Lobsters and no card today

I don't have a card to post today because it was a busy day. At our summer gift shop, my mother and I frequently get a lot of visitors. We have a picnic table and a bunch of lawn chairs, and it's right on the ocean, so it's a comfortable gathering place. This week, we have had more visitors than usual, and today it was all day long.

Our island is the place where the most lobsters are landed of any place. We are also right up at the top for any kind of seafood landings. For the last few years, lobsters have been at historically low prices, and the lobstermen have been having a hard time. Lobsters have been cheaper than hot dogs here every summer for the last three or four years. This week, the price dropped to between $1.25 to $1.50 per pound, and was expected to drop to $1.00 or lower. The fishermen's costs have gone up a lot. Not only have boat and insurance prices risen, but also the cost of bouys, traps, rope, bait, fuel, oil, and all the things you need to keep your boat and gear repaired.

Recently, the government made all the fishermen get rid of floating rope and switch to very dangerous to the fishermen sinking rope at great expense to the lobstermen because they said the floating rope was dangerous to right whales. There are no right whales here where they fish, and the sinking rope kills lobstermen because it gets "rocked down" and when it does, it hauls the lobsterman overboard. The floating rope was used at the bottom, with sinking rope used higher up. This costed the fishermen thousands of dollars at a time when lobsters are so cheap

In Maine, we had processing plants all over the state, including here on the island, until a bunch of "highly intelligent" trust fund kids moved in from out of state and started electing each other into the state capitol. The processing plants worked very well, employing thousands of people, and the factories complimented each other. There used to be a lot of bait from the sardine factories, and the lobster and other factories processed the day's catch directly from the fishermen.

The "highly intelligent" trust fund kids decided that it would be better to base Maine's economy on tourism, and closed down the factories due to their unfounded environmental concerns. They did the same thing to every other industry in Maine, including the paper mills. We only have a few of those left too. Now 85% of the lobsters are trucked to the factories in Canada where that country can make all the money, then sent back here. Only 15% are sold as live lobsters to be boiled and picked out.

This week, the lobstermen decided they couldn't afford to go out because they were losing money every time they went out. Some parts of the coast stopped lobstering last week. Anyway, the lobstermen have been sitting around the picnic table a lot this week, and today there were people there all day.

It's pretty weird to have it so quiet here. It's sort of like a ghost town on the wharves. Usually there are boats coming and going all day long, fishermen on the wharves yelling to each other and trucks with loads of traps going by. Now, there are just a few fishermen talking quietly to each other and trying to figure out what to do.

I wonder who is making all the money on those $20.00 lobster rolls in Bar Harbor? It certainly isn't the fishermen.

P.S. Watch out America, some of those "highly intelligent" trust fund kids are now In Washington!

Congratulations Butterfly Easel Card

I made this card for Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge 36 - Silver and/or Gold. So far, my collection of Cheery Lynn Dies is very small, but I have the Kiwi Doily on it's way to me, so it's growing!

For this challenge, I used the Exotic Butterflies Small #2, and cut them out of gold mirror card. The DP is from DCWV's Mariposa Stack, which is mounted on more gold mirror card, dark green CS, and white CS.

Most of the stamps are from JustRite, except for the frame around the "Congratulations" one, which is a very old clear stamp, and I have no idea who made it. The stamping was done with VersaMark, and embossed with Superfine Detail Gold EP. The stamps were mounted dimensionally. The Pearls are Queen & Co.

Poinsettia Ornament Opening Easel Card ODBDSLC115

I made this card for Our Daily Bread Designs ODBDSLC115 Tearing or Distressing. My latest ODBD stamps are Christmas ones, and I was anxious to try them out, so I used parts of three of them for this card.

The ornament stamps are Ornaments, and they are cut with Spellbinders 2010 Heirloom Ornament Set. The saying inside is also from the ODBD Ornaments set, and the saying at the bottom of the easel is from the ODBD Blessed Christmas Set. The Music background is the ODBD Joy to the World Hymn.

The top photo shows the card when it is closed.

The second photo is when the card is opened like a normal card.

The bottom Photo shows the card as an easel card.

The challenge was to use either distressing or tearing. I'm really not a fan of torn cards, so I used a lot of distressing on this one. Everything is distressed with either Distress Antique Linen, Distress Peeled Paint, or both. All coloring is Copics, and the ornaments are shaded, although the shading doesn't show up in these photos. They also look much brighter in the photo than in real life. I outlined many parts of the stamping with a JellyRoll metallic gold pen, and outlined the die cuts and pages with Krylon 18K Gold. To make the lettering match the ornaments, I outlined the first letter of each word with the Jellyroll pen. The centers of the ornaments are Liquid Pearls, and I added two dots of Liquid Pearls at the top and bottom of the ornament with the saying, which also has room for signing and adding a special message. The pearls are Queen & Co.

Some of my blog friends thought this was more than one card. Actually, it is only one card. It looks like any ordinary card at first, and opens like one, but the whole card is attached to an easel, so if you open it by lifting the card up, it will stand like any easel card. I decided to try making it this way so there would be more room for sentiments and to show off more of these beautiful stamp sets!

Lobster and Crab Double Easel Card JRC_076

I decided to make another card for JustRite Friday Challenge #076 - "Stars & Stripes".

For this card, I used some striped and matching red CS with a very subtle Checkerboard pattern that I bought last winter at Hobby Lobby. Unfortunately, I don't remember the brand. It was one I hadn't seen before. I used a variety of stamps and dies from JustRite. The Lobster, Crab, and stars are from the Oceanside Oval Medallion - Cling set, and the tiny scallop shells and the saying are from the Sea Shell Bay Labels Twenty Two - Cling set. The lobster and crab were cut with JustRite's Custom Nested Oval Medallion Labels Dies and the large star for signing the card was cut with JustRite's Custom Nested Medallion Labels Dies.

All distressing was done with Antique Linen, and the stamping was done with Distress Fired Brick. I traced inside the die on the crab and star shapes with a red sharpie, and ran my sponge dauber around the outside of the die cuts with Fired Brick. When I was trying to decide what to put on the opposite easel from the lobster, I found that the crab and the saying would fit together perfectly inside the same die as I used for the lobster, and I really liked that saying. I really like the fact that so many of JustRite's sets compliment each other so you get even more variety every time you buy a new set!

Anchors Away Birthday Card JRC_076

I am really disappointed in the colors of my photograph. I took the photo with my cell phone, and it turned the brown into kind of a gray color in some places. I will have to rephotograph this tomorrow.

The kids have gone home, so I thought I would make a card for this week's JustRite Friday Challenge #076 - "Stars & Stripes"

The background paper is a combination of Bazill and Striped Anna Griffin papers, with a piece of very old Wright's Trim Ribbon where the two papers join. I used JustRite's Anchors Away Set For most of the card, and cut them with JustRite's matching custom dies Nested Oval Medallion Labels Dies and JustRite's Vintage Label & Banner Dies. The stars are from JustRite's Oceanside Oval Medallion - Cling, and fussy cut. All of the elements are mounted with dimensional tape.

The card and die cuts are all distressed with Distress Antique Linen, and the center medallions are also distressed with VersaMagic Aegean Blue. The center medallion was stamped twice and I cut around the rope and anchor and mounted it dimensionally over the center of the bottom medallion. The border and rope are colored with Copics, and the stamping is done with Anna Griffin Chocolate.

Bird and Clover Double Twisted Easel Card ODBDSLC114

I finally got a chance to finish this card while the kids were out hiking today. I made it for the Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light Challenge ODBDSLC114, which was to make any creation with Our Daily Bread Designs Stamps.

For my card, I used He Watches Me, and once again turned the sparrow into a bluebird because I just love bluebirds. I cut the die with the matching ODBD Custom Sparrow Die.

For the other side, I used the Simple Things stamp set and cut it with the matching ODBD Custom Clover Die .

For the labels, I used the Mother Theresa saying from the Simple Things Set, and a label from the Bird and Butterfly Labels and cut them with the matching Spellbinders Labels Eighteen.

The stamping was done with VersaFine and Distress Peeled Paint, and the label with the saying was distressed with Peeled Paint. All the coloring was done with Copics. I wanted to add a little sparkle to everything, so I used various Jellyroll pens over the copics in many places. (The sparkles don't show up in the photograph, I suppose because they are subtle). I also outlined all the diecuts with a Krylon 18K pen.

I had cut out some ODBD Butterflies to use on the card as well, but they were too large for my design, so I punched some Martha Stewart ones to use in place of them. I mounted the butterflies onto some blue mulberry paper and cut around it so there would be blue inside the butterflies' holes, and used Copics and Jellyrolls on them too.

The background papers are mulberry paper in green, dark blue, and light blue with grasses in it. These were mounted on white CS with my Xyron and cut with Spellbinders Labels One.

Since the card is 5x10, and would be a strange size, I made it so it folds in the middle, so the bird is on the front, and the clover is on the back when folded completely up. This way it will fit into a 6x6 envelope. I had originally planned on making it a triple easel with a vertical Bird and Butterfly label as the center easel, but I thought the card might be more difficult to mail that way, and I wasn't sure I could devise a way to fold it with the center easel.

I'm proud to say that this card won at Our Daily Bread Designs Challenge Thank you so much!

Sweet Shop

I almost got a card finished today, but didn't have quite enough time. The kids and grand children went to Bar Harbor, and I got a call that my truck was finished so I could pick it up in the afternoon. (I was sort of glad I couldn't go to Bar Harbor with them. It's a terrible place to be around the Fourth of July if you don't enjoy being hot and fighting crowds in a million tiny gift shops)!

Anyway, while I was waiting to go pick the truck up, I worked on a card. I shouldn't have picked a complicated one though, because I didn't have enough time to finish it, so here is another dollhouse I made.

This is a view from the top of my sweet shop. I had some really fancy cakes and things in it, but I have them for sale in my shop, and I sold most of the fancy ones. I made all the cakes, pies, cookies, candy, jello, etc myself.

The building was originally a kit from Real Good Toys, and was supposed to be a hardware store, but I decided to turn it into a sweet shop instead because I had made so many confections. Little girls love coming in and having me set it down low for them so they can play with it and look at all the goodies.

The grandchildren have arrived!

So if I don't post much this week, and don't comment on your blogs, that is why. I will try to visit every day, but they will probably be very quick visits!

Lighthouse Double Easel Card

This card uses JustRite's Oceanside Oval Medallion for most of the elements, and JustRite's Sea Shell Bay Labels Twenty Two for the little shells which hold the card open.

The shading on the labels is Aegean Blue, and the distressing around the card is Distress Antique Linen. The coloring on the rope, border and wave is done with Copics. The paper is K&Co.

I stamped the lighthouse three times, and cut them all out with JustRite's Nested Oval Medallion Labels Dies, then I cut just the lighthouse out of one of the stampings, inside the red border, and traced that around the saying and cut the saying so it would be the exact same size and shape as the inside of the red border on the extra stampings. Then I mounted both the lighthouse and the saying dimensionally inside the borders on the extra stamped images. I hope that was clear as mud!

It was originally going to be a double twisted easel card, but I messed that up, and made it a double easel card instead. I made it so the two easels were different heights to make it look more interesting.

Aqua Lace

I felt like playing with Spellbinders yesterday, so I made this card with some of my favorite dies, Persian Motifs, Persian Accents, and Ironwork Motifs.

I used a 5x7 card, and layered gold mirror card and CS from the DCWV Mariposa Stack on top. Then I added the borders from the Persian Accents set, and motifs from from the other two sets. The motifs are mounted dimensionally on top of each other.

The flower in the center is one of those Prima flower parts with a little center from a tiny Darice bouquet I had, and stamens added to it. I added Liquid Pearls to parts of the motifs and borders.

Instructions for Ship and Fish Fancy Fold Card

I had a request for the instructions for the Ship and Fish Fancy Fold Card I posted a few days ago. I didn't follow any set of instructions, I just played around with paper and folds, and this is what I came up with.

I took a sheet of 12x12 CS and cut it in half horizontally. Then, I scored each sheet vertically at 6". I scored one sheet corner to corner from the upper left corner to the lower center score, and folded the resulting triangle up. This is the left side. I scored the other sheet from the upper left score line to the lower right corner and folded it down. This is the right side.

I lined up the two unfolded sections and used my ATG to glue the unscored left side on top of the unscored right side. This resulted in a card which is 18"x6" when unfolded.

Here is where I wasted a lot of paper. I used paper which had a definite horizontal and a definite vertical pattern. I cut a few pieces in the wrong direction, and each time I did, I wasted 5 3/4" square pieces of paper, so if your pattern is like this, be really careful when cutting it.

Each piece of DP was cut to a 5 3/4" square, then cut diagonally in half, following the direction of the section I was going to paste it in, except for the center unscored section, which is not cut diagonally. Then the triangles are placed in each scored section. They only go one way, so if you mess up like I did, you have to start with a whole new square.

When you have your DP mounted, then just stamp and cut a medallion for the front of the card and attach it to the top half of the front only.

I hope this was sort of understandable! I will try to do a diagram soon.

Simple Things and Clover Double Easel Card ODBDSLC113

I was playing with some of my newest ODBD stamps today, and realized this would also qualify for this week's Our Daily Bread Designs Three or More Stamps Challenge ODBDSLC113, so I decided to enter it.

For this card I used the Simple Things Set. I colored the design with Copics, and cut it out with the matching ODBD custom Clover Die.

Then I stamped and colored the ODBD Flower Border to match the clover, and cut it out using the matching Spellbinders Labels Eighteen. The clover and bees from the Simple Things set are mounted dimensionally on top of the Flower Border, even the teeny tiny bees. (Those two little tiny bees at the top of the clover are also die cut with the matching die at the same time as the clover)!

Next, I stamped the Laura Ingalls Wilder phrase from the Simple Things Set, and cut that out with Labels Eighteen as well. I outlined both Labels with Krylon 18K Gold.

Both labels are mounted dimensionally on this K&Co DP, which is mounted onto Core'dinations Gemstones Linen textured Pearlized CS, which is mounted onto ordinary white CS.

I had been planning on making a double twisted easel card with the two easels side by side, but I couldn't exactly remember how they were made, so I decided to add one in front of the other. I didn't know how to do that either, so I just cut some white CS the same width as the white CS the larger label was on. I left the length longer than usual so I could trim it to size when I finished the card.

Next I scored one end of the base in the usual way and folded and attached the larger label. Then I made a tiny easel card using the smaller easel and adjusted everything without gluing until I was happy with the placement. Then I trimmed the base to that length. I added the pink and DP to match the labels to the base of both easel cards, and glued them together. The front easel holds the back easel up, and the pearls hold the smaller one. The photo below shows the card from the side so you can see how it's made.

Thankyou so much for your comments on my last post. They brought tears of gratitude to my eyes. :-)

The Trials and Tribulations of getting my truck repaired

I mentioned on June 3 that my new truck got T-Boned by someone backing out of a parking space when we were stopped at the end of an aisle at a supermarket.

Well, their insurance company really stunk. First, it took forever to get a first call back. Then, we were supposed to have a website to visit to see how the claim was progressing. Well, the website didn't work no matter which browser I used. There also was a telephone number for a lady at their claims company to get information from. No matter what time of day you called, you always got a recording to call back during regular business hours. (It always was during regular business hours for almost a month straight). The same thing happened when you tried to call the supervisor. It was always the same recording. Finally, after three weeks I called the insurance company back directly rather than the claims people they use to find out when someone was going to come and look at my truck so I could get it repaired. We made an appointment with a repair place two hours away for Monday of this week. The adjustor was supposed to show up last Friday.

The truck is a 2011 GMC Sierra Extended Cab 4x4 with 5,000 miles on it. The whole back door is completely smashed in, as well as lots of damage to the front door and the bed of the pickup truck.

Everything was set up for Monday, then Enterprise called late Friday night and said there were not going to be any cars until Tuesday. (Apparently the insurance company never called them until after 5 on Friday to reserve the car).

We called the repair place first thing Monday morning to let him know that there were no cars, and he said to wait until this morning because he didn't want us to have to spend the night in Bangor and have to use a taxi to get around. I called back to the other insurance company and told them what happened. They put me on with a supervisor, and he gave me an upgrade for the rental.

(Part of the problem was that we had told them originally that we would definitely need our truck between the 29th of June and the 7th of July because we were planning on going to meet the kids and grand children in Mass. and spending a weekend camping with them. Then we were all coming back up here, and we would need the truck because we would have to have room for three car seats in the back. We will be doing a lot of baby sitting while the parents spend time with friends, and we need to be able to take the kids with us. (The parents aren't registered to drive the rental, so we can't switch cars). Of course the Ins. Co. scheduled the repairs for the week we needed the truck, so we had to cancel our plans for the camping weekend. The kids live 15 hours away, so this was a big deal for us. Anyway, we ended up getting a larger car from the insurance company, so we could at least take the kids swimming and things.

We had the car at the repair shop at 8 this morning, and picked up the rental. On the way home, the repair shop called and said that the ins. co. would only go for a skin for the rear door, and that was unsafe because the door was beyond repair, as well as the reinforcement things being cracked and bent and it was a safety issue. The repair shop actually got hold of the claims adjustor, and he said no. The repair shop refused to do work which would make a vehicle unsafe, plus the truck would not pass inspection because of it.

We headed back to Bangor. I tried calling the claims adjustor and his supervisor back, and leaving messages. As of 1 pm, they still hadn't called back, although once I got a call from the supervisors number, and the minute I answered he said "wrong number" and hung up. It was his number that called my cell phone, so he must have hit my number by mistake. After that, I called our insurance Co, the Hartford, and found out that we would have to come up with the $500 deductible immediately, but we don't have $500. We took the truck to the dealership, and also to another repair facility, and they all refused to touch it because of safety issues. Both repair shops, the dealership, and apparently the Hartford had been making calls to the other ins. co., but none of them could get a response.

At 3:45, all of a sudden, the Hartford called back and said they had wavered the deductible, and an adjuster was on his way to look at the truck. They said that since the other guy's insurance had claimed full responsibility, (The other company only took responsibility after calls from the police about the accident, and finding out that it was all on the supermarket's security cameras), that they, The Hartford would fix our truck right and go after them for everything including the deductible. The Hartford was really mad because even they couldn't get a call back, and two repair shops were both staying open after hours trying to help us.

The Hartford called Enterprise and switched the rental to them from the other company, and told us to keep the car, and leave the truck and have it repaired. Buy the time the adjuster came, and everything was done, we didn't get home until 8:15 tonight. We thought everything was going to be fine, but now we find out that we are still going to have to go after the other company to pay the difference on the rental, because it is $50 per day, and they will only cover $20. The truck won't be done until the 6 of July at the earliest because there is so much damage, and they ordered the parts last week, but the company shipped some of the wrong parts. Since next week is a holiday week, everything is going to be later than usual.

I thought everything was straightened out, but tomorrow will be spent trying to straighten out the car rental.

Here's an update. This morning I got up dreading the long trip back to return the rental. I went on line to get the information I needed, and in my email, I saw a message about comments to a photo on my SCS gallery. The lady congratulated me on receiving customer card of the day at Our Daily Bread Designs. Wow, what an honor, and on a day I was dreading! Right after I posted a Thank You on the ODBD Blog, the phone rang. I think the car rental is straightened out. It was a call from the bad company, and he was livid about all the phone calls yesterday and was really nasty, but he said they will take care of it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Maybe God is smiling on me today. :-)

Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge 34 - Wedding/Anniversary

I made this card for Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge 34 - Wedding/Anniversary. I am just starting my collection of Cheery Lynn's beautiful dies, so I only have a few. I was planning on using Exotic Butterflies Small #2 with this Victorian Romance Flourish, but as I decided on a design and finished the card, the butterflies were just too much of a good thing, so I added pearls instead.

I cut the flourish out with Core'dinations white pearl paper, and used the same paper as the base of the card. The same paper was stamped with JustRite's Spring Rose Medallions Set, using VersaMark Dazzle, and embossed with Fine Detail Gold. The flourishes and medallions were mounted onto gold mirror card. The photo makes the card look a little strange. It is an easel card, and the base looks much lighter because of the reflection.

I had originally planned on making this card all white, but you know how it goes when you make a card, it doesn't always turn out the way you expected it to!

Garden and Friend Card JRC_075

I made another card for JustRite Friday Challenge #075 - Color Challenge. The challenge is to use Aqua, orange and apricot. I chose this K&Co. paper with the aqua background because it had a garden, so it went with the saying on the stamp set I wanted to use.

I think my current favorite stamp set has to be this JustRite CL-03685 Spring Rose Medallions - Cling set. I used the same frame and two different phrases, one for the outside, and one inside because they worked so well together. It would be suitable for either a dear friend, or for a family member or spouse. I stamped the medallions with VersaMagic Crushed Olive, and cut them out with the matching JustRite custom dies JB-10025 Nested Oval Medallion Labels Dies. The shading on the medallions is done with Pebbles Cream Chalks, and all coloring is done with Copics, except the orange, which is Staedtler. The orange really isn't this bright, for some reason both my phone and my camera make reds and oranges much brighter than they really are.

The ribbon on the front is very old ribbon from Wrights Trim, and the pearls are Queen & Co.

This is the inside of the card.

Bird and Butterflies Easel Card ODBDSLC113

I made this card for Our Daily Bread Designs Challenge ODBDSLC113 Three or more stamps. This time I am using colors which are a bit outside my comfort zone, so I'm not sure whether I am happy with this card or not. The DP is from K&Co.

I took out all of my ODBD stamp sets and picked three which had elements I liked together. The two medallions are from the Bird & Butterfly Labels Set. I stamped them with Distress Peeled Paint, and cut them out with Spellbinders Labels Eighteen. Then I chose the phrase from the Simple Things Set, since it fit the oval perfectly. I stamped another medallion in green and stamped the phrase inside the medallion with VersaMagic Aegean Blue because it was the closest to the color in the background paper. (It matches much better in person). I cut that out around the oval, keeping some of the green oval frame, and mounted it dimensionally over the oval on the medallion.

For the bottom of the easel, I decided to add butterflies from the 2 Step Butterflies Set on either side of the medallion. The butterflies were cut with the matching Grunge Butterfly Die.

I used Krylon 18 Karat Gold around each of the separate elements, and gold pearls in two of the corners and on each butterfly's head.

Ship and Fish Fancy Fold Card

This card uses JustRite's Anchors Away set, and K&Co paper. The coloring was done with Copics, and the distressing with Antique Linen. I stamped the medallion again and cut the center part out and mounted it dimensionally on top of the bottom medallion so the ship and antique paper part are raised above the wood and rope part. The medallion was applied with dimensional tape only on the top triangle, because you lift the triangles to open the card.

This is how the card looks when the first two triangles are lifted.

Then when you open the two triangles out, it looks like this. The center part has space for writing.

Another Wooden Box with JustRite Stamps

I'm not sure I liked how it turned out. I should have painted the part with the saying antiqued ivory or something.

Wedgewood Colored Thank You Card

I have some very old Wedgewood which belonged to my grandmother, and I've always loved it. JustRite's CR-03670 Vintage Rose Medallions looked like it would work for making a Wedgewood colored card. All the stamping and distressing was done with Distress Faded Jeans.

Unfortunately I was out of daubers, (I have some ordered), and the makeup sponges and Q-Tips I used didn't work as well as daubers, but I had to use what was at hand. The medallion was cut with JustRite's Nested Medallion Labels Dies, and I layered three of them on top of each other with dimensional tape.

I used more Spellbinders corner motifs to frame the medallion, then added pearls and roses.

Lighthouse Card ODBDSLC112

I made a second card for Our Daily Bread Designs Challenge ODBDSLC112 Summer

Living on an island, we hear and see lighthouses every day. During the summer there are lots of lighthouse cruises and a festival, so I thought I would use ODBD's beautiful Keep My Lamp Burning stamp for this challenge.

I stamped the image first on this beautiful nautical paper by K&Co. Then I stamped it again on plain white CS, and stamped the compass again on the white CS. After cutting around the lighthouse and compass, I distressed them with Distress Antique Linen to give it a rustic and rounded effect and applied them dimensionally to the background. Then I cut the other compass out and distressed that and mounted it dimensionally on top of the other white compass so it was raised even more. Everything is mounted on a distressed driftwood brown linen textured sheet of CS, and then onto a distressed ivory card.

The kelp and starfish are on acetate and are from K&Co. The seagull and sand dollar are also K&Co. The seagull is cut from a little stamp that came from the same paper stack as the background paper. Then I used a piece of variegated hemp twine and tied a carrick bend for the other corner.

I am really excited to say that this card was one of the winners at ODBD!