Like yesterday’s blog hop, it’s been awhile since I participated in the CPS Sketch challenge. This week’s sketch reminded me that I had a couple packages of the American Craft Flairs that I hadn’t used. I still have some scraps of AC “Dear Lizzy” papers as well so I decided to get busy tonight and get a card made for this week’s sketch.
Here’s my take on it:
Everything is by American Crafts except the pink mat paper from my scraps file and the ribbon from my stash.
Tonight is the monthly Blog Hop sponsored by Papertrey Ink. I missed the last two so I was glad to be able to participate in this one. It also gave me an opportunity to get out some of my new die cuts and the beautiful felt that Papertrey has begun to sell.
And here’s my take on the challenge:
Cardstock: Ripe Avocado & Vintage Cream (PTI); patterned paper: DeLovely (Cosmo Cricket); stamps: Blooming Button Bits (PTI); dies: Beautiful Blooms 3 & Rickrack (PTI); felt: Raspberry Fizz & Vintage Cream; rhinestones: KaiserCraft; ink: Raspberry Fizz (PTI).
I finally got the Copics I needed to finish this card from the class I took several weeks ago using Copic markers with Prisma colored pencils. This is my favorite of the three we made that day, and the only one we didn’t have time to finish coloring. I wish I knew a little boy to send it to!
Since I didn’t choose the papers for this card, I can’t credit the manufacturers for any of the card elements.
It’s Sunday, and it’s been a very productive day. I’ve done a lot of crafting (5 cards) but have posted them at Scrap-Mart and won’t post them here until they’ve shown up over there.
Tracy and I got all our vegetables in our community garden plot this morning. We have quite a few more tomatoes (16, five different kinds) than any other garden I saw, but that’s the veggie I wanted most. I used to can tomato sauce so if we have an abundant crop, I’ll be happy to drag out all the canning supplies from the basement. In addition to tomatoes, we planted three kinds of sweet pepper, cilantro, garlic chives, four kinds of basil, four types of lettuce, arugula, pole beans, zucchini, and cucumbers. We threw in a few marigolds for color.
Planting a variety of basil was inspired by a book Sarah had (and I bought) called Grow Great Grub. The author said she only plants different varieties of basil and parsley. The basils provide enough variety in taste. We’ll see what we think.
We also have some cherry tomatoes and one basil plant growing at home, thanks for my Mother’s Day gift from Matt.
Hanging tomato planters are all the rage here. The cherry tomatoes grow downward. Here’s a view of them from underneath.
I hope it works. We think we’ll need to put some netting around the bottom once the tomatoes form to keep the critters from getting them.
Tonight we went up to the boat. We have a small 20′ Cape Dory that hasn’t been in the water for the last two summers. Tracy painted the bottom of it this week and it will go in the water (Lake Ontario) on Tuesday.
He wanted to get the registration on the boat tonight.
I was glad I decided to ride along because on the way home we noticed a couple of photographers alongside the road and knew the swans must be nearby.
The little ones are really cute, and it’s not often you can get so near them. I wasn’t sure my point and shoot would be good enough when I got out of the car, but it was just fine.
I seem to be doing these in sets recently. Here are the last two weeks:
I added another layout to our vacation album this week in response to a challenge Jenn posted at Scrap-Mart. They’re getting ready for a wedding in her family so the challenge was to use “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue” in your layout.
Something Old: SEI alpha stickers, Something New: Pink Paislee Starlight patterned paper and stickers, Somthing Borrowed: photo collage from a digital template by Kitty Designs, and Something Blue: navy cardstock.
It was a big mail day here. First the UPS man brought my prize from Making Memories. I’ve won a variety of wonderful prizes in giveaways on blogs but this is the biggest prize I’ve ever received.
I think they sent me the complete line of Pitter Patter (both pink and blue) and Panorama (including an album kit). I got paper, alphas, and embellishments for both lines. There were two packages of the new Vintage jewelry line, ten packages of Design Shop stickers (these are great & you’ll be seeing them on cards and scrapbook pages), and five packages of beautiful metal embellishments. Now I need to find a place to put it all!
Then the mail woman delivered my package from Papertrey Ink. I only ordered a couple of stamps, but I did purchase some dies I’m anxious to use. It will be awhile, however. It’s been a very busy week. I’ve been out every night and gone the better part of several days. I did get some work done today in the perennial bed and it is looking better.
We did our last cultivating at the Community Garden bed as well today and are ready to put our plants in as soon as we find time. Tomorrow I’m off with two friends to the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Buffalo. I’m taking three classes. One is a scrapbooking class with Basic Grey papers, and the other two are Making Memory Slice classes. I’ve started using my Slice more often but I know there is much more I could do with it.
After the convention we’re going to our favorite stamp store to look around and pay our fees for a colored pencil class we’ll be taking in July with Dave Brethauer (the owner of Memory Box stamps). After dinner at Pano’s we’ll finally head home. I’m really looking forward to a day of inspiration and good conversation with friends.
This morning Cathy Zielske debuted a new set of templates for a monthly scrapbooking project. I love the way she has it laid out and think this may be the answer for my Project 365 and Week in the Life photos. I love her clean and simple style.
Brenda Weaver has a great post about getting inspiration from a magazine cover. It’s geared to card makers, but definitely worth a look.
And lastly, a photo of our beautiful azalea:
The prompt was “hot & cold” this week. I wasn’t quite sure how to capture both, so Nancy suggested we each take one word. Mine was hot and her’s was cold. It took quite a few shots of the grill before I got the flame I wanted. It’s quite the opposite of the goodies in her freezer!
This was one of the first layouts I did for our vacation album, but it was just posted on the Scrap-Mart blog this week so I waited to post it here. Scrap-Mart, by the way, has an exclusive Spellbinder Nestibility label die available for pre-order. Nestibilities are one of my favorite dies, and I especially love the labels.
The Getty Center is one of the most amazing places we’ve visited in California. We spent about 3 hours there and barely scratched the surface of what there is to see. There are five different museum buildings (we only got through the photography museum) and fabulous gardens. The architecture is also worth the visit as are the views of LA and surrounding areas from the top of the hill where The Getty Center is located.
Cardstock (American Craft); patterned paper (American Craft “Dear Lizzy;” journaling spot (Jillibean); buttons (Sassafras Lass); alpha and brackets (American Craft Thickers)
Mel posted a challenge of sorts on her blog today. Take the 8th photo from the 8th folder and see what it is. I wasn’t particularly excited by this image. It was taken on August 23, 2008 on a hike on part of the Finger Lakes Trail. I suppose I was interested in the texture of the image.
But two images down was one of my favorite photos of the day so I’ll post it too.
For this image I held my point and shoot down below the flower and shot up. I think I took three or four photos, but this is the only one I left in the folder.
I’ve spent several days celebrating my birthday. When you get older, that’s a very good thing!!! And I’m not really done yet since I’ll be celebrating with one of my best friends on Wednesday. The best gift I got was having Sarah and Adam here this week. We had a lovely time, and a big family get-together on Thursday night with lots of food and a beautiful birthday cake.
The icing appears a bit more blue than lilac in the photograph, but lilac it was to go with the annual Lilac Festival in Highland Park this week and the beautiful flowers Tracy sent me.
Last night we had dinner with our book group and when I got home I had an email from Katie telling me to check the Making Memories blog. What a surprise! I was one of three winners of a lovely package of new product just out by Making Memories.
Last month I won another fabulous prize from Moxie Fab World. The Hello, Sunshine papers from lily bee are just so bright and cheerful. I know I’ll have a lot of fun using them. I’m feeling very lucky these days.
Today Sarah was off leading a retreat in Canandaigua and Matt was working all day so Tracy and I drove to Ithaca. It was a beautiful day for a road trip and we visited some of our favorite places, starting with the Ithaca Farmer’s Market.
We bought quite a few varieties of herbs and a few tomato plants from this stand for our garden. And some rhubarb for rhubarb coffee cake—a favorite of everyone here.
But the market has more than just fruits, vegetables, and plants. There are food and bakery stands. I had a berry scone.
There are pottery stalls, weaving stalls, basketry stalls, and stalls selling homemade food products.
I love the packaging for this Finger Lakes Popcorn!
From there we drove to the Cornell Plantations. I was pretty sure the azaleas and rhododendrons would be in bloom and I wasn’t disappointed.
The dogwoods were beautiful too.
And I was glad to find these beautiful blue flowers for a photography challenge.
On our way back to campus this deer appeared out of the woods and was happy to pose for a photo. We’ve never seen a deer marked quite like this one. He has a neck band and two ear tags.
Our next stop was the book store on campus. I got a new fleece and Matt wanted a set of license plate holders. The Cornell campus is just beautiful.
Our last stop in Ithaca was one of our favorite restaurants. Matt found it when he was there, and the food is always superb.
We did a little shopping at the Waterloo Outlets on the way home and were here by dinner time.
Sarah just arrived home from her retreat which went very well, and tomorrow should be a much quieter day.
Nancy and I decided to choose our own word this week: text. My photo of our BananaGrams game is on the left, Nancy’s photo of old family documents is on the right.
We’ve finished all the “must do” items on our list before Sarah and Adam arrive tonight. They fly into Buffalo at 11:10 tonight. I hope they’re on time since Tracy and I were wide awade at 5:00 this morning. It’s only 8:00 their time so they’ll be chipper! 🙂
After exercise class this morning I got to work on three cards that needed to be made. The first is for my BIL & SIL’s anniversary tomorrow. Since they’ll be here for the family party on Thursday I’ll give it to them then. I saw the punched heart technique in a magazine I was browsing through at Barnes & Noble when we were keeping warm there on Saturday night, so I can’t give credit for it. The mat on the focal panel is actually green, but came out really dark in this photo.
Card base: Impress; patterned paper: Scenic Route and unknown scrap; sentiment: Saavy Stamps; heart gem: A Muse
The next is a sympathy card; the message is on the inside.
Cardstock: Select White and Sweet Blush Papertrey Ink; embossed cardstock: Creative Imaginations; flower dies: Papertrey Ink; pearls: Michael’s; silk ribbon purchased from Ellen Huston
Yesterday I got an early birthday gift from my friend, Mary, when we went out to lunch. It’s this beautiful berry bowl. I have nothing like it and navy blue, red, and yellow are my happy colors.
I had lots of fun making this thank you card for her.
Cardstock: Bo-Bunny & PTI New Leaf; patterned paper: Bitty Dots PTI; label and chipboard: Cosmo Cricket “Garden Variety;” alpha stickers: October Afternoon.
Here’s the inside of the card:
Patterned paper strip: Cosmo Cricket; alpha stickers: Adorn It.
A question for anyone who has a Typepad account. In my draft, all the images in this post are centered, but none of them are in the published version. Any ideas why?
Before our power went off yesterday, I got two cards made
for the Moxie Fab “Three Cheers for Chairs” challenge. For the first card, I debossed the chair to create the dotted
pattern and then colored it with Prisma colored pencils. I’ve wanted to try
this ever since I got the stamp nearly a year ago.
Cardstock: Lemon Tart
by PTI; patterned paper: October
Afternoon “Thrift Shop,” button twine: PTI; distress ink: PTI; stamp: Memory Box; ribbon: Paper Source; scalloped
punch: PTI; flower from stash.
The next card is for friends of ours who are celebrating
their anniversary this week. It gave me a chance to use my new “Chair-ished”
stamps from Papertrey that arrived last week.
Cardstock: True Black & Vintage Cream PTI; patterned paper: Lush MME; stamps: Chair-ished PTI; computer-generated sentiment, heart from stash.
