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Less is More Challenge

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This week's challenge at Less is More is NEUTRALS. I rarely create a sympathy card with much color, and this one is all neutrals. It might be one of my favorite sympathy cards ever.

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I started with a Fog card cut with Simon Says "Stitched Rectangles," embossed the sentiment from Papertrey Inks "Botannical Silhouettes" and then arranged a group of die cuts from PTI's "Spruce and Sprig" cut from a variety of patterned and plain vellum. The silk ribbon bow is also Papertrey Ink. They no longer carry the ribbon, so I use it sparingly. The fog card was then attached to a card of Fresh Linen (also PTI.) Here's a closer look:

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The first challenge of 2016. I think I'll try to keep track of the number of challenges I enter this year. I'd like to do one once a week, so 52 by the end of the year would be awesome. Most likely they won't be week by week, but that's OK too.

DECEMBER 2015 Papertrey Ink BLOG HOP CHALLENGE

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Today is the Papertrey Ink December Blog Hop. It was the colors of the inspiration piece that got to me, and I grabbed a few minutes when I first saw it to create three tags. I didn't have anything specific in mind for them when I made them.

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The tags were premade by Graphic 45, and then stamped and embossed using Papertrey Ink's  Spruce and Sprigs, the Holiday Folk Mini-Market kit, Rustic Wreath,  and Believe. The "joy" is from WPlus9's Hand-lettered Holiday set. Here's a look at them side-by-side.

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Then just this week, I needed two quick cards, so two tags were quickly adhered to some Paper Source 4-Bar cards. I had time to grab a shot of just one of them.

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The last one was used on one of the Christmas presents. I ended up switching out the plaid ribbon for some gold thread.

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We're on the road today, but Tracy assures me I'll be able to link this up to the hop when the time comes. When I get to our destination I'll be checking in on the rest of the blog hop projects which you can find here.

Happy Anniversary

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Today is Matt and Betsy's anniversary, and I'm here to share the card I made for them. It's so nice to have them nearby, and to be able to hand deliver our card and gift. It's a good excuse to get a little time in with Skylar and Ella as well.

This card was inspired after pinning this one by Joy Taylor awhile ago. I made a few changes, and I'm really happy with the results.

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I started with a piece of Tim Holtz's watercolor paper, and added some Kuretake watercolors in two shades of pink. Then I sprayed a bit of Heidi Swapp Gold Color Shine. The gold thread is from a spool I bought so long ago, I have no idea where it came from. I die cut two words from the Wet Paint dies by Papertrey Ink in Raspberry Fizz, layered them, and added the stamped sentiment from the same set. A narrow gold mat was added before putting it on the white card base. I think this is a design I'll be using again.

Hope your week is off to a good start. It's a busy one here, as I'm sure yours may be as well.

With Sympathy

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It's been a difficult week. One of my very best friends had to admit her husband to hospice this week, and he passed away on Friday night. Six of their seven children arrived from all over the country, and it was as peaceful and kind as it could possible be. Nonetheless, we will all miss Jim's sharp intelligence and great sense of humor. It reminded me that I had a couple of sympathy cards I hadn't posted yet.

Sympathy cards are one of the hardest cards to make, and CAS ones have always seemed appropriate to me.

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This is a smaller card by Memory Box, a die cut circle cut with Simon Says stitched circles, and a die cut leaf by Memory Box. The sentiment is from Boutique Borders: Sympathy by Papertrey Ink.

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The next card uses the same sentiment with some border dies from that set stamped on the die from the Center Style: Masculine die set.

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This is a fairly new die for me, and I can seen lots of applications for it, but it was perfect for a simple sympathy card.

I almost never have a sympathy card made ahead of time, and I was certainly not prepared for this week's events. Once the memorial is complete, I'll sit down to make a card for my friend.

Pairs: Process and Product

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Yesterday was Ella's first birthday—how time flies! Typically she is a happy little girl, and she and her sister are lots of fun. For once I started her birthday card with a pretty clear idea of how I wanted it to look. Here's a view of the card in process.

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At this point, I had colored and die cut all elements for the card, and was laying it out on my desk trying to decide on which sentiment to use. After I assembled the card, as I stamped the last word of the sentiment, I got a smudge of ink on the card. So I took it apart and decided to use a brighter pink cardstock. So here's the final product.

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The adorable little animals are from Simon Say's "Baby Party Animals," the frame from Pretty Pink Posh, the #1 from Papertrey's "By the Numbers," and the sentiment from Papertrey's "Stylish Sentiments: Birthday." The animals were all colored with Copic markers.

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And of course, I couldn't post this without some photos of the birthday girl. Matt and Betsy had a lovely party for family and a few close family friends. Ella is teething, and was sound asleep when the party started. They woke her up an hour later, and she was not her usual cheerful self. She showed no interest in eating any of her personal cupcake. (There was a big cake for the rest of us.) 

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But once she was given a spoon, she had a good time going at it!

I'm popping this card into the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes.

 

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Papertrey November 2015 Blog Hop Challenge

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Two days ago, I woke up with ideas for this month's blog hop. I wanted to try the watercolor technique with the Spruce and Sprigs stamps, and it took awhile before I got anything I was happy with. I tried painting directly on the stamp with watercolor paints which I've see done on the card blogs with great effect. I never managed to get the right consistency, so I went back to using the Papertrey inks and spritzing them with water. I also added water directly to the watercolor paper before stamping.

The inspiration piece for this month uses pretty non-traditional colors, but I ended up liking them a lot. 

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Here's the first of two cards I created with the watercolored images.

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I cut the watercolored piece with the Stitched Tag die and adhered it to a Tropical Teal card. Then I added a die cut sentiment (Christmas Cheer) and a snowflake (old Sizzix die) from silver adhesive paper and some sequins. The "Merry" came from the Stylish Sentiments: Holiday set from several years ago. I tied two different kinds of silver twine through the tag to finish it off. I also added some Clear Star Gelly Roll pen to the sprigs. 

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Only one card can be posted for the blog hop, so I thought I was done, but as I was cleaning up, I picked up another piece of the watercolored paper, and came up with another card, which I like just as much.

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Most of the supplies are the same. The two stitched rectangle dies are from Simon Says and they're added to a Rustic White card base. 

You can find more holiday inspiration on Nicole's blog right here.

Ten Things on Tuesday

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On this week of Thanksgiving celebrations in the U.S., the Ten Things prompt is so appropriate:  10 Things You're Thankful For. I have a lot more than ten, but these came to mind in a matter of minutes.

  1. Our health
  2. Our family
  3. A wonderful marriage
  4. A warm and comfortable home
  5. Good friends
  6. The library
  7. Retirement
  8. Crafting space and crafting time
  9. Photography
  10. The internet—source of inspiration and ongoing learning

And a big part of the inspiration I get comes from this wonderful blogging community, so this card's for all of you! Thanks for visiting, for taking the time to comment, and for including me in your blogging family.

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All the supplies except the card (Memory Box) came from the November Simon Says Card Kit. I'm linking this to the Simon Says Monday Challenge:  Thanks/Thanksgiving. 

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Hope your week is off to a good start!

 

 

Simon Says November Card Kit

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The November Card Kit from Simon Says was filled with great patterned papers and some really cute die cuts. I don't usually create without using the stamp set from the kit, but I didn't touch the stamps for either of these cards.

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I love the fall colors of this card–perfect for a November birthday. I trimmed around the die cut so there wasn't so much white, added some brown glitter (I think from a previous card kit) to the cap of the acorn, and a bit of gold pen to the veins of the leaf. The sentiment from Papertrey's "Birthday Style" was trimmed by hand into a banner and tied with some thin twine, also from Papertrey. 

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I also needed an anniversary card, and love this card by Debbie Hughes where she used a cluster of the die cuts. I added another pear to the group, and created the sentiment on the computer and die cut it with one of the banner dies from Papertrey's "Simple Frames." 

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I added some Stickles Glitter to the pears and berries.

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It was fun to create a couple cards using some different types of materials. Another reason I love my subscription to the card kit. 

 

 

Fall Cards for Guys

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There were a number of birthdays for guys on my birthday calendar this month. I made a few multiples but have three different cards to share. Two of them are a variation on the same theme.

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When Papertrey Ink released the Leaf Prints stamp set, I passed on it. After a year or so, I decided it would be a good addition to my collection, and I'm happy I changed my mind. I stamped the leaf on watercolor paper after rolling the edges in a slightly different ink color. Then I took a water brush and blended the colors some more, adding a third color with one of my Clear Color markers. Then I embossed the veins with gold embossing powder. I die cut and stamped the birthday sentiment from the "Swoosh" set.

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Then I tried a slightly different version which I think I like even better. This time I trimmed the main part of the card and mounted it on a Classic Kraft card.

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The last card has a totally different vibe. 

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I used the same die cut and sentiment set, but layered some of the papers from the Black and White collection. It's a riff on one of the cards Maile Belles created when she released the paper collection.

Now I have a pile of tags to make for our annual gift exchange drawing on Thanksgiving, and a project I promised to create for Sarah that needs to be in Chicago by the first of the month. There just hasn't been much studio time this week.

 

Card Concept Challenge

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It's been quite awhile since I participated in a card challenge, but the fall inspiration at Card Concept caught my eye this week.

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It's an interesting challenge since you must identify your entry by its style. Typically that would be an easy one for me since most of my cards fit the category of Clean and Simple. But not this one, which was made specifically for a friend who definitely falls into the more Shabby Chic /Country category. I suppose it could also fit the Layered Clean and Simple style, but the doily, the twine bow, and button seem to put it in the Shabby Chic category.

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When I was die cutting and coloring images for Skylar, Ella, and Caleb's Halloween cards, I die cut and colored some of the other images from Friendship Jar: Fall Fillers by Papertrey Ink. I was happy to have this one already for a card when it came time. I die cut the Shaker Friendship Jar, backed it with clear cardstock and bumped it up with some fun foam before adding the fall images. The patterned paper is from a Papertrey Ink pack called Autumn Abundance—just perfect!

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My thoughts and prayers are with all those who have suffered losses in the horrendous massacres in Paris this weekend. The world can be a very frightening place these days, but I do believe that it's important to carry on so that the terrorists do not win this battle of fear and intimidation. Nonetheless, it gives one pause.

 

Happy Halloween

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Halloween has never been one of my favorite holidays, but now that I have grandchildren excited about trick or treating, I've started to make a couple of  Halloween cards each year. This year I used an old stamp set from Papertrey Ink that I've always loved, Friendship Jar:  Fall Fillers. They recently released some dies for the stamps, and I couldn't resist. The two cards are somewhat similar, but clearly one is for the girls (Skylar and Ella) and one is for the little boy.

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I made a shaker card for  Skylar and Ella. In addition to the Friendship Jar: Fall Fillers, I used the original Friendship Jar stamps, the friendship jar shaker die, and the Night Sky Cover Plate. The patterned paper is a tiny piece of an old Doodle Bug paper as well as a glitter border sticker from the same line. The sequins are a mix of ones I purchased at Michael's and online.

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I used some of the same supplies for Caleb's card, but instead of a shaker, I used another image from the Friendship Jar: Fall Fillers—the candy corn. All the images on both cards were colored with Copic markers.

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The border on the bottom of this card is also from Doodle Bug as are the stars (which are also glittery.)

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Caleb went with me on my run to Paper Source in Evanston. (There's a bakery with great cookies a few doors down.) He saw all their Halloween craft supplies, and we picked out one that made some Halloween ornaments. Let me just say this was NOT a craft for toddlers! It took me most of the morning to get the four ornaments put together, and ready for Caleb to finish them when he came home from preschool. He thought getting all the eyes, hair, spider legs, etc. on the ornaments was fun, so it was definitely worth it. I've saved another set for Skylar for next year; there isn't time for us to get them made this year.

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And right before we left, Caleb and Grandpa picked out a design for the jack o' lantern, and Grandpa got it carved. A bit scarier than anything I would have chosen, but Caleb was delighted!

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We're going out trick or treating with Skylar for awhile tonight. Don't know whether we'll give in before she does or not!

Papertrey October 2015 Blog Hop

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This month's inspiration piece for the Papertrey Ink blog hop is just gorgeous, and although I am so not ready to think about Christmas, I really wanted to create something for the blog hop.

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Right before we left for Chicago, I grabbed a little time and sat down to make a tag. It gave me the perfect opportunity to use the new Mini Market Kit:  Holiday Folk. From the inspiration piece, I used the tag, and the color combination—Pure Poppy and New Leaf.

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I picked up a pack of these beautiful gold embossed tags in August at The Paper Source thinking they'd be great for the holidays. I stamped the tree and the sentiment embellishment from the Holiday Folk set, and the sentiment from the 2009 Holiday Tag collection. I colored the berries with a red gel pen and covered the stars with some glittery stars from my stash.

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I also added some Clear Star Gelly Roll along the branches and outlined the sentiment embellishment and put a dot of gold in the tiny stars with a gold pen. It's a bit easier to see here than in the first photo. You can check out other Christmasy creations right here on Nicole Heady's blog.

A Card for Two Challenges

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It's been awhile since I've entered a card in a challenge, although I do keep track of them in Feedly. Yesterday I saw two different challenges, and knew immediately what I wanted to do. (Rather unusual, I must say.) The first is a "word" challenge and the other is a sketch challenge.

Week 168 - YOU revised

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For once, the card materialized just the way I envisioned it. It was a quick one, once the watercolor background dried.

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I started with a piece of Tim Holtz watercolor paper and spread some Kertake watercolors around. I have several different kinds of watercolor, but these seem to work best for this technique. All the stamps are from a small Simon Says set, "You." Usually I use the coordinating die, but this time the word in the different fonts worked perfectly for the sketch. The last part of the sentiment was white embossed on black paper, and it was all mounted on Orange Zest and then on a Summer Sunrise card. I decided I didn't want the star covering part of the sentiment so I took a little liberty with the sketch.

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You can check out the other entries for CAS(E) this Sketch here, and for Caseology here.

 

 

Playing

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I took some time earlier this week to pull out a few new stamps to play with. I'm not totally sold on these cards, but I think the stamps will prove to be versatile.

I started with a stamp set I've only used once or twice, "Brushed Off," and combined it with a new set, "Choose Joy." What I really wanted to try out were two Hero Arts ombre stamp pads I picked up months ago and hadn't touched. I got mixed results, but ended up with three cards. I couldn't for the life of me, get the ombre to work effectively with the orange pad. I'll be going back to this soon to try and figure it out, but I decided with the addition of some enamel dots they'd made acceptable cards.

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I love the sentiments in this set, and think they'll be good for a variety of occasions, or even as a card set for a gift.

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The ombre effect worked much better with this teal stamp pad; can't figure out why one was so easy and the other so difficult.

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I passed up on the next stamp set, "Twig Wreath," when it was released, but reconsidered later. It just arrived this week. The card didn't come out the way I intended, but I'm happy with the end result. I tried another card, but need to find a new gold ink pad to make it work.

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I love the fall colors which are making themselves known here very quickly. I was surprised at how much the colors had changed in just a week on the canal.

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We took our weekly walk on the canal yesterday, and it was so warm by the time we finished, we had breakfast outside! It was glorious, and I hope it wasn't the last day that's possible.

Fall Road Trip

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It was a beautiful weekend to be on the road, and I thought I'd share a few photos, and a story about our day in Manchester, VT. It's one of our favorite places to visit in the fall. The colors aren't at peak quite yet, but it was still lovely.

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We were up early enough to catch the sunrise as we drove from my brother's in Pleasant Valley, NY to the Taconic Parkway.

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Our first stop is always Up For Breakfast. Although I've tried a couple other items on the menu, I long ago gave up experimenting and stick with their Morning Glory pancakes—basically carrot cake in pancake form. With real Vermont maple syrup and sausage, it's a breakfast that can't be beat.

After breakfast, we walked up to Orvis, a high end sports clothing and fishing equipment store that has its flagship store in Manchester. Their fall displays are always beautiful.

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This is a stained glass window on the second floor of the store:

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After visiting Orvis, we walked back to the main shopping area, primarily outlets with great prices. Both of us did a bit of shopping, and I was quite pleased with my purchases. (More about that later!)

On our way out of town, after lunch at a great new (to us) Mexican restaurant with local ingredients, we stopped at the Equinox Valley Garden Center. We were charmed to find a group of artists who had set up easels around the garden center.

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We struck up a conversation with this lovely lady who had traveled from Florida to attend a six day workshop. Her husband was off taking photographs of the area.

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The displays and flowers were gorgeous. I had a great time taking photographs with a new Sony point and shoot I recently purchased for traveling. I got so tired of hauling my DSLR and multiple lenses up mountains this summer that I was determined to get a smaller and lighter camera for travel. I thought I'd buy a mirrorless camera, but when I discovered the lens I wanted cost more than the camera, I reconsidered. The Sony has a long zoom with a set aperture, and I think it's going to be perfect.

One final photo from the trip. We often stop to take photos at the Tomhannock Reservoir. It's such a lovely spot right on the highway.

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And if you've held on for this long, I have a story to restore your faith in human nature. When we got home Monday night, and unpacked the car, I was shocked to discover that one of my bags was missing. It had a sweater and scarf that I purchased at a local store in Manchester. The sweater was on sale, but this is not an outlet store. I was so disappointed, as it was my favorite purchase of the day. Neither Tracy nor I could imagine where we'd lost it. Tuesday morning I called a couple of stores, but no one had seen it.

Finally, I decided I'd call the store where I purchased it and see if I could order another sweater. (I thought I'd pass on replacing the scarf.) When I reached the clerk, she remembered me, and was delighted to hear from me. Someone found my bag, and returned it to the store. The clerk, of course, had no way to contact me, but was willing to send it on to me. Needless to say, I was thrilled, although I still don't know where we left the bag. She said she'd weigh the package, and call me back with the cost for postage. In just a minute or so, she called and said the manager told her they would send the package at no cost! It arrived yesterday (sent by priority mail), and last night I made a thank you card to send to them.

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The card uses another of Papertrey Ink's "Back and White All Over" papers, and a stamp from a new set called "In the Bag." I think I'll be using this design again. Quick and easy, but striking, I think–and in my favorite color scheme:  black, white, and red. 

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We have a pretty quiet weekend ahead:  lunch and the movies with friends tomorrow and church on Sunday. Hopefully, I'll get back to my Project Life pages. I got a good start on them a week or so ago, and they are piled up on a table in my studio.