Musings from Oregon

Happy Monday, My Friends and Fellow Bloggers,

I hope that your week is off to a pleasant start. . . .

Lee and I are enjoying our stay here in Redmond, Oregon, although I have to admit, I'm getting a little antsy to get back to my cardmaking and our greyhounds once we're home again. I'm missing them all!

Last evening, Lee had been passing time here at our little resort condo in Redmond, looking through one of the touristy magazines on local attractions, and saw an ad for a scrapbook store in Bend, Oregon (about 15 miles south of Redmond) called "Scrapbooking Outside the Box." So, dutiful husband that he is, Lee told me about the ad and since we had already planned to drive past Bend today for lunch and take a scenic route back, we decided to work in a stop at the scrapbook store, and I'm SO glad we did!

At Scrapbooking Outside the Box, Lee and I spent about a half hour looking around at a wide selection of unusual and beautiful patterned paper and embellishments . . . I could have spent HOURS there, of course, but I didn't want to put Lee through that! Anyway, I found some great papers which I hadn't seen anywhere else, even back home in Salt Lake City (which I'm thinking must be the scrapbook capitol of the world)!

And NOW, of course, I'm all fired up to work my newly purchased papers into some new and unique card designs! But I'll have to wait until after we get back home when I have all my "tools" around me.

Scrapbooking Outside the Box also has a website, if you'd like to check it out: http://www.scrapbookingoutsidethebox.com


In the meantime, both Lee and I are enjoying day trips out and about as we explore this lovely area of central Oregon with the ever-changing Deschutes River meandering through it, trying out the local restaurants, discovering photo opps (for Lee), and discovering fun little shops (for me).

During the evenings, we're able to relax in our little condo with the deck overlooking miles of natural cedar trees, and the Deschutes within walking distance in the canyon below us. In the mornings, we've enjoyed feeding the stellar jays and magpies, and (one) flicker on our deck. (I'm still hoping to get a picture of them!) One couldn't ask for a lovelier vacation.

I'm already planning my next Blog Post, which I'm going to call, "A River Runs Through It" . . . . .and it will be on the topic of Deschutes River, which I find absolutely beautiful AND fascinating. So, I hope you'll stay tuned . . .

Until we meet again . . . . . may you find both delight and peace in nature's beauty.

More from the Oregon Coast......

Wow, it seems like a LONG time since I've posted a Blog entry, but I'm happy to say that I once again have Internet access, and a few minutes to sit down and do some blogging!

Lee and I are still on vacation, so I'm posting "from the road". Although we're no longer traveling along the Oregon Coast, I wanted to share some photos that we took while we were there.

Over the past week since we have been experiencing the ambience of this wonderful State of Oregon, I am continually amazed by its beauty. . . .

Last Tuesday, we ventured from our resort on Cannon Beach south to the Cape Meares area. . . . noted for its distinctive rock formations that provide nesting areas for large numbers of seabirds, and for the historic Cape Meares Lighthouse.


I took the above photo from the car, on our way down to Cape Meares. . . . . . The Oregon coastline is characterized by heavily forested mountains, almost right down to the beach, and if you could see beyond the trees in this photo, you would see the ocean.

Here's the sign just before the entry into the Cape Meares area.

And here is Lee, ready with all his photography gear, for the walk down the trail to the famous Cape Meares Lighthouse.

I took this photo, from the trail on the way down to the lighthouse (while Lee was off doing his own photography). The Oregon coastline is truly awe-inspiring.

And this is another shot of that same coastline. Lee and I saw several groups of pelicans fly toward some other large rocks outside the range of this photo, where we assume they have some nesting areas.

The Cape Meares area is also home to cormorants and orange billed oyster catchers! (And yes, I actually DID get to see some of those birds nesting on the rocks, thanks to a fellow walker who happened to be a bird watcher with a high powered telescope . . . . . . . which she let me look through.)

This artsy photo of the top of the Cape Meares lighthouse is compliments of Lee. (Keep watching for more of his Oregon photos from this trip on his blog: http://www.lr-photo.blogspot.com/)

Another sight of interest in the Cape Meares area was the "Octopus Tree", which Lee and I hiked up to see. (I think if you double click on this photo, it will enlarge enough that you can read about the natural events that helped form this unique tree.)

And here is my little snaphot of this amazing tree, which, I'm afraid, does little to capture its essence. It truly is a wonder of nature, as is this entire area.

Yesterday, Lee and I drove from Cannon Beach to Redmond, Oregon, and for the next few days we will be spending some time in a little resort near the banks of the beautiful Deschutes River. We're looking forward to exploring the area around Redmond, Bend, and Sisters (there really IS a town by that name . . . . . . a beautiful little town nestled in the pines . . . AND there is also an Oregon town by the name of Brothers, but I don't know if Lee and I will get to see it this trip!).

My current Internet access is intermittent, but I hope to be able to post again with some more photos before we return home.

Until we meet again . . . . . . .may your own travels be enjoyable and your memories sweet.

Greetings from Oregon

Hello once again, my friends and fellow bloggers! I hope your week is off to a fantastic start!

As for Lee and I, we've enjoyed being "on the road" the past couple of days, and are now looking forward to a few days here on the Oregon Coast.

Although the weather here is rainy and chilly this evening, we're hopeful that we might have one or two sunny days before we leave! Luckily, our room has a gas fireplace, so we're staying cozy and warm right now, as we listen to the whistling of the wind and the sound of the ocean waves.

Just for fun, in case some of you might enjoy seeing them, I'm posting a few snapshots that I took today during our drive, and after we arrived here at Cannon Beach.

I actually posted these photos in order of the day, and then realized after they were loaded onto my Blog that they're backwards, so please forgive! As you look at them, they actually go from later in our trip to earlier in our trip.



Here's a very tame seagull that was standing on the overhang just off our balcony, braced against the wind earlier this evening, and (I'm sure) hoping for a handout. I call him Sammy.



Lee took this shot of the beach and ocean from our balcony late this afternoon. I think that's a little lighthouse on that tiny island in the distance.

Here we were on the highway from Portland to Cannon Beach, which is about 90 or so miles away, with some beautiful mountain forest in between.

This was a street in Portland as we were passing through. I think the architecture of these older houses near downtown is very interesting.

And here, we're entering Portland.

This is a picture of a portion of the Columbia River as we were making the drive from Pendleton to Portland, Oregon. I actually took the shot from the car, and cropped out the guard rail before I posted this picture. The Columbia River is one of the biggest rivers I've seen, and Interstate 84 runs alongside it for many miles.

And here's a historical sign about Oregon, that is posted at one of the pullout View Areas along the Columbia River.

Tomorrow, we plan to check out some of the art galleries and gift shops here in Cannon Beach, which is quite an artsy community and a tourist attraction.

Now that I was pleasantly surprised that we actually have wi-fi in our room, I'll be able to update my Blog at least a couple more times while we're on vacation!

Until we meet again. . . . . . . may we all continue to find creative energy not only in our travels but in our everyday experiences.

World Cardmaking Day!

Well, I had thought that the next time I'd be posting would be from the Oregon Coast while Lee and I were on vacation, BUT....I've been spurred into blogging action once again!

One of my cardmaker friends and colleagues, Pat (Cards by Patzee) reminded me that Saturday, October 4th, is "World Cardmaking Day"........and in honor of this rather auspicious event, Pat challenged some of her other cardmaker friends and me to post or do something special related to our mutual interest of cardmaking!

{Now, honestly, if I were pressed to say where or how "World Cardmaking Day" had been created, I wouldn't be able to produce a coherent answer....But, both Pat and I have seen it referenced on the Internet, so it MUST be true!}

Thus, in honor of this special day, I'm posting a card creation of my own, which I recently designed for a custom client.

As many of you know by now, I get the inspiration for my card designs from a variety of sources, not the least of which are wonderful quotes. And that is the case with this Wedding Card . . . . . .

Just in case you can't make out the text from my card photo (I'm having a little trouble with my Blogger skills right now, and can't seem to get my photo to enlarge).....it reads:

"May you live happy and may you love long. . . .And may each year find you smiling in the comfort of each other's arms."

As I recall, I found the Native American-inspired text for this card in one of the many catalogues that I peruse every week. It could have been on a wall plaque, a coffee mug, a card . . . .I'm not sure at this point. But, in any case, the message struck my fancy, and I wrote it down! And since then, I've designed several wedding and anniversary cards around it.

The base of this 5" X 7" card is a pre-folded acid free plain white cardstock that I use in most of my card designs. Additional materials include two shades of aqua blue Bazzill "Bling" cardstock, and a lovely printed paper by Basic Grey with a subtle watercolor-look pattern in shades of golden cream and aqua. I've added accents to the card with round and heart shaped gold tone brads. The card is fully lined with an additional layer of plain white acid free paper on the inside.

I'll be planning to do some posting from Oregon next week, and hopefully I'll be able to share some photos of the beautiful Cannon Beach area. So, my friends and fellow bloggers, please check back now and then.

Until we meet again . . . . . . May you live happy and may you love long.

CARDMAKING: From CONCEPT to REALITY Article 4

Happy Friday, My Friends!

Today, I am offering one more article along my current Blog theme: CARDMAKING: From CONCEPT to REALITY.

Bear with me as I provide a little background for today’s post…..

Those of you who’ve been following my Blog have probably recognized that my husband Lee and I are the proud owners of two ex-racing greyhounds. Our current greyhounds are Harley, 4, and Ride, 12, and they are, indeed, part of our family.

Lee and I have been dog owners/lovers all of our lives, but it was only 12 years ago that we “adopted” our first two ex-racing greyhounds…….a strikingly handsome black boy greyhound whom we named Cody, and a timid little brindle girl greyhound we named Cassie.

A little over a year from the time we brought these first two greyhounds into our home, our shy, sweet Cassie developed a bizarre unknown illness and passed away soon after. Our gentle giant, Cody, spent another nine cherished years with us before he developed osteosarcoma. We lost Cody in June 2006.

I think that I can honestly say that for both Lee and me, our experience with greyhounds……first learning about the breed, then meeting up with and eventually bringing some of these wonderful dogs into our home, has been truly one of the greatest rewards of our lives.

Over the past six years, since I started making scrapbook layouts and handmade greeting cards, my greyhounds have provided some of my best inspiration…. So I’m dedicating today’s article to them……

This is our (dearly departed) Cody:




Greyhounds were one of the very first "models" in my early attempts at developing paper piecing patterns . . . . . . .and I did quite a few greyhound paper piecing sets and scrapbook layouts before I ventured into greyhound cards. I think I've probably improved my original greyhound paper piecing patterns as time has passed.

Here is one of my more recent handmade cards featuring a paper pieced greyhound.....looks a bit like Cody, don't you think?





And, below is Harley, one of our current greyhound family members......isn't he handsome? At four years old, he is a full of energy and affection, and a constant source of surprise to both Lee and me.

This paper pieced greyhound card was inspired by Harley.

Then, here we have Little Miss Ride.....who has been the reigning queen of our house since March 1999. I've not yet been able to capture this brindle beauty's "essence", whimsical or otherwise, in one of my paper piecings, but I continue to try. . . . . . .

This will be my last Blog post for at least a few days, since Lee and I are soon to be off for a trip to the wonderful Oregon Coast, where we had our honeymoon 24 years ago!

I do hope to be able to check in, and even to post a few photos while we're on our trip. I'm not sure what access to the Internet we will have while we're enroute, but you can bet that I'll do my best to connect if I can!

Until we meet again . . . . . . . May your days be filled with greyt moments and greyt memories.

Wow! I'm in an Etsy Greetings Blog TUESDAY TREASURY!

Wow! Thanks to one of my cardmaking friends, Lisa, of Scrapbook Heaven (see sidebar to visit Lisa's Etsy Shop), I just discovered that my "Bird of Hope" card was featured earlier this week in the Etsy Greetings Blog TUESDAY TREASURY!

I'm thrilled to have one of my handmade cards included among those of such creative fellow members of the Etsy Greetings Team.

The theme of the TUESDAY TREASURY was "For the Birds" and it was created by fellow Etsy Greetings Team member, Linda (http://www.handmadebylinda.etsy.com). Thank you, Linda!

Hope you'll take a minute to check out the Etsy Greetings Blog TUESDAY TREASURY post at: http://www.etsygreetings.blogspot.com.

And while you're there, have a look around at all the great features and articles that this Etsy Greetings Blog has to offer!

Until we meet again. . . . . .May your day be filled with sunshine and the sounds of birds singing.

CARDMAKING: From CONCEPT to REALITY Article 3

Good morning once again, my friends,

I hope that you’re all having a fine week!

So far in my CARDMAKING: From CONCEPT to REALITY series, I’ve shared a couple of examples of my personal cardmaking experience….one card design that evolved from a poem and one that evolved from a floral design on a duvet cover. In today’s article, I’m going to share another of my cardmaking experiences, and this one, believe it or not, was inspired by a child’s hair barette!

Now, I do have to confess that I never would have come up with this card idea, had I not been participating in a card challenge with some of my cardmaking friends…The topic of that challenge was “Make a card using a ‘found object.’” (And NO, the challenge topic wasn't my idea!)

Not having a clue as to what I’d come up with for that particular challenge, I started searching the house for a ‘found’ item, anything that I thought I could possibly work into a card design, and wahlah......I found a colorful little barette with tiny rhinestone sparkles, in one of my many “junk collection” dishes I have scattered about. I had no idea where the barette came from, but I suspect it may have been a Christmas “stocking stuffer” purchase for one of my nieces years ago, that never made it to the stocking!

At any rate, I thought the color combination of fushia and aqua were striking, and so I set about looking through my mega stacks of cardstock and patterned paper to see what might coordinate well with this little barrette. And to my delight, I found a lovely pieced of embossed cardstock (by K and Company, as I recall) that had the PERFECT color combination in a beautiful floral design.

Then I searched through my textured Bazzill (I always have lots and lots of Bazzill on hand for just the right cardmaking occasion), and selected a coordinating shade of turquoise blue for the card design background. I’d just purchased some sheets of that color in the Bazzill “Bling” line, which has a lovely shimmer.

I also was able to find just the right shade of deep pink mulberry paper to coordinate with the color scheme. I fringed the edges of the mulberry paper for a little interest and used it to create an additional border under the embossed floral paper and under the text block.

Luckily, I was also able to find two different remnants of ribbon in my ribbon stash/tin, one in deep aqua, and one in deep rose.........those worked nicely to attach through the little barrette and add another touch to the card.

Text was computer generated and printed on plain white cardstock, then I chalk shaded the edges of the text block in (you guessed it!) aqua chalk.

With a few tiny acrylic rhinestones in a coordinating shade of blue to add a bit of sparkle, I thought this turned out to be a pretty nice little birthday card. And I guess someone else thought so too, since I SOLD IT ON EBAY!

So, here's today's story of how a card made it from CONCEPT to REALITY.....and in this case, I can honestly say this little card wouldn't have come to be, if I hadn't been challenged by my cardmaking friends and if I hadn't had just the right combination of materials in my cardmaking stash! (Guess that justifies my frequent shopping trips to the local crafts and scrapbooking stores.....or DOES it??)

Until we meet again.......May you be inspired today, even by the most unlikely source.