random reflections

Friends

One of the nicest things about traveling is getting to spend time with old friends. We've been friends with Dan for nearly 15 years now. He and his wife, Nikki, kindly invite us to stay with them whenever we're in Denver. Dan's brother, Steve, is also a good friend and had just moved to Denver the week before we arrived. We all went out to dinner the last night before we headed home, and I just love this photo of Matt and his (our) friends.

The inspiration for the layout came from a layout I saw on the Simple Scrapper Blog by Jean Manis.

I started with some patterned paper by MME and then found some coordinating patterned paper by the same company but in different collections. Once again, there's a Flair button and some Washi tape (I see a pattern here). The tiny word sticker came from a very old Making Memories sheet that I stained with some Papertrey Tea Dye ink. The journaling card from Cosmo Cricket has also been in the stash for a long time. The American Craft Thickers are newer, arriving in a Studio Calico kit not long ago as did the tiny arrow that's part of a new Amy Tangerine collection.

Anniversary Take Three

It’s not often that I can combine a group of challenges with cards I need to make. I had a few Flair for Buttons badges laying on my desk thinking I’d use them to make some anniversary cards that need to go into the mail in the next few weeks. Then late last week, up popped several challenges that all worked together. I started with a new sketch challenge: CAS(E) this sketch!

I punched hearts and a circle which qualified the cards for the Simon Says Challenge: Use Dies or Punches. 

And finally the CAS-UAL Fridays challenge:  Put Your Heart Into It.

Here are the three cards. I started with the Flair button and chose the patterned paper and cardstock based on the colors in the button.

All three cards also qualify for a challenge on Moxie Fab for “love” cards.

(Cardstock:  Neenah & Color Mates; patterned paper:  MME: Stella Rose & Happy Go Lucky, October Afternoon: Cherry Hill; buttons:  A Flair for Buttons; and sentiment stamp: Savvy; Punches: McGill)

 

 

 

 

Make A Wish: Two Challenges

I'm getting this card into the Embellish Challenge just under the wire,but it's been on my to-do list since I first saw it.

Once I saw this week's Retro Sketch I thought they'd go together nicely.

Here's my take on the challenges. I think this card would work for a guy, a gal, or a teen.

Cardstock:  Select White & Enchanted Evening (PTI); patterned paper: Bitty Stars (PTI); foil paper & glitter twine: Paper Source; gem:  Mark Richards; star punch: McGill; stamp: Think Big Favorites #1 (PTI)

It's a beautiful fall day here, but very chilly. Tracy left to golf. I think his fingers may be frozen by the third hole! I'm happy to have nothing on my schedule but the gym.

Ten on the Tenth: Caleb

This post was ready to go when I found out this morning that my dear blogging friend, Deb, has lost her mother to ovarian cancer. Marti was such a lovely, strong woman and she will be sorely missed by her family and friends. I feel blessed to have had a connection with her through the mail this past year. Deb and her family are being held close to my heart today.

It's Ten on the Tenth again. September flew by, and I thought I'd better share some photos of the darling Caleb taken in August before he arrives here in just a couple of weeks for a visit. He's already grown quite a bit from these photos, and is now crawling and pulling himself up. I'll try to be more timely for the next set of photos. So here are ten of Caleb:

Possibly my favorite, but when I asked Sarah to pick one for my photo-of-the-day, she chose this one:

I love this litte suit that protects Caleb from the sun. Less sunscreen to apply.

In general, this is one happy baby!

Even before he could crawl, he could scoot across the floor on his belly. One morning he got himself all tangled up in his carrier.

Caleb and his mom

At Zoo Atlanta with Grandpa

Playing with a bag from our shopping spree at the outlets.

Sarah and Caleb are coming for two weeks the end of this month. It's been a year since Sarah was here. I hosted her baby shower a year ago. The extended family hasn't had a chance to meet Caleb, and we'll be going to my brother's for a couple of days while they are here. I'm already counting the days.

Take Twelve: August

I intended to spend yesterday making cards since I missed World Card Making Day while I was in Canada. But instead, I got busy scrapbooking and finished a three layouts. I started with my August Take Twelve photos. I've already posted September's but August 12th was right at the beginning of our summer road trip, and the project seemed to get put on the back burner.

Thanks to Melissa I finally got a shot of two pages together, although it's still not quite right. You can click on the image to make it a bit larger. (The background papers are BoBunny Dark Denim Dots, and the yellow border is from Amy Tangerine's Sketchbook series. The American Craft Thickers (Eric) are the perfect blue, and came in a Studio Calico kit. I used a photo template by Kitty Designs to organize the photos and do the journaling.)

Like a Flower

I had time this morning to make a card for three challenges (and with a birthday greeting inside), another card for upcoming occasions. First, for the Retro Sketch Challenge which I love:

Next, the ColorQ Challenge:

And, lastly, the CASual Friday challenge:

The three challenges seemed perfect for one another. The ColorQ and CASual Friday challenges both celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness. CASual Friday's was to celebrate the women in our life. The sentiment from Floral Frenzy (Papertrey Ink) seemed just perfect.

I used Raspberry Fizz cardstock for the base, and all the other papers came from my scrap drawer. In the photo, the sentiment block almost appears white, but IRL it's a definite pink.The scalloped border was made with a Fiskar's border punch, and the flowers are old, old Prima flowers. I gave away most of my flowers but, fortunately, saved one small box of a variety of flowers. The ribbon came from Michael's.

September Recap

September was a long month for us, and I'm quite sure I would have rarely picked up a camera if it weren't for the Capture 365 project. But every month it helps me capture our activities, and gives me an opportunity to summarize what I've done during the month. Somewhat like the Month in Numbers that many of you do (and I love.)

I raided my stash of Studio Calico kits (I have bits and pieces left from several months) for the materials on this layout. I found the Flair button and the woodgrain paper first and then worked from there. You can also see some Washi tape! (The patterned papers are Studio Calico, My Mind's Eye, and American Crafts; the clip is also My Mind's Eye and the wood veneer camera -colored with the Chai Tea ink pad by Papertrey- is by Studio Calico. I cut the title with my Silhouette.)

Here's a better look at the monthly photos:

And the journaling:

September’s was a hard month here. Bill has been in the hospital and rehab the whole month, and decided at the end of the month that he was ready to go. He waited for Marcy to come home from her trip, and now he’s resting and being given comfort care. Ellie is still living here, and her life is such a roller-coaster of emotion. She supports Bill, but is devastated at the thought of losing him. The insurance has finally been settled for the B&B, so she’s had to deal with the loss of her home and possessions all over again. Tracy and I do what we can to support her as does the rest of the local family. It was a long month.

Tracy and I did get away one weekend to the Adirondacks. Tracy and Bob backpacked for two days, and Cathy and I “camped out” in Lake Placid at the Lake View Motel overlooking Mirror Lake. We had a lovely time, eating at favorite and new-to-us restaurants and doing a bit of shopping. We also made a road trip to Buffalo with our book group.

With everything going on here, keeping up with a photo-a-day was much harder. I resorted to a lot of plant photos, but honestly, if it weren’t for this project, I probably wouldn’t have picked up the camera at all.

I finished two books:  The Violinist’s Thumb (for book group) and A Wedding in Haiti. I learned quite a bit from the first one, and loved the second one as I have everything by Julia Alvarez. I completed seven cards and four layouts. I also joined a study group at church where we’re reading the Psalms through a process developed in the 1600’s by an archbishop in England. I’m fascinated by the reading, and enjoying the small group discussion as well as the staff worship service that follows our group each Tuesday.

 My social life didn’t suffer:  lunches with Marie, Jane, Maureen, and Tina; duplicate bridge at Jack & Cathy’s (we won for the first time in over a year!); and dinner with Susan. My volunteer commitments were really heavy this month for all three Presbytery committees. A dinner with the Children’s Agenda was a highlight.

We're off to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario for the weekend with our good friends, Karen and Mike. We have tickets to see the musical "Ragtime" and dinner reservations at one of our favorite restaurants. We'll visit a few wineries and wander through the town. The four of us have been going each fall for nearly a dozen or more years and it's always a great time.

Sad News

My mother-in-law, Ellie and Bill 

Tracy's step-father and the Grandpa to my children, passed away last night. Bill was a wonderful man, kind and caring, intelligent and witty, and a wonderful step-dad to Tracy, his siblings, and all the grandchildren. He will be sorely missed. He'd been in the hospital and rehab since the end of August, and as time went on it became abundantly clear to him that he was not going to recover enough to live an independent life. He was 91, and five days ago decided that he had had enough. He was able to say his good-byes to his daughters, all of us, and especially to Ellie. Please keep her (and us) in your prayers. Although she supported his decision to stop treatment, it is a devastaing loss to her. Given the awful fire in January where she lost her home and nearly all her possessions, this has been one year of terrible loss.