Sylvia's Simple Shots

The second Sunday of Advent and lighting the PEACE candle.

The second Advent candle reminds us of Mary and Joseph’s journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem before Mary gave birth to Jesus. 

This second candle recalls that after all of the division, destruction, and dispersion of the kingdom in the Old Testament, there might finally be peace on Earth – Jesus is coming, and so is his Kingdom of Peace. 

So fitting for our world today.

On Sunday I attended the Steve Bell concert with my sister and brother-in-law.  They have seen him 2 times before and this was my first time.

The Alliance Church was about 80% full. His concert in Calgary was a sell out.

The music was good, the company was great and it was a wonderful evening.  Driving home late at night was made better by the fact that there was no snow or ice and the temperature hovered just about 0C.

We had supper at Swiss Chalet before the concert which is the first time in nearly 4 years that I have eaten there.  The food was delicious as always.

I bought this book a couple of months ago for .50 cents.  It was after I had started with my Inktober challenge and I recognized that I needed to improve my drawing so I could do better ink and watercolor pieces.

I read the first 5 chapters.  That is the basics, now I will have to read and to exercises so that is no longer bed time reading.

I will have to get a sketch book and work on this.

When I was at the reception for the Christmas Store there was a table which had not been filled when I visited earlier with my friend.

The pieces were glass which is my weakness. There were small glass pieces made by Joe DeWitte.  There was a gorgeous acorn but it was less versatile than this small golden yellow flower.  Check out those tiny perfect water drops in the center of the flower. 

I still have to decide how I will display and use it but it means I can have flowers on my table all year long.

Totally happy!

I decided to revisit Greenland Garden Center this week. What a difference 5 weeks makes.  The shoppe was so empty compared to when I last visited.  They have moved a huge amount of inventory in that time.

I was truly amazed.

There was still a nice collection of Christmas decor to make a few shots possible.

The fresh flowers and plants were really nice.  Check out that Christmas cactus.

On Saturday I went to my aunt's house to make our traditional meat pies called tourtieres.

The meat is a mix of beef and pork with potatoes and onions then slowly cooked with wonderful spices.

She made a double batch of pastry dough and we made 8 small pies. The bit larger ones are for her and the 4 smaller ones for me. They turned out really great.  She froze enough meat to make a large pie when she is ready to host her family.  

We had omelette for lunch with no alcohol white wine and had a great visit.  It was a great day.

I attended the Women's Christmas event at church this week.  It was a small group with a wide age range.

It was a last minute thing.  I just got the details a couple of days earlier. 

There were a few ladies I had visits with which was wonderful.  There was snack food and games.  Minute to win it games went on for a long time and there was drama between a few of the participants which showed some immaturity. Disappointing.

There were wonderful door prizes. I chose this jam set with beautiful small jars, a plate and spoon.  Fig, apricot, orange, raspberry and black cherry are a few of the flavors.

Muttart Conservatory - Christmas

The feature pyramid was decorated for Christmas.  There were beautiful poinsettias in a variety of colors on full display

I loved this variegated one.

The Hellebore - Lenten Rose was in bloom in the tropical pyramid.

I always love seeing this flower.

The tropical space had lost one of the main trees in the center so it was very much brighter but feeling a bit empty.

Fog was covering the pond in the feature space.  Love how the stalks just emerge from the mist and the silver ball reflects its surroundings.

Wooly penguins sporting red and white scarves where resting on a large snowflake.

Wonderful Christmas decor.

A clever tree decorating idea.

Beautiful clear glass spheres filled with red air plants.  They made a really nice looking tree.

The huge red star against the rock wall made for a great shot.

It would make a great Christmas card.

I was glad not to have missed this display as it opened some time in November.

It was pleasantly quiet as long as I avoided the group of  school kids moving from pyramid to pyramid.  I just skipped the Arid pyramid as I was getting tired and they were just ahead of me.

The gift shop has some really nice things for Christmas gifts.

Cardmaking - CH - Class 4

Style 2 - I started with clear embossed double sided designer paper from Imaginisce.

I cut the designer paper at a logical line to ensure I did not cut through a strip of the design.  I turned the top over to reveal the green polka dot pattern. These were taped back together.

I added gold foil ribbon across the join and the ends were taped to the back.

I added an accent of silk flowers.  White and red poinsettias were layered together with a gold sequin onto a gold mini brad.  Using a push pin I created a hole in the designer layer. I pushed the prongs through and spread them apart on the back holding the poinsettia accent in place.

I then adhered the layer to the front of a cranberry card base.

Style 3 - I started with this decorative card stock featuring a colorful ornaments .  The dark areas are gold foil. It was cut to 3 3/8 inches with a Sizzix square thin-lit.

I chose a eggplant purple layer of card stock cut to 3 5/8 inches to highlight some of the colors in the tree.

The next layer is a gold moire texture decorative paper which has been cut to 5.25 x 4 inches. 

I chose a warm blue card base to coordinate with another color in the tree.

The greeting is a Stampin Up Decorative Label in the same color as the card base.  I added a SU Word Window punchie in warm white card stock with coordinating color.   These are adhered together then it is adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape.

Style 7 - I started with designer paper from the My Mind`s Eye - Holiday Avenue - Sweet Dreams Glittered Holiday Paper pad. It was cut to 5.25 x 4 inches with the embossing placed on the left hand side.

The star element was created with a star die cut and a gold star circle. The die cut was cut from ivory pearl card stock with the the Joy of the Season cartridge on the Cricute Create machine.

The gold star circle was attached to the star with 2 tiny gold brads.  The element was adhered to the card front with ds tape.

Cardmaking - CH - Class 3

Style 3 - I started with this decorative card stock featuring a colorful tree of peacock feathers with birds.  The dark areas are gold foil. It was cut to 3 3/8 inches with a Sizzix square thin-lit.

I chose a turquoise layer of card stock cut to 3 5/8 inches to highlight some of the colors in the tree.

The next layer is a gold moire texture decorative paper which has been cut to 5.25 x 4 inches. 

I chose a purple card base to coordinate with another color in the tree.

The greeting is a Stampin Up Decorative Label in the same color as the card base.  I added a SU Word Window punchie in warm white card stock with coordinating color.   These are adhered together then it is adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape.

Style 7 - I started with designer paper from the My Mind`s Eye - Holiday Avenue - Sweet Dreams Glittered Holiday Paper pad. It was cut to 5.25 x 4 inches with the embossing placed on the left hand side. 

The star element was created with a star die cut and a gold star circle. The die cut was cut from ivory pearl card stock with the Sizzix Star original die.  The gold star circle was attached to the star with 2 tiny gold brads.  The element was adhered to the card front with ds tape.

Style 2 - I started with clear embossed double sided designer paper from Imaginisce.

I cut the designer paper at a logical line to ensure I did not cut through a strip of the design.  I turned the top over to reveal the green polka dot pattern. These were taped back together.

I added gold foil ribbon across the join and the ends were taped to the back. 

I added an accent of silk flowers.  White and red poinsettias were layered together with a gold sequin onto a gold mini brad.  Using a push pin I created a hole in the designer layer. I pushed the prongs through and spread them apart on the back holding the poinsettia accent in place.

I then adhered the layer to the front of a cranberry card base. 

Christmas Card - Poinsettia

This card headed to a friend with a photo calendar for Christmas.  There is plenty of room in the card to accommodate the 4x6 photo calendar.

It is a sample from a previous class but I chose to change the material for the flower.  You see that one here.

It is also her birthday so a card is also included to remember that event.

Christmas Card - Red Velvet Poinsettia

I treated this flower die cut as a poinsettia.  This is the Sizzix - Bigz Die and Embossing Folder - Flower#2 combo.  The flower was cut from gorgeous red velvet paper from Recollections at Michaels then embossed.  I added a gold fabric snowflake in the center which is all held together with a mini brad in shiny gold.  I used a 1/16th inch punch to make adding the brad real easy.

I chose a white card to go with the white line in the designer paper by Bazzill Basic Paper - Holiday Style - Stitched Green.  It was cut 5 x 8 inches to leave a good border of the card color showing.

The large banner greeting was created with color printing the words in coordinating colors in the card.  It was trimmed to 1.5 inches tall the then both ends were flagged with the Stampin Up Banner Triple punch.  Works very well. It was adhered with double sided tape.

The poinsettia was adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape.

The insert was a half sheet with a coordinating sentiment.

Red Green & Gold Cards to the Gallery

I used my ink blot decorative paper in red, green and gold for this set of cards.  I cut the paper to leave a small border of the card color showing.

On this first one I added white and red silk flowers.  These are held in place with a gold brad and a gold flower sequin.










I used the paper again for these two cards.  I cut the stars with the Stars Framelits Dies Collection set  from Stampin Up. I chose to alternate the card and back star colors then added a gold glitter star over the card stock one.  The stars are held in place with a tiny red star brad. 

These were delivered to the gallery today.

Craft Sale - Christmas Photo Cards

I have made a few more photo Christmas Cards for my craft sale on the weekend. Check out my events page for details.

This was a snowman decoration at the Conservatory a couple of years ago.  Love his happy face.  This is a 3.5 x 4.75 inch photo on a white heavy card.




The standing deer was again at the Conservatory.

Red berry from the Conservatory.




The bird was an ornament on a Christmas tree at the Garden Center.

The Cardinal ornament with birch trees is a glass ornament on display at the garden center.

The oval poinsettia is an old design which I have converted to a photo card.  Love the red poinsettia.

The aqua blue glass ornament was on a tree at the garden center.
The sitting deer was at the Conservatory.

The evergreen bough is a great winter card.
The leaves with red berries photo does not have snow but has wonderful seasonal colors.

White poinsettia taken at the Conservatory.

Art Canvas - Poinsettia

I painted this 8x8 canvas as a reworked piece from the Paris piece I did last year.

I painted the art canvas with corresponding colors from the poinsettia photo.  I used a 4x4 inch photo from my 2015 Floral photo calendar.  I mounted it onto a piece of black card stock.

This layer is mounted to the front of the canvas in the bottom left hand corner with 3D foam tape.  I colored the edges of the foam tape with a black sharpie marker.

Being delivered to the gallery for the Miniatures show.

Ready2Give Calendars

I put together a Ready2Give calendar featuring some of my own photos using the Ready2Fill half sheet calendar.  I printed this one double sided and chose 12 photos - flowers, bees, landscapes, winter scenes and leaves.

Makes a nice calendar for the office or kitchen as it is not too big, it is half sheet at 5.5 x 8.5 inches. Comes with hole and/or clip to hang it in your favorite place.
Great for anyone who loves photography.














Nov 23 2016
I made up a few more of these for my sale on the weekend using some of the R2Fill kits.

Ready2Go Christmas Stack Kit - Winter Bright

I used the Stampin Up Winter Bright Designer paper which features Wild Wasabi and Bashful Blue.  I selected card stock in the main colors.  I chose a .5 inch red cotton ribbon.  The focal element features large and medium white silk poinsettias with daisy confetti in a coordinating color.  The DSP was cut with a One Sheet Wonder Template.

On this first card I chose to match the DSP with the card color - Wild Wasabi.  I cut the card stock at 4.25W x 11T inches and scored it at 5.5 inches.  I glued the DSP measuring 4.25W x 3.00T inches along the bottom edge.  I adhered the red ribbon over the top edge of the DSP and taped the ends to the inside of the card.  I used a push pin to make a hole in the ribbon and card front and the red daisy confetti.  I placed the prongs of the tiny white brad through the confetti, the medium then large poinsettia then through the card front, opening the prongs on the inside of the card.
 

For this second card, I matched the card color - Bashful Blue with the Winter Bright designer paper. Again, the card is cut at 4.25W x 11T inches and scored it at 5.5 inches.  I glued the DSP measuring 4.25W x 3.00T inches along the right hand edge.  I adhered the red ribbon over the left edge of the DSP and taped the ends to the inside of the card.   I used a push pin to make a hole in the ribbon and card front and the red daisy confetti.  I placed the prongs of the tiny white brad through the confetti, the medium then large poinsettia then through the card front, opening the prongs on the inside of the card.

For this third card, I chose the card color - Wild Wasabi and the Bashful Blue side of the Winter Bright designer paper. Again, the card is cut at 5.5W x 8.5T inches and scored it at 4.25 inches.  I glued the DSP measuring 5.25T x 1.75W inches along the right hand edge of the card.  I adhered the red ribbon over the left edge of the DSP and taped the ends to the inside of the card.   I used a push pin to make a hole in the ribbon and card front and the red daisy confetti.  I placed the prongs of the tiny white brad through the confetti, the medium then large poinsettia then through the card front, opening the prongs on the inside of the card.


The cutting pattern I used is the OSW1.  I tipped the orientation of card 3 to tall instead of wide based on the layout template.

Check out my R2Go Stack Kits page.

Poinsettias - Watercolored

Here's another card set for Christmas Stack Kits.  I started with the watercolor poinsettia decorative layer which features a great plaid background.  I paired it with a dark charcoal layer placed onto a parchment ivory card.  I added a Stampin Up Modern Label punchie in warm green topped with a grey greeting printed on the same card stack as the card.

R2G Christmas Stack Kit - Holiday Poinsettias

For this Ready 2 Go Card Kit I chose the OSW3 template which makes 4 cards per 6x6 inch of DSP.  I chose the poinsettias paper from the Stampin Up Holiday Thyme collection.  The card colors are Cranberry Crisp and Bravo Burgundy and Old Olive for the accent layer.  The greetings were put on Whisper White.  The greetings are from the Joyful Christmas, Lovely as a Tree, Keepsake Ornaments, Calm Christmas stamp sets. The red in the greeting matches the card and the green is Old Olive.  The greetings were cut with the Window Frame framelit and the accent square is 2.5 inches.  The accent layer is adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape.  The accent strip is half an inch wide and trimmed at the card edge.
The one sheet wonder technique allows one to make a lot of cards quickly.  This kit is available for my SU Christmas Stack class on June 8th.

How To: Mixed Media - Shrink Plastic Flowers

I have decided to stretch myself this year and try more mixed media techniques.  Today, I worked with shrink plastic and alcohol inks.  I used Ruff 'N Ready shrink plastic.  I used a collection of Tim Holtz® Adirondack® Alcohol Inks to color the ruff side. I placed a couple drops of each purple, red, orange, green, and yellow then used rubbing alcohol to dilute the colors as I applied them to the shrink plastic.  It dries really fast and you want it quite light because it will concentrate the color when it shrinks.  Once dry, I used the Sizzix Bigz Flower #2 to cut a large poinsettia flower that was over 4" in diameter. I used a 1/8" long reach hole punch in the centre of the die cut flowers.  I then placed them on a pizza pan covered with parchment paper in a 275F oven and waited.  Soon they started to curl and shrink. After a couple of minutes they flattened right out. The final flowers are half the size of the originals at 2" across. Check in a bit to see the cards I made with these flowers.

Card Club - November - Silver Poinsettia

This was a simple card with 2 silk silver poinsettias.  One is opaque metallic and the other is nearly transparent with glitter.  I found some metallic ribbon to match the bling level of the flower. The bottom half of the card was embossed with the Sizzix Tropical Paisley folder.  Then, I brought the ribbon across the card front and taped the ends to the inside. I aligned the metallic poinsettia then made the hole in the card front with a push pin .  I then put the thin flower over the metallic one and pushed the clear crystal brad through the hole I just made and spread the prongs on the inside of the card.  This kit included navy and green cards.

Glittered JOY

I selected a teal card. I applied some double sided tape to the Stampin Up Top Note of vellum.  I pressed the red letters on to adhesive then pressed some Halo Glitter around the letters and brushed off the excess.  I mounted the top note high to allow for the red poinsettia flower in the center below the o in joy.  I added a silver metallic ribbon under the flowers and flagged the ends.  I adhered these layers including a silver flower sequin with a tiny black brad.

Christmas Card Challenge - March - Vellum Poinsettia

The challenge is using vellum on your Christmas cards.  This opens the challenge up to almost anything.

I brushed the back of the 8.5x11 vellum with Tim Holtz Distress Stain in Bundled Sage and Tattered Rose.  Then I cut the poinsettias with the Tim Holtz Tattered Poinsettia die which has 3 different sized flowers.  I place 2 green ones at the back then the rose ones in front in two different sizes.  I wanted to keep the feel muted and soft so I used brushed gold brads in the centre.  I chose a warm white card and then embossed another piece of the same card stock with the Cuttlebug D'vine Swirl folder.  I wrapped the embossed layer with 2 pieces of green seam binding which the ends were taped to the back.  I mounted the poinsettia to the card front with 3D foam tape. Super happy with this one!