Inktober 2026 - Day 08

Inktober 2026 Day 08 - City Map

This is a city I know well and travelled that ring road this week.

I dug out my Daler Rowney acrylic inks in several colors for this piece.

I drew the ring road then the arterial roads which connect to it.

I used cross hatch pattern in the space on the outskirts of the city. In the end the city does extend beyond the ring road in the south for sure but I just wanted the image the grey city streets inside and the country on the outside.

All the drawing was done with a dip pen and a straight steel nib. The Maclean's Best-Ever No. 2 Medium is a vintage steel pen nib which was manufactured in England.

These are the colors I used Indian Yellow, Marine Blue, Olive Green, and Sepia. The cross hatching was with the yellow and green and mixed on the pen at times. It's great when supplies I purchased years ago come in handy and I am glad I did not get rid of them when I moved.

The ring road was done in Sepia and highlighted with watercolor.

The river was done with the blue and highlighted with watercolor.

My initial drawing was done with Faber Castel 2H pencil. The Sharpie was used for signing.

Inktober 2026 - Day 07

Day 07 of Inktober 2026

My prompt was Lake Map.

This is a lake I have come to know since I moved.

The brown dot you see is the island in the middle of it which hosted a multitude of birds this summer.

You can see some parts are quite deep which make it a happy place for fisherman.  As a photographer this summer I had a hard time getting up before them.  Maybe better time next year.

Canson Fluid Mixed Media 154lb paper is a treat.

I used my fountain pen which has Quint Blue ink which is not waterproof.  So I water colored before drawing the lines this time.

2026 Slow Stitching Project - Page 25 - M1 - Map (Treasure), Moss Green, Marine Blue

I am following K3N Cloth Tales' slow stitching project for 2026.  A to Z of Slow Stitching.   

The prompt this week was map. She did a map of her favorite place.  I chose a treasure Map, using Marine blue and Moss green thread. 

I painted the linen with Inktense color and heat set it.

I outlined the island with a mix of green floss and the stem stitch. Straight stitch for the water.

A compass for direction.  

I added forest in Moss green on the right hand side of the island.  A beach of sand on the left.

A sailboat to get to the island.  A path all over the island that leads to the cabin near the palm trees. Onward in the search which leads me to the treasure where X marks the spot. 

Sylvia' Simple Shots

One of my sister's cooked turkey for supper and I was invited to join in. 

I brought buns from COBS which was a hit. 

I had the company of my sister, brother and a couple of cousins. We caught up on news and talked about our lives and current projects.

The weather was good and the roads excellent.  I came early in the afternoon so I could head home after supper.

It was dark but that was okay.

The next day holiday Monday - Family the snow came down and the wind blew!

The snow was drifted right up the the patio door.

And the temperatures were nearing -20C.

It snowed again all day Tuesday which meant I cancelled my trip into the city to visit the bank.

The snow banks from December had disappeared and now have reappeared.

While the snow fell, I started reading the trilogy of the Fionavar Tapestry.  I read it 30 years ago and enjoying it again.

The map in the book is quite small so I searched the web for a better one.

I found this one which is great.  

I like to find myself on the map as I read the book. What is far north?  How close is the Summer Tree to the the castle?

I can refer to it regularly as the chapters move along.

I have been eating my Chia Seed Bites with Krema yogurt.

I bought the yogurt for Christmas and it was sitting in the fridge unopened.

It needs to be eaten right away so why not!

It is delicious.

It's been cold all week!

I tend to hibernate when it's this cold.

No walking outside, not much sunshine.

It is really the end of Feb so spring is coming.

We spring forward to Daylight Saving Time in a couple of weeks. March 8th

I had an appointment for blood work this week.

I had a call from my Dr. the next day.  A phone appointment has been booked for the news.

My cholesterol was elevated last year and I expect the that it will be again. What does one do?

Wait and see.

Getting the drill out and using it is getting easier.  My Dad's cordless - Thanks.

I have a power bar in the bedroom which powers the clock and the sparkly light and timer.

I am not sure how this did not become obvious till this week but I am still processing the move.

The bar had holes for it to be mounted to a wall. So I found 2 drywall screws, the drill and a screw driver and in 10 minutes job DONE!

I now have an extra outlet behind the wooden shelving unit I can use for something else.

I enjoyed turkey left overs this week as well.

My sister sent take away containers of turkey, gravy, rice stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and Caesar salad home with all of us.

It was delicious the second time as well.

Slow Stitching - June 2025 - Week 2

I added the green triangle stitches for the forest in the north.  

I used the sheaf stitch with a dark yellow floss for the wheat fields my current province is known for. Lower down I used a brighter yellow floss and the button hole stitch layered very close together to represent canola fields in our province.

In the central city of this province I have lived in several homes. I created a zoom in circle in the base of the province to the west where I can add representations for these homes. This was done in blue thread.

I added purple peaks to represent the Rocky Mountains which span both provinces.

Map Hello

I started with a map I purchased at the ReUse Centre. I selected a blue card which coordinated with it well.  Check this post of the process of creating the distress map paper. Once I distressed the map paper I glued it to the card front with a glue stick and pressed it down with my hands lightly trying to keep some of the texture I had added.  I selected some coordinating card stock in a warm amber color and cut that to the right width.  I ripped the top and bottom layer to add to the texture of the card.  With the card on the left I used 2 pieces to make it tall enough and I did not want the join to show so eventually decided to cover it with a strip cut off the map piece.  Happy with that. 

The greeting was cut with the Sizzix Hello Phrase die in dark grey, light grey and a light blue to coordinate with the colors in the map.  These were adhered together offset a just little, the light grey one up and the dark grey one down from the central light blue one. I put the dark grey at the bottom, the blue at the top with the medium grey in the middle of the stack. The stacked greeting was then adhered to the card front over the amber colored strip of card stock. 

I am submitting to the following challenges:

Daring Card Makers - Talking Texture 

City Crafters Challenges - Mood Board
Stampin Celebration - Inspiration Photo












I'm sending these cards off to 2 of my friends in my monthly card exchange group.

How To: Distressing Map

I cut the map piece to the right size before I crunched it into a little ball as part of the process of distressing it.  Once it was sufficiently wrinkled I opened it up and flattened it with my hands. I rubbed it with an ink pad to highlight the high areas.  Some of the edges had tears as part of the crunching process which added to the overall effect. I used a glue stick to adhere it to the card front which allowed me to just press it down with out flattening any more keeping the texture.

R2G Card Kits - Valentine - Antique Map Heart

I started with the antique map heart.  I used my Cricut with the Folk Art Festival cartridge to cut the solid heart at 3". with a 4" sheet on portrait I was able to cut 4 per 12 inches. I created a gate fold card from kraft card stock.  I scored from each end at 2 1/8".  When I folded the card I made sure I had a bit of a space left in the middle.  The antique map designer card stock is by Gartner - Bon Voyage - Map. It is double sided with solid red on the back.  I cut a .75 x 5.5" strip and adhered it to the back side of the left hand flap leaving at half showing which creates this thin red line when the right hand flap is in place.  I placed adhesive on only one half of the heart and adhered it to the left hand fold. I aligned the centre of the heart over the red line. I think it makes a classy simple card.  The fact that the right hand flap is sandwiched between the red strip and the heart keeps the card closed.  Works well!

Alternative: Turn the heart over and you have a red heart!  It works well on the kraft card.

R2G Kits - Masculine Map HB

I made this card for Ready 2 Go kits.  I made a similar card for the stack class.
I started with a Handsome Hunter green card.  I cut a piece of designer paper from Teresa Collins - World Traveler Maps just leaving a small border.  I added a Kraft grosgrain ribbon across the DSP and I taped the ends to the back.  This layer was adhered to the card front.  I added a color printed greeting on Kraft punched with the SU Decorative Label.  I added another label punchie to match the card.  This was split in half lengthwise.  I trimmed the pointy ends on the right and left ends. I glued these half just offset on the top and bottom.  This accent was mounted over the ribbon with 3D foam tape.  The kit has green, brown, rust, and blue cards.
Here's a sample of the solid label being cut and applied the other way.  For this cut the solid label crossways, trim off the pointy ends where you cut on both top and bottom.  Then glue them to the ends as shown.  I like the way the solid provides a break between the greeting and the ribbon.