Thursday, November 24, 2011

A Homey, Thankful Day

image {free download from Crafty Secrets…here’s where you find it}

Hello, dear friends…

The turkey’s in the oven, the fireplace is on, candles burning, music fills the air…warmth, love and gratitude all around…

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Just thought I’d pop in real quick to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving Day and to share a couple more autumn-hued cards made earlier in the week…

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All paper and images here are found on Crafty Secrets’ new “Creating with Vintage Illustrations” CD…

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I told you this would be quick today!

Life really is a gift, isn’t it?

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And I am so very, very grateful.

So very grateful to all of you, too…for all the friendship, inspiration and beauty you share on a daily basis all throughout the year.

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Happy Thanksgiving, one and all!

Julie

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Country French Happiness

Hello, my friends!

A card & some fun news to share with you today…

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…a little bit of French countryside whimsy to tell you how happy Sandy, the owner of Crafty Secrets is to go all digital!

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In an effort to simplify her life (she’s a very busy woman!), all your favorite stamps will still be available—just digitally now—and grouped on future CD’s…it will be so easy to play with , re-size & use all these images and so many new ones to come!

Lots of new paper—and your old favorites!—will be found on the upcoming CDs…just like the beautiful scenery and vintage jointed French lady I used on my card today…

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…isn’t she wonderful?!  Just copy, cut out (I love cutting out pretty images!), and place her where you want her…so much fun to do!

This pretty floral background paper can also be found on the new CD—matches this sweet scene just perfectly, I think!

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And just to make your feet do an extra happy dance…

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…Sandy will be having a big sale on “Black Friday”, November 25th, on all the Clear Art Stamp sets—you don’t want to miss it!

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Here’s what Sandy has to say about the new “Creating with Vintage Illustrations” CD:

“I’m super excited about this CD and with over 200 files it’s a fabulous deal for $15.99--but if you can’t wait until this Friday and want to pre-order it NOW, we will include a free Image & Journal Notes Booklet (just state what title you’d like in the message box in our Shopatron Store, or we will automatically send a Christmas Booklet). We should have the first 100 in stock this Friday, 1000 more to follow.” 

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That’s about it for me today…I’ll be back in a day or two with more projects using the new CD…until then, I hope your Thanksgiving holiday is a warm, wonderful, family-filled time!

See you soon with something new…

Julie

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Monday, November 21, 2011

The Family Patio

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My grandfather, Dow, was the Vice President of a large bank in Arizona…

Dow Ostlund--Bank Portrait

…this was his portrait for the bank--isn’t he handsome?

Because he was well-known in the area, a newspaper scheduled an interview and photo time with the Ostlund family one sunny, 1950’s afternoon…

…and this was what appeared in the paper.  I’ve always loved this photo…the family all together, sweet, blind little Judy looking so happy, my mother, the beautiful teenager, in her homemade dress, my grandmother, Velda with spoon in-hand…ever the homemaker.  Even Jocko the dog posed properly that day!

Here’s the same patio, probably 7 or so years later…

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…a little less posed, my mother now married, Judy was sadly gone by now…but here I am…toddler me…toddling around on that very same patio…

I never lived in Phoenix, but nearly every summer, our family would spent quite a lot of time there…all of our extended family was there, after all…a very special place for us to be…

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Here’s me again, a year or two later, once more on that beloved patio…in the very same spot the family photo shoot took place a decade or more earlier. 

Even though it was always summer when we visited, I never remember the heat bothering me at all when I was a child, and I would spend hours and hours playing outside…

I remember that very patio so very well….pink-hued cement…smooth and warm (sometimes quite hot!) on my bare summer feet…I remember the sun-baked smell of that backyard so vividly…isn’t it funny how even smells remain tucked away in our memories?

Just beyond it was the lawn—a stiff, prickly & well-groomed Arizona lawn…I didn’t like to walk on it barefoot unless it was being irrigated, and then I would walk forever in it--soft, drenched grass , lying underneath a couple of inches of water warmed by the sun…an absolute delight for a child!

DSC07123_edited-1 {beautiful vintage prints and “tea cakes” tag found on Crafty Secrets’ 2nd soon-t0-be-released CD}

A new page made this last week for my heritage album…

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I chose the colors very much on purpose…the vintage blue for the always-blue Arizona skies I remember in my childhood mind, and the warm, beautiful orange for the Arizona sun…

My grandparents moved away from the family home when I was about 11 or 12…off to a more modern condominium. 

I will always miss that old house on Kaler Drive, but my memory holds it close to my heart…

…I’m so very grateful for these lovely old family photos and my very own memories of the family patio.

See you soon with something new…

Julie