Old and new

While going through some old photos I came across one of my favorite guy taken quite a few years ago. It's a long while til Valentine's Day but I wanted to make a card that said, "I love you."

Using a photo program I enhanced the age of the picture by transforming it into sepia. I chose brown and black papers/cardstock just because I like those colors together. A single word below the photo expressed my thought, and a copper clip adds a little sparkle to the presentation.

Isn't it fun to do something spontaneous when inspiration strikes? And by the way, my husband really liked the card.

Shades of pink

Yesterday I felt like making a monotone card. No, I didn't say a monotonous card!

Sometimes there is a restful kind of look to a card without high contrast. Too many of them would, in fact, be monotonous. But once in awhile, they're fun!

I wanted to share this card with you all, but I am disappointed in the color reproduction. You'll just have to believe me when I say the shades of pink are
truly coordinated - but for reasons unknown to me, when I scanned the card into my computer different papers and cardstock came out as slightly different colors than they actually are. How can this be? I don't know. Maybe it has to do with textures or some invisible factor relating to color dyes from different paper companies. It's a mystery to me, like so many technological things are!

Oh well, it's nicer in person but try to readjust the colors to be harmonious when you see it on the machine!

Shell and sentiment stamps are by october pumpkin.

Came in the mail today...

Several weeks ago I joined a "card candy swap" on Splitcoaststampers.com. If you're a follower, you may remember some photos I posted here, of some "card candy" I made to trade. That part was alot of fun to do.

In case you aren't a cardmaker, "candy" means the embellishments that help decorate a greeting card. Some are die-cut, some are stamped, some are original designs, etc. The idea is to make a bunch or a few and exchange them with other cardmakers or scrapbookers across the country.

It was a first time for me to do this, and after the fun of making my "candy" to swap, it was great fun in the waiting, and even more fun in getting my first pack of swapped goodies. I'm showing some of them in the photo above.

A perfect day

Yesterday was my father's 90th birthday celebration. I'm sharing one of the photos showing him with his only two grandchildren, David's (my hubby) and my son James, and our daughter Stephanie. When I saw this shot I rememebered Jim saying, "That's right, stand too close to me and make my nose look a yard wide!" He is a little out of kilter here, but at least looks happy.

We had a wonderful time, with relatives from far and wide pouring in throughout the afternoon, lots of laughter and memories, good food, good friends,and good wishes all around. Weather was perfect, which is miraculous for mid-Ohio in July. Well over a hundred guests attended the event and all seemed to be having a great time visiting and making new friends.

Poppy, as my dad is known to his family, seemed to have a super time as well. He is a thoughtful and generous person, so when his brother played Happy Birthday on the piano and we all sang to Poppy, he had to remind us that his wife's 85th birthday is this month too and therefore we ought to sing her a Happy Birthday as well - which everyone did.

Isn't it a major, major blessing when something planned for months suddenly arrives and turns out even better than anyone anticipated?

Last three lights

Sorry I've been away from the blog. It's been a hectic half week at our house. A relative had a sudden serious illness, I'm not making the speed of progress I'd hoped for in preps for my father's 90th birthday party Sunday or in getting ready for a houseguest arriving Friday, had two dr. apts. to deal with, and today the car broke down! Tomorrow will include alot of dealing with the car repair. So I decided to jump on here and show you the lighthouses as promised, right now!

The left image is Key West Light in Florida. Ernest Hemingway lived across the road from this one. No wonder he wrote so well. Wouldn't we if we had a view like that? Then you see Cape Lookout in North Carolina. Like Cape Hatteras, also in NC (see photo in previous post), they are similar in a way, because of their interesting daymarks. If you are not familiar with daymarks, this refers to the high contrast design painted onto a lighthouse so that it's visible to ocean traffic by day as well as the actual light beam itself is at night. The little tubby lighthouse is Thomas Point Shoal Light in Maryland, an example of a screwpile light out in the water.

I figured out why rubber stamping is so popular! We would all love to draw an attractive design in a hurry and have it look "right" - but that takes alot of time and also some feel their art skills are not up to it. Then by using a rubber stamp, anyone can instantly create a great image - what a rush that is! I feel it too when I stamp. Power to the stampers of the world! We are all artists!