Monday Musings -- An Early Edition

Hi, everyone,

Thanks to everyone who visited this last week. Extra thanks to those leaving such kind comments.

Hope everyone had a chance to get outside this weekend. Yesterday was a rainy, kind-of-raw day here. But, today's been gorgeous!

Yesterday's weather was perfect for tinkering with this week's CAS-ual Friday challenge. And, in spite of today's beautiful weather, I managed to squeeze in an OWH card.  :)

Card #1: OWH Sketch #119

Sketch #119 was the inspiration for the Any Hero below. Of course, I turned the sketch horizontally. I swear that one of those circles is is 2.5 inches in diameter! (And, what would I ever do without my Creative Memories circle and oval cutting system?)

Papers: Bo Bunny Liberty, Bazzill Admiral and Watermelon, BasicGrey kraft; jute and blue mesh; border punch

I played a little with the layering of the papers for the circles before deciding on this combination. Other than that, this card came pretty easily. The criss-cross patterns of the jute, mesh, and kraft paper really seemed to work well together.(Sadly, it;s about the last of my blue mesh.)

Card #2: CFC50

This week's challenge is a spring-inspired challenge to make cards featuring flowers or trees. Since I'd been wanting to try out a technique shared by a Stampin' Up! consultant at the recent Pizazz It! scrapbooking event, I was pretty excited to work on a flower card. And, I must say, I'm really pleased with the way the card below turned out!

card base and sentiment oval: core paper; Punches: Stampin' Up!: all else: garage sale finds

Stampin' Up Technique: Secure end of twine/floss with tape at back of flower; loop twine/floss across diameter of flower, moving around the circumference of the flower, and taping the end of the floss to the back of the flower to secure it. The consultant used baker's twine in her demo, but the lighter weight of the floss seemed a better match for the delicacy of this paper.

There are three things that I love about this card:

• The way the embellishments came together so nicely. And, the fiber I used for the stem has a natural fraying element to it, which made for a perfect leaf. :)
• The image was taken with our new digital camera. I decided to forgo the usual scanning because I knew the shadows would not do justice to this little flower.
• Most of the elements were made from garage sale finds: the funky fiber, the buttons, and the lovely Stampin' Up! paper. 

The one thing I don't like is that the card is probably a little too delicate and a little too thick to send to OWH. Feels like mail fail. Guess it'll just have to go to a friend who is need of a smile. :)

Speaking of Garage Sales...

  

Yesterday was the first garage sale of the season for hubby and me.

• The good news: I always enjoy spending the day with hubby.
• The bad news: The sale itself was disappointing -- aside from a couple of cute magnet stocking stuffers.

But while I had my camera out to photograph Sure to Bring a Smile, I took a couple of photos of some of my best scrapbooking/card-making garage sale finds.

 

A great cabinet that holds brads, gems, buttons, Distress and Alcohol Inks and their applicators. The little clown is a souvenir from a visit to FAO Schwarz in NYC 30 years ago -- and is a constant reminder to be as creative as possible!

Not quite sure what the original owners used this for, but it's been a CD holder and is now a card organizer. Years of tole painting classes came in handy when I changed its appearance to better fit the room's decor.

a wonderful cutting board and the book full of dies that came with my $25 Zip'e Mate

 

a pair of chairs that came painted white with butcher-board-like seats that matched perfectly with the room decor

A fabulous find! A drawer for punches, another for stamps... The top actually folds down (to make a changing table), which I originally used to layout 12 by 12 pages. However, the baskets from Pottery Barn fit the space so perfectly it's as if they came together. So, the baskets now hold stamp pads, pens, rulers, etc. I painted the drawer fronts and sides to better fit the room decor, but the base color was already white.

So, what are your favorite garage sale finds?  I'd love to hear about them!

Parting Thoughts

Not quite sure what the week holds card-making wise. I still have a couple of Tim Holtz's classes to watch. And, I'd like to try to use up some scraps with last Monday's {Mojo}Mondays challenge.

 

Have a great week and happy scrappin'!

Friday Night Writes

Welcome to the first edition of Friday Night Writes. A couple of things to blog about tonight.

Our Family's Greatest Generationer

 A proud Army Air Corps Pilot

Some of you may already know my father-in-law was a bomber pilot in World War II. He is an amazing man -- so kind and loving. And, as I have learned about his wartime experiences, I've come to recognize that he is also a very brave and humble man.

These pages from a family scrapbook will help us remember the past year's tributes and honors which include going on an honor flight to the WWII Memorial in DC, riding in a B17, talking to local high school students, and participating in a panel of war veterans. 

Our Family Scrapbook

While I usually put titles on the left side, the two pictures on that page

were so perfect that I just had to lead with those. The right page is one big pocket

to include additional newspaper clippings and photos of his trip to DC and school visit.

My father-in-law is standing in front of the B17 that he rode in from Dayton to Columbus,

holding a photo of his flight crew. This photo that graced the front page of The Columbus Dispatch captured a glorious moment on a gorgeous fall day.

This photo graced the front page of the local Suburban News paper. Its caption refers to the

onlookers as "admirers". The admirers on the left are actually a neighbor and his son and my hubby is on the right. Interestingly enough, my husband teaches American  History but had heard almost nothing about his dad's experiences until a post-flight interview after his arrival in Columbus.

A clipping showing the B17 touching down at Bolton Field.

A memento of an Honor Flight that will be long remembered...

While at the memorial, the veterans were greeted by Senator Bob Dole, who makes it a point to meet most all of the Honor Flight honorees. Upon returning to Columbus, each veteran received a packet of cards and letters from employees of Nationwide Insurance (a sponsor of Central Ohio Honor Flights) and local school children. One letter from a high school freshman touched my father-in-law so much that he contacted her teacher so that he could mail a reply to her. The pride my father-in-law took in these cards and letters is what made me realize I need to make Any Hero cards.

I am so happy and thankful that my father-in-law has experienced such a wonderful year. But, his military service is only a small part of what makes him so special. The love and devotion he showed to my mother-in-law during the final years of her life ... well, there just aren't words. Tom Brokaw got it right -- the Greatest Generation indeed.

OWH Cards

I only managed a couple of cards this week. Both were made from remnants of my Kaiser Secret Bird Society paper. Unfortunately, I struggled with a third card -- actually for a couple of nights -- but just never got it quite right. Hopefully, I'll be able to get a few more made this weekend.

Both cards are tri-folds  :)

 News from the Homestead

Two points worth noting:

• The scrapbook pics were taken with our new digital camera and uploaded to a laptop! You have no idea what an accomplishment this is for us tech-challenged folks. Thanks to Yolanda for her vote of confidence!
• All of the photos in this post have watermarks -- another huge accomplishment! Thanks to Julie for her recommendation to use http://www.picmarkr.com/.
• The one downside of these techie accomplishments was fewer made cards...  Let's hope I get lots better at all of this!

Well, this post ended up being a little longer than I had planned. Sorry about that. 

Thanks for stopping by. And, with the crazy weather going on, hope everyone is okay. Be safe!