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Papertrey April Blog Hop

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Bloghoplogo

I don't typically post twice in one day, but I totally forgot about the blog hop until this morning. Since my April order arrived on Friday, it was the perfect opportunity to break out the new stamps. This month's release and the theme of the blog hop is masculine cards. I didn't order many of the new stamp sets, but I did love the Out of This World stamps, and knew I could use them for a variety of occasions.

OutofWorldPTIBlogHop

I was pleased to discover the sentiment I wanted to use fit inside the larger cloud die. All the product in this card is Papertrey Ink except for the cardstock (Bazzill), the patterned paper (October Afternoon), and the Twinkle Stars (A Muse Creative Candy).

Anniversary Wishes

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I've been trying to complete all the cards I need for the many birthdays and anniversaries of friends and family that occur in May. The last two I needed to do were for anniversaries, and both cards meet the challenge at Mark's Finest Paper where the challenge is to create an anniversary card. The first is based on the Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge so I'm posting it there as well.

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AnniversaryWMS

The cardstock is Simply Chartruese (Papertrey Ink) and a pale yellow (looks cream here) by Memory Box. The bottom half is embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder (I think it's called Snow Flowers). The stamps are Very Vintage Labels 4 by Waltzing Mouse Stamps and the greeting is from Fillable Frames #4 (Papertrey Ink). The ribbon is Simply Chartreuse. the pearls are Reflections (Michaels), and the heart pin came in a Scrapbook Circle kit.

Anniversary1

This card was based on a simply beautiful card I found here by Heather Jensen. I love the Sending You stamps and dies (Papertrey) and used the same cardstock and ribbon that was lying on my desk from the previous card. The patterned papers are DeLovely by Cosmo Cricket, and the sentiment is the same as above as well. The leaves are a Sizzix die "Branch with Leaves" which I cut into two pieces. I have all the May cards addressed and in my bag to mail at the appropriate times when we're on our trip.

 

Happy Easter

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After a beautiful service at our church (always totally uplifting) we'll be headed to my brother- and sister-in-law's for Easter dinner and a celebration of Bill's 90th birthday. I think there are 14-15 people scheduled to attend. This will Matt's last dinner with us before he heads to Colorado on Monday. I expect to have more than a few mixed-emotions today and tomorrow!

Here's an Easter project I did for the Scrap-Mart blog. I love these Quickutz fry boxes and they make a perfect home for a little bag of jelly beans.

Boxes&Card

The patterned papers are all Jillibean Soup and just perfect for Easter. I cut the bunny and the grass with my Silhouette. A Lacey Circle and Small Circles (Spellbinder's Nestabilities) made a perfect home for the Papertrey Ink sentiment on the card. I used some Fun Flock on the bunnies' ears and on their tails. The tag is a Papertrey Ink die.

If you celebrate Easter, I hope it's with family and friends and that the day is a joyous one!

Spellbinders’ Week at Scrap-Mart

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This week was Spellbinders' Week on the Scrap-Mart Blog and I thought I would repost my contribution here. No week goes by without my using one (or many) of my Spellbinders dies. It's a rare card that leaves my studio without a mat or message cut and embossed with a Spellbinders' die. I'm lucky enough to have a Grand Calibur and a few of the Grand Nestability dies. They're great for scrapbooking, but my favorite use is to create a shaped card base with them. This time I used the largest die from the Grand Nestability Labels Four and created a tri-fold card.

SpellbindersDaffodils

After folding the two sides in, I cut and embossed a lighter shade of green and trimmed it to fit the inside center of the card. Using a third shade of green I cut a Lacey Circle and then a Large Nestability Circle from cream cardstock for the sentiment and focal point. The daffodils are from the Heartfelt Creations "Daffodils" set which I colored with Copic Sketch markers. The sentiment is also from Heartfelt Creations, the "Classic Message" set. The sentiment is stamped with Quick Quotes chalk inks. I used half of a velcro circle to close the card.

Scrapbook On The Road

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On a whim, I purchased Ali Edward's class "Scrapbook on the Road," and set up an album to take with me on our next trip. I've never tried to scrap on the road, but I'm anxious to give it a try, and this looks totally doable. Although Ali assembled all of her scrapbook ahead of time, I decided to create the pages and take a small bag of embellishments and journaling cards with me. This way I can choose what size page I need and can decide whether or not I need an envelope or how big a journaling card each day warrants. I used the Spellbinders Creative Book Pages dies again for this album which, once again, seem just perfect. I plan to bind the book with my Bind-it All when it's finished.

Cover

The covers were cut from plain chipboard (run through the Grand Calibur twice) and painted with Heidi Swapp paint after I adhered the Doodlebug Stickers to the front. I painted a Technique Tuesday arrow and adhered it to the cover as well.

InsideCovers

Rather than paint the inside covers, I lined them with Chatterbox patterned papers that have been in my stash for years. The embellishments are a scrap of paper by Simple Stories from a page I cut for the album, and a phrase sticker from Little Yellow Bicycle. On the back inside cover is a Studio Calico Journaling Card and two stickers from Little Yellow Bicycle.

Itinerary

This is one of very few completed pages (except for filling in the calendar). The Itinerary card and word fetti stickers are Little Yellow Bicycle, the camera stamp is from October Afternoon, and the three title stamps are all Studio Calico.

MemorabiliaPocket

When I was going through my stash to look for supplies, I found these pocket envelopes from an old Lisa Bearnson kit. I knew they'd come in handy some day! The journaling card is from October afternoon and I covered the image on the card with an SEI sticker. The patterned paper is Studio Calico.

Snapshots

Another pocket envelope from the same kit and Side B of a beautiful cloud paper from this month's Studio Calico kit.

TagsSideA

A page made from three tags glued to a piece of patterned paper.

TagsSideB

The flip side.

TransparencyOverMap

A piece of Clearly Creative cardstock (Papertrey Ink) with a Hambly rub on. I'll probably leave the page with the map behind it. I think it's also a Studio Calico paper, but I'm not sure.

PagesSize1

These are the largest pages, most cut from Rustic White cardstock by Papertrey Ink. They're about 6 1/2 by 7 inches.

SamplePPpages

SamplePPwithjournaling

There are also a set of pages the same size as the transparency page, about 6 X 6. I think these are all Studio Calico papers, and the journaling card is from the Lisa Bearnson kit.

PagesSize2

This is the third size page, about 5 X 5 1/2 inches. There are also a few pages that are about 3 1/2 X 3 1/2. The Creative Book Pages dies also have two smaller dies which I will probably use for dividers once I get home.

SuppliesToGo

I'm not taking the album covers with me, but I have the pages tucked into a plastic baggie as well as these two little bags of embellishments and supplies. I hope to pick up a pile of memorabilia to add to the book as I go. I know I'll take many more photos than I can possibly use in a scrapbook this size, but I have a nice album given to me by my last class that will work wonderfully for the photos, and I won't have to spend much time when I get home trying to recreate our road trip. This really came together quickly, just an afternoon and part of an evening. Painting the covers definitely was the hardest part for me.

 

 

Team-up Thursday: Yellow & Kim’s Texture Link-up

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Teamup

Nancy and I are back again with a Team-Up Thursday diptych. This week's theme was yellow, and we both went for flowers. Neither of us took them outside in Rochester, though, as it was still snowing here this morning. We've gotten lots of rain and several days of snow showers recently. Fortunately, not enough to cover the ground, but still . . . it's April!!! Mine (on the left) was taken at the Highland Park Conservatory and Nancy was lucky enough to visit Longwood Gardens outside of Philadelphia on her recent trip.

YellowDiptych

I'm playing along with Kim Klassen's texture link-up again this week. Playing with textures always seems to end up low on the list of thing to do, so this is a good incentive.

PinkHydrangeasTexturew

I actually used the recipe Kim listed on her blog last week for this:  Silence/Soft Light at 100% opacity, SweeTreat/Soft Light at 100% opacity, and a very slight adjustment to the midtones in Levels.  Here's the original. The texture seems to do more to the saturation of the image than anything else. Just a softer look.

PinkHydrangeasw

90 Sensational Years

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Today is Tracy's stepfather's 90th birthday. We're celebrating Bill's birthday on Easter when we'll all be together at Tracy's brother's. We decided to make a donation to his favorite charity for his birthday since he doesn't want any gifts. I was appointed to make the family birthday card, but I already had it done. I love this Papertrey Ink set and the number dies. They work for nearly any birthday. It's safe to post the card today as Bill definitely does not read my blog!

90SensationalYears

Cardstock: Fine Linen, Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink); Patterned Paper: Turning a New Leaf (Papertrey Ink) & Conservatory (7 Gypsies); Stamps: Big Birthday Wishes (Papertrey Ink); Dies: By the Number (Papertrey Ink)

The Home Album

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I've been working on our Home Album this week and finished five layouts about a little house we lived in for just a year. It was fun to look through the photos (we moved from there nearly 26 years ago) and see what items of furniture we still have (quite a bit), what art work is still hanging on our walls (not much), and how very young Sarah and Matt were. I know we have a photo of the outside of this house, but I can't put my hands on it, so the first page is a photo-less page. Should I ever find it, I'll add it to the page.

IntroPage
Cardstock: unknown (green–would love to find more of it) & Light Totally Tan (Worldwin), Patterned Paper: "Honey I'm Home" (Bella Blvd); chipboard house (Maya Road) inked with Tim Holtz's Distress Stains (love these!); Stamps: "Home is Where the Heart Is" (Technique Tuesday), Faux Ribbon & Banner Builder (Papertrey Ink).

LivingRoom:Den

Cardstock: Bazzill (cream) & light blue from stash; Patterned Paper: Bo Bunny; Stamps: "Love Lives Here" (Papertrey Ink); Brads: Making Memories; Dies: Grommet Tags & Happy Everything (Spellbinders) and Butterfly (Papertrey Ink)

KitchenDining

Patterned Paper: "Abode" (American Craft); Tiny Tags die (Papertrey Ink), Stamps: "Bitty Background Blocks;" Antique Linen Distress Ink, and twine (Papertrey)

MasterBedroom

Patterned paper: "So Sophie" (My Minds Eye); Cardstock: Medium Heritage Gray (World Win); Silhouette (for the title); Flowers: Recollections (MIchaels)

KidsRooms

Patterned paper: Mia Collection (Crate Paper), "Wander" (Basic Grey) & Dude Collection (Prima Marketing); Chipboard Alpha: Cosmo Cricket

Project 64: Magenta

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Project64

This week's color is magenta:

  Photo-751112

Due to some medical issues and rainy, cold spring weather, I wasn't out to take photos this week. I own exactly ONE item that is magenta–a sweater set. Since Brooke threw down the challenge to take this week's photos with your phone, I took her up on it. I have a variety of camera apps on my iPhone, and truthfully don't know much about any of them. But here's a collage of some of the ones I took of my sweater using several different apps. The apps sometimes change the color of the object, but the middle photo shows that the sweater's a pretty good match.

MagentaCollage

If you're here looking for the Alphanumeric Blog Hop, just scroll down one post.

The Alphanumeric Blog Hop

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Alphanumeric hop badge

Welcome to the Alphanumeric Blog Hop hosted by the fabulous Mel! You should have arrived here from the beautiful Peonies and Pennies.

TopTenTiles

It’s easy to see what number I drew. I thought it would be fun to share three Top Ten Lists.

First of all Ten Great Reads. I loved all of these books. It’s a mix of fiction and nonfiction. Hopefully some will be new to you, and worth adding to your “To Read” list.

Top Ten Reads

This I Believe

Undaunted Courage

The Happiness Project

People of the Book

True Notebooks

Intuition

Water for Elephants

Bel Canto

Three Cups of Tea

(Our local paper featured an article yesterday saying 60 Minutes would be showing a segment disputing the claims made in this book and the sequel, "Turning Stones into Schools." I hope they’re wrong. This was a really inspirational read.)

Into the Beautiful North

(I recently heard Luis Urrea speak, and he was one of the most engaging speakers I've heard in quite a few years. I thought his book was equally engaging, and he was an author I had not heard of before.)

It’s been a few years since I did a “things I love” scrapbook page, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to make a new one. It’s interesting how things have changed since my last one. The car and the computer are a bit newer, but essentially the same, but my camera and cell phone are much improved and many items on the list didn’t even exist when I did my last one. You can see that I kept the list to things. There’ll all things that make each day more interesting or much easier. If you click on the layout, you'll be able to read the journaling.

TopTenLO
The background paper is Scenic Route, the photo template by Kitty Designs, the small patterned papers by Collage Press and October Afternoon, and the two stickers from Echo Park’s For the Record.

And finally, a list of Ten Great Cardmaking Blogs, for although I love photography and scrapbooking, at heart I’m first and foremost a card maker. If you’re ever looking for inspiration for creating a card, you can usually find it somewhere on one of these blogs. They embrace every style from Clean and Simple to totally Vintage and Shabby Chic.

Ten Great Blogs by Card Makers

My Paper Secret

Inspired By

Jennifer McGuire Ink

Capture the Moment

Simply Stamped

Thinking Inking

Paper, Scissors, and Superheroes

Lime Doodle

Just Made From Paper

Lily Bean's Paperie

Thanks for stopping by. You should be off now to Carrie’s “Rosalind Revival,” and I know you’ll have a great time there. And in case you're lost in this wonderful hop, here's a complete list of the blogs in the hop.

I Speak Melsh
BE Glorious
Captured On Film
Chatty Crafty Arty Pig
Creating Room
Curiouser and Curiouser
Daily Life – Bits and Pieces
 Deb's World Den's Crafty Diary
 From High In The Sky
Gallo Organico
Ginger's Life Of Spice
 Handmade By Kirsty
 Havoc and Mayhem
 Heather's Scraps
 Helena's Creative Maven
 Holaday's Happy Hearts
Jeant-Jinnag
Just Jimjams
 K's Crafty Corner
 Life…As I See It
 {Life Behind The Purple Door}
 Lisa E Design Blog
 Living Life One Blessing At A Time
Mary's Musings
 Michelle Loves…
 Obstinate Pursuit
 Over At Our Place
Paper Turtle
 Peonies and Pennies
 Random Reflections
Rosalind Revival
Scrap Dreams
 Scrappyjacky
 Scrapworthy Lives
Staring At The Sea
 Surefiredaisy Says
 This Kalil Life
This Little Life Of Mine
Xnomads' Blog

Make-It Monday 10

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Make-itMonday

This week's challenge at Papertrey Ink was to use a die as a mask. It's not something I think to do often and it took me the better part of the week to come up with an idea. I ended up liking the card quite a bit, and think I'll try the technique more often. It occurs to me that this also fits the challenge for a collage card at Mark's Finest Papers.

 

MIMDressForm

I'm in love with these beautiful "Butterfly Garden" papers by Pinkpaislee which I stitched around and adhered to a piece of Sweet Blush cardstock. I cut a mask with the dress form die and inked it twice, overlapping the images. I used Tim Holtz's Distress Inks, "Antique Linen" and "Milled Lavendar" on the first, and "Broken China" on the second. Then I die cut another dress form from the patterned paper and layered it on top inking around the edges with "Broken China Distress Ink". The buttons and silk ribbon are from Papertrey as is the "Tiny Tag" with the sentiment.

Card Patterns Challenge and a Heads Up!

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I really enjoy sketch challenges. They give you a direction, but don't dictate too much. Once I saw the current sketch challenge on Card Patterns I knew what I wanted for the focal image, and I knew I wanted to use my new paper pad "Butterfly Garden" by Pinkpaislee. I love the soft colors and they just say "spring" to me. Here's the sketch:

Sketch110

And here's my take on it:

CardPatterns110

The focal image is from the Delightful Dahlias set by Papertrey. I colored it with Copic markers on the new X-Press Blending cardstock that Copic put out this year. I love this paper for coloring; it's very smooth, very white, and the colors blend beautifully. I'll be keeping a folder of it in my drawer. I stamped some text on the patterned paper cut from the Big Scalloped Circles die by Spellbinders with Background Basics: Text Style (Papertrey), stitched the patterned papers together and cut the scallop with Papertrey's medium scallop border punch. The gingham ribbon is from my stash.

And a head's up! This Sunday the fabulous Mel is hosting a blog hop! Be sure to come back and check it out.

Alphanumeric hop badge

I'm off with a friend tonight to hear Alice Hoffman speak. I love her novel "Story Sisters," despite the fact that magical realism as a genre has never appealed to me. Nonetheless, I had a hard time putting the book down, and I'm anxious to hear her.

Emboss Resist–A Challenge Card

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I just recently discovered the challenges at Mark's Finest Papers. This week's challenge is to use the emboss resist technique. It's been a long time since I used this technique, but on Monday I purchased a few bottles of Tim Holtz's Distress Stains and thought it would be fun to try them. The card came together really quickly.

EmbossResist

I started by stamping the floral image from Unity's Insightful Meadows with Top Boss ink and embossing it with clear embossing powder. Then I applied Antique Linen Distress Ink, but wanted more color. Fired Brick certainly solved that problem! I tore the sides of the image and adhered it to a card made from Fine Linen (Papertrey Ink). The sentiment is also from Insightful Meadows. I hand cut it and used Papertrey Ink's Chamomile Tea Dye ink to distress it before adhering it with dimensional adhesive.

Project 64: Burnt Sienna

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Project64

This week's color was Burnt Sienna.

Wk14 april 4_10_Burnt Siena

Brooke added another challenge to create a diptych this week. I found quite a bit of Burnt Sienna right here at home, but for my diptych I chose to use these two photos of a bridge crossing the Erie Canal.

BridgeDiptych

Here are the photos from around the house:

Clothespinsw

Clothespins from a vintage shop that I keep in my studio.

DecorativePlatew

A wooden "plate" from Guatemala given to my husband by our daughter. It hangs over his dresser.

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A duck decoy that sits on top of our media center in the den.

Drawerw

My bedside table drawer.

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A painting given to me by Sarah that hangs in my studio. The frame is also close to Burnt Sienna, but didn't photograph particularly well.

I'm trying to figure out how to participate in this challenge while we're on vacation. I know better than to take my box of crayons which will surely melt in the Arizona heat. I suppose I can try to guess the color by the posted prompt and the first few examples posted on the site, or I can do catch-up when I get back. None of those choices really appeal to me, however. I like carrying my crayon around; it's become a habit.

 

Picture Inspiration: Weeks 6 & 7

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The last two prompts for Picture Inspiration have dealt with reflection. Week 6 was "Seeing Double" and the task was to capture both an object and its reflection. I looked all week and never found anything despite the fact that I had my friends looking for me as well while we were in Canada that week. Finally, right before the end of the week, I took the situation into my own hands. Tracy had a piece of glass that had been cut to replace a cracked one in our window. I put one of my favorite vintage cameras on it and put it on the lateral file in my studio.

SeeingDoublew

This week's prompt was "The Shape of Surprise" and we were looking for unexpected reflections. I found several. Tracy recently purchased an iPad and I had it on my lap trying to look up some information while he was driving. The reflection through my sun roof was so strong, I couldn't read the iPad, but I did get this photo. I like that you can see a bit of the text from the iPad as well as the reflection.

IPadw

This afternoon I was out and about. I stopped at a little park on the Erie Canal outside Palmyra, NY. There's an old bridge, the remains of a lock, and a brightly painted little house that must be used for some kind of maintenence.

House&Treesw

Just for fun, here are couple more from the canal.

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Treesw

But my favorite image is one I dragged out of the archives. I took this a couple of years ago in Vermont. I'd gotten out of the van to take some photos and as I walked back to the car, this is what I saw.

Vanw

So much beautiful fall color. It's finally beginning to feel like spring here, but it hasn't been warm enough, long enough for the trees to bud or the daffodils to bloom. I'm hoping by the end of the week, there'll be some color in my photos again.