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Happy Birthday & 52/50: Week 15

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Yesterday was Adam's birthday, and although I did get a phone call in to him, I didn't get a blog post up because I ended up driving to Syracuse to spend a few hours with my brother. (More about that later this week.) Here's the card I left with our gift for him when we were in Ashland.

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I'm a big fan of Papertrey's Stylish Sentiments: Birthdays, and thought the bicycle image from Studio Calico was a perfect match for it. The arrow is a Papertrey die, and I hand cut the banner. I think I cased the design for this card from one by Joy Taylor, but I can't for the life of me find it on her site or in my Vi.sualize.us account.

We've had a very busy week and dreary, dreary weather—enough rain that we ended up with some water in the basement. It made for slim pickings for the 52/50 project this week. I had hoped a visit by Betsy and Skylar Friday night would add some good images, but Skylar was feeling under the weather, so I'll save those for a weekend recap post later this week.

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My favorite image from the conservatory last Saturday, taken with the 50 mm.

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A rather winter-worn deer showed up in the yard one morning.

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I was happy with the clear focus on the raindrops since it was taken through the kitchen window. It was much too wet to take the good camera outside.

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There was a break in the rain the day I after I found the helleborus blooming in the backyard. This is the pick for Kent Weakley's P52 project.

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Simon Says Birthday Challenge

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I have another card for the Simon Says Birthday Challenge. April is a big month for birthdays and although I made a few before we left for Oregon, I still have three or four more to go. Here's a second masculine one for another brother-in-law.

Tom'sBDcard

Cardstock: Pure Poppy, Vintage Cream (PTI); Patterned Paper: Studio Calico 6X6 February card kit;Stamp: 2012 Birthday Tags (PTI);Twine: Pure Poppy (PTI)

 

Two Challenges

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My brother-in-law has a big birthday coming up, and I decided to see if I could get his card made in time to post it for two challenges:  Simon Says "Birthday" Challenge, and the current CAS(E) This Sketch challenge. I'm just under the wire for the second one.

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Here's my card. I used papers from the April Simon Says card kit, the Typewriter dies from Memory Box, Tremendous Tags by Papertrey Ink, and an inside sentiment (no photo) that says, ". . .  years ago on what otherwise might have been an ordinary day, THE WORLD GOT YOU!" from Papertrey's Big Birthday Wishes set. 

Scott'sBD

I have another card for the Simon Says challenge which I'll be posting later today.

Blog Update & 52/50 Week 13

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First off, Happy Easter! I hope you've had a wonderful holiday. After days of sunshine and warm weather, we awoke to much cooler temperatures and a steady rain. It cancelled the Easter egg hunt in the church yard, but one was held in the Celebration Center. Caleb gathered about eight eggs before he lost interest. 

If you're reading this in a reader, hop over to see the new blog design. Random Reflections has been in need of an update for quite some time, but I’m always reluctant to mess around with it for fear I’ll do permanent damage. So I signed up for Jessica Sprague’s “Bloom Your Blog” course. Like every class I've taken with her, it was wonderful. Lots of great information, clearly presented on both videos and pdfs. 

One of the first things I decided I wanted was a two-column blog instead of a three column one. It turns out that to have the dimensions I wanted I would need to upgrade to the next level at Typepad which I’m not yet willing to do. Typepad offers a variety of premade themes, and I found one that I liked a lot except for the overlay on the banner. Once again, in order to eliminate it, I’d have to upgrade. Thanks to Adam, I was able to get a new banner designed that works with it, and I think I'll be able to use other photos as well. Along with quite a bit of frustration, I’ve learned a lot and have more confidence about how to make changes on the blog. It doesn’t pay to let it go for so long.

I deleted a few items from the sidebar that were outdated, and updated my Photo-a-Day blog. That’s another frustration as it clips the photos, so if you want to see the whole photo, you need to click on the sidebar photo within that album. But it’s a great place to keep my Project 365. If I get time, I’ll get January and February up as well. 

Next on the agenda is to get some social media buttons up and add a signature for the blog posts. I thought they might be done by now, but we were on a road trip yesterday to Crater Lake (more about that later), and we’re having a guest for Easter dinner tonight. Hopefully, I’ll get it done tomorrow. For now I need to get my link up for my 52/50 Project. Here are the contenders—Caleb again—but, sadly, this will be the last week as we’ll be headed home on Wednesday.

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I loved this reflection of Caleb in the sliding glass door, watching his dad work on the patio.

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Concentrating.

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At North Mountain Park wearing Dad's sunglasses.

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At the top of the slide.

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And this week's pick for 52/50 posted on Kent Weakley's Project 52 post.

CASE Study Challenge #133

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When this week's CASE Study challenge appeared in my blog reader this week, I knew I had the perfect card for it. I made a few cards before we left for our trip to post while we were away, and this is one of them. Here's the inspiration piece:

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Here's my card. It's amazing to me how many of the elements are the same:  bike, sunshine, clouds, and even the striped paper. I cut this from a chevron pattern much like the inspiration piece. 

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As soon as I saw the Memory Box die of the bicycle, I knew I wanted it. It's taken me awhile to put it to use, however. The patterned papers are from a Studio Calico kit, and the chipboard clouds are also Studio Calico. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's set by the same name:  Enjoy the Ride. The Pure Poppy cardstock and button are also from Papertrey Ink.

 

Color Blocked and Colour Q

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Thanks to Cassandra, I woke up this morning to find out I'd been named the Colour Queen for last week's challenge. That was a nice surprise! Today I'm back with another ColourQ Challenge as well as the latest challenge for CAS-ual Friday: use color blocks. The two challenges went together perfectly.

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I've been wanting to try die cutting a word from strips of cardstock for awhile. I've seen it popping up all over the card design blogs. It wasn't as easy as it looks. Next time I think I'd do it a bit differently, but I do like the effect.

Colorblocked

I needed to get a thank you note in the mail before we leave. One of my friends goes to the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra concerts with another friend. Louise couldn't go last Thursday and offered me her ticket. It was a fabulous concert, and I wanted to send her a gift certificate and note since she wouldn't let me pay for the ticket.

I started by cutting strips of New Leaf, Simply Chartruese, Smoky Shadow, and True Black. I adhered them to a piece of copy paper, and then die cut the "thanks" from a Memory Box die. Next time, I'd apply a lot more adhesive to the copy paper before I did the die cutting. Getting it apart and onto the card took longer than it should have. The card is one I purchased from Impress a long time ago–Saavy, I think. Then I added a few gems since I liked the gem in the ColourQ inspiration piece.

Very windy and snowy here right now. Enough already!

Three Simple Cards

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I have three simple cards for you—typically my favorite kind. Two of these were made during the mad month of February between all those layouts, and there wasn't time to post them. The first one is another card made mostly with the Simon Says March card kit—my favorite of the bunch.

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Two of the flower stamps and the papers came from the kit. I added the sentiment from Paper Smooches' Sentiment Samper, and another enamel dot by MME. I'm going to need to find some more of those.

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It would be hard to be more simple than this card. I stamped one line from a block stamp from Sentiment Signs (PTI) on the striped paper and added a gem from A Muse. Here's the inside, done the same way:

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Nothing like the inside being more elaborate than the front. The recipient really liked this card though!

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One of my favorite dies by Memory Box, some patterned paper, cardstock, a bit of twine, and more enamel dots.

We're madly getting ready for two big trips. The first is to Oregon to visit Sarah, Adam, and Caleb. We'll be gone nearly three weeks, and although I expect to blog occasionally it will be much less frequently and I may not get as many comments made on your blogs while we're away. Then in May we're going on our first international trip. It's very exciting, but also a bit overwhelming. I'll fill you in when it gets closer. Both are taking lots of time, and I do have a couple of creative projects I need to finish (start). I'm quickly running out of time.

Another Bit ‘O Green

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I don't usually post more than one card for a challenge, but here's another one for Simon Says' Bit 'O Green Challenge. 

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We have a St. Patrick's Day birthday in our house, so this is the perfect color for a birthday card. The sentiment came from the stamp set included in the January card kit from Simon Says. and the patterned paper was in the scrap folder. I hand-cut the smaller sentiment and bumped it out a bit with 3-D tape.

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We're off this morning with our friends to Niagara-on-the-Lake. We'll purchase tickets for a show at the Shaw Festival for our annual fall weekend there, have lunch at The Irish Harp, and most likely, visit a couple of our favorite wineries. It will be good to be away for a day, and the forecast is for sunshine and warmer temperatures! Yay!

Yay! It’s Your Birthday

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I got a card made yesterday just in time for the latest Retro Sketch Challenge. It also fits the current Simon Says Challenge for "A Bit 'O Green." 

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The sketch is so similar to several cards I've made in the past, and the card comes together so quickly. I didn't set a timer, but it probably would make the 10 minute challenges I see around the web.

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Here's my take on it. Once again I reached for the new Papertrey Ink set, Stylish Sentiments: Birthday. This is clearly going to be a favorite set.

 
Yay!

I started with a piece of Rustic Cream cardstock (PTI) and added three strips from the Very Vintage Double Dots paper pad by BoBunny I picked up in Buffalo last month. The pads were tucked into a revolving rack at the back of the store, and I'm so glad I found them. A little ink distressing on the edges, and it was done.

Three Bright and Cheery Cards

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This is the time of year when the gray skies and dirty snow begin to wear me down. Today, though, I'm getting new lights in my studio and I cannot wait. The room faces north and although there are two windows, there's not a lot of light even on a sunny day. During the winter, there are few of those. So after consultation from the electrician, we're (he's) installing three ceiling-flush light fixtures and a long flourescent strip in the closet where I keep a lot of my supplies. I'm going to need the dimmer switch I think until I get used to having real light in here. 

In the meantime, I've been gravitating toward bright colors when I'm crafting to make up for the lack of color in the natural world. 

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This birthday card for my brother-in-law was made with supplies from the January Studio Calico card kit. I tried it for a couple of months, but decided I much prefer the Simon Says kit.

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I cased this card from Joy's post here. Our friend in Istanbul has just gotten a job there, and I thought some real mail might be appreciated. Cardstock is Summer Sunrise and Vintage Cream (PTI) and a scrap of Bazzill textured paper from the scrap files. The patterned paper is A Muse. I opened the package that I bought at least three years ago to make this card! (Totally forgot I had it.) The die and stamp are from Simon Says.

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This card was for my niece's birthday last month. All the supplies came from the February Simon Says card kit, and it's very similar to one by Kristina Werner who sends a sheet of design ideas with each kit.

Two Cards, Two Challenges

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Since LOAD is finally completed, I've been busy making the cards I'll need to send while we're in Oregon visiting Sarah, Adam, and Caleb.

Two that I made yesterday fit the current CASual Friday challenge which is to create your own wallpaper or background. It's not something I find particularly easy to do, but the new Simon Says Card Kit has a stamp set that is made for this kind of stamping. I ended up using some images from Papertrey Ink's Floral Frenzy as well.

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Even though it's a bit busy for my taste, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. The second card also meets the current ColorQ challenge.

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Both cards use sentiments from the Papertrey Ink Stylish Sentiments: Birthday set. This one is a bit more involved, so I added some Studio Calico enamel dots which helped focus on the flowers. I missed the one on the top right corner, but it now has an enamel dot as well. It's too dark to take another photo now!

We had a nice weekend with Matt. He only made it as far as Chicago tonight. Missed his flight by a few minutes because the plane sat on the runway after landing for nearly half an hour. He gets to spend the night in the airport, and will miss another day of work. He's not too pleased, but you're at the mercy of the airlines. I guess there's a possibility tomorrow morning's flight might be delayed due to weather. Fortunately, this is the first time it's happened to him, so I'm hoping it won't discourage other weekends at home.

 

CASE Study Challenge #129

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I haven't given up on card making while doing LOAD. In fact, I'll have quite a few to share next month, but I wanted to get this one up for this week's CASE challenge. Here's the card to case:

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I liked the diagonal lines on this card, and needed a thank you note for a friend. Here's my take on it:

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I started with a ready-made card by Memory Box, and cut strips of paper from the papers provided in Simon Says Card kit for January. The sentiment comes from a Hero Arts stamp set, "Everyday Sayings," and the little stars are from A Muse.

Hope your week is off to a good start! I'm anxiously watching the weather as Matt is headed home this weekend from Denver. He's been off work for two days because of the snow there, and it's headed our way again. He turns 30 on Thursday, so I'm hoping he gets here for a birthday celebration!

Two Challenges

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I got Matt's birthday card made yesterday and it meets two challenges. Since he doesn't read my blog, it's safe to post it early. I used the latest CAS(e) This Sketch as well as the most recent CAS-ual Friday challenge which is to use black and white plus one. You won't be surprised that it's black, white, and red—one of my favorite color combinations. I liked the sketch as it was, so I didn't vary it at all.

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I think this is the last of a set of cards I bought from Impress years ago. I added a banner from Boxy Banners (PTI) and the numbers (Memory Box Typewriter die), and stitched it down. The sentiment is from PTI's Birthday: Inside and Out. How is it possible that my youngest is going to be thirty years old?

Last week I used basically the same supplies to make my friend a thank you card.

ThanksMark

The only addition here is a very old Making Memories brad.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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This was my father's favorite holiday, and I always think of him. He made a big deal of it—presents for everyone and celebrated before we left for school. So it's no surpise that I love it too. Tracy and I decided not to exchange gifts, but as always, I got flowers and a beautiful card. 

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I got gifts for the kids and grandchildren and was glad to have a reason to package up the ones for Betsy and Skylar who came to visit yesterday.

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I also made some dark chocolate almond clusters to take to someone who went above and beyond the call of duty last week. I delivered several of these today. (Quite yummy, I must say! We saved a few for ourselves as a treat after dinner tonight.)

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And finally the last of the valentines. A couple of them were made for challenges that, once again, were done on time, but not posted in time. My favorite of the bunch was Matt's.

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Sarah and Adam got one of the valentines I made earlier for challenges as did Betsy and Tracy. Here's Skylar's.

Skylar'sValentine

And finally, one for my mother-in-law.

Ellie'sValentine

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Hope you had a love-filled day!

CAS(e) This Sketch

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It's early, but I have a busy morning with Bible study followed preparing the study packets for our Church Leadership Development Day on Saturday. I'm just in under the wire for this since the link closes at noon.

Here's the sketch:

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And like yesterday's card, I followed it very closely. Another valentine, as well. I love this die and stamp set from Simon Says which arrived just yesterday afternoon. It was perfect for this.

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Cardstock: Vintage Cream (PTI) & Bazzill Prismatic Red; patterned paper "Love You" (MME); dies: You (Simon Says), Countdown Banners (PTI) & Spellbinders Nested Hearts; sentiment: "You" (Simon Says)

I neglected to take photos of the draw for Pass the Book, but the winner is Alexa. I have your address so I'll get it in the mail in the next day or two. Hope you enjoy it!