Happy Canada Day & Some FREEBIES!

Happy Canada Day!

It always surprises me just HOW patriotic I actually am.  Yup, I get misty when I watch the parade in our little town.  I’m the one clapping my hands off till they are sore for each and every single float.  I’m snapping more photos of every angle than the paparazzi and though I don’t have a foot long lens on a super expensive and fancy camera I always enjoy capturing the special moments.  I’m the one who’s either laying on the ground or standing on a chair or taking pictures of the spokes on the wheel of a classic car.  And yes, I totally embarrass my husband even though he’s had years upon years to get used to it. 

Our parade is tomorrow and though I’d love to be in town today (and even though my Mr. said he would take me to garage sales this morning) I’ve chosen to stay home and catch up on all the housework and tend to some other work so I can take part in all  tomorrow’s festivities including an inter-church service, a parade and then later on the annual fireworks. Our fireworks in Osoyoos are legendary!   I’ll have lots to share next post! 

I’m so grateful to live in our beautiful country and have the freedoms we do. 

 

Thank you Lord, for this beautiful country we live in!

It’s also become tradition for me to host this video on my blog because I think it perfectly sums up how I feel. 

Another tradition for me is to offer a complete FREE (personal use) patriotic digital scrapbooking kit for you.  You can find it here:

DOWNLOAD

This kit is still under my old designing name of Olivia Dorazio - ‘scuze that haha.  You can always find this kit along with many other downloads under the PAGES tab at the top of my blog.  Check out the TABS - there’s always a vault of FREE goodies for you to drop in for. 

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I also cooked up a FREE .studio cut for you to celebrate the fact that summer is here!  Yay! 

I have been enjoying the fresh fruit here - so far we have cherries.  One can only eat so many cherries, though… erm, I’m sure you get it.  But I have a fruit salad every single day I am able and so I’ve been eating plenty of watermelon because they are reasonable at the grocery stores (and we can bring them across the USA border, we live close) and I also add ginger and apples (which I can get from our local packing house - they’re kept in cold storage almost all year long) 

So I decided to make a watermelon cut for YOU!  Here are the two cards I made using my cut:

supplies:

Designer Paper: Delight by Nancy Rowe Janitz  - Fancy Pants Designs

Stamp: Summer - Studio G

Watermelon .studio Cut - Barbara Derksen

Embossing:

Emboss Powder - Stampendous

Emboss Ink - Versamark Watermark stamp pad

I thought I should make two different cards and it took me a while to figure out what to put as a backdrop for the watermelon to make the most impact and show up the juicy looking watermelon to its full advantage.  I chose this cork as a buffer between the bright and cheerful Designer Paper and the Watermelon element. 

Designer Paper: Recollections from Michaels

Stamp: Summer - Studio G

Watermelon .studio Cut - Barbara Derksen

Embossing:

Emboss Powder - Stampendous

Emboss Ink - Versamark Watermark stamp pad

I thought this smart blue and white check gingham paper would make one think “Picnic!” and I think it works nicely. 

DOWNLOAD

I had such fun making this .studio cut file.  I’ve included photos of the finished project in with the .studio file so you can see what it’s supposed to look like all assembled.

I’m happy to share my file with you for your personal use.  Most of my files are personal use though you can contact me if you have a commercial project in mind.  I’m pretty good with granting permission if I know what you’re using it for - (eg: making and selling your FINISHED products on a small scale) for I remember how my very generous designing friends blessed me when I began designing and selling.

I made this file in three parts - the larger green “rind” then a black inner layer (seeds) and the top red part with seed shapes cut out.  After I embossed the fruit part and stuck the layers together I then rimmed the edge of the fruit with a white pencil crayon or watercolour pencil, can’t quite recall which. 

I would ♥ to see what you make using my files - why not leave me a comment to show me your project and I’ll publish you here?

PS - My friend KimB has some lovely products and a FREE commercial use product available on her blog (click her name, it’s linked)  This file would be perfect to “trace” and make into .studio files for scalloped frames!

PPS - Thanks for visiting and your comment love!

A Bike Ride in June and Beautiful Poppy Pictures

Today I’m going to share a few photos and some encouragement as well.  Being Sunday I’ve been fair bursting out of my skin with the Joy of the Lord!  I don’t quite know how to explain it - so I won’t even try.  I’ll let this sweet video take care of just how I feel when I get close to my God!

What have I been up to this week? 

Well, my sweet Mr. took me out on two fun dates this week.  The first was a bike ride.  Osoyoos has a great trails system but we do mostly walking on them.  We chose instead to bike some of the streets, he was the leader and I just happily trailed along behind.

 

We rode up onto the hills where the golf course is and the conditions were perfect to get a view of Hayne’s Point - the strip of foliage laying out in the water?  Hayne’s Point is a provincial park, absolutely lovely and super busy so you should make reservations if you hope to stay here.

And then we pedalled alllllll the way over to the far side of the lake and enjoyed the silky sand at the new pubic Rotary park (not a campsite)  Such a lovely day with the sunshine beaming on us.  Our weather has been up and down and all over the place from hot sun to thunderstorms with rain. Keeps things exciting.

The second date?  It was to garage sales and out to Dim Sum this Saturday. 

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I want to make a little shout-out to Betty Dish who’s blog and twitter I’ve been following and enjoying lately and who recently hosted a contest/giveaway thing sponsored by Booster Juice and I won… well everybody won something and I’m pretty excited about that. haha!  Betty Dish likes to blog about food and food being good for us.  Why don’t you check her out HERE? (and thanks Betty!)

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I’ve also been making a few cards, just some sillies using up some Stickers I bought a while ago on sale:

Just silly cards like these.  I used a real non-electric typewriter for the sentiment on each.  These are available at Indie Lulu Living on Main Street!

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And I wandered around in the flower patch yesterday and I’ll share some of the beauty with YOU. (and yes, I did lay on the ground a lot to get some of these)  I’ll call this group “Poppy Love”

Beaded Flower Card - FREE .studio cutting file for YOU!

I can’t put my finger on just what twigged me at my sister Nina’s blog recently but some card she made caused me to write down an idea inspired and take action on it today.  Nina makes lovely cards, she’s got a true gift when she makes simple cards - something I forget to do. 

 

I created the flower embellishments on the following card:

And wonder of all wonders, I kept it pretty simple. 

 

Here’s the tutorial for my flower and I’ll include a link for the zipped folder containing the flower.  (The reason I put my files into a zipped folder is so that they are easy to find on your computer system, it contains my terms of use, sometimes includes a tutorial and bestest of all, you have a way to find my files via my email etc should you need to)

BUT before I finish up with a nice macro or two of my finished flowers I want to address something else you will notice about my .studio file  

I include a jpg PICTURE of the project right along with the files I give away … why?  It is because I get very frustrated when I purchase a file and have no way of “seeing” what it should look like while I’m working on it.  When you open this particular file it will look like this:

And all YOU have to do is to move the jpg over, off of your cutting matt in your software. 

 

This way you can see the project while cutting it.  Make certain you choose NO upon exit of your project.

 

Here is a close-up of these pretty flowers (I added a pearl accent into the center of one) and the download link.

DOWNLOAD

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I went for a walk with my husband yesterday along one of our local trails

I forgot my sunglasses on the bed of this truck which I set aside for the pose… can you please scoop them for me if you go by?

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I enjoyed this poem and thought you might too:

 

THE cost of living’s pretty high -

there’s little free in life;

No end of things I can’t afford,

and neither can my wife.

HOW odd that things the most worthwhile

(and they are very many) -

Health, sunshine, love, song and friends -

just do not cost a penny.

Great Grad Cards - a FREE .studio cut file for YOU!

My husband is an instructor (for some reason he prefers this title rather than “teacher”) and so I’m always asked to make some graduation cards for his students.  Its an especial time at YouLearn.ca because it is an adult learning situation and many of the students are … grandparents!  Really! 

I find myself wanting to make a completely unique card when requested - and that nice for YOU because I love to give my files away.  Here are the three cards I made and a tutorial on how to make the tassel for the Grad hat and I’ll link to the download for the zipped folder of .studio files as well.  (I’ll also put a copy under the .studio TAB up top of the blog so you can always come retrieve or re-download should you lose them!)

 

I created this first card to be “letter” envelope size so that I would be sure to have an envelope ready.  I don’t recall the designer paper for this one, you could almost get away using a piece of foolscap?  The butterfly and flourish stamp is from Inkadinkadoo.  

 

I have been admiring some super simple cards lately and decided to try one for myself.

 

I added a little diploma roll onto this one, it would be so easy to make! 

 

Here is the tutorial for how to make the hat:

VOILA!

DOWNLOAD

(word art and dated hat file included)

I would love to see what you make using my files - why not leave a comment here or email me (email address is in my terms of use in the zipped folder)

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I’ll end with a few photos I’ve taken and a few beautiful words:

Never lose and opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful, for beauty is God’s handwriting - a wayside sacrament.  Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every flower, and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

There are two worlds; the world that we can measure with line and rule, and the world that we feel with our hearts and imagination.

~Leigh Hunt

 

We are living in a world of beauty but how few of us open our eyes to see it!  What a different place this would be if our senses were trained to see and hear!  We are the heirs of wonderful treasures from the past: treasures of literature and of the arts.  They are ours for the asking - all our own to have and to enjoy, if only we desire them enough.

~Lorado Taft

The RESCUE

My Gramma and her sister Margaret (my Godmother) used to make the sweetest clown dolls.  Sadly, both Gramma and Aunt Margaret live on through their little creations.  I have a small doll made by Gramma, actually one of her “Red Riding Hood” dolls but somehow I missed having a clown doll.  Probably gave it away at some point, you know how that happens.  There’s a nice photo of some of Gramma’s dolls on my sister in law Judy’s blog which you can check out (click on the word Judy) 

I was at the flea market with my mother in law a few weeks ago and stumbled across this little orphan:

I’m pretty sure this is one made by Aunt Margaret because the wool “hair” does not go all the way across the forehead - Gramma’s usually did. 

My but the face on this poor little clown!  I suppose it’s the same theory which goes with a good book - the more worn the more loved and interesting it must have been.  These dolls are not the sort one sits on the dresser and simply looks at.  These dolls were built with leatherette material shoes with elastic loops and the hands had mitts with velcro inviting children to wrap the arms around their necks and slip the shoes over thier own and DANCE! 

Gramma and Auntie were well ahead of their time, they would have been huge on Etsy.

Anyways, I could not help but rescue this doll, without even knowing if the stains could come out of the face.  I put her in the washing machine with some OXI CLEAN (no they did not pay me to say this) which my sister Nina had recommended to me for other stain issues. 

She came out all clean and happy…

And has a place of honour on a chair and just waiting for a little people visitor to enjoy and bring fond memories of my Gramma and Aunt Margaret. 

A little inspiration for the day:

BE HOPEFUL

Be hopeful, friend, when clouds are dark and days are gloomy, dreary,

Be hopeful even when the heart is sick and sad and weary.

Be hopeful when it seems your plans are all opposed and thwarted;

Go not upon life’s battlefield despondent and fainthearted.

And, friends, be hopeful of yourself.  Do bygone follies haunt you?

Forget them and begin afresh.  And let no hindrance daunt you.

Though unimportant your career may seem as you begin it,

Press on, for victory’s ahead.  Be hopeful, friend, and win it.

~ Strickland Gillian