As American as Apple Pie

I have just a few photos to share from the Picnic in the Park yesterday - and a little enabling later on in this post!  A lot of you write and tell me that you enjoy hearing about our small town of Concord MA and the history and traditions we have here.  The annual Picnic and concert in the Emerson Field in the center of town is a fun family event that we enjoy every year.

The day started off with torrential rain - but it cleared up just in time to set things up in the park for the 11 AM start.  You can see the mud and puddles that were still there in the afternoon.

We missed seeing the parade of kids on their bikes but we did see lots of patriotic decorations on the bikes, wagons and strollers.

I think this year the hot air balloon was actually able to take some people up for a bird's eye view of the park (it is often too windy to raise the balloon).

There were lots of children with balloon creations...

...made by the clown at the far left of this photo.  I think it was a toss up for longest line between the balloons and the cotton candy.

There is a variety of food offered by local organizations trying to raise funds - a lawn chair is useful if you want to sit and enjoy the music and your food.

Lots of people dress in patriotic colors.  I thought this was one of the most stylish hats at the event!

 

A new activity this year was hula hoop coaching.  The Boston Hoop Troop brought lots of hula hoops for kids of all ages to try.  There were many sizes and the coaches told us, the bigger the person - the bigger the hoop!

It was fun to see kids and adults getting into the swing of things.

 This little boy had the tiniest hoop and a very large one that he dragged around behind him.

Last but not least, I had to take a photo of this ladybug picnic blanket for my friend Shirley AKA Okieladybug!

And now, just a little enabling...

Last February, I wrote about finding some CDs of Tim Holtz digital papers and images. I have three of these CDs and I love working with the range of items they include.  I haven't seen them in many places but Blitsy just added two of the three CDs yesterday.

The CDs are $9.95 and definitely worth having if you like Tim's style and do digital projects.  You could also print out the papers to use for more traditional projects.  I made these two sampler pages last February to show some of the contents from all three CDs to give you an idea of the types of things they contain (there might be things on these pages that are from the third CD that I own).

Please click HERE to go to Blitsy and sign up if you aren't a member already (it's free).  Once you have joined the site, you can get a referral code and earn credits for future purchases.

Blitsy also has the Tim Holtz Summer Seasonal Distress Ink set of three (Picked Raspberry, Mowed Lawn and Salty Ocean) for $12.99 until Friday (but they might sell out sooner).

There is a new freebie this week for the Cricut Craftroom.  The 3D party cones is available to anyone with a Cricut Craftroom account. 

Just log in and then look under "my cartridges" in the drop down menu.  I think it is a great idea for Cricut to offer these freebies - maybe more people will try the Craftroom and get hooked on using it.

I'll be driving back to New Jersey today, and then on to see my Dad in Pennsylvania on Friday.  I made a little progress on my "brainstorm" project - I can't wait to show you how it is working!

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Happy Fourth of July!

I hope you enjoy whatever celebrations you are planning for today.  We are hoping that the rain will stay away so we can go to the Picnic in the Park.  Did you check out the tips for photographing fireworks from Nick Kelsh?  If you missed the post - you can click HERE to see it, lots of great advice!

We won't be seeing any live fireworks this year.  Our town doesn't do a show every year and the crowds at the Hatch Shell on the Esplanade in Boston can be overwhelming. 

You may remember some of these projects - if you haven't seen them before you can click HERE to go to a post with links for several Fourth of July projects.  You can also click HERE to see all of the past posts with the label "H - Fourth of July" - there are some nice parade and Picnic in the Park photos in previous posts.  I know that many of you live in other countries - so have a wonderful day even though it isn't a holiday for you!

I tried something yesterday after I had a "bright idea" and it worked!  I'll show you what I've been up to soon.  I'll be heading to Pennsylvania to see my Dad again tomorrow...maybe I can bring a machine with me so I can keep working on my idea...

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An All-American Tradition

Several of you have asked me to share photos from our town's traditional Fourth of July "Picnic in the Park"  - one of the highlights of the summer.  This event has been held for nearly 40 years.  It is a great place to catch up with old friends, enjoy some tasty food, browse the booths sponsored by local community groups and take in all of the sights and sounds.

If we are in town, I usually help at the booth for our quilt guild, The Concord Piecemakers.  The members help by sewing blocks (with the fabric and instructions provided), some extra dedicated members put the top together and a member who is a professional long-arm quilter does a fabulous job quilting and finishing the quilt. 

The theme this year was "Caribbean Dreams" and the quilt is full of beautiful fabrics and intricate stitch patterns.  Here is a closer view of one section (you can click any photo to get a larger view).  We can't hang the quilt high because there is usually a breeze in the park and the large quilt turns into a sail!

It was a surprise to arrive this year and find that a tree had been removed.  The booths are all set up along a lane of giant trees, however, the tree that shaded the quilter's booth and a few others must have died over the winter.  If you look between the two tents you can see the replacement tree that was planted, beyond you can see the size of the other trees so it will be quite a while until we have our shade back!

One of the main events of the day is the children's parade of decorated bikes, tricycles, wagons and doll carriages!  I think that the children who participate year after year (until they are "too old") will have some great memories.

This little girl was very intent on moving her carriage along.

Look at all of the stuffed toys that got to ride in this red wagon.

I couldn't help but to think of E.T. hiding in the toy closet when I saw all of them jumbled together!

Don't you love the floppy hat?

What a lovely shady ride decorated with ribbons, bows, streamers, stars, bunting and balloons!

After the parade there are lots of other activities for kids - a bouncy castle, a tethered hot air balloon, face painting, and a chance to try a real fire hose to put out a "fire."

Families start setting up folding chairs to listen to the live music and eat the delicious food from the booths or packed in their picnic baskets.

There is a flagpole in the park but the fire truck ladder is raised even higher to fly the stars and stripes.  It was a beautiful day with a lovely blue sky.

My favorite treat this year was the vanilla ice cream with blueberries.

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you will remember that Concord is the town that voted last year to ban the sale of single serving plastic water bottles.  (Here is a LINK to the post about that showing the reusable water bottles that I decorated with vinyl).  The ban was overturned by a narrow vote this year but there are many efforts being made to reduce waste. These water wagons for taking a drink or filling your own water bottles were set up to remind people to conserve.

I am always fascinated by the silhouette artist - she is so quick and I loved her sign about "wigglers!"

Eventually everyone settles down to listen to the Concord Band and they always put on a good show.  The next to the last selection is a medley of the songs for each branch of the military and, by tradition, as each song is played, the men and women in the crowd who were in that branch stand to be acknowledged for their service.  Of course it all finishes with "The Stars and Stripes Forever."

 On the way back to the car we noticed this patriotic mailbox.  I feel very fortunate to live in such an interesting town and to be surrounded by so much history and tradition.  I hoped you enjoyed this little slice of America - I'll have a more "crafty" post to share tomorrow.

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Lots of Tiny Peachy Keen Faces!

It's my third day as Guest Designer on the Peachy Keen Stamps blog and today I have something a little different to share with you.  If you are new to my blog, welcome and thanks for stopping by!

I stamped faces on these clothespins with StazOn ink to make little dolls for my neighbors (won't they be fun to dress up!).  While I was cleaning the tiny stamps an idea popped into my head.

I figured out a way to make my own "Peachy Paper" by stamping rows of tiny faces in a grid fashion.  The stamped piece above was my first attempt.  I didn't think about filling in the gap at the right until it was too late.  You can see more photos of the process in my post on the Peachy Keen Stamps blog HERE.

After I had filled the cardstock with images, I cut the word "Smile" from the Cricut Gypsy Wanderings cartridge.  I wanted to highlight one of the smiling faces in the background so I decided to make a ring to put around the face.

I could have set up a cut on the Gypsy or with Design Studio but I chose to use this "low tech" punch method.  If you have a set of graduated size punches it is a handy trick to know.  Just punch the first circle with the smaller punch.  Then, move the punched circle to the second punch area and center it in the opening.  When you punch the larger circle, you will have a perfectly shaped ring to use to highlight something on a card or layout.

Once the ring was placed, I couldn't resist adding a bit of bling to make the smiling face sparkle.  I also added a gem to the flower in the "Smile" and tied a piece of gingham ribbon around the top of the card.

I hope this card will bring a smile to someone's face when they open it.

Remember, you can leave comments on my posts here and the coordinating posts on the Peachy Keen blog all week for a chance to win the PK-590 Blushing Bride Interchangeable Faces set.  If you have questions about how to use the stamps, there is a very helpful "How To" section on the Peachy Keen site HERE.

This is the second card I made with "Peachy Paper" - just in time for the Fourth of July!  You can see more about this card on the Peachy Keen Blog HERE.

A special note for my overseas friends and readers - Most of you know that I am also on the Design Team for Scrappy-Go-Lucky which is based in Australia.  Scrappy-Go-Lucky works with Peachy Keen and sells Peachy Keen stamps to the Australian and UK markets.

In honor of my Guest Designer week, Mandy has set up a special code of PKDI which will take 10% off your order of Peachy Keen Stamps.  This code is good only for Australia and the UK and will expire Sunday, July 3rd at midnight (Boston time).  For those of you in Australia or the UK, this would be a perfect time to add to or start a collection of these great stamps!

I'll be back with another Peachy Project tomorrow - have a great day!

By the way - the "Look Books" for the latest Hello Thursday Cricut  cartridge release (the Event and Project cartridges) are now available on the Cricut.com site HERE.  The Cartridge Library has not been updated and when I last checked there was not an update for Design Studio available yet - soon, I hope...

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