Portland Journey

Union Station, Portland

Join me on a journey to/from Portland, looking through my windshield! I went for a conference this past weekend (which was great) and took along Mountain Man's point-n-shoot Canon. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of photos, considering that most of these were taken while driving. I didn't have much free time while I was there, except for in the evenings and it got dark fairly quickly.

Capitol Grounds, Olympia

Thursday night I spent the evening studying but Friday night, I ventured out on the Max (the light-rail) to downtown. I walked around a few blocks, went into a very fancy schmancy mall, visited the Columbia store, and then found another station to catch the Max back to my hotel. I ended up eating at a very nice steakhouse recommended by the Marriott, and then perused the mall near it (that I just happened upon). It had an ice skating rink in it and was a little more my style, although it was late and I just had a few minutes to walk around. Then, I walked back to my hotel, which was a few blocks away (but a little scary), and crashed with HGTV on.

Capitol Building, Olympia

Today was the last day of the conference and afterwards, I headed home. I couldn't resist taking some photos of the beautiful Fall foliage here, so you'll see quite a bit of that. I also made a quick detour to our Capitol in Olympia, which was a nice way to stretch my legs. I hope you will enjoy the journey with me. (There are lots of captions.)

Old barn surrounded by the changing leaves of the Fall

Exciting News

Too busy for stamping much lately, but I have some exciting news.
I was published for the first time in Card Creations 6!
Oh yes, you know I'm over the moon with excitement! :-)

Hope your weekend is wonderful! I have 3 exams and a 45-minute group presentation next week for school, not to mention some work, so I'm buried in books again this weekend!

Appreciating Davalynn

Davalynn is my client's wife and she's such a sweetheart. The other day, she surprised everyone in the office with sack lunches and Italian soda. I thought it was so sweet of her to include me! The lunch was delicious and included a homemade meatball sandwich, chips and a homemade brownie. It was especially helpful for me because I was able to work through lunch and get done a little earlier. Anyway, I wanted something special to thank her, so I made this card with a little sack lunch on the front. Now I wish I would have covered the sides as well and continued the back all the way up. Shoot! Oh well; too late now!

Stamps: Maison Frames (Inkadinkadoo)
Paper: Gable Green, Bashful Blue, Creative Cafe
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: A Muse Creative Candy, ribbon, Antique mold metal alphabet letter (JoAnn's ScrapEssentials), dimensionals, sponge

I was inspired by two SCS challenges - WT187 (to use a monogram) and LSC189 (rock-paper-scissors). I had fun with these challenges. :)

Hope your weekend is fun. We're hoping to get to the woods tomorrow!

Heidelfest Photos

Heidelfest 2008 Gallery is posted!

From Heidelfest

The Cooks

Happy Belated Birthday, Eddie!

Well, Eddie's {Stepdad} birthday came and went on Saturday, and although I called, I didn't have a chance to make his card until today! Thanks to Rox and the sketch (SC197) today, I was able to throw it together pretty quickly. I used Michelle Zindorf's You Rock Tutorial for the sponging/shading. She's the master at shading and I've been learning a lot from her tutorials. I hand-drew the flame template a while back and sponged yellow and a couple of oranges onto yellow cardstock.

Sorry this is so late! I'm trying to catch up, but school keeps getting in the way!

Stamps: Look Ma, no stamps! (Isn't that embarrassing!)
Paper: Whisper White, Misc. Yellow (this is the thin, cheap stuff), Only Orange, Deep Belgium Blue by ColorMates
Ink: All for sponging: Barely Banana, Yo-Yo Yellow, Pumpkin Pie, Only Orange, Brilliant Blue
Accessories: navy brads, Fender die cut by Paper House Productions, sponges

Happy Wednesday! Off to study...seems to be the story of my life.

Fall Inspired

My Inspiration

The SCS color challenge today was Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss, & Tangerine. I don't have the new colors, so I substituted Pumpkin Pie & Old Olive. I was inspired by our trees - turning to beautiful shades of yellows, oranges, and reds!

Our church recently hosted our second annual Heidelfest, a fun, family festival celebrating God's goodness. I'm the unofficial photographer (usually the only one with a camera), so I thought it would be nice to give photo CDs to all of the generous coordinators. It takes a lot of time and effort for a successful festival, so I just want them to know that I appreciate their efforts. It was tons of fun and I'm looking forward to next year! {I'm still editing the photos, so they will go out soon!}

As for the CD holder, the leaves were stamped, embossed, then sponged over for the background. There's not much white on it like it shows in that terrible photo! The browns blend very nicely IRL. The front pumpkin is popped on dimensionsals. This was the perfect color combo to play with my new fall stamp sets!

I hope you're enjoying the Fall!

Stamps: Fall Season by Inkadinkadoo, For Our Lord by Clear Dollar Stamps
Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Old Olive
Ink: Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie, Ruby Red, Craft White
Accessories: paper piercer, dimensionals

October already

I cannot believe it's already October. September really flew by, especially the last two weeks that I've been in school. It seems like it's been a whirlwind! I already feel behind in school; I think I underestimated the time required for 20 quarter hours! I'm taking Accounting I, Statistics, Business Law, and Microeconomics this quarter and none seem as easy as I thought they might be! It's been a tough, fast-paced two weeks and the longer this goes on, the more sleep-deprived I become! I've also really been dying to stamp and have taken some time to stamp a little, but not enough to satisfy that longing! :-)

Other changes are happening around here too. The leaves are beginning to change, the air is becoming crisper, and I'm getting giddier! I LOVE the changes of the seasons. Soon it will be time to visit the pumpkin patch and run the corn maze at night with flashlights! {I've only heard about this but I'm looking forward to participating with some gals from church!} When I think of how I love the changes of the seasons, I'm reminded of how good God is to us to let us experience these changes.

Well, I'm off to bed. I got 2 hours of sleep last night and I need a few more so I can work efficiently tomorrow! I'd love to stamp, but I don't think I have it in me tonight. Maybe tomorrow.

A New Creation

I made this card for the SCS Color Challenge to use Baja Breeze (but I had to substitute Sage Shadow,) Really Rust, and Chocolate Chip on Tuesday. This is going to a special tweety that has been so loving and encouraging me to lately. I don't think she looks at my blog, so I think I'm safe in posting it.

The main panel is watercolor paper, sponged with the ink colors listed below, stamped using Chocolate Chip, and popped up on dimensionals. The nest with eggs was watercolored using a marker and aquapainter. The brown panel used the Textile Cuttlebug folder.

Stamps: A New Creation (CHF), Tweets (Saltbox Studio)
Paper: Sage Shadow, Really Rust, Fall Festival Cocoa (Bo Bunny), Watercolor
Ink: Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Sage Shadow, Mint Melody
Accessories: Green sheer ribbon, pearl sticker (K&Co), aquapainter, brown marker, CB Textile, dimensionals

Happy stamping!