New Tradition

Today's layout started from Shimelle's new Starting Point's series that runs each weekend.  On Saturday, there is a partial layout.  In this case it was the background paper, 4 - 5 1/2" squares and one strip through the center.  Then on Sunday she posts a complete page built from the starting point.  You can use the starting layout however you wish.

I used 4 squares from a coordinating 6x6 pad from My Mind's Eye.  They have a bunch of these out now.  As far as I can tell, these papers are only available in the small pads.  Pity, as there are some great prints.  My center strip is also from a striped paper in that pad. It is seamed but covered by the photos.

I know the one photo of my husband defies all the photography rules about shooting a subject with is back to the sun, but moving him would have defeated the point.  Plus I love how the light fell.  Shimelle also has a new series on camera lessons. I need to take it to see what other rules I can break!  :-)  I wish I took better photos but I just don't have the patience for those perfect shots.

Anyway, it reminds me of a relaxing evening in early summer.  Even though I'm ready for cooler weather, I'm nostalgic for this night too.  It is part of the beauty of living where we get to experience all the seasons.

Thanks for visiting today.  Off to my regular workroom to finish some draperies.

Ingredients:  DSP:  Paris by My Mind's Eye
Chipboard:  Stampin' Up!  Stickers:  Crate Paper
Thickers:  American Crafts

Come to Bethlehem

Is it just me or is it really hard to find religious stamps and stamp sets for Christmas?  That doesn't make sense to me.  While I enjoy the secular parts of the holiday, I prefer religious or at least less cutesy sets for making cards for my Mother and my aunt to give.

One of the cards we did for card class last week is this one using a new-to-me stamp set from Stampin' Up!  This is the Come to Bethlehem stamp set and is one of their cling stamps - they call 'clear.'  I cut the star to be separate from the rest of the stamp as I knew I would want to do it in different colors and placements.

One tiny tip for the day:  To save ribbon, fold one end over the other and tie together with some twine.  Then cover the tied area if you like.  I left one end hanging out from under the oval area.  It saves just a bit of ribbon over tying the ends together but it was just enough to make this ribbon go the distance.

Thanks for your visit today!

Ingredients:  Stamps:   Come to Bethlehem from Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: gold, Elegant Eggplant, Concord Crush from SU!; Enchanted evening from Papertrey Ink
Ribbon and gem:  Hobby Lobby

A little something to do

A comment I've heard many times when comparing September 11, 2001 to December 7, 1941 is that our citizens haven't had to make the sacrifices today that were made when we went all-in for WWII.  That is true for the most part.  The largest burden has gone to the small percentage of our population who have chosen to serve in the military and their families.  Most of us go on about our daily lives and don't think about attacks and freedom.  How could we and really go on?

But I think we have as a country changed.  We are more vigilant.  I missed the Virginia earthquake as in I was in the mountains and for some reason didn't feel a thing.  But for those who did, some thought of an attack, particularly those in Washington.

One of the saddest things to come out of 9/11 beyond the loss of life is the way we view other people.  9/11 created a new prejudice.  I don't want to look at people of a different race or ethnicity negatively or in fear.  In November 2000, I was flying to the Northeast for a business trip.  Beside me was a man from Pakistan, nicely but casually dressed.  He struck up a conversation by asking about our election.  I had to admit that our democracy had yet to decide who our next president would be.  (I was a bit embarrassed and that is probably why I remembered the conversation months later.) We talked about his trip to visit a friend and the places he had already traveled.  It was a pleasant exchange.  Would I have this same kind of relaxed conversation today?  I'd like to think that I could look beyond the nationality of a person but we have been conditioned to be wary.  He might be afraid to talk to me, too.

We are also paying the price of war literally in our country's debt.  It is impacting our economy and thus all of us.  I don't know if we are fighting the right fight in the right places but I'm not in a position to know.  I know we have to protect our country, our freedom.

So today, I'm doing my small thing.  I'm making some Operation Write Home cards.   These happen to be holiday cards.  They will go to those deployed overseas to be sent back to family at home.  I love making these cards but I wish I didn't have to.  I wish the soldiers, airman and marines could all come home and we could all live in peace.

Card Ingredients:  Stamps: Magic of Christmas by Hero Arts; Four the Holidays by Stampin' Up! for greeting
Ink:  Glorious Green, various SU markers
Cardstock:  Blushing Bride, Real Red

Last CA Page

This is really it. The last of our California pages.  I know I've said that before. This time I have them all in the album and this one just fills in a space.  I'd planned to use these photos in my album sometime but I'm glad they are fitting in here.  This was one of my favorite hikes.  We were looking for a particular trail, got to the end of the road without finding it.  When we turned around, we took the first trail that looked good and found this one.  It was really stunning walking between the redwoods and over the footbridge in Redwood National Park last September.

The page is pretty simple.  The opposite page in the album has the woodgrain paper around the edge so I put some in the middle for this page.  Then I punched a bunch of circle elements.  I stamped a few trees and that is about it.  The journaling is printed on kraft and I used some $1 store chipboard for the title.

I'm really trying to get this travel album wrapped up.  It's been awhile since I shared a complete album with my husband. There are some more Hilton Head pages - maybe just one.  We go there every year but I still love to capture the memories.

Thanks for visiting today!

Leaf Lover

I love leaves!  Can you tell?  It seems to be all I've posted the last few days!!!  It is after Labor Day so for me, it is time to think about Fall.  We had gorgeous blue skies Tuesday after the last of T.S. Lee blew through giving us about 2 inches of rain.  Leaves swirling on a blue sky was the idea behind the card above.

I actually stamped and embossed these leaves in white for the first card and decided I didn't like the white swirls so much.  So I had these left over and put them on this basket weave card.

The first card's leaves were done with copper embossing.  The backgrounds of both are lots of distress inks and some Stampin' Up! Classic Ink.

Thanks for visiting today!  Hope you are having a great week.

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Flourishes 2 by Autumn Leaves; Mailbox Greetings by PTI; Baroque Motifs for large flourish by Stampin' Up!

TIPsy Tuesday - Selecting Holiday Paper

I love Christmas and as such it is hard to resist pretty holiday paper collections.  However, my selection from last year proved hard to use up as it was definitely holiday/winter themed.  When picking holiday paper this year, I looked for papers where at least one side was very general.  You have to look closely at the small prints to be sure they aren't secretly harboring snowflakes or stockings or some other small wintery print.

Here is the Peppermint collection from Crate Paper.  Almost all of these papers have some distressing on them.  Everything except the die cuts can be used for non-holiday projects.  I've used the die cuts to create a holiday scene card above.  I added some punched garland using one of the papers in the kit, brads and glossy accents.  The pink paper on the bottom half of the card is from another Crate Paper collection.

(Watch at Youtube)



Thanks for visiting and happy holiday paper shopping!

friends always

My husband and his long time friend thought I was stopping to tie my shoe when we were hiking together last year.  I was really falling behind to snap a photo of them.  They have been friends for a very long time.  Even so during this long walk, Lenny told her some stories of his time in college and a cute trick his Mother played on him that she had never heard.  I enjoyed hearing them again, too.  I just realized, I haven't added the date to this page.  I'll do that.

Today's layout is for two challenges - Scrapbooker's Anonymous for using chipboard and a sketch of the week.  Layout is based on the weekly sketch from Shimelle.com.  I turned the sketch on its side and used a larger photo (5x7).  The journaling is hidden behind the photo.

There is lots of sparkly here as I used quite a bit of homemade mist made from Ranger's Vintage Photo ink, water and gold Perfect Pearls powder.  The leaves were first painted and then stamped with Staz-on so the ink wouldn't run when I misted them.  The leaves at the top are green, then they go to fall colors with the brown at the bottom to represent a lifetime friendship.

Thanks for visiting today!

Ingredients:  DSP:  Campy Trails collection by American Crafts

Chipboard: Stampin' Up!

Paint:  Anita's

Ink:  Vintage Photo

Chipboard letters:  Audrey by Maya Road

Thankful for dirt

dirt?  Yes, that's right, dirt.  I'm thankful that our local park has an unpaved trail for walking.  We've had a ton of rain this year and often it has come down in buckets washing the trail, but it doesn't get muddy.  A certain amount happens every year and every year, they work on the trail. Each time, I'm a little antsy.  I'm worried they are going to pave it.  A couple of years ago I was having a conversation with the town manager on something entirely different and I asked about paving the trail.  He said, "Oh we don't have the money for that."  My immediate response was "Oh, good!"  Well, I didn't mean I'm glad they don't have money.  I wish the economy were wonderful and they were rolling in funds to do great projects (or lowering our taxes) - just not paving the walking trail.

It is amazing the difference walking on an unpaved trail makes to one's feet, knees and hips.  I met another walker with the same opinion only this week.  She was switching to the town trail from her community one which is asphalt for that very reason.  This is the only unpaved public trail in the county. I've had another opportunity this year to put in my two cents that unpaved is better - even if it is more maintenance.  This year, they widened the trail, smoothed it up nicely and planted some grass along the side.  It is perfect and I'm very grateful to have such a pretty place to walk!

My card today is for Splitcoaststamper's Ways to Use it challenge.  We were to use paint.  When I think of paint, I automatically get into my chipboard.  In this case I used some leaves and the portion of the chipboard they were punched from.  I tried a couple of things before just painting over all of it and using a little distress ink to spritz a background.  I stamped the flourishes from an Autumn Leaves set.

And since I used chipboard, this is also going over to Scrapbooks Anonymous site as the theme this month is chipboard!

You'll think I've gone totally nuts over leaves in the coming days as I have some cards designed for my next card class also with leaves.  I love leaves and that is what I think of when fall gets close.

Thanks for your visit!

Ingredients:  Chipboard - Stampin' Up!
DSP:  Basic Grey
Stamp:  Kind and Caring Thoughts by Stampin' Up!