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Cards

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I had a card published in the most recent Cards magazine. I thought I'd share it here along with a few others none of which I've posted before. This is the card that was picked up for the Cards magazine. I subscribe
to the digital version and haven't received a hard copy yet, though a friend sent me a digital copy of the page.

SewSweet 

Cardstock: Terra Cotta Tile, Vintage Cream (Papertrey Ink); Patterned paper: Material Girl (Cosmo Cricket); Rub-on: American Craft; twill: Scenic Route; Tag punch cut to size.

Here are two birthday cards . . .

MakeLifeSweet 

Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned paper: Kioshi (Basic Grey); stamp: cupcake (Hero Arts) & sentiment (A Muse); Doily (Martha Stewart); silk ribbon (Ellen Huston); glitter pen (Copic); pearls (A Muse)

HappyBirthday

Cardstock: Bazzill; Chipboard flowers: Lily Bee; Doily: Martha Stewart; die: Ribbon Trio (Spellbinders); Patterned paper: Lily Bee; Button: Sassafrass Lass; stamp: Savvy.

A baby card . . .

BundleOfJoy 

Cardstock: Lavender Moon, Scarlet Jewel, & Vintage Cream  (Papertrey Ink); Patterned paper: Bitty Dots (Papertrey Ink) & Making Memories; pearls (A Muse); stamp: Baby Button Bits (Papertrey Ink); Nestability die: Labels Four; brad: Making Memories.

A "just because" card . . .

OctAftHi

Cardstock: American Craft; Patterned paper: Go Fly a Kite (October Afternoon); Slice Basics 2 and Calendar cartridges; button: Sassafrass Lass; twine from stash; DMC floss


And a get well card . . .

 

WishingYouSunshine
Cardstock: Hawaiian Shores (Papertrey Ink); Patterned paper and die cut: My Mind's Eye; stamp: Blooming Button Bits (Papertrey Ink); flowers: Prima; brad: Making Memories

Sunday Creative: Timeworn

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I've wanted to participate in the Sunday Creative challenge  ever since it started, but this is my first contribution. I've always liked this photo of the barbed wire, and it seemed perfect for the theme "timeworn." It also seemed like a good candidate for playing with textures. So here are three versions. I'd like to hear which of them you like best.

Timeworn1w
No editing here except to sharpen.

TimewornNutmegw
With Kim Klassen's new texture, "Nutmeg," with Soft Light at 100%.

TimewornNutmeg58%w
Same texture, at 58% Soft Light.

A Butterfly

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I woke up the other day and said to Tracy, "I had an idea for a card for Marcy. I should get up and make it." Here it is.

HelloFriend
But there's a story here, too. The same day I made this card my BIL posted a message on Caring Bridge that Mercy was pretty frustrated with her slow progress after extensive chemotherapy. Her blood count has been slow to recover as well as her energy, so she's still in the hospital. He told her she should think of herself as a butterfly still in the cocoon, building its strength for its later flight! Such serendipity doesn't happen often. I hope this card brightens her day!

Cardstock: Ripe Avocado & Vintage Cream (PTI), turquoise from stash; stamps: Turning a New Leaf, Birds of a Feather, & Butterfly Dreams (PTI); Twinkling H2Os were used to color the butterfly.

California Scrappin’

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I didn't take many photos the week I spent with Sarah, but I printed three of them the other night and got layouts done for all of them.

Ride?LO
I love Sadie, Sarah and Adam's dog. She LOVES to go for a ride in the car. Here she is as Adam and Sarah take me to the airport to fly home. All the papers and the tag are from Teresa Collin's new line "Freestyle." It was one of my favorites at CHA, and I couldn't wait to use them once they arrived this week.

PrettyFeetLo
I joined a scrapbook club again a month or two ago. It had been some time since I'd belonged to one and I decided on Scrapbook Circle. The cost/month is very reasonable, and so far I've been pleased with the variety of product that arrives. If I don't keep up with using it, I'm sure I'll give it up as I have a few others I've tried in the past. The background paper is old Scenic Route. I love the graph paper and bought a lot of it before they went out of business. The Paislee Press patterned paper, and Jenni Bowlin butterflies were from the kit. The alpha is a new one I picked up at CHA from American Craft, and I found the ribbon in my stash.

I always make my kids pose for photos when I'm with them. Adam took this shot of Sarah and me before we left for the airport. The title says it all.

PricelessLOw

The patterned paper is an older Collage Press line. Like the  Scenic Route I bought some extra when it was being discontinued. I have no idea where the fabric medallion came from, but the flower on top of it is from Maya Road. And the ribbon is from my stash. The small alph is October Afternoon and "priceless" is my fave–American Craft Thickers. I just noticed that the strips of patterned paper seem a bit crooked in the photo. Absolutely straight IRL. 🙂

Learn Something New

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Truthfully, I was a bit surprised when I pulled out my album for Learn Something New. I did know that I had done a few pages, and that I had participated more than once, but I was quite surprised to see that I made the title page in 2007! In three years, I had created just ten pages. Nonetheless, it was really interesting to see what I chose to include. So here's a little summary and three new pages for this year. I've been keeping a little list this year (although not as extensive as some of my friends, but I know I won't do a page a day. I am hoping to finish my little album this year, however, so that next year I can try a different kind of project. I've seen lots of interesting ones since class began.

LSNTitlePg
I actually prepared for class the first year. I chose papers from Crate Paper and coordinating cardstock. Fortunately I kept it all together in a folder so each year I've had the papers all ready for the new pages. And I still like them!

LSNAlbum1-2
The first page was about practicing with auto-exposure bracketing and continuous shooting. We'd gone to a balloon festival and it was a great place to try something new. Page two is about Matt's first day at Cornell. He'd had quite a rocky educational path, and this day was so important to him.

LSN3-4
I was still teaching full-time when I started this album and page three is about making time for creative pursuits. The next page was done the following year (my first year of retirement) and I was still struggling with issues of time and my never-ending lists of projects.

 

LSN5-6 

On September 6, 2008 I thought I had lost my purse, and this page was about making copies of every important card and piece of paper in your wallet. The next day's lesson was "Sometimes retail therapy is called for."


LSN7-8
Page eight "Like a duck, calm on top, paddling like crazy underneath." (Seems to be a theme here.) Page nine's lesson is that every shot doesn't need to be perfect or artistic. "A snapshot is OK with me."


LSN9-10
Page ten:  "Focus on progress." Still obsessing about time.

Here's the first page for 2010:


LSNFlowers
I love flowers and always have some on the kitchen table. Even in the dead of winter, we can get inexpensive flowers at the grocery store, but the ones from my garden are the best.


NewShoesLSN
These are my new hiking shoes, purchased after I discovered that my big toes were bruised from shoes that had become too short. (They fit fine a couple of years ago!)


LSNHipstamatic
And it's not a great photo, but it's my first with my iPhone and the Hipstamatic ap. It's also the first time I've ever printed directly from iPhoto, so I learned a couple of things yesterday.

Honored

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I've been trying desperately to catch up (and keep up) with my blog reading. With all my travels and the rearranging here at home, I got way behind. I've now caught up with all my blogging friends (though not all the photo and scrappy blogs), and I'm trying to stay current. Late last night, I found that Alexa had honored me with a blog award! And honored I am, especially when it came from a blogger whose posts are as beautiful and thoughtful as Alexa's.

There are some requirements associated with this award. First, thanks to Alexa. Next post the award:

CherryOnTop
Third, list three things you love about yourself. (I wonder why this is so much harder than listing three things you'd like to improve.) Nonetheless, here are three that come to mind: I am loyal, organized, and on time. Fourth, pass the award on to bloggers you love. Many, many of my blogging friends are already members of the Cherry on Top Club, but here are three that I love. If they've already received the award, a second nod is definitely in order. I have many other favorites, but know for a fact they've received this as well. And of course, I am neglecting many others whom I love as well. So with no further ado:

Kat–Her "Kat's Eye View" is filled with stunning photography as well as wonderful informational posts on                composition and other photography-related topics.

Amy–"Over At Our Place" showcases top-notch clean and simple scrapbooking and photography with lots                 of digital tips, but it's Amy's wonderful story-telling abilities that bring a smile to my face day after                 day.

Sharyn–Sharyn's blog title, "Living Arfully," aptly describes her photography and scrapbooking. All of it is a                     feast for the eyes.

And lastly, post a photography you love (that comes to mind right away). It's harder and harder these days to get a photo of both of my children at the same time. In March, we were all together for a drive from Anaheim to Livermore and I took this shot at dinner in Morro Bay. Two happy, productive adults—couldn't love them more.

SarahMatt

Camping at Filmore

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Tracy and I have been camping with our friends, Bob and Cathy, for many, many years. There used to be eight of us before our kids grew up. During the teenage years we began a long hiatus when all four of the kids had busy schedules of their own in the summer, but about eight or nine years ago we started getting together for a few days of camping each August. Next year, the four of us are booked for a cruise to Alaska, so there'll be no camping, but I'm quite sure we won't be complaining.

This was one of the first years in many that we had perfect (no rain) weather. It was a little hot, but we managed to spend the hottest hours on Monday doing some wine tasting on Cayuga Lake. The rest of the time we spent at Fillmore State Park. It's just east of Cayuga and south of Owasco Lake near Moravia. I had never been there before but it was a great spot.

Warning:  this is a heavy photographic post!

Campsite2w
This was our camping spot, and after the first night there were no other tent campers in the park, so we had the place to ourselves. There were a lot of trailers and RVs, but they were in a different section.

There's a lovely gorge and a 5 mile trail through the gorge which then loops up a ridge and circles back to the trail head. We hiked the trail early Monday morning before the heat got too intense.

Reflection1w

I always try to remember to turn around as we hike and look back. As we started up the trail I turned around and saw these wonderful reflections.

Reflection2w 

Reflection3w

One of Filmore's "claims to fame" is its waterfalls. They are lovely and so is the stream we walked along.

Bridgesw

Stream2w

Stream3w

Stream4w

Waterfall2w

Waterfall3w

Waterfall4w

Waterfallsw

I love the way the water falls here–back and forth.

And a few other favorite images from the park.

TrailFisheyew

All my photos on this trip were taken with my point and shoot which has a fisheye effect option which I used here.

Mushroomw

I really liked how this mushroom stood so straight and tall–and all alone–among the trees.

SunFlarew

Light was a problem all along the trail especially later as the sun rose in the sky. But I liked this shot with the sun streaming through the trees.

Fire2w

And you can't have a camping trip without a good fire to sit around. We cook our dinners over the open fire each night, and then sit around chatting and enjoying some good red wine.

Fire3w

It was a perfect way to end a beautiful summer. I can't believe Labor Day is upon us, but that certainly signals the end of summer for me.

Botanicals

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Last week was the final class for Botanical Drawing. I could have well been intimidated by my fellow classmates as many of them have been coming for years, and some of them are professional artists. Their work is stunning. Mine, however, slowly improved and because it was such a supportive environment, I'm planning on returning for the fall semester. No, there are no drawings on this post, although there are a couple I've been willing to share. What I do have are some photographs from a brunch our instructor had at her home the last week. Deb lives right on Lake Ontario and her gardens are spectacular. So here are some botanicals, photographic style.

Dahlia1w 

DahliaClose2w 

DahliaClosew
Deb's dahlias are huge and so beautiful.

Daisiesw

Hibiscusw

Podsw
I'd love to know what these are if anyone can identify them. I didn't ask or take notes which turned out to be a big mistake. I have several photographs of flowers I can't identify.

Rudbeckiaw 

Web2w

Here's a view of one of many gardens.

Gardensw

And the view from Deb's screened-in porch.

PorchVieww

And, finally, the beautiful table she set for our brunch.

Tablew

Notepads

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I was asked to create some notepads to be given as gifts. Since I don't know the recipients, I decided to make some extras so there would be some choice. I like having a few on hand myself. I'm not terribly happy with the photos for this post, but I'm still trying to figure out the best place in the new studio to take photos. I thought they were fine, took the notepads off to my friend, and then wished I had checked the photos more carefully. They were all taken in exactly the same spot with the same light, but it sure doesn't look that way. Here's a look at three of them.

3Notepadsw
And a close up view of the focal images on six of them. I had a lot of fun mixing up the stamp sets and finding images that would work with the sentiment stamps. I found a flower in Beautiful Blooms II, one of the labels in Vintage Labels, and a tag image in Tags for Spring that worked really well.  All the stamps are Papertrey Ink.

NotepadDetailCollage
Most of the papers are also Papertrey Ink. The first pad in this group uses Basic Grey "Kioshi" papers, and the last one uses Cosmos Cricket "Delovey" papers. All the buttons are Papertrey Ink, and the pearls/gems are from my stash.

Aside from trying to find the right light to take photos, the new studio is proving to be very efficient. I LOVE working in here. I have so much more work space and everything is so convenient. It's the perfect space for me. We're still finishing up the details. A new track lighting fixture arrived from Pottery Barn this week and needs to be installed. My fold-up Ikea table and printer's drawer need to be moved into the new space, and then I think we're done. Photos should be coming next week, I hope.

We're off to Filmore State Park this afternoon for our annual three days of camping with good friends. Our friends found this spot earlier this year, and I'm looking forward to a new place to explore.

Team-up Thursday: Old

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This week's prompt was "old" and Nancy and I both chose to photograph heirloom objects from our family. Mine is a watch that belonged to my grandmother. For quite a few years after I inherited it, it worked perfectly and I wore it occasionally. I was always afraid I would dent the case. The last time I had it repaired, it kept accurate time for only a brief time. I love the beautiful chain with the trio of opals. The Methodist Hymnal also belonged to my grandmother. She died before my parents were married so I never knew her. Her portraits make her appear to be a very stern woman, but my father was devoted to her so I imagine that she was more personable than her pictures make her appear.

The beaded bag in Nancy's photo dates from early 1900's,  the small gold watch from late 1800's and belonged to her grandmother, the paisley shawl was used as a throw on Nancy's grandparent's piano in the front parlor ( late 1800's), the doll still has her original wig and costume. It was given to Nancy's mother by her uncle when she was about six (1916ish). The canaries are Victorian and are housed in a glass dome which Nancy removed for the photo. Finally, the wind-up tin toy, called Ham and Sam. The toy was given to my mom and her brother (1910-1920). Ham and Sam jump up and down and clap their hands when the toy is wound up.

OldDiptychw

I ran Pioneer Woman's Heartland action on my photo and reduced the opacity to 37%.

Papertrey Blog Hop

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Bloghoplogo

It's been a couple of months since I've been able to participate in a Papertrey Ink Blog Hop. I always enjoy them and am glad to be around this month. Here's the August challenge:

PTIBlogHop 

This challenge was a lot of fun and I ended up making two different bags and a card to accompany one of them.

 

BagCardCombo

I placed the Beautiful Blooms dies inside the bag and ran them through my Cuttlebug and then layered the paper from Green Boutique and Library Ledger behind them. The buttons are all from the Holiday Mix collection, and I tied some button twine through each of them. The ribbon bow is Aqua Mist satin. For the card I used papers from the same collections on a Kraft card with Ripe Avocado mats. The Nestability label is Scrap-Mart's new Oval/Square which I cut and embossed, and added a sentiment from Friendship Jar Fall Fillers (which arrived in yesterday's mail). The felt flowers are cut with Hawaiian Shores and Vintage Cream felt. I inked all the edges of the cardstock and patterned papers with the Camomile Tea Dye. Here's a closer look at the bag and the card:

BagDetail

Card

I've wanted to try and make a pinwheel for ages. You need double-sided paper for this, and since Papertrey's papers are all single sided I used my Xyron to glue together two coordinating papers from Autumn Abundance. It makes for a thicker paper, but it worked just fine.

PinwheelBag
The stick and brad are from my stash. I purchased a package of these sticks years ago for another project. The sentiment is from Vintage Picnic Sentiments, one of my favorite Papertrey sets.

PinwheelClose 

Thanks for looking, and enjoy the blog hopping!

Babies!!!!

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Yes, that's right, it's plural. Sarah and Adam are expecting twins!! We've known for a while, but they didn't want anything to get out before they told their congregation yesterday. We are all very excited, but evidently twice the hormones equals more than one share of morning sickness. Thus my trip to California earlier this month. Although it's actually worse at night than in the morning, Sarah is beginning to feel a bit better. Hopefully, it will clear up soon as she has a busy schedule this fall taking two classes at Berkeley and teaching one at San Francisco Seminary. We are so excited for them and for us!!!

Early this morning I thought there'd be a bouquet of balloons gracing this post. I looked out our window about 3 am and saw a huge bouquet of balloons tied to one of our yard decorations in the front. Sadly, the wind and rain blew half of them away by the time it was light, although I did rescue the second bunch from the driveway. I think I know who the balloon ladies are, but if there was a note, it also disappeared. 

On another front, the studio move is nearly complete. There is just one large and one small job left to do, but I am in my new space (photos later when it's all done) and loving it. It feels very extravagant to have such a beautiful, large space just for me. Matt says the change makes so much better use of the space, and I think he's right. The little room where I've worked for the last 7-8 years really looks tiny now that I'm out of there. We need to paint that room, and buy a bookcase and perhaps, a small coffee table and then we'll be done. Everything is put away for now.

Neither of my hutches from the old desk worked on the new one, so I had more organizing and purging to do over the weekend. Everything has a home now, and there's still way too much stuff for one crafter. I'd love to have you come over and share!

Here's the last of the cards I made before the move. (You can't have a post without some photos!) The first one is a definite lift of a card I saw on Dawn McVey's blog last week and just had to copy.

BDCard
Cardstock: Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink); patterned paper: Turning a New Leaf  & Bitty Dot Basics (Papertrey Ink); ribbon: Ripe Avocado (Papertrey Ink); doily: Martha Stewart; stamps: Take Three: Summer  (Papertrey Ink); flowers & brad from stash.

Love
Cardstock: ColorMates (WorldWin) & Bazzill; patterned paper: Basics & Kioshi (Basic Grey); stamp: Scenic Route; gems: Kaiser; Nestability Heart (Spellbinders)

Team-up Thursday: BIG

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This week's prompt is big, and it's no surprise that I chose a tomato to photograph. We planted four heirloom tomato plants and the fruit is huge! It amazes me that the tomatoes manage to hang onto the plant. Nancy found these incredible bales of hay in Yates County this week. Makes for an interesting pair, although I wish I had thought to have a frame of reference for the tomato as Nancy has for the bales of hay. I guess you'll have to take my word for it.

BIG

Tomatoes and Moving

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I feel like my life is consumed by tomatoes and moving. Little by little we're getting my studio moved to the bigger space. We've just about done as much as we can now until the desk and new lateral file cabinet arrive,. Hopefully tomorrow, more likely on Friday. I found new valences for the studio, and like the pattern, but they need to be shortened. For now I've left them up and will take care of it when the rest is done. I think I have everything I need for the studio, but I'm quite sure we're going to need a bookcase and perhaps a table for the den. It's so hard to tell until my current desk is out of there. I'm hoping the hutches on the current desk will fit and look OK on the new one. The hutch that could have been ordered with the new desk was too wide for the wall space I have.

As for tomatoes, we picked another 17 pounds yesterday and canned more sauce today. Tomorrow we'll need to go back to the garden again, and I'm going to try another batch of salsa–a little milder this time.

Saucew

When I went out on the patio to take a photo for tomorrow's Team-up Thursday post, I saw that our hibiscus was blooming again. It's such a beautiful plant and blooms pretty continuously all summer.

Hibiscusw

I did get a layout completed today, but haven't had a chance to photograph it. But here are a couple of cards that I haven't posted. The first is for a friend whose husband passed away recently.

Sympathy 

Cardstock: WorldWin Colormates; stamps: "With Sympathy" Papertrey Ink; ribbon: Impress; gem: Michaels; ink: Encore Metallic

And a real quickie for the card box:

SuperStar
Cardstock: Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink); patterned paper: Basics Manila (Basic Grey); stamp: "Star Prints" (Papertrey Ink); stars: Small Details (Basic Grey)

Classes & Cards

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There are two free classes going on right now. I've been reading the posts and downloading the pdfs, but haven't had time to participate yet. Both are very worthwhile, so if you're not aware of them it's worth checking them out. The first is at Big Picture Scrapbooking and is called the Festival of Ideas. Each day a new lesson is posted by one of their instructors and there have been a couple of great projects. You can still register and all the lessons are archived.

Bigideafestival 

The second is a free class on journaling at Elle's Studio. Like Festival of Ideas, each day brings a new instructor with ideas and beautiful samples of their work. Ali Edwards, Lisa Dickenson, and Christine Middlecamp are just three of the people who have posted lessons so far. This is a three week course and there's a link on the sidebar so you can access just the posts for the course.

Logo

Once I get into my new space, I hope to get some work done based on both these classes and the weekend crop at Shimelle's which I totally missed.

I do have a few cards to share that I created before all the craziness began. One of my dear friends is having surgery on Monday, and I was glad that I had this card on hand.

Recovered
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink & scraps from scrap files; patterned paper: A Muse; stamps: Papertrey Ink; gems: Kaiser 

This card will soon be off to a friend who is undergoing chemo. I'm trying to get a card off to her every few days. She's doing remarkably well, and her spirits and sense of humor have not been diminished by this ordeal.

4You
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink; patterned paper: Jillibean; vinyl alpha: American Craft Thickers; gems: unknown

Friend

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink; patterned paper: "Early Bird" Cosmos Cricket; stamp "In Bloom" Papertrey Ink, rickrack from stash; gems: A Muse Creative Candy