The online portfolio of Page Redford
Just listed in my Etsy Shop! Gift Sets of my most popular Greeting Card designs!
A great way to celebrate a birthday!
What a fun way to stock up on unique, handmade greeting cards! Each card set comes in a clear acrylic box. Cards come with coordinating envelopes.
Mix or Match.
I had the extreme pleasure of spending a couple days in Ellicottville, NY. It feels like it is “up North” when it is, in fact, a Ski-Town South of Buffalo. The city is best known for the Holiday Valley Ski Resort not too far from the “downtown” area. It is a small village, but it is a lovely place to visit. My boyfriend’s grandparents have had property there for decades and he says the little town is becoming more of a destination throughout the year
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They have a great brewing company in the main stretch, and I wanted to tour their facilities. They offer a tour that lasts about an hour, AND it came with some great samples of their new and seasonal beers…and a cute little engraved glass.
The young man in charge of the tour was a wealth of information on the brewing process in general, and the specifics of EBC. It was really neat to see all of the equipment that they had…some of it was very old, others were state-of-the-art.
One of the other great things about the tour was the upstairs/banquet area. The addition is newer (it still smells like fresh-cut wood) and is generally reserved for large parties or weddings. The guide showed us some of the large planks of wood were put together using traditional Amish building techniques without the use of metal screws or nails. The beautiful coloration on the ceiling planks is due to beetles and pests that have been causing damage to trees in the Pacific Northwest… Apparently the beetles dig into the wood and eventually die there, leaving their pigmentation in the wood.
After admiring the woodwork, we went on to sample some delicious beers. They had a small upstairs bar where they offered some of their signature beers and some new seasonal options. Sadly my favorite, the peach beer, is available only at the brewery. **Obligatory birthday photo. Look at my cute little EBC glass!**
The next day we woke up (sort of) early and went on a hike. There is a lot of greenery in Ellicottville, which is great. This area was not far from where we stayed. We went on a short hike here, but had plans to visit the Arboretum, so we did not go too far.
There were loads of toads and other wildlife. We didn’t see any foxes, though. That would have really made my day
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After our hike, we went and got coffee, a most important ingredient in my mornings.
At the coffee shop, we got directions to the Arboretum. The Arboretum was lovely, although it was small. There were many different plants and birds that we saw along the way. My favorite part of the space was the Torii Gates. We have a tiny Torii Gate for the Hermit Crabs, so it made me think of the little guys.
After the Arboretum, we went to Holiday Valley.
In the summer and early fall, Holiday Valley has a fun action-filled set up called “Sky High Adventure Park”. The weather was not supposed to hold up all day, so we decided to do the most fun option available. They have this awesome little roller-coaster called the “Mountain Coaster”. It is basically a tiny roller-coaster down the mountain in which you are able to control the brakes and the overall speed of the ride. It was super fun and a little scary in parts. The ride is nearly a mile in length, and my boyfriend and I were able to ride it with no other people on the track. It was so fun, and the perfect end to a lovely birthday weekend.
It’s my Birthday (coming up)…and I will make silly cards if I want to!
Happy Birthday to…the cats!
I can hardly believe it’s been 6 years since my two goofy cats were born! I adopted them at about 4 weeks in September of 2008, so this is their birthday week. I happily adopted them from the Humane Society of Huron Valley. It was “Buy one get one free” for the cats that week, which is why I have two cats instead of one! Now you know!
It is a special day when your companions turn 6. I, of course, had to make the little guys some birthday cake. Unfortunately it is work getting them to eat much other than cat food (Ferdinand will eat nothing but), so they didn’t do much more than lick the frosting.
Leo is investigating the tiny cake.
He seems to like the frosting but doesn’t like the sprinkles.
While I never would have thought of myself as a “Cat Person” 6.5-7 years ago, I am a happy Cat Mom now. My cats are a wonderful source of inspiration and entertainment, and they always make me smile. I wouldn’t have it any other way, unless there was a way to not ALWAYS be covered in cat hair.
Ferdinand is terrified.
Perhaps of the tiny cake? Perhaps of aging?
While I go and give my cats a little extra cat food and some new toys, I hope you give your companion animals (and/or people) a good hug! Or perhaps a “tooth” like Leo loves to give me.
I noticed that this little guy was shown in one of my earlier posts, but I hadn’t shared him with y’all yet. So here you go!
This is Terrarium that I made not too long ago. It is made with eco-Felt, wool felt balls, embroidery thread, ribbon, cotton gingham, and some acrylic paint. The jar is a recycled/up-cycled jar with tiny handles on the sides. It’s a really lovely piece that is actually for sale at the Handmade Galleries in LA. This is one of my favorite terrariums to date. It’s nice and big and is quite lovely. Each flower (felt ball) is hand embroidered with painstaking detail and is nestled amongst leaves of grass. There are three unique flowers inside the terrarium as well as one small flower on the outside of the terrarium (on the bow). Green grass is even painted on the bottom of the jar to give it even more dimension.
I hope you like this piece as much as I do.
Page Redford 