Paris & Card #37

As I created a third card with a photo taken in Paris, I wondered why I’d never posted about the city? In my excitement to create many cards last year, I just grabbed random photos, but now that I’m a bit more organized, I’m trying to created themed posts of cards (stay tuned for fruits and veggies!). Last year, cards of Notre Dame Cathedral, along with the exterior of the Musee de l'Armée were featured.

We were in Paris four years ago for just a few days, and crammed in as much as possible while attempting to not run ourselves ragged (aided by outstanding meals and chocolate croissants). Recommended ideas for tourists include a river cruise, in the evening if possible.

A day trip to Versailles is easy by train, though it’s not essential for first-timers on a tight schedule, in my opinion. When I first saw this room during my junior year abroad, I thought it was a ballroom. Come to find out, it’s just a hallway! My entire house would fit into less than half of this hallway…

Artists with a phenomenal backdrop! When booking a hotel, I get travel guides from the library to learn about neighborhoods and transportation options, read reviews on tripadvisor.com and make a chart to compare my favorites (free breakfast?, special package deals, etc.). We preferred the Musee d’Orsay over the Louvre, and also benefitted from taking the hop-on-hop-off bus tour around town to Sacre Coeur and other neighborhoods. Do you have a favorite Parisian location to share?

Road Trip

Instead of a speedy flight with hefty airfares to visit family last summer, we drove nearly half-way across the country. The weather was mostly cooperative, with nice views like this:

At one rest stop in upstate NY, a dairy farm was clearly discernable for those of us whose noses knew that fragrance. A child from another car said, “ewww, Mom, that smells so gross!”. Well, if you want milk, butter and ice cream from cows that’s what comes along with the air near them!

We stopped briefly at Niagara Falls, but didn’t spend enough time in the area to warrant an entire post (second time there for each of us, so we didn’t go to every section). Very majestic, and highly recommended.

And here we are, watching freshly made donuts rolling by…yummy! We also had excellent pastries at a grocery store in Ohio, and would frankly recommend grocery stores as an excellent alternative to restaurants at rest stops. There are always decent restrooms in grocery stores, and more often than not, healthier food choices, such as salad bars, small(er) and cheaper sandwiches, soups, etc.

Do you have any road trip advice? I got a bag of magazines from the library so I could read a few pages while Mr. Spice drove, and at staggering savings from the purchase price of all of the magazines!

Cards #34, 35, and 36 (nature and tomato)

I’ve fallen behind in the card challenge, but hope you’ve enjoyed the cookie posts! I jumped up and down when I saw this door in Hudson, NY. Leaning propped against a brick wall covered with ivy, what a perfect shot. Where would you like this door to bring you?

This cabin at Squam Lake in NH looks ideally situated among the trees by the water. No, it’s not mine! Just a lovely, dreamy photo…

I posted these lovies last year, but had extra prints made to share via greeting cards.

I finally organized the new drawers that were installed as part of the post-flood basement renovation, so I am ready to proceed with the card per week challenge.

Card #33 (fabric)

I’m back on the greeting card challenge, ready to try some new ideas. Those of you who cut cloth regularly know that ordinary scissors can’t get the job done well, but I just made that discovery. I thought it would be clever to cut cloth shapes for greeting cards, but may stick to cutting paper instead! Good thing I had “snips” on hand from a previously jewelry making class... it took way more effort to create heart shapes than I had anticipated. The white one is made of paper.

I also learned that adhering cloth to paper cards may result in warped paper if the card stock isn’t very thick, even using a minimal amount of glue. For the next card, I will try a layer of cloth-decorated cardstock (slightly warped) adhered to a plain card with traditional tape runner. OR I can figure out if there are other adhesives to use with cloth on paper…

I’ve been preparing post cards for the fun of it, in anticipation of next April’s National Letter Writing Month. I’m not counting the postcards towards this 52 week challenge, but here’s a sneak peek of the pile of altered cards I’ve been grinning over: