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Purging and Creating

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I've been on another purging expedition in my studio, and have made some remarkable progress in handing off some supplies that I've had for just too long to a friend who is delighted to get them. In the process, I've done some reorganization as well. As I was going through the embellishment drawer I came across a couple of tags I thought would make quick and easy cards.

Hello

The tag is from American Crafts (Amy Tangerine). I die cut a circle from the Nestabilities Small Circles dies, tied a Pink Hibiscus ribbon (PTI), and attached it to a ready-made Paper Source card.

(This card is off to a friend who was diagnosed with a brain tumor last week. I saw her yesterday, and was amazed at her positive spirits. She's been feeling nauseous for over a year, and seeing specialist after specialist. Finally her new GI sent her for an MRI and this is what they found. The expectation is that surgery will occur early next week, but they won't know for sure until further tests are completed today. She's the second of my very good friends to have received this diagnosis in the last six months. I find that really hard to believe. My other friend is stable right now. Her tumor was inoperable, but they were able to shrink it with radiation.) 

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One of the things that got reorganized during the purge were the non-PTI acyrlic stamps and cling stamps that were housed in a notebook. I now have them in CD boxes on my shelf and can easily flip through them so I'm sure they'll see a lot more use. I stamped the background on this Hero Arts kraft card with the chevron background stamp (Hero Arts). The tag is another one by American Craft (Amy Tangerine). I cut another circle with the Nestabilities and a double ended banner from Papertrey. The sentiment is from Everyday Sayings (Hero Arts) and the ribbon is from my stash. It's hard to tell in the photo, but the little gems are heart-shaped (A Muse).

July Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

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I got involved in another purging episode in my studio last night, so luckily I was up earlier enough this morning to get a couple of (needed) cards made for the Papertrey Ink Blog Hop. In August, I'll be on the road when the Blog Hop comes, so I didn't want to miss this one.

Here's the beautiful inspiration piece. 

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It's just perfect for the new Sweet Life stamp set, but I don't have that, so I used Rosie Posie for the first card.

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For some reason the Berry Sorbet looks more like Pure Poppy in the photo, but not IRL. I used Dawn McVey's video from Stamp-a-Faire to tie the bow. 

The next card is my favorite of the two, and uses one of my all-time favorite stamp sets:  Lovely Layers.

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All the supplies except the ready-made tag are from Papertrey Ink. I really need to put in an order for new inks as the Sweet Blush ink is no longer stamping images well. I had a similar problem with other ink pads last week. 

Papertrey Ink’s Stamp-a-faire: Limited Supply Challenge

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Well, this was not easy as my supplies for this challenge were exceptionally limited. I don't own the right color buttons or the dotted ribbon, both of which I really needed. But I did what I could. I chose Four of a Kind for my floral stamp, and used the colors given: Hawaiian Shores, Select White, and Simply Chartreuse.

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After I took this photo, I decided this card really had to have some embellishment. Lacking buttons I had some rhinestones that were very close to Hawaiian Shores. I'm happier with this version.

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Papertrey Ink’s Stamp-a-faire: Make & Take

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I was hoping I'd had lots of crafting time today, but it hasn't turned out that way. Today is the Papertrey Ink Stamp-a-faire with loads of inspiration and videos for projects. Fortunately we have until Monday to get projects completed and uploaded. Although we'll be at a baptism and luncheon tomorrow, I'm hoping to get some serious crafting time in the late afternoon and evening. But I did get the Make & Take project done this morning. The card Nichole posted used Raspberry Fizz ink and cardstock—one of my favorites, but my ink pad is no longer making good impressions, even with reinking, so I had to go to another pink. I don't have the new floral set (yet) so I went to one I haven't used in a long time: Beautiful Blooms II.

PTIMake&Take

Creating a background isn't something I do often either. It took me awhile to figure out placement, but I'm happy with it. The vellum strip is scored at the top and bottom, and the sentiment is from In Bloom. I'm off to see if I can get another project done before I need to finish up the dinner plans for company tonight.

Summer Scavenger Hunt

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I'm making good progress with the Rinda's Summer Scavenger Hunt, although not quite a good as Amy! Here are a few more:

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#14 Bocce Ball at the church picnic last night

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More ball playing at the picnic

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#7 A fife and drum group practicing in the park

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A group playing at the Farmer's Market this afternoon

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#20 A hammock (I love the ivy that climbs up our friends' trees and frames this hammock.)

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#11 Our shadows as we went on our walk

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#13 Our library stacks

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#18 A movie poster (The only movie we've seen this summer.)

I have just three more photos to take, and I'm expecting to find them before summer's end. I have more than one for several prompts, and I think I'll continue to collect them as I see them. I have an idea for a project at the end, and multiples will work just fine.

Weekend Recap

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It might seem a bit late for a weekend recap, but our weekend really ran Saturday to Monday. We went camping at Keuka State Park with our good friends, Bob and Cathy. (Warning:  it's a heavy photo post with several new scaventer hunt photos included.) We started our weekend at Lloyd's in Penn Yan for lunch, and then drove to the camp ground and pitched our tents.

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Before dinner we went to a darling Farmer's Market to get some sweet corn . . .

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and then off to find the Garrett Memorial Chapel which is hidden in the woods on the bluff overlooking Keuka Lake.

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(Another chapel for #17 on the scavenger hunt)

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(# 19 an outdoor stairway)

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(#6 a historical landmark)

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The view of the lake from the chapel

Although we've camped here before we never knew about the chapel. We returned Sunday morning and attended the service there. The chapel seats about 100, and I'd guess there were 75-80 people there. Photos of the interior are prohibited, but it's very beautiful and has a series of Tiffany stained glass windows. 

We cooked steaks for dinner and had a campfire Saturday night. By Sunday morning it had started to drizzle. It continued all day long, sometimes raining steadily. It didn't deter us from having a great time. After church, we had an excellent breakfast at the Antique Inn.

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 After brunch (it was nearly noon by the time we finished), we visited a couple of our favorite wineries and brought home some new wines to try.

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At Rooster Hill, they had live music on the porch. (#7 on the scavenger hunt)

For several years now, Tracy has wanted to go to the Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport. It turns out Glenn Curtiss was one of the most influential and important pioneers in aviation. The museum is filled with interesting artifacts. Curtiss initially was interested in bicycles, then motorcycles. He started to develop engines for motorcycles, which then led to the interest in airplanes.

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By the time we finished at the museum, the rain had cleared and we headed back to the campsite for dinner.

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Afterwards, we went down to the lake for the sunset, and then called it a night after roasting marshmallows for S'Mores.

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After breaking camp and breakfast in Penn Yan, Tracy and I headed to the outlets. We bought some 12 mo. clothes for Caleb who is growing by leaps and bounds, and I picked up a couple of new shirts and a pair of shorts at Eddie Bauer. The prompt for the Photo of the Day just happened to be ice cream, so we stopped at the new Pittsford Dairy for an ice cream cone, which turned out to be plenty for lunch. 

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I've spent the better part of yesterday and today editing photos in Lightroom from the weddings we attended and our camping weekend. I opened a trial account at SmugMug so I could create albums to share with family and am very impressed with how easy it is, and how nicely everything is arranged. (With almost no effort on my part!)

Take Twelve: July

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A very quick post before we leave to go camping for the weekend. The forecast for the next three days says temps in the 90's so I don't think we'll get cold. Hopefully our camp site will have some shade!

Here's this month's Take Twelve layout. The teal patterned paper is a bit dull in the photo, but nothing I could do in PSE quickly seemed to help it much. 

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The journaling reads:

My day started a bit later than usual and one of the first jobs was to make a new To Do List. I love these Knock Knock pads with the four quadrants. I had an early appointment for my first complete opthamology appointment in several years. I got a great report and don’t need to go back for two years.

The big tasks for the day involved getting ready to host our three-table duplicate bridge group. Some of us have been playing together for 39 years. It’s a fun, social bridge group which is a good thing for us since we don’t play very often.

When I brought some fresh oregano in to chop for the tortilla roll-ups a little ladybug came along. Once I rescued her, I got it all chopped with my Ulu, certainly the most useful souvenir I bought last summer in Alaska. 

The pile of books are this week’s haul from the library. I read The World Without You in just two days—the perfect summer read. I’ve started Gold, and we used the national parks books to help plan our time at Rocky Mountain National Park in August with Matt. 

I thought I’d capture our typical lunches for this month’s layout. Tracy has toast with crunchy peanut butter, yogurt, and milk every day for lunch. I’m not quite so predictable, but usually make a nice salad, and today had unsweetened iced tea.

Here's  a close-up of the bottom border. I cut out the cameras from a border on a 12X12 piece of Amy Tangerine scrapbook paper that I used on a layout previously.

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Once again, nearly all the supplies came from the last one or two Studio Calico kits. 

Have a great weekend! Hope yours is a cool one.

 

 

Ten on the Tenth: Summer Scavenger Hunt

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We were away over the Fourth and attended two weddings in two days! The tenth of July has snuck up on me once again, but thanks to the brides I have ten of Rinda's 21 items for this summer's scavenger hunt. I love this project, and hope I'll be able to find the other 11 before summer's end.

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#1 The Charlotte Pier on Lake Ontario

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#2 The clothesline off my brother's deck

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#4 A roadside stand on the way to my friend, Mary's house.

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#5 A train. We had just walked across the tracks on our way to the marina to watch the fireworks when the passenger train roared by!

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#8 A statue of an angel in Mt. Hope Cemetery

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#9 A fountain at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY

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#10 Horse(s)–both shots taken at Mendon Ponds Park

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#15 Someone dancing. The first photo is the bride and groom at Saturday's wedding. The second is of my brother and his daughter during the Father and Daughter dance. Both weddings were just perfect events!

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#16 Bride #1 (the daughter of my husband's best friend)

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Bride #2 (My niece, Stephanie and her husband, Kevin)

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#17 The outside of the chapel where my niece was married

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The inside of the chapel (this photo does not do justice to the stunning interior of this church.)

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I'm linking this to Shimelle's Ten on the Tenth. You can find other lists here.

 

Happy Hexagons

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Last week a group of us got together for lunch and a bit of crafting afterwards. I had just received my June order from Papertrey Ink so I die cut a couple sets of hexagons with the Happy Hexagon Cover Plate and went to town stamping them with different colors of ink. I had a lot of fun putting together the cards once I was done.

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The sentiment is from We Go Together and the twine is from Papertrey Ink as well. Once I saw this photograph I realized I needed to put some dimensional tape behind the hexagon that covers the twine. It looks better now!

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For this card, I added some Paper Source ribbon and stamped the outside and inside sentiments with Impress stamps I've had for years.

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On this card, I used the cover plate, a tag cut with one of the Half and Half dies, and embossed the birthday greeting (Inside and Out: Birthday). Then I stamped the focal point with the Lovely Layers dies and stamps. I think these set will get a lot of use!

June POTD

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It's hard to believe it's July already.  When I realized how busy we'd been in June, it's no wonder the time goes flying by. I wanted to get this layout done before we leave tomorrow to spend a long weekend with my brother and attend my niece's wedding on Friday. 

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The journaling on the homemade tag reads:

June, like most months, was busy with many commitments and social events. We saw “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” which we enjoyed, and GeVa’s production of “Company” which we loved. I went to a lecture by Stephen Johnson at The Eastman House, and attended a workshop on Speedlite flash attachments.

Matt was home for a long weekend over Father’s Day and we celebrated with dinner at The North Shore Grill. It was a perfect evening to sit on the deck overlooking Conesus Lake. Tracy and I had dinner for the first time at Zeppa Grill, and used our Groupon for dinner at The Wintonaire one night. We had dinner with Bill and Tina, Bob and Cathy, and Bill and Beryl. I lunched with Mary, Marie, Karen, and MaryEllen one afternoon, and had lunch with Jane, Sue Fay, and dinner with Karen. We went to Rod’s retirement dinner. 

I completed three books: “The Call,” “The Sisters Brothers,” and “Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake.” Although I didn’t manage a layout a day as I hoped, I did complete 10 layouts, a mini-album for our Oregon trip, and made (and sent) 20 cards.

I leased a new Forester. The only new feature on it is Blue Tooth, but I’m already in love with it. I have all my music on a flash drive and can listen to any of it by using the controls in the car. A phone call automatically comes in on the speaker, no need for an ear piece. 

The Triple Play Grant committee met and I completed the interviews and site visit for the grant application from Focus On The Children. Evaluating grant proposals is definitely a new challenge, but one I ended up enjoying.

Most of the supplies for the layout came in a Studio Calico kit. The patterned papers are from Studio Calico and Basic Grey. The scalloped border I cut with the medium scallop die from Papertrey Ink. The brad is Basic Grey and the star clip came in the kit and I'm not sure of the manufacturer. The alpha is from Paper Studio.

If you're celebrating the Fourth of July, make it a safe one!

Capture Your 365 Blog Hop

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Welcome to a Capture Your 365 blog hop. A group of photographers have put together a little blog hop today to celebrate our half-way mark. Here are the participants:

 Kathleen – Taking Pictures, Enjoying Life

Kelly – but for the Grace of God

Karen – Random Reflections

Janine – The Sweetest Dreams

Katrina – Capture Your 365

 Most of my blogging friends know I’m participating in a “photo-a-day” project this year. I’ve attempted this project several times in the past and once, I think, I made it to April. This year I’ve made it half way through the year. For me the difference is definitely due to finding a community of women who are also embarked on this project. Capture Your 365 was created by Katrina Kennedy, and she provides a monthly checklist of prompts (which you can use or not) as well as a daily email with a prompt and links to one or more articles on photography. There is a gallery for posting our photos and a forum for talking about any aspect of photography with others.

Once a month I create a monthly scrapbook page with my photos for the month, but I don’t post them individually. For this hop I thought it would be fun to pick a few of my favorites, some when I used a prompt, and others where I captured something more personal. I did a little survey and discovered the number of prompts I use varies widely. One month I used just six prompts and another I used 22 of the prompts. In May I was able to combine lots of the prompts with personal events in our life.

 The first set of favorites are photos where I did not use the prompts:

1.12Calebw

Our new grandson–can't believe how tiny he was in early January!

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Skylar Rose–we've been blessed with two grandchildren this year.

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Benches at the Pentagon Memorial in Washington, D.C. I don't often try to do night photography, but I was really happy with the way this photo turned out. I used a tiny tabletop tripod, and took a LOT of photos.

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A photo from this week. I'm so excited to finally have lots of blooms on my hydrangeas after many years of waiting.

I probably would have taken all of the photos above even if I weren’t participating in this project. The next set of photos I might have missed, so many thanks to Katrina and her crew for the daily prompts and push to improve our photography skills.

1.4.12JingleBellsw
Prompt:  Ring It In

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Prompt:  Eyes. I love this photo of my husband!

5.16Onew

Prompt:  Isolate the Subject (Taken at Oregon Dunes State Park)

6.11Friendw

Prompt:  Friend. How lucky to find a ladybug in my perennial garden the day of this prompt!

If you’re following the hop, your next stop is Janine at The Sweetest Dream. Enjoy the inspiration!