The Great NJ Lighthouse Challenge - (6) Hereford Inlet and (7) Absecon

I know I am really behind on posting the remaining stops in our Lighthouse Challenge weekend.


The next stop on the tour is Hereford Inlet. This again, is one of the "house" lighthouses although this one is on the Atlantic. Hereford Inlet is just north of Wildwood. I do believe that this is the first time that I have taken a picture from this angle. I thought the flowers along the fence looked so pretty.
When you go around behind the lighthouse there is a beautiful garden with shady paths and an herbal garden too. The path takes you up to the sea. It is lined with gorgeous flowers, and in the past, those flowers have been covered with butterflies. This year it was a bit cold and windy and I don't remember seeing any butterflies.


Back again in the front between the fence and the building is a gazing ball. If you look closely at the ball you should be able to see two people reflected in it.

Here is Absecon Lighthouse. To get to this lighthouse you have to travel through Atlantic City. Well, not really through Atlantic city, but around it. It is kind of odd to see this lighthouse a block in from the ocean and partially obscured from the sea by highrises.

Friday CPR 11/28 - May I Have Your Attention Please

To view my Friday CPR post for 11/28 - Hello, Operator click here.

To All My Family, Friends, and Followers

This Morning

Frosty flowers on the windshield.

Another Bake Sale

HWNSNBP's place of business had another charity bake sale this week. Thankfully I had mixed up the dry ingredients for several more batches of Spice Cookies when I made them last month. I got out my package of Fall Flowers DSP (retired from last year - I've got to stop hoarding things) and broke out a new Martha Stewart border punch I got recently. I thought I'd add the Happy Thanksgiving sentiment to make them more sellable.

He told me that they were gone in 15 mins. and that the bake sale netted $1,500 (matched by the company).

I've been busy working on some more this weekend. It's been a baking busy day. Tomorrow we are having a "Cookie Walk" at work. This is the third year that we are doing it. Those that sign up bring in a batch of 6 dozen cookies and after school ends we will meet in a conference room and set our cookies out. Then we'll rotate around the table and take 3 of each cookie and put them in an empty container we need to bring. We'll continue around the table until all the cookies are gone. There are 11 people signed up this year so we should have a nice variety of cookies to have either for Turkey Day or to freeze for Christmas.

Look What I Got

Here it is just days before Thanksgiving and I am finally remembering to share the wonderful Halloween cards and RAK's that I have received in the last couple of weeks. The two Halloween cards are from my Counsin Barb (the witch card) and my co-worker Carol (the dracula card). Francesstein is from my upline Debbie. Aren't they all great! I love to receive handmade items.

The other card is a RAK that I received from fellow Splitcoaster SmilynStef. What a surprise that was!

Thank you all ladies. I greatly appreciate the sharing of your creativity with me!

Friday CPR 11/21 - Hello, Operator

To view my Friday CPR post for 11/21 - Hello, Operator click here.

Fabulous Flower Angel

This little angel can hang on a tree or package. You will need the Fabulous Flowers stamp set and your favorite color ink.







You'll also need silver or gold cord, 1 large pearl and one medium pearl, a paper piercer or tapestry needle. The halo piece is optional - in this case I used a silver filigree circle .



Not pictured is sticky strip.





Stamp the large flower 3 times and the pointed flower once.


You will cut out these pieces using the pattern (in black) below. Use 1, 2, and 4. Cut two petals (top and bottom) from the pointed flower - this will be the wing piece.

Using sticky strip, create cone shapes from the large flower pieces. Fold the wing piece in the center.

Make a hole in the center of each cone piece.

Cut a 12" piece of cord and fold it in half - knot the end making a loop. Thread the loop through the cone pieces adding the small pearl between the upper two cones, and the large pearl at the top. (I bent a small piece of wire in half to help thread the loop through the holes in the cones and pearls.)

You will need to add your halo piece on top of the pearl. Twist the cord into a knot above the halo. You might want to add a little crystal effects or liquid glue around the top knot to keep everything in place.

Attach the wings with liquid glue or a small piece of sticky strip.

You can add glitter to the edges to sparkle this up.

What do you think! Easy?

Teapot Tuesday 21

I love this pumpkin teapot. When we were on vacation this summer I had seen a similar teapot at the Lizzie Rose in Tuckerton and meant to go back and get it before we left. Don't remember now what happened. Maybe they'll have another one next year. Oh well!

Isn't it cute though! If you haven't been following along, Cindy Mothermark posts a weekly challenge on her glob called Teapot Tuesday (that's the challenge name, not the glob name). She has a teapot collection and she posts a picture of one each week along with a card that she was inspired to make. You can see her glob and gorgeous (YOU REALLY HAVE TO GO LOOK AT THIS ONE!) card here.

Cindy invites everyone who visits to her weekly tea party. I have been to most of them and I can tell you that they are a lot of fun. She has her regulars and an occasional surprise guest or two.

I heard a rumor that even though Cindy collects teapots, she actually doesn't like tea! So........ I thought that I should come prepared to this party with my favorite pumpkin spice tea for Thanksgiving in a tea bag holder card. This tea bag holder card (say that three times fast, or better yet try typing it!), holds 2 tea bags.

I'm sorry that I don't remember where I got the pattern, but if you do a search on Splitcoast or maybe even Google "tea bag holder pattern" you might find something suitable.

The pumpkin was stamped using the SU Give Thanks pumpkin stamp and I drew in the handle and spout. I colored it with my Prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits. The leaves were punched with a maple leaf punch and trimmed to look like squash leaves (I hope they do!).
I took a close up of the pumpkin so you could actually see the leaves.

So I tip my cup of pumpkin spice tea to you and wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving.

INKredible Color Challenge 11/17

One of these things is not the same - or something like that. Can you see the difference?

It started out simple enough - which was what I was trying to do, to show how simply and quickly you can pull a Christmas card together. I made the card on the right and took the picture and started my post about it, but the more I looked at it, the more I thought something was missing, or should be different. So I put everything away for the evening and came back and started again right after work yesterday.

Can you see what I did differently? Well, let me tell you. On the left you will see that the plant has a brown stem instead of a green one. I also accented the leaves and berries a bit with markers and my blender pen.

I took both of them to school today and polled a few people. Believe it or not, it was just about an equal split. But I'm kind of leaning toward the one on the left.

The main image is from the Kindred Spirits stamp set and the sentiment (see, I can put a sentiment on the front!) is from the Heard From the Heart set. Oh, and the colors of the week are Bravo Burgundy, Always Artichoke, and Chocolate Chip. I didn't have any brads in Bravo Burgundy, although now that I'm thinking of it, there probably is a way to make some (we'll save that for another day), so instead, I made some French knots out of 1/4" grosgrain.

Okay, now it's your turn to pick the one you like. Left or right?

Friday CPR – 11/14 - Pediculosis

To view my Friday CPR post for 11/14 click here.

EtsyInspired #9

One of my blogging friends Ashley, of Heart Hugs Designs, has a challenge she posts on her blog relating to EtsyInspired Art. She chooses an artist and asks those who wish to participate to choose something from the artist's Etsy shop to use as inspiration for their creation. Usually the artist who she chooses offers one of their creations as an award.

Up until now, I haven't participated, but I decided that I would give it a try. The artist this week is Camille of Pretty Girl Things. This is the piece that I chose as my inspiration

I love this tile pendant and I think that I will be returning to Camille's shop to do a little shopping soon. Anyway, this is what I was inspired to create

Believe it or not, all of those images are the same size - it kind of photographed as an optical illusion. The card base is Kraft with a layer of Basic Gray. The images are stamped on watercolor paper in Basic Gray, Going Gray, Sahara Sand, and Creamy Caramel. I added some Kraft Taffeta for accents.

I've been using this set - Organic Grace - for a few masculine cards lately. I'm really pleased with the way this turned out. What do you think?

Teapot Tuesday 20

I bet a lot of people could tell you who this teapot was made by, but just in case you don't know, it's Mary Englebreit. Cindy has such an eclectic collection of teapots, don't you think! If you haven't been following along with my Teapot Challenge posts, and even if you have, you should check out Cindy's glob for all the details. And I know you'll certainly want to see her wonderful card(s) - she is extremely talented! You can even leave her a comment and tell her that Lorraine sent you!


So, being a fan of ME (that's Mary Englebreit silly), I totally had a ball with this one. Who could not have fun with all those polka dots (Lettie, what do you think!!!)? Out came the box with all the polka dot ribbons. Then I chose to use just the center portion of the single blossom from Bella Blossoms. The leaves are punched from Garden Green card stock with the 5-petal flower punch and trimmed so each blossom had two leaves.


I wove the black and white grosgrain ribbons together for my black and white treatment. The background is So Saffron stamped with the polka dot stamp in the Sweet Sampler set. The finishing touch is the sheer ribbon bow with the Styled Silver Hodgepodge brad in the center.

This is a pretty cheery card so I think it'll probably be a birthday card. I'll add a sentiment later when I decide who will be the recipient.

Hope you're enjoying the Teapot Tuesday posts.

INKredible Color Challenge 11/10

This week's colors were limited to two - Creamy Caramel and Bravo Burgundy. I was thinking holidays with these colors and I also was itching to use my new Christmas Cardinal stamp set. This cardinal was stamped with Bravo Burgundy on the Creamy Caramel, giving it a bit of a sepia look. I sponged both colors on the edges of the ovals, more on the large one to give it the look of a real frame. The cutting of the branches was the most time consuming. If you look closely at the berries you will see that I used a marker to highlight the berries to give them more depth. I also edged the leaves with my VersaMarker to keep it from looking so flat.

So, if you're keeping track of what went into this card here is the recipe:

Stamps: A Cardinal Christmas
Paper: Bravo Burgundy, Creamy Caramel
Ink: Bravo Burgundy, Creamy Caramel, VersaMarker
Accessories: Coluzzle, Photo Corner Punch, Mat Pack, Dimensionals, Sponges

Just to let you know that you will be seeing this stamp set again with a more true-to-life cardinal.

And now I'm going to ask a favor. A friend of mine is in the hospital at this moment. She is a pink ribbon friend who is bravely fighting. Please say a prayer that she can get through this crisis. Thank you.

The Great NJ Lighthouse Challenge - (4) Cape May Lighthouse Museum and (5) Cape May Lighthouse

The original lens from the Cape May Lighthouse now resides in the Cape May Lighthouse Museum on Route 9. After we left East Point we pointed in the direction of Cape May, not quite following the written directions supplied by the Challenge website and happened upon the Cape May Lighthouse Museum on Route 9. This was added to the challenge this year. The lens is housed in a barn-like structure along with other artifacts, but the museum itself didn't appear to be quite finished yet.

We ventured in to get a better look at the lens. You are looking at a very impressive glass structure. The light you are seeing is a regular lightbulb suspended inside the lens housing. You can see from the second picture that, depending on the angle, the light becomes magnified.
Next we headed to Cape May itself. Before visiting the lighthouse, we detoured down to Sunset Beach. This may appear at first glance to be some sort of sea creature, however it is not. It is what is left of the concrete ship that was sunk just off of Cape May at Sunset Beach. You can find more intelligent information at the Sunset Beach website.

This is a shot of the apex of the Cape May Lighthouse taken last year. Below you can see the entire Lighthouse. The parking lot is always hopping at the lighthouse. There is a small environmental museum center in the park there. (And a half decent bathroom facility which is very important when you're on the road all day!)

There also is a birding area in Cape May near the lighthouse.

The picture below I took at Sunset Beach. I really like the way that the sun reflected on the water. You should be able to click on that picture to get the full effect.

To be continued........

Another Inspiration

Some cards just don't photograph well. In the case of the card in my previous post that would apply. Of course it wasn't a stunner either! So today, because the sun was out for the first time in several days, and I didn't have any specific place to be I declared a pajama day and worked around the house. I also had time to try out some of my new neglected stamps and to do some embossing.

Like I said, yesterday's card, although nicer looking in real life, did not meet up to my standards so I tried the inspiration challenge again. This time I found a little girl's skirt to use as my jumping off point. The skirt comes in red and blue and I chose to use the red one. I got out my Scandinavian Season stamp set mittens and although I have the wheel that goes with that, I decided to use another untouched wheel that I recently got - Illuminated - as the lower border.

The skirt also has some stitching near the top (smocking I believe), which brought me back to one of my earliest crafting interests. That's a story for another day.

Here I used the mat pack and paper piercer to make the holes which makes for nice even stitching. The thread is three strands of white embroidery floss.

Another untouched goody I had was the Red Riding Hood taffeta ribbon. That ribbon with the white edging was the perfect touch, don't you think!

Inspired By......

The Inspiration Challenge on Splitcoast today was to find some article of clothing or an outfit on the Boden USA website and create a card.

I chose a long brown skirt that had oval shapes outlined in white along the hemline. The ovals were in Elegant Eggplant, Not Quite Navy and Basic Gray.

This is what I came up with. I have to say that I didn't use one stamp. I punched the ovals and sponged white ink on the edges of them. I added strips of the same colors on the right edge, also highlighted with white ink. The Not Quite Navy brads helped to fasten down the Basic Gray taffeta ribbon.

These colors are a little bit out of my comfort zone but I think this would make a good masculine card or a basic notecard for anyone. What do you think?

You can find the skirt here. You have to click on the brown box at the bottom of the picture to see the brown skirt.

INKredible Color Challenge 11/3

This has got to have been the hardest one so far. The colors this week were Night of Navy, Handsome Hunter and......... wait...........here it comes..........Blush Blossom. I have to admit that Blush Blossom is one of my least favorite colors. It reminds me of a little disagreement I had with my mother.

My daughter was receiving her first communion and I had sewn this beautiful dress for her. My mother happened to work with someone who had a flower arranging business on the side and she asked him to make a little bouquet for my daughter to carry. We talked about it and agreed that it would contain blush pink rose buds and have a blush pink ribbon. When she brought it over the rosebuds were the color of blush blossom, as was the ribbon. This was not what I had envisioned and I guess my reaction was not quite what my mother expected. We talked about it a little later and after I explained my feelings to her we decided just to remove the rosebuds and just have a white bow. I just do not care for that color - sorry.

So to have to use it in this challenge was a real challenge to me. As you can see, there is very little of it.

Here is the recipe:

Stamps: Eastern Blooms, Always in My Thoughts, Sanded

Paper: Handsome Hunter, Night of Navy, Blush Blossom, Whisper White

Ink: Handsome Hunter, Night of Navy, Blush Blossom

Accessories: 1", 1 1/4", 1 3/8" and Round Scallop Punches, 1/4" NN grosgrain

To make the background I inked the Sanded background stamp with each of the darker colors separately and stamped the Whisper White cs rotating the image.

Thanks for looking!

The Great NJ Lighthouse Challenge - (3) East Point

Our third leg of the trip was one of the longest. We traveled through Salem County to get to East Point Lighthouse. In a previous post I wrote about a shack along the side of the road just before you get to this lighthouse.
When we got there it was high tide and very blustery. The lighthouse helpers had moved their tent up next to the building which takes a little away from the picture, so I decided to post some of the pictures from last year's challenge.
This is one of the prettiest settings for all of the lighthouses in my opinion. On a nice day at low tide you can walk along the shoreline and get a glimpse of East Point throught the grasses.

I tried to get a shot of each of the light sources in the pictures that I took last year, and again, I will include them in my posts. You will see how very different they all are.

I hope you are enjoying the trip!

To be continued...........

Teapot Tuesday 19

Don't you just love the colors in this teapot? I do. I love this color combination. Old Olive, Pretty in Pink, and Riding Hood Red. This teapot was another birthday gift for Cindy. You can read all about it on her glob. Can you believe that we're up to week 19 of the teapot challenges! I wonder just how big Cindy's collection of teapots is!

I actually was able to participate in several challenges with this card. There's a Technique Challenge (see the card below I did on Monday for that) that uses the circle medallion made with corner punches. I did that for this card but cut away every other motif so I had room to stamp the "roses". (I'm not sure they're really roses, but they fit nicely in the space!) The other challenge was today's Color Challenge on SCS to use the three colors that I mentioned above.

The large white circle was punched with a Fiskars Circle Border Punch that I had picked up from QVC over a year ago (with another one) and had never used. It comes with a pattern for either a 4" or 6" circle which you trace and cut out. Then, depending on the size you are using, you line up the circle in the punch and move it one way for the 4" and the other if you are doing a 6". Since I hadn't used the punch before it was a little stiff. I work at my dining room table and there are things stacked all over the place (Dear Santa, I'd like a studio for Christmas, please.) and almost every time that I pressed down on that punch something fell off the table, which in turn got the bird upset and he flew off the cage. You see how much fun you can have stamping!

Back to the card. You can't tell from the picture, but in the center of the button I put a green jewel from the circle ice brads. I layered the Riding Hood Red ribbon with Pink Taffeta for the bow and got my needle and thread out to gather the taffeta. I used the Boho Blossoms punch for the green leaf shapes cutting one of them in half to simulate leaves.

I'm not sure that this card is going to fit into any envelope that I have! I might have to make one. If you can't tell, I'm really having fun with these Teapot Challenges. Thanks Cindy for being such and inspiration and sharing your creativity in many ways!