On the road again!

I retired last August and this winter is the first time that Daryl and I were free to load up the 5th wheel and the dogs and take to the road with no particular timetable. We decided (well, I decided) not to leave until February because I wanted to be at my granddaughter's first birthday February 8th. We left Campbell River and parked outside Melissa and Jeff's place for 2 nights and really enjoyed the birthday party. I can hardly believe Isla is already one! She took all the people and attention in stride and had a good time!

Being pretty delicate, I was really apprehensive about freezing to death in the RV with the below zero weather in Vancouver, but we were able to plug in and run a heater, had our really warm sleeping bags as well as having Daegan on the bed to keep us warm and hot showers & Lattes at Melissa and Jeff's place.

Feb. 10th we left for the States and immediately hit a road block at the border -- oops, wrong lineup. We were in the bus lineup but the US Customs officials were pretty accommodating and after a brief inspection, set us loose. We travelled as far as Kelso, Washington the first night and got a hotel room due to the continuing cold weather. The next day we continued on I-5 and stopped at the 7 Feathers Casino Resort north of Grant's Pass. Very nice resort for a great price, $40. Power, water, cable, pool, hot tub, beautiful heated shower rooms, dog run and of course, the Casino. Not sure we'll sample the Casino as I think the dogs will bark their brains out if we aren't with them.  In fact, I think we will stay for 2 nights.  We both commented on how weird it feels to be able to just play it by ear and not feel like we have to get moving.

 I am really impressed with the State rest stops. Due to the time of year, it seems to be mostly truckers who stop, so we find areas that we can let the dogs off leash and they get to have a good break from the drive. They are really good travellers. I wonder if every stop has very different smells for them? We stop every 2-3 hours and today, by mid-day,  the temperature hit double digits!  I will put away my winter coat and get out my spring coat! It's still very grey though, no sunshine yet, but the daffodils are showing colour so we must be headed in the right direction!

PTI November Blog Hop

Last month my sister and I got together to make glitter houses.   My grandmother had a Putz house on her Christmas tree that I remember as a child and I thought it would be fun to try to recreate one.  There are many tutorials and templates available on the internet and I also found Melissa Frances kits at Simon Says Stamp.  5 of the houses above are from the kits and the largest one is a template.   The 3 small houses are for my grandchildren.  I plan to recruit my husband to draft a plan of our house and make them for my daughters.  Not sure if that will happen before Christmas though.   I used a variety of glitters, PTI paper, the little trees are from the local craft store and Melissa Frances, Aleene's snow and some vellum in the windows.  It was a fun project for my sister to do together.

Make it Monday 137: Dimensional leaf wreath

This is a birthday card for a friend with a fall theme.  I used dies from Spellbinders and PTI Meadow Greens and inked them up with distress inks.  I used PTI Think Big Favourites #4 and PTI cardstock as well as PTI's Woodgrain impression plate.  A few enamel dots finished off the wreath. 

September AEI♥U Challenge

I love the colors in this image and decided to have a go at a card for this challenge.   I used Distress Inks for the background and Avery Elle's Modern Leaves stamp set.   First time I've used this set and I wonder why the set of 3 dies only has 2 sizes that match the 4 stamp sizes?  I used clear embossing powder on colored cardstock and cut out the leaves to hang on the line.   A bit of washi tape was added underneath the sentiment and some Kelly Purkey flat sequins on the leaves.   I tried using salt on the wet distress ink to try to get the mottled effect like the photo, but without success. This is one of those cards that took eons to come together and by the time you finish, you're not even sure you like it anymore 'cause you're kind-of-sick-of-it!     I almost didn't bother posting.   But decided to after all and then had issues with either my wireless mouse or keyboard - can't figure out which and different (but were they new?) batteries didn't help.   Good thing we have 2 laptops! Anyhow,  here it is!

Moxie Fab World "All That Glitters is Gold"

Here's a card that I made for a friend's upcoming birthday.   I love the fall feel of rusts and greens and think that gold compliments these colors.    I used PTI cardstock, stamps and dies and a piece of 7 Gypsies patterned paper.  I used a few Copics to add some shading on the flowers and some gold Wink of Stella for added shimmer; you can really see it in the 2nd photo taken in the sun!  

Monday Mood Board #17 WPLUS9

Hello!   I really liked the graphic designs in this inspiration photo and bold colors (turns out I have the same Kleenex packs) but didn't have a stamp that would give a similar result.  Tried a square stamp and a then a round stamp and stamped a few patterns to see if I could get the result I wanted, but without success.  So I used a PTI stamp, colored in the tiny centers in orange with a copic marker and ended up with this card.  

Stamps:  PTI BB: Medallions and WPLUS9 Blanket Stitched Blooms
Ink:  StazOn Azure and Versamark
Paper:  PTI and a bit of orange from the scrap folder
Misc:  PTI Die and white embossing powder.

July AEI♥U Challenge

Here's a card for the July AEI♥U Challenge.   I just received "Oh Happy Day" and love the font used on the sentiments in this set.    I colored the arrows with Copics and embossed the Sentiment onto a strip of vellum. 

 

I had another idea to do a more geometrical look this inspiration photo, but doubt I'll get time to give it a go!  

Paper:  PTI
Stamps:  Avery Elle Oh Happy Day
Inks:  Hero Arts, Tim Holtz, Memento



July AEI♥U Challenge