Card 11 | Altenew All About Layering 4 Lesson 5a. I just used a marker to make the white dots, but they aren’t really random like ink splatters.
I made Card 11 (2 versions) and Card 12 today. I’m still quite a long way from being caught up. Hopefully I’ll continue to be able to make 2 cards a day for the next week or so. While I am loving learning how to use a big variety of Altenew products and am quite liking the resulting cards that I create, I must say that I find them quite time consuming to make. All the the layering takes a lot of time. I think I will definitely consider Stefan’s suggestion of selling some of these cards. He was mentioning how expensive store bought cards are these days. It would be nice to raise a bit of money to put towards the materials that I use when making the card kits for the Dementia Society and it would be even nicer to have some extra money to buy some things to donate in Treat Boxes to Debra Dynes Family House. But that will all be a project to consider after I complete my 100DayProject. And after I have better mastered getting almost all of the work done for creating the kits by my Crafty Crew volunteers.
I think I actually prefer the white edge around the diecut images rather than the version of the card that has the white edges coloured black. I’m still havne’t figured out how to get white splashes of ink looking at all similar to the sample class card.
Card 11 | Hugs | Altenew All About Layering 4 – Lesson 5a
This is the design inspiration for Card 11 from the Altenew All About Layering 4 lesson 5a.
I have some other photos as well but will edit the post tomorrow to add them in.
I started this card yesterday but opted to abandon the idea of using a turquoise rather than black background and started afresh today with new (red) flowers as well as a black background.
Card 12 | Sending Hugs | Altenew All About Layering 4 – Lesson 5b
Card 12 | Altenew All About Layering 4 Lesson 5b. I used the Chocolate Flowers Zero Waste die for my flowers and leaves. The backgroun was created using a Concord & 9th cover plate and coordinating die which I ink blended to get a look somewhat similar to the stenciled embossing paste background of the class card.
I have some other photos to add but will edit the post tomorrow.
The inspiration from Altenew All About Layering 4 Lesson 5b. Unfortunately I didn’t have any embossing paste or a suitable stencil at the cottage today so I didn’t use that technique on my card. I also didn’t have a stamp set with vines. I do like the look of the mixture black and white images as well as some coloured ones so I will try to make a more similar card when I have the appropriate supplies on hand.
Frozen Friday
It is 9:38 p.m. and I am just starting to write some words for today. I am definitely very far from my goal of getting my blog posts done before dinner! Even skipping my afternoon nap wouldn’t have helped the cause today.
The snow was nice and frozen this morning so I was able to step off the path and go down to the river’s edge a few times. For most of the winter the snow has been deep and soft so wandering off the path hasn’t been a great idea unless you want a lot of snow to get into your boots. I always enjoy seeing the different perspective of the views along the river when I get off the path.
I expect that the freezing and thawing cycles of spring have been triggering good flows of the maple sap. A friend usually taps his maple tree and makes some syrup. While I like the idea in theory and actually bought (and subsequently misplaced) a few taps, I opt to buy maple syrup from an old work colleague whose inlaws make maple syrup. I am so glad to live in an area where maple syrup is readily available. All this talk of maple syrup has me craving some; so I expect I’ll make some pancakes or French toast tomorrow morning for breakfast.
Another benefit of the freezing and thawing cycles is the ever changing beauty of the icy falls in the small stream on my walk. Through my Headspace app and their great collection of videos I am gradually learning to embrace the mindfulness attribute of impermanence. Like so many things in nature, our thoughts, feelings and the things that are happening around us are everchanging. At this time of year in particular, I love to see how the stream looks different each day.
The cold nights have helped to make walking on the lake at the cottage possible as well. I went for a few walks with Luna and Roland. It may be too soft for the next few days since it isn’t going down to freezing over the next few nights. I really love to see how the dark colour of the leaves (and the occasional feather) causes the ice to melt in the bright sunlight and creates small watery holes into which the leaf or feather sinks.
I was happy to finish Card 10. I found it a bit tricky to learn how to use this layering stamp set using yellow ink; it’s not that easy to see the earlier layer for alignment.
The card front along with the envelope, the inner layer and the back of the cardThe inspiration for my card came from this card which was in Lesson 4 of Altenew All About Layering 4.
Card 11 – inspired by Altenew All About Layering 4 Lesson 5a
I had some extra flowers from when I made some for Card 10 so I decided to try to use them for my Card 11. As you’ll see below, the inspiration photo has a black background and the instructor coloured the white edges around the flowers and leaves black. Rather than having a black background, I decided to try to use of the extra backgrounds made for Card 9. I haven’t finished the card yet, but my preliminary impression is that colouring the edges turquoise for a turquoise background isn’t quite as effective as colouring edges black for a black background. Where I didn’t have much white outline, the turquoise became more green and didn’t really match the background turquoise. And black seems more natural against the leaves or flowers where there is overlap; turquoise seems a bit weird. I haven’t glued anything so I may decide to trim off the turquoise border where there is overlap.
I think the black background with black outline is better than my attempt with turqoise. Where the turquoise border is right against the turquoise background it looks great but it seems odd where the flowers or leaves overlap. I may trim the edging off. I expect that a nice big sentiment will help as might some splatters or perhaps some jewels to lessen the emphasis of the turquoise border where the flowers and leaves overlap.The black marker edging around the flowers and leaves in the instructor’s card seems like a much better design decision than my turquoise background. But it was still fun to try it out.
Thankful Thursday
It was a beautiful morning for a walk. Crisp, fresh air. Hard packed snow and grippy ice underfoot. The trail conditions seem to change daily. As does the sounds and look of the stream. It was quite pretty this morning with fresh and interesting ice formed around the small waterfall area. That is such a nice spot to pause and take a few deep breaths to savour being outside and to really take in the sights and sounds of nature. Lots of birds chirping. The bubbling and gurgling of the stream.
I am going to stick with a Thankful theme for today and likely some upcoming Thursdays. I want to try to remember to take some photos during the week of small (or big) things that I’m thankful for to share on Thursdays. I really enjoyed doing that when I was regularly writing Thankful Thursday newsletters.
If you are reading this I hope that you will pause for a moment to reflect on some small (or big) things for which you’re thankful.
I am thankful for …
licorice tea and the lovely tea cup that Lynda gave me several years ago … and for the other favourite tea flavours and mugs that I have on hand to warm up my mornings.
blackberry almond scones from Vicki … and having Stef home for the weekend and being able to share one with him freshly warmed up from the freezer …
help from my Crafty Crew to make my card kits … and for being able to spend time connecting them while making the card kits … and for time connecting with my Creative Cards and Crafts participants when we put the cards together … and for having completed cards ready to send out to brighten someone’s day
taking the time to create cards for myself … and for the instruction and design inspiration from the Altenew courses that I’m taking.
On Thankful Thursday’s I’m also going to try to share photos of Thank You cards that I have sent during the week leading up to and including each Thursday.
Throwback Thursday (to Tuesday 13 March 2012 – Crafty Creation)
I always enjoy coming across something that the children have made.
The 19th anniversary of our first date; skiing at Mont Ste. Marie, mistakenly arriving 1/2 hour before the lifts opened. Roland had moved to Ottawa from Toronto the year before and had been pestered for several months to call me by his U of T, match-making friend Gerry from Toronto who was married to my Waterloo friend Karen. We had a great ski day which included Roland handily fixing my binding which broke during a mogul run. I’m so lucky to have him taking great care of me ever since them.
I stopped at Country Grocer on the way home: a roast chicken and some hashbrowns were my non-pasta/non-tomatoey dinner selection.
Stef didn’t join us for dinner since he was still over at Kyle’s, having gone to Rideau by bus with Kyle and Kyle’s friend, Alexi (or something like that), during the afternoon.
Heidi entertained us at the dinner table with her abilities to independently raise her eyebrows, flair her nostrils and wiggle her ears. I had suggested that it would have been better to exercise the inside of her head (during those long hours at school, apparently with quite a bit of idle time to master such talents) rather than to exercise the outside of her head. Not necessarily a highly useful claim to fame, but certainly an entertaining one.
Heidi had a skating treadmill session over at OSPC. We were grateful that her teammate, Emma’s mom was able to bring Heidi along with Julia Y and Erin.
Heidi’s hip, which she hurt in a quirky fall a while back, was acting up a bit yesterday after her run to/from Emma’s and was sore again today after ‘skating’ so Roland made a doctor’s appointment for Friday to get a physio referral.
I worked a bit on a scrapbook layout while listening to an online class video before my walk.
Dawn, Kyle’s mom, was the only other walker out today despite the gorgeous weather. A high of 16 degrees; crazy for early March in Ottawa but well appreciated. So many families are away for March Break; I’m not sure if the slopes are holding onto much snow and I’m not nearly as envious as I had been of the south-heading friends since we are experiencing such great weather here.
Heidi’s after dinner activity was some volleyball in Emma’s driveway then likely inside since I doubt they played until 10:00. Somehow trumpet practice didn’t get done; she hesitates to practice in the day since Roland doesn’t really like it, especially in the midst of working from home.
Stefan had declined a ride home from Kyle’s with Dawn, claiming instead that he had a light and could ride home. He stopped in at Bennett’s on his way home so hasn’t yet had a discussion with us about that (wrong) choice nor about his increasingly frequent and inappropriate tendency to forget to ask permission/consult us about his plans; we are getting very upset about how he seems to assume he can just do whatever he wants and often has things much to far in planning stages with his friends before even mentioning it to us, much less it actually occurring to him to seek our permission.
Roland did the dishes then tackled some more editing of ringette Provincials photos.
My decluttering focus for this evening was my craft room; slowly but surely I’m working my way down to the work surface. I am so looking forward to having it totally cleared so that I can actually to some scrapbooking and cardmaking.
It is fun to come across some of Heidi (and occasionally Stefan’s) old crafty creations during the clean-up process.
Posted at 10:58 p.m.
It is so interesting to read about what was going on 13 years ago and to see a few photos from that day. I am still battling with trying to declutter my craft things. I am still posting my blog entries much later than I would like. It’s nice to have Stef home from Toronto this weekend and it is fantastic that he still has much the same friend group that he did back when he was 12. Heidi’s still playing ringette, sometimes with hip issues. I’m still walking almost every Tuesday night and the group of ladies still includes Dawn. I still love when I come across something that the children or a friend have made. I’ll have to ask Heidi if she can still wiggle her ears, raise her eyebrows and flair her nose. She’s a high school math teacher now and is spending the day at a coffee shop with a colleague to try to get focused on an extra qualification course she’s currently enrolled in. Roland’s still taking great care of me and fixing everything around the house and cottage.
I am still battling crafting clutter; sadly it has spread to even more of the house! The Welcome quilt sign that Stefan made at school is now hanging on our fridge.
I definitely wasn’t highly productive today, but did finally finish my card 8 as well as started and finished card 9. I am definitely behind on making cards but hopefully I’ll be able to pick up the pace now that I’m not as busy working to get card kits ready for delivery.
Card 8 – So Very Thankful
After I showed my coloured image to my online cardmaking class along with the blending brush and stencil I used, it turns out I left the brush on my image and got a dark splotch on the image. I solved that problem by covering it with the sentiment. I wasn’t sure if I wanted the sentiment cut right along the silver or with a white matting so I took photos of both. While I settled on the one that without the white matting, I think I am going to change it to the one with the white matting. Other than wishing I had made a turquoise or lighter blue centre of the yellow flower, I am pretty happy with how this card came out. It would have been nicer if I had used clear embossing powder on the silver ink, or used silver embossing powder on versamark ink for the background and the sentiment.
Design Inspiration for Card 8: Altenew All About Layering 4 Lesson 2
Card 9 – Thank You
Card 9 – Altenew All About Layering 4 Lesson 3
I really enjoyed experimenting with making a watercolour wash for the card front. I have several extras that I can use on future card fronts. My gradients weren’t quite as extreme as on the sample card. I opted to use a different focal point thank you stamp from the thank you stamp that I used for behind the flower cluster. I liked the addition of the jewels in the centre of each of the flowers. I will continue to experiment with created watercolour backgrounds.
I enjoyed trying to make some gradient water colour background with some different media.I like the addition of some jewels in the centres of the flowersThe design inpiration for Card 9 from Altenew All About Layering 4 Lesson 3
Tired on Tuesday
In theory I was supposed to swim this morning at 8:00 before my 10:30 online cardmaking class. But I was tired and slept in. Somehow the time change affects me more and more each year. While I love the extra sunlight in the evening, I’m not particularly fond of the darker mornings. Since my swimming buddy is away, I let myself get away without going to the pool. But it was a lovely morning for a longer walk with Roland and Luna. Then I delivered the last 3 card kits. Later in the day I packaged up the kit that goes to the UK so I can bring it to the post office when I am out and about tomorrow.
It’s 9:00 and I’m tired. I’m trying to get this blog post done but seem to be running into technical issues with getting my photos uploaded properly. And I’m tired. So I’m going to post as is and try to update the post later to add more details as well as photos. It’s now 9:23 and I managed to get a few photos uploaded. And I’m now overtired. And heading to bed.
Card 8 in progress: I got one of three layers ink blended. I hope to finish this card tomorrow.
Creative Treats Club
The card making at Card Crew went very well this afternoon. We had 3 ladies living with Dementia in attendance today plus a volunteer and a caregiver as well as the caregiver’s daughter who happens to be off on March Break. I’m including a sample of one of the cards that was made. I meant to take photos of all of the cards that they made but forgot. Other than the diecutting of the ‘zero waste’ flower/leaf die, the participants (with a bit of help from others) did all of the steps of making the cards themselves including stamping (using a MISTI) stamping platform, stamping using traditional wood-mounted rubber stamps, ink blending and cutting out sentiments. It was very helpful to have adhesive-backed cardstock to die cut – it made the cards much simpler to put together for the participants than if they had had to use glue. I am hoping to buy some more adhesive-backed cardstock since it is really a great option for participants living with Dementia. We peeled the backing off for them, but they were easily able to place their flowers and leaves. I had everyone use some wood-mounted alphabet stamps at the beginning of class to make name cards. I plan to do that every class to get the participants more familiar with the process of stamping. I think it is easier to have them use wood-mounted stamps rather than using acrylic blocks and photopolymer stamps.
A few days ago I put together a card using a left over kit from a few years ago. Heidi had asked for a congrats card for a supply teacher who was leaving because she got a permanent job at another school. This one was from one of the kits that Vicki had put together. It’s such a nice card. In fact, Vicki has designed (and made kits for) so many great cards. I need to get all the old extras sorted out in a better way and dig out the instruction sheets for them so that I can bring them to future Card Crew classes so that the participants can assemble them. This one I’ll keep in my stash to eventually mail out because Heidi opted to use one of the 2 ‘adventure awaits’ cards that I made as part of my Spellbinders Advent Calendar project – I love how the cat is holding the suitcase by its tail while getting lifted up by a hot air balloon. I’ve included a photo of it in my Mail It Monday section because it is a card that got out of our house into the hands of a well-deserving recipient.
I made this for Heidi but she didn’t use it. I realized that I actually have to send a Congratulations card so I’ll actually consider this part of this week’s ‘Mail it Monday’ collection, too!I think this card that I made as part of the Spellbinders Advent Calendar project was a perfect ‘congratualtions’ card for Heidi to give to her supply teacher colleague that was leaving because she got a permanent position.
Mail It Monday
I am trying to get back into a routine of actually sending out the cards that I make rather than collecting them. So it seems appropriate for today to be a ‘Mail it Monday’. I will include some photos of the cards that I have mailed out recently. I haven’t yet written one for today. I am leaning more towards trying to work on my Card 8 than sending out a card.
These were cards that we made last week in my Dementia Society card making classes. My Crafty Crew had helped me to put together these ktis and did the ink blending and penguin colouring. I also made this design in the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Arts for All class that I did in December; since it was an in-person class those participants did their own ink blending and colouring. And, the most fun of all, was making this card with six 10-year-olds at a Christmas party. They all did a great job ink blending the backgrounds and colouring in the penguins. I have quite a collection of these valentine’s cards to send out belatedly. One down, many to go! I made cards very similar to this design about a month ago in my Dementia Society Card Crew class. The participants had a lot of fun punching out a whole bunch of hearts as well as doing the stamping of some hearts and sentiment(s) before adhering the hearts.I really love how this card turned out. It was one that I designed for my card making classes with The Dementia Society.They are a bit hard to see amongst the dark water, but there are lots of ducks in this shallow part of the pond, perhaps nesting?
It was certainly a gorgeous morning to be out walking Luna in the forest. It was magical with all of the snow still stuck onto the trees. I am pretty sure that the ducks are trying to pick their nesting spots because there are a lot more of them hanging around the shallow section of the pond than their usual spot in a deeper section of the pond. I am so thankful to have a beautiful conservation area along the river so close to our house. And for having a dog to get me walking down there on a very regular basis.
I didn’t make very much progress on my card 8 (Class 2 of All About Layering 4). Maybe I’ll have some time tomorrow after I finish my kits. I did emboss the flowers but still need to ink blend them to add colour. And I stamped the envelope as well as the back and inner layer of the card so that’s done. I’ll include a copy of the sample card from class that I’m basing my design from. I like how there is a higher tulip so I picked my Altenew set that has a bouquet that somewhat has a higher element. The texture in the embossing folder is amazing. I’ve included a sample of the colour blending I did on the embossed image for the recent ‘ you have been on my mind’ card that I finished on Day 8 (Card 4).
I opted to use silver ink instead of the grey colour that was used for the background in the All About Layering 4 Class 2 card that I’m using as design inspiration. I think the background stamp as well as the sentiment would have looked even better if I had heat embossed them with clear embossing powder ontop of the silver ink.These are the the stencils that I’ll use tomorrow to magically colour in the flowers made by the embossing folder.Look at the amazing texture that the embossing folder from the Lush Garden Craft Your Life Project Kit provides. Amazing!I’ll pick different colours from the ones I used for Card 4 that I made using the same embossing folder as I will be using for Card 8The design inspiration from Altenew All About Layering 4 Lesson 2
Saturday Semantics – 100DayProject Day 14
Different words have different meanings. And sometimes the context matters.
Sometimes we don’t know what a word means in a certain context.
Today we are going to play in a curling Bonspiel. So I have been learning what some words mean in the curling context. We had to look up what an in-turn and an out-turn means. And it means something different for a right-handed than an left-handed curler. For a right-handed curler a rock released with an in-turn spins clockwise and an out-turn spins counter-clockwise. I’m mathcing the ‘ou’ in ‘out’ to the ‘ou’ in ‘counter’ to help me remember. Curlers used to start with the handle of the rock at 12:00. And then would turn it out to 2:00 for a clockwise spin and an in to 10:00 for a counterclockwise spin. So back then the terminolog made sense. Now they teach us to start at 10:00 or 2:00 and turn it to 12:00 so the naming of in-turn and out-turn doesn’t make as much sense. So I think of it as starting with my thumb turned out or in.
The real reason that I was thinking about semantics is someone had recently said something about nice and kind not being the same thing. Which is very true, but I hadn’t actually thought about the the difference betweeen the words and use them somewhat interchangeably in the past. While being nice is a good thing, I think the more important quality is actually to be kind. And I am going to do a better job of properly attributing kindness rather than just niceness to people who are actually kind. I was happy for the help of ChatGPT after my walk this morning to help me concisely understand the differences between the two: Kind refers to a deeper quality of being considerate, compassionate and caring. A kind person genuinely want to help others and acts out of goodwill. Nice is more about being polite, pleasant and agreeable. A nice person behaves in a way that is socially acceptable and friendly, but doens’t necessarily mean that they are deeply caring. Someone can be nice without being truly kind (e.g., being polite but indifferent) and someone can be kind without always being nice (e.g., giving honest but tough advice for someone’s benefit).
In the speech I gave at mom’s Celebration of Life on the 8th February, I spoke about people being nice. And about my mom being nice. And about her being so much more than nice. About her being kind, thoughtful, strong, campable, caring, determined, stubborn, supporting, loving and fun-loving. It’s hard to believe that it’s already been a month since her Celebration of Life and two months since she passed away. I realize now that when I referred to people being nice, I really meant to say that they are so much more than nice. I meant to say that they are kind. I was so lucky to have one of the kindest people I know for my mom. And I am also incredibly lucky to have so many other kind people in my life.
ChatGTP has also helped me figure out some Canadian sources for licorice tea. I discovered that I like that type of tea about a year ago and recently, like many Canadians am trying to find non-US suppliers for some of our favourite products. I’m looking for a new bike, likely a gravel bike to be able to ride the gravel roads near our cottage. I was at at bike show on Friday night and was very happy with the information and guidance that a Bushtukah representative gave us, but I realized that they only carry bikes from US companies. A small local (Arnprior-based) company was at the show as well and makes custom bikes so that may end up being who I buy a new bike from. I think I’ll get ChatGPT to help me with my bike supplier research. ChatGPT helped me to understand some of the main historical stages of International Women’s Day. I was very glad that a friend had several women over tonight for dinner to celebrate IWD together. Enough random thoughts. Time to head to bed. I didn’t finish my kits and must definitely get them done tomorrow.
Creative Treats 