For the Beauty of the Earth

If you are around about my age and spent much time in a Methodist church, or probably any church for that matter, these pictures are probably familiar:

Our Sunday worship opening hymn was always one of Praise and Thanksgiving; often one you knew by heart or at least knew it was in the front of the hymnal. And of course the hymn board with its large numbers indicated the number and order of the hymns. The hymn board was a good reason to get to the sanctuary early; book mark all the hymns and readings for the service so you didn't have to fumble around while the organist was already into the first stanza. (Or if you stopped for coffee and donuts you had the prelude during which to book mark the indicated pages.)

If you started your morning worship with "For the Beauty of the Earth", "When Morning Gilds the Skies", or "This is me Father's World", it was goingto be a great day!

I have always been partial to "For the Beauty of the Earth"; the references to nature, to family love, to divine love.

When I read the title of Beauty of the Earth as one of the new Designer Series Papers from Stampin' Up! in the Annual Catalog, what do you suppose was at the top of my first order? That DSP! Along with the stamp bundle of Beauty of Friendship stamps and Beautiful Trees dies. 

It there is a tree stamp or a leaf stamp, it/they are on my list! As Autumn is my favorite season I want to color and stamp and die and cut leaves in every shape and size and color. I am thinking Bumblebee, Cajun Craze, Rich Razzleberry, Cherry Cobbler, Mossy Meadow, Cinnamon Cider (getting a little hungry now) ... use the Stampin' Blends and watercolor pencils. Oh, and the reinkers with baby wipes: fold up a layer of four baby wipes, making a little ink pad if you will. Squeeze a few drops of fall color reinkers randomly onto pad; it will look like a giant mud puddle. Ink up a leaf stamp, or stamp of a tree canopy and then stamp onto your card or scrapbook page ~ magic! So many techniques for coloring...

I wasn't going to start in on the fall stamp projects until the end of the month, but a friend of mine just left for a week in the woods. She has a vintage log cabin in a state park and is planning hikes and lake meanderings and bird trails. I created a journal for her Walden-like experience.

I had been watching demonstrator Kelly Gettelfinger create journals and memory books from paper bags and Designer Series Paper. She even included the clear medium envelopes as photo pages. Journals, like any other kind of paper, call to me. You can find Kelly on Facebook: Always Stampin With Kelly Gettelfinger

So in the middle of several other projects I cleared a space on my work table, pulled up Kelly's video and started in on a journal with a recycled paper bag that I begged off a server in Panera Bread - recycled, brown and green, perfect.

The light and coloring here is terribly dark, sorry. This design from the DSP Beauty of the Earth is dark and rich in Mossy Meadow and Old Olive inks, with touches of Bumblebee. I also used a dark design from the Hydrangea papers which is now retired, as are the lovely stamps.

Tucked away inside in various pockets are journaling cards and photo mats crafted from Stampin' Up! papers and products, several are stamped with nature images. There are four clear envelopes attached by their adhesive flaps. She can add memorabilia or photos,  pressed leaves or journaling inside to display and document her adventure.

It was fun to create! I won't stop with just one. But, I also need to get back to those projects I pushed aside. And I really need to play with all of the elements in the Beauty of the Earth Suite. Check the new Annual Catalog pages 10 -11 for all suite items. In the beginning of the catalog, just like those joyful hymns in the front of the hymnal.

                                                                    Stampin' Up! images

If these products have your name written on them, you can certainly order right here on the blog, just check for Shop Now; or contact me and I will be happy to help you with an order. 

I have more fall ideas coming, so please stay tuned; if you have not subscribed to this blog, please do so. I would love your company.  

And if you know the tune:

For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies,

for the love which from our birth, over and around us lies;

refrain

Lord of all to thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise.

For the beauty of each hour of the day and of the night,

hill and vale, and tree and flower, sun and moon, and stars of light;

refrain

For the joy of ear and eye, for the heart and mind's delight,

for the mystic harmony linking sense to sound and sight;

refrain

For the joy of human love, brother, sister, parent, child,

friends on earth and friends above, for all gentle thoughts and mild;

refrain

For thy church, that evermore lifteth holy hands above,

offering upon every shore her pure sacrifice of love;

refrain

For thyself, best Gift Divine, to the world so freely given,

for that great, great love of thine, peace on earth and joy in heaven;

refrain

United Methodist Hymnal. Tennessee: The United Methodist Publishing House, 1989

Words: Folliot S. Pierpoint, 1864

Music: Conrad Kocher, 1838, arr. by H. Monk 1861

 Ain't no cure for the Summertime blues ...

Not one to wish time away, but summertime is just not my favorite time of the year. Bees around the picnic table (but horay for bees, seriously), mixed up smells of cotton candy and funnel cake and hot dogs at the carnival, sunburn...

I am not a baseball fan, nor a golf fan, at least not watching on TV. I am not even much of an Olympics fan (gasp! Is that un-American?). The older I get the less I enjoy the drama of sports - not the thrill of victory and agony of defeat drama, but all of the political drama. Enough said. Let's move on (to Autumn!) ...

I do think there is something to summertime blues, just like cabin fever and spring fever. And I think I've got it. So, how to be rid of it? 

Perhaps the best way for me is to jump right into the blue, the blue ocean. Not literally, I can't swim! I would prefer the view from an ocean liner, but that's not going to happen for me this summer, 

Strait of Messina, off the stern of Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas   

so I will take the Atlantic ocean off the coast of Virginia and North Carolina. Or the Bay, or the rivers, any water really.

Rodanthe, NC

    And one of the best features of those waters? Blue crabs! 

     just had to share this ~ beach combing and beach boys imitating their crab

But seriously, dipping those blue crabs out of the blue-ish water under sunny blue skies, or at high tide during a blue moon.

🎜Blue moon, you caught me standing alone. 🎜

Music and song! Sing along, I can't hear you and I hope you can't hear me!

🎜Song Sung Blue  *  Forever in Blue Jeans  *  Blue Suede Shoes  *  Blue Bayou      Blueberry Hill  *  Crystal Blue Persuasion 🎜

Blues Brothers, Delta Blues, Ol' Blue Eyes, Moody Blues

Blueberries! Blue Ribbon winner Blueberry pie with the Blue Plate Special, not the Blue Light Special.

Blue Angels, Wild Blue Yonder

Blue Ridge Mountains, bluegrass, blue bird, blue jay, bluebells, blue bonnets, 

Blue Bunny Ice Cream, Bleu Cheese

Blue whale, blue heron, blue fish, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish

Bluebeard, Blue Bloods, Blue Collar, Kelly Blue Book

and ... Balmy Blue!

 Did you think I would forget about Stampin' Up!

I am definitely a blues girl!

Balmy Blue, Bermuda Bay, Misty Moonlight ...

Blue Blends, blue ink, blue cardstock... what's your favorite blue?

Another great way to kick those summertime blues ~ let's stamp!

Love, Mama

In a recent issue of Garden & Gun Magazine, readers were asked, 'What did you inherit from your (Southern) Mother?'  The magazine is published in Charleston, SC, hence Southern Mother.

Among other qualities and traits, respondents answered: the value of hand written thank you notes. Hand written anything anymore seems to be somewhat of an anomaly. 

Interestingly, when I was growing up, an in-person thank you was more valued than a note. It was not hard to accomplish as most our family all lived in the same city and all lived in Virginia. We were in and out of our aunts' houses and Grandmama's house constantly, and not just for holidays and celebrations. It was a wonderful time to grow up, from my perspective.

So, what did I inherit from Mama? That thin stream of creativity that runs through my veins, that led me, in part, to my playful job at Stampin' Up! Growing up I had cigar boxes full of crayons and chalk, scissors and paperdolls, felt and buttons ~ Mr. Levinson at the drug store saved the boxes for us. I made clothes for the paperdolls and fashioned rooms for them from file folders and magazines. (I did have a wonderful tin doll house ~ 2 stories, each room had 'wallpaper' and drapes and rugs, oh my! I wonder if that's why I entertained the idea of Interior Decoration for a bit?)

Mama liked to sketch, just little scenes. There was an open space beneath our stairs to the second floor at home. That's where the telephone was, on a desk that fit snuggly into the opening and was outfitted with a lamp, pencils and a scratch pad. (There were scratch pads all over the house!) While Mama talked on the phone she would sketch on those pads: birds, flowers, sailboats, little girls; her sketches reminded me of Tasha Tudor, one of her favorite illustrators.

I can't draw, but I can stamp. I can pull together colors, although it takes forever as I second guess every combination. I am in love with the Stampin' Blends for coloring images, and water brushes for watercoloring.  I lean toward images of all of nature that she loved and taught to me. In my collection of stamp sets, you'll find Hydrangea Haven, Daisy Lane, Sand and Sea, Pansy Petals, Beauty of the Earth, and so many more.

I think I picked up her sense of wanderlust, just driving down the road to see where it went, and to see what was happening. She wanted to see the storms, the snow covered roads, and what washed up on shore after the hurricane. 

I am so lucky to have grown up with regular visits to museums, listening to music, trips to the library, country drives on Sundays, family gatherings, home cooking ... 

but the one beautiful talent Mama had that I did not inherit is gardening. I appreciate gardens, and I know flowers and shrubs, but I cannot grow them.  She said she had no luck with roses, but she tended the most fragrant and delicate of roses, the Dr. Van Fleet climbing rose. It blooms only once a season. It is pale, pale pink and just perfectly formed. But once budded, it opens very quickly and drops its soft petals in a matter of days. This rose was the most popular of 29 roses that Dr. Van Fleet cultivated, and it was the most popular rose in American in 1923.

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-van-fleet-roses.html?m=0

And this is from Mama's Dr. Van Fleet, grown from a cutting and living in the garden at the Hunter House Victorian Museum in downtown Norfolk.

What did you inherit from your mother?

 I'll take SCRAPBOOKS for $100, Alex

SCRAPBOOKS for $100: Yes, seriously!

buzz ! ~ what is Do you stamp in your scrapbook?

I had the best time watching these puffins at the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward.  

The visit was included in a land and cruise tour as we ended the land tour in Seward where we picked up the ship for the inner passage cruise. These playful guys were seemingly laughing at themselves and their playmates as they swam and dove and played hide and seek. 

I felt just like a child, tickled to death to watch and to hear them. I am not sure how long we stayed watching, until Dave had to drag me out to get to the ship I expect. Needless to say, I took several, plus a few extra, pictures of them.

I knew I wanted them to have their own space in my Alaska album. And that was before I ever saw

Party Puffins

Party Puffins stamp set will be released on the May 4 launch of the Stampin' Up! 

2021 - 2022 Annual Catalog. 

This was the perfect embellishment for this page. I simply stamped two puffin designs in Momento Tuxedo Black Ink on Basic White cardstock and colored in the bills and feet with Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Blends. Then a little fussy cutting and they flew right onto my page of photos.

Stampin' Up! has lots of stamp sets featuring animals, trees, flowers that can be used in scrapbooks.

On the same land and sea cruise I went whale watching. Those creatures were quite hard to photograph; every picture looks like a splash or a fluke. But, I was excited to see them so I clicked away anyway. I will journal the excitement beside some mediocre pictures, but with some cool punches from the Stampin' Up! Whale punch.

My scrapbook stash includes many Stampin' Up! products: Memories and More Cards, dies, punches, 12 x 12 cardstock, Stampin' Blends, Take Your Pick Tool and of course the Stampin' Cut and Emboss Machine and the Mini. I tucked my Mini right into a satchel and headed off to a scrapbook retreat last weekend ~ die cut letters for titles. 

If you need any of these tools and product, you can shop directly from this blog site - except for the Party Puffins, they land on May 4.  

Please share any ideas you have; ask any questions. 

So, do I stamp in my scrapbooks? Yes, seriously!

Let's stamp!