Skip to content

Home

  • by

I don’t think I’ve ever been away from blogging for so long. We really didn’t have any internet access to speak of the whole time we were away, and it’s taken me a week to get myself reoriented to being home. A lot has gone on.

Our sister-in-law lost her courageous battle with cancer right before we returned from our trip to Alaska. Tracy was home just two days and then flew to Phoenix where her memorial service was held on Saturday. A dear friend also passed away last week, and I attended his funeral yesterday. Both died far too young, but we are relieved to have their suffering and pain come to an end.

While we were away the contractor was able to gut our kitchen. We have just a sink now, and that’s how it will be for several weeks to come. The finish date is the beginning of October. We had gotten everything out before we left, but have spent some time this week, reorganizing and moving boxes so we can cook and eat in the dining room. Our microwave, toaster oven, and grill (on the patio) seem to work just fine. It’s good that it’s happening in the summer when we can grill easily.

So, Vancouver, Victoria, cruising, and Alaska . . . It was all fabulous! We’d never been on a cruise, and someone on the ship told us we’d have two reactions when it was over:  Why had we waited so long? Where will we go next? We’re not ready to plan another one quite yet, but it wouldn’t take much to convince me to go on a cruise again. The service was superb, the food excellent, and there was always too much to do. On the several days we had “at sea” much of our time was spent on our balcony, looking at glaciers, and the gorgeous scenery. I took, as always, far too many photos to ever print or use, but photography was a bit tricky since nearly all of it happened from a bus, a train, or a boat. Not the best circumstances for great photography. At the last minute I decided not to take my tripod, and I’m glad, as I don’t think there would have been many occasions for using it. I’ve sorted through the nearly 2,000 photos (just mine, not Tracy’s or our friend’s!) and eliminated all the awful ones and duplicates, but there are many, many more to delete. I did crop a few so I could post them today.

Here’s a look at the atrium on the Island Princess. The boat was beautiful and our stateroom was lovely.

Atrium1w

We chose wonderful excursions. There will be more about them later, but one of my favorites was the photography excursion in Juneau to Mendenhall Glacier and Auke Bay for whale watching. We were able to hike up to Nugget Falls. This was probably the nicest day (weather-wise) we had during the trip.

Mendenhall1w

In Talkeetna, we took a river raft trip down the Talkeetna River. Here are the four of us before we left for the trip. Although it rained prior to our trip, and after our trip, we lucked out and got a dry ride.

4ofUsRiverRaftw

In Denali, we opted to extend the wildlife tour from four hours to eight hours, and what a good decision that was. Most of the beautiful scenery and all the wildlife was spotted after we would have turned around on the first tour. We saw lots of grizzly bears and caribou as well as moose, a wolf, a porcupine, and Dall sheep. These guys were pretty close to the road, so getting a decent shot from the bus was a bit easier.

Caribou1w

I’ll be working on catching up with all your blogs in the next week, but it will take me awhile. The number of posts in my Google Reader account is kind of scary!

 

Holiday Gift Exchange

  • by

It’s been a busy week. Aside from packing for a rather lengthy vacation, we’re also packing up our kitchen so the contractor can begin to rip out the ceiling and old cupboards while we’re away. We’ve been driving to Consesus Lake every day to visit with Tracy’s family. His mom has rented a cottage, and all of us try to gather for dinner (at least) every day. It’s been over 90° every day this week, so it’s been great to be at the lake. The last several years, we’ve taken the opportunity to draw names for the Christmas gift exchange during this week since everyone is together. I make gift tags, and if they want, the family can save them for the packages come December. (Mine is in a little dish on my dresser so I don’t lose it!)

Here is this year’s version:

HolidayGiftTags

I kept it pretty simple this year. I colored some Avery tags with Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Broken China), punched some snowflakes and outlined them with a glitter pen, and added a coordinating gem. The snowflakes are popped out with a 3-D adhesive. The back was stamped with WPlus9’s “All Occasion Tags.”

This is probably my last blog post before we leave for Vancouver, BC and Alaska. It appears internet connections will be iffy, so I doubt that I’ll be able to do much blog reading or commenting (not that I expect to have much time for that), and I’m quite sure posting will be a challenge. I’m hoping to keep up with Project 64, but we’ll see how it goes. I do have a few posts pre-scheduled, and I’ll be catching up with you on my return. We’re very excited to be going on our first cruise, and to be going with good friends of over 25 years. Should be fabulous!

Vacation Recap

  • by

Warning this is a long post and there are a lot of photos!

We’ve been home just a week, and it’s time for a vacation recap. I’ve finally been through all the photos once and chosen those I think I might want to print. I deleted a few, but must go back again and get rid of all the duplicates. Yesterday I managed to edit the ones you’ll see here.

We were gone nearly 3 weeks. I took over 1100 photos, we drove through four states (Tracy drove clear across the country, but I flew from NY to Colorado), we visited three national parks, four sets of friends and family. I read five books, but sadly missed meeting up with three blogging friends I hoped to meet. Aside from serious pain issues, it was a great vacation. As some of you know, I had surgery in early March and was left with some serious, undiagnosed, and untreatable pain which made walking very difficult. It went on for 10 weeks, and really impacted my lifestyle, and sadly, our vacation. Miraculously, the day we left to come home it disappeared, and I’ve now been painfree for a little over a week. I have new appreciation for chronic pain, and don’t know how you get accustomed to it. I never did, and I was worried that this would be a lifetime affliction. The surgeon has now diagnosed it as an impacted fibroid, but the truth is none of us are quite sure what it was. But yeah, it’s gone!

So, on to vacation. We started in Denver where Matt has taken a new job, which thankfully, he seems to love. We found him an apartment, but weren’t there to help him move in, but our friends did. I’m still waiting to see photos! But here’s the apartment building. He’s on the fourth floor and on a clear day, can see the mountains.

M'sAptw

He’s just two blocks from the Denver Botanic Gardens where we spend a couple of hours one afternoon.

DenverBotanicGardenw

When we left Denver, we drove to Santa Fe and spent an afternoon in the downtown area and visiting a fabulous photography gallery. We were here ten years ago, and would love to spend more time again.

SantaFew

Tracy much prefers state roads to interstate highways, so on our way to Phoenix to visit family we took the long way and got to see El Morro National Monument where Native Americans and pioneers left their marks on the rocks. The earliest are petroglyphs, but I was amazed at this beautiful script carved into the rock.

MorroNMw

And we drove around the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Parks:

PaintedDesertw

In Phoenix, we visited Tracy’s brother, here with his beautiful daughter, Lena. I was terrible about getting photos of family and friends. Not like me, I’m blaming it on the pain, but I’m so sorry I don’t have better photos. (Or in some cases, any.)

Scott&Lenaw

We also got a chance to visit Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright’s western home. Thanks to Deb, I also did a little shopping at Scrapbooks, Etc. and sent myself a box of scrapping goodies which I can’t find locally.

TalisienWestw
From Phoenix, we drove to Tucson. We’d never been here before, but had a lovely time. We visited Saguaro National Park . . .

SaguaroNPw

the absolutely fabulous Desert Museum . . .

Entrancew

Tohono Chul . . .

TohonoChulw

the beautiful San Xavier Mission . . .

Missionw

and the fabulous Center for Creative Photography as well as having dinner with old book group friends from Rochester.

On our way to California to visit Sarah and Adam, we stopped for a day at the Joshua Tree National Park,

JoshuaTreew

Spent a night at Morro Bay:

MorroBayw

And visited San Simeon, William Hearst’s castle on a hill overlooking the Pacific. The gardens and walkways were my favorite part.

HearstCastleStairsw

But this shot of the indoor pool, gives you a better idea of the ornate and elaborate house.

IndoorPool1w

And finally, we ended up with Sarah and Adam for five restful days of family visiting. I did get a great family photo here (and you’ll see it later), but I love this one of Sarah and her dog, Sadie.

SarahSadie1w

If you made it to the end, you deserve a treat!

Scrapbook On The Road

  • by

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

Cover

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

InsideCovers

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

Itinerary

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

MemorabiliaPocket

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

Snapshots

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

TagsSideA

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

TagsSideB

The flip side.

TransparencyOverMap

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

PagesSize1

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

SamplePPpages

SamplePPwithjournaling

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

PagesSize2

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

SuppliesToGo

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

 

 

Home Again

  • by

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:

SnowyRdEdgeBurnw

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.

QuakerStatew

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.

BillyGrahamLibraryw

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.

EagleCollage

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

HawkCollagew

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.

3owlsw

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.

TOWLauraKBWw

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.

FamilyIDw

FamilyPhotosw

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

SunriseHartwellLakew

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.

BrickStore70sw

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

Briew

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.

ShrimpFajitaw

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.

 

 

Half Moon Bay and Card #4

  • by

Yesterday we drove to Half Moon Bay. It was raining when we left, the sun came out as we crossed the San Mateo Bridge, and then it rained some more. First on the agenda was brunch with Rinda! After introductions, the rest of the family went off exploring, and Rinda and I had a lovely meal together. It’s clear to me that we could easily spend a lot more time together. I never saw the text my family sent, and finally they had to call me to tell me it was time to go. We hope we can spend some time together shopping and/or seeing sights in Berkeley or San Fran on my next trip west. That would be a lot of fun. Here we are; so much fun to meet blogging friends in real time!

MariaKaren2w

After brunch we headed off to cut down a Christmas tree. Sadie loves to come on these outings and is a terrific traveler.

SadieCarw

By the time we got to the tree farm it had stopped raining and the sun came out. But it was incredibly muddy. I could hardly lift my feet for all the mud on my sneakers. The soil must be made of clay!

Muddyw 

Here are the troops deciding which tree will be the one to take home.

Consideringw
And a few of my favorite shots of Rancho Siempre Verde. Rather than pony rides, Santa visits, and carnival type attractions, this farm sports a marshmellow toasting bonfire, wreath making tables, swings, and xylophones hanging from trees.

Swing1w
Xylophonew

Waterdropletsw

I was pleased to get this shot of the water droplets on the pine needles with my little point and shoot.

On the drive home we passed the Pigeon Point Lighthouse. I never get tired of driving along the coast and envy Rinda her home so near the sea.

PigeonPoint2w

It was a delightful day. As I type this post the tree is going up in Sarah and Adam’s living room.

Here’s the last card we made at the Memory Box class. It would have been my favorite, but I wasn’t very happy with the way the alcohol inks went on at the end. I know I could do a better job and maybe could improve this card, but I’m not willing to invest in the alcohol inks as I’m not sure I would use them often enough to justify the purchase.

Believe

The poinsettia image was stamped and colored with colored pencils and then coated with Glossy Accents. After the Glossy Accents dried, alchol inks were dropped on to the card and rolled about. Then that piece was layered to the mats with dimensional adhesive. I was really pleased with the coloring of the poinsettia so I was rather bummed by the way the alcohol inks ended up. Oh well, I have to remember that the reason I go to these classes is to learn, not to end up with a given project.

 

 

 

Grateful

  • by

I am so grateful to be able to spend time with family this Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful feast and three days with both Adam’s and our families together. Adam and I took lots of photos and you’ll surely see them on some scrapbook pages but for now, here are the families.

AllOfUs1w

And the feast.

ThanksgivingCollagew

Yesterday it was fun to find this as I was browsing.

Today we’re off to Half Moon Bay in the rain (sadly) to cut down a Christmas tree. But for me, the most exciting thing is having brunch with Rinda! How lucky is that? It’s certainly not often you get a chance to meet a blogging friend and I’m so looking forward to it.

 

Gift Set

  • by

We made our annual trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake this weekend. As always we took in a play (The Ideal Husband, this year) at the Shaw Festival, visited some wineries (new ones this year; never made it to our old favorites), and had dinner with the couple who used to own the B&B we stay in who have become our dear friends. We had a glass of wine and delicious pate and cheese, with Pat and Ian before we went out to dinner so I wanted to take her a little gift for her hospitality.

I started with a notepad I created in August and made four cards to go with it. One thing I love about Paptertrey Ink products is how easy it is to pull together a set like this. I chose the 2009 Autumn Tags stamp set and the Turning A New Leaf patterned paper pad. I added some twill, ribbon, and buttons (all Papertrey Ink), a few pearls, and stuck with a basic card design. I made envelope liners this time with the  liner die I picked up at the Papertrey booth during CHA. It really makes the set seem much more finished, and it’s so easy I think I’ll start doing this regularly. The notepad and cards fit in one of Papertrey’s large glassine bags perfectly, and I added a little topper to it with scraps from the project.

GiftPackage

CardCollage

 

CHA: Part 1

  • by

I’ve taken 250 photos in the last two days, but don’t worry, this post is photo heavy, but not nearly THAT heavy! Being at CHA is like being a kid in a candy store. There is so much to see, and lots to learn. My understanding is that this is a smaller show than the winter one, but it’s plenty big for me! Yesterday the show opened with a bagpipe parade. This is a traditionally done for the manufacturers before the doors were opened, and we were lucky enough to be inside to see and hear it.

Bagpipersw

One of the first booths we went to was Spellbinders. Their Nestability dies are my favorites and the big new product is large format dies. They are fabulous, and can be used in scrapbook layouts as mats, as books, and as cards.

Nesties2 

One of the best things is seeing all the samples by the manufacturer’s design teams. Here’s a layout using one of the large format dies.

NestiesLO 

Learning some new techniques has also been one of the benefits of being here, and I’ll have more to show you in the next post.

Nesties 

The American Craft booth had fabulous new papers, embellishments, and Thickers. Some of my favorites were from the new Dear Lizzy line. We got to meet and talk to Elizabeth Kartchner who couldn’t be nicer.

EKartchnerUsw

Laura, Eva, me, Elizabeth, and Katie

ACPaper
ACEmbellish1
ACEmbellies2 

I love these new Thickers.

ACThickers 

Next stop was the Making Memories booth. These wonderful butterflies are just one example of the great decorations, hard work, and thought that goes into creating these booths.

MMButterfliesw 

The Slice now has a new cartridge that cuts appliques. How cute are these?

MMOnsiesw
MMOnsies2 

They were doing Make & Takes with their new Vintage Jewelry line.

MMJewelryw
Here’s Katie’s.

Katie'sNecklace 

This was my first opportunity to meet Katie and Eva who are on the Scrap-Mart Design Team with me. They are, of course, just as nice in person as they are online!

KarenEvaKatiew
I even bumped into Sharon Klima, the owner of Buffalo Stamps and Stuff. We were both watching a fabulous demonstration of Art Parts by Wendy Vecchi. Wendy’s coming to Buffalo to teach a class in September and I hope I’m able to go. I loved her work.

Sharon&Wendyw 

ArtPartsArt 

ArtParts 

But the best part of today was winning not one, but two raffles. First I won the Martha Stewart Cricut Cake machine which I handed over to Laura since I’m not ever going to be a professional baker.

CricutRaffle 

That was at 11:00 and at 2:00 I won a Slice machine! Can’t beat that kind of luck!

MMRafflew
Tomorrow we set up the Scrap-Mart booth for the consumer show on Friday and Saturday. I’ve learned a lot about what it takes to run a business in this industry (and it ain’t easy!), and tomorrow should be another learning experience. I’ve got more to share as soon as I have time to get the post written.

Weekend Away

  • by

For the last ten years or so we’ve been going to Niagara-on-the-Lake in Ontario with good friends to see a play or two at The Shaw Festival. This weekend we saw Sunday in the Park with George, a Steven Sondheim musical which was extremely well-done, but a bit odd. As one of our friends said, you don’t come out of it humming any tunes. The artistry of the play and the sets were wonderful. In addition to the play, we try to tour a few new wineries and always visit a few of our favorites.

WhiteGrapesClusterw 

GrapeVinesw

One favorite is Vineland, where we always purchase a few of their red wines to bring home. It’s housed in a beautiful old church and their displays are always lovely. This year they were promoting a new vodka/wine blend. It didn’t interest me at all but the display was beautiful.

VinelandDisplayw 

One of the new wineries we visited was Foreign Affair. It’s also in a beautifully restored building. They are the only winery in North America to make wine by the Amarone method, where the grapes are laid out to dry for several months prior to pressing them. Most of their wines are quite expensive, but the Reisling is the best Reisling I have ever tasted. In addition to wonderful wines, their decor is lovely.

ForeignAffairDoorsw

The painting over the door was commissioned for them and is used as part of the label on each bottle. Superimposed on the landscape are animals of Canada–blending the Italian wine-making tradition with the grapes of Ontario. This display was on the table in the hall:

FADisplayw

Every year we stay at a wonderful B&B each year called The Cape House. The new owners, Peter and Louise, are delightful and breakfast is fabulous. Louise introduced us last year to a watercolor artist, Irene MacKenzie, whose work we love. We bought a print last year, and this year we commissioned Irene to do a watercolor of our house. Last year I fell in love with a print of a poinsettia. Lucky for me, Irene had one of them matted and framed, so I added another of her watercolors to my collection. I got a photo of our friends at Irene’s on Sunday morning. Her beautiful home is her gallery.

KarenMikew 

All in all, another great weekend away–and sadly, our last one for a while. We hope to go see Sarah and Adam late in March so we’ll be saving up for that trip between now and then.