This week's color is my favorite color: red! So I took a few photos and put them into a collage.
And then this weekend, I found this rooster wandering about the yard of one of my brother's neighbors. I just love his red comb.
You can find more red here:
Yesterday Tracy and I took nearly a three mile walked around my brother's neighborhood in Hyde Park, NY. It was drizzling most of the way and since I didn't think I had any great fireworks photos to post, I was looking for Fourth of July decorations for today's post. First I saw this:
I love the way the bunting was reflected in the puddle. Then we came upon this:
The little doggie ornament is holding a flag as well.
Then last night I uploaded photos from my point and shoot (above) and my photos from my SLR from Saturday night's fireworks. In frustration, I had pointed my camera to the sky and took about 20 photos with my remote, not expecting anything. Imagine my surprise when I saw these:
Edited to add: I'm submitting this one to Sweet Shot Tuesday:
Just four of ten decent photos of the fireworks. What a pleasant discovery! If you're in the U.S. have a wonderful holiday! My brother and Tracy are off to golf this morning, and I'll be hanging out with Stephanie. There's a cookout planned for tonight. Early tomorrow morning, we'll be headed home.
One of my former fifth graders graduated from high school a week ago. I'm missing her party because we're traveling this weekend, but I wanted to get her card and gift to her before we left. The high school colors are pretty boring for a delightful young woman full of energy and enthusiasm, so I decided to use this week's camp colors to create a card for her.
For those of you in the class, you can easily see my inspiration from Kristina's card sketch and video. I wanted to try the faux stitching with the white gel pen, and was very pleased with how easy it was. It's something I'll use again for sure. Here's a peek at the inside:
We're in Hyde Park for the holiday weekend visiting my brother and nieces. Last night was the New Paltz fireworks display, and I hoped to have some awesome photos from it. We got there early, asked where the fireworks would be set off, and got the tripod and camera set up for a site beyond some trees in the distance. Imagine our surprise when the fireworks erupted right over our heads! It was an awesome display, but we were far too close for any great photos. One of my nieces works for a local credit union and had 3-D glasses for the fireworks. They were amazing, turning the fireworks into kaleidoscope displays. It was lots of fun, but I'll have to wait for another opportunity for my fireworks assignment in the Night Photography class.
Supplies:
Cardstock: Select White, Hawaiian Shores (PTI)
Patterned Paper: Lime Twist (MME)
Stamps: Wonderful Words Additions, Star Prints, For the Graduate (PTI)
Dies: Stars, Wonderful Words (PTI)
Pearls (Hero Arts)
Ink: Brilliance
Even though I was three months behind in recording my progress for OLW, it was easy to do. I keep records of all the cards and layouts I do as well as any crafty projects. My reading list at Shelfari is almost always up to date, and this little tag book is probably the best record-keeping device I've ever made.
We're now half-way through the year, and I have finished five of the twelve projects I listed in January. I have to admit that I don't have much enthusiasm for a couple of them, but perhaps I'll get motivated again come fall. One of my goals was to seriously limit the new classes and projects I took on. I've done reasonably well until June when I signed up for three new classes: Night Photography, Copic Coloring, and Summer Card Camp. Frankly, I don't regret signing up for any of these, as I'm enjoying all of them. But there's not time enough to do all I'd like to do for those classes to say nothing of getting going with the old ones! I've finally edited all the photos from our April/May trip, so I hope to get the Travel Album done by the time we leave on our next trip (just 3 1/2 weeks from now). I don't expect to make much progress on old projects until at least September.
Nonetheless, there have been quite a few accomplishments on other fronts, some of which I've recorded above. The biggest one is a fitness goal that just got established when I finally recovered from surgery and the sprained ankle. By the time all that was over, I had twelve pounds to lose (eight of them have been a constant battle for the last three years). I finally got really serious and I've lost 5.5 pounds in June, and Tracy and I've walked 53 miles! I've also starting a new weight lifting routine at the gym, focusing on upper body strenght. Considering the diet and the amount of exercise, I'd hoped to see a few more pounds go by the wayside, but I know the older you get, the harder it is to get that metabolism going!
No one ever told me how hard it would be to prioritize all the things you want to do in retirement! Maybe a few less hobbies and obligations would help, but there's nothing I'm willing to give up quite yet, so it will continue to be a balancing act.
I couldn't resist a summer card camp when so many of my favorite designers are among the contributors to the projects. We've already had three inspirational pdfs, and a video. This week's colors are so summery.
I may be back with another card later, but the rest of my day looks pretty busy, so I'll be making up time later. This morning I saw a great idea on Laurie's blog, and immediately thought that I could do a similar card with this week's colors. It's another Mehndi Medallion creation. I already love this stamp set!
I used the technique from the video to create a window card. The card in the video also included the sentiment on the front, but no matter what I tried, the sentiment took away from the medallion, so I finally decided to do without it.
Supplies:
Cardstock: Select White & Hawaiian Shores (PTI)
Stamps: Mendhi Medallion (PTI)
Impression Plate: Diamonds (PTI)
Copic Markers: R85, BG13, YR16, V06 & Sakura White Gelly Roll pen
Dimensional Adhesive
Two weeks ago, my friend and I went to Buffalo for the CKC Convention. Aside from taking a lot of photos of the layouts in the Studio Calico booth, I totally forgot to take pictures. Mary and I both took three classes. All of hers were card-making classes (and she loved them). I took one scrapbook class with Technique Tuesday and made two 2-page layouts using papers designed by Ali Edwards. I love both layouts, but haven't chosen the photos for them yet.
They use a color combination I love and I liked the papers so much I bought a pack of them, even though I had a few left from the class. The class moved right along, but it wasn't had to keep up.
The next class I took was a copic airbrushing class. I have a small airbrush set-up using the air cans, but I've always been a bit afraid to give it a try. We used the expensive air compressors in the class, but they demonstrated the can set-up so I'm sure I'll not have any trouble with it. The class was taught by instructors from Clear and Simple Stamps and we made three cards while practicing the airbrushing techniques.
For the card on the left, we airbrushed over a doily and then lifted it up to create the background. For the middle card, we airbrushed the ribbon tags, and for the last card we airbrushed with a glitter pen. Here's a close-up of that.
The last class I took was called Terrific Trends by Studio Calico, and it focused primarily on using the Mr. Huey mists. We created a title for a layout by putting down letter stickers, misting and then removing the letters. I liked the technique, but the papers and embellishments they used for the layout did not fit the photos I had taken, (This is frequently the case, and I've learned over time, to simply take the papers home with me so I can create a layout of my own.) Here's the layout I finished this morning.
Matt's ADD has always made it hard for him to read without taking his medication. He did really well in college, but when he's working he needs the meds in order to focus on the job. One of the side effects of the medication is being unable to sleep, so he hesitates to use any after noontime. Thus the amount of reading he's done since he graduated has been limited to newspapers and crossword puzzles. When we were in Denver we went to one of my favorite independent bookstores, The Tattered Cover. While we were browsing, Matt picked up this book, started to read, and started to chuckle. We bought the book and in just a day he had read nearly a third of it. It was too big a moment not to capture!
I used a Papertrey Ink die and some stamps from All Booked Up, a Jolee sticker and button from my stash, and some patterned papers I picked up at the convention from Simple Stories called Elementary.
In both the Copic Airbrushing class as well as Terrific Trends, we got a chance to color some embellishments. The ones on the left were airbrushed with Copic markers and the Wood Veneer stars from Studio Calico were sprayed with Mr. Huey mists. I know I'll find a great use for all of them before long.
All in all, it was a great convention. The vendor faire was a bit better this year and I got some lovely embellishment at the Melissa Francis booth, and picked up a few papers that were on my wish list. Another benefit of the classes is I came home with three new stamp sets as well as quite a few papers and embellishments from both Technique Tuesday and Studio Calico.
It's hard for me to believe that we've done 25 weeks at Project 64. This has been the one photography challenge that I've stuck with week by week. I'm so far behind in Picture Inspiration, I wonder if I'll ever catch up (although I do have a few photos to share for that as well this week.) Whenever I hear the word "goldenrod" I think of the years my husband suffered from hay fever. I think just the sight of goldenrod blooming along the road was enough to set off a spate of sneezing! It was a lot more fun to find goldenrod on our walks this week. This is a first, but these photos were all taken with my iPhone. We've been keeping track of our walks on a great little app called RunKeeper, so I always have my phone with me. I must admit our pace/mile suffers when I stop to capture a photo. But here's what we saw this week:
All the fire hydrants here are goldenrod. I was surprised to see hydrants painted other colors in area where we were traveling.
I decided I rather liked this blurry photo of the school bus going down the street. Last week was the final week of school here, so it would be much harder to find one this coming week.
These were captured in someone else's yard; ours are budded but not in bloom. You can see the water droplets on the leaves which I love. We've walked in the rain several days this week.
And, finally, coreopsis poking their heads through a fence in front of an apartment building. You can find more goldenrod at Project 64.
I got a preview copy of Papercraft's new special issue this week.
I was lucky enough to have two cards published in this issue. I've missed the last several submission calls, so it was fun to see themin print. Here are the two cards that were published.
Supplies:
Old-fashioned Hello
Cardstock: True Black, Select White (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Paper: Happy Spots (Papertrey Ink)
Stamps: Just Saying Hi (Hero Arts) & Fillable Frames #5 (Papertrey Ink)
Rickrack and black wire from stash
Sympathy Card:
Cardstock: Fine Linen & Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink)
Stamps: With Sympathy (Papertrey Ink)
Gems: A Muse Studios
Specialty Ink: Illuminate (Clearsnap)
It's the 25th of June already, and that means the Papertrey Blog Hop. This month's challenges was a color inspiration challenge.
All these beautiful colors inspired me to create a card with the new Mehndi Medallion stamps that arrived this week. I was also inspired by the design of the little bag I got as a bonus at the Clinque counter this week.
I started with the color palette from the Papertrey inspiration piece and pulled out a pile of Brilliance inks, most of which have a sheen to them which adds to the look of the card IRL. Then I used the design from the cosmetic bag, but rather than overlap the images I left some space between them and filled in with some of the smaller designs. The sentiment is from Botanical Silhouettes and I love how it just seemed to enhance the overall design of the card. So, finally, here's my interpretation of the two.
Cardstock: Select White, Pure Poppy & Orange Zest
Yes, I do scrapbook, but it sure seems to be sporadic. I still haven't edited all the photos from our trip and we've been home seven weeks. It's only four more weeks until we leave for Vancouver and Alaska! I did, however, get one photo from our trip scrapped for a Scrap-Mart blog post.
I love watching Sarah and Sadie interact. Sadie is the sweetest dog I've ever known, and she gets along with everyone. But she and Sarah have a special relationship.
I loved this Sassafrass Lass paper which came in a Studio Calico kit. The radiating lines prompted me to mat the photo on a circle from October Afternoon's Rocket Age line. I used some American Craft Thickers for the title along with October Afternoon and Cosmo Cricket letter stickers. The paper flower is from American Craft, and the border is the edge of the Sassafrass Lass paper.
I'm loving the Night Photography class with Kent Weakley. I've learned so much in just the first three lessons. Our first assignment was to take a photo during the Blue Hour–that time after sunset before true darkness. Here's a set of five photos I took the other night of the Rochester skyline with the time each photo was taken. The middle photo is the one I posted for the Blue Hour assignment.
Taken at 8:34 pm
Taken at 8:37 pm
Taken at 8:40 pm "The Blue Hour"
Taken at 8:46 pm (The sky is still very blue.)
Taken at 8:52 (The blue is fading. This shot was taken from the bridge instead of the park along the river.)
In the U.S., today is the day to celebrate dads. I'm biased, of course, but I think my kids have the absolutely best dad around. He's patient, kind, generous, intelligent, handy, and fun to be around. This year is the first year neither child was nearby for either Mother's Day or Father's Day. We hear from them, of course, but it does seem different.
We've already had a busy day. We took a longer walk than usual this morning, and clocked just about three miles. We've been to visit friends, the grocery store, the farmer's market, and to the garden to water our plants. In a bit, we're off to the pool with friends and will grab a bite to eat with them. Then we're off to the movies. The rest of the week looks equally busy, so although I have things to share, I'm not sure how much time there'll be for blogging.
Here are the two Father's Day cards I made this year. For Tracy on the left (based on the inside of a card by Betsy Veldman in a Card Creations magazine), and for his stepfather on the right.
Supplies:
Compass Card:
Cardstock: True Black and Kraft (Papertrey Ink)
Stamp: Father Knows Best (Papertrey Ink)
Computer generated sentiment (Lucinda Fax font)
Twine (Papertrey Ink)
Typewriter Card:
Cardstock: Select White (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Paper: 2008 Bitty Box Basics (Papertrey Ink)
Stamp: Office 101 (Clear Art Stamps & Framed (Papertrey Ink)
I needed three graduation cards this weekend, and was able to combine them with three different challenges. I used the same stamp set on all three, one reason why I love stamping. Just one set can give you quite different looks. The first card is for the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger and the Casual Friday color blocking challenge.
Here's the Tuesday Trigger called Rainbow Bright:
And the Casual Friday challenge:
And the first of the graduation cards:
And a peek at the inside:
The next card, for my nephew, is based on the CPS Sketch for this week.
And my card:
The last card is probably my favorite, and it's not for any challenge. I cut the card itself on the Silhouette, and then finished it off with my stamps and dies.
And the inside which holds a gift card. The message pulls out for a handwritten wish for the graduate.
I'm posting this late tonight instead of tomorrow morning because my friend and I are off to Buffalo early in the morning to the CKC Convention. I wasn't planning to attend, but Mary was interested in going, so it didn't take much to convince me. I'm taking one scrapbook course, one technique course, and one products-based course, all by companies that I admire. There'll be a recap in a few days!
Supplies:
Colorblock Card:
Cardstock: Pure Poppy, Hawaiian Shores, Summer Sunrise, Orange Zest (Papertrey Ink)
Stamp: For the Graduate (Papertrey Ink)
Die: Mat Stack 1 (Papertrey Ink)
Gems: Kaiser
CPS Card:
Cardstock: Terra Cotta Tile (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Paper: Road Trip (Papertrey Ink)
Die: Seeing Stars (Papertrey Ink)
Stamp: For the Graduate (Papertrey Ink)
Chamomile Tea Dye Ink (Papertrey Ink)
Gift Card Holder:
Silhouette
Cardstock: Summer Sunrise (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Paper: Lime Twist Out of the Blue (My Mind's Eye)
Stamp: For the Graduate & Big and Bold Wishes (Papertrey Ink)
Die: Seeing Stars & Fillable Frames #1 for the top of the inside sentiment (Papertrey Ink)
I love this week's color combination for CR84FN. I'm getting this challenge in just under the wire, but missed the Waltzing Mouse Sketch challenge by just an hour or so! Here's the color challenge:
And the sketch, even though it's too late for the challenge:
![WMSC51_thumb[1]](https://i0.wp.com/kbwalkerrandomreflections.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/post_1994_img_2.jpg?resize=240%2C240&ssl=1 "WMSC51_thumb[1]")
Here's the card. No one specifically in mind for this one, so it will go into the stash. I pulled out a thank you note and a sympathy card this morning and sent them on their way. It's good to have cards ready to go when you need them.
Supplies:
Cardstock: Select White (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned paper: A Muse
Dies: Labels Four (Spellbinders)
Butterflies: Prima
Gems: Reflections (Michaels)
Sakura Jelly Roll Clear Glitter pen (for butterflies' bodies; hard to see in the photograph)
I'm so honored to be a Guest Blogger at Project 64 today. You can find my captures for Olive Green here.