Rocky Mountain High

We're getting ready to go and visit my son and daughter-in-law in Denver ... they moved from Nebraska over a year ago and are "living the dream" each and every day in their new mile high environment. Sure do miss them, but knowing that they love their new home and new jobs and new "back yard", can't help but make me happy. So ROAD TRIP here we come!

Check This Out!

Go and check out Jenni's blog Wee Memories for some great fun and she's got a giveaway this week too!

http://suchins.blogspot.com/

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my dad's birthday. I adore the "smirk" of a grin in his graduation photo - just makes me laugh. He is the foundation of our family and I am so proud to call him my dad. He's taught me to have a sense of humor (his favorite line to us kids growing up was "pull my finger"), to help others (he never turned anyone down that needed his help), and a sense of family (he was an only child and loved that he married into a large family - my mom was the youngest of 7 children). He provided us with such a great childhood. We went on family trips to Disneyland in California and fishing trips up to Okoboji and Minnesota, and I'll never forget the roadtrip to Niagra Falls. He took us on our first airplane trip to visit our cousins in Anaheim, and also my first train ride, again to California. He LOVES the ocean and deep sea fishing, and has made many trips with his group of buddies over the years on fishing adventures. He is a Master Plumber, and I don't think he has ever really "retired" to this day, as he will jump at the chance to help anyone out with their plumbing problems. He worked hard all his life and provided his family with all that we ever needed, and especially his love. Happy Birthday, Dad!!

Chugging Along!

Okay ... I had way too much fun making this card! I just freehanded the train template and punched out 2 large circles and one small circle, then added the sentiments from the SRM sticker packet I won several weeks ago. I added a Hero Arts flourish for the "steam" at the top. What do you think? Check out the SRM Blog here:

http://srmstickers.blogspot.com

Crafty Saturday

In between loads of laundry this morning, I've been in my craft room creating cards. I'm trying to use up scraps of paper (I have a ton) before I buy anymore. My camera isn't the best for capturing the distressing or grunge on some of these cards, but I'm really happy with how they turned out.

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad

If ever there was a couple to take example from, it’s my mom and dad. They were married in 1950. And while disagreeing is a form of communication for them sometimes, they have a very solid and loving relationship. Here’s a card I made for them. It’s hard to tell from the photo, but I printed out their wedding photo onto some vellum for a more vintage look. I wonder if they knew starting out that they would be raising FIVE children (grin). Thanks for a terrific childhood, mom and dad and have a fantastic anniversary today!

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Colorda

My son, Mark, and his wife and her family were in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park over the weekend. Here's a pic of my son. What a beautiful vista it is. He and Chrysty are loving their new environment and having so many fabulous vistas within a few hours drive from their home makes them VERY happy indeed.

Happy Birthday Trisha!!

I meant to get this post up yesterday as my niece, Trisha, had a birthday. Happy Birthday, Trisha - hope your day was extra special.

Here's a pic from over the weekend of Trisha and her new baby daughter, Avyln, together with her mom, Gloria (my sister) and our folks, John and Pearl.

Timeless

My good friend, Marcia, is a Stampin Up demonstrator and at a recent monthly card party, we made this fabulous card using the Sense of Time stamp. The chain is from Hobby Lobby. This is such a great masculine card or a graduation card. I met Marcia several years ago at an Archiver mania, along with her sweet sister-in-law, Bunny, and another wonderful woman, Joyce. The four of us became fast friends and get together at least once or twice a month to share in our passion for cardmaking and scrapbooking.

Rosenblatt Stadium

This weekend we're attending my company's summer family event at Rosenblatt Stadium (home of the College World Series). This is a photo from last year's event. My grandson, Jonas, is on the right (the one with the cookie in his hand), and his best buddy, Ryne, is on the left. This photo really captures the excitement of America's favorite pasttime - BASEBALL.

Pacman Lives

I recently won a packet of stickers from SRM (http://www.srmpress.com). Here's a card I made today using one of their sentiments. I love pacman! We used to play for HOURS back when this came out in the 80's.

Everybody SALSA!

I love this time of year. Tomatoes off the vine means fresh salsa, which my family loves to put on EVERYTHING! This recipe is one I've used for years and we love it. The cornbread recipe is a MUST when we make Mary's enchiladas as well. It's give a bit of sweet to all the hot stuff going on with the other foods and it is SO simple to throw together and a definite crowd pleaser. Now somebody pass me a margarita!

Butterflies

Here's another card I made using the same techniques spelled out below. I just love the shine of the dabber paints together with the black stamps.

Multiple Techniques

On this card, I used a Hero Arts handwriting stamp in the background on cream colored card stock. I then cut out a flower from a piece of old book paper and attached it with removable glue. I then used Tim Holtz' dabbers in bronze, gold and rust and randomly inked over the entire card and diecut. I removed the die cut and then added the stem flourish in black and a birthday sentiment. And finally I added a button with a piece of embroidery floss tied into the holes.