random reflections

Addicted to CAS: Blessed/Blessing

I've got a couple of cards for the Addicted to CAS challenge: Blessed/Blessing.

I'm truly down to the wire getting this challenge posted although I made the cards days ago. There are two cards with very subtle differences in color and in embellishment.

The sentiment and the die cut letters are from Ink to Paper's "Season of Joy" set. The gorgeous snowflake is one from My Favorite Things set of dies, "Stylish Snowflakes," cut from some very glittery paper I picked up in Milwaukee awhile ago.

The second version is nearly the same, but a slightly different color of blue cardstock and a larger embellishment as well as blue metallic die cut letters.

I'm also linking this up with Simon Says Work It Wednesday where the challenge is "Ho, Ho, Holidays."

 

 

5 in 5: The Christmas Decoration Issue

I'm joining Sandie in her monthly meme 5 in 5 - one day late as it turns out as I always intend to publish on the fifth. Lots of things seem to be getting away from me recently. The days are flying by. I've been busy making Christmas cards, but not finding the time to post them. The 5 in 5 post was also on my mind, but it wasn't until I saw Sandie's blog and then Mary-Lou's blog show up in my Feedly account last night that I realized that the fifth was already here. The advantage to it this month, is that both Sandie and Mary-Lou featured Christmas decorations, so I decided to do the same. We always seem to have a few new ones, and this year is no different. I've downsized a lot of our decorations, and sent several to Goodwill this year as well, but the new ones just seem to show up!

First off two decorations from trips we took in 2019. The first came from our trip with Sarah and her family to DisneyWorld last January. This turned out to be much more difficult to photograph than I expected since both Mickey and Minnie are quite sparkly in real life. I had totally forgotten I'd purchased the ornament until I unwrapped it as we were decorating our tree.

The second ornament came from Holland, Michigan when we were there for the Tulip Festival in May. This ornament has been laying on my roll-top desk in the hall ever since we returned. 

The largest of our new decorations is the result of a lovely gift certificate a friend gave me for my birthday in May. As soon as I saw this lovely "scene," I knew it was the perfect way to use the gift certificate. This is on our dry sink that originally belonged to my great-grandmother. On the side table in the same room is a collection of tin houses and a church. In addition, it's something my friend would love. It's too bad the flickering battery-operated candles don't show in the photo!

All year round, I have a collection of pitchers on these shelves in my kitchen. For Christmas last year, I found this one with the red and green arrangement, and this year added the little red cardinal to the shelf.

Lastly, a particularly beautiful poinsettia. We always have two or three in the living room, and I love this pink and white edition.

I love decorating for Christmas, and sitting in the living room with all the pretty lights and a fire in the fireplace. We've already had nearly 25" of snow this year, so it certainly feels like Christmas-time.

JOY

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you in the U.S. I hope it is a joyful holiday for you and your family! I have a joy-filled card to share today for the Addicted to CAS Challenge which is appropriately: 

As soon as I saw the challenge I knew just what stamp set would be perfect: "Season of Joy" by Ink to Paper.

I love this beautiful shade of red cardstock which I picked up at the Gina K shop in Wisconsin when we were visiting Sarah in October.  Everything on this card came from the same set with accompanying dies. The sentiment was embossed in gold, and the letters for JOY were die cut from gold paper that is backed with adhesive. 

The wreath was stamped with three shades of Pinkfresh Studio inks with details added from Polychromos colored pencils. The final touch was to add some tiny red pearls from A Muse that have been in my stash for years. I loved them so much I bought multiple packages when it appeared they would be discontinued. I still have plenty, even though I use them frequently.

We'll be off later this afternoon to Tracy's sister's for the holiday meal. I'm the pie lady, and have three offerings: pumpkin, apple caramel crunch, and a red pear galette. The last two are new recipes, and let's hope they meet with approval.

Happy Birthday, Ella!

Ella turned five today, and the family celebrated with a dinner tonight. A week ago, she celebrated with a party for friends and the theme of the party was unicorns. It carried through to the family dinner. I love this balloon that a friend found for her at our local Wegmans grocery store.

Ella had told her mom that she wanted a surprise party, and we all hid in the TV room until she arrived. She was both surprised and very pleased.

When I asked Ella what she wanted for her birthday, she said "a big unicorn," and by luck I found a great one in a catalog---soft, cuddy, BIG, and best of all, quite reasonable. It was a big hit. Dazzle (she came with a name) has an adorable pink mane and long pink tail which don't show here.

Of course, her birthday card had to feature unicorns as well. 

I started with a pink card base from The Stamp Market, and applied Nuvo Silver Glimmer Paste through Altenew's "Milky Way" stencil. Then I decided I'd like a few clouds, and was pleased to discover that I could add them with the My Favorite Things Cloud stencil with some white ink. 

The adorable unicorns from My Favorite Things "Fairy Tale Friends" were stamped on Bristol, watercolored, and die cut. After figuring out where I wanted them, I embossed the sentiment in silver. Finally I added the unicorns, popping one of them up with some dimensional tape. It doesn't show up in either photo, but the wings of the unicorns glimmer with some metallic watercolors. 

 

Cards for Challenges

I have two cards to share today for four challenges. The first is a birthday card I gave to a friend last week. It's being linked to Addicted to CAS where the challenge is "Birthday."

My friend's birthday isn't until next week, but because of the holiday, we celebrated at lunch last Friday. I chose a stamp from Pretty Pink Posh I haven't used often, "Autumn Wreath."

Because I embossed the wreath in gold before coloring it, I used my Tomboy markers to color the image. I hadn't used those in the longest time, and I was quite pleased with the amount of shading I could get. I'm so used to Copics, but have read repeatedly that embossing powder can ruin the tips of the markers. They're too expensive to take a chance. 

After coloring it, I stuck it in my MISTI to emboss the sentiment from Papertrey Ink's "Birthday Basics," and then die cut the panel with Simon Says "Stitched Rectangles."

Lastly, I adhered the panel to a card made from Papertrey Ink's Canyon Clay cardstock.

The next card is a Christmas card for three challenges. First is AAA Cards which calls for "One Image and Optional Shimmer." I have both.

The second challenge for this card is at CAS on Friday where the challenge is to use a frame.

And finally, the brand new challenge at Time Out: Celebrations, with an optional twist of making a one layer card. I'm not sure if the addition of the frame kills the one layer requirement, but it definitely fits the Celebration theme.

 

My card features the beautiful "Modern Poinsettia" from Altenew. I previously colored it with colored pencils, but this time created two cards using Copic markers. 

As before these were images I had stamped at Altenew's Meet and Greet in Syracuse in August. This time they were stamped on panels so I didn't have to worry about the Copics bleeding through to the back. After coloring the images I masked the poinsettia and splattered some metallic gold paint on the panel. It still needed something, and I remembered the Altenew "Fine Frames Cover Die." 

I die cut the frames from gold metallic paper which has an adhesive back which turned out to be pretty easy to get on the card. You can see the shimmer a bit better in this photo.

I've been busy tackling the Christmas cards, but still have a ways to go! 

Photowalk #27: Bloedel Reserve

Our first stop after Seattle was Bainbridge Island. We caught a morning ferry and arrived in Winslow, a charming town, just as the stores opened. I didn't take any photos in Winslow, but I did do some shopping. I bought a lovely necklace which I wore to the wedding in Portland later in our trip, and a fabulous sling bag which I used nearly every day of our trip. It functioned as a purse and a camera bag with room for a lightweight fleece or rain jacket. Winslow has one of the nicest travel shops I've every encountered. 

After a nice lunch at a diner in Poulsbo, we drove to the Bloedel Reserve which we had read about in our preparation for the trip. The pamphlet that accompanies the map describes the reserve as "a living work of art, a museum in nature." It was quiet the day we were there, and we had the walking trails mostly to ourselves. It is indeed, a "tranquil" experience and would be perfect as a spot for "meditation and reflection." We enjoyed it as a chance to stretch our legs before heading to the Olympic Peninsula and a lovely spot for some photographs. I originally intended this as a post for "5 in 5" for September, but had difficulty uploading photos to my computer on this trip.

This photo was originally planned for the Summer Scavenger Hunt: #9- a bridge, as well as #7- a curving path (of sorts.)

The Bloedel Reserve was originally owned by Virginia and Prentice Bloedel who owned the property for nearly 30 years, after purchasing it in 1951. This home, built in 1931 served as their residence fro 1951- 1986. Mr. Bloedel believed in the "restorative power of nature" and interestingly, was color-blind so was more interested in creating a scenery of textures rather than colorful flowers. The home is now used for concerts and other gatherings.

One of our favorites on the reserve was the Japanese Garden. This shows the sand and stone garden.

All along the paths were benches for sitting and reflection. I thought the tree roots that "framed the bench" were fascinating.

I liked this plant, but have no idea exactly what it is. I would have enjoyed having some signage that told the names of some of the more unusual plants. (Although, truthfully, they may only have been unusual to me!)

And a closer look.

The next stop on our road trip was the Olympic Peninsula-coming soon!

 

Seattle: Photowalk #26

Our September road trip through Washington and Oregon started and ended in Seattle. We had a day and a half at the beginning of the trip and two and a half days at the end. Knowing from a previous trip that the Seattle traffic is difficult, at best, we chose a hotel in the Capital District, and walked everywhere. The weather at the beginning of the trip was perfect, but it rained most of the last two days we were there. The first of these photos are from a tour we took the first day we were in Seattle. We made several stops and had time to walk about and explore.

Our first stop was Pioneer Square. Our tour guide made some suggestions, but we had about half an hour to explore on our own. A delightful discovery was the Waterfall Garden Park tucked away at the corner of a busy intersection.

Pioneer Square was the site of the first settlement in Seattle. Originally all the buildings were made of wood, and nearly all were destroyed in the Great Seattle Fire of 1889. Very quickly they were replaced with brick structures that remain today. It's become a trendy area with lovely shops and restaurants. We returned the last day we were in Seattle, and had a wonderful dinner at Taylor's Shellfish Farms, a restaurant recommended by our tour guide.

Although the sign says "Flower Shop," it's also a bakery and I had one of the best pastries of my life there. When we went back at the end of the trip, I was disappointed to discover the pastries were all sold out. 

We also had a brief stop in the Freemont Neighborhood and got to see the famous troll under one of the bridges. 

The next stop on the tour was the Ballard Lock and Salmon Ladder at Lake Washington.

Here are the salmon. There were none in the fish ladder while we were here.

The last stop on the tour was Kerry Park, primarily for a photo op of downtown Seattle. Luckily, we took the tour on one of the nicest days we had in Seattle, so we had a great view.

After the tour we visited the Chihuly Museum and Gardens. We've seen two fabulous exhibitions of Chihuly's glass work. The first was at the Atlanta Botanic Gardens and then several years later at The de Young Museum in the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The last exhibition we saw was in St. Petersburg, and we were so disappointed in it. This museum and garden, however, were not a disappointment, although several of my favorite pieces had also been featured in the exhibit at the de Young.

The museum is located right next to the Seattle Space Needle. I loved the reflection of the Space Needle in this glass ball in the gardens.

And of course, a shot of the Space Needle itself.

We walked from the Space Needle down to the waterfront.

And of course, made a stop at the Pike Place Market. The flowers there are extraordinary and very inexpensive. The fish, although fresh and plentiful, can be a bit more expensive. The last day we were in Seattle we took a food tour of the Pike Place Market. It was lots of fun. We learned a lot about the history of the market and Seattle itself, and had some wonderful food as well. It was raining pretty hard that day, so there aren't any decent photos. 

On our last rainy days in Seattle we went to Wings Over Seattle. It's a very touristy attraction, but turned out to be a lot of fun. You feel as though you are flying through the air, swooping down cliffs and over Elliot Bay, the Cascade Mountains, as well as the other major geographic features of Washington State. 

We also enjoyed the Seattle Aquarium.

Sarah and her family had been in Seattle in July, and told us not to miss the amazing Seattle Public Library. I would love to be able to spend more time there.

A view from one of the upper floors of the library.

I'll end with one of my favorite shots of the waterfront at sunset on our first evening in Seattle. The ferry in the photo is off to Bainbridge Island, which was our next stop on the trip.

 

 

 

 

CASology Appreciate: Take Two

I have another entry to the CASology challenge: Appreciate.

When I set out to create this card, I really didn't have anything in mind. I started with a Paper Source A4 card and set out to emboss the Rectangle Peek-a-Boo Window die by My Favorite Things. I wasn't paying good attention and ended up die cutting the window instead of embossing it.

In the end, I like it a lot better so for once, the error was in my favor. The note is for a male friend so I put a layer of Simon Says Fog cardstock behind the window. I had already colored the sprig of leaves from Altenew's Weekend Doodles in shades of gray so tucked them into the corner of the window. The sentiment is from Simon Says "Tiny Words" embossed in white on black cardstock. When I bought that set of sentiments, I embossed all of them at once on black cardstock and trimmed them out. They're in a box along with sentiments from two other sets. It's easy to look through them and find an appropriate sentiment for a card.

It's my favorite style---CAS---and a design I will surely use again.

 

CASology Appreciate

The current challenge at CASology is Appreciate. Thank you notes are probably the second most frequent card I make during the year after birthday cards. 

This card was made to thank friends for a delicious dinner and a lovely evening of conversation.

I started with a card made from Papertrey Ink's Weathervane paper and added an oval from the A2 Noted die collection cut from white cardstock. The silverware image is from Papertrey's "Friendship Jar: Fillers" stamp set colored with Copic markers and fussy cut. 

The sentiment was die cut from True Black cardstock with a die from the "Swoosh" set, also by Papertrey Ink. It makes for a simple but effective thank you note for an excellent dinner.

I did add a bit of Nuvo glitter to the silverware which adds a bit of shine.

 

Photowalk #25

My goal this year was to complete 52 photowalks. Although I have eight more to post, I'll not make 52. Realistically, averaging one every two weeks seems in retrospect to be much more doable, and that I will reach. The advantage of the intention was that I consciously set out to create a collection of photos for various events instead of just snapping photos for the memory books. 

Today's photowalk was my most recent one. When we were in Wisconsin a week ago we went to the Racine Zoo for their Chinese Lantern Festival. None of us expected the extravaganza we discovered. It was cold, but magical. All the photos were taken with my iPhone and are in the order I took them that night as we walked through the zoo. You're seeing  a little more than half of the lanterns that were displayed.

The sign said these were pigeons. Certainly the most beautiful pigeons I've ever seen!

Both kids loved  the displays.

There had been a lot of rain, and I loved the reflection in this very large puddle.

This might be my favorite of all the exhibits. I have a video as well showing how the colors of the peacock's tail change. It was truly gorgeous.

Another of the peacocks in the display.

The pagoda was huge. In the background of this photo and in many others you can see the "dripping" lights that were strung from the trees. They blinked on and off and
created a magical effect.

My favorite photo from the night.

And finally, my favorite "people picture" of the night: