Finding Treasures

So pretty,but we have a few of these already.

   Last weekend my husband and I went looking for bygone treasures. We took the van and loaded it up with family members who like to find treasures, too.  My two sisters and their husbands. It was a beautiful day to travel downeast. We explored a number of places.
  This  first place we stopped had wonderful items, but they were too expensive for my wallet. But just look at the old jugs on display. Beautifully done.

Outside the first shop we visited.

  I can't remember the name of the shop,but it is in Nobleboro. The fountain outside was so pretty. I had to take a picture of it. Think of the home that could have this in their backyard. Ummm.
  We at lunch in Rockland at the Brown Bag. Their sandwiches are excellent. I had the BLT on homemade bread. My sister had the crabmeat sandwich which looked way too good.

As seen through the fence...

  We headed for the ferry terminal in Rockland to visit for a minute with my niece, Callie. She lives on North Haven and travels for groceries to Rockland. It looked like a chilly trip, but the ferry is awesome.

Very interesting....

I don't think so...

  We continued on our journey and found Elmer's Shop. It looked interesting on the outside.  I didn't find anything there. But it was fun to look.
  The bear on the right was interesting, but I couldn't think where I would put it...My husband was relieved.

$200.00 a piece... ummm

 I would love a millstone sitting upright in my garden or by my mailbox with flowers growing all around it. But for $200.00 a piece, I guess it's not going to happen anytime soon. They looked very nice laying there next to the shop. I couldn't resist a picture.
   We had a great time. I came home with a $6.50 antique cheese grater to hang by my pot rack in the kitchen. I think my sister found a pair of old white skates she is going to add glitter to for the Christmas season next year.  My other sister found a cute Mason jar to add to her collection. All in all it was a fun day.

Happy Retirement, Bette!!!

   I have been working on a retirement card for my sister-in-law. I happened to be surfing youtube when I came across this wonderful idea on using your corner punches to creative medallions with circles or squares. Check out the video below to help you make some of your own..
   You can use circles to make medallions, too. I really love using my tools as much as I can so that I feel like I didn't waste my money. Here is the card I made using these YouTube tutorials.

Love the silhouette...

I used my Martha Stewart corner punch to make the circular medallion. Then I made my own rosette with a 3/4 inch wide and 12 inch  long strip. I scored this strip every quarter inch and then folded the strip like an accordian.
I printed out the cameo from my computer, but shrank the image.  I love this paper from Stampin Up, I believe.
The flowers are from Tate's in Bath, Maine. They look lovely with the ribbon already attached.
Check out the video below to see a tutorial on how to use your corner punches to make medallions.Making Medallions using circles

Another medallion with Martha's punch

I am going to look at corner punches alot differently now that I know I can use them alot more.  Here is a picture of another one I made using a corner punch I have now.
I have a few of the ones mentioned in both videos, but I think I will use my coupons to visit A.C. Moore and Michaels real soon. 

Stampin Up Party!!

Cathy's card on the right. Rochelle' card on the left.

   I went to a Stampin UP party at my sister, Rochelle's house. It was way too much fun. The food was good. The sharing of ideas was awesome. I brought my camera to take pictures and got so caught up in the festivities that I forgot to take pictures. Oh well, I will at the next one. Cathy is our new demonstrator and she did a great job. We made a card that she had designed. It was wicked cute. So cute that  I had to buy the punch and the stamp to make more of my own. I added the sentiment when I got home. Love this card!
  Rochelle designed the other card. I love this one, too. She put the owl together for us to save time and aggravation. Isn't the owl adorable. I have this punch and plan on making him again for Valentine's Day. It's so clever to turn the tree sideways. She used her Xyron  to make the little hearts like stickers. Easy to attach to the paper.
  All in all it was a great day. It's so fun to get together with others and share your passion for paper crafting. We hope to get together again  soon. Can't wait.

Snow...snow..and more snow..

View from side door.

 We have been enjoying the nice fluffy snow that we have been getting lately. It's really pretty and not to hard to move around.. The new snowblower works like a dream. Thank goodness we have it.
 We hung Mom's bird feeder to attract the birds to the breakfast window and it worked.. We have seen chickadees and a cardinal so far. We were really impressed with the birds at my
sister, Rochelle's home. They have quite a menagerie. I hope to get pics of our birds when they are used to coming around more  and seeing us.

   I have to thank my husband for hanging the pot rack that we purchased at Bed Bath and Beyond. We got it for $20.00 which was a steal. We had to purchase the hooks online 'cause that's why it was twenty dollars. Love the look.  It really adds a little sparkle to the window. I love sparkle. The window looks out onto more snow... pretty snow. Our next winter project will be the island. I think we are going to add moulding to give it more presence. Also, we are looking into pendant lights over the island. I'll show you the pics when we are done. Hope the light snow stops soon. We have to go to Damriscotta  to our Dinner Club Group. Don't really like driving in the snow.

Winter project..

  Baby, it's cold outside. It's been wicked cold here with temperatures into the teens. I know this isn't as bad a time as Alaska is having right now with their temperatures and snow.. Thank goodness I don't live there. Sorry Lily..
  Anyway, I stay in during these cold snaps and work on projects... besides cleaning.. My most recent project has been a little box I repurposed for our "command center". We have a bulletin board/white board to help us remember our important appointments. It works well for us. Located right by the phone on the wall... We needed something to house paper and pencils/pens for messages to tack up for remembrance. Notice we have trouble remembering at our age. This is that project:

Finished project...


     

   I used Claudine Hellmuth's paints since they cover anything so nicely. I bought the fan and dried rose at my favorite place in Bath, Maine: Tate's. Their sale in going away at the end of this week, so if you live close you need to get there soon.
  I also used a flourish from Sizzix which I haven't used in awhile. I love dots lately so I added some black ones using enamel accents.
   The strip of written paper is from Tim Holtz. I just purchased that recently. I can see many uses for it. The glitter is on the edges using his Stickles. Gotta love glitter. I printed out the word "Smile" using an interesting font. Cut out each letter after I had aged it a bit with Vintage Photo ink from Tim Holtz's collection.
   I have placed in next to our kitchen phone to hold pencils and pens along with a pad of paper. I think it will be working out well for us.. Ahh... to be done with yet another project.

In its rightful place.

Gratitude Abounding

   I had such a wonderful Christmas that I feel compelled to write thank you notes this year. I am not sure that I have done this in years past, but this year I really wanted people to know how I felt .  I have made these two thank you notes just for that reason.
   I was inspired by a card that I had saved in my favorite folder over at Splitcoast Stampers.  Here is a link to check out that  card. Inspirational Card    
  I have a number of lovely flower stamps. This is from Stampin Up. I bought this set used and the name of the set is not on it. If anyone knows the name of this set, please let me know so I can label it with my new label maker.
   The white enamel accents from Ranger make excellent dots. I have seen this done by another card maker Mark's Mom from Splitcoast. Here is that link to card in her gallery. Markie's Mom 
   I hope the New Year is beginning with a bang for you all. I am enjoying the warmish January we are having. I hear we are going to get a bit of snow on Thursday. Oh well, it means that Spring is that much closer. Thanks for visiting my "neck of the woods".

For Aunt Syvilla!

I love cupcakes, but stamped images  will have to do...

   My mom needed a birthday card for her sister, Syvilla.  I don't know how old she is and she probably wouldn't appreciate me blogging that info anyway.
   I wanted to use my cupcake stamps from Hero Arts. I really had a ball coloring them with Copic Markers. I used Martha Stewart's fine glitter to add a little sparkle.The row of gems I bought on one of my crafting journeys.
  The inside of the card I had planned to be simple, but I got glue on the side when I dropped the sentiment. So I improvised and used my Sizzix border die cut of a branch and a bird. I used glitter over it to hide the glue "smudgies".  I used my Copic Markers again to color the leaves and the bird.
   I really like the color combo of blue and green. It gave the card a "fresh" look. I haven't decided on what I am going to do to the envelope. I am working on that one.
   I like working on birthday cards. I think I will make a few ahead to be ready for the next birthday. There's always someone having a birthday, right?
   
  

Happy New Year!!

   What a wonderful Christmas we had this year. We all gathered at my sister, Rochelle's home for the Christmas feast and a Yankee Swap. Rochelle and her husband, Mark did a great job on the food. Just look at this turkey!

Nicely done...

Everyone brought a little something for everyone to share. What a great time.
  Rochelle had decorated her home with many festive accents. The little Christmas village is so sweet. Their Christmas tree sits in front of the window so it really sparkles when the light shines through touching each ornament. So pretty.

Rochelle's festive home

Pretty scene

More gifts

Camera shy

Mom picked out this lovely jacket.

Her  e

 We all chipped  in to get Mom gifts for Christmas and we love watching her oohh and ahh over each one. Here are some pictures of her oohhing and ahhing.



   I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. Now it's time for me to write all those thank you notes to people who helped to make mine such a joyous time....