Pure, simple art

I received this truly delightful holiday card from from a friend of mine's daughter. The cards were made for raising funds for her primary school. This is her creation.

Children's art is so pure and affect free. Their offerings come straight from their imaginations with no filtering.

I love this card and intend to frame it and put it on permanent display in my dining room, where we can enjoy it at every meal.

A message from Santa

A friend of mine sent me this link today of a personalized video greeting to her little girl.

This Portable North Pole message from Santa is brilliant!

It does give me pause to wonder just exactly what Santa's secret ingredient is for enabling those reindeer to fly??!!


Just press on the button 'refer a friend' or use this link http://holidays.sympatico.ca/MagicSanta/vacation to personalize your own, free greeting to send to the special people in your life.

Crafting with friends

The great origami giveaway

The Paper Place Blog has put together the ultimate Origami prize package, one of each of the origami packs they offer online – practically a lifetime supply!

Here's the link so you can enter: http://www.thepaperplace.ca/wp/?p=483

20 years

This week, hubby and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary. It's the second time riding the marriage roller coaster for both of us.

How did we make it this time, when other marriages fell by the wayside? Commitment, pure and simple. We are just ordinary people, living our lives 'in the moment'.

Our life together is based on a simple concept. There are 3 living entities in our home: me, him and our relationship. We are individuals who have and embrace our own diverse interests but also respect that our individuality cannot be acted out in a way that compromises our relationship.

I don't claim that we always succeed but the wins far outweigh the fails. Every day brings a new, and happier, history.

I am grateful for the gift of our relationship and our blended family.

Our life:



My blended family:

Cootie

What fun! A friend dropped by this evening and, since we both enjoy playing board games, she brought the original, 1949, W.H. Schaper Mfg. Co. Inc., game of Cootie to play.





















Hasbro's Milton Bradley gave Cootie a makeover in 1986. You can see the redesigned game at the Hasbro web site.

10 text & typography stumbles

Yesterday's posted graphic was concrete evidence that my typographic skills are weak.

Today, I came across an example of a book cover that made it past the editing stage (note the subtitle). I'm quite sure that publisher had not intended for that to happen. This example gave me pause to think about improving my text skills, too.

I found some stumbles that will help address that lack of expertise. Here's an open invitation to come learn along with me.

TEXT
- proofreading and editing for spelling, grammar, punctuation and capitalization
Dictionary
Grammar

TEXT & FONT USAGE
I Love Typography: contrast, size, hierarchy and space
Pro Blog Design: improve readability

FONTS
- free for personal use
Dafont
Fontspace

ONLINE TOOLS
Typetester: compare fonts for the screen
TypeNavigator: visual font search system

TYPOGRAPHY
- text based, graphic creation
Webdesigner Depot: web typography rules
GraphicMania: Photoshop text effects tutorials

Home sweet home

I miss Nova Scotia during the summer months.

10 illustration stumbles

One of my favourite passtimes is looking at artists' illustrations. They inspire differing viewpoints. Here's hoping you enjoy these artists as much as I do.

Ana Botezatu

Sylvia Park

Geninne's Art Blog

Scott Barry

Marc Johns

ColorBlok Inc.

Brett Manning

Rebecca Saylor Sack

Stephen Daoud

Alice Stephenson

10 free pattern stumbles

Mailee Lor's Pinterest page: Oodles of paper craft, packaging templates.

Martha Stewart: a tutorial with a link to the free template for making cheery, little parasols to embellish beverages.

Papercraft Inspirations: free, downloadable, paper craft projects.

Free Your Soul - the free art project: lots of lovely, free art images for cards, framing, etc.

Moda Bake Shop: free quilt patterns

Sarah Jane Studios: 3 free templates to make framed, gallery prints.

Wee Folk Art: Free, downloadable, craft patterns.

Eat Drink Chic: make some authentic vintage paper labels with this tutorial and link to the free, downloadable herb labels.

Greetings with Patterns: a collection 21 free, paper cutting, greeting card patterns.

The Long Thread: a tutorial and 2 free, downloadable templates to make a felt, Little Red Riding Hood doll.