Let me introduce you to LIFE: A subject I know nothing about

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Every writer’s dream…

Card's inside caption reads: ...And Live The Dream!

It’s every writer’s dream… a free-wheeling roadtrip across Canada with nothing but your wits and words to get you from A to B to N (Alberta to B.C. to Newfoundland). As I type this, Patricia O’Neill – one of Calgary’s best storytellers – is busy whittling down her life to fit in the back of a car. She’ll be blogging her way across the country (web address coming soon!) as she winds her way through the stories, people, and places along the road. It is rare in this life to be offered a chance at true freedom, and there are too few people brave enough to grab hold of the opportunity. We’re proud of you Patricia! Go forth woman… and live the dream!

Update: You can follow Patricia’s incredible journey on her blog – Moving in the Write Direction

A final note on this year’s Christmas card

...at the most inopportune time of the year, my pencil crayons and I had a major falling out...

Here’s the final version of this year’s Christmas card (minus the caption and border). The printer tech was a little weirded out and made me explain three times how I wanted the copies trimmed. “It’s a what now?” He kept asking. I took his confusion as a compliment. After all, the surest sign you’re doing anything new is the complete bewilderment of bystanders – like the time I carved “MERRY CHRISTMAS” into my grandparents’ Halloween pumpkin.

Note: …because when you symbolically embrace technological card making, one’s pinky must remain as ladylike as possible~wink.

Merry Christmas! (and the mystery is solved)

Here’s what I was up to on the office carpet the other day…

Merry Christmas to all my dear readers! It’s a true pleasure writing for you and I hope to see you all in the new year. Have a wonderful holiday season with lots of Family, Food and Festiveness!

Note: You’ll notice I’m wearing a different hat in the photo above… a long and complicated story. But what’s important is that the Christmas cards I sent out (featuring a composite of two of the most successfully angled images) turned out to be a great solution to this year’s dilemma: “how to rebel against my tradition of making handmade cards by making a handmade card” - gotta love technology! 

Chillin’ on the carpet at work – don’t ask

Sometimes we find ourselves doing strange things in strange places for the people we love... yesterday morning was one of those times.

What was I up to? You’ll find out soon! Hint: It took three dozen tries to get the right angle (this one was a major miss) 

Liven up your fall letters with this quick and easy stationary project

Graphic design secret: Remember to use odd numbers of each leaf

There’s still time to send off a couple of handwritten letters before the Christmas rush.  Not that you don’t have enough on your plate already, especially with that green and red Godzilla of holidays looming dark on the horizon (*), but the effect of a few heartfelt words and some pencil crayons can be just as magical for the sender as for the recipient. Of course, it’s also handy that leaves are a whole lot easier to draw (not to mention show up a lot better) than snowflakes.

Click here for time saving tips for writing and sending your own handwritten letters.

(*)Note: Do I sound a little jaded? You try staying festive (or even fully conscious!) after stocking hundreds of toxic, rubbery plastic ornaments at a Michaels Arts & Craft Store – one fateful October! And don’t even get me started on the Cinnamon scented pinecones that will haunt me till, till… oh the humanity!

Stay tuned…SavingCymbria will be back in September!

A Fathers Day card for the ages

Portrait of a genius (spelling notwithstanding)

Less ear glitter, but no less a genius

When you make your own cards, topping last year’s is always the challenge. My father, a Canadian artist/inventor/philosopher, is the first Jack of all trades (since ol’ Leo) to have mastered them all. For this Fathers Day, I took inspiration from another master, then added a touch of glitter glue and an inside joke. It would take a long essay, for which neither you nor I have the patience for, to explain the layers of meaning in this seemingly (not to give myself too much credit or anything~wink) simplistic artwork. But I will say one thing: notice the eerie similarity in the eyes of the two men, made infinitely more eerie by the fact I only referenced the original at the colouring stage. Soon, the world will recognize my father, but until then, a little glitter glue goes a long way.

Wondering about Mothers Day?

The birthday card you can only get away with when you live across the country…

Click on image above to open the card...

I’m still a little shocked I sent this card to my grandmother, but she is one of the zestiest women I know, with a true felsian sense of humor, and (if I dare say) the unfailing ability to look absolutely fabulous in a swimsuit. She has been my style inspiration from day one, and I can only hope my card inspired some giggles from that lovely gal and her darling husband. Yes, the very same man who ‘endures’ younger-trophy-man status for eleven months out of every twelve. 

More creative card ideas from SavingCymbria:

When the stork arrives…

When it’s Mothers Day…

When you need a general idea…

When you need a ‘smart’ birthday card…

Ideation to creation: Teaming up for the ultimate ‘co-worker just had a baby’ card

Path from ideation to creation

When a co-worker is having a baby, the customary grocery store cake just doesn’t cut it. Finding a sugar saturated, crumb-ling ruin in the office kitchen can be boost on a birthday, I suppose, but bringing a new life into this world demands celebration. The card above is the result of two artistic (and neurotically perfectionist) minds coming together, created (astonishingly) without either of those lives being taken from this wold by the other. This brain sketched out half a dozen concepts – only fluorescent pink will do for the most serious ideation – and illustrator Christina Nichols fleshed out what was “deemed” (tension, what tension?) the most promising.

The 'winning' concept sketch

Our receptionist’s hair is 100% true to life, and so is her handwriting. It’s amazing what you can produce when you open your eyes to the diverse, even under-the-radar, skills of the people you work with. True, the diplomacy has a time and energy cost, but teaming up is the only way to create an optimized skill set guaranteed to take your projects to the next level. Teamwork can make for a dandy card too, and it’s the only way I know to get your stork turned the right way round!

A ‘Radishing’ Mothers Day Card?

When your mother's a poet...

I found this tiny radish pin (drawn by Calgary illustrator Kim Smith) at a comic expo and was instantly reminded of a certain spectacular someone. It’s all in the eyebrows~wink.

So go ahead! Be bizarre. Be cute. Be mushy. Next time you need a card, try making one. There aren’t any rules, just picture the person in your mind and try to imagine what would make them smile : )

Looking for more ideas?

General

Quirky Science 

Looking for new Birthday Card ideas?

Note: See also “How to make fantastically unique birthday cards” for more ideas!

It’s so hard finding just the right card when an important birthday rolls around. Why not get creative and make your own! The example below, which I made for my (chemical engineer) grandfather’s 80th B-day, can be tailored for almost any science minded relative. I came up with the idea while trying to draw out our family tree. With our blended family, I found the diagram quickly started looking more like the molecular structure of some bizarre new chemical compound…

Birthday Card for my Grandfather's 80th

I formatted the text and blank box in Microsoft Word, then hand-drew the diagram (using double lines for partner bonds). The caption inside reads: (Bonus Question: Label the 25 distinct atoms in this ground-breaking, multi-functional compound – affectionately nicknamed “The Patriarch” – for extra marks ). For the personalized scientific name, I just googled some chemistry terms and subbed in my grandfather’s name. Make sure to liven up the inside of the card (since the front’s a touch technical) with a blast of love and colour. And P.S., don’t forget to decorate the envelope!

Don't forget to add the hug inside!

How to make fantastically unique birthday cards

Start with this inspiration...

Start by finding an image off the net that makes you think about that special someone. Print the image onto the lower left corner of a piece of cardstock, don’t forget to add a caption on the right. I used “the magic is what you dream outside the picture”, but you can try “beyond the borders”, “outside the box” or your own variation. Fold and cut the card, then begin to extend the picture with pencil crayons. Let your creativity run wild as you get further away from the photo. Have fun!

…print it on cardstock and add a smidgen of text plus pencil crayon magic to create your own “outside the box” Birthday card

(flower photo source)

Happy Fathers Day Card Dilemma

From as far back as I can remember, which is just about the time crayons and I moved to a less mutually destructive phase in our relationship, my family has made our own holiday cards. That’s approximatly two decades of birthday/Christmas/mothers day/fathers day/Easter (yes even Easter)/and valentines day cards, all featuring carefully thought out (and witty, if I do say so myself) illustrations and captions. As you can imagine, there are times when one must reach very deep into some very strange places for a new idea. This Fathers Day was one of those times. The result is above, and it’s turned out to be one of my favorites. The caption? When their eyes met…something something…shared magic of fatherhood. Think you can come up with a better one?