I LOVE creating rubber stamped greeting cards! Some of you know this, but for others, NEWS FLASH! (insert smile emoji)
Over the long weekend, I went to my partner-in-creativity’s home and we got busy making a mess (required), dug out all the stuff (also necessary), and bounced ideas off of each other (foundational for great ideas) as we stamped, whacked the papers, embossed card stock, assembled, cut, glued, taped, tied, and generally produced beauty from chaos. That’s my kind of relaxation.
Let’s have a greeting card show and tell. Or at least show.
Which is your favorite? What kind of cards do you like to send? Or do you enjoy a different hobby?
We also managed to squeeze in two times of pickleball (my first time playing, and now I’m scheming to see how I can play where I live) and made beginning plans for a trip later this year. Besides the great food, long walks, playing with the kitties, and catching up on life, I’d say it was a good getaway. Plus. 85 cards!!! (I can’t resist counting how many I make.)
23 recycled cards. Yes, I do recycle cards people give back to me! It’s like greeting and hanging out with old friends.
1 towel tag card (see cat wearing a chef’s hat). ANYTHING can be an inspiration and become a greeting card.
15 cards for my celebrant/funeral home working honey.
I was loving the bears! Happy birthday cards and bear hug cards. Two thumbs up.
Also. Loved my trucks. And the trees. And the time I spent with my stamping buddy (waves, Hi, Alyson!) and her helpful kitties. Scroll to the bottom to meet our feline assistants.
Played with some new stamps.
Revisited the bears. And mushrooms. And trees.
Tried a monochromatic card for my honey. Alyson had the perfect stamps for this idea. Shared resources doubles (or triples) the fun, creativity, and card count.
Thanks for our stamping sleepover, Alyson, Daisy, Honey, and Jubilee! I keep finding kitty fur, though that could also be from my kitty, Monet.
What is one hobby you enjoy? How long have you been doing it? Maybe it’s a hobby I might enjoy!
Top left: Daisy giving me the buff-off after snuggling all night!
Top middle and right: Jubilee giving me the eye AND demanding attention and cessation of stamping for cuddles.
Bottom: Honey minding her own business and having a cat nap. Until I took her picture.
Here are some Christmas card ideas to help you get started. I suggest creating together with at least 1 other friend, possibly 2 or 12. Share resources (stamps, inks, papers, ribbons, etc.) as you chit-chat, and those ideas will just fly off your stamp pads!
Plus, it’s great fun to visit as you labor away on your cutting, coloring, and works of art.
Stumped? Just glance at what’s on the table or in the hands of your co-conspirators. Or scroll Pinterest or stamping-related websites. Stamping magazines are also full of completed cards for inspiration.
Stamp, cut, color, glue, and glitter. Add embellishments. Ta-dah!
Christmas greetings are ready to go.
The hardest part is trying to figure who gets which card. Or, in our case, how can we give up our FAVORITES? That is always a challenge.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas season!
P.S. Thanks for the inspiration, Alyson and Renee!
Hello, dear readers! Welcome to a very important blog post featuring a special book birthday for The Vanishing Lake by Paddy Donnelly!
Be sure to read to the bottom to learn how you can get your name in the hat to win a free copy of The Vanishing Lake, compliments of Yeehoo Press (US only). Thank you, Yeehoo Press and Helen Wu, for this opportunity!
Let’s get right to it.
1. Welcome, Paddy! Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m a picture book illustrator and author, originally from Ireland and now living in Belgium. I’ve had seven picture books published so far, with my debut author illustrated one, The Vanishing Lake, being my 8th. I also illustrate covers for middle grade novels, as well as a bunch of other things. My background is in web design and I did that for a number of years following university, then I transitioned into doing kids’ apps for the iPhone. That introduced me to illustrating for kids and I really enjoyed it. For the last two or three years I’ve been focusing on children’s publishing and I really love it.
You have had a very a fascinating career path!
2. Congratulations on your new book! What was your inspiration for The Vanishing Lake?
Thank you! Well, it’s actually based on a real vanishing lake close to my hometown! It’s called Loughareema and it actually does disappear and reappear every few days. While my book contains a few more magical elements like mermaids, giants and narwhals, Ireland is a place full of mythical stories, so I was always surrounded by that growing up. When I was coming up with a few picture book stories a couple of years ago, the real vanishing lake from back home popped into my head and I thought it’d be an interesting premise for a picture book.
It certainly is interesting! I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Vanishing Lake! It’s such a fun, imaginative story!
3. What was the writing and illustrating journey you took as you wrote this book? As both author-illustrator, how did that impact your creative process?
I started first with the basic idea – a lake that would mysteriously vanish and reappear and vanish and reappear. Then I needed a main character – a child for the reader to identify with. I wanted the character to be searching for the reason for the mystery and ended up with a Grandad character who would tell fantastic stories. Having the main character, Meara, refuse to believe the stories allowed me to keep pushing them to be bigger and more unbelievable. That was the premise and then I started sketching out the roughs, knowing that I had a certain number of pages to work with and that I wanted a few different beats to happen through the book – the lake gone, then flip the page and it was back, then gone again, and then a double page spread for each story, and conclusion. Once I had all of that lined out, I started to write the actual words. Then it was a real back and forth process, with the words informing the illustration and vice versa. This is certainly different to the usual process when I’m illustrating someone else’s story, and I really loved the creative freedom it gave me to have full control over both aspects.
I’m fascinated by the process you used for The Vanishing Lake. How fun to be able to switch back and forth between writing and illustrating, and to have total control over the whole project.
4. Everything is different right now with COVID-19, but how will you celebrate the book birthday of The Vanishing Lake on April 20?
I actually have a few virtual events lined up with bookshops in the book’s birthday week, so that’s going to be lots of fun! I guess one of the silver linings of the pandemic is the emergence of virtual author events, so I’m looking forward to doing a few storytimes, drawalongs and Q&A sessions with bookshops and their customers. I would of course absolutely love to be doing something in-person in a bookshop, so hopefully when the world goes back to normal I’ll get the opportunity to do that for a future book. I have been trying to take the time to celebrate the good moments more and more this past year though, so I may have to raise a glass at home on publication day.
Sounds like the perfect combination of events to make the week very special! We have learned some new tricks and skills in the days of the pandemic, haven’t we?
5. I love the joyful imagination that is such a huge part of The Vanishing Lake. How do imagination and your childhood experiences impact your creativity?
I definitely had (and still do I think) a vivid imagination as a child and used to draw my own stories so much. Growing up with natural wonders like Loughareema and the Giant’s Causeway on my doorstep maybe made me take them for granted, but I think I’ve now got a renewed appreciation for them now. And definitely the rugged cliffs, mountains and magical greens of the Irish landscape have an influence on my illustration style. As imagination is the centre of this story, it allowed me to keep pushing to come up with more extravagant stories for Grandad to tell.
Ooh, perhaps there will be a future picture book about the Giant’s Causeway! 😉 One of my bucket list items is visiting Ireland.
6. What are you working on now?
I’m working on a lot of picture books at the moment. I’ve got a few more coming out later this year and next year. And I’ve got a few middle grade covers on the go too. Lots of different projects happening at once, but that’s the way I like it. I like to hop between projects as it helps keep my imagination going and I don’t get too bogged down in one set of illustrations for months on end. I think I need that variation for my creativity.
So, you also work as a professional project juggler? LOL. I like to juggle writing projects as well. Like you said, it helps keep my imagination and creativity fresh.
7. Surprise us! What else would you like to share?
Perhaps the most exciting project I’m working on is my second author illustrated picture book, Dodos Aren’t Extinct, which I’m illustrating right now. That’ll be coming out in Spring 2022. Very exciting!
Congratulations! That is exciting! It sounds like another captivating story!
Thanks so much for stopping by to visit, Paddy! Best wishes on The Vanishing Lake and all of your other projects.
Readers, you can purchase your own copy of The Vanishing Lake by clicking the following links.
Here are 3 ways to get your name in the hat to win a copy of The Vanishing Lake (US only). A winner will be randomly chosen in one week on Tuesday, April 27.
1. Like and comment on this blog post. Please make sure I have your email address so I can notify you if you win.
2. Follow this blog and tell me how you follow. Please make sure I have your email address so I can notify you if you win.
3. Visit my Twitter page @AngieQuantrell for more chances to win a copy of The Vanishing Lake.
CONGRATULATIONS TO Janet Frenck Sheets! You won a copy of The Vanishing Lake!
Prompt: monster (my monster is actually the drained fly; I prefer spiders to flies)
#Inktober52 is a weekly ink drawing challenge, one ink drawing a week for the entire year, 52 weeks a year.
I know I could never do #inktober for October, it just gets too crazy when I try to do something EVERY single day. But I am excited and challenged by the #inktober52. I think I can manage 52 weekly drawings inspired by prompts from https://inktober.com/. The part about having a week to complete a drawing helps me out.
“Jake Parker created Inktober in 2009 as a challenge to improve his inking skills and develop positive drawing habits. It has since grown into a worldwide endeavor with thousands of artists taking on the challenge every year.”
Here are my February drawings.
Prompt: dragonfly
Prompt: camping
Prompt: egg
Are you enticed to join me? It’s fun to play and use my imagination. And maybe I’ll learn a new trick along the way.
‘Tis the season of pumpkins, colorful leaves, cool nights, whipping winds, rustling cornstalks, frosty mornings, and cozy thoughts of snuggling in for the winter.
But I digress.
Fall. I love thee. I also love making rubber stamped cards. My quite comprehensive collection of autumn rubber stamps, combined with the even greater vast array of my stamping buddy, Alyson, provides ample fodder for harvest-y creations. I must note that one is NEVER done searching for yet another “favorite” fall stamp. The hunt continues!
I thought it would be fun to set the season dial to autumn and share a few card samples.
Barely 2 generations removed from the Great Depression and old enough to have heard many stories from grandparents, great-aunts and uncles, and parents, throwing ANYTHING away is hard to do. Every single item must be used to the end of its’ life, threadbare and loved into shreds. I’d rather make do, recycle, borrow, reuse, or give away than toss things in the trash.
I’m so happy to see my honey using some of those creative-good-to-the-last-drop (or piece) urges. He’s been using up his stash of scrap wood. Leftovers from other projects like building a deck, making a potting bench, and adding a bit of this and that to make a unique Chevy tailgate bench for our Chevy-man son. Once he gets an idea, I can count on him to disappear for hours and turn up later with something very clever and cute.
Each piece truly is one-of-a-kind creation, in part because using up scraps requires the builder to use what is on hand. And what is on hand changes on a daily basis. Occasionally new items must be added, like screws, a 1×3 or 2×4. But the outcomes of his dedication to using up stuff to make something new and useful are truly beautiful.
Hobbies are good for the mind, body, and spirit. My honey calls what he builds his Therapy Creations. A retirement project? Perhaps. But for now, he’s just enjoying after-work and weekend time spent with the drill, hammer, saw, and piles of stuff, waiting for attention.
I’m not complaining, not at all. My garden is graced with many special pieces and I love each one.
Heading back out to watch him use up some more scraps. What do you do with your scraps? We might need some new ideas. Or your old scraps.
Last January I was elated to learn I had been granted a special writing residency and retreat at Holly House and Hypatia-in-the-Woods. What a great way to begin a new year!
Beautiful tree-lined drive into Holly House. Loved this walk!
Located outside of Shelton, Washington, not far from Olympia, Holly House would be overlooking Hammersly Inlet if it weren’t totally surrounded by a mixed forest of deciduous and coniferous trees. The setting is absolutely gorgeous. Cool, green, shaded, quiet, peaceful. Did I say peaceful? And all mine for the week.
Welcoming front patio. Spiders especially loved this area.
After shopping for enough food to last 3 months, as if grocery stores did not exist 5-7 miles away, I arrived before lunch on my appointed Sunday. Outside appearances did not prepare me for the spacious and beautiful inside environment. Incidentally, Holly House is very close to the small house size my honey and I want to build for ourselves.
Cozy living room. This chair is perfect for reading!
I’ll let the pictures do the talking. I had everything I needed for a creative, imaginative, stress-free week. Loft bedroom, large bathroom, living room, dining area, kitchen, and even a deck with the most perfect table and chairs.
Perfect tiny kitchen. Ignore my mess. It was everywhere!
The side deck let in so much natural, green light. Ahhh. I enjoyed reading and working outside in the soft green sunlight.
The loft bedroom had plenty of storage and space. Wide open windows brought in light and fresh air.
Me and more of my mess. This was my main working area (can you tell????). The view in front of me was a HUGE and very pleasant distraction. I didn’t mind in the least.
TV window. No electricity required.
I was so blessed to visit and stay at Holly House. The neighbors (a couple and their huge dog) were fantastically helpful and reassuring. After all, I was in the middle of the woods in the middle of nowhere. And I heard there had been evidence of a bear. My imagination supplied the rest of the excitement.
The Hypatia-in-the-Woods board was wonderful. I enjoyed a potluck one evening, getting to meet most of the members. I was met by Carolyn at Holly House. She brought me some snacks and gave me a working tour of the cabin. Every single thing I could have wanted or desired was provided. Or all I had to do was ask. Thank you to all who gave me the opportunity and welcomed me to Holly House.
I’m so thankful for my writing residency. Thank you, Holly House, Hypatia-in-the-Woods, neighbors, and the Hypatia board. Thank you!
If you ever have an opportunity to go on a writing retreat or residency, do it! Worth every second.
Last week I had the privilege of enjoying a writing residency/retreat at Holly House through Hypatia-in-the-Woods. I really worked my days, writing, planning, editing, sorting, exploring, eating, and drinking tea. This list was interspersed with moments of complete quiet when I just stared out into the green forest or wandered to the deck or windows to locate who was chasing and chattering. The entire week was lovely and I feel my writing benefited from being at Holly House. (So did my soul and stress level, but more on this in a later post.)
I decided to bring my toys. Rubber stamps, ink pads, papers, tools. I set a goal of creativity one different card each night and make 6 -8 of each design. This plan turned out beautifully. The different type of creativity allowed my brain to wander and my fingers to work away from the keyboard. Lovely! And we all know how much I enjoy making rubber stamped cards. 🙂
Here they are, 7 designs, 50 cards total.
If you ever get the opportunity to go on a writing residency or retreat, go! It’s with every second.
This Haiku Moment is brought to you compliments of Holly House and Hypatia-in-the-Woods. My kitchen table view is glorious – windows that make me feel as if I’m living in a tree house. Such wonderful windows of light, movement, trees, glimpses of water and sunlight. This is what it is like to live as a wild thing in between the canopy, understory, and floor of dense forests. Like a bird, or squirrel, perhaps a bear, life is found in movement, fragrance, sound, texture, even taste if but a few berries are ripe – a rich sensory environment inviting you in.
Love, Laughter, and Life 