Wish You Were Here!

Happy Friday, everyone!

Aaahhh, the weekend!  Lots of quiet family time ahead…just the way we like it! 

Just a little to share with you today…I finally got my swaps finished for our “Wish You Were Here” vintage postcard swap, hosted by the wonderful Elizabeth of Creative Breathing! 

All lined up and ready to go—17 postcards waiting to be joined up with others from around the country by Elizabeth and then sent off to their new homes…

I chose California for my postcard, of course—so many fun images to choose from! 

Our instructions were to make them “flat”—no dimension, to speak of—but we would want to add images to give them a bit of personality, of course!

This little cutie has all the personality I could have wished for!  Found her on a little vintage reproduction Valentine I had in my collection…I just love her!  See the little twinkle in her eye?  Just a touch of Diamond Stickles—had to get a BIT of sparkle in there!

A bit more shimmer thanks to Stickles inside the California poppies—our beautiful state flower…

Elizabeth supplied us with a vintage postcard backing image to use—all it needed was a cute little vintage image, a little message from the sender, and it was ready to go!

I love this old produce crate image.  My mother-in-law was here this week while I was finishing these up…she grew up in Southern California, near Pasadena, and said she remembers seeing stacks of crates with this very sticker on it!  She remembered it being for oranges…

I found some other wonderful vintage crate labels to share with you.  These were all free images, so go ahead and create with them to your hearts’ content!

Aren’t those wonderful?!  They all came from this site…they have other wonderful free vintage images, so go and pay them a visit!

On a completely different note, just wanted to share this picture of my youngest daughter, Annie and her Grandma Campbell at her 8th-grade graduation ceremony last night…

She wasn’t smiling too much yesterday…braces were really hurting, poor sweetie!  We’re so proud of her and the great work she’s done so far…love you, Annie!

Well, that’s it for me tonight!  Elizabeth, the postcards will be on their way shortly!  Can’t wait to see them all gathered together—thanks in advance, ladies!

Have a wonderful weekend…see you soon with something new…

Julie

A Little French…and Girls in Sweet Dresses…

Good afternoon, my friends!

What a gloomy day we’re having here…where has the sun gone?!  Oh, well…the roses look beautiful in this light, so it’s alright!

Just a few things to share with you today…I’ve been busy having fun with my daughter who finished school last week…one more day for daughter number 3, and then summer’s in full-swing!

First, a little card…

Isn’t she sweet?!  The image and sentiment are from a new stamp set from Crafty Secrets called Bonjour Merci…so many fun French sayings and sentiments & images, including  this adorable little girl, of course!

Just used my watercolor pencils for coloring…a little bit of Dazzling Diamonds on the flowers and butterfly, Platinum Stickles all around, lace, ribbon, buttons, and we’re all done!

This image reminded me of a few pictures I have of little girls in pretty dresses which I thought I’d share…

Me, about 1966…in a cute little dress my grandparents brought me from their trip to Germany…

My mother, Karen…about 1942…

My mother-in-law, Shirley—very excitedly holding a little kitten—about 1934…

My grandmother, Velda…about 1917…

My husband’s 2nd great-grandmother, Sarah Mariah Follett when she was 4 years old, about 1870…

My 3rd great-grandmother, Lois Pratt Hunt, in the 1840’s…

Hope you enjoyed this small window into little girls and their dresses through the last 160 years…!

One more thing to leave you with…a sweet little birthday card given to my mother by a friend when she was a young girl…

(Double-click to enlarge!)

Hope you have a most wonderful day….see you soon with something new…

LiveJournal Tags: Crafty Secrets,Bonjour Merci,little girls' dresses,vintage birthday card

The Voice of the Sea…

Good evening, everyone! 

I hope it’s been a great weekend for all of you…another busy one for us!

Just a couple of cards to share with you tonight…ever since last week, I’ve had the ocean on my mind…

…which then reminded me of our trip to Italy about 5 years ago….just look at that water!

We spent some time with my husband’s sister and her family while they were living there on the beautiful Amalfi coast…

 

…in the beautiful coastal town of Praiano.  The view from their balcony which hung over the Mediterranean sea looked just like the one above…

I couldn’t quickly locate my own photos of the trip, but I found these online of the places we went that look just like my own photos…

We took a trip to Capri---aaahhh, Capri!

One of the days we were there, we took a boat around the island to see the sites from the water.  I sat near the edge of the boat, and couldn’t help putting my hand in the water and just letting it drag along with the movement of the boat…

The water in the sea there is incredible…it’s warm, soft and silky…it feels like an amazing Calgon bath…it even smells good!  And so blue!  You’ve never seen a blue/aqua like this!

The best part was our visit to the Blue Grotto…

The color is REALLY like this—it’s unreal! 

Okay….back to reality!

Since I had the beautiful blue sea on my mind, I kept thinking of these lovely mermaid images I have, so that’s what I worked on this weekend:

A sweet little vintage image I got months ago from my friend Elizabeth of Creative Breathing…I just fell in love with it!

“Three little tales to tell,” it says…some vintage aqua tulle (thanks, Mom!) and some Martha Stewart aqua seam binding for the ribbon…half pearls for little accents…

Lots of Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamonds on all the pastel-colored bubbles, and some gold Stickles to finish it off.

And the next one…

“The voice of the sea speaks to the soul…” Yes, it certainly does!

This lovely little mermaid is from Crafty Secrets’ “Mermaids” stamp set, one of my favorites.  The background paper was white, and I covered it with a few different aqua/green/blue shades of Glimmer Mist—I always love how it looks!

Some beautiful soft aqua lace that felt like waves to me…more of the Martha Stewart aqua seam binding…

My little mermaid is colored with watercolor pencils, and highlighted with Dazzling Diamonds.

And my favorite clear, fabulously chunky German glass glitter framing my mermaid along with some gold Stickles…and a few luminous pearl beads to finish it off.

That’s it for me tonight…off to watch a movie with my family.  I love summer! 

Hope you have a wonderful night…

Sweet Dreams!

 

LiveJournal Tags: Crafty Secrets,Italy,Capri,Ocean,Creative Breathing,Mermaids