Please don't hate me...

...but today I finished my Christmas shopping. Yes, I even got the gifts for the teachers, mail carrier, doctor's office, and my hairdresser purchased. I bought hostess gifts and "emergency" gifts to have on hand if needed during the month of December, and I got my immediate family and the few other people I buy gifts for covered. I kept things simple, kept my list short, and I had fun shopping. Best of all, I bought everything within my city limits so all the sales tax revenue will go back into my town's coffers. Woo hoo! 

(During the holidays, remember to support local businesses, artists, and crafts people whenever you can. I hit the local galleries and found some very cool stuff at every price point, including under $25.)

Now that I will be able to avoid the madness that is shopping after Thanksgiving, I have time to make my own Christmas cards. I send out quite a few, and because I have neither unlimited time nor energy, I knew I needed designs that I could reproduce relatively quickly. No cutting. No pasting. No painting. No coloring. No fussing with ribbon. These two sweet and simple cards fit the bill.

The central image on this one is embossed in evergreen and rather than using a star-shaped brad, I chose to use a puffy star sticker to keep things easy. The Christmas tree stamp is from an old set from Close to My Heart. I don't know who manufactured the zigzag border stamp.

The second design uses a set from Stampin Up. I Versamarked the background with small snowflakes and then embossed the central image with silver powder. I wish you could see how it shines because in the scan it just looks grey. Then I added one of my puffy star stickers. Voila! I've since bought some stick-on rhinestones so future cards may be a bit more sparkly.

I'll be working on some more designs over the holiday weekend. Stay tuned. 

Holiday cards

Over the weekend I grabbed a little time in the studio and made a few simple holiday cards. I wanted to break away from the usual Christmas color combinations and try something a bit fresh. The resulting cards were surprisingly elegant.

The center of this card is embossed in gold and the background papers are black mounted on a white card. The white card "disappeared" during the scan. Oops. You'll have to imagine the white border.

This one also has a gold embossed center panel. The yellow cardstock is an unexpected choice. The stag looks almost royal set against the rich red paper.

The holly branch is embossed a shiny silver on this one. I love how its curves echo the lines of the floral background paper, which is charcoal gray with Wedgewood blue. Aren't the snowflakes pretty? They give the card a wintry touch.

I don't make all my holiday cards, but I do make some. I try to make all my thank you notes. During the coming weeks, I'll be experimenting with more looks and styles. 

A few new cards

I'd taken a break from card making after the market in the park and focused on painting, but this weekend my stamping supplies were calling me. I made some simple cards, most of them variations on the themes below: 

The colors on this seem a bit off on my monitor. The reds should be rich, almost burgundy. 

I did a series of cards in burgundy and gray on white cardstock, but my scanner wasn't picking up the boundaries of the cards, only the colored images in the center. Very weird effect. I'll try to get them re-scanned and add them here.

Okay, here they are. The colors are charcoal gray, burgundy, and crisp white. I never work with white cardstock, so this a change for me. Once again, I liked how clean the designs are. Paper and stamps below are from Stampin' Up.

 

Cards with autumn colors

This week I decided to make cards with autumn colors and also experimented with metallic pigments in acrylic glaze. Unfortunately, the scans from my printer don't convey the gold and copper metallic sheen portions of these cards have. You'll just have to imagine how magical these are when the cards catch the light.

A return of my favorite blackbirds

This card has a subtle metallic shine across the whole background:

 

All images copyright 2009 Veronica McCabe Deschambault, Compost Studios

Labor Day weekend in the studio

I reserved space at a fall market in the city park, and my friend Lisa and I are going to sell our creative wares. Lisa makes jewelry, and I'll be selling cards. The market is less than a month away, and I'v been busy with my professional writing (www.VeronicaDeschambault.com) and wrapping up the summer with my kids. When I can, I've been slipping into the studio to make cards, usually on the weekends when the Man is around to keep the Charming Offspring engaged in life.

When I escape into the studio, I never know what I'll produce. I've been focusing on making cards with my own hand-painted backgrounds, and much time is spent hunched over the maple work table either 1) trying to choose paint colors and techniques to use, or 2) staring at background papers trying to envision the cards they could become, or 3) Wondering which efforts should be abandoned to the recycling bin.

What media is best? What color cardstocks and paper to use? What mood to convey? What image to make the focal point? Portrait or landscape? And then once decisions are made, there's the crafting of the card itself with glues, pencils, pens, ink, stamps, heat guns, etc. The debate over whether adding one more element will perfect or ruin what I have, and finally, a setting aside of the finished product.

By now it should be clear that making cards is a labor of love because it takes me forever, and whatever I make from their sale will be scant compensation for my time. Still, it's a good process. Sometimes the finished products thrill me, often I'm ambivalent, and occasionally I think, "Oops, missed the mark on that one."

Arts and crafts continues to be a journey for me, a learning experience, a commitment to stepping outside of my comfort zone. I tell myself the more I flex my creative muscles, the stronger my work will become.

No matter what form it takes, there will be people who like it, those who are indifferent to it, and those who find it cringe-worthy. That's life.

Here are a few recent creations:

It's not visible on the scan, but the darker leaves on the background are done in metallic copper and the main leaf has gold highlights.This is one I like *most* of the time.  : )

  This one took some work to get the composition right. The colors are softer than they appear on the scan. There are things I would change, but I won't tell you what they are.  : ) 

This one is complete departure for me in terms of colors and style. Maybe it could be a Chinese New Year card?

Here is one I'm ambivalent about, but I like that it's a different style than many of my other cards.

This looks like it could be an art journal piece, or a card you send you a loved one after spending a weekend together. 

The colors in this one thrill me. They are softer than the scan indicates, and there's a sweetness here. I'm normally not about "sweet," but I love the tender feeling this combination gives me.

I've saved my favorite one for last. I'm not sure I can sell this one! So serene.

If you like looking at cards, check out my Gallery. There are more there.