Thursday, August 4, 2011

Gone Camping!!

Hi Everyone!

Thanks so much for stopping by, I have lots to share with you today. As promised here are some pictures and fun stories from our very first RV camping trip. We left bright and early last Saturday morning following a quick stop at Wal-Mart. We spent the whole day traveling towards our first stop in Cedar Lake Campground in Oklahoma. The scenery was just gorgeous and after the long hard hot drought in Texas this summer, the green scenery and beautiful trees and vegetation were such a welcome sight and change from the all the dead brown going on in Texas!
We came to the last part of our journey on Saturday and found ourselves somewhat confused courtesy of our lovely GPS system whom we affectionately call "Gabby" The confusion came because she led us to a road that was extremely steep and curvy, loose gravel and had a sign clear as day that said, "Not safe for large vehicles or tractor trailers" Well, we sat at this road and looked and looked and then decided that it couldn't possibly be the right road so we left that one alone and went and found the right road! You cannot imagine how relieved we were that we didn't go down that road. I swear that would have been a scene right out of the Robin Williams movie, "RV"!

Ok, so moving on to Sunday. We traveled to Kansas City MO and spent a fun; but very hot afternoon at Worlds of Fun! Now, this has always been an inside joke with Jim and I because during the four years we lived in Kansas City, I somehow managed to NEVER go to Worlds of Fun! Isn't that crazy?! The kids enjoyed the rides although Reagan was completely convinced she was going "to die" on the "Spinning Dragon" roller coaster. As for me and roller coasters...well I think we've just had a mutual parting of ways over the past 5 years or so. Just don't have the interest, or stomach for them anymore! The boys enjoyed the bumper cars and race cars. Tyler enjoyed driving the Antique Taxis. Jonathan opted out of the Log ride; but everyone else sure had fun on it!
We drove on that night to our final destination of Harlan, Iowa which is Jim's hometown. Monday morning we drove out to our campsite at Prairie Rose Lake. Our camping spot was wonderful. We had an amazing view of the lake. and there was a field with trees across the road. There were only a couple of other campers, so we pretty much had the whole area to ourselves. The kids went swimming in the afternoon and then Tyler and Daddy were going to take the canoe out and go fishing; but unfortunately ended up in the Emergency Room after Tyler fell on a rock and gashed his knee! 5 stitches put the end to his water fun for the rest of the week. He was able to go fishing from the rocks on Friday and caught 4 fish! He was so happy. Those stitches also didn't deter him from having a great time at his bowling birthday party on Tuesday!
We spent the rest of the week with family and friends. I actually managed to not have to spend a single night in the RV! Haha!! I had every intention to; but after Tyler got hurt we decided he would be more comfortable at night at Grandma's house, so I stayed with him. Before we knew it, it was time to pack it all up and head home! We had a great time; but I definitely think there were things we would do differently next time, such as perhaps go a little farther north if we camped it the summer. It may not have been TX hot; but it was still hot enough to be uncomfortable! Traveling in the RV also had it's good points and bad points. One, it was great not to have to stop for bathroom breaks and snacks and meals; and everyone had plenty of room to travel comfortably. However it was really loud; and trying to make sandwiches while in a moving vehicle isn't exactly easy! I am sure, we will have another opportunity one day to try it again!

On a quick side note, I will be posting my crafty creation in a separate post in a little while, so if you can come on back by and take a look! Have a great afternoon!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Blog Candy Winner

Hi Everyone!!

Just a very quick post to let you all know the winner of my blog candy! The winner, chosen by random.org was #18 and that is:

Lisa M.

Lisa, I just need you to send me your mailing information and I can package up your goodies and get them sent to you!! Send me an email at jdshelton3@yahoo.com

I have been so busy this morning doing completely non-crafting related things, that I just don't have anything at all to share with you right now! :(

I am off to try to rectify that little situation and will hopefully be back later today; but if not then definitely tomorrow!!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Summer Time Happy Birthday

Hi!

Just a quick reminder that today is the last day to enter the drawing for my blog candy. Click the picture on the side bar to read all the information. I will be drawing the winner tomorrow morning, so hurry before the chance is gone!

Ok, so for today's card I made a birthday card using more of the papers from My Mind's Eye that I used yesterday. These papers are so versatile because you can make a soft subtle card like I did yesterday or one that has fun summer colors like this one today.

My designed varied slightly from the original OWH sketch because my sentiment panel is a bit larger. I really wanted to use this Happy Birthday sentiment from OCL's "Say it Big" set. I also decided to use the large flowers instead of another stamped image.

A few challenges for today's card:

1. Card Cupids: Birthday Cards

2. Come and Get it Challenges: Anything Goes

3. Creative Inspiration: Summer

4. There She Goes: Summer

5. Stars and Stamp: Sketch

6. Craft Your Days Away: Summer

7. Designed 2 Delight: Buttons

8. Crafty Sentiments: Birthday

9. Stamps R. Us: Birthday

Monday, August 1, 2011

From Texas to Paris

Hi Everyone!!

I'm so happy to be back from vacation. It was a lot of fun; but we also had some interesting things happen. I intend to post pictures and other fun stuff from our camping trip in an other post later this week.
Well, I didn't quite go to Paris; but I did manage to travel to the Village Pointe Shopping Center in Omaha NE which is one of my favorite places to go because it has an Archiver's Scrapbook store and I was so proud of myself because I only bought a few things. One of which is this new OCL set "Vintage Traveler" and papers from My Mind's Eye "Stella Rose: Mabel Papers." I couldn't wait to get home and play around with my new goodies! So, this is what I came up with for the current OCL sketch challenge.
I used Aqua Mist, Blushing Bride, Dark brown with the pattern papers. I took a couple of additional close up pictures of the card, so that you can see the detail of the embossing piece that I did with my new Hero Arts Cling Stamp "Fabric Design"
I embossed it with Clear Powder onto glossy paper and then I brayered and sponged Bermuda Bay ink across the paper.

Ok, so the challenges that I am entering this card into are:

1. OCL: Sketch Challenge #76

2. Craft us Crazy: Anything Goes

3. Inspire Me Fridays: Anything Goes

4. Stampin B's: Ribbon

5. Blogger's Challenge: Embossing

6.Opus Gluei: No Sentiment

7. Sew Many Cards: Anything Goes