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Project 64: Silver

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What a perfect color choice for the holidays! I had several shots I wanted to take, but only had time for one. I may yet do the others, but it's time to post at Project 64 for last week's color. I bought these bells at Michaels for just two dollars and they look fabulous in a silver bowl we were given as a wedding gift many years ago.

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I like this view even better, and will be linking this one to Project 64.

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I'm hoping to have some creative time tomorrow, so I may have a JYC post ready, but in case I don't get back here until after Christmas, have a fabulous holiday!

Needing Some Christmas Cheer

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It's been a couple of tough weeks around here. One friend is home recuperating from a masectomy, another friend had surgery (more to come, perhaps) following a life-threatening fall, and yesterday one of my dearest friends received a diagnosis of a malignant brain tumor. She went to the ER on Sunday with flu-like symtoms and the tumor was discovered on a CAT scan. Who knows how long she might have walked around with this without knowing had she not gotten some kind of infection. Prayers for all of them would be appreciated!

I do have some Christmas crafts to share when there's time again to ready them for the blog, but for today, here are the last two projects I've posted at the Scrap-Mart blog. My time on the DT has come to an end. I've really enjoyed my association with all the wonderful folks there, especially Katie, who is a fantastic DT Coordinator.

SnowmanCard
A wintery card made with Canvas Corps and Heartfelt Creations products.

WonderlandLO

This was made with October Afternoon's Holdiay Style papers and snowflake stickers, and a new LifeStyle Crafts Snowflake border die, which was just perfect for this layout. I hid the jounaling on a stamped journaling card, since there wasn't a good place for it on the layout.

WonderlandJournaling

In all the rush and busyness of the last few days before Christmas, don't forget to take time to hug all those closest to you, and tell them you love them! 

Project 64: Mahogany

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I thought last week's color at Project 64 would be more difficult, but when I went to look I found a lot right in my studio and in our front hall. My desk is definitely mahogany, but it wouldn't make for a very artistic photo right at the moment. I found this jar (check the lid) sitting on my shelf with two balls of twine (not mahogany by any means).

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In our front hall, I found these. I'm linking the last one to Project 64.

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This beautiful, small dresser belonged to my great-aunt, and has lovely inlaid drawers. We keep our dining room linens in it, but it sits in our front hall below the mirror you see above. The candlestick sits on top of the dresser.

My brother is coming for the weekend. I haven't seen him since September, and it's been 2 1/2 years since he's been here to visit. I think he wants to tour some Finger Lake wineries tomorrow, and then we're taking him to one of our favorite restaurants to celebrate his birthday which was two weeks ago. 

Project 64: Black and the New Kitchen

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When I saw last week's color at Project 64 I knew it was the perfect time to get the photos up so you can see our new kitchen–all black and white, with a little red thrown in for accents. We are in love with it, and although it took twice as long as estimated, it is perfect!

I'll start out with the photo I'm posting at Project 64 which is really a Christmas decoration in the kitchen. I bought this last year and couldn't believe how perfect is was for the kitchen window when I pulled it out this year. When I bought it, a new kitchen wasn't even in the planning stage.

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And here's a shot of the full window–the only thing new here is the beautiful tile on the sill that matches the tile backsplash. The old window had lineoleum from the 1950's.

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Anyone who's been reading the blog for awhile knows our kitchen's been under construction since the first of August. The kitchen was finished over Thanksgiving, and our red blinds arrived last week. We wanted up and down blinds—these only go down, but new ones have been ordered and we can keep these until they come in. I love the color–though you can only see the tops of them here. This is the only area where we added space (just 14 sq. ft.), but we now have three windows that give us a wonderful view of our lovely street and so much more light than we have anywhere else in the house.

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This was my only contribution to the design of the kitchen. We had an old bookcase in this spot in the previous kitchen, and I knew I wanted storage for my cookbooks and a place to display my collection of pitchers. We now have two extra shelves, but I haven't had the time to put them in yet and rearrange.

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An OLD kitchen cupboard used to hang on this wall, and I had to stand on a chair to get almost any of the food stored there. I purchased this chalkboard/memo board from LL Bean and it's working out wonderfully. I love the new light fixture which I bought from a photograph and had never seen until I got home from our trip out west. We looked at hundreds of light fixtures before I was finally shown this one in a catalog.

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This is the right side of the kitchen if you stand with your back to the window. In the old kitchen I had a very small cooktop on the left side of the kitchen and a very small wall oven on this side. Now I have a full-sized stove and I love it. I got two cookie sheets in side by side this weekend. The old oven barely held one! I also have a new full-sized refrigerator which I've never had before either.

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This is the left side. Now that the cooktop is gone, I have ample counter space. I'm not quite sure how Jack got so many cupboards in the existing space, but it's amazing to me and to my friends how spacious the new kitchen seems when no additional floor space was added. 

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Here's a shot of my McKenzie-Child teapot–a bit of a splurge, but I'm not sorry. Tracy says I designed the kitchen around it, but it's not true! It was too perfect, and I already had a couple of small pieces of the same pattern. I used it in an earlier Project 64 post, and several folks asked for a full shot.

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Scrap-Mart Christmas Blog Hop: Gift Bags and Tags

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Today was my day to post on the Scrap-Mart Christmas Blog Hop. If you haven't checked out the previous days, you can find them all here. There's inspiration for everyone–regardless of your style!

The manufacturers were incredibly generous with the DT so I had lots of product to choose from. I always need gift bags so I raided my stash of unadorned bags and went to town. You can find all the details for the bags on the Scrap-Mart Blog.

WreathBag
I love the new wreath die from LifeStyle Crafts and cut it out of felt to use as a centerpiece for the first bag.

WreathClose

For the next bag I started with an adorable stamp set from Heartfelt Creations and added some great papers from October Afternoon's Holiday Style collection.

SnowmanBag

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I love stars and was so pleased to find Canvas Corp's canvas star was the same shape as LifeStyle Craft's Nested Stars dies. I also love this holly patterned paper from October Afternoon. I think my BIL's significant other will love this bag.

StarBag

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I have all the presents wrapped (and left in Oregon) for Sarah and Adam, and have sent a few wrapped gifts for Matt to open in Denver Christmas morning. He'll be here in early January, so I've left a few here as well. None of the rest of the gifts are wrapped yet, but hopefully this weekend! 

Journal Your Christmas

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My first Christmas Journal was made in 2006, so this is my sixth year and it's a project I still enjoy. I'm much more relaxed about it than I used to be, and by the end of the season I always have a record of our holidays. Some days I write the journaling based on a prompt. This year I'm receiving Shimelle's prompts (as always) as well as prompts by Tracey Clark through Paper Coterie. Some days I'm too busy to even read the prompts so I come back to them later, and some days I have my own stories to record. In the midst of getting Chrismas cards finished (I made 50 of them this year), writing the letters to out-of-town friends, cooking for our holiday Open House tomorrow night, and the usual meetings and appointments, I squeezed in time to make the first three pages. They're all going in a Doodlebug StoryBook 3-ring 8X8 album that has two kinds of page protectors–regular and a photo page where I can just slip in extra 4X6 photos.

12.1Manifesto
I don't always include Shimelle's Manifesto, but I liked this year's and decided it would make a good first page. It took me forever to come up with this simple page design!

The next page actually happened in November, but it was our first Christmas activity, and our only one with Sarah and Adam this year, so it had to be included. 

AshlandParade

The journaling reads:  The Friday after Thanksgiving is Ashland's annual Christmas parade. Someone had told us everyone in Ashland turns out for it, and that seemed to be true. The weather was perfect, and it was lots of fun to watch Mr. and Mrs. Claus pull the switch from the balcony to turn on all the Christmas lights. It's easy to see that this will likely become a new tradition for Sarah and Adam and their family.

12.2Weather

Journaling:

Today’s weather report on Channel 13 reminded us that last year we’d already had several inches of snow by now, and by the 7th of December we’d had 24 inches of snow. I remember that last winter seemed like it lasted forever. No wonder. 

This year was the mildest November on record since the 1800s, and I’m not sorry. I’m enjoying walking outside without freezing, and without slipping and sliding in heavy boots. I’m glad to be finishing up my shopping without worrying about whether the roads are passable. I love pushing the grocery card on dry pavement. I’ll be happy to see a coat of snow on the ground on Christmas Day, but I can easily wait until then!

I'll be back later today with my blog post for the Scrap-Mart Christmas blog hop.

Christmas Blog Hop at Scrap-Mart

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Tomorrow is the beginning of the second annual Christmas Blog Hop at Scrap-Mart. You won't want to miss it. 

Scrap-Mart has teamed up with these fabulous manufacturers to bring you a week long blog hop dedicated to Christmas-themed projects!

Boss Kut

October Afternoon

The Rubber Cafe

Canvas Corp

Heartfelt Creations (Dec. 7th)

Want2Scrap

LaLa Land Crafts

Sizzix

Each of the generous manufacturers will have prizes for you along the way so be sure visit and complete the hop each day from Dec. 5th through Dec. 10th to be eligible to win.

And generous is right! When I returned home this week there were two packages waiting for me filled with goodies from Canvas Corp, October Afternoon, and Heartfelt Creations as well as some great dies from LifeStyle Crafts. I had such fun yesterday creating with these fabulous products. I thought I'd share a non-traditional Christmas card with you.

ReindeerCard

I love this reindeer die from Lifestyle Crafts (there’s also a sleigh that comes with it). Once I cut it from felt, I loved the way it looked on one of Canvas Corp’s Burlap Minis. Canvas Corp also has these wonderful card sets, and although it’s not a traditionally Christmas pattern, I really liked how the card came together. The green twill is from my stash, but the sentiment strip is another from the October Afternoon Holiday Style collection. It's a perfect card for one of my many single men neighbors. 

 

Project 64: Orange

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We're home although it took a little longer than we expected. Our flight from Chicago to Rochester was cancelled so we spent the night in Chicago and arrived here early Wednesday afternoon. Since we've been home, we've unpacked, bought and decorated our tree, finished decorating the house for Christmas, entertained our book group, and settled the kitchen which is finally done except for the blinds on the new windows. This weekend is free, so I'm hoping to get a start on Journal Your Christmas and projects for the Scrap-Mart blog which starts Monday. You won't want to miss it! I'll be posting more about it later today so check back for a list of the manufacturers who are participating this year, and giving away fabulous prizes.

Orange came along at just the right season at Project 64. I had some trouble with Purple Mountain Majesty, our last color, but orange was not hard to find.

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An orange garnish on my breakfast plate

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Four inflatable pumpkins sitting on a roof

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A beautiful hand-blown glass pumpkin in a shop window

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And three pumpkins on Sarah's dining room table which I'll be linking to Project 64.

 

Happy Birthday, Greg!

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Today is my BIL's birthday. Greg was the lead guitar and song writer for a very popular band in the 60's and 70's and still participates in the music scene in Austin, TX. Music was one of the biggest reasons (in addition to the weather) that he decided to move to Texas a few years ago.

I had a lot of fun making his card this year, and tried a lot of new and unusual techniques for me:  stenciling (the dots), misting, background stamping, and tearing. The guitar has a coat of Glossy Accents on it though it's a bit hard to see here. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, and I hope Greg likes it.

YouRock

The stamps are Boy Basics:  Simple Circles and Rock On by Papertrey Ink.

Maples Out and In

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At the end of October we had our old maple tree taken down. I fought it for years, but the tree was old and Tracy was concerned about branches coming down on the house. Matt finally convinced me it was time. Here she is, the morning of her demise.

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It is quite a process to take down such a big tree, and we were very impressed with the company who did the job. Here's a look at the process.

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The cherry picker and a series of ropes and pulleys safely removed the huge branches.

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All the branches were ground up and turned into mulch as they came down. You can see the grinding machine in the next photo.

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Gone! The huge trunk was cut into pieces and hauled off in a truck.

I had to admit that one advantage of having this tree removed is the increase in light in our living room. Our neighbors also thanked us, saying the light in their kitchen doubled.

 To sweeten the loss a bit, Tracy promised to have a new tree put in. The old maple was taken down on a Friday and the next week the new maple arrived. It’s a Sunset Red Maple, and I hope to see bright red leaves next fall. It’s supposed to be a quick growing tree, although it will never be as large as the old one in my life time. Putting the new tree in was almost as interesting to watch as taking down the old one. But it certainly didn't take as long.

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I think we've done more home improvement projects in just one year than we did in the previous 27 years. Tracy has repainted the whole downstairs, we finally got a big screen TV and rearranged the living room, we've redecorated (and repainted) the guest room, the kitchen has been remodeled, and now the tree. Not that there aren’t plenty more projects to do. But I think we're done for awhile, although Tracy still has some painting projects he'd like to get to.

When I get home, the kitchen will officially be done. The week before we left, the subway tiles went in and the kitchen was painted. After we left, the final coat on the floors was put on, and the light over the kitchen table was hung. We’ve ordered blinds which should come early next month, and then I’ll have photos for you. It really is a dream kitchen—one I never expected to have, and I can’t wait to settle in.

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving from Ashland, Oregon

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It’s hard to believe but we’ve been in Oregon for nearly a week. Our goal was to get Sarah and Adam settled, and we’ve made remarkable progress. All the rooms are arranged and organized, all the boxes have been unpacked, and Tracy has nearly all the artwork and photographs hung. We’re planning a pretty low-key Thanksgiving celebration with plenty of time to rest and relax. I’ll have photos of our accomplishments later.

Sarah and Adam are renting a lovely home with quite a beautiful yard and view.

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This is the view from their living room. They have the same view from the kitchen and family room, as well as a lovely deck off the family room.

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The yard is large, but has a steep drop-off.

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In addition to unpacking, Tracy and Adam got some great help in putting up a new fence  in the backyard. Sadie is delighted with the room to run around. Amazingly, a deer leaped over the fence last night, and put Sadie in a fury of excitement. After some time, the deer leaped back over the fence and disappeared.

Ashland is a beautiful small city surrounded by mountains. We were a bit worried about driving up from San Francisco since there had been snow in the Siskiyou Pass where chains are often required. In anticipation we upgraded our rental vehicle to a 4X4 SUV. Fortunately, we didn’t need it, but it’s easy to see why you might. From Siskiyou Summit to Ashland, there’s a drop in elevation of more than 2,000 feet in a pretty short amount of time. It was pitch dark when we drove through last Friday, but the headlights of the traffic lit up the towering, snow-covered evergreens against a star-lit sky. Truly a beautiful sight.

After church on Sunday, we decided to drive up to Mt. Ashland. It was a beautiful, clear day in Ashland, but we found a totally different environment on the road up to the summit.

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Clouds totally obscured the summit, but there were some beautiful views of the valley as we drove down.

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I hope you and your family are enjoying a wonderful holiday if you’re in the States. I love the opportunity to be with family and take stock of all my many blessings. Being able to travel and spend time with Sarah and Adam is top on my list today. I’m also grateful to Matt’s friends in Denver for including him in their Thanksgiving festivities.

 

 

Happy Anniversary

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I have a couple of anniversary cards that I don't think I've shared here. The first one I made the same day I made the get well card I posted earlier this week. I like the versatility of these stamps, and it's easy to make a couple of  cards at once when all the supplies are out.

Anniversary2

The first few times I used the "Framed" stamps I had some difficulty with them, but I finally seem to be able to get a clear impression the first time. The little pot is from "Everyday Button Bits."

Here's another anniversary card with a totally different feel. This was for our dear friends who've been married now for 63 years!

Anniversary1

More beautiful papers from the Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden Collection, and a sentiment stamp from "Round and Round" by Papertrey Ink. I used some nested heart dies to cut out a burlap and then a felt heart, added a button, and a stick pin from Maya Road (I think.) I have all my stick pins in a pretty glass jar so I'm not always sure which manufacturer to credit!

We're off tomorrow to the west coast for a few days. I'm really looking forward to seeing Sarah and Adam's new home as well as their new surroundings. We'll be back in California before we return for Adam's ordination service, and have an extra day at the end to spend in Berekley and San Francisco before we return. I'm planning to post a few times while we're away, but it's always a bit unpredictable!

Project 64: Purple Mountain Majesty

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This week's color at Project 64 was Purple Mountain Majesty. I was always lucky enough to have a big box of crayons when I was growing up, but I'm quite sure there was not any crayon with such an elegant name back then. Purple has been a favorite color of mine recently, and there are many shades and hues of it. The first item that caught my eye this week was my iPhone cover.

IPhoneCase

I've also purchased a striped turtleneck and vest this fall, but neither were quite the right purple. My new coat, however, and scarf that I purchased a year ago in California are quite right, and I'll be linking this photo over at Project 64.

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I must say that it's a bit harder to find colors now that nature's colors are much fewer and much less bright! I looked for Purple Mountain Majesty on all our walks last week, but there was nothing purple left in anyone's gardens. This week's color is orange, and it's a bit easier to find!

Get Well Cards

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Sadly, I seem to have more and more reasons to make a get well and feel better cards. Here are two recent ones.

 

GetWell1
No matter how I tried, I couldn't get the felt colors to photograph true to life. The flower is the same color as the background behind the card, and the button is an Orange Zest one from Papertrey Ink. In fact, all the supplies from this cards are from Papertrey. They are definitely my "go-to" stamps and dies.

GetWell2

I love paper-piecing this little chair and like the accompanying sentiment as well. The chair and lamp are from "Chairished" (PTI) and the sentiment is from "On My Couch Additions." I never purchased the original "On My Couch," but got the additions which I've used frequently. 

It's a gray and dreary day here; more like the November I remember from past years than the bright, sunny days we've been enjoying. Hope it's bright and cheerful where you are!

With Sympathy

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Sympathy cards are the hardest cards to make, I think. I want them to be a bit elegant, yet clean and simple and to convey my heartfelt sympathy to the recipient. I used the "let the paper work for you" technique again here, and I think it worked well.

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I started with a journaling card by Webster's Pages, stamped the sentiment (Papertrey Ink's Birds of a Feather), and tied a ribbon (Paper Source) around the Memory Box card. I can always find an appropriate sentiment for the inside in Papertrey's With Sympathy set. 

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For this card I used a piece of paper from Pink Paislee's "Butterfly Garden" mini-pad adhered to some Ripe Avocado cardstock by Papertrey Ink. These printed papers are almost gone now, and I wish I had some more of them. I used the same stamp, and my last piece of moss green ribbon from Paper Source.

We've kept up the frantic pace around here. The basement has been cleaned and purged; many bags to the garbage and to Goodwill. There's still a large box of heirloom items from my family that need to be cleaned and appraised after the holidays, but finally everything has a place and is packed away in plastic boxes or bags so they won't need so much cleaning in the future.

I've just about finished two baby albums, but they can't be shown here for awhile as well as another banner for a second shower. About half my Christmas cards are finished. The rest will have to wait until I return from California and Oregon with a fresh supply of paper from Paper Source. Invitations to a holiday open house are also completed so they can be mailed before we leave.

The subway tiles were installed in the kitchen last week, and they look fantastic. We're still waiting for the painters, but I'm hopeful they'll show up this week though our contractor has yet to get a firm commitment from them. Maybe because it's the last thing that needs to be done (except for a final finish on the floor), and maybe because it's now been twice as long as the original estimate of time, but this delay is the most frustrating one we've had. I never expected I'd be decorating for the holidays and the kitchen would not be completed. But, that too, is happening since we'll be entertaining shortly after we return. I do love decorating for Christmas, but it seems odd to be moving from summer decorations right to Christmas. I never did get the fall decorations out. With the construction, it seemed rather pointless. Our unusually warm November temperatures also make decorating for the holiday seem a bit odd.

I'm doing the best I can to keep up with all your wonderful blog posts, but once I'm on our trip I should be able to catch up!