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Me on Monday

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It was another road trip weekend. We left Thursday and drove to Hyde Park via the Catskills to check out the location of the wedding venue for Saturday. Good thing! It was at the end of a dead end road five miles from the nearest town, which was pretty remote already. I was glad to know exactly where we were going and how long it would take to get there. On our way we found a couple of items on Rinda’s Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt, but I’ll post those later this week when her Linky goes live. We had a lovely lunch at the Apple Barrel Cafe sitting on the beautiful patio.

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When we arrived in Hyde Park at my niece’s we got to meet my new grand-nephew, Finn Robert McDonald! He’s the first grandchild on both sides. He’s a cutie and Stephanie has adapted to her new role with ease. He weighed in at 12.5 pounds at his one month check-up this week.

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Here’s a photo of the whole family, including Rocky who seems to love the baby just as much as everyone else.

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My niece, Julie, arrived and then my brother with his girlfriend (lovely lady; we like her a lot) for a delicious barbeque on Kevin and Stephanie’s deck. Alas, I took no photos!

On Friday we visited the Culinary Institute of America on a search for my favorite spatulas, but they’ve been discontinued. It’s a gorgeous place for photos though.

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I love this sign on the crosswalks.

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You’ll be seeing more of this lovely spot on the Scavenger Hunt post.

After another visit with Finn, we went to the Walkway Over the Hudson. 

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The last time I was there, it was cold and windy and we didn’t walk all the way across. There’ll be more photos from this event later this week, but here’s one from the walkway of one of many trains that were going south as we walked across. 

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The Walkway is the longest pedestrian bridge over water, 1.28 miles long, and 212 feet above the Hudson River. It was originally a railroad trestle, and had long been a bit of an eyesore before The Walkway was built.

On Saturday we attended the wedding of our neighbor’s daughter, Lauren, and our son’s soccer buddy, Andy. We’ve known both families for years, so it was wonderful to be part of such a lovely event. Both Andy and Lauren are artists, and their artistry was evident from the Save the Date video, the stunning invitations, and all the beautiful details at the wedding itself. Lauren and her friends did all the flower arrangement and bouquets, and each person had a hand-lettered card on their plate. The venue itself was magical despite a gray and rainy day.

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Here's the card I created from the Simon Says May Card Kit and a stamp and die cut from "Grand Ampersand" by Papertrey Ink.

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I just love this patterned paper and wish I had several sheets of it. You'll see the left-overs again next month on my anniversary card for Tracy. I didn't want to waste a bit of it!

We’re home now for a week before taking off again on our summer vacation which was planned long ago. Little did we know there would be so much travel prior to the vacation! We’re off to Calgary, Alberta; the Calgary Stampede; Glacier National Park; and then four stops in the Canadian Rockies. This trip was planned two years ago, but then we got the opportunity to go to Istanbul, and postponed this trip until this summer. No regrets about that decision. 

Waving to Sian, who hosts this weekend recap each Monday.

Retirement Wishes

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The best four years of my teaching career were spent team teaching a blended class where 1/3 of the students were learning disabled. Almost half my career was spent teaching special education, but when this opportunity arose, I had moved back to the regular classroom teaching fifth grade. My friend, Karen who taught special education, and I had great success with this model and loved every minute of it. When the district stopped funding blended classrooms, we continued to work across the hall from one another for many years. After a year or two, she ended up switching to the fifth grade as well. She didn't start her teaching career until her kids went to school, so she had a few more years to put in after I retired. This was her last year, and now we'll get to see more of one another!

Four of us celebrated her retirement with a dinner with last night. Her lovely party was earlier this month, but I saved my gift and card for the more intimate celebration.

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Every fall, Karen and her husband travel with us to Niagara-on-the-Lake for the Shaw Festival and some touring of our favorite wineries. This "Uncorked" set from Papertrey seemed perfect, and the card is a close copy of one Nicole Heady created for the release, although I changed up the colors and used a different floral set by Simon Says called "Life is a Journey."

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A former neighbor is also ending her teaching career this year, and I found this card on Danielle Flander's blog and couldn't help but recreate it. Love the design and the message.

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The patterned paper is from Simple Stories, and the tag is the Tag Sale #11 die cut. The stamps are all from the Monthly Moments line: "Travel Plans" and "July."

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I hope both these ladies enjoy retirement as much as I do!

 

Happy Father’s Day

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We're celebrating the first part of Father's Day with Sarah, Adam, and Caleb. Later this afternoon we'll be hitting the road home. Matt will get his card tomorrow night, but I don't think he ever reads my blog, so posting it now will make no difference!

All three of these guys are the greatest dads! The love they have for their children is boundless, they spend hours with their kids, and are available for advice and help at any hour! I couldn't be more proud of them. 

The first one is for the #1 Dad—that would be Tracy! After forty plus years of marriage, and thirty-five years of parenting together, I can say without a doubt, you'd be hard pressed to find a more devoted and caring dad.

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The #1 wood veneer came with a recent purchase from Gossamer Blue. I already had the starred wood veneer frame from Lawn Fawn, and the card didn't need much else beside a strip of black and white paper from the "Black and White All Over" pad by Papertrey.

The next card is for Adam. I recently purchased the Petite Places: City Station stamp set (a bargain at $5) and wanted to play with it. It took a little doing, but I'm happy with the result.

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I started by stamping, masking, and cutting out the pick-up trucks to create the little scene. It's pretty tiny so in my scrap dish, I found a piece of Smoky Shadow paper I'd embossed with the Herringbone Impression Plate. It was the perfect size to fit behind the Tag Sale #11 die cut from Pure Poppy. The sentiment was die cut from one of the small dies included with the Center Style: Masculine die set which I just received in my last Papertrey order.  The Fog card needed a little texture, so I stamped it with a watermark ink, using the Diagonal Stripe stamp from Simon Says.

Matt's card came together much more quickly. 

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After cutting the die from True Black and decided on yet another paper from the "Black and White All Over" pad, I needed three stamp sets to complete the sentiment: Winnie and Walter's "The Big, The Bold, and The Happy," "The Big, The Bold, and Party," and Papertrey Ink's "Handy Hardware."

Happy Father's Day to all who are celebrating today!

Artful Flowers & The Wednesday Challenge

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As soon as I saw this stamp set from Simon Says, I knew I wanted it. The first few times I tried to use it, however, I didn't have much success. Finally, I've managed a set of birthday cards using the artful flowers that I die cut and colored with Copic markers. I'm quite happy with the way these turned out.

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For the first card, I grouped three of the flowers together on a very old card I purchased from the first stamp store opened in Rochester. It's been closed at least 15 years now, and I'm shocked that I still had one piece of this left. I still love it, and would purchase more if I knew where to get it. The sentiment was die cut from Papertrey Ink's "Wet Paint II."

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Next up, is another sheet from Maile Belle's "Black and White All Over" pad. When I first saw this, I couldn't quite figure out how to use it, but the two flowers and a few sequins worked very well with the sentiment.

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The pink gingham card is another oldie from A Muse (I think) that I purchased at a wonderful stamp store in California when Sarah was living there. I still have quite a few sheets in different colors, but had forgotten about it until I found the folder during the recent cleaning out.

Last, a design using the Tag Sale #9 die from Papertrey, and piece of ribbon from my stash, and some patterned paper from the Papertrey Ink Raspberry Fizz Pattern pack.

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I finished it off with another die cut from Hawaiian Shores cardstock with the "Wet Paint II" dies.

Those of you who know me, realize it's a rare card that doesn't include at least one die cut. This week's challenge at Simon Says Wednesday Challenge is to use your favorite technique. Can't imagine creating cards or Project Life pages without my die cutting machine! So I'll be linking these to today's  challenge

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Cards for a Friend

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I have two thank you cards to share that went off to friends. The first one uses an embossing plate that usually too fussy for me, but it seemed an appropriate background for the three butterflies. Because it's white on white, it still satisfies my CAS sensibilities. 

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The embossing folder is an old Cuttlebug one that I just gifted to a friend in my latest purge. The butterfly die is Papertrey Ink, and the sentiment is from Penny Black's "Salutations." I'm linking this card to the current Addicted to CAS challenge: Butterfly.

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Quite some time ago, Jacky emailed me to say she thought the Clearly Besotted stamps were ones that I would like. Now that Simon Says carries them, I've added a couple sets to my collection. Jacky was correct, I love the Clearly Besotted stamps and am particularly taken with these simple tulips.

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I embossed them in white onto Tim Holtz's watercolor paper and then watercolored them and added the sentiment from the same set, "Friends Forever." I die cut the piece with Simon Says "Stitched Rectangle," an mounted it on a Raspberry Fizz (PTI) card.

This card's off to be entered in the Simon Says Monday Challenge: For the Love of Plants.

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Happy Anniversary

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There were three anniversaries to celebrate in May. The last one is today—Sarah and Adam are celebrating their ninth anniversary! Nine years—that hardly seems possible. Here's the card that went in the mail to them. Hopefully, it arrived today before they see the blog.

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If you remember a post for Pairs in April, I created a whole set of cards using the "happy" die from Wet Paint II from Papertrey Ink. The strip of patterned paper is from Amy Tangerine's "Plus One" paper pad.

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I stacked three die cuts on top of one another for dimension, and added a gold heart from my stash of die cut hearts and stars.

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This card was made for a couple who were married on my birthday the year Matt was born. Everything except the stamp ("Banner Sentiments") came from the Simon Says May Card Kit.

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Lastly, a card for Tracy's brother and his wife. I bought the Art Deco Background stamp from Papertrey quite some time ago, and this is the first time I've gotten it to work the way I wanted. The die cut above is also from Papertrey Ink—"Block Talk." It was another die cut in my little box of previously cut dies.

Now I'm off to make one more anniversary card—another one like Sarah and Adam's perhaps, for friends who celebrate their anniversary next week.

Happy Mother’s Day

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It's Mother's Day here in the States, and I've had a lovely day—flowers, phone calls, Face Book compliments, and a lovely afternoon at my sister and brother-in-law's where we celebrated with Tracy's family.

I made just one card this year—for my mother-in-law. You couldn't find a more devoted mother anywhere, and she extends her love and devotion to her daughter-in-laws and son-in-law as well.

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On my last trip to Buffalo Stamps and Stuff I picked up a Penny Black set ("Kind Words") that has a wide variety of sentiments. This one for Mother's Day is just perfect. The frame is cut from patterned paper by Amy Tangerine "Plus One" with the Monthly Moments Slide Frame die by Papertrey. I fussy cut the little flowers from "Happiness in Bloom" and adhered it all to the card front after scoring five lines. Two enamel dots filled the flower centers.

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I'm linking this to the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge "Let's Get Sentimental." 

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If you're celebrating Mother's Day, I hope it was a good one!

Happy Retirement

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It's 90° as I write this. We've gone from winter to spring to summer in less than three weeks! It won't last, but I never complain about the heat. It does seem odd, however, to have turned on the air conditioning in my car this early in May. We won't do that in the house for awhile as it always cools down nicely at night in the spring.

We're off to help our friend, Bill, celebrate his retirement tonight. I hope he enjoys it as much as I do!

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I started with a piece of white cardstock that I scored on the scoreboard every half inch. Then I used the Sentiment Splits die and backed the split with patterned paper from the Mini Market "Clipsters" kit from Papertrey Ink. The "Oh Yeah" die and stamp are from the same kit as is the sentiment on the bottom of the card. The starts are left over from die cutting the Simply Stars cover plate a long time ago. I layered three of the "Oh Yeah" dies to get some extra dimension.

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I find it hard to believe given how many stamps sets I have that there are very few (I found two!) sentiment stamps for retirement. This one is from one of the first sets I purchased from Papertrey many years ago, "Mega Mixed Messages." The "Cheers" die cut and stamp are from Retro Birthday.

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I'm linking this up to Virginia View's latest challenge "Layers and Dimensions."

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Lots of Thanks

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I needed three thank you cards—quickly! Luckily I found two in my stash, and this one came together very quickly by going through my stash of already stamped and colored images and pre-cut die cuts. I'm not sure I would have put this together starting from scratch but I like it quite a bit and think I'll use this design again.

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I started with Papertrey's "Building Blocks" cover plate die in True Black and adhered it to a white card. Then I stamped the sentiment with Simon Says "Thanks" set. The "Delightful Dahlia" was already colored with Copics and fussy cut, so all I had to do was pop it up with a piece of dimensional tape. 

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My friend is a fan of florals and pink, so I think she'll enjoy this card. 

Pairs: Part to Whole

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When I flipped my birthday calendar over to May, I was somewhat taken aback to see that I needed 12 birthday and anniversary cards, and only one or two appropriate ones in my file. I took some time off from Project Life and got busy. The first night, I grabbed a stack of scraps from my pile and die cut a whole group of "happys" with Papertrey Ink's "Wet Paint" die.

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Then I set to work designing some cards. I finished all twelve, but can't post all of them yet, since some of the recipients read my blog regularly. Here are four–three are a variation on a theme.

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All the cards are in their envelopes with the dates they need to be mailed, so today I'm back to working on Project Life. I don't have many commitments this weekend, so even though tomorrow is May 1, I'm still plugging along, hoping to catch up soon!

Songbirds

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When I need a quick card, I often reach for my Songbird die cuts. When I first purchased this stamp and die set, I die cut multiple pieces and can usually put them together to make a quick card. 

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The folk art nature of these dies seems to lend itself to kraft cardstock. I love the pop of bright yellow gold and orange against the brown.

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For the second card, I die cut the Phrase Play #6 in kraft and layered it on a cream card base. Then I tied a piece of twin (from my very cool antique-looking twine holder) and layered a branch with a bird with dimensional tape.

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The sentiment also comes from Phrase Play #6 (Papertrey Ink.)

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Both cards fit the current Virginia's View challenge of Layers and Dimension, but I'm just linking up this last one for now.

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Just Sayin”

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Switching from a concentrated effort on Project Life to card making proved to be more stressful than I anticipated. This card doesn't even begin to match the idea in my head when I started to make a birthday card for a good friend. I even switched stamp sets in the end. But I am happy with this card, and it gave me an opportunity to use a die that arrived in the mail about a week ago—Sentimental Splits. I resisted ordering it when it first came out, but broke down when I placed an order during Papertrey's April release. No regrets. I think it will get a lot of use.

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I created the watercolor background (on Tim Holtz Watercolor paper) for the original card, but it came in handy when I moved to creating an ombre butterfly (die cut from "Life is Beautiful") similar to the ones Laurie demonstrated in a Papertrey Make It Monday. I ended up using just two colors of ink, and sponged it on the die cut directly. I die cut a piece of vellum with the Scribbled Circle die and added a few Pretty Pink Posh sequins to finish it off. The sentiment is from Simon Says "Friendship Messages" and continues to the inside with "Happy Birthday." The "gems" on the body of the butterfly are Papertrey Ink's rainstones.

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I'm linking this up to the CAS-ology challenge: OMBRE.

Week 143 - Ombre

Happy Birthday, Adam!

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It's been a long time since I posted a new card here. I made all the cards for March/early April birthdays and anniversaries before I left for Florida, and got this one done between our two trips. I love that the Retro Graduation and Retro Birthday die cuts/stamps work so well with the Zappy Birthday dies I bought a few months ago. This card is a birthday take on one Betsy Veldman created as a graduation card for the Papertrey release last month. It's a fun set that will work for almost anyone, but especially good for guys, teens, and kids (three of the harder groups to create for.)

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I started with a piece of paper from the Comic Strip paper collection and cut two images of the skyline from black cardstock with the Zappy Birthday dies. The rest of the card was made with the Retro Graduation dies and Retro Graduation and Birthday stamps. I stamped the lined image on the main area of the sign with an old Hero Arts wooden stamp. The little stars were die cut with the Star Border die from Papertrey.

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This gives you a better view of the dimension. 

Happy Birthday, Adam! I hope you have a great day!

I'm linking up with Virginia's View Challenge. I totally missed out on last month's since we were on the road, but I do love her challenges. This month it's Layers and Dimensions. This certainly fits.

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Baby Shower

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There is a baby shower today in Hyde Park for my niece who is expecting her first baby, a little boy. She's due the day after my birthday, so I'm hoping for a delivery a day early! I wish I could be there, but we leave (again) this afternoon for Chicago. Sarah and the youth group from her church fly to the Dominican Republic this morning for a mission trip. She's returning Tuesday night (before the youth group returns) to be back in town for Holy Week services. With both Sarah and Adam in church a lot this week, Grandma and Grandpa will be spending lots of time with Caleb. A good deal all around!

I sent the gift and card for the shower to my brother ahead of time. 

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A CAS card, my preferred style. All the products except the enamel dots (MME) are from Papertrey Ink: Bitty Dot Basics, Select White cardstock, Wonderful Words: Baby die, Sheer Basics vellum, and the new Keep It Simple frames. I love that striped vellum which worked perfectly with the frame.

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My Dining Room Ministry prepares lunch today at church, so I'm off to cook lunch before we get on the road. I'm not sure how much time I'll have to post or comment while we're away, but I'll be catching up with you when we return. We got another inch or so of snow last night, and the wind is whipping outside my window. I hope Spring finally decides to make an appearance by the time we return!

It’s All About Butterflies

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When these cards were made I was so sick of winter I decided to break out the butterflies for some of the March/April birthdays.

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This card uses my new favorite paper pad, "Watercolor Wonder" by Maile Belles, "Life is Beautiful" dies, and some of the new "Sheer Basics" vellum, all by Papertrey Ink. I think it was Nicole Heady who created the card with this die cut technique during the anniversary release. It turned out to be pretty easy to do.

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The next card uses one of my favorite papers from "Watercolor Wonder." It reminds me of the little embellishment clusters that some of my favorite scrapbookers use on their layouts, but so much easier.

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I die cut the solid butterfly from an old Papertrey Ink pad I hadn't used in quite some time called "Pretty Pastels." The lovely sentiment is from "Inside and Out: Birthdays" by Papertrey.

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It turned out to be very difficult to photograph, but the vellum is covered with tiny polka dots.

After two weeks in the sun, I'm hoping for an early spring in the northeast!