Gretchen Barron: Adirondack Afternoon

Hello everyone! Welcome to Inspiration in Action! Today's card, Adirondack Afternoon, was inspired by this precious photo (circa 1950) of my dear great-grandparents, Bommy and Popey (Suzanne and Eli Kirk). They loved sitting out in their yard in the late afternoon, after the day's work was mostly done. Their Adirondack yard furniture, handcrafted by a dear family friend, was the envy of neighbors far and wide. I love this picture of the two of them ... they look so relaxed and happy. I can just imagine them frozen in this moment, enjoying each other's company, the wind rustling through the leaves, the bright afternoon sun warming their weary bones. I especially love the details ... my great-grandmother's house dress with the daisy flowers, the way she is casually swinging her leg over the arm of the chair, her strappy shoes, my great-grandfather's overall's, his pure white hair and the way they are casually leaning on each other! What I wouldn't give to have that one afternoon to spend with them.

Did you know the creation of the Adirondack chair is steeped in controversy? According to Wikipedia, the first Adirondack chair was designed by Thomas Lee while vacationing in the Adirondack mountains in 1903. Seeking a simple, comfortable and affordable design for outdoor furniture at his summer home, he came up with the idea, comfort-tested his prototypes with his family and then asked a carpenter friend to build them. The friend, Harry Brunnell, immediately saw the marketing potential in the new design, filed for and received a US patent for the chairs and sold them as his own for more than 20 years!

And so, this brings me to today's card, Adirondack Afternoon. I must admit, it is the die-cut Adirondack chair that first attracted me to the Seasonal Layers Thinlits and their coordinating stamp set, Colorful Seasons.

This card is fairly simple and straightforward. I wanted to capture the feeling from the photograph of a wind-blown afternoon and the lure of a comfortable chair to rest my wear bones in the late afternoon sunshinel. The colors are Crumb Cake and Chocolate Chip (sounds like a recipe that my great-grandmother might have made). I stamped the leaves in shades of Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, Cajun Craze, Chocolate Chip and Rich Razzleberry. The Whisper White chair is sponged with Crumb Cake and Chocolate Chip. The ribbon is the delicious 3/8" Classic Weave in Crumb Cake ... so easy and beautiful to work with. And of course, I had to dress up the inside of the card a little with some leaves and a sentiment. And speaking of sentiments, don't you just love this font from the stamp set?

As always, you can see all of the products used in today's card on the scroll below. You can even download and save or print a copy by clicking HERE. If i've inspired you to purchase anything used, just click on the thumbnail images to be transported to my online Stampin' Up! store (much like I would like to be transported back to that sunny afternoon before I was even born!)

Thanks for stopping by! I do hope you'll visit again soon!

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