random reflections

Take Three Thursday: Outdoor Christmas Decorations

Despite many good intentions, I have not gotten a blog post up in nearly a week. I thought a good way to get "back into the game," would be to join Mary-Lou at Patio Postcards for her Take Three Thursday meme. Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I did a lot of inside decorating. It's not done because we've had serious issues with the lights on our Christmas tree. After many hours and multiple phone calls, Tracy has finally given up trying to fix the ones we have and is now trying to replace the strings that blink incessantly off and on with lights the same size with the same quality of light. Not an easy task. I'm hoping it will all get resolved before Monday when one of my book groups meets here. 

We stayed away from the stores and the malls on Black Friday, but did venture out to the Garden Factory for poinsettias, a cyclamen, and an outdoor arrangement for the front garden bed.

We had hoped to find an evergreen ball to hang on the wrought-iron hook, but they didn't have anything of interest. The next day, however, when I pulled into the Wegman's parking lot to buy groceries, I found just what we wanted. One of the things we love about this is that it is clearly visible to us from the kitchen table.

The last decoration near the front door is a beautiful new McKenzie-Child wreath. It's original price was way over our budget, but I picked this up at the warehouse sale for a tiny fraction of the original cost. What I like most about it is that it is clearly visible from the street. Our previous wreath was a simple grapevine wreath with red berries which you really couldn't appreciate unless you came to the front door.

It's quite a bit more ornate than my usual style, but I'm really glad I purchased it. My Christmas cards are nearly finished, and hopefully Tracy will have the envelopes ready for mailing by early next week. This weekend I have several Christmas crafting projects I want to get started as well as starting to wrap gifts for the grandchildren. 

Papertrey Ink November Blog Hop & Time Out Challenge

It's the 25th of the month, and that means it's time for the November Blog Hop at Papertrey Ink. The inspiration piece this month was really lovely.

I took my cues from the plaid napkin, the beautiful swag on the chair, and the large gold sentiment in the middle of the table.

With the exception of the plaid paper (unknown from stash) and the large gold sentiment (Technique Tuesday), all the supplies are Papertrey Ink:  Winter Berries (transformed to fall berries with Canyon Clay and Terracotta Tile inks), Leaf Prints, and the tiny sentiment from Gathered Garden---all adhered to a Canyon Clay card base.

This card also fits a new-to-me challenge: Time Out Challenges. The current challenge is Inspired by Words: Gratitude.

For those celebrating in the U.S., I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday.

Fall Cards: Part 3

I'm back to share the last of the fall birthday cards.

I had a few scraps of the watercolor paper I created for an earlier card, and didn't want to throw them out. I love the unusual sentiments in Papertrey's "Initial Sentiments: Birthday" so started with that, and added a strip of the watercolor paper and a strip of beautiful metallic gold paper from Michael's. I'd used up all that gold paper, and couldn't replace it at our local Michael's, but found four sheets of it at a Michael's in Chicago, and brought them all home. They are 12 x 12 sheets, so I think I'll be good for a long time.

Another new die, Pretty Pink Posh's " Stitched Foliage" was perfect for a fall accent. I did cut two of them, and tied them with some fine gold string.

Last, a CAS design, once again with the Pretty Pink Posh "Stitched Foliage" leaves.

After some simple scoring on the Classic Kraft card base, I added three die cut leaves with a bow from PTI's twine, and a die cut sentiment from "Wet Paint II" in Dark Chocolate.

All the cards are now off in the mail to their recipients. Now I need to get busy with the early December birthday cards. (To say nothing of all the Christmas cards that need to be made!)

 

Fall Cards: Part 2

I'm back with another post featuring some fall birthday cards. The first one uses a new Cover Plate die from Aletnew. When I first saw it featured on their blog, I knew I'd find good use for it. This is the only card I've made so far, but I have more ideas for it.

I started by watercoloring a piece of watercolor paper with a variety of fall colors using my Daniel Smith watercolors. When that dried, I splattered some gold watercolor onto the piece using one of the "Starry Colors" from Gansai Tambi. Then I used the die on both the watercolor paper and a piece of Canyon Clay. 

I popped out the leaves from the Canyon Clay piece and adhered it to a Rustic White card base and a piece of Stick It, which makes putting the watercolored pieces into the piece much easier. Using the Quick Stick also helped get all the tiny pieces of watercolored paper where they needed to be. I cut a banner from vellum and embossed the sentiment from "Birthday Bash Sentiments" (PTI) in bronze, and added a few sequins and pearls to finish it off.

Next up is another new die set from Papertrey Ink's Mix and Mat series. I didn't think I was going to purchase this one, but I broke down and I'm glad I did.

I kept all three dies together for this one, cutting them from Classic Kraft. I backed the die with a piece of bronze specialty paper that's been in my stash for years. It needed some contrast so I added a black mat before adhering it to a Saffron Spice card. The sentiment (same as above) was embossed in bronze on True Black.

This gives you a better view of the beautiful specialty paper, and if you look closely you might be able to see the glitter on the leaves which I added with a clear Spectrum Noir marker.

There are still two more fall birthday cards to share next time. 

Fall Cards: Part 1

November brings a long list of folks with birthdays and anniversaries, so I spent much of my free time the last two weeks getting cards made. There was a group of people for whom I thought I could create the same or similar cards. I pulled out some favorite Papertrey Ink products and papers and set to work. You'd think they would have come together quickly, but it didn't turn out that way.

All four cards share the die cut from "Rustic Wreath" and preprinted diecuts from the "Color Pop: Autumn" Mini-Market Kit from last fall. 

The card base here is Classic Kraft with the "Celebrate" from "Birthday Cheer" cut from Terracotta Tile and the wreath from Soft Stone. I added a few Amuse pearls in brown to finish it off.

Essentially the same, this card uses a piece of Simon Says Woodgrain paper, the wreath from Classic Kraft as well as a die cut bow from "Gathered Garden" and some enamel dots from Freckled Fawn.

Same design, but a different greeting from the Color Pop kit, and some scored lines as an accent.

This is probably my favorite. A different orientation but all the elements remain the same. The card is Canyon Clay, and the wreath and sentiment were die cut from Fine Linen.

I have some more to share next time.

Take Three Thursday: Three Views

I'm joining in with Mary-Lou at Patio Postcards for Take Three Thursday. I have three different shots of the same subject from our trip to the Chicago Botanic Garden. I loved the beautiful red vines twisted around the stone railing.

So I'd be curious to know which one you prefer.

Chicago Botanic Garden---Mostly Photos

It's been a crazy few days-- lots of social engagements and the usual volunteer commitments have meant very little time at home. So here's a post I thought I'd have up early last week! We've made many trips to the Chicago Botanic Garden in summer, spring, and winter, and it's always been beautiful. Although I hoped for more colorful foliage, autumn was also lovely there. I thought I'd share some of my favorite views.

I loved the layers of greens and the hanging pinecones. 

In addition to the beautiful grounds and garden displays, they have a marvelous collection of bonsais. I'd never seen one with berries before.

The flowers on this bonsai were lovely.

And this zinnia was stunning:

I saved three photos for tomorrow's Take Three Thursday post, so I'll be back again quickly.

Three on Thursday: A Walk in the Park

I'm joining in with Mary-Lou for her Three on Thursday where she's making an effort to notice some of the more ordinary aspects of life. I took a walk in one of the smaller parks in our community earlier this week. I was looking for photos for an online class, some of which you'll see when I post about the class. In addition, I took a few photos I liked that don't work for the class at all, so thought I would share three of them today.

It was good I went a bit earlier in the week. It has already started to rain, the wind is blowing, and by morning we're told to expect some snow, and to break the long-time record for coldest temperature for the date. Yikes! I'm not ready for this.

These photos, however, show a much more tranquil picture of the environment.

 

What fascinated me about this photo were the shadows cast in the water by the plants.

 

 

Memo, Mail, and Me

The first Monday in November---how quickly October disappeared. We arrived home from Chicago on Friday. The trip didn’t turn out exactly as I planned or hoped. I was sick every. single. day. we were away. First a cold, then a virus that put me flat on my back for 2 ½ days. Fortunately Tracy and Adam soldiered on with not only two children to care for, but me as well. Yesterday was the first day I felt 90%, although I did muddle through the first few days we were there, and the last several days. The project box I so carefully packed was never opened!

Being with Hannah and Caleb was a delight, however. They both have changed so much since June when we last saw them. Caleb is the perfect big brother, entertaining Hannah, and thoroughly enjoying his first year in public school. He has a fabulous teacher in a wonderful elementary school located at the end of their street. He was the Star Student of the Week while we were there.

Here he is dancing for Hannah.

Hannah was crawling everywhere when we arrived, and by the time we left had figured out how to get up the stairs. It’s amazing how fast she is.

Caleb and I made Halloween cookies.

Halloween turned out to be totally awesome for Caleb. He couldn’t wait to get to school. We were invited to his classroom for the party and then to watch the school parade. Hannah’s day care also had a parade.   Caleb appeared as Flash, and Hannah wore the same pumpkin costume Caleb wore for his first Halloween. Although Hannah smiles constantly, she only napped for 24 minutes on Halloween so was absolutely exhausted by the time we took photos.

Caleb went trick or treating with friends before dinner, and was just thrilled with his stash.

As usual, the stack of mail was huge when we returned. Most of it was holiday catalogs, but there were two pieces of happy mail. The first was the November Simon Says Card Kit. It’s particularly beautiful this month with elegant embossed papers and an oversized stamp set with an accompanying die. I have lots of cards to make in the next few days so I was happy to see it.

Botanica also arrived. I preordered it months ago, and am so delighted to finally have it in my hands. Janine Vangool, who is also the publisher of Uppercase, is such a talented woman. Her creativity knows no bounds! I’m quite sure this will be a source of inspiration for both papercrafting and sketching for many weeks to come.

The one outing I had before the virus hit was to the Botanic Gardens. I posted a few photos from there for the 5 in 5 meme, but I’ll be back shortly to share some more.

Five in Five: November

It's November 5th, and I have my Five in Five for the monthly meme at itchifingers, hosted by Sandie. Tracy and I spent one afternoon last week at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. I don't believe we've ever been there in the fall before. Although there weren't many trees that had turned color, there were many beautiful displays. I'll be back later in the week with some more photos of these gorgeous gardens. But for now, five (in five minutes) from my favorite display at The Enabling Garden, a hands-on teaching garden that encourages gardening for people of all ages and abilities.

I loved the stem on this pumpkin.

The light on the doors is what prompted me to take this photo.

This last one has a green gourd that looks like an animal with a long tongue!

You can check out other 5 in 5 projects right here.