Webcam vacation photo

Last summer, we took the sailboat north on Lake Michigan from Saugatuck to Grand Haven. It was a nice little trip for a Tuesday. My mom was covering at work for me, so when we were coming past the Holland Channel, I called her and told her to look at the Spyglass Webcam, because she would be able to see us. She did and printed out the screen shot to the copier. Sadly, the copier is only black and white, but you could make out a little sailboat. Us! 

I had the black and white copy on the fridge door for about six months when I came across an idea on Pinterest for modge podging photos onto wooden plaques for display. This seemed like a great idea to preserve the copy. I bought a thin wooden plaque at Michaels for $3.99, spray painted it, spray mounted the copy on a piece of red paper, spray mounted that onto a sailboat printed paper and added the screw brads to each corner, and spray mounted the whole thing to the plaque, then covered it with modge podge. Note: if your modge podge was as old as mine, spend the bucks and buy a new container. :)

Anyway, I'm happy with the results and it's a nice little reminder of a fun trip.  If you look real, real close you can see our dinghy being pulled behind.

Happy Valentine's Day! cards

With my knitting obsessions going full force, the date got away from me and I almost missed Valentine's Day. Well, I probably wouldn't have missed it all together, but I almost forgot to make some Valentines.

I remember decorating a shoe box to put on my desk or an envelope to hang off the side in elementary school for all the Valentines I would receive from my classmates. Too bad we can't do the same thing as adults. Wouldn't that be fun?

I love making Valentines (They are more fun than making the Sympathy cards from the previous post.) and if I didn't receive anything else for Valentine's Day, I would be  happy with just a card.

So, yesterday, February 13, I decided I had better get going.

I got a lot of mileage out of the heart stamp that was part of a set from Stampin' Up. All of the paper I had on hand. It's fun going through scraps and finding things that will work. Luckily, I had bought a bunch of brads for a Christmas project, so I had plenty to choose from. However, I am going to have to work on my supply of ribbon. The bow on the one card was recycled from an old card. I'm not even sure where it came from.

(Actually, I think I might have made one sooner to send to my folks in Florida, but it probably will still arrive after Valentine's Day. Sadly, all of these cards except the ones I give to my husband and son will arrive after Valentine's Day.)

I think I made seven cards this year; for my folks and mother in law, for a couple of friends, and for my husband and son. Five of them I finshed up this morning before heading off to work. I even gave one to my favorite barrista. I think it made her day.

So, make and give Valentines to your family and friends, then make a few extra to give to someone else in your life who you think could use a smile or a happy thought. They don't have to be romantic, just "Happy Valentine's Day to my favorite ________________!"

Sympathy cards

It's been awhile since I did any card making and I discovered how much I really missed it.

Sadly, what brought me back to it was making sympathy cards for a family who lost their father after a long battle with cancer. He was a good man with a stronger faith than I hope to ever have.

Here are the four cards I came up with using supplies I had on hand.  Most of them are from Stampin' Up. Nothing too fancy, but I thought they turned out nice.

Hopefully, I won't take as long to get back into making cards as I did before.

 

Old sail, new art.

 

A couple of years ago while raising our main sail on CRUSH, we tore it. After some sewing and sail tape, we were able to salvage it, but it was obvious that the sail would need to be replaced. The sail was original to our boat, a 1972 Helms 25.

 

So last summer we did just that. The new sail is shiny and white, but doesn't have the logo.

 

Anyway, what to do with the old sail? We couldn't just throw it out, so it was folded up and stored in my studio. Then it came to us, why not frame the old logo and hang it up in the house.

My husband is a handy guy and he made up with frame, so now the logo hangs on the brick chimney wall in our dining room. The finished size measures about 3 x 5 feet. Doesn't look that big when it was up on the sailboat.

Now, what to do with all that remaining sail fabric. I've got lots of ideas for the rest of the main sail and I have an old Spinaker too.