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With Friends on Friday | 100DayProject Day 48 (working on Card 30)

With Friends on Friday

Wow. 11:16 p.m. and I’m just starting to write a few words. I am getting later rather than earlier. I really wanted to make this a Face the Future Friday based on a Mel Robbins podcast that I listened to recently, but that will have to wait for the future. I have spent a lot of time with friends today so of course the theme should be With Friends on Friday. We had a very leisurely breakfast at our Airbnb near Montebello and left about 11:00 for home with Sheela heading back to Montreal (just for 1 more week before leaving on a European bike trip to further celebrate her retirement). Karen and Flora drove back to Ottawa with me. After a quick lunch (the leftover tacos were delicious) Roland and I took Luna out for a walk. She managed to sneak in a few more snow angels but her snowy patches are getting few and far between. Then we went to IKEA where Roland was a firm negotiator on compensation for our dented lower drawer on the range he installed at the cottage on the weekend and he finally got some compensation from them for the broken exterior light on the shed that the IKEA delivery contractor had broken when delivering our kitchen components. I did a wee bit of cardmaking before it was time to give a lift to Diana to Floras for a very quick potluck (cheese fondue, Greek salad and sandwiches) before the Then and Now show at Ottawa Little Theatre. Then I did a bit more work on my Interactive Card 30 while Roland watched some TV. It was a great day with friends. And I am glad that I had some time with Roland and Luna and am looking forward to the weekend with family. Heidi’s at the cottage with friends and I’ll get to see her on Sunday when we head up there.

100DayProject Day 48 (working on Card 30)

It turns out that my hot glue gun is at the cottage so I will wait until Sunday when we head up there to put the finishing touches on this card. I coiled a few different types of jewelry wire that I had to try to make a ‘bobbly’ spring to put behind the bird in this card. It’s not a highly masculine card but the technique in this lesson is about interactive cards so I’m taking some liberties and adding florals since I don’t have much ‘for the guys’ types of images in my current Altenew product stash. I am trying to use the current colour combination from the Color Throwdown Challenge website on my projects.

Coiling the jewelry wire around the end of a paint brush to make the coils that will (hopefully) transform the bird onto a ‘wobbly’ perch to yield an interactive card.
The current Color Throwdown Challenge
I used a blender pen to add ink to my flowers since I couldn’t find my Wink of Stella brush which is my favourite way to easily pick up ink to colour in images. I did enjoy using a blender pen as well. It’s a great tool for when you don’t want to add glimmer.
I still have to attach a ‘wobbler’ under the bird and to ‘hang’ the bird from the top of the card.

Throwback Thursday | 100DayProject Day 47

We had a relaxing, slow start to the morning. Cathy left about 10:00 after a simple but delicious breakfast of granola, yogurt and fruit. Danielle left closer to noon then the remaining 4 of us walked over to the Chateau, the trails through the forest and along the river are very pretty with snow still covering a lot of the ground and the paths not too messy from the melting yet. We came back for a simple lunch of soup, veggies, cheese, crackers and cookies. Flora and I walked into town for coffee and milk while Karen and Sheela stayed back to read. We had a delicious soft taco dinner inspired by the delicious dinner that Nancy had served us last Wednesday at bookclub. Flora whipped up some mango salsa to go along with the roasted cauliflower, the fried halloumi cheese and the avocado dip. We had no room for dessert. We played Bananagrams as well as Code Names. A great day filled with lots of activities and friends.

Throwback Thursday – 2010 04 10 – Hide and Seek

Saturday: Roland and Heidi had soccer practice from 9:00-11:00. I took Stefan out to Embrun for his 11:40 game (we took a bit of a scenic route since I missed a turn). Another loss. After the game, Stefan had lunch with his team out in Embrun and I headed home for Heidi’s 1:00 book club. She baked cookies and the other girls brought lots of goodies. They spend more time eating and chatting than discussing the book (Sketches by Eric Walters). I sent them out to do some sidewalk chalk art (which was in the book) since it was a beautiful afternoon. Roland went out to see Stefan’s second game. After book club, Joanne drove Heidi, Emily and Emma to South Keys for a movie. I picked up some veggies which we brought with us to the Jordan’s where we had a fun filled evening with friends including the Mortimores and Lams. After dinner and watching the ceremony for Daniel Alfredson’s 1000th game) the boys played XBox while Emma and Heidi (dropped off by Rosemary after the movie) watched a video in the basement. By the time I got around to seeking the boys out for my picture of the day they were playing hide and seek. A great day filled with lots of activities and friends.

And a photo from his parents’ negatives that Roland has been scanning.

Wandering Wednesday | 100DayProject Day 45

Wandering Wednesday

I must have turned my watch alarm off at 7:00 without realizing it because I woke up at 7:30 to the sound of Roland showering. And so we weren’t out early enough to get our garbage, recycling and compost out so they’ll have to wait another few weeks. It’s a good thing I decided last night that I wouldn’t be able to get up early enough for a swim before picking Flora up at 9:15. I did enjoy the walk to the train bridge and back in the conservation area with Roland and Luna but it did make things a bit tight for me to finish getting ready to leave for our Montebello trip. Travel conditions were great and the drive flew by. We had about 10 minutes to sit inside in front of the gorgeous fireplace before Karen and Cathy arrived from Ottawa and Sheela and Danielle arrived from Montreal. We then walked along the river to the town of Montebello and wandered through the town with Marketa who arrived about noon. We continued walking until our 1:00 lunch reservation which was timed for Arianne’s arrival. A great lunch was followed by some more wandering in the woods. Then we walked back to get our cars and went to our Airbnb for a bit before our 6:00 dinner reservation at the Chateau. Another great meal with great conversation. We shut the place down. Marketa and Arianne had to drive back to Ottawa but the rest of us stayed overnight in the spacious Airbnb. I bought a lovely pack of kitchen towels at Costco so we could each take home a memento our girls getaway – my idea is that we will all think of each other and this trip when we are using the towels.

100DayProject Day 45

Another day with no crafting progress, but we did give a non-retirement themed card to Sheela to celebrate her retirement. I think it’s actually a very appropriate card for the way in which we chose to celebrate her retirement: a day with friends wandering together in the snow.

Less Tech Tuesday | 100DayProject Day 45

Less Tech Tuesday

It has been an easy day to use technology less; I have hardly been at home with extra time to spend on my phone or computer. It’s 10:00 p.m. and I’m just starting to write a few words. No early morning walk nor swim for me today. But I did have a wintery wonderland walk with Roland and Luna. It was magically beautiful and I loved it. I’m in a very small majority; almost everyone else I know is so ready for winter to be over.

I did do a wee bit of crafting before my 10:30 online class. I had forgotten to press send on the reminder email last night so my participants had reached out to me at 10:30 to check if it was still on. We made 2 cute cards that Vicki had created for us. I haven’t yet had time to address them and to get them out into the mail but I will do so later this week. Then I picked up Louise to bring her to pick up her car at the garage. Then I had a quick lunch before driving to Vicki’s for our road trip out to Scrap en Masse in Planteganate. It’s an amazing paper crafting store, very well stocked with great staff. Vicki was picking up some online orders and I really enjoyed browsing and couldn’t resist picking up several products. Then it was a stop at Costco to buy some flowers and food and home for a quick Costco shrimp taco dinner with my brother Kevin, Heidi and Roland. Then 7:00 walking with Luna and 3 friends. Then picking up Karen for some grocery shopping for our 3-day/2-night ladies getaway near Montebello to celebrate Sheela’s retirement and Karen’s birthday.

100DayProject Day 45

I decided that I’ll put a ‘wobbler’ behind a perched bird for my interactive card lesson of my Altenew For the Guys course Lesson 4 (which will be card 41). The class made a very cute wobbler card by coiling up jewelry wire and hot gluing behind a stamped image of two of those wacky wavy inflatable arm-flailing tube men (tall boys) (did you know they apparently were invented for the 1996 summer Olympics). I only got as far as die cutting, ink blending and assembling the bird and the perch as well as inkblending the ‘bamboo screen’ background. Those are Spellbinders products from my most recent SCT Crop and Create event supplies. I still need to make some flowers for the background using some of my Altenew products and to make the wobbler. I am using the colour scheme from the latest Color Throw Down challenge (mauve, mint, yellow). And I have a new stencil that I’m going to use in the card that I’m making for the Pop Art inspired lesson (which will be Card 42). I haven’t yet figured out what I will make for Lesson 6 which is themed Gaming.

Memories on Monday | 100DayProject Day 44

Memories on Monday (like a Throwback Thursday)

2010 04 07 – A Fresh Face

Wednesday: ‘A Fresh Face’ was my Picture Spring photo assignment for yesterday (Spring is the season of renewal and rejuvenation. Beyond the blooms, our spirits feel alive! Today, as you soak it all in, capture yourself in a self-portrait. Celebrate yourself! You’re worth the hoop-lah!). I didn’t do that assignment yesterday, so I’m sort of doing it today. I didn’t have time to take any photos before leaving for Stefan’s 6:30-8:30 hockey practice, so I brought the camera along and asked him to take a photo of me. So here I am and “I am enough”. I say that because interestingly enough I came across a blog yesterday about the very subject of celebrating ourselves: iamenough (a self-kindness collaborative). Anyway, back to our day: very rainy. I took the children to their 3:20 dentist appointments then we had a quick pasta dinner. Roland took Heidi to her 1.5 hour soccer gym practice. I enjoyed having some time to do some digital scrapbooking in the rink lobby while Stefan enjoyed his time on the ice. Stefan watched a bit of hockey when we got home and Heidi finished her homework when they got home. I’m off to bed with just enough time to spare to brush my teeth before my 10:00 target.

It turns out that the link to that I am Enough collaborative on Tracey Clark’s website no longer exists. But I do see that she has a calendar of daily photo prompts which I am going to investigate.

No morning walk for me before Roland and I played pickleball 8:00-10:00 and took Luna for a walk when we got home then I had lunch and organized myself for 1:00-3:30 Crafty Crew at the Dementia Society. Then I met Louise at her mechanic. She came over for a quick dinner (pasta) then I dropped her at home before 6:00-7:30 curling. Of course we stayed after for a quick drink (Ginger Beer which I think is made in the States not Bermuda so I will have to find another drink – although the curling season is almost over) and now I am getting this blog post done.

100DayProject Day 44

Nothing to report. But I did have 4 helpers at Crafty Crew today and we made quite a bit of progress on the 2 bee-themed cards for an upcoming online class kit. The bees are adorable. And I still really love that flower stamp. The ladies were a huge help die cutting, stamping, colouring and assembling kits. I glued the bees together since I didn’t want to subject anyone to that fussy work. There were 3 extra Thank You containers of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies which I brought and which were well received.