Watercolor HB Card

This is a card for an aunt who is celebrating a birthday this week.

I trimmed the watercolor panel to align with the left and right hand side of the SU Marina Mist card base. Placed the ripped edge at the bottom and the clean edge along the top.

I added an SU Old Olive grosgrain ribbon wrapped around the card front and knotted it.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

This is a shot from a long walk I took with my aunt on Sunday.

It was new to me and it was really nice as the number of people around was very few.  That may have been because it was late Sunday afternoon on the Thanksgiving long weekend and folks were eating turkey.

The weather was beautiful. As you can see the colors were gorgeous.  There was enough leaves on the trees to create the nice arch over the trail head.

The sun is dappling through the trees and creating a magical atmosphere on the trail.

Another terrific book by Sue Grafton - U is for Undertow.

Michael Sutton aged 27 appears at Kinsey Millhone's office asking if she could look into a kidnapping he might have witnessed back when he was six years old.  He saw 2 men burying something wrapped up as he was visiting a friends home.  Horton Ravine has a large system of trails which connect several neighbourhoods in the area. 

It turns out there were 2 kidnappings the summer of 1967 within a few days of each other. It was the summer of love. There were wayward children into free love, baffled parents, drugs and illegal activities all involved in the warm months of that year.

Kinsey does her best and there is a revisiting of the site in question but only the remains of a dog were found.  Interesting but not the little girl in question.

I really liked this story.  Not too many characters to keep track of. A good story and an interesting conclusion.

I was very grateful to be invited to my aunt's for supper on Sunday.  It was pork loin and veggies with blueberries and yogurt for dessert.  Bengal spice tea afterwards.

I had been to see Mom this week on Wednesday and we had a really good day.  I spent the night at my sister's and had a great visit with her has well.  My other sister was away seeing her daughter for the long weekend. My family time had been good. 

My aunt and I talked photography and art and good time was had by all. 

Supper was delicious.

Here's another shot from Sunday's walk.  The Sturgeon river in this area just meanders with a lot of curves in and out.

The river was very low and there were only a few ducks in the vacinity.  I had seen Snow Geese on a lake on my drive back on Thursday but with nowhere to stop and take pictures.  Very disappointing.

Here, I caught the dried wild grasses along the shore while getting the sparkle on the water in the river a distance away in the background.

Really happy with the bokeh background.

I read this small book this week as well.  Old Songs in a New Cafe by Robert James Waller.   An interesting collection of stories.

I have read a couple more of his books.  Of course, Bridges of Madison County is one of my favorites and I own the book and the movie.

I may decide to keep this book as well.

I will keep an eye out for this author in my travels of thrift stores.  I was lucky on Friday to find I could find a shopping basket with books for just $10.   I believe I came away with 12-15 books so my reading bookshelf is full for a while.

I have did visit several stores on Friday looking for unique vessels for my oil diffusers.  You can check out Set 1 and Set 2 with these links.

Here's a set of gems I found at the third thrift store last week.

These are Sloane Tea Company double walled hand blown tea cups. They match perfectly with my Primula blown glass fluted clear teapot which you can see in the background.

The price was just over $2.50 for 4 cups in their original box so they will be safe when I move.

I am so blessed.

Looking forward to serving tea in these to friends and family in the days to come. Have a great week.

Sharing with Mersad - Through my Lens #358

Shared Birthday Card order

I had a request from a friend for a spring looking card for her aunt who shares her birth date with my friend.

I chose to recycle a commercial card featuring Goldfinches. I trimmed it so that there was an even border on a 5x7 A7 large card.

I added a purple layer which was cut into 2 triangles which were adhered in the bottom left and top right corners.

I printed the aunt words onto the same card stock as the card and punched it with the Stampin Up Modern Label punch.  It was adhered to the top left hand corner with 3D foam tape.  I added the rest of the sentiment to the insert on this inside of the card.

Iridescent sequins were added to the card front with Bling Zots.

Sympathy Card - Aunt

This card is for my aunt. My uncle Henry's funeral is today.

I started with a grey green card base.  The designer paper is from a pad.  I loved the subdued and tone on tone pattern.  It is a floral with leaves.  It was cut to leave a small border.

I cut a Sunburst with the Stampin Up thin die from silver textured paper.  I cut it larger than the quarter sheet so I could position my center.  I adhered it to the designer paper then trimmed off the excess with scissors.

I added the greeting in the center of the sunburst. It is a color printed greeting layered onto a circle green layer. 

 They included these small candy bars at the reception for my uncle's funeral.  His name was Henry and he had a sweet tooth.  I thought it was so fitting. 

Excellent.

Share Your Cup - This Week

I've made some more tea cup coasters because they are fun to make. You can find the link to the pattern in this post.  I'm not sure how I made one facing the other direction.  It was not intentional so I will have to work on the process to figure it out, then write it down.  These feature subtle and bright fabric.

I have decided to include some relaxation into my life regularly.  The tool I have chosen is coloring so I bought my self a small book. 

I used watercolor pencils on this fish page.  I bought them for a class I am giving in the spring and I wanted to try them out to see how they worked.  I colored them just as I would with colored pencils. 

Once done, I used a paintbrush with a bit of water to blend all the colors.  It makes the image well colored as any white space is given color with the water.  This paper is not the weight needed for much water and you can see the wrinkled edges.  I had to iron it flat once it had dried. 

I am happy with the results.  It took longer as the design was quite a bit more detailed and the water color added some time.

I spent some time viewing art with my aunts. 
One of the most interesting pieces was an art piece with with this kit designed by Victor Vasarely (French/Hungarian, 1906–1997) Planetary folklore Participations no. 1 , 1969. Mixed media sculpture edition plastic, paper, metal 20 x 20 in. (50.8 x 50.8 cm.)
The plastic pieces are held in place by magnets in a black metal box frame. The pieces can easily be re arranged to create a new piece of art.  I loved the concept.  I found these images on line as photos were discouraged.

I have been sewing too.  

Car Litter Bag

The piece of fabric on the left with the marbling pattern was too small to make a litter bag. I combined it with red fabric for the outer bag and chose solid red for the liner bag. 
I have been trying to decide how to design the way the bag is held in place in the car.  I have decided to make fabric ties of 12" as well as include a loop in the center.  Some cars have a hook in the foot well which is works nicely to hold this type of bag.  Again, it holds a produce bag placed inside a plastic container which makes the opening always open and the litter in the produce bag can just be tossed when it is full. 

 

Scrap Sack

This one is made of turquoise butterfly fabric with a pale yellow liner. 

Sharing with Jann at Daily Cup with Mrs. Olson - Share Your Cup #233.

Card - St. Patrick's Day HB

Here's the second card for the March 17th birthday.  I started with strips of green card stock which I played with until I found some that worked together.  I chose some wider and some narrower. I found a card that worked with the colors of green in the strips then I designed and color printed printed the greeting adding the small shamrock to the right.  I cut the flag ends with my square punch. I laid them out and tape them together on the back and then trimmed the top ends. The banners were then adhered to the greeting layer leaving room for the ribbon. I added dark green seam binding over the top of the banners then tied another piece in a knot. This was then adhered to the green card front.

Cards - Birthday in Greens

I created these cards for a friend who has a family member who celebrates a birthday on March 17 - St. Patrick's Day.   I made some for her a while back. Check it out.
Left: The card is Certainly Celery with double sided designer paper by Stampin Up!  It was cut 1/3 to 2/3 and the top piece was flipped over.  I color printed the greeting in CC on Very Vanilla and cut it with a Spellbinder Ribbon Slider thin die.  I placed it onto a piece of CC ribbon which was placed over the join of the 2 piece of DSP.  The ribbon is pulled through a slit in the card fold and taped to the inside.  I added a large silk flower and dyed a smaller one with Tim Holtz Peeled Paint Distress Ink. They are held in place with a vanilla brad.
Right: I selected a dark green textured card stock.  I selected some green DP by Basic Grey - porcelain arabella.  I color printed the greeting and punched it out with the SU! Decorative Label punch.  I punched another from the green cardstock. I cut it in half and mounted the halves top and bottom of the punchie. I added a coordinating gross grain ribbon.

Card - Silk Flower Trio

I started with a Kiwi Kiss card. I embossed a white card stock rectangle with the Victorian embossing folder. I then applied some ink to the edges with the stamp pad. I died the silk flowers with the re-inker which ensures they match. I added a second small white silk flower and attached the flowers to the card with white brads. I color printed the custom greeting and trimmed to fit the top half of the card.