card*a*licious–18
Here’s my card for the latest challenge. It ended up busier than I would prefer, but once the stitching was down I wasn’t about to change it. Stars, a circle, and stitching were the ingredients of the challenge.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day
And it’s Tracy’s birthday, too!
A Wish for a Friend
(An Irish poem)
Wishing you a rainbow
For sunlight after showers—
Miles and miles of Irish smiles
For golden happy hours—
Shamrocks at your doorway
For luck and laughter too,
And a host of friends that never ends
Each day your whole life through!
I bought these at The Willow Bakery on Saturday for a birthday treat tonight. Matt and I took Tracy out to dinner Sunday night while Matt was home, and we’re going out again tonight with Tracy’s mom and Bill. He’ll get his birthday pie this weekend (banana cream) because he’s still working on the chocolate cream from The Pie Plate.
Life is Good
We took our annual spring trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake Saturday with our good friends, Karen and Mike. We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful March day. We bought our tickets for the October performance of “Sunday in the Park with George.” visited some of our favorite wineries, had a wonderful late lunch at The Irish Harp, and walked through the village window shopping. Of course, we had to stop at The Pie Plate and bring home some bakery goodness.
No signs of growth in the vineyards yet.
In addition to The Pie Plate, we went to The Willow Bakery. The cowboy cookies were wonderful, and I would have liked to bring home a whole assortment of their lovely pastries.
We did, of course, bring home some wine. Our favorites come from Jackson Triggs, Strewn, and Vineland. We didn’t make it to Vineland this time, but bought some new (to us) wines at both Jackson Triggs and Strewn.
Monthly Summary Layouts
I used to do a monthly summary layout, but gave it up quite some time ago. I saw a challenge last month on Davinie’s blog. I did the January layout in plenty of time, and then never posted it. I am WAY behind in my Project 365 layouts, but I have finished February’s layout. I still need to do the tag book page for February. Here are both January and February.
The photo collage is a Quick page by pais-lee press designs.
This layout design is very similar to one I did in Cathy Z’s Design Your Life class at BPS.
Hope
It was a cold, dreary, rainy day but made better by having lunch with a friend and knowing these have emerged in the back yard.
Three Card Challenges
It’s been a busy week, but tonight I had a chance to make three cards for challenges that were posted earlier this week.
This one’s from Card Positioning System and uses their sketch.
I really like the Card-a-licious site. Their challenge was to use red, black, some bling (the middle of the flower is much shinier IRL), and letter stickers.
This one didn’t photograph too well. There’s a border on the right that matches the border across the card. The challenge here was to make a card that “incorporates a bird of any type, but it must also include a “space” in which one is likely to find birds.”
Matt’s home for the weekend. We’ve had dinner together both nights, and had more conversation time than usual. He’ll head back to Ithaca tomorrow, but next week is spring break so he’ll be back shortly, although he expects to spend part of break in Ithaca organizing information and doing follow-ups for job searches. Hard to believe graduation is just a little over two months away.
The Mighty Queens of Freeville
I loved this book. I could have sat down and read it cover-to-cover, but it’s rare that I find a book that’s this entertaining and can be read while I’m on the treadmill, so it took a few days (miles) to finish.
Amy’s voice is pitch-perfect. Her language is fresh and filled with just-right similes and metaphors. She faces life’s disappointments with grace and humor. Her stories of Freeville remind me of growing up in a similarly small town in Ohio. Unlike Amy, I did not have to raise my children alone, but neither did I have the luck to be surrounded by a “village” of strong women who gave support, advice (solicited and not), and unconditional love. It’s a warm, loving memoir of a funny, upbeat woman who knows how to tell a good story.
Green: Day 5
Of all the green things around, this is the most hopeful.
A favorite green bracelet
Green Copic markers: I need to practice with these!
More Green
I had yesterday’s photos ready to post, but got distracted and didn’t remember them until I had already gotten in bed. So here is green for Day 3 and Day 4:
I love green shoes. I had another pair I liked even better, but they proved to be so uncomfortable I had to give them up. These, on the other hand, are easy on the feet.
Quite a few years ago, Tracy gave me this dishes from Williams Sonoma for Christmas. They’re our “everyday” dishes. The little teapot I bought at an inn’s gift shop, and I have no idea where I picked up the pitcher which is one of many in a pitcher collection.
Anything green is appreciated in March in western New York where the cold air continues. Today is supposed to bring a moderating trend to the temperatures, and I hope it continues.
Green Week: Day 2
Here are a couple of photos of green from my papercraft supplies:
I have most of my ribbon organized by color in these floss boxes. It’s been a great system.
My buttons are sorted by color as well, but the little drawer doesn’t show them off well so I spilled them onto the dining room table. I still need to take a photo of the green markers and pencils. Tomorrow, perhaps, although I am substitute teaching all day for my friend.
On a happy note, I got my sewing machine back–repaired for less than $100. Seeing that any new machine that is considered reliable and has the few features I want cost at least $300, I considered it a bargain. The repairman assured me it was well worth fixing, given the quality of many new machines. After all the research I did, I find I’m somewhat interested in doing some sewing. I think I have enough fabric left over from the curtains to make a couple placemats. Like I need another project . . .
I’m trying once again to get my digital scrapbooking supplies organized in Shoebox. I’ve tried this a couple of times and never seem to get the project going. I’m using the supplies more often now, so it seems like a good idea–again. I am not intuitive when it comes to new software programs, and I have never gotten so I understand Shoebox well enough to be proficient in using it. It continues to “feel” confusing.
I’m also working my way through Jessica Sprague’s new Photo Editing Course. I learned a few new tricks in just the first lesson. I love her teaching style, and her information is so well presented.
Green Week: Day 1
There’s another color challenge and like two weeks ago, I need some inspiration for Project 365. Green is definitely easier to find here than yellow:
Wore this to church yesterday. It’s actually a prettier green than seems to show up here. The photo looked fine. Sigh.
A close-up of the scarf which was knit with a yarn and a ribbon at the same time. It’s a pretty heavy scarf, but a great one for March when it’s still very cold (below zero wind chill today), but I’m ready for spring!
card*a*licious–15
Here’s my take on this week’s challenge–a card with no sentiment. I actually make quite a few cards without sentiments on the front, but I was anxious to try this vine from my new Papertrey stamps. The ribbon came from a kit, I think, as I don’t recall buying it.
Papertrey Ink Stamps: Beyond Basic Borders; Landscape Ink
New Card Challenge
CPS has Challenge 104 up sponsored by PaperTrey Ink. Since I’m loving my new PaperTrey stamps, it was a fun challenge to try.
Paper, stamps, and ribbon all from PaperTrey.
Sarah brought me a set of tags from Paper Source at Christmas time. I wanted to use them to create a tag book for the year. Cathy Z designed the journaling cards specifically for these tags. I finally got around to getting the cover and the January tag done. Just a few more days and I can start the February page!
Scenic Route paper and tag; Ali E stamp from Technique Tuesday; ribbon from my stash.
The photo side of the tag.
Journaling for January.
Yellow Day 5
My search for yellow extended to the grocery store today. Although there were many more things to photograph, here are three:
Good for the soul on a cold, winter, very windy day.
I brought three of these babies home with me.
And none of these came home. Cheery though they may be, squash is not a favorite of Tracy’s.
And a final one from the bulletin board over my desk.
I finished making the new kitchen curtains today, but not without a bit of excitement. About 2/3 of the way through the project, I was standing at the ironing board when, all of a sudden, I heard a strange sound coming from my sewing machine. I looked over and smoke was pouring out of it! The smell was awful; clearly there was a short of some kind. When we took it to the repair shop this afternoon, the man said he rarely see a Viking machine with this kind of issue. Not heartening. He’ll have an estimate on Wednesday, but I am going to be pricing new machines before then. I love my Viking, but it will soon be 29 years old, and probably needs to be replaced. Thanks to my friend, Debbie, the curtains were finished at her house on her machine.
Yellow Day 4 & A New Project
I’ve been wanting new kitchen curtains for several years but haven’t found anything I like. Recently I found a plaid curtain at Country Curtains I liked very much and ordered them. Unfortunately, when they came they weren’t quite right. The fabric was great, but the header was too big and the valences too long. So I returned them and ordered the fabric. I can’t remember the last time I made curtains–over 20 years! But it came back quickly. The first valence is finished, and all the panels are cut and ready to sew. I realized my handy tape measure is a bright yellow color so here’s #4:
