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End of Summer Get-away

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Sarah and her family spent a week with us in Rochester, and then the six of us took off for Intermediate Lake in Michigan where we had rented a cottage for a week. The weather was much cooler than we anticipated, but it didn’t keep the kids out of the water, and by the end of the week it had warmed up. It was, gratefully, sunny every day.

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The cottage was set back from the lake. The only disadvantage to that was the view from the cottage was more limited than it might have been.

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We rented a boat for the week, and got out on the lake every day. Caleb (as you will see) loves tubing, and wished for a faster boat. Hannah wasn’t interested in tubing this year, but loves driving with Grandpa. 

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Hannah did like kayaking. The cottage had several we could use, and Sarah tied Hannah’s kayak to hers. Hannah paddled continuously so I don’t thing the rope did much except keep her with Sarah.

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We think we may put this photo on a tee shirt for Caleb on his birthday!

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The kids talked Adam into tubing. The rest of us passed on it. 

And that’s the way we spent most of the days–on the water. I don’t have any photos of Hannah in the water, but the water was shallow enough that she could easily play in the water which she loved. We also played board games, read, and napped. A pretty fine way to spend one of the last weeks of the summer.

After Sarah and her family left for Wisconsin, we stayed on for a couple of days to meet up with a couple we met on our tour of Spain and Portugal. Candy and Ralph live in northern Indiana so we had met them for lunch earlier in the year on our way home from Wisconsin. This time Ralph got us rooms at one of the wineries near Traverse City. It was gorgeous, and so relaxing. We had lovely rooms, but also had the use of a very large living area and patio. Traverse City is one of their favorite get-aways. 

One morning they took us to Fish Town–an old fishing village that now offers boat rentals, fishing excursions, and shops. 

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I was excited to finally see a Wood Duck. There was a whole flock of them.

This is a view from one of the wineries we visited. The grounds were beautiful, as were the ones where we stayed.

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All in all it was a wonderful trip. We returned to a very busy schedule which is finally winding down this week. Two weeks from Saturday we’ll be off again. I don’t expect to do more than try to keep up with email during that trip, so I hope to get a lot of crafting and posting done in the next week or two.

 

 

Color Hues #94

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I knew September would show up long before I was ready to say goodbye to summer. I remember Tracy once saying that now that we’re retired “it’s  endless summer.” Sadly, not. I will miss the long hours of sunshine, the pretty flowers in my yard and garden, and the warm weather. It will still be nice for a few more weeks, but once Labor Day arrives, summer seems to end for me.

Knowing fall is on its way, Carol has a wonderful color challenge for us at the Color Hues Challenge blog:

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For this challenge, especially, remember that this is a color hues challenge so there’s always room for a variety of hues. I chose two hues of cardstock for rust and two hues of green. I also included some dark brown and white–neutrals are always welcome. I immediately thought of two die sets in my NBUS box:  Spellbinders’ The Botanical Solarium and Altenew’s Through the Window. 

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After die cutting all the elements, I added a bit of ink blending to the greenery and backed the window with a piece of cloud vellum. When I started to consider what I could use I remembered some of this, but I had no idea if there was any left. I had plenty for the window, and enough for several more when I use this die again. 

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I had several contenders for a rust card base but chose Papertrey Ink’s Terra Cotta Tile. The rust cardstock for the pots is Gina K’s Rusty. The sentiment is from My Favorite Things, Sunflower Sweetheart. The only embellishments were the pearls for the flower centers and one for the butterfly. I had a few die cuts left over, and decided to use a few of them on the inside:

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The sentiment here is from My Favorite Things Sweet Birthday Wishes. I’ll bet there are a few stamps or die in your collection that would make for a great entry to our Rust and Green gallery. Be sure to check on the Color Hues Blog for more inspiration, and come join us!

As noted above, this card definitely benefited from my NBUS box, so it will be an early entry to Darnell’s September NBUS challenge. I’m also adding it to the gallery at Addicted to Stamps and More: Die Cuts and Stencils.

NBUS Die Cuts and Stencils

 

Woodblock Wednesday-August

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The fourth Wednesday is always Woodblock Wednesday, and this month the last Wednesday in the month. I read an Opinion piece in the New York Times recently saying that although most people see Labor Day (Monday) as the end of the summer, you don’t have to buy into that. Most of my adult life Labor Day was the last weekend of summer because it brought the beginning of the new school year. I actually loved the start of a school year, but this year I’m going to try to hold on to that summer feeling for a few more weeks. 

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We got home last yesterday from a fun week on Intermediate Lake in Michigan and two days with friends in the wine country of Traverse City. I’ll have some photos up by the end of the week. Luckily, I made my Woodblock Wednesday card before we left, and you can see that summer was definitely on my mind. 

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This is another old woodblock that’s been in my collection for years. The manufacturer was Fred B. Mullet, and I have no idea where I picked it up. I stamped it on watercolor paper and water colored it with Distress Oxide Inks. Both the narrow frame and the card base were created with woodgrain papers from Simon Says.

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The sentiment is from Colorado Crafts’ A Fox’s Life which a friend gave me. It’s never been used so it’s off to Darnell’s NBUS.  Thanks, as always, to Amy Tsuruta for hosting Woodblock Wednesday! 

Color Hues #93

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Tracey has chose perfect summer colors for the new Color Hues Challenge.

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I pulled out an old favorite for some bright and cheerful Coneflowers by Honey Bee. The layers and size of the florals make a big impact on an A2 sized card.

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Catherine Pooler’s Chic Chevron coverplate made a good background for the florals. I added a sentiment stamped in dark brown and fussy cut from Pinkfresh Studio’s Friendship Blooms stamp set. 

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The colors in the photos are quite a bright as they are in real life–a too frequent result of living in an old house with limited light. I added a few yellow enamel dots was the only embellishment. 

I hope you’ll join us at the Color Hues Challenge. The gallery is open until August 29th so there’s lots of time to create with us! 

 

Pinkfresh Studio August Challenge

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I was excited to see the theme of the Pinkfresh Studio Challenge this month: Washi tape. I immediately knew what I wanted to use, but had to wait until my friend received the card before posting it.

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I hadn’t pulled out the beautiful, gold enhanced Pinkfresh Studio Washi tape, Sunflowers, in a very long time. They are perfect for a summer birthday. I used a card design I learned from Anett Gelencsér during the Create & Connect event held in February. It creates a middle portion that “pops up” when the card is released from the envelope.

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To create the card, we used two of the Notched Corner Frame dies as well as the Stitched Octagons coverplate. I did some light yellow ink blending on the coverplate die and chose two dies from the washi tape collection to decorate the frame. You can see the dimension better in the photo below.

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The sentiment is also from Pinkfresh, Perfect Sentiments, hot-foiled in gold. 

I have more Pinkfresh Studio washi tape, but my crafting time for August is just about up, so another entry is probably unlikely. We’re off to Michigan this weekend with our daughter and her family, and then to visit with friends we met on our tour of Portugal and Spain last year.  So many ideas, so little time!

 

Harvest Mice

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The Double D Challenge theme is Harvest, and it was the perfect opportunity to pull out a My Favorite Things which I have owned (and never used) for so long that it is no longer available to purchase! I love these little mice so I’m not sure why they were so neglected.

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I wanted to use the Waffle Flower Postage set again, so used the Postage Collage Coloring Stencil to color the background. I cut the stamps apart, and then set out to stamp, color, and die cut the cute little mice with their haul of pumpkins and apples. I placed the die cuts in four of the postage stamps, and arranged them on a woodgrain card (Simon Says.)

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The sentiment from Papertrey Ink’s Happy Fall is generic enough that I could use this for a fall birthday or even a fall anniversary. The little heart on the sentiment stamp is a red glittery sticker. 

This card is off to Double D as well as Darnell’s NBUS challenge.

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I have a crafting companion today, who worked very hard to create this card for her cousin who like crafting as much as she does. Here’s Hannah with her card.

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I had made a card for one of her birthday gifts that featured crafting supplies so that’s what she wanted. She was pleased to see that I had a new (another NBUS) set by Gina K, Crafty Notes, and picked out the images she wanted to stamp. It took her no time to master the MISTI and she carefully colored the crafty tools with Tombow markers. She definitely wanted them to be “bumped out.” 

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When Hannah arrived from Wisconsin on Saturday she brought her watercolors with her and has created several wonderful paintings. After she colored the card and envelope, she noted that she was coloring the marker with one of the colors she used on the card. I think she’s got this!

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We’re sending this off to NBUS as well. 

 

Summer Fence Line

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I pulled this stamp set out of the “Summer” box to decide whether I wanted to keep it or not. It’s been years since I used it. I found a design on Pinterest for inspiration, and set about creating a card. I’m usually not a fan nor particularly adept at using layering stamps or scene building. But I’m pretty happy with this (almost) one layer card. The stamp set went back in the box. 

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The scenery stamp is Summer Fence Line by Papertrey Ink. The sentiment is from The Greetery’s Sentiment Suite: Birthday, always a favorite.

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I die cut the panel with Simon Says Stamps Stitched Rectangles and layered it on a dark brown card base. 

I’m sending this off to the Paper Players where the challenge is: Beach Time, to Time Out: It’s Always Summer Somewhere; and The Four Seasons: Anything Goes Summer.

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Color Hues #92

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Another month has flown by, and we’re at the top of August already: time for a new Color Hues Challenge. Stef has chosen:

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Last month, Jill Foster for Penny Black presented ten videos in a series call “Permission to Play.” Each video featured a different layout design, and I chose the layout from the second video.

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You’ll quickly realize I made one major change, using a circle frame rather than an oval. Much to my surprise, I didn’t have any decorative oval frames, and no circle ones that I was happy with either. I ended up creating my own using one design from Pinkfresh Studio’s Braided Circles and using one of the Ellen Hutson Essential Circles.

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I’ve always love Penny Black’s hedgie images, but only own one set. This cute critter rushing off with his package is from the Critter Delight set, and is one I’ve owned for a long time. Jill Foster used watercolors for all the images in her 10 video series, but I chose Copic markers for this guy.  After adding some ink blending to the background circle, I added the frame with dimensional tape.

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The sentiment from The Greetery’s Inflated Sentiments was curved to fit inside the frame (and doesn’t look as close to the frame IRL.) I added a small butterfly (an embellishment used by Jill on several of her cards.) I didn’t have a small die so fussy cut this one from an older Papertrey Ink set, Life is Beautiful. 

There’s lots to see at the Color Hues Blog so hop over and take a look at the creative designs by the Design Team. 

Pinkfresh Studio Challenge: Geometric

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The Pinkfresh Studio Challenge this month is Geometric. There’s a lovely inspiration board, but fortunately you can use the photo, the colors, or the theme. I definitely went with the theme.

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The PFS geometric stamps and hot foil plates are some of my favorites. I reach for them time and time again, and especially when making cards for guys. This one fits the bill.

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This time I foiled the Quadrant Backdrop in gold on black cardstock. It really packs a punch, I think. The sentiment is Simon Says It’s Your Birthday, cut from gold metallic cardstock.

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Aside from a narrow gold metallic frame, this card didn’t need any embellishment.  In addition to the Pinkfresh Challenge, this card is off to Inkspirational: Use products from 2 or more companies, and Addicted to Stamps and More: Birthdays. 

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Beautiful Day

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Altenew recently issued two large floral stamps drawn by Sarah Simon of the Mint Gardener. A few years ago, I took a drawing and watercoloring class with her online, and I love her book, Modern Watercolor Botanicals.

Despite my best intentions not to purchase any new stamps, I caved on these. Yesterday I found the time to watercolor the first set, Peony and Lilac Swag. 

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This floral is just a part of the whole image. There are a variety of ways to position parts of the florals on an A2 card base, and eventually I want to try a 5X7 card. I used my Zig Watercolor Brushes this time. I tried an earlier image with the Altenew 36 pan watercolors, but they weren’t transparent enough for me. Next time, I’ll go back to my Daniel Smith watercolors which take more time.

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I die cut the floral and added it to a panel I embossed with Spellbinders, Dazzling Dots embossing folder. The sentiment is from a Pinkfresh Studio set, Best Thing. After debating it for awhile, I ended up added three pearls as embellishment. 

This week’s Simon Says Wednesday Challenge is Beautiful Blooms, using Altenew stamps so this is a perfect fit! I’m also sending it to the Flower Challenge: Make a Birthday Card and AAA Birthday: Fabulous Flowers.

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Woodblock Wednesday: July

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July is definitely flying by. I did think that time would slow down a bit now that we’re home for several weeks, but not so. I chose another woodblock stamp from the Lockhart Stamp Co. for July’s Woodblock Wednesday. This bright red Adirondack chair reminds me of the red chairs we encountered in random places throughout the Canadian Rocky Mountains National Parks when we visited. After we returned we bought our own red Adirondack chairs. 

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I used a Taylored Expressions Masking Stencil to create the blue background. The image was colored with Copic markers, and then die cut with Simon Says Stitched Rectangles. I added a second square and with dimensional tape added it to a square card.

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The sentiment is from a My Favorite Things set: Itty Bitty Basics embossed in white and die cut with MFT’s Itty Bitty Strips. In addition to Woodblock Wednesday, I’m sending this to the Four Seasons Blog: Summer and Shop Your Stash, also Summer.

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Most Beautiful Day

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I have a card for the AAA Card Challenge: Fabulous Flowers.

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The card is a variation of a card Lea Lawson and Heather Hoffman taught in a one time class last fall.

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The flowers are from the Brighter Day set by Pinkfresh, colored with Copic markers and then die cut with the accompanying dies. The background was created with the cover plate, Harlequin by Papertrey Ink. The sentiment is also from Pinkfresh–the Farm Fresh stamp set. 

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These bright and happy flowers remind me of this time of year when we have bright and beautiful flowers in the garden and in vases in the house. It’s probably my favorite time of the year.  

In addition to the AAA Card Challenge, I’m sending this off to Triple B: All about Birds, Blooms, and Butterflies.

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Postal Cards

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It took awhile before my WaffleFlower Postage stencils and dies arrived, and then even longer for me to get them out of the NBUS box. I created all three a week ago, but waited to post until now since one of them needed to arrive at its destination before they showed up on the blog. Two are almost identical because I needed two birthday cards.

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These are die cut with the main postal die and stenciled with the Wild Flower Collage stencil. The stamps are from the Postage Collage stamp. Both greetings are from Pink & Main’s Special Day stamps.

I hesitated before purchasing the Beach Days Postage Collage stencils, but I couldn’t resist. The images are so much fun, and I don’t own anything like them. 

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I used both the Beach Days and the Postage Collage stamps sets after stenciling the backgrounds.

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The sentiment came from Simon Says Stronger Together stamp set.

There are still a couple of challenges looking for summertime cards so this one is off to the Time Out Challenge: On Vacation and the Shopping Our Stash Challenge: Summer. We’ll be off to a lake vacation in August, and I’m looking forward to a week of sunshine (we hope) and water fun. 

Edited to add: Also posted at Darnell’s NBUS! (I was sweetly reminded by Darnell that I needed to get these in the gallery!

Color Hues #91

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Sheri’s pick for this Color Hues Challenge came at a great time for me. Red and Green called out Christmas, and my stash of Christmas cards is very small. 

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In keeping with my goal of using NBUS, I pulled out Pinkfresh Studio’s hot foil plate, stencil, and die cut for the Winter Berries Frame purchased months ago and went to town. The first card is my fave and the one I posted on the Color Hues Challenge site, but there are four more cards as well. I challenged myself to try a different design for each of the cards. 

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This is the only card where I didn’t use the die. I’ve always love the Savvy Joy die cut and use it almost every Christmas. I used the stencil and two shades of green and red to color the berries. I stenciled enough panels for all the cards first, and actually have quite a few left over.

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The closer view shows the beautiful hot foil and the pretty gold sentiment.

For the rest of the cards, I’ll just list the additional products used for the card.

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black & gold mirror cardstock, Pinkfresh Studio Diagonal Stitched Circles, Spellbinders Betterpress Fancy Sentiment Strip & die (foiled in gold), PFS gold pearls

MerryBright

a premade embossed square card, PFS Perfect Sentiments: Holiday (foiled in gold), PFS Gold Glitter dots

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Gina K embossing folder Tapestry, Ellen Hutson Essential Arches die, PFS Perfect Sentiments: Holiday, PFS scarlet clear drops

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PFS Basic Banners: Christmas, The Paper Studio gold pearls 

It’s not just Christmas on the Color Hues Challenge board although I’m not the only one to add to their stash of holiday cards. Please hop over and take a look at the great designs of our Guest Designer, Rosemary, and our Design Team. 

Some of these cards are off to two additional challenges: Addicted to Stamps and More: Christmas, the Christmas Kickstart Challenge: Festive Frames (which I’d better continue to play with!) and NBUS for the berry frame.


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Strawberry Season

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Strawberry season is one of my favorites. (Peach season comes close behind.) The strawberries didn’t last as long in Western New York this year due to a week of exceptionally high temperatures. Nonetheless, I pulled out The Greetery’s Botani-Cuts: Strawberries to make several birthday cards (all identical). 

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It’s a very CAS design. I started with the strawberry die cuts in white, coloring them with a variety of Pinkfresh Studio inks and finger daubers. Betsy Veldman of The Greetery often uses finger daubers, and I’m becoming a fan. Much quicker in this case than using a blending brush. Once that was completed, I die cut a Pinkfresh Studio Rounded Braided Rectangle from white and arranged the strawberries on it.

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I added very small pieces of dimensional tape to the pretty blossoms, and stamped the sentiment from The Greetery’s Print Shop: Spring Mix before adding it to a white cardbase.

The Inspired By Challenge is Strawberries, so this is headed their way as well as to the Simply Clean and Simple Challenge.

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