More from my vacation

Yesterday I didn't have internet, so I made two posts for the kids today. One is called "Ferry Boats and More Wild Ponies", and the other is called "Alligator Bites for Lunch, and Pelicans on Posts".

If you want to read them, they are here. Remember, these are very simple, written for my very young grandchildren, so don't expect masterpieces!

Day two of our vacation, Monster Trucks and Bridge Tunnels

I only added the things the kids would be interested in to my other blog. I didn't add the lighthouse and some of the other stuff they wouldn't be as interested in. We are staying in Kitty Hawk, NC tonight.

Wild Horses

I am posting photos of our vacation on my other blog for my grandchildren. The captions are rather simple, but if anyone is interested, we are on Chincoteague and Assateague Islands to see the wild horses tonight. The photos are on my other blog here.

Actually, the photos aren't the best ones, I only uploaded my phone pictures, and only uploaded the ponies, not the lighthouse ones and some of the others. The blog is really just a blog for the kids, and they are young.

I am going to be gone for a while

So won't be posting on my blog for about a month. It will be fun seeing all the beautiful things everyone has made on their blogs when I get back!

I am so glad I can read Russian

Astoria makes the most beautiful flowers and has instructions on her blog Made With Love.

For those who can't read Russian and want to see her flowers, the second link from the left in the top navigational bar says "Master Class-Flowers".

She is so generous, she has master classes on making all of her flowers, and they are easy to follow and so beautiful!

Under the flowers the word "Дальше" means you can read further. (At least I hope you see the same word as I do, I have Cyrillic fonts installed on my computer so I can read and write in Russian. Not sure if it is the same when you don't).

Wedding Photo Frame

One of my favorite card artists Monia, posted a wonderful tutorial on her blog for making photo frames. You can find it here.

Thank you so much Monia, I have always admired your beautiful frames and folders as well as your cards. Without your tutorial, I could never have made this beautiful frame!

I do photography, so I have a lot of remnants of Mat board, so I used that as the base for my frame. The piece I used is just under 8" x 10". I wanted a fairly wide mat around the photo, so I sized the middle for a 4" x 6" photo. I used a cream colored Walmart DP to cover the mat board, the larger flowers are Prima, and the smaller ones are made by scrunching and layering Recollections flowers. The leafy branch is a Sizzix die, and the lace is from a Martha Stewart punch.

One of the nice things about this frame is that Monia has made it so you can change the photo. The actual frame is whiter than my photograph. It is really more of a creamy white with faint touches of green in the centers of the flowers in the paper's background.

Pink Roses and Lace Diorama Card

This is another card for the JustRite Friday Challenge #065: For The Love Of .

I did this card for a loved one, and I also love flowers and Just Rite Stamps! The front window frame and corners, as well as the "Happy Birthday" are from the Just Rite Elegant Frames set. The double frame inside, (it's difficult to see the largest inside frame in the photograph), are from the Giving Thanks Nested Frame set. They were die cut using the Just Rite Custom Die set made by Spellbinders for the nested frames. I cut the window out with Spellbinders Labels Four. The inside frames and sentiment are all mounted with dimensional tape.

Everything was stamped with Versamark and embossed with Superfine Embossing Powder. I didn't decide to emboss the outside edges of the die cuts until after I had glued on the front frame, so Rather than take a chance on ruining it, I outlined that frame with a Sakura PenTouch.

The paper is from Walmart, and the branches are cut from Bazill pearlescent Linen textured CS using the Martha Stewart Branch Punch. The flowers are some tiny Recollections ones which I spritzed with water, scrunched up, and glued together.

The lace is some very old lace which was bought when Wrights Trim was located in West Warren, Mass. I was born and raised in Sturbridge, so it was very close.

In those days, you could go to the mill store and load up a big green garbage bag of remnants for about $5.00. Then Wrights moved their store to Sturbridge, and you could still get very good deals. Nothing like you could in the old days, but it was much less expensive than retail stores. A few years later, the prices went up. Much more expensive, but still not like the retail stores. Then a very sad thing happened. Wrights moved out of state, and their store disappeared. It was a very sad day. I feel very lucky that I got to go there so many times, but now it's difficult every time I have to pay the retail prices for trim!

Inspiring Blogs

I thought I would list my four favorite blogs to visit, so you could check them out too. The cards these girls make always seem to be of very high quality. I know there are other beautiful blogs out there that I have probably never seen, and other ones in my side bar that I also like to visit, but these are the four which I am most excited about visiting every day. It is just a matter of taste, these girls seem to make the cards in styles I like the best, and they update their blogs almost every day. I'm posting them here, because they give me so much pleasure and inspiration, and I hope you get as much pleasure and inspiration from them as I do.

They aren't in any particular order, I like them all equally, so I am listing them in the order they are appearing in my sidebar at the moment I type this post.

moja papierowa kraina I love Monia's blog for her beautiful use of flowers, her style of cards, everything on her site is perfection!

KittieKraft What I love most on Kittie's site Is her beautiful use of flowers and the way she makes her floral sprays and wreaths. Everything on this site is perfection as well.

Amazing Paper Grace I think everyone must have been to Becca's site, so you will know why it is in my list of very favorite blogs. If by some small chance you haven't, be sure to visit her!

Elly's Card Corner I love Elly's site for her extremely creative use of dies and flowers. If you need inspiration for using your dies, be sure to check Elly's site out. You'll be amazed at how gorgeous her cards are!

I don't think I will ever achieve the level excellence that these girl have, but I can try! I hope you enjoy visiting them as well.

Roses and Lace Card

I made this card for the JustRite Friday Challenge #065: For The Love Of.

It was supposed to be an easel card, but after cutting the velour paper, I realized that one sheet was a different shade of red than the other. (I was going to have one sheet on the front of the card, and one on the bottom where the card stands up). Well it's a really long way to the craft store, so I had to make it into a regular card instead. The velour paper was cut with Spellbinders Grand Labels One and mounted on Core'dinations white pearl paper. The doily is a real one I got in the cake decorating section.

I stamped the frame and sentiment onto more of the pearl paper using Just Rite's Elegant Frames and VersaMark Ink then heat embossed them with a Tinsel gold embossing powder I bought years ago when stamping first became popular. It is my favorite gold, but the company was bought out years ago, and the company who bought them out discontinued all of the most unusual and beautiful powders they made, so I only use this powder for very special cards.

The frame and sentiment are mounted with dimensional tape. The roses are more of my favorite Prima ones. They aren't bright like in the photograph. I wound the stems into little tendrils and glued them on using silicon glue. The stickers are from my stash, bought years ago at a dollar store, and the pearls are Queen & Co.