Wanting to go back in time

So this is it, the last photos of my travel journal from this summer's trip. I suppose I can still show you photos I took, but it kind of means the trip is really over. (Until I do the scrap journal that is!). I guess when you get home, having the chance to blog about your trip lets you continue on it for a little bit more. Process it too. I wish I had another trip planned for-like in about 6 weeks. Travel fever is starting to eat away at me, like it does every fall when I have to go back to work and when work becomes kind of all consuming for a month or so. But alas, I don't know. Maybe February I can go away again but not sure my husband will be able to get that time off since he won't be at his new job (when he is officially offered it) very long. 

HMMM, thinking about those possibilities.

But instead of going on about the future I think I will get back to the matter at hand.

So I used this bingo board page and added this map, which I outlined our last days drive. The bear (he's so funny) was stamped, colored and cut out. He's from October Afternoon.

And a second bingo page...

And on this bingo board page I added the Sizzix/Tim Holtz globe. I stamped the saying, added the little ground squirrel and the cut out Glacier words.

I love this phrase-it is one of the new stamps from Impression Obsession. I added some stickers, some notes, and the tall tree sticker from Hot Off the Press. The page itself is from 7Gypsies.

A who goes away without a sweatshirt or jacket? My hubby forgot his and so in while freezing in the 52 degree wind on the top of Logan Pass in Glacier NP he had to go buy a sweatshirt.  I thought the tag/wrapper would be a great page and story in the book.

And on the left side is a menu for a burger place we went to (we don't have these in New Hampshire) and on the right is some graph paper pages (you can get these all set for the notebooks at Staples) which I kept notes on.

Hiking notes.

More hiking notes, on the back of a postcard.

I liked that technique and used it quite a few times.

So yesterday I had a fun adventure with Katie.

I will share with you another day.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Adventure is worthwhile

Here's a card using some of these great stamps from Artistic Outpost. I cut out the license plate and used distress stains to give it a rusty old look. I wanted it to look like a real metal license plate and I think it does. And I die cut the gears and used some Viva Gold rub on paints to make them look both metallic and old too. I love those pieces on this card. 

My least favorite part of this card is the blue tape I used across the bottom. It looks too new compared to the rest of the card.

But I don't dislike this card.

I love the saying on this card too.

So today I am hopefully going to have another of my own great summer adventure.

I a little bit of unexpected and a lot of love and fun.

Let you know later what I was up to, since right now it is still a bit unplanned, you know how adventures are, the best ones are not set in stone and set in a tight chronological plan.

But I think it will be me and Katie, off on a mother/daughter day of fun before she leaves to go back to college and I have to go back to work. I still have a week off, but you know how one weeks is. It is great but it flies right by.

Happy Saturday all you blog readers.

10 Things Friday

OK, a few more photos from my summer travels.

Just have to show you.
I guess because school is SO close now...the stress of going back is making me wish I was far far away on vacation- still.
Maybe next year I should plan my travels in late August to avoid this.

So today's 10 things Friday-10 more photos.

Still haven't done anything to these so here's some more raw snaps. Most of them still need a few moments in Photoshop to crop out the edges or to adjust the color, but you will have to handle these unfinished moments.

Today's theme is 

wildlife.

1. Mama Bighorn sheep and her cute little baby.

We saw so many Bighorn sheep. They come right up to car practically.
We also saw this sign...who knew this about Bighorn sheep?

I certainly didn't.

2. Some mountain goats. Mama and 2 babies perhaps?

Lucked out and spotted these right along the highway. Screeched at Dave so he would pull over the car.

Definitely think these are mama and her little ones. They're cuter than the sheep-I think.

3. A white tailed deer. Need to crop this one and the mountain goats too.

4. And we were SUPER lucky to see this mama wolf. She's been radio-collared. She ran down the road a good mile.

5. And she had 2 pups. You can see the 2 black puppies here. Mom is over the left hand side of the road. Can you see her? This wolf pack or partial pack was amazing to see.

A highlight of animal viewing for me as I have never seen wild wolves before.

(I am kind of a wolf fan...don't believe all this Red Robin Hood lies about wolves. They aren't  friendly like a lot of dogs but they aren't human killers either. Predators yes, so watch out for your pets and other farm animals, but hey, they don't know the human mind -they are wild animals who need to eat. In their world, as I tell my mom when she goes on about squirrels on her bird feeder- they don't know you put the food out just for the birds. Food is food to them. Survival is their prime goal, as is ours too.

OK, enough preaching for a Friday.)

More photos!

6. And how about a black bear, or 2. We saw a lot of black bears too-not exactly sure but it was over 5 and most likely closer to 10. Only these guys are hard to take photos of because you tend to see them running quickly across the road or poking out behind some brush near the side of the road. You get the photo of their back end darting into the woods or you just see the top of the back or an ear sticking up.This guy though went across the road and then stopped to pig out on this flowering plant. Eating to get ready for winter's hibernation is all he wanted to do. I need to crop this photo before I journal it also. 

But we did not see a grizzley. 

Not that I wanted to meet one in the woods, but had one run across the road in front of us, I would have been happy with that.

You see bear warning signs all over the place.

7. And I showed you this guy in an earlier post. He's such a beauty though. Here's another photo of him coming out onto the road.

8. Can you see this lady elk? She was just lounging by the side of the road in Jasper National Park just chewing her cud. Wish she would have looked at us though. But she was not giving one care about Dave and I in the car. We thought she might be a moose at first, but the white rump gave her away.

9.You see these ground squirrels a lot in Glacier. I believe they are Colombian Ground Squirrels but someone told me they were marmots. I don't think they are big enough for marmots, but maybe someone can clear me up on that. Seeing I've never seen a marmot before.

10. We saw tons of signs for the woodland caribou in Jasper National Park, but they say that the chances of seeing one is VERY UNLIKELY. I guess they are really rare and the one herd that is OK in numbers is found so far off the beaten track in part of the park where there are no roads that you wouldn't see them.

But I have never been any place where they even live before.

Seeing one would have been cool.

So that's my post for today.

Hope you liked it.

Happy Friday!

Travel Journaling

So on our vacation we drove a lot. As you can see, we drove around 1710 miles in 10 days. That's what this page is all about. Most of the word stickers are from October Afternoon. I die cut the traffic sign from a Quickutz/Lifestyle die.

How about this very cool envelope we got our room keys in. I added the little squirrel sticker. He just belonged there. It is a great spot to squirrel a few little trip memorabilia in.

I liked this Jasper sticker. And you can see underneath the back of one of the postcards I bought and used the back as a journaling spot.

Isn't that what postcards are for?

And a ticket put on one of those 7Gyspies tags. I added a stamped (Technique Tuesday) image as the sun came out as we were there and then I added the go BIG sticker which was something that I got from Old Navy-yes the clothing store- at some point.

So I can't believe it is Thursday already. Yesterday I was really bummed it cleared out and got sunny and that  I had to go work at the lake. I really wanted to go do some of the things I needed to do like go into my classroom and order the floor we want to put down in our bedroom. If the rain had continued, I could have run my errands. But instead the sun came out and I had to go to work-for 3 whole boats in 4 hours. Kind of a waste when you're life has been super busy and you need some time to do those things that have to get done. I guess just like my veggie garden, some things are going to have to be crossed off my list this summer. Like getting bedroom fixed up. And I am feeling a bit of a nagging little voice in my head that I need to get into school. So I was really bummed out but  then I kept telling myself it wasn't a bad day, and I was enjoying some sun at the lake. Pretty soon I will be back inside and tied up school all day. But some days what you really want just takes over what you should be happy for and leaves you down in the dumps. That was me yesterday.

Hopefully today will be better emotionally for me.

Thanks for listening.

Silly Moo

Here's a fun card, and it was very simple to make. The image is from a British Company ( I think)

Stampworkz  Sheena Stamps.  I did some coloring and some background inking, and then I added some Stickles to really make the crown pop. I outlined the image in black and then doodled some edging, which I colored in with a white pen.

I started making some cards the other day. I really needed the break from journaling, which has been the art form I have spent the most time playing with this summer. Plus, I also need to make some cards for Katie, since once she goes back to school I'll start sending them to her on a regular basis. In fact, when I told her I wasn't going to send her any, she got all upset and said she likes getting them.

Maybe she'll stop complaining about my penmanship.

So the other day at work I brought this book with me.

I've had it for awhile but pulled it out and reread it.

I have to say, I really felt inspired by it. Good techniques, good little artist blurbs, some great journal photos. And it truly reminded me that all kinds of journaling is OK, as long as it makes you happy. And it can make you happy for whatever reason you chose.

If you haven't checked it out, please do.

Thanks for stopping by.

Last Weekend

Last weekend I didn't even have 1 minute of studio time, but I did do some fun things.

Like make gingersnap cookies. This recipe makes the yummiest ones. It is from this cookbook.

I also made some yummy chocolate mint ice cream. I used this cookbook.

I used the backyard mint ice cream recipe and I used some yummy whole milk chocolate milk from a local dairy. I haven't tried any of her ice cream recipes but the mint leaves just stew in the liquid all night and then you strain them out. Came out delicious-tastes like professional ice cream.

And I mentioned how we went fishing and didn't get any nibbles or bites or fish at all. This is all we caught, along with 2 lobster buoys and the boat anchor and even a bridge.

And we even saw this rainbow-we decided that all the fish were at the end of it.

And how about this cool sunbeam through the evening sunset clouds.

And cool cloud reflections.

That's what I want to share today and I appreciate your stopping by few a couple of minutes.

Blogger's Challenge

I haven't done any kind of challenge in a LONG time. Just haven't had the time.

But this week I decided to join into Blogger's Challenge.

Here's the card I made.

All images are from Artistic Outpost.

I really like how the tag came out. I stamped my images and then used a Sizzix nested die to cut the tag.

Will be using that technique again.

Thanks for visiting.

Here's the link to the other cards in this week's Blogger's Challenge.

for Lack of Any Photos

For lack of any other fresh photos on my computer...got a bunch of my camera to put on the computer but haven't got there yet...

Yesterday we went fishing from 10:30 in the morning until 7:30 at night and didn't even get 1 nibble, strike, bite or fish to reel in.

Was still a great day on the water- being just out at the coast we missed all the heavy rain. Yeah!

So a few more pictures of my travel journal.

A tag I covered with this cool travel paper (K and Company). I added the die cut flag (found this Quickutz set on eBay for like $2.99) and these word stickers.

Add a postcard and put a little October Afternoon tab sticker on the side

Journal on the back of postcards. To this one I added an old Canadian postage stamp I had in my stash, a cut out from a brochure of the hotel we stayed at in Banff and then one of these epoxied travel sign stickers. This one from TPC studio.

And finally, the back of a 7Gypsies page with a couple of embellishments. First, another one of those October Afternoon tab stickers. A Postmodern Design quote stamp and finally a die cut image from TCP Company.

and my latest read

I need to go work at the lake today...don't really want to- it is finally so beautiful and less humid I would just like to stay home and play in my studio. But at least I don't have to work tomorrow and I will say- I like getting all this extra cash.

Thanks for visiting...and

listening to me complain a bit.

Have a great Monday!

Photos for you

Green fields that go on for as far as the eye can see.

Lake Louise ( the tiny blueish spot in the lower center) under a cloud which is floating between the mountains. You can see a glacier right behind and above the cloud.

A memorial in the middle of an empty forest-reminders of a long ago, World War One, interment camp.

Roads through thick forests.

And vistas looking down in rivers in green valleys.

Lake Louise.

And look at the gorgeous blue these glacial lakes are. Especially in the right light.

And this cool feat of civil engineering. How about this road that goes along the edge of a mountain and has this cool bridge right over the waterfall.

And not just a highway overpass, but special bridges built for wildlife to cross the Trans-Canadian Highway just north of Banff. There's many of these. There's also underpasses for them to cross under too.

And someone was naughty and left behind some graffiti.

Though I like this image.

Smiley face barns right along the highway. Can you see it?

OK, I said wouldn't keep taking you on this vacation journey,

but I couldn't help myself.

(These pictures still need a bit of adjusting for gray-tones)

Have a fantastic rest of your weekend!