random reflections

Summer Scavenger Hunt: Finale

At the end of July, I had just six items left for Rinda's Summer Scavenger Hunt. I was uncertain whether I would find all the rest or not, but indeed, I have.

#4 A group of tourists entering the Strong Museum of Play

#12 A mascot: I found this cutie at the RIT Book Store when I was there picking up some art supplies.

#13 A sunrise. This I knew I'd get. It was just a matter of getting up early enough to capture it. I talked Tracy into going up to Lake Ontario with me by offering to buy him breakfast afterwards. It was a beautiful morning. 

 

And here's a side benefit of our early morning run: a Blue Heron catching his breakfast. (We also saw a river otter slink along the bank, but he was too fast for me to capture.)

#14 A parade (I love these guys!)

And a parade of ducks swam by the morning we were at the lake.

 

#15 A juggler. It turns out we have two friends who juggle. Rob happened to be at our house for a meeting, and cheerfully offered to juggle a few lemons for me. The fact that all three are not in the air is a photographer error. Should have set my camera for continuous shoot. Duh!

#20 A bus with a picture painted on its sides. We drove by this charter bus depot several days on the way to Conesus Lake in August before I realized they all had painted sides. Most of them had a small covered wagon painted on them. I could have lived with that, but as we drove out of the parking lot I spied this bus. Much more impressive.

 

I am, of course, always on the lookout for better subjects for the scavenger hunt. I recently found a "better" bakery, and who knows what might pop up before the Autumnal Equinox. You can see all my summer scavenger hunt photos (there are multiple versions of some) right here.

We're off to spend the day with friends who've rented a cottage on Owasco Lake. It's cool, but sunny, and another way to eek out the last of summer's pleasures. I'll link this up to Rinda's Summer Scavenger Hunt when I get home.

 

 

CAS(e) This Sketch #89

I'm in just under the wire for this sketch challenge. It's one of my favorites, but it's been awhile since I played along. Yesterday after finishing a birthday card for Skylar (she'll be three next month!), I started to organize my Simon Says Card Kits. I challenged myself to make a card for each kit as I went through it, and ended up with several cards. This one fits the new sketch at CAS(e) This Sketch.

We're going to be traveling the first part of October, so instead of just looking ahead one month to see what cards I'll need, I'm looking ahead two months. I need a total of 13 cards, but just one of them is an anniversary. So now I'm set for that.

The two patterned papers and the cardstock came from the June Simon Says Card Kit.  The gold paper I backed the hearts with is from the last sheet of a paper I purchased at the first independent stamp store in Rochester. It's been closed at least 15 years now. I'd love to know where to find more. The banner die and "Banner Sentiments" stamp are from Papertrey Ink. Those Banner Sentiments are sure to get a lot of use. The sequins are from a multi-colored pack from Michael's. I keep pulling out the gold and silver ones, and pretty soon I may need to buy a pack of just gold and silver.

I never made it to the gym yesterday, so as soon as this is linked up, I'm off before I can find excuses today!

Zoom In, Zoom Out on the Lighthouse

Another week has flown by, and it's time for Week 35 of Helena's meme, "Zoom In, Zoom Out." Our church is one of ten churches within the city limits of Rochester. Most of these urban churches are struggling with finances, decreasing congregations, and buildings that need serious repair. Several years ago, the ten churches joined forces to help one another and to see how we might be able to coordinate our resources and collaborate for change. Although there are certainly still churches that are struggling, there have been some remarkable transformations and successes. We celebrated those with a picnic at Charlotte Beach on Sunday, and while I was there I took time to capture my ZIZO photos for the week.

You can see from the photos that we had a glorious day for the picnic! We're trying hard to celebrate every last good day of the summer!

August 2014 Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

We had such a busy weekend, it wasn't until this morning that I had time to create a couple of cards for this month's Papertrey Ink Blog Hop. We were away last month, and since this is one of my favorite blog hops I didn't want to miss it two months in a row. Here's the inspiration piece:

I'm a big fan of polka dots and have seen some really nice cards and planners for 2015 using gold polka dots so that's where I started.

I randomly stamped two sizes of polka dots from "Polka Dot Basics," and layered it on a sheet of metallic gold paper, and then onto a True Black card base. The die cut is from the Wonderful Words set, and I selectively stamped and embossed a part of the Happy Birthday sentiment from Alt&New's "Label Love."

For the second card, I used just one of the polka dot stamps, and a die cut from the new-to-me "Wet Paint Cuts."

This time I matted the polka dots onto True Black cardstock and then onto a Hawaiian Shores card. I'm guessing I'll find quite a bit of inspiration from the other entries this month, so I'm off to check them out.

Zoom In, Zoom Out on the New Fountain

Early in July, we purchased a new fountain for our shade garden at the Corn Hill Arts Festival. It's now been functional for awhile, and as much as I like the way it looks, the calming sound of it is the very best part. It's just off our patio, so as soon as we sit down we can here the water trickling from leaf to leaf. (Sadly, the bugs seem to have been having a feast on our hostas, so the photographs aren't as pleasing as I'd like.)

You can find more ZIZO pairings at Helena's blog.

Two More for Class

Today is the last day you can upload cards to the galleries for the Online Card Class:  Stretch Your Stamps 2. I have a LOT more things I want to try, but this morning I took time to try two more. The first is a card based on a tag created by Laura Basson using a technique, "over the edge." The stamp itself is quite a bit bigger than what is stamped on the tag, but it works perfectly. I love just about everything Laura Basson creates and her tags (using watercolor for one, and Copics for the other) are no exception. I decided to go with the Copics this morning as it's been awhile since I colored an image.

I didn't have the same Copics Laura used so I ended up blending a bright orange with a bright pink---never tried two such different colors but it worked very well. The Sakura Gelly Roll white pen really made the flower centers pop.

I used a new Papertrey Stitched Rectangle die cut with New Leaf cardstock (PTI), and mounted it on a top-folded white card. The twine is from a large roll I bought at a gift shop earlier this spring. Both the floral stamp and the sentiment are from Clearly Besotted "Fresh Flowers." It's a gorgeous set. I'm linking this up to the Fusion Challenge: Floral Brights, and the Simon Says Monday Challenge: Anything Goes.

 

The second card uses a new (to me) Avery Elle set called "Rounded Diamonds." It took longer to find three ink pads I could layer than it did to create the rest of the card. This one follows very closely the design of Nicol Magouirk's card in class. She die cut a window into hers, but I don't have the dies for this set so I stamped on a white card, and mounted it on a card made from Simon Says' Smoke cardstock. It's another gray/yellow combo.

The sentiment from Paper Smooches "Sentiment Sampler" fit right onto one of the rounded diamonds. Some Studio Calico and Pretty Pink Posh sequins were layered to finish off the card. 

 

Using a Graphic Stamp

Days 7 and 8 of the Online Card Class focused on using graphic stamps. I have just a few sets, and was most interested in these lessons since I'm never quite sure what to do with them. Debby Hughes is a wonderful designer and I started with her random stamping video. 

I got out another unused stamp set by Alt&New called "Sohcahtoa." It's a mix of triangles and some great sentiments. Perfect for this technique and for two challenges:  Moxie Fab's Trendy Triangles, and Addicted to CAS:  Geometric.

Grey and yellow have been a trendy combination for awhile. I purchased a gray and yellow scarf in April that I just love, so thought it would be a good combination for the card.

I used two shades of Simon Says cardstock:  Fog and Slate. I stamped on a piece of Neenah Solar White. The sentiment is also from Alt&New called "Label Love." I finished it off with a few enamel dots from My Minds Eye. I need to replenish my enamel dot collection soon. I keep using the same colors over and over.

Hoping to be back later with another card to post in the galleries for the Online Card Class before they close tomorrow, but the list of other projects is pretty long.

A Trio of Rainbow Cards

Kristina Werner produced the first video for the Online Card Class: Stretch Your Stamps 2 , and demonstrated how to create a watercolored background using the Hero Arts Highline Ironwork stamp.

I photographed my piece when I was done, but didn't check the photo carefully, and it was too out of focus to share. Unusual, but it happens when you're in a hurry. You may be able to get the idea from the cards that follow. After watercoloring the piece, I cut it apart in strips and with several die cuts, and managed to create three cards. I still have a couple of hearts left over.

I used the Wonderful Words: Birthday stamp and die from Papertrey Ink for this as well as a four hearts die from Simon Says.

This one uses a couple of the strips I cut, and Wonderful Words: Thank You from Papertrey.

I love the bright rainbow colors against both black and white, but they work with bright cardstock as well. Here's the last card with Sunshine cardstock from Simon Says.

It's another Wonderful Words stamp and die ("Hello"), along with a few wood veneer hearts from Studio Calico that I colored with a Copic marker and highlighted with a bit of Wink of Stella glitter. I stacked the die cut again with several words cut from the Sunshine cardstock.

 

Watercoloring the white embossed piece took a bit of time and patience, but it was well worth the effort to get three cards into the file!

I'll be linking these up to the Simon Says Monday Challenge which is "Anything Goes."

Cards and Two Challenges

This is my second post today after only two posts in the previous week. It's been some time since I sat down to create some cards. The first order of business this morning was to get cards for the rest of August ready to send. One anniversary card and one birthday card were already in the card file, but I needed an anniversary card for my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. I've seen a lot of stacked die cuts around the blogosphere recently, and decided to give it a try. It was super easy, and I love the effect. 

The background image is from a new Papertrey set called Ombre Builder. It's not the kind of set I often purchase, but I'm pretty sure it will get a lot of use. I love these little triangles, and am entering this in the Moxie Fab "Trendy Triangles" challenge and the Addicted to CAS challenge:  Geometric. The Love die and sentiment are both Papertrey Ink, "Wonderful Words: Love." 

The second card was for a much sadder occasion. Another untimely and unexpected death of a man who we knew through Tracy's best friend. Jack and Louise are next-door neighbors of Pete and Arlene's and we've always enjoyed spending time with them at parties, weddings, and other events.

The idea for this card came from the Online Card Class: Stretch Your Stamps 2 for stamping on dark cardstock. My card is a very simple one compared to the card demonstrated in class. I've read a lot about Hero Arts Unicorn White pigment ink, so ordered it the last time I placed an online order. I'm pretty impressed. The stamp is "Harvest Berries" by Papertrey, and the sentiment is from a Hero Arts set (don't have the name.) I used tiny pearls for the berries.

I made this last card awhile ago, but never posted it. I found it when I was looking through my card files this morning. It's a perfect card for Virginia's View's lastest challenge: Shaped Cards. It will be perfect for one of the grandchildren come October.

All the papers are American Craft textured cardstock, and the features are an old Sizzix die. The googly eyes came from Michael's.

Off to the gym. Hopefully after dinner, I can get back to the crafting table.

Documented Life Project/Art Journaling

This week just flew by, and I spent a lot of time working on assignments for my online drawing classes. I spent one morning, though, determined to finish up some of my DLP pages.

Although I got stalled on one of these pages for well over a week, I'm enjoying my foray into mixed media. I try to create the backgrounds and the calendar pages a few days ahead, so for this first spread I anticipated a road trip, and knew that the challenge was to create a Smash Book-type page of things you collected from the week. Our week turned out very differently that I expected. We did end up taking a very fast road trip to Chicago to get Sarah, Caleb, and Sadie, but there wasn't any sightseeing. There was, however, quite a bit of eating out, and time for a little shopping the day we were in Chicago, so I focused on the eating out, and filled the envelope I'd already created with receipts. That's something I've never included in my Project Life spreads, and even a few years from now, they may be interesting. Here's the spread with the envelope tucked in. I started a list this week of the different media I'm trying, but I'm not 100% sure what I used here. Pretty sure it was watercolors again, which look a bit different applied over gesso.

 

I really liked the way the collage from the restaurants came out. The large kraft piece in the middle was torn from the bag of subs I brought home for dinner one night. The little stamp in the upper right-hand corner is an old one from Hero Arts. I wrote some notes about each place as well. 

The next spread caused all kinds of problems. I used some red Dylusion ink to create the calendar page, but hadn't applied a coat of Gesso. It leaked through everywhere so if you look at the page above, you can see I've added a piece over the top of the previous spread. Fortunately, since I was anticipating being away two weeks, the spread above was blank at the time. Then I used Faber-Castell's blackboard paint on the right-hand page, and automatically drew a blank about what to do next. The prompt was to create a pocket. I used Distress Inks, the "Mini Picture Perfect" stencil by Ronda Palazzari and some black gesso to create the pocket. After thinking about it for nearly two weeks, I went back and doodled a border, wrote some of the places we went with Caleb while he was here, and put in five cute photos from those events.

 

I'm linking this page to the Moxie Fab challenge: "Clicking Cameras," to use camera images on a paper-crafted project. The challenge ends tomorow. I'd love to get time today to create a couple cards since I have multiple camera images to play with! Here are the photos that I tucked into the pocket. My favorites are the ones with Caleb and the broom, and the one of Sarah and Caleb in front of the Sesame Street exhibit at the Strong Museum of Play.

The last spread was done with acrylics, and the prompt was to use a fortune from a fortune cookie. I picked up a small package of fortune cookies at the grocery store, and this is the one that I pulled out first. It seemed so appropriate since I was enrolled in an online drawing class and feeling very inept, but forging ahead nonetheless. It gave me an opportunity to use another very old stamp from Alice in Rubberland. I'll bet I've had that for nearly 20 years. I think I bought it on our first trip to San Francisco when Sarah was 16. I also used the dictionary I bought at the Avon Flea Market and tore out the definition for fortune, added the cellophane from the cookie, and some more doodles. I tried  using a Pitt brush pen, but don't find I have as much control as I'd like with it. The little tab on the calendar page is from "Tabbed," by Papertrey Ink, and I used some old number stickers from my stash for the dates.

 

Hopefully, I'll be back this weekend with a few posts for cards for the Online Card Class: Stretch Your Stamps 2. All the lessons have been posted, and I have a list of many things to try.