Sylvia's Simple Shots

I took a walk over the new Tawatina LRT Bridge on the weekend.  It has been open to foot traffic for a while but the train is not up and running for passenger traffic yet.  Testing is still taking place.

It is a beautiful bridge and I will take a ride across it on the train when the time is right.

The bridge is wide and leaves lots of room for quite a few folks.  Of course, I was there with the birds in the morning so it was delightful to have it mostly to myself.

The Muttart Conservatory is the stop on the south side of the river and the walk across brings one to Louise McKinney Riverfront Park in the downtown area.  For those downtown that want a quick trip to the Muttart it is perfect!

I walked the grounds of the Muttart Conservatory as it was before the pyramids opened at 10:00 am.

I found Maratagon Lilies which are also at the St. Albert Botanic Park.  

This one is named Fairy Morning which features yellow and peach colors.  There were several varieties in the flower bed.

I'm not sure when I will going inside the pyramids as there not much room to social distance.  I anticipate another wave of COVID 19 in the fall so I continue to wear my mask and social distance with strangers.

The LRT construction has had a big impact on the grounds so there are less flowers than before.

I added some pieces to my white dinnerware by Myott (1952) with some Snowhite Regency by Johnson Brothers.  These pieces came from my sister who received the donated card making supplies earlier this year. These had been in storage for quite a few years.  I believe these pieces are from the 1960's.  I was able to add 4 dinner plates, 4 cups and saucers, 6 dessert plates, and 2 oval serving pieces.  Super happy!

I finished this Nicholas Sparks - See Me books this week.

The main character is Colin Hancock who is making a real effort to change his ways.  He had psychological help from a therapist in coping mechanisms to keep him out of the trouble he has had in the past. Training his body, running to wear off energy, keeping his anger under control, no drinking of alcohol and practicing his listening skills are all working pretty well.  He meets Maria Sanchez on the beach.  As always with Nicholas it is a quick romance to spending days and night together.

Maria is moving up the career ladder as a lawyer. This current job comes with some relationship challenges with one of the bosses. He approaches her during a out of town conference and suggests a way for her to make partner.  She turns him down then struggles to keep out of his way.

It begins to be clear someone is stalking her and sending her gifts and threatening her - but who?  Is the boss, is it someone from one of her previous cases?   Of course, Colin now in love is having a hard time controlling his emotions and his behaviors.   I found the intensity of the story quite challenging, Colin is out of control a couple of times which did not sit well with me.  I did not really relate to this story very much.

I am really enjoying my small watercolors cards for Christmas and other occasions.

I have tubes of water color which have not seen the light of day for years.  These were acquired at sales and generally at price discounts.  My sister and I have done large sheet backgrounds in the past. 

I decided to pull these out and use them but I needed a way to make them available.  I did a search and there were several ideas for travel watercolor palettes.  I headed over the Delta Art and purchased empty half pans at over $1 each.

I placed them in this cough drop tin and filled them with blobs of color from the tubes I had. I was able to have several versions of the 3 primary colors - blue, red and yellow.  I will be able to mix many color from these.

It does not give me much mixing space but I can use a white dinner plate for that purpose.

I have written down the colors on the left and I did paint a sample of each color in the photo above. I think I have 2 reds which are very similar. 

I painted 2 small landscapes just to give the colors a go. I will make cards with them later.

I did come across a way cheaper option for this project which I will share the link here.  She uses a dollar store eye shadow box which I thought was genius.

Still scoping out salt free snacks.  I found a large 630gm bags of these a Sobey's store on my trip south a few weeks ago.  

Have yet to check them out here in the city but it is on the ToDo List

It is hard to find healthy options at a good price and easily available because that is not what most people want.   I will keep at it.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I took a trip south to visit my niece and her family before summer plans take over our lives.  My sister and brother in law would be there too!

This was late June.  I took a leisure drive down and arranged to meet at her house for supper.  Several of them were headed to the Nanton Parade of Garage Sales that day.

I arrived at about 3:00 pm and connected with her husband who was home getting things ready.  I decided to head off for a walk with the camera as I had been sitting in the car for about 4 hours.  I did stop halfway for a bathroom break and a bit of a walkabout.

They live very near a large green space which I have walked before so off I went.

I found this new flower for me - Shrubby Cinquefoil.

I found Squills as well which were plentiful in the meadow.

Supper was great and it was wonderful to spend them with family.  As we headed to my nephew's condo late in the evening I saw the mountains in  the distance.  They are so big!

The next morning my sister and I took a bit of a walk so I could get some mountain photos.  I managed a few without getting too much of the city stuff in the way.

I would like to take a trip to the mountains sometime.   It's been 8 years since I was there.

My aunt invited me to sit down and watch the new Downton Abbey movie - A New Era.

I did not watch the series when it was originally broadcast but have caught reruns over the years.  I have a basic understanding of the main characters both upstairs and down.  Also, the relationships involved - the Grantham family and the relatives of the extended family.

We watched on the TV at her place which suited me just fine rather than going to a movie theatre.

We got some delicious burgers and fries to round out the evening.  She picked up burgers from Delux Burger Bar which were absolutely delicious!  Sweet Potato fries were excellent.   It was a splurge but worth it.

I was disappointed that Henry Talbot - Mary's husband did not appear in this movie.   It was a great night out for me.  Thanks so much.

I have visited the St. Albert Botanic Park again now that new flowers are blooming.  

Roses, dahlias, lilies, Johnny Jump Ups were blooming as well as many more not included in the mosaic to the left.

I love going early in the morning when not too many others are about.

I did stop by the river but there was not too much wildlife about.

It is taking a nature bath when I can be quiet, calm and enjoy taking pictures.

I have started taking video with my camera and it is a learning curve.  I took this video of the pond and water feature at the park.  Hand help recording takes a lot of practice.  The flowering Ninebark in the background, the bulrushes, the running water, the curving stream of water and the stones all make for an oasis.

I took a walk with a friend around Beaumaris Lake recently as well. It was her first time and she was amazed at having this quite large lake in the city.  We saw White Pelicans, a Cormorant, Mallard Ducks, RedWinged Blackbirds, Grackles, a Painted Turtle, Coutts, and much more.

I am always up for a Christmas story any time of the year.

This is a story of the typical life on an English green during the Christmas season.

The season comes with the Christmas play of course, presents to buy, those coming to visit, church services, meals to prepare, those in need of time, love, caring and sharing.

In this case an older woman of the village is losing her sight, has a fall and is in need of temporary care of the holidays.  A friend who now is married invites her to stay with them.  The last of her Christmas shopping is done, she helps with the meals, and they attend church services.

It is a heart warming story of friendship and neighborliness.  I enjoyed the book.

Photo Coasters - Sets

This set was made with the Blue Bird art made my sister. You can find it here.

Photo Card Gift Set - Donation

I made a set of photo cards in the 5x7 format which is larger than the standard A2 size I normally make.

I adhered one of my photographs in 4x6 size to the front which were individually signed. 

For this set I selected flowers in the set. 

I chose the following and put 2 cards of the same in the box.

Red Dahlia

Yellow Lily

Pink Cosmos

Purple Allium





Making larger cards was challenging in the sense that I need new supporting documents, new envelopes, and new packaging.




This is being donated as a prize for a charity event in the fall.

Card Exchange

I created these cards with supplies from a Card Club kits.

I created the background layer with the 4 quadrant graphic, the circle and star element and the greeting with black and Blushing Bride.  I printed it on a white card which leaves a small border.  It was adhered to the front of a black card.

I adhered the lily circle elements in the three open spaces on the grid.  I added black fiber in the center of the card below the grid filling the space between the graphic and the greeting.

I glued the 4 inch square offset from the center onto the landscape blue card. I punched holes on either side into which I threaded a salmon colored satin ribbon and made a bow on the right hand side.

I added the greeting onto blue scallop oval cut with Spellbinder Nestabilities.  The oval element was then adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape.

These are off to my exchange card partners.

Card Club - Sept - Lily Trio

It's time for Card Club again.  This is a card made from kits from a couple of years back.

I started with the lily stickers then punched a trio of circles in the same color as the large greeting.  The three were layered then adhered above the greeting which was printed on white card stock.

It was trimmed to leave a small border of the black card showing.  These are all birthday greetings.

Greeting Card Gift Sets - Portfolio 2 more sets

This set of card features a cross stencil I created myself. I applied ink with a sponge in a diagonal direction in green. The purple butterfly stamped.  The doll is added to the a handmade paper card.  I added fiber for wings and thread for hair.  I printed trout graphic then colored it with chalk.  The gifts in the last one are my own design.  I printed them on the card stock then water colored them.

This set has one of my lily color prints onto card stock. It was mounted onto green card stock.  The Thinking of You features a small square piece of water color decorative paper.  The purple daisy is hand painted onto purple handmade paper.  The trio of birthday gifts are hand watercolored with a wide brush.

Lily Black & White

I chose this lily from my walk photos this morning for Black and White Wednesday.  It has good contrast and I like the way the stamens of the top flower appear as separate at the top of the picture.  They had watered at the community garden so droplets were present as well which was very good!

I was going to link this to
B&W Wednesday but there is no linky this week.

Here's the colored version.

Lily - B&W

This is a lily type flower I took recently in a public park near my place.  I just cropped it a bit to have it placed better in the shot. 

Submitting to this challenge:
Black and White Wednesday

Mosaic Monday - Nature

Here's a few photos from my recent walks.  Nature is bursting.
The leaves are starting to show on the trees.  The lilies were on arrangements which had been placed at a cairn in a park near my home. Wreaths has been laid as many people throughout the world mark the Day of Mourning to remember workers killed and injured on the job, the impact on their friends, colleagues and family members, and to recommit themselves to fighting every day for workplace safety.
The female duck had these great rings in water around her.  The reflection is not too bad.  The yellow tulip was in a flower bed on my walk. 

Submitting this to Mosaic Monday at Lavender Cottage hosted by Judith.

Easter Blessings

Wishing you all Easter Blessings this Easter Sunday.  May you have a great day!

Card - Farewell - Pink Lily

Another card for those leaving our office this month.  I chose the Designer Paper by Kaiser Craft - Tigerlilly Collection - Blossom.  Love this paper!  I layered a piece of the paper onto a large half sheet pink card.  It's double sided paper so I chose to add a band across the top 1/3 with the small dots side.  I added borders top and bottom punched from black card stock with the Martha Stewart daisy border punch.  I added another strip of the Tigerlily paper in the center. I fussy cut a pink lily from the leftover paper.  I mounted that onto a black smooth oval cut with Spellbinder Nestabilities then onto a step larger oval in white.  This accent was adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape. 

R2G Card Kit - Circle Trio Lilies - HB

Another Ready 2 Go Card Kit using up some stickers from this set of cards. The large greeting I designed a while back and this is my third time using it. Here's another set of cards where I used it. These are all birthday cards - can never have enough of those.
The lily stickers were placed onto card stock then punched out with the SU! 1.25" circle punch. The greeting was coordinated with the color of the circles.  The greeting was color printed and trimmed to leave a small border.  The lily accents are glued evenly across the top of the card.  Either both sides evenly and the last one centered or the first one centered and the other two placed evenly.

Card - Sympathy - Florals

Here's a couple more cards for the family of the friend who died last week. The flowers are from Graphics Fairy Vintage. I added greetings in coordinated colors.  I added a layer of card stock then this was mounted on the card.

Photo - Happy Easter

I hope everyone has a great Easter. I will be with family and we've planned a full day of girl time today with my Mom, sisters and nieces.

Card Club - Easter Lily

For this card kit I used several pieces of designer paper. 
This piece has Easter Lilies with brocade background and lace on the right hand side.  This paper I found at Michaels a few weeks ago.  It has 6 different 4x6 designer paper. I added ivory gross grain ribbon towards the top which is slipped through a slit in the card fold and taped to the inside of the card.  I punched a Decorative Label punchie in brown.  I added a color printed greeting which was cut with Creative Memories oval cutter.  The greeting was chalked to soften it.  I will post some of the other designs after class. Some of these were turned into Mother's Day cards with pink greetings.

Card - CST Challenge #15 - SSS Sketch

I made this card for the CST challenge based on this sketch. I started with another photo of a lily from my Mom's garden. It's got this really nice dark purple edge which makes it look exquisite. I printed the lily and cut into an oval. I mounted it onto a coordinate plum textured cardstock rectangle. I chose an cream card to match the center of the lily to which I added a couple lines of embossing on the top half using a border folder. I stamped the greeting in Orchid. I added a moss green satin ribbon. I glued the plum rectangle on an angle. Found a silk flower for the top left corner and bling for the bottom right hand corner.

Photo - Happy Easter Greetings

I hope you are having a great Easter weekend. I will be with family, some I have not seen for quite a while! It will be good. I think the weather will cooperate with seasonal temperatures. Get out and get some air, that a few pictures, hug those that mean a lot to you.

I took this photo of an Easter Lily and put it into the greeting.

All Occasion Stack Class - Lily Sticker

This is a very versatile design. The top 2/3 is embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder in the Big Kick machine. The greeting is printed on cardstock and cut to 1" strips. The accent is again STUP! graduated circle punched shapes with the lily sticker in the centre. Bought those at Michaels in the bridal section. With the greetings all being black on white with only the cardstock changing, it was a design easily implemented. A nice classic look that can cover many types of greetings from birthday, thank you, get well and sympathy just by selecting your cardstock appropriately.
This is a keeper!