Iowa with lots of cuties and City Crafter Challenge Blog Week 377 ~ Monotone Coloring

August turn out to be a traveling month for me, San Francisco, Utah, Colorado, Iowa, and now I am in Singapore.

DH's son Andy had his first baby, and that is one reason to go back to Iowa for a quick trip.

Here's cutie #1 Kennedy Ann

and here's cutie #2 - Lacey

and Cutie #3 - Max

OH MY GOSH!!!! I know right?

These babies are both 8 weeks old (I just want to take them home with me!)

Andy and Dawn (Andy's girl friend) decided that it is a good idea that they are having two new puppies when they have a new born (rolling my eyes), I just pity the poor puppies, DH is part of the culprit though. Andy told his dad that he wants to get a surprise birthday present for Dawn, but the puppy (Lacey) is too expensive, so DH offered to pay for Lacey, which is 900 bucks, whew! Dawn has been very nice, since Andy is with her, she has been sending us gift cards on our birthdays, we thought that she is a good influence on Andy since the son never do that until he is with her, that is why DH is so generous with the birthday gift this round. Oh well, I just wish that the puppies can get as much attention they all need.

...........................

This week at

City Crafter Challenge Blog

The theme is Monotone Coloring

Check out challenge details HERE!

The cardstock (both pink) are from PTI.... and so is the sentiment die

the big stitched rectangle die and flower stamp are both MFT

Come join in the fun

City Crafter Challenge Blog

City Crafter Challenge Blog Week 353 ~ Spring is around the corner!

This week at...

City Crafter Challenge Blog

The theme is...

Spring is around the corner, Stella picked a lovely inspiration photo.

source

Here's my layout inspired by the Spring Feel photo.

The photos of the girls when they were young, we lived on 57th street, just a few minutes walk to central park south, we spent a lot of time there when we were new to the city. I miss those days and I miss Spring Time in New York City!

I hope you play along with us this week at City Crafter Challenge Blog!

This past weekend, DH and I went to Iowa for my brother-in-law's retirement party.

it was cold.......

 

after the party on Saturday, we drove to Des Moines, IA to spent a night with my sister-in-law Marilyn, since my older brother-in-law Dan passed away nearly 3 years ago, she hasn't been able to adjust, few months ago, she finally decided to leave Cedar Rapids, bought a mobile home and parked it at her daughter's farm, that way, she can spend time with her daughter and grand children, but yet has her own space. 

Iowa is really really cold, no wonder DH never want to move back there.

 

Growing up in the city and lived in NYC, the wide open farm land seems attractive to me, imagine your neighbor is like miles away.... ahhhh....

Since I am blogging less, I try to post my photos on instagram, if you like to follow me, here's the link - https://www.instagram.com/kirsty_vittetoe/

See you there!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving.....

To all my crafty friends.....


♥

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Autumn......

Autumn.......is a second spring

Where every leaf is a flower

~ Albert Comus

I don't usually combine challenges, but I was going to make a layout for the challenge at 

Bird is the word - Autumn

I also found this stamp where I could apply the new technique I learn this week from

PTI Make It Monday #90 - Focal Point Sentiments with Stamps and Dies

at PTI Make It Monday #90, there is a clever twist to use this stamp with dies, go check it out!

as you can see, I use die cut letters to replaced the word "autumn" from the stamp
and then stamped "is a second spring" below the word autumn

the other half of the quote "where every leaf is a flower" goes below the photo I took early October at Cedar Rapids, just right outside my husband's office building

I did a lot of stamping, misting and masking for the background

 since I love stamping birds on string, like I have seen many times on the road when I travel, I am also going to enter this layout for the challenge over at

Ruby's Challenge #41 - Birds

 my favorite embellishment got to be butterflies, they are so pretty, love them!!!!

Stamps (birds) - PTI Love Birds Stamp Set

Stamps (strings) - PTI Banner Builder Stamp Set

Stamps (leaves) - PTI Falling Leaves Stamp Set

Stamps (butterfly) - Martha Steward

Alphabet Dies - PTI Block Alphabet Die collection

Paper - Michael's 0.25 deal

Paper (butterflies) - PTI Beautiful beads pink + orange mix 4x6 paper pad

Mist - Tattered Angels

♥

I am entering this for the following challenges

Bird is the word - Autumn

PTI Make it Monday # 90 - Focal point sentiments with stamps and dies

Ruby's Challenge #41 - Birds 

Embracing Fall......

Yes, there are changes in the air

The beginning....

it was just like that in Boston 2 weeks ago

and this was what I saw in Amana 2 days ago

yes, there are changes in the air

precious treasures....

look, they are everywhere around you

I love the yellow against the brilliant blue of the sky

 this trip to Iowa, after visiting my brother-in-law, I took an afternoon off, drove 30 miles south to The Amana Colonies all by myself while husband went back to office for work

The Amana Colonies are a group of settlements of radical German Pietists in Iowa. They were first settled in New York State near Buffalo but in order to live out their beliefs in more isolated surroundings they moved west, to east-centrla Iowa in 1856. They lived a communal life until the mid 1930s. Due to this, the Amanas are sometimes mistaken for Amish

A striking feature of the Amana Colonies is that for eighty years they maintained an almost completely self-sufficient local economy, importing very little from the wider, industrializing U.S. economy.

The Amanians were able to achieve the independence life style by adhering to the specialized handcrafts and farming occupations which they had brought with them from Germany. Master craftsmen passed on from one generation to the next, the knowledge, techniques, and skills of the artisan iron and copper smiths, woodwrights, weavers, shoemaers, cheese makers, etc.

Today, Amana is a major tourist attraction known mainly for its restaurants and craft shops.  The colonies as a whole have been listed as a National Historic Landmark since1965

(** the above notes about Amana Colonies are from Wikipedia, read more here)

the weather was amazing so I walked my legs off and saw a ton of things

and when I got tired

happiness is a cup of coffee and a really really good piece of German cream horn

I sat there, sipping coffee and watching someone tweeting.....

It was such a beautiful, peaceful afternoon

simple pleasures......

I hope you are finding joy 

with the little things around you today

♥

on the personal side, we got home worried as we were still waiting for the news of my brother-in-law, he looked really pale and weak when we were there, like us, he was very worried about the scanned results. Just a few hours ago, we received the good news, doctor said his condition is treatable, what a great relief.

I want to THANK all of you, my lovely blog friends, for your thoughts and prayers, please continue to pray for our family, Dan, Randy's eldest brother, is kind of the male model in Randy's life, he is 14 years older and Randy is the baby of the family, he grew up mostly with Dan and his wife Marilyn. We love Dan and hope to see him healthy again....

and

I got to meet up with Stephanie this trip, we had sushi and chatted quite a bit, it was fun!

Isn't it wonderful when you get to meet your blog friends IRL?