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SNAP: Boats in the Harbor

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We’ve just returned from ten days visiting Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Providence, Rhode Island. It’s been years since we were on Cape Cod or in Providence, and we’d never visited Nantucket. Betsy grew up with summer vacations on Nantucket, and their family goes each summer. They’ve invited us every year for the last three years, but this was the first time we were able to join them. There’ll be more SNAP collections, and probably a couple vacation posts once I finish editing the many photos we took. I cut the number in half yesterday, but still have a ways to go. 

Nantucket is simply beautiful, and the weather was hot and humid most of the days we were there. We spent a lot of time on the beach with the grandchildren, and had a wonderful time. There were lots of possible collections for SNAP, but this week I decided on four of the photographs of boats in the harbor. 

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The upper left photo was taken in Woods Hole, MA, the rest on Nantucket in various places. Nantucket is sometimes known as the “Gray Lady” because it is frequently socked in by fog. There were only a couple of mornings when it was particularly thick, but the afternoon we drove out to Madaket it was also foggy as you can see in the upper right photo. 

Summer Cards

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I have a couple of cards to share that shout summer to me. The first one was for a friend who has a pretty healthy dislike of flamingoes. Her brother regularly sent her flamingoes from all over the country when he was working, and once I had a “field of flamingoes” delivered to her yard that was a fund raiser for a local youth group. She responded with line of flamingoes up my sidewalk by the same group! So I couldn’t resist this year when I found this die cut flamingo in a pack of Simple Stories dies for scrapbooking. It just had to be used for her birthday card. I found a cute set of paper napkins with a gold flamingo on them to go along with her other gifts. It’s a good thing she has a sense of humor!

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The die cut and stamped sentiments are from “Birthday Cheer” by Papertrey Ink. I added some rainstones (PTI), enamel dots, and (hard to see) some Wink of Stella glitter to liven it up.

The next card is unusual in that it has no stamping whatsoever. It’s all die cuts.

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I started with a piece of Simon Say’s woodgrain paper, and die cut the “Garden Garland” from Limeade Ice, adding some detail with Copic markers. The pretty flowers are also part of the Garden Garland die. I finished them off with a few enamel dots for flower centers. The sentiment die, “Big Basics: Birthday,” was cut from Summer Sunrise. As soon as I saw the Garden Garland die, I had several ideas for it so you are sure to see it again!

 

SNAP: The Flowers of Niagara-on-the-Lake

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Every time we visit Niagara-on-the-Lake we are taken with the gorgeous flower displays along the main street. All of these photos were taken within one block. They’ll be just as gorgeous in October when we return with our friends for our annual weekend away.

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With all the dry weather we’ve had this summer, I can’t imagine the amount of watering that must be done to maintain these displays. Try as we might, we can’t keep our flowers looking this fresh all summer.

Linking up with Helena where you’ll find more interesting sets of three to four related photos.

Retirement: On the Links

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For one of our friends, and definitely for my brother, retirement means more golf! This is actually the second retirement for my brother. He worked for many years, retired, needed something to do, and started driving a school bus. He actually loved the job, but after seven years or so, he decided this year he’d had enough. So here are two cards, both made with Papertrey Ink’s “On the Links” set.

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For my brother’s card, I used a white brad for the golf ball, and two cloud dies in addition to the stamps and dies of the set to create a little scene.

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A die meant to create snow drifts served as a little slope leading up to the tee for the second card. The paper on the bottom is from “Black & White All Over,” by Maile Belles.

I know for a fact that both these guys have put in a lot of time on the golf course this summer. And there’ll be no need to quit come September!

August Birthdays

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There were two special birthdays this week. The first was that of a friend who turned 80 on Monday. He certainly looks a lot younger that his age, and is quite the bridge player. We sang “Happy Birthday” to him on Friday night when we hosted our duplicate bridge group, but I failed to take any photos. Here’s the card I made for him.

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It’s a design I first saw on Maile Belle’s blog, and one that always seems appropriate for masculine cards. Here’s another one of similar design I sent out awhile ago, but never posted.

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Both cards use die cuts from Papertrey Ink’s “Birthday Cheer” set. The top card is made with a patterned paper by Teresa Collins, and the bottom one with one of Maile Belle’s “Black and White All Over” papers.

Yesterday was Sarah’s birthday. It’s the first year in quite a few that we weren’t around to help celebrate in person. 

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She’s not one who likes particularly fussy cards, so I hope the scalloped card (Papertrey’s Noted: A2 set of dies) wasn’t too much for her. I used a stencil brush to add some color to watercolor paper, and then stamped the cupcake from Mama Elephant’s “Carnival Cupcakes.” The sentiment is from their “Carnival Toppers” set. I added some Glossy Accent to the cherry after coloring the image with Copic markers.

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Although I’ve used the Papertrey set “Scene It: Celebration” several times, I’d never tried the banner. I stamped it, embossed the greeting, and then cut it out by hand. I love the ombre effect of the stamped banner.

SNAP: The Backstage Tour

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Thursday was our 43rd wedding anniversary and we celebrated with a day trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake to see their new musical, “Alice in Wonderland.” I’d give the musical a mixed review—the production was amazing with wonderful videography that served as a backdrop to each of the scenes. For me, the musical itself was too episodic, and the lead seemed poorly cast (a 40 year old actress as 10 year old Alice just wasn’t very convincing.) Nonetheless, I was happy to see the performance. When I purchased the tickets in April, I also purchased tickets for the backstage tour in the morning. We loved the tour, learned lots of interesting information about the musical, and the Shaw Festival as well as seeing behind-the-scenes. So this week’s SNAP is four photos from the backstage tour.

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Another thanks, to Helena, for hosting SNAP each week. I took photos for two collections in Niagara-on-the-Lake, so there’ll be another SNAP from this trip next week as well. 

Project Life: October 2015

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I’m plodding along with my Project Life pages, trying to keep ahead of being behind an entire year! Meanwhile, we (fortunately) continue to accumulate photos and wonderful memories, so once the summer is over I need to dedicate myself to scrapping every day! But, for now, here’s another month completed.

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Early in the month, we made a trip to Hyde Park for my grand-nephew’s baptism, and followed it up with a day in Manchester, Vt., one of our favorite getaways. Skylar and I attended our first ZooClass at the Seneca Park Zoo—a wonderful educational program geared to 4-5 year olds. They also have a class for 2-3 year olds.

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The end of the month found us in Chicago. We were lucky enough to be there for Caleb’s first appearance in the Cherub Choir. I loved this shot of Sarah sitting in front of the fabulous mural at Herm’s Palace in Skokie. It’s my favorite place for a Chicago hot dog, a true indulgence, but delicious! By Halloween, we were home, but I included an Instagram shot of Caleb in his Halloween costume as well as the little girls around the corner with whom we went trick or treating.

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While we were in Chicago, we spent a morning at the Lincoln Park Zoo, and I added an insert with photos to record that special event.

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A gentleman kindly took a family photo of us at the zoo, which turned out to be a favorite of mine.

I finished an album after the July 2015 pages, but had never created an opening page for the album, but have gotten that finished as well. 

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Most of the cards came from the Becky Higgin’s Project Life “Everyday” Edition created by Paislee Press. I painted some wood veneers to spell Family, and as well as the little camera, and added some Papertrey Ink die cuts and stamps to create the date card. There’s quite a bit of gold metallic accent on the cards, but it doesn’t show up in the photos. I die cut the hearts with a Simon Says die and backed it with metallic gold paper to match the gold in the cards. I came across the quote somewhere on the internet a long time ago, printed it out and stuck in the album, knowing it would be great for an opening page. 

2016 Summertime Scavenger Hunt

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It’s July 31st, and time for the July edition of Rinda’s Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt. 

The first item on the list was a “wild heart-a naturally occurring heart.” I wasn’t sure where I’d find that one, but one morning while I was sitting on our patio, I looked up and there they were on our Morning Glory.

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Matt and Betsy have a fabulous deck (#7), and while Sarah, Adam, and Caleb were here we spent a lot of time there. That week turned out to be a good one for scavenger hunt photos.

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It was also the site of another family gathering, # 11.

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The three grandchildren had lots of fun at a local splash park one day, so here are a couple entries for #9, “someone playing in or around water.” (Think I’ll have some more for this one when we get back from our summer vacation.)

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One night we went out to eat, and Adam and I shared a carafe of sangria, #29, “a seasonal cocktail or drink.”( It was so good, I made a pitcher of it this weekend when we entertained our bridge group.)

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One absolute “must” on Sarah’s list when she visits is a trip to Abbott’s Ice Cream. Their chocolate almond soft ice cream is terrific. We decided to go to the Abbott’s on Lake Ontario so Caleb could ride the carousel there (last year’s item), and we walked along the beach afterwards, and I got #2, “a footprint.”

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The reason that Sarah, Adam, and Caleb chose the first week of July to visit, was the arrival of Madelyn Tyler. Although I posted this photo earlier, I didn’t mark it as a scavenger hunt item. It’s one of the alternates, “baby.”

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The next two photos were taken at our local grocery store: #17 “fresh produce,” and #18 ” a cart full of groceries.” This was my shopping trip before our family party early in July so it’s the fullest cart of the summer, I’m sure.

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I found #9 on a walk along the cottage road at Honeoye Lake a week or so ago, “a camper.” I’m hoping to find a cuter one along the way, but at least I’ve got it covered.

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Earlier this month I posted #13, “the moon,” as a SNAP meme, #12 , “a window” and the other alternate, “a lighthouse,” as part of my Memorandum Monday post. That leaves me with seven items left to find in August and early September. Doable, I hope!

 

 

SNAP: The Brickyard Trail

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Recently the town of Brighton, where we live, opened a new nature park and trail. Round trip, it’s about 1.75 miles, just the right length for a short and pleasant walk. I’ve walked it several times already, and have enjoyed it. It’s called the Brickyard Trail because it traverses a wetland that was once the site of a large brick making facility. I haven’t taken photos of it yet, but about halfway through the trail there is a wonderful interpretive site that talks about the huge numbers of bricks once made from the clay in this area.

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This week’s SNAP collection are four photos from my walks on the trail.

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Linking up with Helena’s meme, SNAP, that asks for three or four related photos. It’s a great way to look each week for something new to photograph.

Papertrey Ink Stamp-a-Faire

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Papertrey Ink hosted a Stamp-a-Faire on Saturday. There were nine different challenges with video tutorials. I’ve watched all the videos, and they were all wonderful, but time constraints limited me to participating in just three of them. I picked the three I thought would be most challenging, since they involved brand new products (gold leaf paint) or techniques I often struggle with. The first was Gilded with Gold by Danielle Flanders. I didn’t start with any vision for a card, and ended up with four cards, none of which I’m thrilled with. Why four? So many attempts went south, I had bits and pieces all over my desk which ended up as cards. I definitely love the gold leaf paint (I purchased Martha Stewart’s), and learned quite a bit in the process. The next time won’t be so fraught with difficulties!

Here’s the first one, and probably my favorite.

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Looking for something else entirely, I came across a scrap of vellum with gold dots, and a card I had previously scored six times. The vellum piece fit in exactly right.

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Next up, I tried adding gold leaf to a couple of Maile Belle’s “Black and White” patterned papers. The first time I dotted on some gold leaf between the black stripes.

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Then I tried adding some gold stripes to this design:

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I ended up with one Love die cut (Wonderful Words) and it fit perfectly onto this piece of patterned paper from the “Star Scribbles” pack of papers.

 

 

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The second challenge I took on was Kay Miller’s watercolor challenge. She’s a master at watercoloring, and I was so interested in her technique which combines stamping with watercoloring. I ended up sticking very close to Kay’s design. I didn’t have the Berry Sorbet ink so substituted Melon Berry which is a much more subdued color. I think it worked out alright though, and it will make for a good fall birthday card.

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I was pretty happy with this one, and my husband who rarely comments on my cards, said he liked it a lot.

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The last challenge I took on was Amy Sheffer’s Starry Night challenge. As soon as I saw it I was taken with it, but didn’t have high hopes that I could pull it off. My ink blending skills leave a lot to be desired, so when I finished this card, I was really pleased. For once, I took my time and let everything dry before moving on to the next stage.

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It also gave me an opportunity to use the new sentiment set, Number the Stars. I stamped the banner with Enchanted Evening, and backed it with the same banner cut from silver paper. I had some silver thread which is one of the elements on Amy’s card, and added some sequins and silver stars in my stash.

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I also splattered some white acrylic paint and some silver metallic watercolors. Finally got the splatter technique down! You can’t see it from the photos, but I added some Wink of Stella glitter to the banner as well.

I have a couple other challenges I’d like to try, but won’t have time to get to them until long after the galleries close. Given my schedule this weekend, I’m happy to have managed these three. 

 

Papertrey Ink July 2016 Blog Hop Challenge

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It’s the 25th of the month and the day for the Papertrey Ink Blog Hop Challenge. No surprise, I’m still working on the Stamp-a-Faire projects, and hope I’ll be back later with another post before the galleries close tomorrow morning. I didn’t want to miss the chance to participate in this month’s blog hop, though, because the minute I saw the inspiration photo, I had an idea for the card.

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The idea was contingent on the Papertrey order arriving in time, which it did. I knew I wanted to use the new “Some Like It Hot” set which features one of my favorite flowers, the hibiscus. I used the colors in the photos–aqua and orange, the diamond pattern on the wall for my background, and the gray carpet as the card base. I would never have chosen gray had it not been for the photo, but it turned out to be a great choice.

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It’s not often that a card turns out the way I envisioned it from the start, but this one did. I stamped the hibicus on separate card, masking them to group them together, and then fussy cut them out, and popped them up with some foam tape on the diamond embossed background. It’s been awhile since I pulled out an embossing folder (Quickcutz). I die cut “birthday” with the Swoosh die and the small stamp sentiment came from Swoosh as well. It just needed a few clear sequins to finish it off.

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Until I purchased a MISTI, getting the layers right for multi-stamped images was always a struggle. The MISTI solves those problems. I used three different inks for each of the flowers, and love the dimension you get with these. 

I’m babysitting for my new granddaughter this afternoon, but hope to be back in the craft room later today. You can see others’ interpretations of the inspiration piece right here.

SAF: Masterpiece Gallery

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Today is the Papertrey Ink Stamp-a-Faire. Because we’ll be going to the lake soon, I won’t get to participate in the challenges as they appear, but hope to play along tomorrow. Last night they opened up a gallery so you could post one of your favorite cards made with Papertrey products. When I posted this card last January, I said it was probably my favorite sympathy card ever. I haven’t changed my mind about that.

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You can find the original post right here.

It’s supposed to be another 90° day here, so a good last day to be at the lake. Hope your weekend is off to a good start.

SNAP: The Moon

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Tracy’s family rents a cottage each summer on one of the Finger Lakes. This year it’s on Honeoye Lake, and luckily, a week for the full moon. Here are four shots taken on two different nights, checking off #13 on Rinda’s Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt.

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These are not the best shots of the moon I’ve ever taken, but I’m really quite happy with them, since they were all handheld shots. Better than I expected. I’m hoping to have the tripod ready tomorrow night. After tomorrow, the moon rise gets pretty late, and we drive the hour home every night. Plus the moon will be waning after tonight. Linking up with Helena for another week of SNAP sets. You can find others right here.

CASE(E) this Sketch 181

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As soon as I saw this sketch from CAS)E) this Sketch, I knew I wanted to use a new piece of patterned paper I picked up over the weekend in Buffalo. I bought it to use with some summer layouts for Project Life, but when I saw this sketch I knew I had the perfect stamp set to go with the patterned paper.

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The patterned paper is from imaginesce, and the stamp set is “Ice Cream Dreams” by Simon Says–from a stamp kit two summers ago. I colored the ice cream treats with Copics and gave them a heavy coat of Glossy Accents after fussy cutting them. The sentiment (which I moved from the top of the sketch to the bottom) was stamped on a banner from MFT Dynamics Blueprints #28. It’s hard to see in the photo, but I partially die cut the edges of the patterned paper with one edge of a Stitched Rectangle by Simon Says.

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At the end, I decided the card needed just a little something, and three rainstones from PTI did the trick. 

I love it!

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On my creative calendar was to try another technique from the Online Card Class, Heat Wave. Kristina Werner created a card that combined stamping some images with colored inks and embossing others. I ended up using three different stamp sets to create the flower border: “Build-able Bouquet” by My Favorite Things, “Handwritten Floral Greetings,” by Simon Says, and “One Big Happy,” by Papertrey Ink.

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The sentiment is from Penny Black’s “Kind Words,” and you’ll see in a moment how very appropriate it is. After embossing the sentiment, the centers of some of the flowers, and  leaves with Liquid Platinum embossing power, I attached the card to some fun foam, and then to a card made with Hawaiian Shores.

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The card is for the mother of a close friend. Ruth is a wonderful quilter who is now in her 90’s. She had a collection of over 40 quilts that she hadn’t already given away, and decided it was time to share them. (She made a beautiful quilt for Sarah from quilt squares created by my great-grandmother and great aunts, and gave it to her as a high school graduation gift.) This time I was the lucky recipient. Since red is my favorite color, it was a perfect choice. Here it is folded on a chair in my living room.

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And spread out on the back of my couch.

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It’s entirely hand-stitched and here’s a close-up:

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I’ve yet to find the perfect spot to showcase it, maybe on my bed—although I’d love to hang it. It was a very special gift, and I’m very grateful to have received it. It’s not often that I post twice in one day, but I wanted to get the card posted to the class gallery before it closes this week.