Fabric Folding

I found this video on Pinterest on making these Christmas ornaments and my sisters and I just love making them.  You really get better at it the more you do and having a 5/8 inch marker helps too! After we made these, we started making pine cones and I have started a Christmas tree and I know my sister has made an angel which are so adorable! There is also a tutorial on making a wreath too! The one thing that is different besides the positioning of the folded fabric for each of the projects, you don't have to iron the Christmas ornaments but ironing for the pine cones and Christmas tree is really important if you want a good point with the fabric.  Here is the tutorial for the ornaments if you are interested in giving them a try.  I feel like Jennifer and I are good friends because I have listened to her tutorial for the pine cones and the Christmas wreath.  She does a great job showing the techniques.   Check out the website below/youtube for her tutorial!

                                        https://www.pinterest.com/pin/34832597104229888/

Pine Cone

It has been a busy summer planning a bridal shower for my niece who is getting married in France and also having my brother and sisters here from Florida, Massachusetts and New Jersey.  We all were together for the bridal shower which was so special.  I'll show pictures of the shower on my next post because there are quite a few with a Paris theme. 

Also this past week, my son and his girlfriend, Sabrina were here from California.  So happy to see them and happy to meet Sabrina.  She is a doll!  Eric never lets me take pictures of him (just like his mom) but he relented.  It was a great week and the weather was perfect!!  Miss them already!

Happy couple

Eric and Mom

Eclipse Cards

This is a new technique for me.  These cards are called Eclipse cards.  Love that you can use a picture of stamped scene that you create to make these cards.  This was is a thank you card but below is a birthday card.  I used photographs but I want to use stamped images too.  The tutorial for this type of card is below. Give it a try - it is a lot of fun!

                                        https://www.pinterest.com/pin/544583779934468265/

This birthday card is kind of hard to see because of the darkness of the foliage.  I love this picture because it is my garden in the backyard so I made it for my sister's birthday!  "Make a Wish Andrea" I can't wait to do this again but with stamped images and using punches or dies instead of letters!

Yosemite Birthday

Here is the folio I made for our friends who travel with us on our National Park Trips.  This past June we went to Yosemite, Death Valley, Sequoia and King's Canyon and this folio shows them all.  I used the Photoplay collection and a lot of dies and stickers from the collection.  It is so much fun to make these projects because you can  relive the trip again!!  It was Dennis' birthday so it was perfect that I had it done for his birthday this past week.  Below are some of the pictures from the folio and his birthday card. I love the Tim Holtz folio-I think I am going to make one for us!!

Inside with a waterfall on the left

Added pages on the right

Lone Pine and Manzanar pictures

Pop up card

Front of the card

Happy Birthday Dennis!

Summer Under the Sea Birthdays

I am loving my new Stampin up bundle called Sea of Textures.  I have made quite a few birthday cards this summer with this stamp set and I am not finished.  This card is a bridge/Ufold card and I made it for my sister's birthday.  The mermaids are from Impression Obsession and so is the tiny sailboat.   I really love the octopus which is adorable!  The cardstock is a paper collection that I got from Michael's and it is beautiful!  Happy Birthday Sis!  Hope you had the best birthday ever!! Below is a picture of the sentiment which I put on the back of the card.

Love you Sis!

This card is a Diorama card for a friends birthday which happens to be the same day as my sisters.  Of course, I had to make a card using the same stamp set from Stampin Up called Sea of Textures.  The octopus on this one is red!  Love that Octopus!!  Don't you picture Under the Sea like this??  Happy Birthday Vic! Hope you had a great day too!!

Love the way you can close these Diorama cards and mail them so easily.  These cards are also easy to make.  Below are some picture of this card at a closer look. 

Perfect Sentiment for this card!

Hot, Hot, Hot!

 We are starting July off very hot for Maine!  Hazy,  hot and Humid for the next 3 days so we are enjoying our pool! Sometimes it is too hot to get out of the pool!  Yesterday the water temperation of the pool was 80 and that is early for this time of year.  I am not in my craftroom now because it is so hot but last week was busy making some cards for friends and family.

My sister and her husband's 25th Wedding Anniversary was yesterday and  here is a card that I made for them. Happy Anniversary Chris & Tom!  I used Marianne Creatables bride and groom die with SU design paper for the background. Memory Box heart die behind the bride and groom. Silver, gray, black and white make and awesome card.

Easel card

A friend from high school is having a hard time right now so I thought I would send her a "thinking of you" card.  She lives in California so I wanted to send her a little taste of the Maine Coast.  Love making the Diorama cards.  The lighthouse stamp set from SU was perfect for her.  Love our Lighthouses in Maine!

Love the way these diorama cards fold up and can be mailed in an envelope so easily.  I used a lot of dies from Die-namics, Sizzix and Impression-Obsession.  I have made quite a few of these types of cards and I never get tired of doing them.  Happy 4th of July everyone!!  Enjoy your day!

Successful Craft Fair

My sisters and I have been working for the past 3 or 4 months on things for a craft fair that was at the beginning of this month.  I wasn't able to help at the craft fair because I was away (see previous post) but they did a great job!  They told me that customers as well as other vendors commented on the display that was set up. Chris and Connie did a wonderful job setting up the display (see picture below).  Connie designed our sign which is pictured above. I love it!!

Sisters' Designs

Chris and Connie enjoyed talking with customers and getting their feedback which was all positive.  It was a great experience for all of us and we are looking forward to doing it again this Christmas season.  Thank you to all who came and made this so successful and enjoyable!!

Four Jewels Trip

Death Valley

It  has been a very busy April and May!  Getting ready for a craft fair in Portland and then also getting ready to go on a trip to 4 National Parks in California.  For this post, I will keep it short with just pictures of our trip but tomorrow I want to post pictures of the craft fair that my sisters and I did while I was away.  Just a little thank you for doing the hard work of setting it up and greeting customers.  

Our trip was amazing it was with Road Scholar and there were 34 of us altogether.  The weather was perfect but isn't it always in California! This was our second Road Scholar trip and again there were 6 of us from Maine.  The Petersens and the Elas were traveling together but we met another couple from Bar Harbor, Maine.  The trip was called the 4 Jewels-Sequoia, King's Canyon, Yosemite and Death Valley. We went from 8,800 feet above sea level to 282 feet below sea level in this trip and the hottest too in Death Valley at 112 degrees!  Yikes! 

Sequoias

Grizzly Falls

Our first National Park was Sequoia National Park and it was amazing how big these trees are!  There was actually a tunnel through one of the Sequoias that had fallen down and we walked through it.  We had a tour guide that joined us here and did a portrayal of John Muir at dinner.  He was great.  What would we have done without John Muir?  General Sherman was the biggest Sequoia in the Park. 

General Sherman

Mark and General Lee

After Sequoia we headed to King's Canyon and then onto Yosemite.  There was a fire in the canyon but firefighers were able to get it under control but we did see helicopters bringing in water to put out the fire.  We saw rock climbers on El Capitan and just before we arrived in Yosemite 2 rock climbers fell to their death off El Capitan.  There is a camp in Yosemite which is mostly filled with rock climbers.  Pictures below of Yosemite's waterfalls and the landscape. 

Rock climber in red

Fire in the canyon

Bridal Veil Falls

Another view of Bridal Veil

Yosemite Falls

Walking to Yosemite Falls

We headed to Death Valley after Yosemite and stayed in Lone Pine where a lot of old cowboy movies and television series such as  Rawhide and Bonanza. Recently, movies like Star Wars and Back to Future shot some scenes in the desert. If you ever, get a chance seeing any or all of these Parks is definitely worth it.   

Death Valley

Death Valley

The National Park Travelers

One last picture is a picture of our bus driver.  He was terrific!   Driving on some of these roads and going through the canyons that we did, took some expertise at driving and we all felt safe with him at the wheel.  He was a cool guy also, he came to the US 20 plus years ago from Poland and I loved his accent.

Thank you Frank!