Monkey Fun!

There's a lightning round contest at GCUCommunity.com, and the topic is Monkeys! The top banana over there, Corrie Kuipers, shared a card which she created (left) that totally reminded me of a two-page scrapbook layout that I made (years ago) for my son, who was certainly a little monkey when he was young (he's an adult now, but still likes to monkey around a lot).

Here's my layout spread entitled, "Mommy's Little Monkey" - and the second page is the one where I shared pictures of him playing his own little game of monkey-see-monkey-do (click the pic for larger view of the scrapbook layaout):

Yes, monkeys really are cute critters... making them quite popular as subjects for greeting cards (especially in the "thinking of you" category - heh heh). Here are a few adorable cards that I found at greetingcarduniverse.com (and there are plenty more where these came from):



Below are all the participants in the lighting round:

Sun at Night Studios, Sun at Night:
Collecting Monkey Art: See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil
One of the most popular primate art is the collection of the three wise monkeys otherwise known as: See no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil...

Brenda Thour's Card Shop, Brenda Thour:
Time For Some Monkey Business
I have been looking at the Greeting Card Universe site and came across these cool monkey themed greeting cards and would like to share them with you...

Naquiaya’s Cards, Naquaiya:
Monkey Business
Why are we in love with monkeys? How much are we really like them?

SmudgeArt, Madeline Allen:
Monkeys in the Garden
I hit the pillow and before I could count to ten,
There were monkeys in my beautiful garden….

Janet Lee Designs, Janet Palaggi:
Monkeying Around With Monkeys
I love monkeys, I don't know anyone who doesn't love monkeys...

Salon of Art, Doreen Erhardt:
The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary
This past month, I’ve had the privilege of reading an Advanced Copy for the purpose of writing a book review of “The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary…A True Store of Resilience and Recovery”...

I Love Cuttables, Cindy Johns:
Monkey Fun
Here's my layout spread entitled, "Mommy's Little Monkey" - and the second page is the one where I shared pictures of him playing his own little game of monkey-see-monkey-do...

Sheryl Kasper Card Store, Sheryl Kasper:
No Monkeying Around
Did you know that Monkeys are not only cute and adorable, but they can also be a service animal too?

Dragonfire Graphics, Betsy Bush:
Monkeys are Everywhere
Monkey themed greeting cards...

Cards from the heART, Lisa Charlton:
Chimpanzee
Chimps are Primates but they are not Monkeys. If you want to know if a Primate is a Monkey, look at their bums… only monkeys have tails.

BLOG CARNIVAL I:

SUMMERTIME, AND THE LIVING IS EASY
(GCUCommunity had their 1st ever blog carnival, and I participated. Below is the entire list of participants)

Floating Lemons, Mariana Musa - Summertime at Greeting Card Universe
The days are full of sunshine and the temperatures are slowly rising...

It's a Beautiful World, Catherine Sherman - Summertime Flowers and Fruit
The fragrance of roses all summer long, the juice of ripe fruit on our lips...

Sun at Night Studios, Sun at Night - Summer Celestial Events and Art
The summer month of June is just around the corner...

What Dreams May Come, Maryann Nolan - Discontent for Summers Past
Ah summertime, full of sunny days, steamy temperatures, blue skies... I long for thee!

I Love Cuttables, Cindy Johns - More Father's Day Cards
While I'm on the topic of Father's Day (see the 'funner' stuff below)...

Naquaiya's Cards, Naquaiya - Summertime, and the Living Is Easy
Summer is a time for a little fun, a little soaking up some nice warm rays...

Shelley's Card Creations, Shelley McLeod - Is Summer Almost Here?
Well, after two 80 degree days, we are back to 50s and raining...

Painted Cottage, Judith Cheng - Summertime
Nothing beats sketching by the water after our long winter...

DogBreedz, Peggy Mundell - Summertime, Meet the Breed
Summer is around the corner...

Dragonfire Graphics, Betsy Bush - It's Summertime and the Living is Easy!
It’s hard to believe it is approaching summer what with all the rain we are getting in the northeast...

Salon of Art, Doreen Erhardt - Ah, Sweet Blessed Summertime
I was born in 1961 in a suburban area and the memories of those summers will always make me grateful...

DB Visual Arts, Denise Beverly - Summertime, Summertime, Sum, Sum, Sum, Summertime
That song always makes me sing it whether I want to or not...

Cherie's Arts 'N Crafts, Cherie - Summertime, and the Living Is Easy
One of the things that I love most about summer is being able to lay outside...

Janet Lee Designs, Janet Palaggi - Summertime Food 'n Fun
That's right folks, Summer Is Finally Here...

Sheryl Kasper Card Store, Sheryl Kasper - Summertime Grilling
Have you been thinking about the warm days of summer during the cold days of winter...

Card Art From the Heart, Sue Baumgardner - Summertime and the Kids' Education Goes Out the Door?
Learn how to teach your own children and as many others as you decide to include...

Aura2000, Aura2000 - I Love Summer!
Maybe it's because I'm born in Summer, but I just love this time of the year...

Cards Honoring Our Beloved Pets

I want to post some beautiful cards that help in easing our pain when we lose a family pet. These are in honor of Missy.

These wonderfully poignant cards were created by Sandra Rose Designs, DogBreedz, and Flying Horse Design.

Remembering Missy

Yesterday our beloved calico-kitty, Missy, passed away. She was almost 17 years old and ill, but she held on until our daughter could make the 4 hour drive home and be with her. She was an extraordinary kitty who brought so much beauty and love into our lives.

She will be missed more than words can express.

Chris' "Throwdown" Dance Move

Chris Matthews really got grooving in this ROTF-hee-LAR-ious video from 2008 when he was doin' the Ellen DeGeneres show. You may have already seen this, but if you haven't you WILL laugh your butt off (unless you have absolutely NO sense of humor).

The first video is the day of his visit with Ellen. It's about 10 minutes or so long, but you don't need to watch the whole thing. Just the dance part at the beginning (including the "throwdown" move) and some of the discussion with Ellen that followed. Then the next video is the one that really hits it out of the park with Ellen explaining exactly what happened.

Chris Matthews does Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen DeGeneres does Chris Matthews

The reason I've strayed from posting helpful Inkscape tutorial links or terrific greeting cards is because I sometimes have rough days (dealing with all my physical hurdles) and coming out of those kinds of days I just want to laugh. These two videos never cease to succeed in making that happen. :D

Using Gradients in Inkscape

Here is an excellent basic tutorial from LittleWebHut on using gradients very effectively in Inkscape. Then, after you've mastered the basics of gradients, he has another tutorial that teaches how to make a super shiney "8" ball.

More Father's Day Cards

While I'm on the topic of Father's Day (see the 'funner' stuff below), I'd like to share three more cards that humor (I mean honor) the 'Man of the House.' Father’s Day (for me) evokes wonderful summertime memories when my husband and I used to take our two kids (before they grew into adults) to Cedar Point for some rockin’ roller-coaster riding. We’d go on Father’s Day because--since it’s fairly early in the summer--it wouldn’t be too crowded. Plus, we could usually call it our kids’ gift to their dad and not have to go shopping for ties. ;-)


These fun Father's Day cards were fondly created by Chuck Ingwersen, Pattiann Malynn, and Candy Palmer

Some Real 'Funners'

As promised, here are the 'funners' that I mentioned in my last post. These are some doozies...and they all celebrate Father's Day! Makes me feel like I wouldn't mind being a father for a day, myself, because it looks like it would be hilarious. LOL! Other than that, don't fault me for choosing these slightly "off-color" humorous cards. They were determined to not let me pass them by (can't you hear them? "Cindy, pick me! pick me!"). ;-D

The starving (for attention, obviously) artists who created these 'funners' are Tom Rent, Mary Kay Mickiewicz and Lilly Fluger. :)

P.S. I'm not sure what it says about {me} that I find those to be among the most funniest cards at Greeting Card Universe...but I'm sure it says SOMEthing. (eyes rolling)

Some Real Stunners

Yes, I've been over at GCU again, looking for more inspiration... and I found some! (no surprise there)  :)  Here are three cards that I consider to be "stunningly" inspiring and I want to share them with you; but this is just a tiny drop in the bucket.  There are SO many amazingly stunning cards at GCU, I wish I could post them all (sigh).

These three that I found today are by Evie's Artful Card Shoppe, Robin's Coloring Book, and Dakota Winds Photography.

Enjoy 'em for now, the next three that I post will be what I consider "funners" (ha ha, you can probably guess what that means, LOL!)

Inkscape Interpolation Tutorial

Getting back to posting useful arts/crafts tutorials, I want to share an advanced Inkscape technique I learned about recently. I used it to make one of my greeting card backgrounds. You need to be very comfortable using Inkscape, and if you are--this is a very versatile tool to add to your creative treasure trove:
Awesome Lines and Interpolation in Inkscape (video tutorial).

If you aren't as comfortable with Inkscape as you'd like to be, then you should choose some of the earlier basic tutorials at Learn Digital Design.

Another video that shows how to use interpolation to make cutting files is this wonderful video by Carolyn of Inkscape Cutting Design.

Cards, Cards, and More Cards!

Ok, when I'm not working on my own cards, I'm over at GCU getting ideas and inspiration.  :)

I want to add three more cards from artists whose work I really admire. And right now, in honor of our courageous men and women in the U.S. Military, I can't think of more appropriate cards to showcase than these that support our troops by Christie Black, Christine Quimby, and Valarie Wade:

Obama gets Osama!

Ding-dong, Bin Laden's dead!!!  Our President got the job done!  I know this doesn't have anything to do with crafting and creating greeting cards (things I generally post about) but this is HUGE and I felt it deserved a post.  :)  Here's a slideshow of Americans rejoicing.

Thank you to President Obama and our courageous U.S. Military (especially the Navy Seals).