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Photowalk #14: Highland Park

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Tracy and I managed to get to the park late last week before the rains came. We expected to see forsythia . . .

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I’m not sure what kind of flowering bush this is. Highland Park is very good at identifying their plants with small signs, but we couldn’t find any indication of what this might be.

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The big surprise of the walk was finding the early magnolias in bud and in bloom. 

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I’ve been playing with the portrait mode on my iPhone recently, and love the blurred effect you can get. The trick is remembering the aspect ratio on the native app is not 4X6, so if you aren’t careful you end up having to crop more than you want. I’m used to filling the frame with the composition I want, so this is taking some practice.

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Magnolias are among my favorites this time of year. We had warm, sunny temperatures again yesterday, so I’m guessing even more has burst out since Friday. You can see an increase in green every day now. I love the first days of spring!

Seize the Birthday: Anything Goes

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I haven’t spent much time at the crafting table this week, but I did get a few cards made for upcoming birthday for some little ones. In May, both my grand-nephews have birthdays. (And both are named Finn! One on my side of the family, and one on Tracy’s.) I made identical cards for them.

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I love the Simon Says “Picture Book Love Bear” die. It takes several runs through the die cutting machine. In this case the body in kraft cardstock, and scraps for the tummy and nose, the inside of the ears, the eyes and nose, and the little red heart. I started by running the Reverse Confetti “Stitched Rays” cover through the die cutting machine in Bright Buttercup. Then I die cut a circle from that. After sponging some Altenew “Sea Glass” ink on the white card underneath, I assembled the little bear just below the circle on the white card.

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Then I used two Spellbinder circle dies to cut a frame from Aqua Mist cardstock to frame him. The sentiment from MFT “Birthday Bears” was white embossed on black cardstock, and added to the front of the card. I think it makes for a bright and cheery card! I’m posting this to the Seize the Birthday Challenge: Anything Goes just under the wire.

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Happy Easter!

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There are many joys to having grandchildren, but having an excuse to create cards and goodies for the holidays is certainly one of them. I left the goodies for Caleb and Hannah with Sarah when we visited in March, and then sent their cards through the mail, since getting mail is always a good thing!

Thanks to a friend, I had the use of Papertrey Ink’s “Huggable Bunny and Chick” mini stamp and die set. I chose the chick for Hannah.

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Creating these cuties requires die cutting many pieces and fitting them altogether. The little chickie requires no stamping. I die cut her bow from a scrap of patterned paper. After die cutting Altenew’s “Gradient Stripe” from Raspberry Fizz cardstock, I glued it to a Harvest Gold top-folded card. I stamped the greeting in Raspberry Fizz with a sentiment from Simon Says’ “Some Bunny” set. 

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Although it doesn’t show in the photo, I added some Wink of Stella Glitter to one of the “stripes” on the die cut eggs.

Caleb got the bunny.

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Same process, same design except New Leaf cardstock for the Altenew die and Orange Zest for the card. The sentiment on his card came from Papertrey Ink’s “Bunny Basket.” 

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I love all the detail on the bunny, the heart shaped die for his paw, the details on the carrot dies, and his cute face which was stamped before putting the bunny together.

I asked Skylar which she preferred: a bunny or a chick? She voted for a bunny so all three girls will get bunny boxes. It’s important, at least for now, for everything to be the same. They still enjoy having matching outfits, although that’s getting harder to find the correct sizes now that they are older.

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I’ve always loved these clear boxes by Reverse Confetti, and the die that creates the insert. (Which I now see is behind one of the treats!) Fortunately, I’m writing this a day early so it can be fixed before tomorrow morning!)

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The boxes actually hold quite a bit. There are glitter markers, temporary tatoos, little bags of treats, a chicken lip gloss, and a couple of games included. They’ll each get a spiral-bound coloring book as well, which was too big to put in the box. The inserts were all die cut from Papertrey Ink patterned paper which I think is no longer available. The tags are die cut with one of Papertrey Ink’s “Tremendous Tags,” and the sentiment came with the Bunny and Chick stamp set.

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I applied Spectrum Noir glitter to the whole egg for the bunny boxes which you can see here. 

The girls will get their Bunny Boxes tomorrow morning when we go down to join them for the Easter egg hunt. Like last year, it’s sure to be inside as it’s turned quite chilly, and we’ve had substantial rain the last two days. Even if the sun comes out, the yard will be way too wet for a hunt.

If you celebrate Easter, I hope you have a great day. We’ll head to the second service after the Easter egg hunt, and then head to Tracy’s brother’s for Easter dinner in the afternoon. It’s likely to be a full day.

I’m entering one of the bunny boxes in The Card Concept: Spring Celebration. 

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The gray, white, and pink combo is just right as is the bunny!

And also in the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge where the mood board also features many of the same colors, and a cute little bunny.

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Take Three Thursday: Signs of Spring

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A quick post to join Mary-Lou at Patio Postcards for her Take Three meme. A walk around our yard just now produced a few photos of signs of spring. We live in an old neighborhood with lots of trees so some places are much farther along than we are. I have some daffodils on the dining room table that bloomed on our back hill, but the ones in the front yard are just beginning to open up as our house faces north and doesn’t get sun until late afternoon right now. 

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These pretty blue flowers are one of the first to bloom, and there is a carpet of them just below the patio.

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We’re probably a month or more away from seeing the peonies in bloom, but I was happy to see them poking through the soil.

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The hellebores is in full bloom. I have a dish of floating blooms on the coffee table.

Hoping to get a walk through the park before the rains come, but for now I’m happy to see signs of spring in the yard.

 

Photowalk #13: Washington, D.C.

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On Monday morning, after attending workshops and plenary sessions on advocacy for three days, we were assigned times to meet with legislative aides for our senators and Congressmen. The New York delegation met with Kirsten Gillibrand’s aide after a prayer meeting at the Methodist House near the Capitol. Then we met with Joe Morrelle’s aide. Our meetings were timed too closely for us to join the NY delegation at Chuck Shumer’s office. We had met and planned our visits on Sunday afternoon, so were well-prepared to talk on two issues: voting rights and the Global Fragility Act. Both the conference and the advocacy meetings on Monday were fascinating and very informative. I have pages of notes to transcribe and digest!

As we walked from Union Station where we parked to our various meetings, I had time to get some photos of some of the landmarks as well as the beautiful spring flowers and trees.

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The Capitol

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Two views of the Supreme Court

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          Thanks to Krista’s comment, I now know this is the Columbus Fountain in front of Union Station. 

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Two takes on the beautiful magnolias.

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And the happy daffodils!

The next two photos were not part of the photowalk, but taken at the New York Ave. Presbyterian Church on Friday during the Compassion, Peace, and Justice Day conference. I thought you might be interested in them as well. Abraham Lincoln worshiped at this church, and when they replaced the pews, they saved and installed the pew where he sat. The rest of the pews are white, but this one is dark brown.

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Upstairs there is the Abraham Lincoln stained glass window.

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It’s taken me the better part of the week since we arrived home, to get well rested and back in a good routine, but I would definitely go to both the Compassion, Peace, and Justice Day as well as Ecumenical Advocacy Days again if I had the opportunity.

 

The Card Concept: Cottage Florals and CAS on Friday: Spring

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I love this inspiration photo for the current Card Concept Challenge:

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Rather than poppies, I have some lovely peonies to offer. 

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Once again, the lovely image from Papertrey Ink was watercolored with the Altenew 36 pan watercolor set.

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The sentiment is from my favorite, “Penned Elegance” by Papertrey Ink, stamped and die cut. One of the challenges for the Card Concept is to identify the style of the card. I’d put this one in the Clean and Simple category, or perhaps, the Clean and Graphic one. You can see the definitions of the different styles here.

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I used the wet on wet technique when watercoloring this image and love how the colors blended together on their own. 

This card also fits well with the CAS on Friday challenge: Spring.

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It’s a dark and rainy Palm Sunday here, but there’s hope in the future for some beautiful peonies in the yard.

 

 

Happy Birthday, Adam

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Just a quick post to share the birthday card I made Adam who celebrates his birthday today! His parents are visiting them from Washington, so there’s probably a bigger party than usual. The design of the card was inspired by this post, using a different set of Pinkfresh Studio stamps and die cuts than I used here. I also have the set Natasha used, and will probably give that a try in the future. I was pleased that the Gatsby die from Pinkfresh Studio worked just as well.

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After measuring the opening for the acetate window, I die cut the Gatsy dies in black and kraft cardstock and layered them. These are one of my favorite dies for masculine cards. I adhered the acetate and then layered the dies on top. The die fit perfectly in the window.

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The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink’s “Birthday Bash” set–a tried and true set of birthday sentiments. I hope the weather in Racine was as lovely as it was here–bright sunshine and temps in the low 60’s. 

 

 

Photowalk #12

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Although I never saw the abundance of cherry trees that line the Basin in Washington, on our 30 minute walk on Saturday, I did discover a few along a walking path. The path ran beside the Potomac River.

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The Potomac was sparkling in the sunshine. The rest of the photos are all of the cherry trees and blossoms. There was a tiny park along side the walking path that appeared to be maintained by a nearby business, but perhaps was a public space. 

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This was definitely a public park just across the street from our hotel.

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Just so lovely . . . 

 

Five in Five: April & Photowalk #11

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It will be a photo-heavy week or so on the blog. I just returned from Ecumenical Advocacy Days in Washington, D.C. and although we had very little free time, I did get out to walk twice during the conference, and an opportunity to take photos on Monday when we were on the Hill. There’ll be more about Advocacy Days once I have time to process it all. 

Friday was rainy, and we were at the Presbyterian Compassion, Peace, and Justice Day at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. This was pre-EAD which was truly ecumenical. I was hoping to get to the Tidal Basin to see the cherry trees, but my only glimpse was through the window of our van as we drove from our hotel in Virginia to the church. Even in the rain, it was beautiful, and returning to see the cherry trees in bloom is now on my bucket list. It wasn’t until Saturday, however, that I had a chance to go for a walk. A friend and I took to the street for our 30 minute break in the morning, and walked down Eads Street. 

I’ve seen a lot of construction walls in my day, but none as wonderful as the first five photos here for Sandie’s monthly meme “Five in Five,” taking as many photos as you can in five minutes, and choosing five to share. I loved this display.

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We actually had snow showers here this morning, so you know how much I appreciated the beauty and warmth of Spring in Washington.

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I also love the fact that riding a bike or renting a scooter was a viable option!

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If I had to guess, I’d say we have another 3-4 weeks before Spring will erupt here in Western New York. But I’m so very ready when it does!

More Spring Flowers

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I have another card for the spring flower challenges. Seize the Birthday’s Optional Twist is Spring, and Simon Says Work it Wednesday’s challenge is Spring Flowers.

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I’ve had a lot of fun imagining spring while making these cards. Hopefully, spring will soon no longer be a figment of my imagination!

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The image is Papertrey Ink’s Bold Blossoms on watercolor paper. They were colored with Altenew’s 36 Pan Watercolors–my favorite for watercoloring flowers. The paints are so vibrant.

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The sentiment was stamped and die cut with Papertrey Ink’s “Penned Elegance.”

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After the watercolor dried, I added some depth to the flowers with Polychromos colored pencils, and added some white gel pen to the stamens. The final touch was a few black pearls.

Happy Birthday, Eva!

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Today is the second birthday of a darling little girl, Eva. I had a lot of fun creating a card for her, using a couple NBUS (Never Before Used Stuff) products. One of them is new; the other I’ve had for awhile.

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I started by die cutting Mama Elephant’s “Cloudy Day Cover” on white cardstock, blending Distress Inks with the wonderful “Life Changing Blender Brushes.” They do make ink blending so much easier! I masked off the edge of the die to create a narrow white frame. This die cut has been on my wish list for awhile, and I found it at the Buffalo stamp store on our way home from Racine last month.

The fun hot-air balloons and kitty are from My Favorite Things, “Up in the Air.” MFT has so many cute sets for kids, and whenever they have a good sale, I try to pick up one. This one I’ve had for several months, and hadn’t had a chance to use it. Eva has a kitty at home, so I chose that to put in the big balloon.

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 All the images were colored with Copics on X-Press Blending paper, and then fussy cut. The sentiment comes from the same MFT set.

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A little dimension was added by using dimensional tape on the lower two balloons. Here’s hoping Eva likes the card.

Photowalk #10: April Snow

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We woke up yesterday to Nature’s idea of an April Fool’s joke—two fresh inches of snow. I took a few photos in our yard in the morning. As I was driving home from volunteering later in the afternoon, I decided to stop and take a walk down Mt. Hope Ave. The sun was out, the sky was blue, and there was some potential for a few good shots. First, three from our front yard.

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Looking to the West

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Looking to the East

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And my usual favorite, a snow covered hydrangea.

About four hours later walking down Mt. Hope Avenue:

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From a distance

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View #1

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View #2: probably my favorite of the walk; I love the white branches against the bright blue sky

And two photos of Mt. Hope Cemetery. Founded in 1838, it was the first municipal cemetery in the United States. It covers 196 acres and has over 350,000 graves. It’s famous as the resting place of Abolitionist Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony, known for her work in the women’s suffrage movement.

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My understanding is that our free time is very limited while I’m in Washington, D.C. but I’m hoping to find enough time to add one or two more photowalks to my collection while I’m there.

 

Flower Shop

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This card took a bit more time than usual, but I did all the coloring and fussy cutting while watching the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament this weekend. I missed most of the two games my team (UConn) played as we were out to dinner Friday night, and at a Lunch & Learn event at church yesterday. I did catch the end of both games. Yesterday’s was particularly exciting, and UConn advanced to the Final Four. I’m likely to miss both the Semi-Finals and the Finals because I’m headed to Washington, D.C. for Ecumenical Advocacy Days. I’ve never been before, and I’m looking forward to it. There are seven of us from our Presbytery headed there on Thursday. I’m also looking forward to seeing some real Spring there. We got a rather harsh (in my opinion) April Fool’s joke this morning, waking up to 2″ of freshly fallen snow. (More on that to come in the next post.)

At any rate, here’s a toast to Spring via Hero Arts January Card Kit. I was inspired by two things: first this post by Vikki, and then by the Inspired By Challenge this time: Windows.

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It’s hard to see in any of the photos, but I fussy cut the window from the Flower Shop and backed it with acetate to mimic a real window. The Flower Shop was die cut from Simon Says “Fog” cardstock, and adhered to a Weathervane (PTI) card base.  I restamped the awning onto X-Press Blending paper, colored it with Copics, and fussy cut it before adding it to the shop with dimensional tape. All the flowers and containers were also stamped on X-Press and colored with a variety of Copic markers.

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You can see a slight reflection on the acetate at this angle. The sentiment is a fave from Papertrey’s “Birthday Bash” set. 

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I decided not to use any dimensional tape with the flowers as there were so many individual pieces that I didn’t think it needed anything else.

I’m linking this card to these challenges:

Inspired By . . . 

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Seize the Birthday with an optional twist of SPRING . . . 

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Simon Says Work It Wednesday: Spring Flowers . . .

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And last, but not least, Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes . . .

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Hope Spring has shown up where you live!

Winter Photography Scavenger Hunt

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Tomorrow marks the last day of March, and the end of Eileen’s Winter Photography Scavenger Hunt. When I posted the first eleven photos, I wasn’t sure I’d have time to find the rest, but rather quickly, I did. So here are the final nine:

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Pool of Light-Chicago Botanic Garden’s Orchid Show #2

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Fastener:  Buckles and zippers on my suitcase #3

I have two offerings for #5–A Group Activity:

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Pruning at the Chicago Botanic Garden

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A group tour at the Milwaukee Art Museum

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Water dispenser: Sarah’s refrigerator (you can see Hannah in the reflection waiting for her drink) #6

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Chocolate #8 – This is Hannah after eating one (very small) chocolate-covered chocolate cookie

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Glitter #12-Hannah came home from day care with this glittery finger painting, and was happy to pose for a photo.

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Another pick from the Chicago Botanic Garden: An Instruction #13

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Two Carved Objects found along the road in Racine #19

And last, but not, least:

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A Method of Communication, albeit an outdated one. #20

Butterflies

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Butterflies seem to be on the mind of people choosing card challenges this week. I love butterflies and have several sets that would work for either of these challenges, but this is what I’ve come up with. First off, the Time Out Challenge. It’s a photo challenge, but the image in the photo that caught my eye was the large butterfly painting over the couch. As soon as I saw it I had an idea for the challenge.

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A close look at the photo shows a butterfly in grays and blacks with very interesting gold framing. Although I’ve used Papertrey Ink’s “Butterfly Folk” in the past, I’ve never used this (quite large) image before. 

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I stamped it in black on Simon Says Fog cardstock, one of my favorite grays. Then I placed one of Altenews “Fine Frames” die cut in gold behind it.

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The sentiment is from Simon Says “Let’s Party.” Finally, I thought it needed just a bit of sparkle so I added some gold rhinestones.

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The next card is for the CAS(E) this Sketch challenge.

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This time I reached for another Papertrey Ink set, “Life is Beautiful.” 

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I stamped the butterfly on Tim Holtz watercolor paper with my MISTI. It took multiple stampings to get a sharp black image. I then watercolored it with Altenew’s 36 pan watercolor set (still sitting on a table in my craft room since our return from Wisconsin,” and die cut it with the coordinating die.

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I couldn’t decide what to use for the border in the sketch, but settled on a thin strip of patterned paper from Sunny Studio’s “Striped Silly” paper pad which I backed with a piece of black cardstock as well as a very thin piece of cardstock down the center. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink’s “Birthday Bash” set, a set I return to over and over again.

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I used some three-dimensional tape to attach the butterfly, and pulled its wings up a bit. This is probably a card that would be better hand-delivered than sent through the mail.