Hiking Adventure Update #1

Since I posted my first post about our Hiking quest, my husband and I have gone on 3 hikes to build our endurance.  We hiked 3.25 miles through forested trails that are part of our local University property.  The next day we hiked over 4 miles which actually wound through our neighborhoods  for a long way, so the terrain was smoothe, but quite hilly in spots.  Our latest hike was again through the trails but we added on 2 loops of the long one, plus doing the short one.  Our total mileage was over 5 miles and it took us around 2 hours.  Meanwhile, we researched hiking gear and ordered our boots, rain jackets, etc.  I was thrilled to talk to a fellow-hiker (perhaps hikers don't want me calling them "fellow-hikers" just yet...) and found out she loves and owns the same boots I researched and ordered for me and my hubby.  They were great for my first hike in them.  I keep reading excerpts from my book, "It's Not About the Hike" and I must confess that when it's evening and I'm tired, I really wonder if I'm crazy to be on this mountain-hiking quest.  Of course when I'm well-rested and it's morning, my outlook is completely different.  The good thing is that we'll actually be ascending these mountains in the morning, so "not to worry."  We get our trial run in March when we're being hosted by our friend who is taking us on a 12-miler (round trip) in North Carolina that she promises has a beautiful view at the top.  Oh my, that sounds exciting and daunting at the same time, so I'm preparing for it as best I can.  We're hoping to get up to 8 miles before we go on that trip.  Guess it's time to get on the treadmill and crank the incline up.  I'll try to include a picture in my next post of some of my gear.  I don't think hiking gear is the most fashionable stuff one can wear, but it fits the needs of the task, so I'm not complaining.  I'm sure future updates will be more brief.  Thanks for taking the time to read and follow.

A New Direction for 2014

It has been a long, long time since I have blogged, and a lot has happened and changed since I last put words to my post.  I decided to begin writing thoughts I am willing to share about a new interest in my life.  I will probably lose card-creator followers, possibly gain followers interested in my new venture, or I may lose everyone.  It will be interesting to see where this leads.  I do want to say that I still have most of my card-making "ingredients" and still make the occasional card, but time has not permitted me to be immersed in this activity as I was during the time I blogged about it. 
My new interest was born from a recent event.  I just finished a book that was put before me out of the blue on an app I have called BookShout.  The name of the book is "Following Atticus", and the name alone caught my attention.  After reading the brief synopsis of the book, it looked like something I might enjoy and so I purchased the book for my Kindle and began reading immediately.  It drew me in, chapter after chapter and it didn't take long before I finished it.  The book was endearing and inspiring in so many ways.  I loved the way it was written but I truly loved the subject matter.  Now for this homemaker who has never been considered the least bit adventurous, I was especially gripped, due to the story, with a desire to not only start hiking, but to hike the White Mountains.  There are several reasons this appeals to me.  I'm a person who likes to be "doing" something.  My husband keeps saying he would like to travel, but traveling for travelings' sake doesn't do much for me.  I know, I'm weird.  The thought of traveling with a plan, -a plan of hiking, with a goal in mind for the hiking - saying you've hiked the 48 4,000'ftrs, - now that appeals to me!  My husband, the very in-shape, ready-for-an-adventure person that he is would leave next week if we could.  That's not going to happen, but I am planning on getting in better shape, getting essential gear, and then we can take off for the mountains and see just what we're facing.  I've purchased some books, one which I am thoroughly enjoying called "It's Not About the Hike," and it's getting me excited about doing this.  So many thoughts go through my mind which include my eagerness to do this and my fears about doing this.  Our journey isn't even going to take place for another three months, but I figure I have plenty to do to get ready and in shape, so this is a journal, of sorts, about the journey that leads to the journey. If you care to follow me on this new adventure, then stay tuned.  I plan to do a weekly update leading up to our end-of-May adventure.  Once on the adventure, I'm hoping to post a whole lot more of the hiking itself and hopefully the beautiful views that await us at the top.  Thank you in advance for any encouragement you might offer. 

O Christmas Tree

I thought I'd share with you the story of making this card. I walked into my craftroom to size up the possibility of moving it all downstairs to join up with my happy little sewing nook. Shaking my head in the realization that I had way too much stuff to fit where I thought I could squeeze it in, I walked over and glanced down at a small snowman from Whimsie Doodles waiting to be colored. I thought to myself, "go ahead, even though this is NOT what you're supposed to take time to do right now, color him quickly towards having another Christmas card ready." "Okay", says I. So I colored him quickly, cut him with my SB Circle die and then used a scalloped die to cut out a backing in red wool felt. "Perfect, now finish the card." So I pull out my Webster Christmas paper from last year, only those colors are muted and my snowman is in bright colors. I pull out my PTI Christmas Tree die to find a way to somehow bring it all together, find a tree on one of the Webster papers and die cut it with my Christmas tree die. Perfect again, only not for the snowman. I decide on an ornament-sentiment from my new PTI set called "Holiday Lights" and stamp it with Versa Mark and heat-emboss it with my new Stampin'Up Pewter Embossing Powder, which is gorgeous, by-the-way. I like what I've got so I sponge the components of the card with Antique Linen and adhere everything to the card. Then I pull out my Polar White Flower Soft and dust the tree with it and then add Glossy Accents to the ornaments to make them stand out. Wow, I like it. I add little "jewels" to the star-ornaments in the sentiment and voila, I've done another card. I should have been sewing my girls' Christmas dresses but I'm happy to have another card done and really like how it turned out. (I am now actually writing this post while my fabulous sewing machine is embroidering a snowman on the front of one of the girls' pinafores. Ya gotta love sewing when you're not even touching the machine. Actually I love sewing in any mode, but what fun that it sews on it's own.) Thanks for stopping by and reading about my side-tracked creation.

Long Overdue Post

I know I have been MIA on my blog and I apologize. I have been very busy in another venue and my poor cards have been somewhat neglected for awhile. Now, I will qualify that by saying that we put together 30 Christmas cards to send to our church missionaries, and I've got almost 20 of my own Christmas cards done, but other than that I've been in my other craft room.....my sewing room. Here are two of the outfits I've made for my sweet grandbabies. The robot outfit was for my grandson's 1st birthday, and the Christmas dress is for one of my granddaughters. I still have another one to make just like that. I was blessed with the acquisition of an embroidery machine back in July. It was a used machine, but new to me and I've been loving sewing again. I've made lots more dressed and outfits than these but thought I'd offer an explanation of where I've been. Sadly our Copic Creations challenges came to an end due to a very full plate on our leader Mary. She hated to quit the challenges but time is not allowing her to keep up the extensive work involved in putting all of the challenges together. I loved being on the team, as did all of our team members, but alas it's time to move on. I'm sure I'll get back to my cards soon but I'm still on a honeymoon with my machine and decided I best be sewing for the kids while they're still young enough to wear the cute stuff. I'll try to share more items if there seems to be some interest in seeing them. Thanks so very much for stopping by and for your patience with my long absence.

October 1 Copic Creations Challenge

Happy Autumn hellos and welcome to another Copic Creations Challenge. I can't believe the month of September is already gone and we're in October. Some months seem to go by more quickly than others....does anyone else notice that? Our challenge this time features some fabulous images from Belles 'n Whistles (details on Copic Creations blog.) The name of mine is "Little Eden" and the theme this time is saturated colors. Follow the link to learn more about this. I used B23,24,26,28 for Little Eden's clothes and E17,25,29 for her hair. She is such a cutie with a wee bit of a pout perhaps(?). The DT has done a wonderful job with these images so I do hope you'll check them out and then challenge yourself by playing with saturated colors. Have a lovely Fall week-end and thank you so much to all who stop by.

WOYWDW

I thought I would share with you my new "favorite" layout. I got this idea from Susan "Rainy" in her post from last week and flipped out over how neat the look was. You can see that I have two different sentiments that I can adhere inside the card, depending on which one I need. I also thought it would be a perfect entry for What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday, since that's what I worked on. I even made a version for a Christmas card, although I haven't completed the image yet so I'll have to post that later. The papers I used are SU's Autumn Vine from a few years back. The sentiments are from SU's "Thoughts and Prayers."

I'll have another post for our Copic Creations Challenge on Saturday, so stay tuned. Thanks for dropping by and be sure and take a look at the beautiful cards Susan did, (link above.)

Copic Creations Challenge Time

This sweet little drumming bear is from Stamp Fairy, who is one of our two sponsors for this mid-September challenge. The theme is "coloring fur" and I think you'll find all these cute furry critters illustrated by our DT to be looking quite cuddly. We have another sponsor as well, which is My Creative Classroom, and you can find out all that they have to offer by clicking on the link, or reading about it on the Copic Creations blog. I put a Christmas sentiment with him because he made me think of the little drummer boy whose wish was to play his drum for the newborn King. I will add it to my "stack" of Christmas cards for this year. I hope you get inspired to check out the tutorials for coloring fur and then join us for this challenge. Happy Fall to all and thanks for stopping by.

"Peeked Out Peeker"

Yep, that's the name of this adorable image from Elizabeth Bell's new Peeker's Collection #2 at Susana's Custom Art and Card Design, who happens to be our awesome sponsor for this Copic Creations challenge. Happy September 1 to all of you. Our challenge theme is "pink" and we want to see what you do with those wonderful pink Copics that you have. My sweet little peeker is colored mostly with the R81,83,85,89 group, with a wee bit of R00 and R20 for her cheeks. My DP's are from Memory Box "Jubilee," sponged with Crushed Olive and Victorian Velvet distress inks. Our talented DT did some beautiful cards for this challenge, so be sure to click the link to our Copic Creations blog and be inspired. We also have an awesome winner from our last challenge whose card you'll definitely want to see. Thanks so much for stopping by. To those I try to regularly follow, please forgive my absence. I know I'm the one missing out on seeing all those beautiful cards you're doing and reading of all that's going on with you. I am still sorting out time conflicts, but I will try to visit very soon. I'm so glad there's a promise of at least slightly cooler weather ahead. Have a wonderful Labor Day and first week of September.

Copic Creations Challenge-Time

It's time for another Copic Creations challenge and in the midst of this I'm suffering from a dead computer thanks to a juice spill that freakishly invaded the back of my laptop. Thus, I am having to post this in a roundabout way. I'm not even sure if my post made it to the DT leader to put on our CC site, but I'll at least post it here. Our challenge is sponsored by A Day for Daisies and my adorable little image is called Sarah. The theme of the challenge is coloring with Blue-Greens. I used BG10,13, and 18 for her dress, and BG72, 75 and 78 for her hat.
I am enjoying having our eldest son and his family here for a visit and having the house full of grandkids enjoying getting to play with their cousins. It's been quite chaotic at times with 17 of us for dinner each night, but what fun! I wouldn't trade it for anything. Things will settle down before long and I'll be back to my posts. Hard to believe the Summer is going to be Fall before long. Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful week.

Copic Creations Challenge

It's time once again for our Copic Creations challenge, and yes, I'm late posting this. I feel very badly about that, but it was impossible to isolate myself to get it done, photographed and posted. Anywhoo, our sponsor this time is Lily of the Valley, and this wonderful little image is Daisy Chain. The challenge is to add some sort of background scenery to your image - grass, bushes, whatever you like. Check out the Copic Creations blog for the details. You'll also get a peak at LOTV's latest Christmas images and they're adorable. For my image I added some additional grass and some lavender behind the sweet little girl. I must confess that I used a stamp for the lavender, but I did embellish it with my Copics. Hope you can play along and show us your creativity. I am swamped with cards to make and dresses to finish sewing before the middle of next week, so I'll be back just as soon as I can. As always, thank you so much for stopping by.

"Go-To" Sympathy Card

Today I am sharing a sympathy card that went together fairly quickly but I liked it's style. The sentiment is from SU's Thoughts and Prayers, and the die cuts are stamped with Waltzingmouse's Vintage Labels 10, and then die cut with Spellbinders dies to match. The top and bottom flourishes are also from this set, and the strips in the middle are from an SU punch and then sponged in distress inks. I would like to come up with several "go-to" designs to have on hand and I think this should be one of them. I know y'all already do that, but while I've intended to do that, it hasn't happened yet. I need a go-to design for a lot of occasions where I need a card quickly but don't have the time to stop and put one together. Hence, the following:

I have been in another craft room for the last 1-1/2 weeks...my sewing room. My love of sewing was re-kindled with the acquiring of a new (used, but barely) sewing machine, plus the upcoming visit of our oldest son. Their youngest is 3, and my granddaughters that live here are ages 3 and 7. I have been making matching dresses and aprons for the 3 of them to match, and of course playing with the embroidery capabilities that I now have on my machine. I so wish I could clone myself (don't we all) so I could be stamping and sewing, but for now, that's where I've been hiding. I will try to remember to take pictures of their outfits and the girls in them to share with you. Meanwhile, please forgive the absence of card posts. I'll be back soon with our next Copic Creations challenge post. Thanks for stopping by.

Sweet Treats

It's time once again for a fresh challenge from Copic Creations, and this time the challenge is coloring "pastels". Our sponsor this time is Sparkle Creations and they've got some adorable images. (See our CC site for what you could win by participating.) This one is called Sweet Treats Emily. She's serving up a plate of chocolate chip cookies (my interpretation, anyway) and of course she inspired me to go bake some chocolate chip cookies. YUM! My "Baked Edible Goods" is from one of my favorite Waltzingmouse Sets and my DP's are Prima's "Jack and Jill." Thanks to all who joined us for the last challenge. I hope you can play along this time, so get out those Copics and think pastel.

WM Sketch Challenge

Today's post is a card I did for the WM sketch challenge. The set is called Blessed by You.
This is one of my new sets so I wanted to use it in the sketch challenge. From my perspective the tree suggests something rather "colonial" so I stamped it on Kraft CS. I created my own plaid background with WM's Picnic Patterns. I'm still not sure if I like the tree stamped on that color of CS, but I'm not sure what else to go with to give it that feel, so here it is for now. I've been trying to stay on top of commenting, along with posting more frequently, but golly.....there are a lot of new posts out there today. I love the inspiration I get from so many of you. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up the momentum. I'm loving summertime and want to work up so many summer images, but I'm already feeling pressured to get to creating cards for the holidays. Oh, the demands we put on ourselves, yes?? Thanks for stopping by. Hope you're enjoying your summer days.

Farm Fresh Challenge

I realize I'm surprising many of you with the frequent posts, but the fact is that this week has allowed me to focus more on my stamping and blogging and I'm enjoying it very much. I don't know if it will last, but while I'm able to I am going to participate in as much as I can.
Flourishes is having a Farm Fresh challenge prior to their new release. I decided to color one of my Apple of My Eye images and set it off with papers in my favorite colors from my Stella and Rose "Gertie" papers. The little bit of blue behind the image is from K & Company's "Americana." Flourishes does have awesome fruits and veggies to color up, so I hope you can at least get to smile at the gorgeous cards the DT has come up with and join the challenge if you can. Thanks for stopping by.

Vintage and Lace

Vintage with Distressing and Lace - that's the theme of this week's challenge at Mo's Challenge Blog. I colored this adorable cupcake fairy, "Birthday Fairy Lee," distress-ink style with my Copics (again referencing Suzanne's Coloring with Distress Ink videos linked in previous post.) I also colored my Prima flowers and attached my Ecru lace. The challenge at Flutterby Wednesday is an Open challenge as long as it is a fairy, angel, or butterfly, so this one would certainly qualify. I'm happy I got a chance to enter a few challenges. Thanks so much for stopping by.