Thank you card

Hello! Here's a card I made last night.  I made it for a lovely lady at work who has recently been to Japan for a vacation.  When I found out she was going, I told her how much I love the decorative Japanese paper.  She offered to send me some if she came across any during her travels if I paid for the paper and the postage.  Well, this offer could not be turned down and sure enough, one day a box arrived in the mail covered in Japanese writing!  How exciting - there were some lovely treasures in there and somehow knowing it came directly from Japan made it all the more special.  So, this card, made with some of that very paper, will be her thank you card on her return to the office today.

I started with this lovely stamped image (The Stamp Barn), stamped on watercolor marl using a blue Versafine ink (plus a bit of Memento for the red).  I added some shading with pencil crayons as it was a bit too stark otherwise.  The card base is tsumugi card stock (from a package of notecards in assorted colours - all lined with pretty mulberry tissue and complete with envelopes - I got them at Wallacks and The Papery).  The dark blue accent paper was also in the package of patterned paper (each piece of patterned paper had a coordinating solid - now if only quilting fabric assortments came that way too!).  I edged the green paper with Blue Iris Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink and added some Red Pepper Adirondack liquid pearls for accent.  I see Sauron the scanner has highlight the downward slope of the accent strip for me so I have gently pried it off on that side and fixed it. I think the package she sent me is handmade patterned yuzen paper in origami squares.  I don't know how to do origami, so I hope I am not committing some outrageous faux pas in cutting it up for other purposes.  Somehow I think not- this is still a respectful and appreciative use of something beautifully made in an ancient art form.

If you can't find pretty Japanese paper at your local art store or your local specialty paper shop, you can find it through The Japanese Paper Place. This link will take you to re-sellers by country and on-line.

Thanks for stopping by !

Birthday Card

This card is what is known in stamping circles as a BRAK - Birthday Random Act of Kindness. (Not to be confused with the BRAK diet [bananas, rice, applesauce and kielbasa***], to be fed to children after a tummy upset to ease their little g-i tracts back to health.)

It's not really random, though, as it's from my mother, who was fairly instrumental in me having a birthday at all. I suppose my birthday could be considered a random event in the cosmic scheme of things (or not, depending on your theological leanings), but this card was a custom-made treasure, just for me and the farthest thing from random you can get!

As for the card itself, a little stamping-scene investigation reveals that it is a lovely floral swirl (a new one from the Stamp Barn), stamped and embossed in gold, and coloured with Twinkling H20's. It's stamped on pale blue paper, which has been sponged around the edges and matted on black. The perfect ribbon from the stash (pale blue with gold edge) is tied in a darling bow for accent. The whole piece is layered on the most gorgeous Japanese paper (washi? yuzen?). This paper is so beautiful that I could never in a million years have sacrificed a whole quarter sheet for one card. This is why I know my mother loves me and this card is the farthest from random you can get!

Thanks Mum! I love it!

***This is not medical advice. I am not a physician. I'm not even all that funny. And where I'm from, it's koubassa, not kielbasa, as in koobie on a bun! What is with these Ontarians and their weird sausage appellations.....

Public Service Announcement in case I have a reader from Australia:

Platypus Creek has a big sale on right now (till 22 Jul) on Sunshine Designs and Stamp Barn Stamps (50% off wood mounted and 10% off cling), and other things too. Kinda neat to think of stamps from my neck of the woods being stamped with on the other side of the world. Makes me want to dash off to Australia for the sale, except that my friend told me it takes 29 hours. So not really a dash. As my dad likes to say, "If you're going there, you shouldn't be starting from here."