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Happy Easter!

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We'll soon be off to church. I always look forward to Easter services. The church is filled with flowers, joy, and wonderful music provided by our choir and a group of brass instrumentalists. Afterwards we're going to Matt and Betsy's to help Skylar hunt for Easter eggs, and then to my sister-in-law's for the annual Walker Easter dinner. Too much food, but lots of good company and fun.

I left some goodies for Caleb's Easter basket in Chicago, and have a little basket ready for Skylar later this morning. Both got Easter cards as well. (Of course!) I saw this card on Pinterest, and when I came across these bunny stickers in my stash, I was all set. 

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The hearts on both cards were die cut with Papertrey's Stitched Heart and then filled with patterned paper. The paper on Skylar's is from A Muse, and Caleb's is from Lawn Fawn's "Into the Woods" paper pack. The bunny stickers are surely Jolee, but they've been in my stash for so long, there was no manufacturer information with the sheet of stickers. I printed the sentiment on the computer. 

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I hope these bunnies find you enjoying good weather and a happy holiday!

Zoom In, Zoom Out

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It's been quite a few years since I've colored Easter eggs, but Caleb, Sarah, Tracy, and I had a fine time coloring eggs before we left Chicago. It was the perfect opportunity for this week's Zoom In, Zoom Out, Helena's fine meme. We'll start with the Zoom Out, and get closer and closer. Caleb was clearly pleased with the project.

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Tomorrow we'll get a chance to watch Skylar hunt for her Easter eggs. It's supposed to be a glorious warm and sunny Easter here. I hope the weather man is not wrong!

 

Liberate Your Art Blog Hop

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I'm a day late getting this post up, but we were on the road home from Chicago yesterday. This is the third year I've participated in Kats' fabulous postcard swap, and every year I enjoy it more. When I got home I discovered the last of the postcards I received this year, and they are the lovliest ones yet.

The first card to arrive was this beauty from Barbara Hurst in Arizona. You really should take the time to visit her blog and see the wonderful photography there. 

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My next piece of happy mail came from Evelyn Spikes in Elgin, OR. Not only is the photograph lovely, but the quote is as well.

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This is the second time, I've been lucky enough to receive a pice of art from Suzette in Texas. After a lovely quote by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Suzette closes with this lovely thought, "May the seeds of creativity find their way to your door." Love it, and love this postcard.

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I just love this rooster painted with acrylics on canvas by Meredith Gisness. I have a collection of chickens and hens I rotate through my kitchen so this fine fellow is going to find his way to the kitchen bulletin board.

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Here when I arrived home was this beauty from Sheila. I'm not sure where Sheila hails from, but you can find more of her work here on her blog.

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Last, by not least, was the postcard from our hostess (and my long-time blog friend), Kat. I'm so annoyed that the Portland Post Office stamped the front of the postcard rather than the back! Does anyone know how I might remove it without ruining the postcard?

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Many thanks, Kat, for taking on this huge project another year! It inspires me every year, and encourages me to get my art out there. And thanks, too, to the wonderful artists whose work I received this year! All of them will be proudly displayed!

 

Happy Birthday!

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Yesterday was Adam's birthday. He celebrated by preaching a fine sermon for Palm Sunday, opening a pile of gifts for his newfound interest in drawing and art, and a dinner out. Knowing he was getting a lot of art related gifts, his card reflects that.

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I started with a Hero Arts kraft notecard, and splattered on some yellow and red paint. I die cut two Spiral Notebook dies (Papertrey Ink), one in red and one in Select White. The paintbrushes stamped on the white notebook die are from the" Friendship Jar Fillers", colored with Copic Markers with some Glossy Accents on the paint. The little clothespin is American Crafts, and the sentiment comes from "Be" – the stamp and the die (Simon Says). 

I have to admit being as interested in his gifts as he is, and hope to spend some time looking through the many books he received as gifts.

Before I left, I posted two birthday cards to friends who are celebrating significant birthdays this month. They're variations on the same theme.

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Both cards use a negative die cut with Papertrey's "By The Numbers"  & "Suffix Style" die cuts, backed with patterned paper. (I'm posting this from Chicago, and don't remember which paper pad I used.) The rest of the sentiment comes from "Birthday Basics" (Papertrey).

Although we're delighted to be here to help Adam celebrate, we did miss the big celebration for the 80th birthday while we were away.

One Little Word: March & ZIZO

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In my efforts to SIMPLIFY, here were my March intentions and a progress report:

Declutter and Purge

  • Den purged. One bag of books donated to the library; closet emptied, painted, and organized; another bag of office supplies/notebooks to Goodwill
  • Feedly purged:  stopped following blogs I didn’t read regularly so it’s easier to keep up with the inspirational blogs I love

Healthy Living – increase the number of vegetarian meals:

With just a few exceptions, I’ve established a routine of eating vegetarian 2 of 3 meals each day. I’m enjoying it, and not finding it difficult at all. Some days it’s all vegetarian.

Read 4 books:

I only managed 3 books this month, but our book group book was over 700 pages long.

Goldfinch

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and despite it’s length (771 pages) finished it in just two weeks. It got mixed reviews at our couples’ book group. Tracy thought it was way too long, but agreed the writing is superb.

Glitter and glue

I’ve read nearly everything Kelly Corrigan has written, and enjoyed it all. This is another memoir about her time as a nanny in Australia and how it changed her relationship with her mother. In some ways, it was hard for me to read since I lost my mom at such a young age, and never got a chance to know her as an adult. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it, and it was an easy read.

Bright Abyss

This was one of the most difficult books I’ve read in years. It was the Lenten book for our church, and our pastor led a retreat around the book a week ago Saturday. I could only go for the first hour since my Dining Room Ministry team was cooking lunch that day. The author is a poet, and I don’t find reading poetry an easy task. When the writing was more narrative, I enjoyed the book, and found some of his insights profound. In other sections the writing was elaborate, and it was difficult to extract the meaning from it. I wish I could have stayed for the whole retreat; I'm sure I would have gotten more from the book with some shared insights. (One of the big advantages to a book group.)

Classes:

Truthfully I should be working on classes I've yet to finish, but instead I enrolled in the Online Card Class: One Layer Cards, and tried many of the featured techniques. These classes are a great value. For each lesson there were a minimum of three videos, three more step-by-step projects, and a pdf of the lessons. Participants have access to the content of the class indefinitely; the message boards and galleries are closed for participation, but the content of those remains open as well. I always learn new tricks, and this time learned quite a few new techniques.

Photography Projects:

I’m way behind with the challenges in The Visual Toolbox as well as the online course, Practice. For the latter, the terrible weather has definitely been a factor so I think I can probably catch up once spring arrives. I am thoroughly enjoying Helena’s meme, Zoom In, Zoom Out.

 And here is this week's, taken several days ago. Friends of ours asked if we thought Caleb would like a tricycle. We knew he didn't have one yet, so brought it along with us. The first experience was a bit tentative, but when we "rode" it to the playground the other day, it was a huge hit. He's just beginning to get the idea of how to pedal.

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Sarah arrived home from California a "new" woman. After being a student for all but two years since she graduated from high school, she decided to say "enough." She finished all the class work for her PhD a couple of years ago. She just finished writing her last comprehensive exams, but when she got to Berekley to defend the exams, she realized she's lost her passion for the research needed for the dissertation. The work she now hopes to do doesn't require a PhD. Two more years of steady research and writing seemed overwhelming. The door to the degree remains open without a second application for two more years, so she has time to reconsider, but she's feeling very relieved. I think you just know when the time is right for these decisions. She'll have more time to spend with Caleb, time to pursue some recreational interests, and opportunities to grow her spiritual direction practice. 

Today is Adam's birthday, and I'll be back tomorrow to share his birthday card as well as two others that went out this week.

 

 

One Photo & Twenty Words

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Lucky me! He wanted to "see Caleb" in the camera's viewfinder, so was willing to sit still for a portrait.

Joining in with Abi's One Photo & Twenty Words meme. You'll find others here.

A Couple of Cards

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It's been a busy weekend. Our duplicate bridge group met Friday night. Saturday morning I attended the first hour of a Lenten retreat at church.  I had to leave early because my Dining Room Ministry team was cooking lunch this week. Today we went to church and out to breakfast, I visited my elderly friends (one of whom is in comfort care while her husband is in assisted living), and tonight we had some friends to dinner to start planning a celebration of life event for our friend, Marie, who passed away last month.

In between, I was busy organizing and packing since we'll be leaving tomorrow for Chicago. Sarah has to fly to California for five days, so we're off to help out with Caleb (and thrilled to be doing so!) Unlike Deb who always has great weekend recap photos, I have none. But I do have a couple of cards to share that went out in the mail some time ago.

ThankYou

I won this wonderful three heart die on Melissa's blog. It was so easy to make a quick card with it. I used the negative die cut and backed it with pretty patterned paper from Basic Grey. The thank you die cut (Papertrey Ink) was cut into two pieces. I think this die will made a great valentine come February as well.

Feathers have been a popular theme for quite a few months. Although I liked Papertrey's "Feather Finery" as soon as they introduced it, it took me awhile to decide to order it. Like the heart die, I think it is pretty versatile, which is my current criteria for ordering a new stamp set.

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One of the things I like the most about this set is the double stamping with the dots which I embossed in silver.

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I'm taking way too much to do on this trip, but hopefully will get a few projects underway while Caleb is at day care in the mornings. He loves day care, and we want to maintain his routine as best we can since he is definitely NOT used to having his mom away. Hopefully, having Grandma and Grandpa there will be a bit of a distraction.

 

 

 

Zoom In, Zoom Out: Week 14

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My brother-in-law and nephew came for dinner last night (along with Matt, Betsy, and Skylar) and Tom brought me a beautiful bouquet of purple striped tulips and calla lilies. It was the answer to the weekly question of what to shoot for ZIZO.

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As you can tell, I had some fun playing around with different angles and getting closer and closer. Thanks, Helena, for providing weekly inspiration to get the camera out for a bit of experimenting!

Happy Birthday–Two Challenges

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Today I have a card for two Simon Says challenges: The Wednesday challenge "Happy Birthday," and the Work it Wednesday for bright colors.

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I love the Simon Stamp sets with die cut words and accompanying stamps. They work so well for so many occasions. Today's card uses the "Happy" set. I die cut it three times in Summer Sunrise, Orange Zest and Hawaiian Shores, and layered them on a piece of True Black. I embossed "birthday" in gold, added a few gold sequins and layered it on a premade Memory Box card.

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The sun is shining and the snow is melting so it's a happy day here!

Happy Hearts

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I used a nine heart die called Tic Tac Toe Hearts by Simon Says to get hearts for this card and this card. That left me with the negative die cut, and I couldn't see letting it go to waste. 

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I mounted the die cut paper on a piece of Select White (Papertrey Ink)  and then on a card base created with Doll Pink (Simon Says). A tiny pearl from Michael's was added to each heart, and the sentiment (from "Everyday Classics by Papertrey) was stamped on a trimmed Double Ended Banner die (Papertrey).

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I'm always happy to have an anniversary card in my stash. Usually I'm making one for the event right beforehand. 

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We got another foot of snow on Saturday night. Fortunately, I'd bought a few daffodils at Trader Joe's on Friday so there was a spot of spring in the kitchen. It was warmer today, and tomorrow the forecast is for 60° so hopefully the snow will be gone before too long. Tomorrow is April 1st after all!

Spring? ZIZO

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This is what spring looks like in Rochester right now.

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But if you know where to go you can find the colors of spring. 

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Zoom In a little closer

And for a  bit of exotic color, one of the most gorgeous hibicus I've seen.

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Spring brought to you from the Lamberton Conservatory at Highland Park. 

Color Fade

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Recently I came across two cards, one by Julie Ebersole, and then one based on her card by Laura Bassen (two wonderful designers). I loved the look and since I had just gotten a new set of Winnie and Walter stamps ("The Big, The Bold, and You) I thought I'd give color fading a try.

After embossing the sentiment in white, I masked the stripes and added Distress Inks fading out to the side.

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As always, I learned a bit in the process so the next attempt should be a bit better, but overall I'm happy with another bright and springy card to add to Simon Says "Work it Wednesday" challenge.

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One More for the Online Card Class & Work It Wednesday

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It's been a long time since I played around with so many new (to me) techniques, but I tried another variation of masking cards that Kara shared on Day 4. This time I die cut a mask from Mat Stack #1 by Papertrey Ink and used the negative to try another series of stamped circles. When I removed the mask, I felt like it need something else, so I cut another frame from cardstock and traced around it with a fine lined pen. That was better, but I wasn't really happy with it until I added the sequins. I think it still qualifies as a one layer card.

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I do love all these bright colors, and I'm entering it in the Simon Says "Work It Wednesday" challenge which is to "to create a card with bright colors, flowers, sunshine or anything else that makes you think of Spring!"

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Card Recipe:

Cardstock: Select White (PTI)
Stamps: Beautiful Blooms (PTI), The Big, The Bold, and The Happy (Winnie and Walter)
Die: Mat Stack #1 (PTI)
Sequins: Michaels

 

March 2014 Papertrey Blog Hop

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It's not often I post twice in one day, but in addition to the CASology challenge, today is the March Papertrey Blog hop.

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The Papertrey March Blog Hop challenge is high gloss, which leads one directly to Glossy Accents. I have to admit I have an issue with Glossy Accents. I find it nearly impossible to get it to go on smoothly. I did a Google search and didn't find any great tips, so if you have some, I'd really appreciate it if you'd share them.

I combined an inspiration piece by Stephanie Klauck from the recent Online Card Classes for the Textural Effects Lesson–using Washi tape to mask off the edges of a card to create a frame with Distress Inks. Instead of glitter on the balloons, I used Glossy Accents. 

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The "Happy" ("Wonderful Words") was cut from high gloss metallic blue cardstock and the rest of the sentiment came from "Stylish Sentiments: Birthday." The balloons are from "Balloon Bash." Here's a closer look at the gloss. (Excuse the glare; these photos were taken after dark last night.)

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The next card was made from scrap pieces I had lying on my desk after playing around this weekend with cards for the Online Card Class: One Layer cards. The hearts and "thanks" are both Simon Says dies and I covered them with Glossy Accents. I do have an easier time covering the smaller pieces. I die cut and trimmed the "Building Blocks" die by Papertrey and adhered it to a Tropical Teal card.

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You can find a lot of inspiration for card making on Nicole's blog today.

Lucky!

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Guest Designer Badge New

Two weeks ago I was honored to win the CASology challenge: Roots. That alone was exciting, but even more exciting was an invitation to be the guest designer for this week's challenge:

Week 88 - Lucky

I had to think this one through since St. Patrick's Day has come and gone, but it didn't take long to come up with "Lucky in love" as a theme for the card.

Lucky

I die cut "LUCKY" with Papertrey's Headliner Alphabet and used the negative. I backed it with beautiful gold metallic paper from Paper Source. Images from Winnie and Walter's "The Big, The Bold, and the Happy," and Simon Says "Love This" finished off the sentiment. I added three hearts die cut with Simon Says "Holiday Shapes" to finish the panel which I mounted with dimensional tape onto a white A2 card. You can find more inspiration for "lucky" here.