random reflections

5 in 5: Shore Birds

This has turned out to be a last minute post. Entries to Sandi's 5 in 5 meme are due by tomorrow. Not that I don't have photos from our road trip, but 5 in 5 minutes hadn't happened. Yesterday as we took our daily walk down the beach there were an unusual number of birds on the beach

We spotted a bird we've never seen in all our trips to Florida. It's a Black Skimmer---identified with Tracy's iBird app. They're the ones with the two-tone beaks--black and orange.

I rarely manage to catch the birds in flight, but yesterday I did. All these were taken with my iPhone 6.

And finally a photo of a bird we knew as a Pilot Tern (black heads), but we're now not sure since we can't find a bird with that name in our bird library. Our friend thought it was a Royal Tern, but a Royal Tern doesn't have as much black on their head. 

This is our last full day at the beach. We're meeting friends of ours for lunch who are also on Longbeach. Tuesday night we had dinner with another couple who are also here. Amazing that we can have such a nice social life here as well as the wonderful weather! You can click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Memos, No Mail, Me: A Road Trip

Saturday evening we arrived on Longboat Key, Florida to spend a week with friends. We took a road trip on our way, and there will be another road trip on the way home. We left just in time to escape the biggest winter storm of the season---and one that dumped more snow on Rochester than we’ve seen in a long time---30 inches. I’m not sorry to have missed it!

We made a stop in Asheville, NC where it was bitter cold, but sunny. There we got to have lunch with a friend and explore a bit more of the city than we’ve had time to do in the past. We’ve come to the conclusion, though, that we need to schedule a trip in the late spring or early summer when the weather is more conducive to hiking and sightseeing.

We arrived in Savannah, GA on Thursday afternoon, took a trolley tour of the city, visited the SCAD Museum of Art, and had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. Saturday was St. Patrick’s Day as well as Tracy’s birthday.

The parade for St. Patrick’s Day in Savannah is the second largest in the country. Only New York City’s is larger. We weren’t quite sure what to expect so decided to purchase seats on one of the bleachers set up on the parade route. We arrived well before the beginning of the parade, but despite the fact that the bleacher seats were sold out, ours was never filled, and quite comfortable. Good thing, since the parade is very long.

As you can see from the photo above, many people dress up for the day. I had a bright green vest on and purchased some of the shiny green beads from the vendors selling up and down the parade route. (No photos of me, however. What else is new?)

Of all the outfits, this was my favorite:

Mother, daughter, and dog were all decked out in tulle.

The parade included:

Marching bands from several states; some as far away as Indiana.

Floats; some very professionally done, others not so much.

Bagpipers, and drum corps.

Many military groups. Check out the cheeks of the soldiers. It is, evidently, customary for woman and girls to rush out and kiss their cheeks as they march by. It happened regularly where we were sitting, and the soldiers took to it quite well.

All in all, it was a fun time, and probably the biggest birthday celebration Tracy’s had. Before we left I got his birthday card made. I took a page from Sian’s playbook, and used some scrapbook ephemera to create a travel inspired card.

Because it was an odd size, I needed to make the envelope as well. It had been ages since I pulled out my envelope punch board, and I’d forgotten how easy it is to make an envelope of almost any size.

Sunday was rest and relax at the beach. Bill and Tina have rented a lovely condo with a long screened in porch overlooking the gulf. Just the sound of the surf is relaxing, and keeping the door to the porch ajar last night probably contributed to the best night’s sleep I’ve had in a long time. I read, uploaded some photos, and we took a long walk on the beach.

We'll need to rest up here for the fun trip planned for the trip home. Waving to Sian and all the Monday Memo Makers. Hope all is well with you.

 

Final Four: Winter Photo Scavenger Hunt

By the end of February, I had just four items left on Eileen's Winter Photo Scavenger Hunt. In the end, one of my final entries is a bit questionable, and there's no excuse for it. Number 4 on the list reads "a signpost with an image of an animal." I'm quite sure I've driven by a minimum of 100 deer crossing signs since the beginning of the scavenger hunt, but not once did I stop to take a photo. Now I'm in Florida, and there are none to be seen. This is the closest I could get:

I must admit, there are tons of these here! 

Number 9 is "a diamond." My diamond is pretty small, but one of the women in our bridge group has quite a big diamond and willingly posed for my photo.

Number 12 is a "market or market stall." This one I found on our road trip here, at the Western North Carolina Farmer's Market in Asheville, NC.

And last, but not least, Number 16 is "a memory from your childhood."

I chose several items: my first edition copy of Charlotte's Web. The binding has almost fallen apart, and I need to find someone who can restore. Although I loved Stuart Little, as well, it was clearly not as beloved as Charlotte's Web. I have no idea where my little piggy bank came from, but it sat on my dresser as long as I can remember. The Bill Ding's are the originals from my childhood, and the grandchildren now play with them. We've also purchased new ones for them. Some toys just don't go out of style.

Thanks, Eileen, for a great list. I love working on these photographic projects.

Masculine Birthdays

Creating cards for guys isn't as easy as it is for my female friends or even for the kids. It's even worse when you've missed someone's birthday. Admittedly, I don't miss many. I keep a birthday calendar on the bulletin board over my desk and each month can easily see the events for which I want to create a card. When Papertrey Ink released "Blue Skies," I grabbed it right away with a card like this in mind. I've had it for a couple of years, but this year I needed a belated greeting for my brother-in-law (of all people!)

The first (or was it the first two or three?) attempts at this card ended up in the circular file, but I learned a lot in the attempts. In the end, finding patterned paper from the My Favorite Things "Watercolor Wash" pad was the key to success. I die cut clouds inside the stitched circle, then backed it with Hawaiian Shores cardstock which I overlaid with smaller cloud dies. The plane was stamped with Hawaiian Shores and then die cut and bumped out with some foam tape.

The next card came together in no time, which made up for the first one. When Papertrey had their January sale of patterned papers, I picked up one called "3 Piece Suit," clearly designed for masculine cards.

I cut a narrow piece from the patterned paper and adhered it to a gray card after stamping the sentiment from one of my all time favorite sets:  "Stylish Sentiments: Birthday." I found the perfect embellishment in my sticker collection. Within the week, I needed two more masculine birthday cards. One for an older gentleman, and one for my niece's husband. I'll let you guess which one goes to him! Same design; different papers.

For this one, I couldn't find an embellishment in my stash, so die cut multiple starts with Simon Says "Large Holiday Shapes."

Once I found the right patterned paper, this card came together quickly as well. (I have to admit, though, the paper search took awhile.) I finally found it in one of the loose packs of papers in my stash, so I'm not sure where it came from.

Several months ago, I picked up some pack of birthday stickers with the idea of using them in my Project Life pages. These balloons were just the right colors, so onto a card they went!

I'll be returning to this design again. Quick and easy---especially when you need a card quickly.

Mail, Memos, Me: The Weekend Edition

Our weekend started with a lovely birthday dinner on Friday night with Tracy’s sister and brother-in-law at a new Italian restaurant. Delicious food; good conversation!

Saturday I spent most of the day working on a project I’ll be able to share next month. I also spent some time watching a webinar hosted by Capture Your 365 in celebration of their 6^th birthday. One of my favorite sessions was on creating flat lays. Afterwards, I created one to post in the Facebook group for their birthday bash.

I’m so glad I rejoined CY365 this year. I’m picking up my camera every day, and being inspired by the photographs shared in the gallery. I also worked on the assignments for an online class on photography and visual journaling that started last week. More on that soon.

We were busy yesterday. Both Tracy and I were communion servers at the early church service. Although bitter cold (it was 6° when we left for church,) it was a bright sunny day, good for a drive to Buffalo for lunch and discussion with our book group. I spent the evening watching women’s college basketball games on television. I’ve been following the University of Connecticut team for at least 15 years, and now that we’re closing in on the big NCAA tournament, I’m interested in watching all their possible competition as well.

What about the mail? Well, like Melissa, I’m not in the need for any more books, but that’s what arrived in the mail this week.

Although I love my Kindle, reading a paper-bound book is still my preference, especially if I think I might want to underline or make margin notes. These all fit that category, and at least two of them will be accompanying me on our upcoming road trip.

I also ordered an inexpensive, but clever, pencil sharpener.You can see the numbers on the dial---choose the number and you will get a different kind of point as shown in the diagram. I bought it for my colored pencils hoping that choosing #1 will extend the life of the pencils.

Waving to Sian at From High in the Sky and other memo makers! Here’s to a great week!

 

 

Happy Birthday!

Here are two birthday cards in the same color scheme--teal and white. 

This card has a lot of color and texture but came together in a hurry. The background paper is from Papertrey Ink's "Winter Woods" paper pack, covered with the "Dainty Scallop Cover-up" from My Favorite Things cut from white. All it needed was the "happy" die from a free set from Papertrey with the accompanying sentiment white embossed on a black strip of paper. I ended up adding three little pearls as a final embellishment.

This one makes me happy--bright colors and CAS design. I used a piece of Washi tape down the left side of the white card and added a thin strip of True Black cardstock for an accent. The sentiment, from "Scribbled Sentiments" (PTI) was stamped in Hawaiian Shores to match the card base and black as a repeat of the black accent. Three enamel dots finished it off. 

I'm linking these up to the newest Less is More Challenge: Mostly Teal.

Quick and EasyThanks!

If I think about the number of cards I make each year, Christmas cards would be #1, followed by birthday cards, and then thank you cards. Even when I'm creating cards for a challenge, I have a recipient in mind, so I never really have a backlog of cards to draw from. The few I have never seem to match the person I'm sending the card to and end up in the file for way too long. So here are a few thank you cards that have gone out, but never gotten shared on the blog. 

The first two use the same die fro Papertrey Ink. Add it to some patterned paper, and you've got a quick and easy thank you note.

Can't be much easier than that. Although this one might have been even easier:

I found a cute set of tags at a shop in St. Petersburg last year, and saved them for times when I need a card pronto. I added it to a piece of striped vellum cut with a stitched rectangle die and adhered them both to a bright yellow card.

And one last that required only one die cut. I started with one of the papers from a Papertrey Ink card set (no longer available) and added a Wet Paint sentiment cut from metallic gold paper. 

This gives a better idea of the flashy metallic of the card:

After nearly a week of spring-like weather, winter has returned. I'll miss the daily walks outside, but the weekend is a busy one with lots of creating that needs to happen as well, so the weather shouldn't be much of a factor. Hope your weekend is a good one!