Green December

A Winter Walk

Sunshine, so rare and delectable in Michigan at this time of year, called me out to walk. Our neighborhood situates in a circle, and the distance around is one mile. In warmer weather, I often walk that mile, sometimes twice, as daily exercise. I listen to podcasts, usually Paperclipping Roundtable, or when I'm caught up on those, a different one. Today, it was Elise Gets Crafty, and Ali Edwards talked about One Little Word.

At first, I felt good, walking and breathing fresh air, bathing in that precious sunlight. Our last snow here was in November, and temperatures since have been more like October than the usual December 20's and low 30's. The lawns are devoid of their usual white winter blanket, and the grass is mostly green.

As I took the photo, still in full sunshine, I was starting to feel the cold. By the time I was closer to home, my legs felt frozen. My ears, too. Really, it was too cold to walk that far, that long.

But oh, to be in that sunshine, to soak up that fresh air, felt so good.

Brightest Moment 2014

A few days ago, my close friend Janet and I were talking about our brightest moments of 2014. She shared hers and asked what mine was.

I didn't need time to ponder. The brightest moment of my 2014 was my husband Daniel and I swimming together at Fort DeSoto Park, Florida.

The day was hot, of course, but the breeze cooled the air. The water was mostly clear, only a few tangles of sea weed here and there. The waves, plentiful and playful. We jumped and swam and laughed and laughed, again and again. Sometimes, the waves dragged us under just a bit, but all in good fun.

I loved it, and I loved it even more because I shared it with Daniel. We went to Florida, just the two of us, in celebration of his birthday. But it was also a celebration of me and my origins, as I grew up in Florida, swam at that very beach, in fact, many years ago, frolicking in the waves, pretending I was a mermaid...

Going there was a homecoming, not just to the place I come from, but a homecoming to myself.

Being in the water, the day bright and clear, every sense engaged, brought back the girl I was, and it was so good to remember, to savor the memory of what the sea has always meant to me.

And to share that with the man I love, my best friend, my every-single-day hero, my real home.

Talk about a bright moment!

Oh, how happy I am to have that treasure in my memory.

Pick of the Week for December 10 - 2014

My pick this week is a stamp set by Stampin' Up! called Wondrous Wreath. My first exposure to this stamp set was a hostess club meeting, and I wasn't terribly impressed, even though I thought it was pretty. When purchasing stamps, I tend to be selective according to how often I will use the stamp, and since I do more scrapbooking than card-making, I usually need to be able to see a use on the scrapbook page.

Then, I started thinking about my little Mommy and how fun it would be for the two of us to make some holiday cards together. I showed her the Stampin' Up! holiday catalog, and she liked that Wondrous Wreath set, so I decided to take a chance and buy it.

We chose a really simple design with two different colors schemes, using Distress ink on blank cards I bought on sale at Joann.

To see what other creative people were doing with this set and get ideas for variations, I did a search on Pinterest and found some great projects using the Wondrous Wreath.

Here's a card by Nancy Amato that goes with an autumn theme, complete with pumpkins. Adorable!

Sharon Cheng did this holiday card, adding cute little birds as accents to the wreath.

This one by Louise Sharp uses a variation of the typical holiday color scheme to lovely result. I love the gold accents.

Here, Teneale Williams cut the stamped image in half to create a swag. Beautiful. (Be sure to scroll down for the second card.)

And finally, this one by Tina Rappe, shows the stamp used in a totally different motif, not holiday-themed at a all, and there are plenty examples of other ways to make this stamp set quite versatile.

I haven't found any ideas using these stamps on scrapbook pages, but I'll keep exploring, and maybe I'll come up with ideas of my own. I know the stamp would work really well for 3x4 cards in a holiday spread for pocket scrapbooking.

Click here to see the set on the Stampin' Up! website. There's also a die set to make cutting out the wreath and its accessory images easy-peasy, and it includes the words "noel" and "joy."

If you're looking to add this stamp set to your stash, keep in mind it's only available until the end of the month as part of the holiday catalog.

Repurposing

On one Tuesday night of the month, I meet with a group of paper-crafters to create a couple of projects and shop from the Stampin' Up! catalog. Most of the ladies in the group are card-makers, and usually our projects are cards. For our last meeting, we did make one card, but our leader, a wonderfully creative lady named Sharon, decided to do a french-fry box treat holder.

While I thought it was an adorable project, I really didn't have much use for one treat holder, and I didn't see myself making more of these. Instead, I did something I love to do: I repurposed.

Here's the supplies I started with:

Four little stamped, die-cut pieces, the stamped, punched greeting element, a yellow ribbon, and that french fry box, stamped and already assembled.

First, I decided to make a card with the supplies. I used a piece of card stock from a previous free project I'd done at Archivers several years ago for the card front, and I took apart the french fry box. Playing around with the flat pieces, trying to figure out how to use them, I finally cut two strips that, put-together, would be the right length to span a standard card.

Next, I arranged the die cut pieces in a cluster I liked and cut the ribbon into two pieces, adhered with a tiny attacher. Using a bit of red twine, I tied the greeting piece to the ribbon and attached the card front to a bright yellow card. For my last step, I splattered gold mist on the card, a finishing touch that really makes the design work.

The result:

A card that I can use, and all those cute supplies did not go to waste.

Favorite Photos - October 2014

1. My sweet husband and I ventured North for our anniversary trip, and it rained every day of the week we were there. I love this selfie of the two of us under an umbrella on the shore of Lake Huron. Dude...it was cold, too.

2. Horse drawn carriages for hire on one of the main streets of Mackinac Island, one of the places we visited off-Mitten during our getaway. No cars are permitted on the island, so the only forms of transportation are these vehicles, horses, bicycles, and our own two feet.

3. During our horse-drawn tour of Mackinac Island, we stopped at this high point, and whoa! What a gorgeous view!

4. The monumental Mackinac Bridge, connecting the lower and upper peninsulas of Michigan, a beautiful feat of modern engineering. I love this photo because I summoned the courage to face my fear of heights and drive over it, and because my husband took the photo from the passenger seat to mark the occasion.

5. Our second visit to Mackinac Island, as we were waiting for the ferry to take us back to the Mitten, a bright and fantastic double-rainbow filled the sky. Here is one end of it, anchored in Lake Huron.

6. On our actual anniversary, dinner out. Twelve years of marriage, and oh, what a crazy wonderful ride it's been! How lucky I am. How happy. How grateful for us.

7. My sweet little Mommy holding up a wreath we made together. Love, love, love that smile!

8. A lovely, luscious autumn day, walking through the neighborhood.

9. And on another fall day, these birds, taking flight.

10. Little Mommy with a brand new hairdo. While taking photos of her out in front of the nursing home, I told her, "Show me sexy!" and that's the response I got. Beautiful woman. Always has been. And I sure do love her.

Pick of the Week - October 1

As I have likely mentioned previously, I recently relocated my craft space back where it was before my Mom moved in with us in March of 2011. I scrapbook differently now than I did then, and my stash has grown and changed a lot. For a few weeks, I've given thought to and been on the lookout for storage solutions to help me organize my new old space.

The crate in the photo above was a great find at one of the area Target stores. Made of sturdy white plastic, it is the perfect size for storing my assembled sticker sheets and patterned paper, as well as kits and two rows of Thickers. I bought two and plan to buy a couple more.

So far, this solution is working great, and at $3.49 each, it's great on the budget, too! Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be available at Target's online store, but that just means a shopping excursion to the nearest Target!

Pick of the Week - September 24

Here it is, my favorite season. I love the turning leaves and the apples and the cider and the chai (which is, of course, available all year long, but I reserve my enjoyment of it for the fall because it tastes like autumn in a cup to me) and the pumpkin everything and cooler temperatures and some luscious days, even that wandersome wind that blows the leaves around in a dance like no other.

Yes...I do love the season for all of its particular flavors and sights, and I'll admit I tend to overdo the photographing and scrapbooking of all things autumn. I probably have more photos of leaves than anything else.

But...it makes me happy, so it's all good.

And now for my pick:

LOVE these leaf stickers from Martha Stewart! I haven't used them yet, but oh, the possibilities! I imagine a white card with one leaf and a stamped "happy fall." Or a layout about how my husband and I celebrated our anniversary--coming soon! I can't wait!--or perhaps I will save these stickers to use in my wedding album...someday.

Lovely little leafy things they are, and I know I will find a use for them on something wonderful.