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Happy Father’s Day

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In the U.S., today is the day to celebrate dads. I’m biased, of course, but I think my kids have the absolutely best dad around. He’s patient, kind, generous, intelligent, handy, and fun to be around. This year is the first year neither child was nearby for either Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. We hear from them, of course, but it does seem different.

We’ve already had a busy day. We took a longer walk than usual this morning, and clocked just about three miles. We’ve been to visit friends, the grocery store, the farmer’s market, and to the garden to water our plants. In a bit, we’re off to the pool with friends and will grab a bite to eat with them. Then we’re off to the movies. The rest of the week looks equally busy, so although I have things to share, I’m not sure how much time there’ll be for blogging.

Here are the two Father’s Day cards I made this year. For Tracy on the left (based on the inside of a card by Betsy Veldman in a Card Creations magazine), and for his stepfather on the right.

Father'sDayCards

Supplies:

Compass Card:
Cardstock: True Black and Kraft (Papertrey Ink)
Stamp: Father Knows Best (Papertrey Ink)
Computer generated sentiment (Lucinda Fax font)
Twine (Papertrey Ink)

Typewriter Card:
Cardstock:  Select White (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Paper: 2008 Bitty Box Basics (Papertrey Ink)
Stamp: Office 101 (Clear Art Stamps & Framed (Papertrey Ink)

 

Happy Mail

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I celebrated my birthday while I was in California at Sarah and Adam’s. My favorite treat there comes from Nothing But Bundt cakes. We bought four mini ones, and one was free because it was my birthday. They are so yummy. I wish we had one here, but it’s probably for the best.

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When I got home, I found this pile of birthday cards waiting in the mail. What fun to open them all up at the same time. On the top, you can see a beautiful photo card from my Team-up Thursday partner, Nancy.

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Also in the mail was this fabulous envelope and bookmark from Cheri:

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This beautiful photo card from Deb:

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And then on Wednesday, I received an amazing card and a box of goodies from Lorraine:

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I’m in love with these Prima flowers and butterflies. You’ll be seeing some of this show up on cards very soon! Thanks Cheri, Deb, and Lorraine! I am blessed by my many blogging relationships, and this happy mail is “above and beyond!”

 

Happy Birthday & Happy St. Patrick’s Day

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Today’s is Tracy’s birthday. Not a day goes by that I’m not grateful to be married to such a kind and generous man. But he’s gone above and beyond this last week as a super-duper caregiver, so here are extra special birthday wishes!

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His birthday card is a lift from Kara, at KandR Designs. I love her clean and simple approach to cards, and I definitely like hers a lot better than mine! But I liked the sentiment and I wanted a St. Patrick’s Day style card. The two greens are much closer in color than they appear on the card. I used stamps from Papertrey Ink (Button Boutique and Luck of the Irish) and American Craft thickers. The inside (which I didn’t photograph) combines three stamps that tell him how lucky I am to be his wife, and to wish him a happy birthday.

(It was a much better day as I finally was up and about for awhile today. It was gorgeous here, in the 60s, so we drove up to the lake to have lunch at Don’s Originals. It sure was great to get out of the bedroom, but I was pretty tired by the time we got home.)

Sweet Shot Tuesday

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Last Thursday I went in for some needed surgery. I knew that there would be a few difficult days afterwards, but I really expected to be back on my feet and moving around by now. The truth is that I am relatively pain-free as long as I stay put, but as soon as I try to get up and move around, it’s still pretty painful. Fortunately, I have a super caregiver so there’s been little need to do much. I am truly thankful for a laptop and a huge pile of magazines and books. We don’t have a television in our bedroom, and it’s been six days now since I’ve seen any TV. Except for the news, I don’t really miss it. I am a huge fan of college basketball, however, so I’m hoping to make it to the living room for the beginning of March Madness.

I’ve spent a lot of time perusing blogs and getting lots of inspiration for cards and scrapbook pages. I hope it doesn’t leave me by the time I get back to my studio. I’m also hoping that tomorrow I’ll be able to take photos for last week’s Project 64 (plum).  Here’s my shot for Sweet Shot Tuesday this week. It’s one I took when I was at the George Eastman House to take photos for Picture Inspiration. As I was leaving I noticed all the winter anconites blooming through the snow.

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They were the first sign of spring. Since then our daffodils have pushed up through the soil, and most of the snow has finally melted. Today it was sunny and 50°. I’m so ready for spring!

A Local Roadtrip

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Last week was a school vacation in Monroe County, and we had planned a little roadtrip with friends who are still teaching. Unfortunately, they had to cancel, but we decided to head out anyway. Tracy would like to find a new coffee table, so we started at a local furniture store. We found one we like quite a bit, but haven’t made a decision yet. Earlier last week, we found the perfect table, but it is way out of our price range so we’re still on the hunt.

Our destination was Rio Tamatlan, a fabulous Mexican restaurant in nearby Canadaigua. We took the scenic route although it was a gray and cloudy day. There are a lot of antique/vintage stores along Routes 5 & 20. We stopped at one on our way, and I picked up a couple of blue Mason jars to use in my studio to hold twine and buttons. I also found a vintage camera there, still in its box with the manual. I have no idea if any camera I buy has any value or not, and I don’t really care. I purchase one if it’s relatively inexpensive (less than $20–the least expensive one I’ve ever bought was only $3) and I like the way it looks. I’m particuarly attracted to Brownie cameras by Kodak, since those were my first cameras.

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Lunch was delicious, as always. I had a combination plate with a tostada, a sope, and two flautas.

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I brought half of it home, and enjoyed it again the next day.

On our way home we stopped at the Ontario Mall Antiques. We’ve driven by it hundreds of times, but never gone in. It’s billed as the largest antique store in New York with over 1000 dealers displaying their wares. You could spend days here and never see it all. I did, however, pick up three more cameras.

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Another Kodak, according to the tag, from the late 1930s.

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About the same vintage, and also a Kodak.

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And a little Brownie Flash. It’s an unusual shape and in very good condition.

I had already started a shelf for the cameras when we redid the living room shelves. Here’s how it looks now. I put the camera with the red bellows on the media center.

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My last find was purely decorative. I walked by this little metal sewing machine and fell in love with it, probably because it’s red. I was pretty sure I could find a spot for it in my studio, and I did. You may see it crop up as a photographic prop some day.

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I love it next to my antique wire basket filled with felt. Recently we’ve spent a lot of time purging and cleaning out, so this little shopping excursion seems to go against the tide. I’m sticking with the theory that you should be surrounded with things you love as well as those things that are useful.

 

Redo

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I had nearly finished this post, when the internet connection went and everything disappeared. I have to say it doesn’t happen often, but it certainly is frustrating when it does. I’m way behind on my blog reading, and just wanted you to know if I haven’t visited in a while, it’s not disinterest by any means, just a bit too much on my plate right now. I’ve also taken some time out to spend with Tracy. We’ve watched three movies this week on our new TV and spent a day on a local roadtrip—a bit of antique shopping (another post to come) and a wonderful meal at our favorite Mexican restaurant. I hope to catch up by the end of the week. I thought I’d share some photos of our dining room/living room redo.

When you live in a house that was built in 1930 the walls are plaster, and about every 10 years or so they begin to crack. So a repainting job that some could do in a weekend took nearly six weeks here. Every crack has to be opened up, filled, taped, spackled, and primed before you can paint.

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It’s a tedious job, but Tracy has done it often enough that he knows exactly what must be done.

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Here’s a look at one of the dining room walls that has been scraped and some of the cracks taped. This was one of the worst walls, but there weren’t any that didn’t need attention.

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An advantage of an older house, however, are the built-in cupboards and bookcases. This is the china closet in the dining room scraped and primed.

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And here it is, painted with most of the china back in place.

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There’s no way to tell from this photo, but one of the things I like the best about the living room is the reorganized shelves. We took everything off the shelves, donated over 150 books from six different bookcases in the house, and then placed good hardcover books and reference books in the living room. All the paperbacks are now upstairs. I also took down many photographs and left just a few special family ones. Now there’s a shelf for my vintage cameras which I really like having on display.

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Here’s our concession to the high-tech world. I like it a lot more than I thought I would since I wasn’t sure how it would fit into an older home. The media cabinet is new, as well, and came from Crate and Barrell. We saw it in November when we were in California and didn’t even look locally for one. The older one has been moved upstairs in the den where it looks fantastic. The entertainment center from there was given to the Volunteers of America. So, actually, three rooms got a new look and five bookcases were reorganized.

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This is the last addition to the living room. We had a watercolor done of our house by a watercolor artist (Irene MacKenzie) we love in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. We picked it up in October, but just had it framed and matted a week ago.

Tracy’s taken a week off from the painting, but expects to start again next week on the hallway which is a two-story affair and will require scaffolding. I expect it will take even longer, but we’ll be in the best shape we’ve ever been in here once it’s finished. That project won’t affect our daily routines much. That’s a good thing, but it also means there’s not quite the incentive to get it done. Hope you’ve had a good weekend.

Happy Valentine’s Day

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Happy Heart Day to those of you who celebrate! This was my father’s favorite holiday, and he always spoiled us with lovely gifts on Valentine’s Day. I thought I’d share a couple of things I made for Valentine’s Day. The classroom where I volunteer is for special needs children, some of whom have very special dietary needs. They can have gummy worms, but frankly, I’m tired of filling treat bags with the same icky candy. (Even though they love it!) So I was excited when I found these water bottle labels. All the kids keep water bottles on their desks, so I know they’ll get used. I tied a Valentine’s Day pencil to each one as well. Pencils are always a big hit.

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One of the projects I made for the Scrap-Mart blog was a fry box filled with Hershey kisses. I decided to make three more. The new die from Quickutz goes together really quickly, and the boxes hold about 25 kisses.

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Tracy and I went out to dinner last night with good friends and I have a special dinner planned for tonight. We’re not exchaning gifts since we just splurged on a new flat-screen TV which will be installed on Wednesday. But here’s a Valentine for you . . .

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Whether you celebrate or not, I hope you have a lovely day. I so appreciate the community that has developed here and would hand deliver these sweets to you if I could!

Still here . . .

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I’ve been busy creating a couple of projects for the Scrap-Mart blog in anticipation of the new releases at CHA this weekend. I was lucky enough to get a couple sets of the new Spellbiners Grand Nestabilities to play with and can’t wait to share them with you once CHA is underway and they’ve been posted on the Scrap-Mart blog. I’ve also been busy with Kim Klassen’s Photoshop the Essentials class. Like the earlier classes I’ve taken for free, this is wonderful. I’ve learned a lot in just two days of lessons even though she’s been covering material I have had some experience with. It’s going to take a lot of practice to make some of these skills automatic, but that’s what I hope to do.

Here’s a card I created for the Scrap-Mart blog and sent to my adult nephew earlier this month. I love this Tim Holtz Alterations die and had a lot of fun playing with it. I die cut multiple images in different colored and textured papers and then cut out individual houses to layer on top of the kraft base. I added a little distress ink and a metallic embossed greeting.

Townscape
It was -5° this morning and just too cold to venture outside! I do have a church meeting tonight for which I am the secretary, but I’m going to reward myself with a stop at Starbuck’s on the way!

Some Photography Fun and a Winner

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It’s rare that I post twice in one day! Tracy decided the whole downstairs of our house needs to be painted. I don’t disagree, but I know it will take way longer than I want it to. He started with the china closet that is built into our dining room. He pulled all the dishes out of it, boxed up what he could and put the rest on the dining room table. I thought I should document his project. The first photo looked like this.

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Then I decided to stand on his new stepladder.

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And finally I thought it would be cool to take a photo of the inside of one glass. Let me just say I took many photos before I came up with this one.

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I’ve owned these wine glasses for over 20 years and never realized that the cut glass forms hearts on the inside. I wonder how many other surprises lurk in my china closet?

The winner of the Pass the Book is:

Kirsty

I’ve sent you an email. As soon as I have your address, the book will be in the mail. Enjoy!!

Home Again

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There was a big change in our plans on Friday. Tracy’s stepfather went in for some routine tests, and they discovered two blocked arteries, one of which required putting in a stent. That meant no flying for awhile, and they decided to cancel their trip to Florida. At that point we were in Asheville, NC visiting our good friend, Laura. Since we were expected in Hartwell, GA that night at Tracy’s cousins we decided to continue on and then spent a day in Atlanta before heading home.

Although we never got to warmer temperatures (the best we did was mid 40s), we did see nearly everyone we set out to see, and had a great little road trip. We’re home now with a clear calendar for another week since we expected to be on the road until the 18th. We got out of Atlanta before a huge snowstorm and icy roads hit which has totally shut down the city. We had dry roads all the way home, and are glad to be here since a storm is also headed our way tonight. We, unlike Atlanta, have plenty of snow removal equipment so it’s unlikely much will close down here.

Here’s a photo recap of our little road trip:

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This is what it looked like when we left Rochester a week ago. I took this shot out the car window, and except for add the Edge Burn action from Pioneer Woman, its right out of the camera. While we were away they got several more inches of snow, so it’s all white here again.

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We stopped for dinner that night in Erie, PA at the Quaker Steak & Lube. It’s just a step up from fast food, but we always get a decent dinner.

Our first stop was in Charlotte, NC to visit good friends. Somehow I never took a photo of any of us. What was I thinking? We had a great time catching up as we hadn’t seen Carole and Gordie in several years. They had never been to the Billy Graham Library so the next morning we headed over there.

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None of us knew quite what to expect, but all of us were very impressed with the multi-media presentations in the library (the building in the back). It was a fascinating story of Billy Graham’s evangalism and a walk through history from the late 1940’s to the present. Regardless of your religious convictions, you cannot help but be impressed by Graham’s faith and dedication.

After lunch, we went to the Carolina Raptor Center. This appears to be one of the bigger rehabiliation centers for raptors in the US. They treat many injured birds over the course of a year, and are able to release about 50% of them into the wild. Others remain in the center and some have been cared for there for many years.

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This is actually two photos put together. The center has seven Bald Eagles.

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Another photo with two combined. As we were watching this hawk, a worker threw in a piece of deer meat, and the hawk went right at it.

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I loved these three owls lined up together. All of the birds at the center are unable to fly or unable to fly well enough to survive in the wild. It’s a nonprofit organization, and they have birds there that have come from as far away as the west coast.

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On Friday, we drove to Asheville to have lunch with a good friend who used to be a pastor at our church. Again, it had been many years since we’d seen Laura. We had a great lunch at a southern cafe (I had a fried catfish taco and grits), and had time to catch up before we headed off to Hartwell.

The last time Tracy saw his cousin, Lillie, was nearly 40 years ago. She lives a few miles from her dad and we stayed with Gayle and his friend, Cora. After dinner with their extended family (again, no photos!) we sat around their dining room table working on identifying relatives in old photos. Both Lillie and Tracy spend a lot of time on geneaology, and it was fun for me to listen and try to piece together a bit more of their family puzzle.

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Gayle and Cora live on Hartwell Lake and as we drove out the next morning the sun was just coming up.

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After spending the day shopping in Atlanta (I did some serious damage at Archivers and found a great pair of boots on sale at the Mall of Georgia), we headed to Decatur for dinner. Sarah attended seminary in Decatur, and The Brick Store was one of our favorite spots to eat when we were there to visit.

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I like the PW’s Seventies action on this one.

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When Adam heard we were eating at The Brick Store, he said, “Have some brie for me,” so we did. Yum!

We left Atlanta early Sunday and got to Clarksburg for dinner. Thanks to an iPhone app, Yelp, we found a fantastic Mexican restaurant. I had the shrimp fajitas and chile renellos, both of which were amazing. Since it was so cold (12°) I was able to take the left-overs with me which survived the rest of the trip just fine.

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We arrived home mid-afternoon yesterday and have spent most of the time unpacking and trying to get organized so we can make good use of our unexpected time at home. I have just one page and the cover to complete on my Christmas journal, so that’s high on the list. Thanks for hanging in there on a photo-heavy post.

 

 

One Little Word

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Happy New Year! Today seems like a good time to take a look backward at my word for 2010 and commit to a new one for 2011.

This year will be the fourth or fifth year I’ve chosen a word to help me focus on the things I want to do in the New Year. I find it much more effective than a list of very specific resolutions. Last year’s word was “intention.” I wanted to be much more intentional about how I was using my time. One of the first things I did was sign up for Karen Gruenberg’s “Reclaiming My Time” at BPC. It was a great class and help me prioritize how I spent my time and to identify where I was currently spending my time.

There were thirteen areas where I wanted and needed to spend time. I chose eight to focus on, knowing that areas likes “chores” and “volunteering” where areas that I would do as a matter of course. I made a mini-book, and included lists of things to consider for each area.

So here’s how I did:

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Family: It might seem that this would have ended up on the list with volunteering and chores, but I knew that there were times when I would turn down a chance to spend time with family because there were too many things on my to-do list. I was much better this year at letting the to-do list take a backseat to family outings or even just sitting down to do a crossword puzzle with Matt or Tracy.

Friends: I spent a lot more time this year doing things with friends: crafting, visiting photography exhibits, going to concerts, visiting museums, and just meeting for coffee.

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Read:  I had a list of 40 books I wanted to read this year. I read 36 books, not far off the mark, but read only 8 of the books on the list. There are a few on the list I started and didn’t care for, but I’ve pulled the list out of the mini-book so I don’t forget the rest that I still want to read. New books keep coming out, and I end up reading those instead of the ones on my shelf.

Learn: There were 10 items on the list and there is only one (masking in Photoshop Elements) that I still don’t know how to do. That, I’m sure, will be covered in Kim Klassen’s photoshop class that starts in just a couple of weeks.

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Photography: I’ve finally owned up to the fact that I cannot commit to a Project 365. I go in spurts, so that was definitely not a success. I’m hoping to participate in Darcy’s Sweet Shot Tuesday this year, and have promised myself that I will complete whatever challenges are posted on an online photography group I belong to. I have four books I wanted to read. Although I dipped into all of them, I did not complete any of them; I need to add them to the book list. There were ten things I wanted to learn in photography, and I have learned how to do most of them. I still have a few items on the list to check off, but I’ve learned a lot of things this year that weren’t on the list at all. I’m very happy with my progress here. Since I now shoot almsot exclusively in manual, I was actually surprised to see that this was on the list of things to learn.

Internet:  I needed to better manage my time with blogs and internet surfing. I do very well here for a while, and then lose control again, but I am so much more aware of what’s happening that I regularly reassess and have let some things go. One thing I have mixed feelings about is time spent on message boards for online classes. I’ve really cut back on that, but I also know I’ve missed out on the community as well as a lot of inspiration.

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Crafting: I had a list of 35 techniques I’d like to try. I’ve used about half of them, so I pulled that list out as well.

Exercise: Until I had back problems, and then a sprained ankle, I did well here. I was going to hour-long classes three times a week, and using the weight room regularly. Since October it’s been pretty bad, but I’ve just gotten the OK for the treadmill, bike, and elliptical machines so I need to get back into the swing of things. I find it much harder to make myself go to the gym when I’m scheduling it, instead of attending a class.

So what’s the word for 2011. About two months ago while I was reading a post on Cheri’s blog my word came to me:  FINISH.  I have too many projects started and classes begun, but not finished. So this year I’ve made a list of 10 classes and projects I want to finish or complete to my satisfaction. I thought about one/month, but realized that in January I’ll be gone at least two weeks, and the same is true in August. I’m sure there’ll be a couple other trips as well, so 10 seemed more manageable. In the spirit of the word, I’m going to try to be very selective about what new classes I take on this year. I have signed up for Kim’s photoshop class because two of my big projects to finish are digital ones. I’m also planning to take two classes that are tool-based classes: one on the Silhouette and one on the Zutter Bind-it All, neither of which I know how to use as well as I’d like.

Rinda has thrown out a challenge to create an art journal to track our progress with our resolutions or one word commitments. I’ve been thinking about how I want to document my progress, so I think I’ll do a tag book with a monthly update. I know I need to find some way to be accountable, and making tags will be a quick and easy way to do that. Perhaps I can incorporate some of Rinda’s art journal techniques as well.

Do you choose a word? Make resolutions? Whatever you do, have a healthy, happy 2011!

 

Christmas Recap

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Our family was four short this Christmas. Sarah and Adam were in California, our neice, Grace, is traveling through Europe after a semester studying in Florence, and Toby was ill. We missed all of them, but had the added pleasure this year of having Greg’s friend, Sonora, and Jasmine’s friend, Hollis, with us.

Thanks to some great information from an online course I took this month, I got out my Speedlite and did some practice shots before Christmas night. Our house is incredibly dark, even in the daytime, and I’m never happy with overly bright shots with on-camera flash. Without flash, the photos are too grainy. The Speedlite was great. The flash bounces off the ceiling so no one is getting the bright flash in their eyes (and people are less apt to recognize their photos are being taken), and the color was quite good. So here’s a look in photos of our Christmas.

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Our living room before it all began. Tracy, Matt, and I didn’t get home from church until well after midnight, so we had a late start. Even though there were just three of us in the morning, we took our time and enjoyed watching each other open gifts. My big surprise was receiving the DVD set for the complete West Wing series. It was my favorite show and went on for seven seasons. It will take me the better part of the year to get through them. I’ve seen the first eight episodes this week as I worked on my Christmas Journal and other projects. I’m enjoying them as much the second time as I did the first. I’ve never been a big fan of DVDs, but I was delighted to get these.

At four o’clock the family arrived. Even with the absences we were 18 strong. I get a lot of help with the dinner preparations as everyone contributes their specialty. The menu varies very little from year to year.

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We always have just a few more than we can seat in the dining room. Tracy was busy helping Randy pass the heavy (and hot) dishes before they sat down to eat.

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For years we’ve opened gifts in the same order: youngest first, and everyone watches and admires the gifts. The older adults exchange names and the younger adults exchange names as well. Now that we’re all adults there’s some confusion at times at who is next to open gifts! This year we ranged in age from 17 to 89!

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For the last several years, a highlight of Christmas has been the Walker family band. This year Hollis joined with his flute, and Sonora joined in with the drums. Off and on through the evening, different groups of people would sit down with instruments and start to play. It’s a talented family!

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At one point it was just drums, and wonderful! The drum on the left is Matt’s. Sarah brought it back to him when she came home from a summer in New Mexico. We all agreed it has the best sound.

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One of Tracy’s brothers lives in Phoenix. He has three beautiful daughters and several grandchildren. This year we got to visit with them and share our celebrations through the wonders of Skype.

I don’t imagine it’s very likely that the WHOLE family will ever manage to be present at Christmas. We are scattered across the country (and this year, in Europe, as well), but we take joy in the times we are together and certainly are grateful for the many ways technology lets us share with one another.

A Wreath for All Seasons . . . and All Occasions

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I love a versatile stamp set and Papertrey’s A Wreath for All Seasons fits the bill. I needed two birthday cards for friends whose birthdays are the end of this month. Although the recipients are over thirty years apart in age I think the card works for both of them.

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Cardstock:  Rustic White (Papertrey); Patterned paper: Memory Box; Stamps: A Wreath for All Seasons and Birthday Bash Sentiments (Papertrey); Red Pearls (A Muse Creative Candy); Distress inks (Tim Holtz)

The To-Do list is being whittled down. The last of the Christmas cards went in the mail this morning on our way to church, and most of the cookies are baked and ready to be put on the cookie trays to be delivered on Wednesday and Thursday. I still need to wrap gifts, and finish making four gifts.  Then I’m in pretty good shape.

We worshiped today in our renovated/restored sanctuary for the first time since February. I have deliberately not gone on any of the construction tours and was simply awed by the beautiful work. Our church was already beautiful, but old, and in need of handicap access, improved choir space, and a new kitchen. Although it will be March before everything is complete for the most part, we are home. I wish I had photos to share. Perhaps I can get some from our church website or link you to them once they’ve been posted. It was quite a day of celebration.

Hope you are doing well with holiday preparations as well!

Happy Mail and Journal Your Christmas Days 1 & 2

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If you’re looking for the Scrap-Mart Blog Hop, it’s the post below this one. Thanks for stopping by. I must say this blog hop broke a record (that will likely not be matched) for comments on my blog!!!

When I got home from California I had two pieces of Happy Mail. One I knew about and the other was a surprise. Before I left, I was lucky enough to win a random drawing of two new stamps sets from Wplus9 Designs, and I’m looking forward to having a chance to create with them.

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And the surprise was Happy Mail from Big Picture Classes. I updated my profile on their site and was lucky enough to get one of their fifth birthday happy mail packages. I especially love the little notebook.

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I promised myself I would not get behind with my Christmas Journal this year since I decided to do a December Daily format. The last couple of years I didn’t hold myself to daily pages, and it was a lot easier. I have the photos, but no pages done for Day 3 or Day 4. I decided to use the same format Ali Edwards was using and I wasn’t really sure I was going to like it, but so far I’m pleased with the results. I’ll follow along with Shimelle’s prompts as they appeal to me, but since this is my fifth Christmas journal, prompts about some topics have been covered in full in previous years. I’m also using photos from the prompts from Picture the Holidays with Tracey Clark.

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This is the first page. I’ve finished a transparency with a number for each of the days from 1-25. The green cardstock is the back to the first two-page spread.

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I like Shimelle’s manifesto so printed it as the first page of this two page spread. The second page is a hybrid one. I printed Ali’s overlay and then printed my photos and placed them on the page. Here’s the journaling.

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For Day 2 I went digital and printed both of my photos for the left-hand page and added a border cut from some October Afternoon paper. The right-hand page was also created digitally. I add a white rectangle to the bottom of the overlay so I could journal before I printed. The photo is the prompt, “Framed,” from Picture the Holiday. The transparency lies between the two pages. I decided not to create a set of similar tags for the number tags, but used up a lot of my Christmas stash and some number stickers. The tag is a Papertrey mat stack die that was stamped and the circle tag with a two was layered on it.

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The top photo is one of the poinsettias on our hall dresser reflected in the mirror that hangs above it. The bottom one is of the Christmas lights layed out on the floor before Tracy put them on the tree.

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The journaling reads: “I found out today that my ankle is probably broken, but since I’m not in lots of pain, I don’t see the specialist until Monday. Sigh. I hope I’ll get an air cast so I can drive! Today’s photo is from the Picture the Holidays prompt: Framed. I’ve been using my tripod this week, and it makes a huge difference.”  As you can tell, I’m not focusing on any particular topic, just some photos from the day and a bit about what’s happening.

Here’s a peek at the stack of transparencies. I have the chipboard cut for the covers, but haven’t decided quite what to do with them yet. I haven’t decided how to bind the journal either. This is not the way I usually operate, but I’m feeling just fine about it for now.

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California and Memory Box #3

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We had a very successful trip to Walnut Creek yesterday. I found all the gifts I wanted to purchase from Sarah’s wish list, picked up some great wrapping supplies from The Container Store, and a few goodies for myself. I only went into shops we don’t have access to at home. Sarah drove over after her class and was able to find a couple of pairs of comfortable shoes after our delicious lunch at Stanfords.

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This morning Sarah and I had manicures and pedicures. After lunch we picked up the last of the groceries we needed for Thanksgiving so we can avoid the grocery store tomorrow.  Adam’s parents arrived on time despite awful weather in Washington with roads that were nearly impassable last night. Adam and his parents have gone to pick up his sister, Allison, who just arrived in San Francisco after a non-stop flight from London. It will be the first time both families have been together since Sarah and Adam’s wedding four years ago.

Here’s the third card we made in our Memory Box class:

Peace

This card utilized the same blending technique as yesterday’s card. The simple line of rhinestones forms a sway across the top. The “peace” sentiment is another of the adhesive rub-ons and although it’s hard to tell, is covered with red glitter. I really like these and hope Memory Box continues to make them. I bought just one set of brocade designs. The rest were holiday designs and I knew I wouldn’t need them this year. All the patterned papers on these cards are by Memory Box as well.