Category: travel

Reverse Confetti August Creative Blog Hop

Welcome! This month’s creative hop focusing on Summer Fun started on the Reverse Confetti blog. You should have made it here from Lisa’s blog. It would be worth your while to start at the beginning of the hop, so you don’t miss a thing. We have tons of inspiration for you!

I’m sharing two summer vacation-themed scrapbook layouts for which I created embellishments using Reverse Confetti stamps and dies. My first layout (letter-sized) chronicles a family vacation on Martha’s Vineyard.

I stamped the journaling with one of the word/phrases from Here’s the Story. I heat-embossed another Here’s the Story phrase on black cardstock and cut it with the banner die in the Tag Me Confetti Cuts set. Its anchored with a die cut from the Documented Confetti Cuts set.

To the right-hand corner, I added a banner cut with the Double Banner Garland Confetti Cuts. The sentiment from Posted Note Sentiments was heat-embossed on red cardstock and cut with the circle die in the Donut You Know Confetti Cuts set. To finish, I added stars cut with the You Are A Star Confetti Cuts set and a red border cut with the Double Edge Scallop Border Confetti Cuts.

The focus of my second layout (letter-sized) is a family vacation on Maui. The Pineapples Aplenty stamp set, with its coordinating Confetti Cuts set, worked perfectly for a visual accent with the journaling.

I stamped the journaling with one of the word/phrases from Here’s the Story. I heat-embossed another Here’s the Story phrase on black cardstock and cut it with the banner die in the Tag Me Confetti Cuts set. Its anchored with a die cut from the Documented Confetti Cuts set.

The sentiment from Posted Note Sentiments was heat-embossed and cut with the circle die in the Donut You Know Confetti Cuts set. To finish I added stars cut with the You Are A Star Confetti Cuts set.

I hope you’ve enjoyed hopping with us today. Comment at each stop along the way for a chance to win a $15 gift certificate. Comments close Monday at noon Central Time; the winner will be announced on Tuesday. Now it’s time to hop on over to Kathy’s blog. If you get lost along the way, you can find the hop order and list of all the participating designers over on the Reverse Confetti blog.

Penny Black Pocket Treasures

Today, I’m changing direction a bit – I’m sharing pocket scrapbooking pages created with products from the recent Penny Black Pocket Treasures release.

Before I made cards, I scrapbooked, and before that, I kept photo albums. The pocket scrapbooking pages work well for my current memory keeping style. I like the ability to create my own journaling cards and a few embellishments with the Pocket Treasures dies and stamps, using my card making tools, (die cutting machine and punches), and supplies, (patterned paper, solid cardstock and twine).

My husband and eldest son just spent several days in NYC taking in the sights, and the pages below capture some of their visit (I have several more pages started documenting the rest of their trip).

NYCPocketScrapbooking1

NYCPocketScrapbooking2

Let’s take a more detailed look at some of the journaling cards and embellishments.

I used the Tagged #51-007 die to create a large journaling spot. I added a die-cut quote from A Pocket Full #51-053. I often add maps to my scrapbook pages. I stamped the Let’s Chat #30-244 location indicator and cut it with the coordinating die from Tabs & Toggles #51-051.

I stamped a sentiment from Remember This #30-246 with Staz-On ink directly onto the photo. I stamped the camera from Bon Voyage #30-224 and cut it with a 1″ circle punch.

I die cut a tab with Tabs & Toggles #51-051 and stamped it with a sentiment from Life’s Journals #30-247. I attached it to the photo with a Tiny Attacher. I die cut a journaling card with A Pocket Full #51-053 and added the stamped sentiment from Remember This #30-246.

I die cut the frame from Polaroid #51-057 and put it over a photo. I added it to a journaling card stamped with a sentiment and ledger lines from Life’s Journals #30-247. I cut the number frame from Picture This #51-056 and paired it with a journaling card.

Thanks for joining me in this departure from cardmaking!

Scrapping My Favorites

Simple Scrapper has a fun challenge planned for December – to scrap about one’s favorites and to include a picture of oneself on the layout. I’m working on some assignments ahead of time so that the holiday season is a tad less hectic. I’m looking forward to embracing the activities of the season with energy and enthusiasm.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of visiting my youngest son in Boulder, where he is a sophomore at the University of Colorado. It was easy for me to come up with favorites from Boulder! And Paul insisted that he take a photo of me in front of the Flatirons, enshrouded in clouds. This layout is not in my usual clean and simple style – I wanted to create an outdoorsy, but still cozy/comfy, layout evoking the textures and colors of the fall season.

Boulder October 2012 Scrapbook Page

 

Supplies: Simple Scrapper Premium Membership Template; Robyn Meierotto Designs papers + elements; Cinzia Designs paper + tag; Sahlin Studio button; Katie Pertiet paint splatters; Lauren Script; Traveling Typewriter

Chihuly Garden and Glass

Today, Will and I had the opportunity to visit the newly-opened Chihuly Garden and Glass, the largest display of Chihuly glass in the world, at the Seattle Center. We’ve been meaning to go all summer. The forecast called for sun and mild temperatures, so off we went! I’ve used Will’s photos, taken with a wider angle lens than mine, for this post.

I’m not exactly sure what I expected, but the exhibition exceeded our expectations and is a wonderful addition to the Seattle Center. It replaces the former Fun Forest amusement park.

The interior galleries, which visitors walk through first, illuminate major facets of Chihuly’s career. One of our favorites features glass forms of varied shapes and vibrant colors spilling over the edges of two large wooden boats.

ChihulyInterior

 

A glass conservatory aka Glasshouse visually connects the nearby Pacific Science Center and Space Needle.

ChihulyGlasshouse2

 

The Garden is anchored by four monumental sculptures. The largest, named Sun, sits atop a bed of black mondo grass. Somehow Will managed to get all of the people standing in front of this to vanish for a moment!

 

ChihulyGlasshouse1

 

Unfortunately, I can’t find any information about the names of the other three major sculptures in the garden. This green tower looks almost tropical.

ChihulyGarden

 

The garden, designed by Chihuly along with landscape designer Richard Hartlage, features Chihuly pieces sprouting in color groupings (orange, purple, black and blue) amid well-paired plantings.

ChihulyGarden2

 

We’ll definitely be returning for an evening tour of the gardens sometime this fall.

Bayview Farmers Market

This past weekend, my husband, Ginger (our golden retriever) and I headed to Whidbey Island. While on the island, we frequently visit the Bayview Farmers Market whose vendors just keep getting better and better. Initially we visited the market to buy pies from the the “Pie Lady”. While we do still go to see her, we’ve branched out a bit as well.

FarmersMarket2-3

This time we bought locally-made goat cheese, red carrots (aka “Purple Haze”) and a strawberry-rhubarb pie.

FarmersMarket3

While we didn’t buy any sunflowers, I still snapped photos of the floral displays. The sunflower symbolizes late summer to me. After several beautiful weather days earlier in the week, on this day, the marine layer only started to wear off as we disembarked the ferry in Mukilteo. Fall is definitely in the air!

FarmersMarket2