Wednesday, August 25, 2010

On the Boardwalk…End of Summer Fun!

Good afternoon, dear friends!

I hope the week is going well for all of you!  Summer time is really winding down, isn’t it?  My younger girls have been back to school for almost two weeks now, and my college girl heads back to school on Sunday…

…But to celebrate together before it was over, we headed out to the historic Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

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…over 140 years old, it’s been the place to ride the rides by the sea for a long time now…

In the 1920’s…

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…the 1940’s…

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…and last Monday night!

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My three girls…Sarah, Chelsea & Annie…and here’s just a few scenes from our night there…

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Have you ever tried on of these?  Me, neither!

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I love amusement parks at night…when the lights come on…it just feels like magic!

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So much fun, so many memories!

I made a little card today to celebrate the wonderful summer fun that an amusement card brings…

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A big vintage button and ribbon to mimic a prize-winning ribbon at the fair…a row of tickets…Dazzling Diamonds on all the lights…a bit of platinum Stickles to frame it all…that’s about it!

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The vintage image is from Crafty Secrets’ “Summertime” Images & Journal Notes booklet…filled with all kinds of nostalgic summery images!

Whenever we go to the Boardwalk, which we usually do at the end of each summer, I can’t help but remember my most favorite of all amusement parks…Cedar Point!

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Those of you in northern Ohio…and elsewhere, I’m sure!…will know how amazing this park really is!

Another historic amusement park also on the waterfront—Lake Erie—it started in 1870, about the same time as the Santa Cruz Boardwalk…

For decades, it’s been know as the place with the highest, fastest, craziest roller coasters in the world!  “The Roller Coaster Capitol of the World”, it claims!

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Here’s an old one that I remember from W.A.Y. back—The Jumbo Jet!  This postcard is from the early 1970’s…the time period that I first started going there with my family every year…

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I couldn’t find any photos of us there, (they do exist…I just need to search for them!), but I did find a fabulous flier also from the early ‘70’s…

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I remember the thrill and anticipation of slowly creeping up that roller coaster…getting to the peak…

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…and the sheer terror as it started zooming downward!  Oh, I loved it!  (Can’t do roller coasters anymore, sadly…my equilibrium has REALLY changed!)

And park food…is there anything like it?

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I remember getting at least a couple orders of french fries when I was a girl during my day at Cedar Point…completely covered with ketchup and malt vinegar…yum…

…Do you even remember a time when you didn’t have to feel guilty about that?!

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Fat, fluffy & fabulous cotton candy…

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…and those funnel cakes…have mercy! (I DID have a big bite of one of those on Monday!)

Well, that’s it for me today…if you get a chance to sneak one more trip to the park nearest you, do it! 

Savor the end of summer with your family…ride a ride, feel the wind in your hair, take a dip in the sea, eat something you really shouldn’t eat…just have fun!

See you soon with something new…and a blogaversary giveaway!

 

Julie

Monday, August 23, 2010

Vintage Halloween…Crafty Secrets DT Challenge!

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Good morning, my friends!

How is everyone this morning?  Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  We had another busy one…Annie’s 14th birthday, a non-sleeping slumber party and a Sunday visit to Grandma’s house.  Lots of fun!

Today is our Crafty Secrets Design Team challenge for August—I always love seeing what everyone comes up with for these challenges!  This month, we are focusing on all the new products that Crafty Secrets has offered—new stamp sets galore & lots of new Creative Scraps—so much to play with!

I decided to play with Halloween again…how could I not with these new items?

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So, here’s my first project using the fabulous “Halloween” Creative Scraps…

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(Sorry for all the shadows!  Had a hard time with lighting yesterday…another gloomy coastal day!)

I got a small stretched canvas, painted it with black acrylic paint & just started having fun with the “Halloween” Creative Scraps!  Once you get going, it’s just easy……!

Black netting to frame and hang it, black pompom trim and buttons at the top and bottom…some beautiful dark orange crystal rhinestones on the gingham ribbon along the sides, and an overall spritzing with my favorite “Iridescent Gold” Glimmer Mist…makes everything so pretty!

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I love this moon face—there’s something about the  vintage moon images with faces that I’ve just always loved—had to sparkle this one up a bit with some Dazzling Diamonds…love that witch silhouette flying by…

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…wonderful vintage costumed party-goers…had to cut out another set from this fabulous collage image to pop it up—if you visit here very often, you know that I LOVE popping things up—dimension makes me happy!

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Here’s the other couple I cut out from another image and popped up in front of the haunted house…love the carnival tickets…you can really see the Glimmer Mist effects on this image if you enlarge it…

Next:

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I love this sweet little Dolly Dingle witch from the new “Halloween Treats” stamp set!  Such an adorable little thing!

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I love paper piecing on images like this…again, I love the dimension it gives…wonderful layering effects and rich color….

I used a beautiful print from Graphic 45 as the background, and just added a bit of platinum Stickles around the borders, and sparkled up the flames with some Dazzling Diamonds…some ribbon, rick-rack trim and a button finish it off…

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…Sounds like good advice to me!

And lastly:

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What a fun vintage image!  I decided to keep this one fairly simple.  Just the orange and black to make it really stand out.  A tiny bit of Dazzling Diamonds to make their features sparkle…

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This stamp really reminded me of the fabulous old Dennison’s Bogie Books from the 1920’s.  I’ve always loved them, and found one this spring at a garage sale…just laying on the grass in a pile of books….I got it for 10 cents! (Isn’t it wonderful when the seller doesn’t know what they’re getting rid of?!)

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Filled with wonderful Halloween costumes, party planning ideas, etc…here’s just a sample…

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The images in the book are only black/white/orange…and so nostalgically vintage!

Well, that’s it for me today!  I hope you’ll go and visit the other ladies on the Crafty Secrets’ Design Team and see what they’ve created with all the new products!  Here’s they are:

Vicki Chrisman, Design Team Leader

Pam Hooten

Heidi Blankenship

Marisa Grossen

Linda Duke

Michele Kovack

Melissa Phillips

Flo from France

Julie Campbell…ME!

Mary Hamer—our brand new member!

Heartwarming Vintage Crafty Secrets Blog

Crafty Secrets Website

Have a wonderful day! 

See you soon with something new…

 

Julie