random reflections

Papertrey Challenge #2 and 2S4Y Challenge

First of all, Happy Memorial Day Weekend! I am always grateful for the sacrifice of men and women in the military that has assured our freedom for over 200 years. I do not take the freedoms we have in our country for granted, but do not often take the time for express my gratitude.

I've been working on another Papertrey Ink challenge this weekend as well as the one for the Pixies. This one was posted on the forum, and it was too good to pass up. It was a challenge to ink up all the stamps you own, but have never used. I knew I had a few, but there were more than I thought. I've ended up with a new stash of cards, however, and relieved some guilt in the process. The first card is also a card for today's challenge at 2Sketches4You.

Here's the sketch:

 

And here's my card:

I used my Beautiful Blooms 2 set for this card. The beautiful border is Basic Grey's new "ribbon doilies" tapes. We used some of this on a layout in a class I took at CKC a week ago. It's self-adhesive and comes in a package with three different designs. The cardstock is Summer Sunrise & the buttons are from my stash.

The next set I used was the Fillable Frames #1. I thought I'd  get a lot of use from this set, and I'm sure I'm correct now that I've inked it up for this card:

Cardstock: Pure Poppy (PTI); patterned paper: Early Bird (Cosmo Cricket); ribbon: Pure Poppy (PTI); Ripe Avocado button (PTI); button twine (PTI)

"Fly Away" is the next set. Like "Fillable Frames" it was a very affordable $5 and I love the little banner and sentiments that go in it. I bought just one piece of this cute patterned paper at CKC with this card in mind.

Cardstock:  Lemon Tart & Pure Poppy (PTI), patterned paper "Let's Roll, Fly High" (Imaginisce)

Take Three Summer was the next set. I have lots of ideas for this set and this is a super simple, quick to make card. I'm not sure I'd use the Raspberry Fizz next time, I think the Hibiscus might look better.

See above; ribbon & rickrack from stash.

One of the things I learned this weekend is that stamping backgrounds is not my forte. I love the color combination of Ripe Avocado, Spring Moss, and Raspberry Fizz. I've had this "Guide Lines Two" for awhile and probably haven't used it because I'm not comfortable with making backgrounds. I do have a list of other possibilities so perhaps it will see more use soon.

Cardstock: Spring Moss, Raspberry Fizz, Select White, & Ripe Avocado (PTI), rhinestones from stash; stamps: Guide Lines Two & Giga Guide Lines

And last, "Outline Alphabet." I bought this set more for sentiments and scrapbook pages, but have seen a similar design several places and thought I'd give it a trip. Lining up the letters for the block takes the longest; after that the card goes quickly.

Cardstock: Hawaiian Shores & Select White (PTI); patterned paper: Green Boutique (PTI), Copic markers

Sad to say, I still have two sets left to use:  Fillable Frames #4 and Baby Button Bits, but with gardening and enjoying the holiday weekend, I simply ran out of time!

Papertrey Pixies Challenge

A month or so ago, I joined a group of 15 women on the Papertrey Ink forum. We have our own blog, and this month was our first challenge which was to stamp a background paper. I almost never stamp on a scrapbook layout although one of the women in this group does it regularly, and very well. I recently purchased "A Little Argyle" stamp set and thought it would be the perfect photo mat for this picture of Matt on his birthday, wearing his favorite argyle sweater. Nothing like putting it off until the very last day of May!

Patterned paper: Basics (Basic Grey); letter stickers: Basics (Basic Grey) & Times (Prima Marketing), stamps: A Little Argyle (PTI); photo mat: Gretel (Cosmo Cricket)

Happy Anniversary

Today is Sarah and Adam's fourth anniversary. It seems so hard to believe that their wedding was really four years ago. It was a beautiful day in every way. Here's one of my favorite "out-takes." The best part is four years later, they're still having just as much fun with one another!

And here's the card I sent them. I hope they've received it before they see it here. It's also the first card for a challenge on the Papertrey Ink forum to use stamp sets you own, but have never inked up. This uses the 2009 Anniversary Set which arrived over a month ago!

Cardstock: Ripe Avocado (PTI); patterned paper: Quite Contrary (MME); stamps: Round and Round (PTI); mat stack 1 die (PTI), ribbon from stash, rhinestones (Kaisercraft)

CPS 168

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.

Papertrey Blog Hop

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).

4 You

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

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.

Weekly Gratitude X 2

I seem to be doing these in sets recently. Here are the last two weeks:

 

 

Scrap-Mart Challenge

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.

Wow & Wow Again

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: