Snowmen at Humbug Hall

Hello Friends -

It feels like I've been away from Humbug Hall for far too long (it just the difference between getting DT items in and squeaking in at the end of the challenge).  I almost missed the deadline but then I saw the incredible creation by Popsicle Toes.  While it reminded me I needed to get my cards photographed and all, I almost chucked them once I saw Donna's deliciousness.  Oh my, she calls it a quick and easy card.  My mind doesn't even get to the point of making such yumminess.

Anyway, enough blathering.  Here are my cards.  They all use digis from Di's Digis which can be found here.

This one is my favorite.  The paper is perfect, a lovely blue with snowmen all over it.  I also thought the sentiment worked well.  It is from Fiskar's Season's Greetings.  It is one of the new ones.

This one has a little bling.  I used some of my Martha Stewart Christmas paper.  It is a nice bright red.  I've been in a mood to use that paper this week.

Finally, another version of the Snowman and Penguin hugging.

This sentiment is from Unity Stamps and Jillibean Soup.  You really can't go wrong when you combine those two.   And, did you know Jillibean Soup has started selling digis?  Oh my, I can't wait to play with those.

OK, back to my Advent Calendars. I'm hoping to be able to show a few of them this week.

Bah Humbug Die Cuts

Hello Friends -

This is my last week as a guest designer at Bah! Humbug! Challenges.  I am very sad to leave the lovely ladies of the manor but I hope you will join in some of their challenges.  It is a wonderful way to get ready for the holidays without trying to get all of your cards done at the last minute.

Today's challenge is die cuts.  I must admit, this one was tough because the possibilities seemed endless.  I could cut with my cuttlebug.  I could cut with my electronic cutter.  What to do? What to do?

So, I decided to do one of each (I was shooting for two but it just didn't happen).  The first one is an ornament shape card.  I made it using a Lettering Delights simple shape and Sure Cuts a Lot.  I'm disappointed in the way the photo came out.  In person it is all sparkly and fun.

Then I made this simple shaped card using my cuttlebug and a round Spellbinders die.  I think I learned this technique on BBTB2.  To make the base you fold your cardstock in half and then place it in the die just a little bit off.  This way it doesn't cut through the top of the card.  Then I used the next smaller die to cut out the cute Tiddly Inks image.  I can't find him in the Tiddly Inks store right now but I'm certain he is there somewhere.

Finally, I made this side step card.  I used the tutorial at Split Coast Stamper.  I must say, whenever I'm looking for a tutorial on how to make a card, I find they are likely to have it and all of their tutorials have been easy to follow.   I used my electronic cutter to make this card.  All of the images are from Cricut carts, Child's Year, Celebrations and Joy of the Seasons.

I hope you like the die cut cards and a huge thank you to the ladies of the manor.  

Bah Humbug All About Boys

Hello Friends -

I have three cards for my Guest Design spot at Bah!Humbug! Challenge Blog.  This is my third week with the lovely ladies of the manor so it seems only fitting to have three cards.  The challenge was to make cards for "the boys".  I decided to do one for three different age groups.

My first one has already been claimed by the Wonderkid (although I took it back out of his card box -- the box he uses to store all the cards he makes).  He'll get it on or around Christmas.

This very sweet digi comes from Di's Digi Downloads.  It is called "Gimme Gimme".  I like the way the coloring turned out.  I normally only buy a couple of digis from a company at first because some of them are tougher to color than others.  This one didn't require extensive shading -- something I still find challenging.  The sentiment is computer generated.  

Here is a close-up of the bottom half of the card.

The sentiment font is called Harrington.  It seems very festive and Christmas like.  Do you have a favorite Christmas font that I should check out?  I'd love to know about them.  I'm fumbling around trying to find just the right ones.

The next card is for a tween boy or maybe a teenager, although the Wonderkid walked around with it oohing and aaahing for an entire day.  This image is one of my favorites from Christy over at Tiddly Inks.  I've used it before and I'm thinking I'll want to use it again.  He is called Santa's Helper -- fitting, yes?

I computer generated the sentiment, again.  This time using Jokerman.  I then cut each word up and backed it in a dark red paper.  The same paper was punched using a Martha Stewart punch to make a ribbon.  I know I should have used the corner punch and made it into an even prettier border but I wasn't up to doing the math to figure out what size I could make and where to start the punching.  I used some of the punched out pieces to decorate the top of the card.

And here is my final card for today.  It is for a guy, maybe that special guy?  Well, maybe one of my friends will want to give it to their special guy.  This digi is also from Tiddly Inks.  It isn't necessarily a Christmas image but I think it works well here.  She is called Wicked Fun.

It is very simple but I don't think guy cards work if they are too fussy.  What do you think?  Do you know of any guy that would like this card for Christmas?

Christmas Cooking with Bah Humbug

Hello Friends -

I'm back with my Guest Designer projects at Humbug Hall.  I must say, the ladies of the manor have certainly made me feel welcome and loved.  They are the sweetest ladies you could find and so much fun.

So, I wanted to start off with a little treat especially for Max and Ann.  I made some Hot Buttered Rum and Mint Cocoa.

Don't you just love them?   Do you want to know what I did?  If so, grab yourself a drink, pull up a chair because this might be a long post.  I have a LOT of pictures for you today and I'm not even done.  I think you might be seeing pictures of my second project for the rest of the week.

I started this project with two small milk type bottles from Starbucks.  I bought the bottles of Frappacino at the grocery store and convinced one of my brothers to drink all of them.  I only wanted the bottles.

I filled one bottle with cocoa, marshmellows and a combination of mint chocolate chips and dark chocolate chips.  I put a cut little circle on the top wishing the recipients a Merry Christmas and then moved on to the Hot Buttered Rum mix.

I'm sorry to say there is no rum in the mix but once you add the rum and heat this up you are guaranteed to have a better evening.

Using my Sure-Cuts-A-Lot (SCAL) I printed out the tags and then cut them with my electronic die cutter.  This paper is from Little Yellow Bicycle.  It was two sided so it worked well with the box handle and on the outside of the box.  I also used it for the tag.

I knew what style of carrier I wanted but I was far too rushed to figure out how to make it on my own.  I used a file I bought from a favorite site of mine, The Cutting Cafe.  I resized it a little bit and put this one on a 12 x 24 piece of cardstock.  It ended up being about 1/2 an inch larger than I needed.

Here is the inside of the box.

The pattern paper on the bottom of the carrier is from the same piece as the handles.  This box came together like a dream.

Here is one final shot of the carrier.  I must say I love this paper.  It seems to fit well with the carrier.

And now for my Cookbook...

In my house Christmas isn't about a specific meal.  In fact, we don't focus too much on Christmas dinner.  Christmas Eve is about the rest of the family going to church and me staying home to get the presents wrapped that the Da bought on Christmas Eve day.  We have traditions around the breakfast meal and Christmas night we pull out a game of Trivial Pursuit and play while we eat cheese and crackers and shrimp and veggies (or whatever else we've picked up for the evening).

However, that doesn't mean cooking isn't an important part of our tradition.  In fact, I'm already starting to plan my baking and candy making.  I will turn 50 or more pounds of sugar into cookies and candies.   They are then carefully packaged in 30 or more Christmas tins and shipped all over the country.  This process is time consuming and a little daunting.

The Brits have decided to deport my youngest brother so by early November I should have a helping hand with this crazy process because of family weddings, travel and other unexpected issues, I'm hoping to finish all of the candy making and packaging by December 9th.  I'll let you know how that goes.

OK, back to the project.

I have wanted to make a cookbook of the recipes I use every Christmas.  In fact, I planned to do it last year when I made this cook book for my brother's Christmas present.  But you know how things go.  I ended up making the things I needed and this fell by the wayside.  Then, the Ladies of Humbug Hall said they wanted something with the cooking theme.  Well, now I had an excuse to make my cookbook.

I ended up with 20 recipes that I use every year.  After some thought, I decided I would put them on tags a la Tim Holtz.  They still need some spritzing up (both figuratively and actually) but here they are in all their glory.

Then I pulled out some regular old #10 envelopes, sealed them and cut off the end.

They looked like this with the ends cut off.

If you have a choice, I recommend ones that don't have a printed inside but it wasn't so bad that I decided to buy a new box.  You can see that this one is already covered with a pretty pattern paper.

I pulled out my Bind-It-All and punched holes in the envelopes, on the end that was not cut, and the back of the cover.  You can see the binding on the left side and some of the tags sticking out of the cover on the right.  The section that says "Treats" is actually a flap with a magnet to hold it to the front. This configuration allows me to stand it up.

This is the cover before I added the flap and the decorations.

This is the inside of the cookbook with all of the envelopes bound in and the tags sticking out of the envelopes.  I know, still a little plain but it is getting better.

This is a picture of the cookbook from the opposite side of the one above.  I put a pocket on the inside because I know I'll have more recipes over time.

Finally, this is the bottom of the cover.  If you look closely, I attached this with jump rings to the front and back.  This allows me to swing it all the way around.

So, what do you think of my little project?

I have a ton of work to finish for the Wonderkids Fall Festival.  In fact, I can't wait for it to be done because I want to get back to some peace.  I'll show you the masks we are making and the banner I'll have at our booth.  I may even show you some cakes and other treats.

But, I'll definitely be back with more of the cookbook. Is there anything special you would like to see/hear about?

Have a good day, see you soon.

All that Glitters

Hello Friends -

Today is my first day of guest designing with the wonderful ladies at Humbug Hall. One of the reasons I love their challenge site is they always come up with interesting little twists.  This week was no exception.  They challenged us to use... Glitter.  Have I mentioned how much I HATE glitter.  I tend to ban it from my craft room.  It truly doesn't matter what you do, you end up with glitter EVERYWHERE.

So, when I first read the request for glitter, after I stopped shuttering, I immediately thought of these lovely glass bulbs.  The idea of trapping all that glitter inside the bulb appealed to me.  These have been all the rage for a few years now.  My twist this time, the flattened bulb.  Isn't it wonderful?  It is also so much easier to put vinyl on something that isn't completely round.

I'm not much on housework so it took some doing to find the floor polish.  Eventually, I located the correct aisle in my grocery and then the correct polish.  For those on my side of the pond, you use Pledge with Future Shine.  If you are on the other side of the pond, or down under, I've been told you can use any floor polish that gets a bit sticky as it dries.

Here is a video on how to make these little buggers.  There are tutorials all over the web if you need more info but they are easy and a ton of fun.  I made them last year with a dozen little children.  They loved it, the ornaments came out wonderful and the glitter stayed away from my house.

Here are a couple more pictures of the Christmas ornaments.

I love being able to make something a little more personal.  This is one that I thought I could send to my cousins for their baby's first Christmas.

I put the year on the back for them.

I love the look of this one.  The green on that sparkly red.  Isn't it yummy?

For everyone looking for their card fix, I have two more little projects.  The first was inspired by a lovely lady over at Mod Paperie.  Theinly has some of the most incredible creations.  She recently introduced me to a new site called idiecut.com.  They have some wonderful SVGs to be used in your electonic cutting machines.  This little guy was so cute, I couldn't resist trying.

I like Theinly's take on him better than mine but I thought he was fun and he has a bright glittery nose.  I ran his antlers through my cuttlebug with a Tim Holtz embossing folder, the wood grain one.  I thought it gave a bit of added fun.  Instead of messing around with two little itty bitty eyes, I used a couple of gems.  It was a lot easier and gave him some dimension.

Finally, the best glitter in my book, Stickles.  It doesn't get away from you, you don't really need to be fast to keep it from spilling and it comes in many yummy colors.  I used my Cuttlebug on this card also.  This time it was a holiday folder from Cricut. I thought it would be fun to carry the Christmas trees over from the embossing folder, to cutting them out (the basic Christmas shapes that came with SCAL had the perfect tree once I stretched it) and even placing them on the tag.

I made the tag by using the path feature in SCAL and then printing instead of cutting.  I'm trying to teach myself to write on a path using MS Word or some other program but I haven't worked it out.  This seems to be doing the job so far.

I recommend hopping over to Humbug Hall for a look at the lovely creations by Ann, Max and Brenda.  They have been having crazy weather while here in the South (that is the US South) we have had the most incredibly beautiful weather.  It is making it tough to stay indoors and work or craft.  We only have about two weeks every year when you can have the windows open and enjoy the great outdoors (in between it being so hot and humid that you practically drink the air and so chilly and rainy that you want to bundle next to the heater).  So, the Wonderkid and I have been having a nice time out of doors.  Hopefully you are having more of my weather than the Baltic wing of Humbug Hall.

I'll see you tomorrow for some more fun.

Bah Humbug Reindeer

Hello Friends -

I'm back with another Bah Humbug challenge.  This week the ladies of the manor decided we needed to use reindeer in our creations.  Now, they mentioned cute reindeer or elegant reindeer, well, that had me thinking.  Are there any other types of reindeer Christmas cards?  I found a different kind.  I think it is so ugly that it is cute (but then I'm biased, maybe it is a card only the creator could love?).

What do you think?  Donna at Popsicle Toes turned me onto this wonderful artist, Lily Chilvers, and her Etsy Store, Octopode Factory.  You need to understand, Donna has an incredible style and always makes a digi shine.  I, on the other hand, needed Glossy Accents to even come close to having this little guy shine.  The Glossy Accents are on his nose and hooves.

Now, I've been wanting to use one of Lily's incredible drawings for a long time but I never found the right place for them.  That is until now.  Can you believe here it is almost Halloween and I find a way to put something a bit quirky in a Christmas card?  This digi can be found here.  After I bought this one and a couple of others, Lily posted three more Christmas digis.  She even has a girl reindeer, now.  I would go check them out.  They are a ton of fun.

I made the design paper myself using MS Word and the Chiller font.  The sentiment is done up with the same font.

OK, for everyone wanting a more traditional card, how about this one?

This digi is part of a set of 4 called Inky Critters over at Tiddly Inks.  You can find it right here.  The sentiment is a rubber stamp from Michaels.  I colored this one, like the first one, with my ProMarkers and Dick Blick alcohol markers.  The sentiment is stamped with cocoa ink from Memento.

So, now for my exciting news.  Next week I start my month at Humbug Hall.  Can you believe I get to guest design for a whole month? Wait until you see some of the creations I've been cooking up.  I hope they meet with everyone's approval.

I'm just hoping Barb has taken care of all the spiders at the Hall.  If not, Max and Ann had better have an extra sturdy table because I plan on sitting on top of it the entire month.

So, check back next Friday for my first Guest Designer spot at Humbug Hall until then, I have a few t-shirts to share and hopefully some fun birthday cards.  I have been designing my own birthday subway art.

Scandinavian Woven Christmas Hearts

Hello Friends -

This week at Bah Humbug Manor the challenge was to use weaving in a Christmas project.  I thought about weaving on a card but couldn't come up with anything that I thought I would use.  So, I started looking at 3D projects.

I don't remember where I first saw these Scandinavia  Christmas hearts but they seemed like the perfect project.  I looked at a ton of websites with many different ideas on how to make them and information about their origin.  The Daughters of Norway have a website which describes the hearts.  Generally speaking, they are decorations at Christmas time.  They are oftentimes put on the tree with small gifts or treats inside them.  There seems to be some relationship between Hans Christian Andersen and these hearts but it was difficult to figure out what it was (although it might be that he is the first to mention them in the 1860's).  Any way you look at it, they are fun little decorations.

This is the inside of one of the hearts.  It would hold quite a bit of "loot" if you weren't worried about it breaking the branches of your tree.

I used paper for my hearts, as opposed to cardstock.  I wouldn't use anything too firm because it will be tough to weave the pieces back and forth.  I also used this template from Diane at Capadia Designs.  You can cut these like most of the websites say but I found this a little neater and easier.  If you have a Cricut she has a cut file for both Design Studio and a Gypsy.  She used them at Valentines Day but the Scandinavian tradition was for St. Lucia's.

I love incorporating different traditions into our holiday celebrations.  Last year I enjoyed learning about the 3 Kings traditions in Hispanic households.

One final look at my Christmas decorations.

Bah Humbug For The Girls

Hello Friends --

I am back with another Christmas card for the Bah Humbug challenge.  This one was fun.  I knew what I wanted to do right away, I just needed to find the time to get it done.  So, in classic fashion, I'm sneaking in the night before this is "due".

The challenge was to make a card "For The Girls".  You could interpret that in many different ways.  I thought this image from Bugaboo Stamps was perfect.  You can find a ton of fun/funny characters in the Bugaboo collection.  This one is called Scarlette Cafe and can be found here.

The sentiment actually goes with another digi but I thought she looked like she wants Santa's naughty boy list.  What do you think?  Would Scarlette have a good time with Santa's list of naughty boys?

I used my Curved Rectangles Nestie for the image and the backing.  I pop dotted both of them to give it all a bit of dimension.  The sad thing, it looked a bit plain that way so I pulled out some letter stamps from the Teresa Collins Blingage Alphabets and made a pattern of HO HO HO.  I probably should find some smaller letters next time (I think I'll be doing quite a few of this design).

Now, for a funny story.  This week the Wonderkid had to go to the dentist to get two cavities filled.  How can a 4 year old have cavities?  Well, according to the dentist it actually didn't have anything to do with his eating or brushing and had everything to do with the enamel on his teeth never quite coming in.

So, while we are waiting for the teeth to "go to sleep".  One of the hygienists comes by and says, "Did he see him?"  Meaning the Wonderkid see someone.  Well, I had no idea what she was talking about so she encourages us to look out and who is standing at the check out desk but SANTA.  I mean honest to goodness Santa.  He wasn't wearing the suit and boots but he had the belly and the long white hair and the beard.  Well, the Wonderkid thought that was pretty cool so we talked to him for a minute.  Santa told him that he comes to our dentist because he is very good and doesn't ever hurt you and he is one of the best.  When asked why he doesn't go to the elf dentist he said that elf is very busy taking care of the other elves' teeth and he taught our dentist how to be a dentist. Santa then explained that since he is 400 years old he needs to take very good care of his teeth.

Finally, the Wonderkid looks at me and says, "Can I tell him what I want for Christmas?"  I said, "yes" and he proceeded to explain he wants a skateboard.  Santa didn't miss a beat.  He said he would bring him one but he needs to promise to wear his helmet and knee/elbow pads.

The Wonderkid has been telling everyone who he saw at the dentist's office.  He doesn't mention the cavities being filled or any of the other parts, just that he was able to see Santa.

Thanks for stopping over.  I hope to see you again soon.  I've a number of projects to share but I just can't seem to get past the laundry, recycling, dishes, cabinets that need cleaning and now painting, etc.  Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Bah Humbug Something New

This week's challenge from Humbug Hall was to use or do Something New.  You know how I like to do things up BIG so I used new stamps, new techniques, a new die and new pens.  So, this will fulfill the challenge on many different levels.

Over the summer I bought a few ProMarkers.  I'm loving them so far and use them with my markers from Dick Blick.  To make the trees on the card base, I used the pens and colored a couple of Darkroom Door Rubber stamps. That is my new technique.  I've never colored stamps with a pen before.

I'm in love with these Darkroom Door stamps (these came from the Yuletide Collection).  I received a very exciting email this morning from my pals over at Darkroom Door.  They have some new stamps on pre-order.  I'm salivating over the London set and the string sentiments.  I suggest you check them out if you like detailed rubber stamps.

The wreath is from the Flourishes set, Christmas Classics.

My favorite new thing on this card, I finally purchased one of the lattice dies from Cheery Lynn Designs.  I've been eyeing this die for at least 6 months so when my LSS started carrying them, I decided it was time to bite the bullet.  I'm not sorry I purchased it.

However, the best part of the something new for today -- The Wonderkid is in a NEW school year.  It is amazing how much time one little 4 year old can suck up.  I thought, this summer wasn't going to be too busy.  He had things a couple of weeks but then I should have been able to get my stuff done.  I barely went near my crafting space the entire summer.  Now, I'll admit, a few weeks I couldn't craft because I was canning (I put up 250 jars of jams, jellies, fruit butters and pickles in one week).  However, that was a fraction of the summer.  The rest was spent attempting to entertain a little one, taking him places because I wanted to entertain a little one and generally focusing on a little one.  I don't begrudge him any of the time.  I was happy to do it but I need to remember in the future that I'm not likely to do anything over the summer and so I shouldn't plan on it.

Here are a couple of pictures of the Wonderkid from this morning.

and here is him before I pulled him away from his Nintendo.

Bah Humbug Penguin Card

Hello Friends -

I have a quick card and a quick post.  I wanted to join the fun with the ladies at Humbug Hall (they challenged us to make a Christmas project with penguins) but I've got a sick kiddo on my hands (I'm wracked with guilt right now because I'm worried I may have given the Wonderkid food poisoning or something similar.  He is sick, I'm sick and neither of us have knowingly been near any sick people.  What kind of Mommy could I be if I didn't prepare his food well.  The only thing I can come up with is not washing the cherries he ate at dinner. I don't eat meat so it can't be salmonella.)

OK, quickly on to this card so I can go to sleep.

I found a wonderful set of penguin digis from Di's Digis.  You can find her work here.  I picked up a few because the Wonderkid's new school class is the Penguins (last year he was a Bear).  I thought these might come in handy around the holidays.

I turned the card into a shape card using my circle Nestabilities.  I learned this technique from the folks over at Tiddly Inks and I'm in love with it.

I added some glossy accents to the Christmas bulbs and the hat.  I pop dotted the image and that is it.  A simple, humble offering to the lovely ladies of Humbug Hall.  Max and Ann, I hope it will meet with your approval and I'm so pleased to be playing with you all again.

Bah Humbug Snowflake Spinner Card

Well, the lovely ladies of Humbug Hall gave us a new challenge this week.  In classic form, I'm getting it done just before the deadline.  It is a fairly easy challenge (snowflakes) so I wanted to add a bit of a twist.  I hope you have fun with this little card, I know I did.

It is a spinner card.  I found some wonderful directions for making this at Splitcoast Stampers.  I think I've mentioned it is my go to site for tutorials on all things fun in cards.

Here is a shot of the snowflake at the bottom of the spinner.

The sentiment is computer generated.  The blue cardstock is Core'dinations, the snowflake is an SVG from SVGCuts and the debossing is a folder from Sizzix.

Finally, I decided to try something new.  I did a VERY short video of the card because I'm amazed at how quickly this thing can get going.  I used two pennies (hopefully the Wonderkid won't notice that a "borrowed" them).  I wanted to see how easy/tough it is to upload to Blogger and I wanted to see what would work and wouldn't.  I didn't add sound to it because it is short (about 20 seconds) I thought you could watch without a soundtrack.

Bah Humbug Green or Recycled Challenge

Hello Friends -

I haven't been able to take part in the challenges from the lovely ladies of Humbug Hall.  I must say, I've missed those crazy gals.  However, I was serious about taking part this week.

They challenged everyone to either recycle something or use green or both.  Well, you know me, I must be an over achiever, so, I used both.  I didn't make a card, though.  As much as I need lots of Christmas cards, I also need a ton of gift tags. I've been working on my stash of cards but what would I do when it came time to wrap all those presents?  Well, I've started to build a tag stash also.  I'm thinking about trying to do a tag similar to the cards I've been doing.

So, here are some tags.  I made a total of 12 tags (one 8 1/2 x 11 piece of cardstock).  The green for the trees was all from my scraps.  The cardboard came from a box of paper I received and the stamps are all from My Pink Stamper.  I find two simple cuts, one from Doodlecharms and the other from Christmas Cheer.  Each tag is slightly different, except for the back.

I pulled little bits of things out of my stash.  I think this one turned out well.

I hope the Mavens of Humbug Hall will find my humble offering acceptable.

A Funny Card for the Ladies of Humbug Hall

Hello Friends -

This week the Ladies of Humbug Hall (Bah! Humbug! Christmas Challenges) have asked for a Christmas card to make you giggle.  Now, they had a couple of real doozies so I was feeling a bit intimidated.  What card could I make that would have folks giggling?  With the traveling and all, I almost didn't do one but then, I remembered all the great digis from Bugaboo Stamps.  Well, I did a bit of mix and matching (I always was a fan of those Garanimals).  The sentiment is from one of the Stella images while the image of Fanny didn't have a sentiment.

Here is a close-up of the sentiment/tag.

and the image of Fanny.  She is pop dotted because I would have never gotten her to lie flat on top of that ribbon.  You can't exactly see it in this shot but I added Stickles to the bulbs and her earrings for a bit of sparkle.

I found this new (new to me) Christmas Card Challenge site which also had the theme of funny cards.

I wanted to leave you with some more artwork from our trip.  On our way home from Ohio we stopped in Berea, KY.  If you've never visited Berea, it is well worth a visit, especially if you are a fan of arts and crafts (which I'm guessing you are if you are still reading this blog).  Here is a bit of the history of Berea, and a little bit about the school.  Many people know of their strong Arts and Crafts programs but Berea College is a liberal arts school with many majors besides arts and crafts.

You have already seen my fascination with outdoor sculptures.  I'm especially intrigued by the sculptures where an entire town/city has a series of sculptured all with the same base but each decorated for the artist or the organization commissioning the artwork.

In Berea it is hands.  Here are a few of the ones we saw.

The Hand of the Creator

Mano a Mano with Wonderkid

Gone Fishing

These photos are courtesy of the Berea Tourism Office.

A Bird in the Hand

Power of Make Belief

We Make You Kindly

Do you have a favorite outdoor sculpture?  Anything like this in your city or area?  I'd love to know about it.

While we were gone every leaf in the neighborhood arrived.  I'll take some pictures tomorrow as it is quite a difference from my pictures just a week ago.