put the pressure on me!!!

I've been wanting to use the 12 Days of Christmas, so this was finally my chance.

Here is my project
Just a little post script! This is really an accordion book - I just arranged it like a star to photograph it - but it sure would make a great Star book!
What a treasure you could turn it into!
Supplies used:
12 Days of Christmas Rubber Stamps
Flourishes
Merry Christmas Snowflake
Textured Holiday Words
Bazzill Purple Monochroms
Pale Lavender text weight paper
Brilliance Dew Drop Pearlescent Lavender
VersaMagic Dew Drop Purple Hydrangea
Spellbinders Wizard
Spellbinders Classic Squares
Spellbinders Fancy Tag
Cuttlebug Swiss Dots

Make sure you leave a comment for this blog entry! You might win a grab bag of Quietfire Design Rubber stamps valued between $25 and $30.

And keep track of the rubber stamps use in all the projects because you have a chance to win a grand prize at the end of the Blog Hop! Good luck!

Winners must contact suzanne@quietfiredesign.com to claim their prize!!!

Here is the list of participating artists

Monday, Nov 16th - Yogi Grunwald

Tuesday, Nov 17th - Kristy Christopherson

Wednesday, Nov 18th - Kim Prince

Thursday, Nov 19th - Deborah March

Friday, Nov 20th - Suzanne Cannon

Saturday, Nov 21st - Wanda Hentges

Sunday, Nov 22nd - Becca Feeken

Monday, Nov 23rd - Monica Black

Happy Blog Hopping!!
I'll send out daily reminders!

Quietfire Design Blog Hop!

2009-11-16T17:45:00.001-08:00

Don't miss out on our very first Quietfire Design Blog Hop. Over the next week or so you will visit each of the blogs of all of the present and some of the past extraordinary Quietfire Designers.
Here is how it works

Each day, you will visit one of the Quietfire Designers blogs.

Check out the fabulously inspiring artwork there and leave a comment in their comments section:

On the first day (today) you will visit Yogi's blog.
Comment in her comments section on that entry and at the end of the day, Yogi will randomly draw a name from those comments and that person will win a grab bag of Quietfire Design Rubber Stamps valued between $25 and $30.

On the next day, Yogi will post the name of the winner and
that winner must contact me with their name and address so I can send off their prize!
After you have checked to see if you have won the prize, hop to the next blog:
visit Kristy's Blog and leave a comments there. And so it will continue to the end!

Make sure you enter to win every day!

TIP: Keep track of which artist used which rubber stamps and there will be a grand prize at the end! (More details on that to come)
Please leave your comment in the

Winners must contact suzanne@quietfiredesign.com to claim their prize!!!

Here is the list of participating

Happy Blog Hopping!!
I'll send out daily reminders!

Winnipeg Delight

2009-10-28T09:26:00.000-07:00

I just returned from two awesome days of teaching in Winnipeg.

On Saturday we Added Funk to our Foundational. Along with reviewing Foundational, we also discussed pen nibs and how they work as well as looking at various inks and different type of nibs. I *think* we managed to get everyone straightened out so they were making their letters without fighting with their tools! Ahhhh, there is nothing quite like making beautifully crisp strokes with pen and ink!

Each participant received pieces of the following papers to test their lettering on:
Boris 37
Cotton Comp
Graphics 360
Paper for Pens
Fabriano Ingres - Celeste (Sky Gray)

In the afternoon, along with adding Funk, we added glitz. We played with
Jones Tones Plexi Glue on the Dreamweaver Tree of Life stencil , which was later foiled with Jones transfer foil.
We lettered with Schmincke Tro-Col .
We lettered with Jerry Tresser’s Gold Size and then gilded with 24K Transfer Gold and Moon Gold
We colour blended with Ecoline Inks
And we decorated letters made with Automatic Pens and Parallel Pens with Gel Extremes

My hostess , Charlotte, lettered with Jerry Tresser’s Gold Size and then applied Varigated Green composition leaf to the letters. The results were amazing! I’m going to have to try that myself! Thanks Charlotte!

We took over a wonderful art room at a lovely private school for the weekend. The lighting was very good, which made it a pleasure to work in. You really want to take a workshop with this group: Every morning at 10 am, the coffee cart arrives with coffee, tea, scones and muffins.

My hostess, Charlotte, fed me a wonderful homemade pizza using her freshly made focaccia. Yum! Subsequent lunches were made on the same focaccia. Lucky me! I was treated to fabulous Thai food and Sushi (ahem, NOT the same evening!) Thanks so much to Charlotte and her husband for the Thai treat and Charlotte and Irene for the Sushi! (Did we ever figure out which one had the eel?)

On Sunday we created the Pipe Organ binding and the group made really lovely books. It was the first time I’d used some of the papers in this kit and results were awesome.
The cord used for making the Pipe Organ Binding is found here, and the punches are here. Waxed linen thread is here. The Removable Tape is here. Another item we used was the Soapstone Pencil for marking dark paper and bookcloth.

Thank you so much to this wonderful group for making my visit so enjoyable. A special thanks to Charlotte and her family for their hospitality!

And thanks to Mother Nature for keeping the temperature above zero and saving me from packing my boots!

Happy lettering and binding everyone! Thank you so much! Suzanne

Naughty ATC

2009-10-04T15:45:00.000-07:00

The title got your attention, didn't it? vbg!

I made this little girl image up for students in the Lutradur class to use if they so wished and I can't resist using her everwhere!

I was cleaning up my drafting table in anticipation of a whack of certificates arriving and... well... It's getting there....

Items used to make this ATC
Notting Hill 7 Gypsies paper (part of 2 different sheets)
Flourished Corners Quietfire Rubber stamp
Flourishes Quietfire Rubber stamp
Naughty Nice Quietfire Rubber stamp
Star Brad
Distress Inks: Faded Jeans Tea Dye

Lisa Engelbrecht Workshop

2009-09-30T22:59:00.000-07:00

Last week I was lucky enough to be able to spend 2 days in a workshop taught by calligrapher Lisa Engelbrecht. I had a blast!

I have lettered many times on fabric over the years, but with a difference. As a kid, I grew up sewing. A lot. And the first thing I did with fabric was throw in in the washing machine to take out the sizing. Any self-respecting pen and ink will bleed on unsized fabric, so I always used gouache and a brush. Lisa does not wash her fabric first. And, well, what a difference. I was absolutely stunned at how easily and well the fabric took pen and ink and paint.

Here are some photo from the class:

At the top is a double ended piece coloured with many paints and inks. I mostly used Magic Color inks and FW - and Lumiere acrylic paint. It is decorated with an image transfer, a stencilled tree with varigated leaf. Turns out the gesso underneath made it very difficult to letter over near the top. Grrrrr. "Eternity", below, was a swath of gesso which I lettered into while the gesso was still wet, then, when dry, topped with acrylic ink. "Touch" was lettered in wet ink with Portfolio Pastels.

Here is Lisa (not the best photo! Sorry!) sharing one of her pieces. And more eye candy on the right as she spread out her treasure on a table for us to view. You really had to see these gems in person. Want to see more of Lisa's very very cool stuff? Check out her website! (and her blog)

Ultimately we were to assemble our smaller bits and pieces on a larger background. Here is what I had after torturing myself for quite a long time. I struggled to combine earth colours and pinks and blues. Finally, when I got home, I converted the photo to black and white to see if that helped me. Well, bottom line. I need more contrast. Maybe a block of lettering on the background. So this will join my other UFOs (un finished objects!) until I give it some more thought!

Here are a couple more items I did.... Too much fun! Thanks Lisa! And thanks to the Warmland Calligraphers for hosting her workshop!

A link to Lisa's book

In The Sweetness of Friendship

2009-09-17T07:40:00.000-07:00

Here is some artwork I did recently and now that it has arrived and been unwrapped, it's safe to add it to my blog!
Happy Birthday Susan!

Schmincke Gouache
Arches 140 lb Hot Press Watercolour Paper
3-1/2 Mitchell Roundhand Nib

Border:
Spellbinders Wisteria Border Grand blind embossed on
Arches 140 lb Hot Press Watercolour Paper
Spellbinders Wizard

Vellum/Translucency Experiment

2009-09-06T14:51:00.000-07:00

Whew! Where has the time gone!

A few weeks ago, Lois asked me about paper vellum and that led into questions about what type of vellum was good for lettering onto. Well, it was something I'd been meaning to get to and finally did!

Real vellum is calfskin. Mmmm, so yummy for lettering onto. Most know vellum as the translucent paper you find in art supply, scrapbooking and craft stores (and on my website! lol! in colours, irridescent, gold and a few others). It's also a particular surface texture in machine made papers: So beware of something like Bristol Vellum, which is thick like Bristol Board, but has a vellum surface..... Lois was looking for a paper she could see through and accepted pen and ink well.

I carry a number of thin papers which accept ink very well and you can see liners through very easily. I also carry cardmaker's/crafters vellum. Excuse the lettering. This wasn't an exercise in fine letterforms! Ahem!

Here is a painting I did years ago. (love little fat chickadees!)

And below is the painting covered with various papers which I have lettered on with various inks. We were looking for a good transluscent paper which accepted broad-edged lettering and ink well. In the process, I found a new "love"!

I used a Parallel pen with Parallel pen ink on each one, as well as
a Mitchell Nib and Higgins and
a Mitchell Nib with Magic Color ink

The first sample is on Boris #37. Takes ink well! Not so translucent.... (and that would be an understatement...)

The second sample is on Cotton Comp. It's a little more translucent. Takes ink well. Both Boris and Cotton Comp are great practice papers!

Sample 3 is on Graphics 360 - Me and Graphics 360 get along really well! It's better than the other two - it's just not so translucent for this purpose!

Sample 4 is on Grafix Vellum - *this* is the look we're after. However lettering on it is not so easy. It's very slick. The Higgins performed best on it, Parallel and Magic ink spread so the hairlines weren't as obvious. Too clunky a look for me personally.

Sample 5 is on the Sheer Trace. To my mind, this performed best. I was delighted when I put the pen down on it. It performed well with all the inks. Suzanne is a happy camper! (and calligrapher!)

Hope this helped! Happy lettering, Suzanne

Hermann Zapf video

2009-08-02T14:49:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a variety of people for alerting me to the existence of this video and to Johnny Dib (whoever you are!)for uploading it onto Vimeo!

I don't know how old this video is, but Hermann Zapf is a very old fellow now. A very brilliant old fellow, I might add.

This is a great video to watch, but keep in mind that it's not really a beginner video and ideas and technology have changed immensely since it was made.

What really struck me is how many times he strokes his letters to build them up. You have to know your letterforms really really well to do that! And yes, while handmade paper *can* be beautiful to work on, it's safest to go with a consistent machine-made paper for beginners.

This is a real treasure!
If you are receiving this as an email blog entry, please click on the title which will bring you to the blog to view the video.
It's almost 20 minutes long.
Happy viewing - enjoy watching a master at work!

New byhand Newsletter!

2009-07-20T15:06:00.000-07:00

In case you've missed it!

There is a new byhand Newsletter!

There is lots to look at in this edition featuring photos of artwork by the winners of the anniversary draws, a book review, swaps from the byhandartists and details of the new online class are announced here!
and more....!
Thank you so much to those who contributed to this newsletter!
I hope you enjoy the July 2009 byhand Newsletter

please note the Firefox browser has real problems displaying the Amazon links - both books shown are available on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca - Internet Explorer and Safari show correctly.

Video Tutorial - Filling Your Nib

2009-07-11T20:28:00.000-07:00

The newest installment! Hope it helps!

(if you're receiving this as an email update, please click on the title and you will be redirected to this blog where you can view the video)

Products used in this tutorial:

Mitchell Roundhand Nib

Nib holders

Higgins Eternal Ink

Rinky Dink

Shortie Pipettes

Gouache - Schmincke Calligraphy Ultramarine Deep Blue

Bristle Brush

palette