Trip to the Mountains

Hi again. Back with some pictures, and before I share those, I should answer a question posed by a UK blogger as to why I used the term 'punkin' instead of Pumpkin. Well, most properly, Pumpkin _is_ correct term. However, here in the South USA, the regional idiom is primarily 'punkin'. That can refer to the item or it can also refer to a sweet little child. F'instance, when our daughter was very small, Punkin was one of her nicknames. Sugar (pronounced Schug-AH here in the South) is another term of endearment, either for a child or a loved one! Some sweet Scottish blogger recently explained to me what a Hoolie was (Thanks Kate!). Anytime I use a term that is odd to you, please do ask me, and I'll try to explain. I find the different terminologies used by all of us - that mean the same thing but we use another word - to be so very much fun & interesting. To me, that's just one of the joys of this blog hobby. Hmmm...maybe I should add Hoolie & Punkin (and Sugah) to the Blog-i-nition section. Also do check the tab Cards by Friends for a nifty Halloween card we received last week.

Ok, on to the mountain ride pics. I'll just share a few so I won't bore you to death. I tried to share some that had the lovely blue color of sky that we refer to as Carolina Blue - when it's an intense shade, with absolutely no clouds to be seen. I will keep these photos in the small size.

Entrance

 

The water in the picture is part of a reservoir that supplies water to many counties that are quite distant from here.

The blue haze that can be seen in the pictures is part of what makes up the name Smokey Mountains. This particular area is not part of the Smokey Mountain chain (at least I don't think it is) but I think it is considered part of the Applachian Mountain chain. We've been to the Smokies and it looks very much like what is shown here. Actually we're not seeing a real blaze of color, as it has not been that cold in the area as yet. Next week would be an even better show, but a Ranger told us rain is expected Tuesday - Wednesday, so the rains will wash off a lot of the leaves. We were glad we chose to go out today. It was just very lovely. Wish I could have shared the magnificent sun & scenery with all of you who are enduring the nasty rain & storms around the world.

DH looking at an old truck that was parked outside Aunt Sue's, a famous restaurant up in this area. Very rustic & atmospheric, some nice gift shops to enjoy...only the restaurant was open by the time we got there, about 4:30 pm. We were lucky to still get a meal!

Some decorations in front of the restaurant. It's a very pretty place to eat and the food was good too. Had some delicious ice cream - pumpkin pecan & cherry amaretto. Yum.

DH, SIL, and Bro #2 and Sunshine the Schnauzer at Cesaer's Head. Everyone loved the dog, and she doesn't like strangers, so had to be very careful with her that she didn't upset somebody!!

 

Hoping to make some pretty screen savers of the leaf closeups. Isn't that hanging rock something? Who knows how long it's hung this way.

OK...that's it for now. Hope I didn't put you to sleep, and that you enjoyed seeing a little part of the area that we call home.

One more little story and then I'll close: In Europe, small hamlets are called Villages. Here in the USA, they are called 'towns', and the South is literally dotted with tiny little towns. One close to us is called Pumpkintown (yes there is a sign to let you know what the name of the little town is named), and we traveled through it this afternoon to get to the Mountain Park. All the locals call it Punkintown!!! Have a great week. Thanks for visiting tonight. Big Hugs.

Karen Burniston Class Cards

Good evening. Sorry to be late sharing the class cards photos but about 1:30pm, my brother (who lives down the street) suggested we all take a ride up into the mountains to see the fall color. Changed clothes and off we go. They had their miniature Schnauzer along, so we took 2 vehicles, as I have a bit of an allergy problem with the dog. It was a magnificent fall day & perfect for a ride. Will share some pictures in another post, as that one will be picture heavy. I snapped photos here & there, but haven't even looked to see what I got. Here's the Friday class cards:

Front of the pine tree popup card (this die was sold out so my friend & I have it on order)

The card opened. This was the easiest card that we made.

Believe this is called the Spiral die. The die just has the mechanism dies or shapes to make the card work. The trims are from other sets. We used the clock face die which has some gear shapes with it.

Swings open to show the interior. Didn't get this die, but my friend did. We tried to get different dies, unless it was something we both loved and thought we might not want to 'share'. Believe this is G45 paper, and it was all gone by the time we checked out. There were about 30 students in the class, and once it ended, there was a mad scramble to make purchases.

Front of the Happy Birthday Popup die. This was simple, just 2 rectangles of card stock, top piece embossed, red trim hides the join and decorated with some dies from an accessory die set.

The interior of the Happy Birthday popup card that was made in class, along with the die that cuts the shapes. The little bear is from another set called Honey bear, and the features have to be cut and assembled. (we got class kits so did no cutting)

Katie Label Accordion die (think Karen said she named this after her Grandmother). This set took most of us the longest of all 4 cards.

Front of the folded up Katie Accordion card.

All three pieces of the Katie Accordion card. The embellishments come from other die sets. I learned a tip for applying this frame (which is similar to the pumpkin swing card shared earlier.  Karen cut the pieces and ran them through a Xyron. Much easier than trying to glue the pieces on. Also said to float each piece evenly on the space, starting with either the bottom or top piece. Then butt up the next adjoining piece matching the miter and using a brayer to roll it down well once the frame is all set. It was much easier than the way I did it!

Hope you enjoyed the cards. It was a very good class, once I calmed down from the stress of our trip up to the shop. There's a lot of information to absorb, so I was very happy when I heard Karen B. say there are Youtubes for each technique! If you have a chance to take a class with Karen Burniston, my recommendation is Go for it!

My intention this afternoon was to pay visits & comments, then share these cards, then finish up the insides of the Halloween cards. {Sigh} I did get round to a couple blogs, but still way behind. I'll do one more post tonight if I have some decent pictures of what we saw today.

Thanks for stopping in. I'll catch up with all my lovely visitors as I can. In the meantime, God Bless and big hugs.

Halloween Punkins

Good afternoon. There's another gorgeous day in Upstate South Carolina. We have certainly had some lovely Fall days this past week, but today our temp shows 80F, even though the air is pleasantly cool. I am playing 'catch up' on the house stuff that is behind, since yesterday was a class day. 

Met my friend about 8:45am, and set out on what is - at worst - a 45 minute drive. Well it took us over 2 hours plus to arrive, and be 45 minutes late for the class. Two very serious accidents on the interstate had bumper to bumper traffic. We called to let the shop know why we'd be late. There were some other folks that were further behind on that interstate than we were. Karen Burniston & the shop staff were very considerate to make sure we didn't miss any of the class presentation - caught us up on what we'd missed. It was a very large class too- think there were 30-40 students. It was hard to concentrate until some of my traffic stress had dissipated, and there was a lot to absorb. It was a very productive class - so was very happy to learn all of the class cards are covered in online Youtubes. Had taken my swing card along to have an expert show what I did wrong. Now I know!!! Learned a couple very simple tips that will help me (I hope!) in making future cards with this die. Will share the class cards in a later post.

Here's today's card:

 

 

- image is from a Hampton Arts clear set, colored with copics, WoS, die cut with S/B label.

 

- card base embossed with SU spider web. Inked the EF with Delicata gold prior to embossing, and it looks quite nice.

 

- Sue Wilson Border die from the Austrian collection, and a Cheery Lynn sentiment die. Very simple ingredients, just took time to assemble them into a card.

 

Broke a tooth this morning while eating, so have an early dental appointment on Monday. Called the office emergency phone and asked to please get me in fast, so fortunately they did.

 

Don't forget today is the 25th, so the monthly challenge of Rudolph Day is open over at Stamping for Pleasure.  I hope to get 2 cards finished up so that I can play along.

 

I have to apologize that once again I am behind on visiting & commenting, but will do my best to make the rounds. Thursday DH wanted me to go with him on some errands & I'm pleased to be invited after more than 50+ years of togetherness. It was a beautiful day, we had a lovely lunch along with a pretty ride along some country roads. Then finished up at a stamp store. (trying to be restrained since I knew I'd be at the class in another store on Friday!). I have to confess that an outing with DH on a beautiful day, with promise of lunch, tempts me a lot more than sitting at the computer, to be looking outside the window at the sunshine. Don't give up on me visiting...I'll get there!  I would wish the same for each of you: that you have somebody you love to go enjoy a pleasant day in their company & are able to do so. Life is short. We have to make the most of each day we are given.

 

Come again when you have time. We'll sit on the porch-- (#2 brother stopped in on his morning walk, and we had coffee on the porch- which is when my tooth broke!). Big Hugs, and have a terrific day.

 

PS: I've been seeing some beautiful cards done by international friends using Brusho crystal watercolors. Dick Blick was the only USA source I was finding, and the product was expected to be in stock on 10/23. Checked the site on 10/23, some sets in stock,  but no time to place the online order until last evening. Once again, showed out of stock but I phoned, and was able to get the 24  color set ordered. Just passing along the info, in case any USA crafters are looking for this product.

Porch Fall Decorations

 

Hi & as promised, back again to share some pictures of what our cleaned (!) front porch looks like just at present. Many of the homes in our subdivision are decorated up so nicely for Fall & Halloween, so we decided to make an effort too.  Hopefully those who pass by, enjoy it, and on Halloween night, the tricker treaters will too. We have some small ceramic pumpkins with scary faces that we add right by the door (in front of the wagon & wheelbarrow).  We do that Halloween evening as the punkins have tea lights inside of them that glow in the dark; but only if the weather is such that we can sit outside when the kids are coming. Thought about arranging on both sides of the steps that come up to the porch - but didn't want to cause a trip hazard. We don't want some little one stumbling or bumping into a candle; so if it's too cold to sit out, we don't put these out.

 

 

 

Now on the other side of the front door:



Just in front of the porch:

 

This guy moved from Florida and usually has some straw bales with pumpkins & mums surrounding him, maybe a corn stalk or two. Mr didn't want to go to that much trouble, so all we got was Mr. Scarecrow. This was about the time he remarked to me, that whatever we put out, is going to have to be picked up and put away. This dampened my enthusiasm for adding yet more decorations. We have some colored Halloween lights but decided to go with just what you see. In 2 windows that face the other road (we are on a corner) we have some ceramic pumpkins from long, long ago, that have orange lights inside. When it gets dark, we turn those on, and they show pretty scary in the dark windows. We had 3 of these (and we have 3 windows that could use them!), but somewhere along the way, one got broken. Neither of us can remember if we made them during our 'ceramic hobby phase' or if we bought them - they are really old. In Florida Mr. would put them outside and he really decorated up so well, with skeletons, crows, even made a 'grave' out of bags of mulch, sprayed a sheet to look like dirt, and had an RIP tomestone. The kids used to love it. We had to be careful with the really tiny tots, that they didn't get scared. It was fun, but we don't do that now.

 

Hope you enjoyed seeing the pictures. Come again when you can. Big Fall Hugs.