random reflections

A Trip to the Beach: Zoom In, Zoom Out

I had another post planned for this week's Zoom In, Zoom Out, but I'm glad I didn't get it written. We've had a week of absolutely fabulous weather for late September, lows in the mid-50's and highs in the mid-70's. Yesterday afternoon I just couldn't find much enthusiasm for any of the long list of projects on my list, so I suggested we take advantage of the wonderful weather and drive up to Charlotte Beach on Lake Ontario. One of our prime motivations was a last chance for a chocolate almond ice cream cone from Abbott's.

A photo of the ice cream cones would have been more appropriate, but I was so intent on enjoying mine it didn't occur to me to take a picture! As we walked to the car to come home, I did at least capture the shop.

As we ate, we walked across the street to the park, and walked along the board walk. 

The beach itself was pretty empty, but this was one of several sailboats out for a spin.

One last shot for a summery Zoom In, Zoom Out! You can find others right here on Helena's blog.

Final 2014 Scavenger Hunt Post

Although it's felt like fall for over a week now, I still have trouble believing summer is over! It's so hard for me to let go of the sunny, warm weather knowing a long, cold winter is in front of me. I finished Rinda's Scavenger Hunt last month, and you can see all my scavenger hunt photos here, but I do have a few extras to share.

First the alternatives:

A birdhouse. This was easy. We have one in our pear tree in our front yard. The first two years it was inhabited by wrens, but it has stayed empty this year.

Tracy also has a decorative birdhouse that sits in the garden by our side door.

A hot air balloon. One afternoon sitting on the lawn at the cottage on Conesus Lake, I looked up and saw this hot air balloon floating across the sky.

When Sarah was here this summer, we visited the Avon Flea Market and I found some different horns:

It's so amusing to find them mixed in with such a random assortment of items.

As always, the scavenger hunt was lots of fun, and I'm already looking forward to the 2015 version. Thanks, Rinda, for hosting such a wonderful summer project!

September 2014 Papertrey Blog Hop

It's been the second crazed week in a row, filled with appointments and volunteer commitments, and almost no time at my desk. I'm managing to keep up with a daily sketching lesson, but that's been about it. I realized this morning that today was the Papertrey Blog Hop, and I loved the inspiration piece.

The first time I had to sit down and think about it was tonight after dinner. I have to admit it didn't come out quite the way I envisioned it, but there's no time to second-guess it either! I know my friend who's undergoing chemotherapy will enjoy getting it in the mail so I'm happy to have a new card to get off to her.

"Doodlie Do" is one of my favorite sets and I don't give it anywhere near the attention it deserves. The cardstock is Enchanted Evening with a bit of Sweet Blush for the greeting. I tried to match the colors in the scarf and sweater with Copic markers, and added the touch of orange in the scarf to brighten up the flower. The card design is one of the sketches Nicole provided in the September inspiration post.

Instead of buttons, I used the flower and leaves from "Doodlie Do" and added a few enamel dots. Off to see a few other entries before I head to bed. I'll be back tomorrow with the final post for Rinda's Summer Scavenger Hunt. 

A Happy Birthday Coming!

Skylar will turn three years old on Sunday. They're planning a party at home, and I'm sure to be back with photos then. I wanted to post her card today since the challenge for patterned paper at Virginia's View ends tonight.

 

The card also fits this week's Simon Says Wednesday Challenge:  Tag It!

This is another card made with the Simon Says August Card Kit. I just loved the patterned paper, and started with that. It's been a bit cool for ice cream recently, but it's supposed to warm up again. Hopefully it will be a nice day for the party on Sunday. 

The images on the tag were colored with Copic markers and I combined stamps from two sets to create the sentiment. The ice cream cone has glitter added to it and I popped up the cherry with some dimensional tape.

The inside of the card took way longer that the card itself. It took three stamp sets as well as some partial stamping to create the greeting I wanted. I'd get almost done, and the last stamp wouldn't be clear. I think I did it four or five times until I finally decided it was good enough.

 

It's hard to believe that both my grandchildren will be three years old by the end of the year. Where does the time go?

 

Zoom In, Zoom Out in the Adirondacks

Tracy and I spent a lovely weekend (Saturday-Monday) in the Adirondacks with our good friends, Bob and Cathy. Tracy and Bob traditionally do a two-night packback hiking trip to one or more of the 46 High Peaks. This year, however, they did two peaks in a day trip. That turned out to be fortuitous since Saturday was cold and rainy. We made the best of it, building a fire in the Great Room of The Ledgerock Motel, and having dinner at our favorite restaurant, Caffe Rustica.

Sunday dawned bright and cold, and we all took off to the Adirondack Loj. Tracy and Bob took one trail, and this year Cathy and I decided to hike as well. We made the nearly 5 mile round trip to Marcy Dam and back. It was lovely and peaceful. As you'll see in the photos only a few of the trees have begun to turn color.

Marcy Dam---on the way to Mt. Marcy, the Adirondack's highest peak

We were on the trail by 8 am so the clouds hadn't "burned off" yet.

Looking up the creek at the waterfall at the dam. Another one for Rinda's Scavenger Hunt!

And the Zoomed-In view

One of the few trees on the trail that had turned color.

This one's on its way to orange. I loved the green and orange together.

Cathy and I were back from our hike by 10:30 and took off to Keene Valley. We discovered a wonderful Farmer's Market/Craft Show on the way. We each bought a scarf, and some pastries for the guys when they came off the mountain. The produce was wonderful, and I picked up some late peaches that are delicious.

I've never seen such skinny little eggplants. I'm not sure I'd know how to cook them.

After cleaning up at the motel, having a late lunch in Lake Placid, and walking through our favorite shops (but not finding much), we returned to the Adirondack Loj to wait for the guys. While we waited we walked down to the lake, and I found another Zoom In, Zoom Out offering.

I always love to find a cairn along the way.

And one final view of the lake.

It was great to get away for a weekend, and Cathy and I purchased a book at the Adirondack Loj Information Center on short hikes, so I think we'll try to make our little hike a tradition in the future. Tracy has conquered 39 of the 46 High Peaks, so he's thinking it's going to take a couple trips a year to finish up while he's still in good hiking condition. I'm happy to tag along anytime.

More  Zoom In, Zoom Out offering for this week are here.

 

 

Some More Cupcakes

The cupcake card making continued for the better part of a morning, and here are two more. The first one is based on the current Retrosketch challenge.

And it's another entry to Virginia's View Patterned Paper challenge.

On our way to Canada last weekend, we made a quick stop in Buffalo so I could run into Buffalo Stamps & Stuff to pick up some stamp cleaner that I can't seem to find anywhere else. I actually didn't come out of there with too much extra, but I did pick up an Avery Elle stamp set "Cupcakes." The store has a monthly coupon that I was able to apply to the stamp set. The sentiment is from Lockhart which I've owned for years.

The cardstock is Bazzil, and the patterned papers are from "The Good Life" by Fancy Pants (the cupcake liner) and "Mother Goose" by Graphic 45 (the stars). I used clear Stickles to add the glitter to the cupcake which shows up a lot better in a photograph than the Gelly Roll Stardust pen (which I love in real life!) I colored the cherry with a Copic marker and bumped it out with a bit of dimensional tape.

The last cupcake card started with a stamp from Mama Elephant's "Carnival Toppers." This time I stamped the cupcake liner on some vellum and colored it on the back with a Copic marker.  Once again the Gelly Roll glitter pen looks "dirty" in the photo.

I love this sentiment from the Mama Elephant "Carnival Toppers." It was the sentiments in this set that prompted the purchase and started this cupcake card craze. 

The card is a ready-made one by Memory Box, and it turns out to be an odd shade of pink. I finally found a Copic that matched it after trying a couple others that didn't work so well. I added two strips of Little B Washi tape to the top and bottom of the card. 

I think that's it for cupcakes. Now I'm hungry for one. I should head out to Deb's. She makes the most beautiful cupcakes ever!

One Photo & 20 Words with Zoom In, Zoom Out

I'm combining two favorite memes: Abi's One Photo & Twenty Words, and Helena's Zoom In, Zoom Out.

They knew it would be a big project,
but they didn’t realize quite how many parts this swing set had!

 

And now, a little update:

These photos were taken on Sunday night. By Tuesday it was beginning to come together, but it's still not done. There are only a couple of hours of daylight left by the time Matt gets home from work, and it takes two to decipher the directions. The goal is to have it done in time for Skylar's birthday party. That wouldn't be a problem, except we'll be in the Adirondacks for three days this weekend. 

This one can't wait. Last night she was able to go down the slide for the first time. She has her own tool set and is out there "helping" every minute.

Three Cupcakes

I recently purchased a couple new stamp sets that featured cupcakes. Once I got going on the cards, I ended up pulling out some old cupcake and sentiment stamps and dies as well. The first two cards for today are for the current CAS-ology Challenge: Three.

 

And I'm also linking the first one to Virginia's View new challenge: Patterned Paper.

This card combines an old stamp colored with Copic markers by Lockhart with a new sentiment from Mama Elephant's "Carnival Toppers." The patterned papers are both from the "Color Wash" line by Pink Paislee. In several photos, the Gelly Roll Stardust Glitter pen shows up as a dirty gray. Not so in real life as you can see in the close up.

The next card is my favorite. I purchased the Savvy "Cupcake Set" nearly a year ago, and have yet to pull it out. It took me awhile to find the coordinating die, "Cake Plates," but there's really no excuse for waiting so long. I'm quite sure it won't be a year before I pull them out again.

I die cut the plate from a piece of Paper Source gold cardstock, and the cupcake papers from a sheet of orange vellum. I have no idea where I picked that up! The cupcakes and cherries were die cut from scraps in my scrap pile. I added some Dark Chocolate Ink to the top of the three cupcakes. The sentiment is an old one from Lockhart stamps that I bought at the same time I purchased the three cupcakes stamp for the first card.

I love those cupcake paper dies! Hope you're having a cupcake kind of day!

April Project Life

April, you say? That was awhile ago. Indeed it was, but it's been pretty easy to create the Project Life spreads thanks to my daily journal and a well-organized set of photos in Lightroom. I keep reading that one is not to worry about being behind, and actually I'm not as anxious about it as I used to be. In fact, I just got the photos from Betsy and Matt's reception in May so I couldn't have done those before now anyway! 

April was a busy month. We were in Chicago to help take care of Caleb while Sarah was in California, celebrated with them on Palm Sunday and got home in time for Easter here with Matt, Betsy, and Skylar.

The first page documents one of the almost weekly dinners we enjoy with Matt, Betsy, and Skylar. Skylar discovered my tape dispenser and had the best time pulling off lengths of tape and applying them to everything and everyone. The little camera on the card with Matt and Betsy's photo is an Amy Tangerine stamp by American Craft colored in with a Copic marker.

I love the Monthly Moments products from Papertrey Ink. I used the April Monthly Moments dies and stamps as well as some images from "A Few Pointers" to create the title card for April. The patterned paer is from "Kraft in Color" by Doodlebug Design. The Month in Review card above is a Cathy Zielske digital card.

Skylar loves my old Kodak Holiday camera and pretends to take photos almost every time she's here. This is one of my favorite photos from April.

The word art is from Kitty Designs, "Storyteller."

This page documents some of the fun things we did with Sarah, Caleb, and Adam while we were in Wilmette. The Palm Sunday card was created from the image on the Palm Sunday bulletin at the Winnetka Presbyterian Church where Adam serves as Associate Pastor. I love the lower left photo pair of Caleb in a hobby shop. We stopped there so Tracy could look at the model train products. The minute we walked in, Caleb spied a Duplo set with his absolute favorite cars from the Disney movie. Once we told him he could have it, he never let go of it except to give it to the cashier! It's still a big hit.

We spent a wonderful morning at The Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. Caleb loved The Idea Factory and would have been content to spend the whole morning there. We knew, however, that there was a wonderful model train display upstairs which we all found fascinating. If you look carefully at the photo in the lower left corner, you will see a full-sized airliner hovering over the city of Chicago. It's an amazing set-up!

This journaling card is one from the Project Life Midnight Edition. I stamped the words with the Papertrey Ink's "Wet Paint II" set and used a sticker from a Simple Stories sheet.

We were home in time for Easter Sunday. After church we joined Matt, Betsy, and Skylar for an Easter egg hunt in their backyard, and then joined Tracy's family in Honeoye for the annual Easter dinner. For once it was warm enough to sit outside. The cute Easter Bunny card is from Papertrey Ink, and although you can't see it in the photo, I added some glitter to the eggs. Once again almost all the photos this month were popped into one of Tracy Larsen's Simply White photo templates.

Although I enjoy creating a few cards for the Project Life spreads, I'm happy with letting the photos and journaling tell most of the story. We are so fortunate to be able to spend so much time with family, and I'm very glad I've figured out a way to get a record of it into my scrapbooks.

A Simply Stamped Card

It's Stamptember at Simon Says Stamps, where they celebrate stamping all month long, starting with a huge release of new stamps, dies, and stencils. As part of that celebration, the Wednesday Challenge is "Stamping." There's nothing but stamping on this card---rather unusual, actually---which makes it a great one layer card for mailing.

Here's my simply stamped card.

The floral focal point was done with the stamp set included in the Simon Says June Card Kit. I love all the little pieces that come together to create a pretty bouquet of sorts. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's "Live, Love, Life" set. I used some of my favorite colors---orange, yellow, and green---thinking they are nice fall colors as well. Not really ready to admit Fall is in the air, but it is. 

Have a great weekend!