Exchange Cards - May

I started with the focal element which is a sticker.  I found these in a book I was clearing out the other day.  Who knows how long they were there!

I adhered it to a piece of bright green card and trimmed to leave a wide border.  I chalked the edges with black.

I chose a bright turquoise card and added an embossed light blue layer.  It was embossed with a Cuttlebug folder and adhered to the card front leaving a small border.

I added the black accent strip aligned to the left of center.  The sticker accent is mounted with 3D foam tape.  I added a Modern Label punchie greeting with offset green card stock.  It was also adhered with 3D foam tape.

I will mailing these today.

This card is similar in as the first one.  I laid it out in landscape format.   The sticker got a light blue layer behind.

I chose a bright green card this time and added a Swiss Dots embossed light blue layer. 

Once the black strips were adhered I used 3D foam tape for the sticker accent.

I added a round greeting layered onto the same green card stock as the card. I just tucked it under the corner of the accent.

HB Paper Strips Card - Stash Busting

I made this card for my brother that is celebrating a birthday next week.

Still stash busting paper strips of designer paper.  I chose colors to coordinate with the terracotta colored card. I just laid the first one starting in the top left corner the placed the others perpendicular to those.

The greeting is a Stampin Up Decorative label punchie with color printed words.  Adhered to card front with 3D foam tape.  I chalked the edges to match the card.

It will be on it's way today.

Senior Show Submissions

Our Senior Show at the AAC is being juried and hosted on line.  We are fortunate to have a tech savvy gallery manager.  We have hosted 3 shows since the middle of March.

This beautiful pink bloom is on the Flowering Plum.  I love the moody shot where the flower is the focal element.

Title: Nature - Cheaper than Therapy
Size: 17.5 x 13.5 inches
Mats: Double archival mats in black and granite green
Frame: Black wood
Print: 8x12 inches

This is my Mercury Glass votive holder with a tea light burning. Love how the body is lit from the inside. We need a bit of light in our world to bring hope for the future.


Title: Light Dispels the Darkness
Size: 14.25 x 10.5 inches
Mat: Single archival mat
Frame: Black metal
Print: 9x12 inches

I took this shot for the Macro Monday challenge - shadow earlier this year.  You can see more examples here. I really enjoyed taking shadows.

I loved how this clear plastic spoon turned into a ladle when the light was at the right angle.  I added the words on card stock above the photo.  I thought it was appropriate for the attitude we need in these challenging times.

Title: Life is Fuller
Size: 8.5 x 10.5 inches
Mat: Single archival mat
Frame: Silver metal
Print: 5x5 inches

The submissions in the show are on the Allied Art Council website - On-Line Senior Show.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I found a riot of red tulips on my trip to ponds in the north.  They were gorgeous! 

They were a wonderful color and in perfect shape.  Beautiful to photograph as they were all in immaculate shape.  Hard to decide which shot to take.

Really enjoyed these tulips on a great morning.

I guess the rain for a couple of days and now sunshine is perfect conditions for the flowers to erupt!

I found this female Bufflehead duck on the Ted Hole Park which hosts 3 small ponds which are interconnected. 

I did not see the male that morning.  She is just a such a cute duck.  Small and beautiful.  Just calmly swimming around and keeping an eye on me. 

A bit of ripple in the water blurred her reflection.  

It was a perfect shot!

Of course the rain has greened up things as well.   Glorious!

The ground was soaked and there was quite a bit of overland flooding so I got my feet wet.

Someone set up a quick bird feeder in the river valley! 

 A clear bottle, cut holes to access the seeds. A wooden chopstick for perches. A string knotted through a hole in the lid to hang it. Fill it with seeds and it's done.

Come to think of it I did not see it on my walk this morning.  I hope no one's taken it down.  I will have to pay attention tomorrow morning.

I have spent a lot of time on my knees in the last few days!

One of the challenges I was taking photos for was Perspective so I was getting low to see what the world looks like from down there!

Here's one I took this morning in a field of dandelions which have popped up with the rain and sun.

A bit of heavy dew on the grass and I came home with wet feet again today.

This was at the Ted Hole Park as well.  I have seen a Northern Flickr a few times but not got good photos.

I was surprised to see it on the ground but it was having breakfast.  The ground was soft and the bugs and worms were a plenty I expect. It would pop up it's head regularly to keep an eye on me. 

I took tons of photos to get a few  good ones. 

I was there on the ground for a good 20 minutes. Great experience!

This is a shot I took for Flickr Macro Monday.  The challenge was "handle".  Some great submissions - take a look if you are interested.

This is the handle to my glass microwave corn popper!  You can check out my SMDPics photostream to see the photo I submitted.


I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #81 and Mersad at Through my Lens #242

 I have been getting ready for an art show this week and it rain which worked out.  I will have my photos up tomorrow which I submitted.

Have a great week.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I visited one of the man made lakes in my city this week.  It is large enough to have a good selection of birds and sure enough I found a few.

Here's a male Mallard Duck going by behind the bullrushes.  I managed to capture him in focus!

I saw Red Wing Blackbirds, A Hooded Merganser,  & Red Necked Grebes as well.

It was a great day and the weather was perfect at 7:00 am.

This is a blossom on the Sakura Flowering Plum bush.  The branches generally have very close together clusters but I found this one a bit by itself.

Beautiful bush with a riot of pink blooms on it.  Welcomed sight in this grey time.

The neighbourhood has plenty of these so there were many bushes to choose from.

 Love the soft feeling to this photo.









I finished this book this week.  It was a great story about a black maid serving in a large house set in South Africa.  The lady of the house is Cathleen Harrington. In 1919, she has moved from Ireland to marry a man she has not seen in 5 years.  She now has grown children, a son and daughter. The maid Miriam has a daughter, Ada without a husband.  The apartheid is a background to the story.  The story is told from Ada's point of view - how she learns to read, to play the piano beautifully, to serve in the house as her mother does.  Cathleen has nurtured Ada, then upon returning from a long absence from the house Cathleen is broken-hearted to find Ada has disappeared.  They are eventually reunited and the truth about the circumstances of Ada's leaving are revealed.  Highly recommend this book.

More bizarre behavior by the Canada Geese.  This one landed on the railing of a balcony on a high rise building.  It looked like it was going to jump down to a nest.

I know that they ran a story on the news about 4 weeks back indicating that if Canada Geese are eyeing your property for a nest best to discourage them early.  They are a protected species so if a nest is built you will have to leave till the goslings leave it.

Last week I saw a set  of adults walking their goslings down the back alley.   Headed in the right direction for the river.  I guess with less traffic the road offer a clear path.

The perennials are blooming.  I have not seen Siberian Squills before but I found 2 this spring. Very small flowers which could easily be missed.  Beautiful color.  The tulips in the front yards are showing their color.  The apple and plum trees are in full bloom.

The challenge this week on Flickr Macro Monday is Wabi-sabi - The Art of the Imperfect. Wabi-sabi is a Japanese word roughly translating as 'imperfect aged beauty'. It is used to describe a particular philosophy that beauty can be found in the old, the everyday, the imperfect. And that everything is in a state of transition from or to nothingness.

The photo on the right is pieces of broken tempered safety glass.  I found them on the boulevard where a panel along stairs had been broken.  I gathered several pieces because I thought they were beautiful.   You can check my SMDPics photostream to see the photo I submitted this week.

I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #80
and with Mersad hosting Through My Lens #241 

Anniversary Card

Mom and Dad will celebrate 66 years of marriage this week.  I mailed a card last week.

I started with a pink card.  I added a piece of blue handmade paper adhered with quick dry adhesive.  I added a piece of satin ribbon at the top held with tiny pink brads and white flower sequins.

I added 2 light pink hearts below the ribbon adhered with 3D foam tape.  They are punchies done with the Stampin Up Sweetheart punch.

I added an oval greeting in the bottom right hand corner adhered with 3D foam tape.

Hopefully, it arrived on time.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I had a wonderful photo day at the wetlands yesterday morning but it was COLD!

This is the first time I see this bird - an American Avocet.  They were feeding in a large pool of water in a construction site.  There were about 30 of them wandering around in about 8 inches of water.

I was thrilled to see them but I was completely frozen so keep the camera steady was a challenge.

They did not seem troubled by my presence at all.

I saw as a Song Sparrow, a flock of Tree Swallows,  Golden Eyes, a Blue Winged Teal and of course a Red Wing Blackbird male but no good photos.

The Canada Geese were cranky!

They were raising a fuss, making a racket, and flying overhead chasing each other.

You can see the left one's tongue is sticking out as it honks at the other one.

They were acting like some of us are feeling due to sheltering in place.











This book has been on my night stand for a couple of weeks I have just given up on it. It's depressing.

I don't really need to read about 2 couples in marriages who are unhappy and unhealthy.  I did read more than half of it but it was not getting better so I am cutting my losses and moving on.

Love the setting of Venise though.

A female Red Wing Blackbird perched on the very top of a dried bullrush.

As you can see she is all fluffed up trying to stay warm.

Really happy with the capture.

I was at the Lois Hole Provincial Park and the John Poole Wetlands.  Nature carries on in this time of isolation.

It was good to be outside, taking photos and not having to worry about someone getting too close.  A tuque would have been nice.

A nice hot shower when I got home did the trick. 

This American Robin had her feathers all puffed up as well trying to stay warm.

It was very windy and you can see her feathers are being moved about by it.

She stayed very still as I took  many shots.

Great bird captures is always rewarding.

I saw only one other person yesterday morning about 7:30 am.  It was threatening rain but it did not rain till the afternoon.

They have made the boardwalk one way for physical distancing so I had to walk all the way around.

The challenge for Flickr Macro Monday was Gold or Silver.  There is a lot of wedding rings being submitted.

I had all kinds of options and here are a few.

I used a gold oval brooch, a gold Chinese fan necklace,  an Anne Klein earring that makes me think of a shoe and an silver aluminum cigar tube where I used to store dimes. 

You can check out my SMDPics photostream to see the shot I submitted.

Sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #79.

Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #240.

Mother's Day Card

I made my Mom a card for Mother's Day.

I used paper strips in blues because that is her favorite color. I glued them inside a black color printed frame on the card front. Most they were trimmed to 1" wide or less. I added a length of blue rick rack along the top adhered with Quick Dry Adhesive.

I added an oval greeting with 3D foam tape above a piece of floral designer paper in the bottom right hand corner.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

This is a Larch Tree bud. It looks like a beautiful bouquet of pink and green.  We have several trees in the park.  The morning sun made it look glorious.

A Larch tree is a coniferous tree which unlike it's cousins loses it's leaves in the fall.

We really need rain to clean things and get nature really greening up.   It feels things are a couple weeks late which is just as well since we have to stay home anyway.

We are scheduled to have some restrictions lifted in a couple of weeks but I have I'm not going to be one just getting out there and crazy shopping.  I will give it a couple of weeks and see how it goes. I do have a few things to get for some renovations I need so we shall see.

I want to thank Margy who left me a comment on last weeks post where I packed away the puzzle.

She suggested that she does puzzles on line where there is nothing to put away. You can decide the number of pieces, the subject matter and the type of pieces which adds some difficulty to the process.

This is exactly what I needed.  I can spent an hour on the internet, see nice art, work my brain a bit with an interactive activity and it just gets put away with no mess.

I have been using The Jigsaw Puzzles website.  I liked the variety of subject matter available - I have done flowers and art.

It dumps all the pieces on your workspace but you can ask to only see the edge pieces.  That is normally what I would with a physical puzzle. Once the edge is done then the rest of the pieces are shown.  I organize the pieces by color and start assembling shapes.  You can look at the image any time just like looking a the top of the box.  I have been doing 250 piece ones with the classic cut pieces.  Love it.

I decided to choose a few places along my walking route to plant a few flower seeds.   I think I have selected places that are pretty well lit.  Some of the seeds are very old so I don`t even know if they will grow.  They were predicting rain for today so I did that yesterday morning on my walk. Of course, if they grow I will have to take my chances that I can actually pick a few as other may think they are nice too.  I`m putting it out there to see what happens.

The rain came.  It was predicted that we would have big winds but it did not happen.  It started after supper yesterday, rained all night and it is still raining.  A nice steady rain which will soak things nicely without having flooding and washing away of dirt.

I expect that nature will respond wonderfully to this much needed moisture.  By the end of the week things will be green and wonderful.
I will keep an eye on my flowers.

The challenge at Flickr Macro Monday was kitchen but no food was allowed.   This is one of the shots I prepared for the challenge. 

You can check my SMDPics photo stream to which shot I submitted.

I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #78 

and

Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #239  

I had a funky down week into my 8th week with Sheltering in Place.  I am feeling better. Have a great week!

Christmas Card Challenge - May - Large Words

The theme for the May Christmas Card Challenge is Large Words.

I chose the Poppy Stamps Magnificent Merry thin die for my large greeting.  I selected a quarter sheet of 110lb white card stock.  First I printed "Christmas" in Night of Navy in the bottom right hand corner.
Then I ran the quarter sheet through my Big Shot aligning the die with the printed word. I pulled the word out of the sheet and made sure I kept the negative spaces in the m&e.
I used a light warm blue chalk above the curve.  I did the same with the negatives spaces from the M and E.
I used a dark warm blue chalk on the "merry" word.  I cut a piece of bond paper for the back.  Added a couple of strips of double sided tape behind the word and returned the darker blue word back into place including the small negative pieces.  I then punched white snowflakes for above the curve and blue ones for below.  I am really happy with this one!

Here's my inspiration card which I found on Splitcoast Stampers.

I worked on improving the process. 

If I kept one piece white and  watercolored the other then it would be easy to just switch them.  The green piece was a companion background to the one on this card. I cut both quarter sheet peices with the Magnificent Merry thin lit making sure I did not lose the negative space pieces in the m and e.

I put scotch tape on the back of the large piece, turned it over and just plunked the die cut into the hole. I put the negative pieces in as well.  The advantages are the colors all match.  In the blue one I had to do the negative pieces separately.  Once the tape was well burnished from the back to ensure the die cut would stay put I trimmed the quarter sheet to leave a tiny border of the warm green card. 

I created the color printed banner greeting, fussy cut to the edge, and adhered it to the card front with 3D foam tape. I adhered a shed free silver glitter star to intersect the "merry" with a bling glue dot.  I used a bit of the Stampin Up Watercolor Wonder crayons on the original background so I just spattered this card with some of the same colors.

Now I have 2 cards that are the opposite of each other. This one spattered with white acrylic paint.

I will certainly use this die again now that I have found this technique.