random reflections

Summer School At My Favorite Things

There were five days of Summer School at My Favorite Things. I posted Day 1's lesson here, and today I have cards for Day 2: Rainbow and Day 4: Ombre.

I used a favorite die from last Christmas to create a rainbow wreath. It was fun to transform the die into a summer design.

I die cut the wreath from five colors of card stock: Pure Poppy, Orange Zest, Buttercup, New Leaf, and Blueberry Sky. All except Buttercup, which is one of the new Concord & 9th colors, are Papertrey Ink papers. Then I reassembled the wreath on a piece of Neenah card stock. 

The sentiment is also from My Favorite Things stamp set "You're Super." Then I die cut the panel with a Hero Arts "Rounded Rectangle Infinity" dies. 

Finally I found a piece of patterned paper that repeated the rainbow theme in an old paper pack by Pebbles, "Fun in the Sun." Finally I added five enamel dots to finish the card.

Day 4's subject was creating a card using ombré coloring. It took me awhile to find a product from My Favorite Things that would work, but then I remembered I had their "Big Balloons" stencil.

Getting the ombré effect with ink blending wasn't quite as easy as I expected, but I think it worked out fine in the end. I used the new Concord and 9th inks, Aqua Sky, Buttercup, and Marmalade which are so bright and colorful. The blending brushes didn't work as well as the old ink blenders which applied the ink with a much softer, smoother look.

It is a bit harder to see the yellow ombré effect on the yellow balloon because of the overlapping blue and orange balloons. I used Papertrey Ink's "Birthday Balloons" stamps for the strings. What you can see more clearly in this photo is the embossed edge of the white panel created with the Hero Arts "Rounded Rectangles." It was an accidental happening. I had the die upside down, but when I took it out of the die cutting machine, I rather liked the effect. I pulled out my corner rounder from my scrapbooking days to finish off the panel.

The sentiment is from one of the Simon Says packs of sentiment strips. So easy to cut out and use. Finally I added the panel to a Buttercup card base. I am loving the Concord and 9th inks and papers. So glad I splurged on the assorted pack (2 sheets of each color) when they were introduced. Now to decide which ones I "need" in full packs. Buttercup is definitely on the list. It's almost a perfect shade.

I'm also linking this card up with Seize the Birthday, skipping the optional challenge this time, for Anything Goes.

 

A New Challenge

I found a new card challenge blog this week---as if I need another one---but the current challenge is one of my favorite techniques, so you'll probably see a couple of cards for it before the time expires. Just Us Girls is looking for cards with die cut windows.

My first share is a card made with one of the images I colored for the #100DayProject. There were several days when I needed a smaller project for coloring and this beautiful magnolia from Altenew's "Magnolias For Her," fit the bill. I watercolored it and then fussy cut it out.

The die cut heart (My Favorite Things) was backed with a piece of black and white diagonally striped paper, also from My Favorite Things. I stamped the sentiment from Papertrey Ink's "Thank You Kindly" set, and adhered it to a white card base with dimensional tape.

Finally I attached the magnolia to the bottom of the heart.  I love this clean and simple design, and the contrast between the beautiful pinks and the black and white stripes.

It's been fun designing some challenge cards this week after focusing on coloring images for so many days lately. 

 

 

Summer Scavenger Hunt: Round 2

I've been better about hunting down the items for this year's Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt. Today is the second link up, kindly provided here by Mary-Lou who generously creates the list as well as a link to others participating.

Number 1 on the list was a favorite piece of jewelry. I actually have a collection of favorite pieces, most of which were purchased during travels or were special gifts. This necklace (should have looked to be sure it was centered before the photo was taken) started with a purchase of the beautiful hand-made beads at a craft fair we just happened upon in Spring Green, WI on our cross-country road trip 13 years ago. I added them to a black cord necklace, and have enjoyed them ever since. I was inclined to buy all black and white beads, but the creator talked me into these colorful ones, and I'm so glad I listened to her.

Something with a knot (#2) was found in my son's backyard as part of the playground equipment they have for the three girls.

A toy you play with (#4) was easy to find in my craft room.

Also found in the craft room was Something You Have More Than One Of (#5). Anyone who knows me will expect the next photo. These are actually among my oldest stamps, and don't see nearly the use that the newer acrylic ones get. I've been stamping for over 25 years, and when I started these were all that were available. They look great, however, as a decoration in the craft room.

Something That Starts with the Initial of your Name is #9. I'm using my last name for this one.

Number 10 is Something Smaller Than a Paperclip---another find in the craft room.

I had to go to the basement to find #10---Something That Needs to be Thrown Away. We have a set of metal shelves which hold plants that need more light that we can give them in the winter. My husband takes excellent care of them, but totally neglects anything that ends up there for the summer. I can't blame him, however, because he does water all the outside plants nearly every day. It's hard to see in the photo, but even the bottom portion of the green plant has died. It will be gone before winter comes.

Number 12 is one of my favorite summer single-use items in the kitchen---my iced tea pitcher Hold My Favorite Beverage--and makes it as well. The insert holds tea bags. You pour hot water into the pitcher, insert the holder and the tea steeps on the counter. Then the holder is removed and the tea goes in the fridge. I bought my first one in Oregon when Sarah lived there 9 years ago. Last summer I bought a newer version with a longer holder.

And lastly for this round, #13 - An Elastic in Use. Tracy uses bungie cords to attach our bikes onto the car carrier when we take off to ride bikes on the nearby canal or trail. To get anywhere from our house requires riding on the road. I'm not a fan, so we usually drive to our starting point.

I have just four items left on the main list and two of the alternates to find. I ought to be able to finish up by the end of the month, our next link-up. Thanks, as always, to Mary-Lou for hosting!

The Dog Days of Summer and Visual Triangles

The Card Concept has a new challenge up called The Dog Days of Summer.

And My Favorite Things is sponsoring a  Summer School series. The first lesson focused on using visual triangles in your design. It's something I think about almost every time I create a card. There are visual triangles in both the cards below, but one seems more apparent to me than the other.

My granddaughter occasionally pretends to be a puppy. These cute puppies from My Favorite Things "Woof Pack" had "her name on them," so as soon as a sale popped up they were in my basket. I'm a big fan of the sentiments, too, I was told after sending ONE card for both kids that it was no longer a good idea. Hannah, the 3 year old, claimed the card as her own, so this time two cards were sent.

The two puppies and the speech bubble create a visual triangle. This one seems to be a better example because both dogs are "looking at" the speech bubble. Sometimes it's the images that create a visual triangl, but often I use embellishments to form one.

I die cut the circle with a Spellbinders circle die and backed it with patterned paper from Sunny Studios, The pups were colored with Copic markers.

If it's a "Dog's Life," these cuties seem to have it pretty good.

Five in Five: August

When we moved into our house 35 years ago, the patio was surrounded by an evergreen hedge. It provided some privacy, but more importantly it protected folks from falling off the edge of the patio. That might not seem particularly important except our house is built on a hill and our lower yard is a long stairway away. Children and unsteady adults might step off the edge and then tumble some distance before stopping,

This year the hedge finally had seen the end of its time. The last several years it's been less and less attractive, and this year it had become an eyesore. Matt, our landscape artist son, could not come up with any plantings he thought would provide the needed protection and thrive in our very shady back yard. So we took some of our travel money that had been saved for the two big (aborted) trips this year, and had a wrought iron railing installed. Truthfully, I wasn't sure what I'd think of it, but I love it. Here's a photo (not part of the 5 photos in 5 minutes for Sandie's monthly meme) taken after the bushes were removed.

This fall the area you see to the left of the first steps will need to be landscaped, We're planning to move a large group of  peonies to a sunnier spot in the yard and redo this area. Following are the five photos taken early in the morning showing the new railing,

Here you can see our lower yard. The little shed is ours and our property line goes back to the tree on the far left.

Moving to the right from the previous photo, you see one of two gates installed. This one takes you to a series of stone steps down to the lower yard. Our next major expense is to have the stairs and the stone walls on both sides rebuilt. We had
hoped to have that done last year, but we are still looking for a qualified mason to do the work.

To the left of the first photo is the second gate which leads to the lower patio which Tracy completed two years ago.
You can see the fire pit covered up in front of our two red Adirondack chairs.

Another view of the shade gardens and the second gate.

And finally, the view toward our neighbor's home, and a peek at the fence Tracy is building along the property line. It replaces six or seven straggly arborvitae that had foliage only on the top. We have a lot more light on the east side of the house since they've been removed. The other advantage (we hope) is that it will keep the deer from crossing through the backyards. It's a work in progress. Eventually all the posts will be evened out and we'll add solar lights to the tops of them. We've just added several lovely solar lights in the shade garden and on the patio and they add a lot of ambiance at night.

I was afraid that the railing would make us feel closed in, but it actually has had the reverse effect. It feels more open--we can see through the railings, but couldn't see through the bushes! In addition the furniture can be set against the railing so there's actually more room on the patio.

Joining in with Sandie for her monthly meme, 5 in 5.

 

 

Altenew July Challenge

I love my Altenew stamps and dies, and every month I think I'll join in their monthly challenge, but I think this might be a first. When I saw July's inspiration, I knew just what I wanted to do.

Then I saw August's inspiration photo, and I thought I'd blown it once again. But, to my surprise, the July challenge is still open, so I made sure to get the card made. My inspiration came from the beautiful wreath, but I also loved how it was hung on the white window frame. I didn't have a die that cut a window, so I used the Skinny Stripes: Horizontal die by My Favorite Things. Bonus: that's another NBUS item in my stash, so my goal of using unused products gets another win.

The wreath comes from one of my most used Altenew stamp sets, Weekend Doodles. I watercolored the leaves with Daniel Smith watercolors and splattered a bit of white gouache on it before die cutting it. 

The sentiment is from Altenew's Sentiment strips which I stamped on a banner die cut. 

Although a bit brighter, The Stamp Market's Teal cardstock seemed a good match for the inspiration color, and having matching enamel dots was a bonus. 

Good-bye July, Hello August

It's time for the One Little Word recap for July. July was the first month I really didn't track my progress. I'll chalk it up to being away the first week of July so my routines didn't get established. The truth is, however, that July was the month last year that I more or less gave up on my OLW and just let it go. We're halfway through the year and it's been a tough one in so many ways, but I'm still COMMITED to working on the projects I set out for myself in January. Not all of them are calling to me right now, but there are enough to keep me going. Here's July in pictures:

There are a couple of photos of grandchildren sent to me---Caleb on his new 8-speed bicycle (#19). His dad says he can't keep up with him any more; he's way too fast! The three little girls on a bench after they'd been berry picking (#24), and Hannah in her "hiding" place for hide-and-seek (#29). Sarah says Caleb is such a good big brother, he pretends that he can't see her for awhile. On the 6th, you can see the rocks Caleb, Hannah, and I painted with alcohol inks. They came out great and it wasn't anywhere as near messy as I expected it to be. On the 21st, Skylar and Ella came to bake sugar cookies. That was a first for me in the summer, but they disappeared as quickly as they do in December. The photo on the 26th shows our patio without the almost "dead" hedge that has surrounded it since we moved in 35 years ago. The 27th shows the new railing that was installed that day. Our patio sits at the top of a hill, and there needs to be some protection against folks stumbling or running off it and tumbling down the hill. I wasn't sure what I'd think of it, but I really love it. We have a much better view, and the patio actually seems bigger since some of the furniture can be placed right against the railing. I'll have more photos later. There are photos from our walks and bike rides, and the 31st shows some of the cards and images I colored over 115 days.

I did finish the #100DayProject and continued coloring every day until the 30th in order to finish the second of the 30 Day Coloring Challenges that ended on July 3oth. Even more amazing to me than the completing the project was that almost all the projects were posted on Instagram---something I rarely did, but expect to continue to do on a less frequent basis. 

I made NO progress on purging the photos in my Photo Library, so that's high on the list for August. Also on the list is to get back on track with daily walking which fell by the wayside with the travel. By mid-June we'd walked a minimum of 2 miles every day for 57 days. Then we left for Wisconsin, and although we walked while we were there we definitely got out of the daily habit, and I've found it hard to get back to it. The goal for August is 5 days a week---6 would be better! On the crafting side, my goal this month is to use new stamps and dies that have piled up as I worked on coloring projects. I'm off to a good start already finishing two cards this week with unused (though one was hardly new) stamps and dies. 

Reading was not a problem. I read the five books I set out to read, and read two longer books to Caleb over Zoom. I counted them because I loved both novels, as did Caleb. Tomorrow we start Harriet the Spy. It's his request, and I hope I like it more this time than I did the last time I tried to read it. Unlike June, I enjoyed all of the books I read in July.

The Authenticity Project was just for fun. It and Liturgy of the Ordinary were part of The Unread Shelf Project. I also went through those shelves with a new question to ask: If I saw this book in a bookstore, would I purchase it? The answer for 12 of them was "no," and they're in a bag to donate to the library once they begin to accept donations. I'm guessing that won't happen until the pandemic is truly over. Fortunately, you can now pick up books curbside by appointment, and just this week you may enter the library after signing a document and getting your temperature taken. 

So now it's August, and today is Sarah's 40th birthday. I wonder if she's as surprised by that fact as I am. Her congregation held a birthday car parade yesterday afternoon through the church parking lot. (FYI: Sarah was wearing a mask for the parade, but took it off for this photo.) Someone made a huge sign, and it was delivered to their front yard this morning. They had a beautiful stained glass window hanging made for her, and brought a cake over as well. When we had our FaceTime call, the house had been decorated by Dad and the kids, so it was as festive an occasion as possible during the pandemic.

Her birthday card this year featured hedgehogs (a favorite of hers) but I also thought the kids would like it as well. These are about as cute as you can find. I love them rushing up the hill with gifts.

It's easier to see the "grass" in this photo. I can't remember the last time I pulled out my fringe scissors, but I'm glad they've survived the multiple purges since I bought them years ago.

 

Your Light Shines

There are two new challenges, both for Clean and Simple cards, that inspired me to pull out a never-before-used stamp set from Simon Says "Your Light." The first is CAS on Friday where the challenge is SUMMER. The second is CAS Mix Up and the challenge there is Watercolor/Beach.

This lighthouse image reminds me of two lighthouses on Nantucket. One, the Brant Point Lighthouse, sits on the beach as you approach the island, so the setting is similar to the stamp. The other is the Sankaty Lighthouse which has a very similar shape, and I watercolored it in red and white to resemble the Sankaty Lighthouse. This is the first summer my daughter-in-law has missed a summer vacation in Nantucket since she was a little girl. Thanks to her and her family, we've enjoyed several vacations there over the last few years. It represents summer for sure, and spending time on its multiple beaches is one of the great pleasures of a vacation there. 

After watercoloring the image with Daniel Smith watercolors, I die cut it with an Essentials by Ellen circle. I die cut another piece of watercolor paper with the smaller Gina K Master Layout die, and a piece of Dark Indigo paper with the larger of those dies.

I adhered both layers to a cream colored card base, after stamping the sentiment in Dark Indigo ink. The focal image was adhered with dimensional tape. It's odd that in the flat layout, the focal image looks inlaid rather than bumped up!

I decided to leave it all very CAS--no embellishments, no additional images. I'm adding this to the NBUS blog as well--glad to have this set out of the Never Been Used Stuff category.

 

 

 

 

Two Cards, Three Challenges

And the cards--as well as the two main challenges--couldn't be more different. The first is the new Less is More Challenge: Summer Flowers.

Although I've been to the Gina K Designs retail store a few times when I've visited Sarah in Wisconsin, I didn't really follow her until recently. When I saw her most recent kit offer, I was intrigued, but held off too long and ended up on a wait list. The kit finally came in and about a week ago, it arrived in the mail. I am so impressed not only with the quality but the quantity of product in the kit. This is my first card using one of three stamp sets and I already have plans for both of the other sets. Hopefully, they'll see some love this weekend. 

This beautiful flower is from "Best Flowers," which also include two larger blossoms and leaves which can be cut with the included dies. This is such an enjoyable flower to color, and you'll probably see it in a variety of colors in the future. The sentiment is from a second stamp set included in the kit, "Hands of Love." The font is different than any other I own, and one I know I'll use frequently.

I also order the "Master Layout" dies, and have used them for the last several cards I've made (soon to come to the blog!) They die cut the focal image and then the 1/16" mat perfectly. 

The second challenge is The Card Concept's "Christmas in July." I'm happy to be in the season of summer flowers, but I know Christmas will be here before you know it.

This one gave me an opportunity to use another new stamp set, appropriately named "Poinsettia." This one is by Waffleflower, and it includes enough designs to make multiple holiday cards.

I also used some of the new cardstock from Concord & 9th--Cranberry and Honeysuckle, and the beautiful oval and frame die cut with Ellen Hutson's "Essential Ovals."

After embossing the design in gold, I carefully colored the floral with Copic markers. I've read that you must be very careful because embossing powder can ruin the tips of Copic markers. Luckily, I haven't had an issue with it yet. The "Merry" sentiment  (I love the font) came from the "Poinsettia" set, and the "Christmas" from W+9's "Hand Lettered Holiday" set. (Finding that required me to pull out all my Christmas stamps. I considered keeping them out, but although I hope to make a few more cards with this new set, I'm not ready to think about mass producing any cards quite yet.)

One of the requirements for The Card Concept Challenge is to identify your style. In thiscase, I'd call it "Clean and Layered." 

And since both cards use Never Before Used Stuff, I'm entering one in the new challenge which starts today.

We're off in a few minutes to go on a bike ride. Later tonight, rain is forecast and likely to extend into Monday. It's hot and sunny now.