random reflections

Final Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt Posting

Today is the last day of September, and the end of the Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt. At the end of August, I had just two items left to find: #9 Looks Smaller Than You, and #13 Equal Portions. 

I found the first one on a road trip to Ithaca a couple of weeks ago. On our way into Ithaca, we stopped at the overlook to Taughannock Falls and Tracy helped me get this photo:

Somehow I remembered the Equal Portions prompt amid all the excitement of Skylar's birthday party, and Matt let me snap this photo before he served any of the delicious chocolate cake.

As I always do, I enjoyed the hunt and look forward to the next one! Thanks to Mary-Lou for creating a fun list and hosting the scavenger hunt. You can find the rest of my scavenger hunt photos here, here, and here. Typically I create an album for all the hunt photos in a SmugMug album, and eventually that will also happen. Travel does seem to interfere with my best posting plans! 

 

September Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

Today's the 25th and time for the September Papertrey Ink Blog Hop. Right before we left, I managed to find time to make two fall birthday cards based on this gorgeous inspiration photo. I wasn't sure I'd have time to write a post from the road, but we're in our hotel after a lovely dinner and there's still two hours left before the link closes. 

Both cards feature leaves and the beautiful fall colors in the inspiration photos. The first is my favorite.

I've had the Mix and Mat Pinked Edges die laying out for several weeks, knowing it was perfect for a fall birthday card. I die cut it four times, first with kraft, and then again with Ripe Avocado, Terracotta Tile, and Canyon Clay. I carefully cut out two leaves from each of the colorful cardstock and adhered them to the kraft die cut.  Then I adhered that to a top-folding Saffron Spice card. I gold embossed the sentiment on a strip of Dark Chocolate cardstock.

The next card uses many of the same colors but I used both the leaf stamps and die cuts from Forest Floor: Autumn along with an oldie but goodie, Fillable Frames #4.

Once I had all the elements stamped and die cut, I felt like I needed something behind the frame. A piece of woodgrain patterned paper from MME die cut with a stitched rectangle fit the bill. Although there are acorns to stamp and die cut from the Forest Floor set, I chose two little three-dimensional acorns by Little B instead to finish off the card. 

We've had a wonderful three days on the road. Tomorrow we take the ferry across Lake Michigan and will be in Racine with Sarah and her family by dinnertime. Off to link up to the blog hop! Thanks for stopping in!

Happy Birthday, Skylar

It's been a crazy week. I had at least three blog posts planned, but didn't end up with time to write any of them. This is being written at the last minute as we pack up for a short road trip and then a ten day stay with Sarah, Adam, Caleb, and Hannah. I'm looking forward to the time away, and to spending time with family!

Yesterday, Miss Skylar turned seven! It seems like just yesterday she was turning three. Betsy hosted a family dinner party last night for her, and today there was a kids' party at a trampoline center (I think.) Matt told us not to bother to come to that since we'd never get any time with the kids and it would be "crazy." He was probably right, and I definitely needed the time today to finish getting ready for the trip. 

Here are some pics from the party last night.

The birthday girl with her "best gift ever"---an American Girl doll!

And because I don't want to leave out the little sisters:

Ella, taking photos. Check out the heart-shaped flash!

Miss Madelyn, who has grown 3 1/2 inches since January. She LOVES the monkey bars, the swings, and the slide.

The theme for Skylar's party was mermaids. September's Simon Says Card Kit featured mermaids, and I almost passed on it. Then I remembered I have four granddaughters seven years and under so I chose to have it sent. So glad I did. It was perfect for this year's birthday card.

I purchased the Simon Says "Waves" stencil which I'm sure I'll use again, and blended a variety of blue Distress Oxide inks on a piece of watercolor paper. Then I stamped the mermaid and colored her with Copic markers. The sentiment on the front of the card comes from a Stampendous set called "Ocean Wisdom." After adding some glitter to the mermaid's fins with a Spectrum Noir glitter pen and three sequins, I adhered the stamped piece to a card made from Hawaiian Shores. 

Here's a closer look at the sparkly mermaid.

I'm taking my laptop and external hard drive with me, so hope to get the planned blog posts up mid-week when we get to Sarah's. Hopefully, there'll be some photos from the road trip as well. For sure, I'll be seeing you next week with the last of the Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt photos---the last of which I snapped last night!

Less is More

A quick post to enter a card in the current Less is More challenge: Black & White & Plus One.

Anyone who's followed my blog for awhile knows one of my favorite color combinations is black, white, and red. And it frequently shows up in anniversary cards.

One of the hallmarks of a Less is More card is white space, although it doesn't have to be white---non-patterned, clean space--- which in this case is black. The beautiful die cut and shadow is from Simon Says and the sentiment is from an accompanying stamp set. a simple heart and three white enamel dots and it was done. Easy, but classic, I think.

A Birthday Celebration

It's a dark and cold Monday morning here, but the fall chill we've had for the last three days isn't supposed to last long. We had a lovely weekend, but I have no photos to show for it. I do have a card to share, however, for three different challenges. I made this card for one of our good friends who recently turned 70. He enjoys good food and good wine, and his wife hosted a wonderful party for him at a local restaurant. One of the highlights of the evening was seeing their children who now live and work in NYC and Denver, CO. Matt and their son, Ben, were best friends all through elementary school. They forged different paths come middle school (Scouts vs. sports), but we've maintained a lasting friendship with his parents.

Although I knew I wanted to use Papertrey Ink's "Uncorked" stamp set, the card I had in mind is a far cry from the one I ended up with. Nonetheless, I'm quite happy with the final result. I trimmed off the top of a ready-made tag to hold the wine bottle (embossed in gold) and the wine glasses (die cut from patterned vellum). After embossing the sentiment, I felt the card needed "a little something" so I added a few score lines to the Scarlet Jewel card before adhering the tag and rounded the top corners.

For the inside greeting, I die cut some numbers from Memory Box with gold adhesive paper from PTI, and embossed a sentiment from "Big Birthday Wishes," also by PTI.

I'm entering this card in three challenges:

Time Out's Quotation Challenge, focusing on the "wine in our hands:"

Seize the Birthday: 

And last, but not least, Simon Says Wednesday challenge: Stamp It! in celebration of their annual Stamptember event:

Five in Five: Fall Decorations

There are three gift shops in small towns east of Rochester that I visit at the change of each season. Today was the Fall Open House for two of the shops, so having a free morning, I took a little drive. I found nothing of interest at my favorite shop in Palmyra, but picked up a few fall decorations at the second shop. On my way back to Rochester, I stopped in Macedon to take some photos for Sandie's Five in Five meme:  five photos taken within five minutes. It was easy to do because they have lots of outdoor decorations. Perhaps I should have stayed outside, but I decided to take a look inside as well. It was very crowded, but I joined the long line at the check-out to purchase a new fall wreath for the front door and a beautiful handmade wool felt pillow for the living room. I'll share those when the fall decorating gets done. For now, here are five photos from the Main Street Trading Company to get you in the mood for fall.

I spotted the pick-up truck on my way out to Palmyra, and knew I'd be stopping for some photos on my way home.

The trip put me in the mood to switch out the summer decorations for the fall ones, but first I need to finish a major purge and reorganization of my crafting space/office which I started yesterday.

 

First Day of School

Well, actually, Caleb attended full-day kindergarten last year, but today marked the first day of first grade and his very first school bus ride. For both pre-school and kindergarten he could walk to school. It's a new town as well, and he's attending a magnet school with grades K-8 in the same building. Sarah was a bit concerned about putting him on a bus with 8th graders and wondered if she should drive him the first day, but Caleb decided he wanted to ride the bus. In anticipation of this very big first day, I sent Caleb a card. As soon as I saw the "School Bus Messages" set during the July or August release at Simon Says, I knew I had to have it. (There are still three more very first days to come for my grandchildren!)

I stamped the bus and colored it with Copic markers before cutting it out by hand. Then I stamped, cut, and colored two cute critters---one from Simon Says " Quite the Pear," and one from Simon Says "Wild Cuddly Critters," I cut them to fit into the school bus windows. Another new product from that Simon Says order was the "Diamond Pattern" card cover die. (I already have lots of ideas for using that.) I layered it on a card made from Papertrey's "Bright Buttercup," and then adhered the school bus, adding some Crystal Nuvo to the lights on the school bus. The sentiment is also from the "School Bus Messages" set.

We were anxious to hear about Caleb's first day, and had a great FaceTime conversation with him when he got home. The bus ride was fine (and not as long as anticipated), and he had a great first day just as we wished for him.