Christmas in Summer?

     I feel bad that it has been so long since my last post. I didn't realize it has been since March.

A purple gnome

In my defense, I have been wicked busy with summer activities and projects.
    We are getting ready for two Christmas fairs in November: One at the Italian Heritage Center in Portland and the other one is a fair we have never done in Windham. They are a week apart so we are working like busy elves preparing for them. We have made more gnomes like the one in the picture to add to our inventory. I love making them. Their noses are the cutest.

Happy Birthday, Adrianne!

   My sister, Adrianne has a birthday at the end of this month so I made this diorama card for her. I have not used this die for a little while. I love making this card because Becca Feeken's tutorial is so easy. I think I might make a few more Christmas cards using this die for our fairs.
 

One version of this card

  Another diorama card I made using Katelyn
Lizardi's die. I got it for 15.00 marked down from 34.00. I could not pass it up. It is a diorama card but different from Becca Feeken's die. The ends are open and you make the bottom of the card the part that you add pieces to make a scene. The die cuts are from Night of Bethlehem from Stampin Up. Love this stamp and die bundle. I plan on using it for many projects for our Christmas Fair.

Here is another version of this die.

     My husband and I decided to take out the bricks that we had in our front yard patio. The water would pool there when it rained right in front of our steps. It would freeze in the winter and be treacherous. Russ fell and hurt his shoulder and had to have surgery. It was a smart move on our part to have it done before the heat wave showed up.

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   Our neighbor, Don is really good at working on these patios with this type of stone work. I love how it looks like we put down little smooth rocks and then we put stone dust down. It is a much bigger patio now.  We will have an easier time snowblowing come winter, too.
  We were able to put our patio furniture there and add a bench and two Adirondak chairs to the seating. Love it... If the weather would cool off a bit, I will be able to spend more time out there.
  A new addition to our inventory is the Advent Box. It is a lovely box that uses drawers that you make and add pulls. The pulls are from Tim Holtz.

An Advent box

  The hardest part to making this box is getting everything straight. I had to have my sister, Chris, guide me as I was putting the sections together to get a better fit.
I just love how it came out...

  I have a lovely time with my brother and his family up from New Jersey. They stayed with us a few days and then headed to Boothbay where they had rented and Air BnB. It was located overlooking a cove. It had lovely flower gardens, too. We had a barbecue with them on their last day there. I will leave you with a picture that shows you how beautiful Boothbay, Maine is in the summer.

Boothbay in summer