Weekend In Photos: The Vulcan Edition

If you've watched Star Trek (movie #10 by J.J. Abrams), you will recognize these rocks as Vulcan, Spock's home planet. If you are a fan of the original series, you'll remember this as where Captain Kirk and Gorn were beamed to fight til death. No, I'm not a trekkie. I married one!

This is actually Vasquez Rock in Agua Dolce, about 45 minutes outside of Los Angeles. Otherworldly and beautiful. We were in the vicinity, and decided to take the kids there. The boys are huge Star Trek fans, so it was a happy moment for them. Alas, I was wearing the wrong shoes for this little hike. Plus, did I mention it's gotten warm around these parts, and rattlesnakes like warm weather? Uh, yeah. Next time, we'll have to come prepared with sunscreen and hiking boots (maybe some water and wider lens too!)

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Lawn Fawn + Operation Write Home

Happy Saturday! If you don't know what Operation Write Home is, you can find out more here. Simply put: you create cards that are sent to our troops, who write in them, and send them back to their families. There's more to it, so please go by their website, read about them, donate your cards!

I created this one using the Lawn Fawn stamp sets Gnome Sweet Gnome and Sophie's Sentiments. Actually, the only word I used from the sentiments set was "you." Pretty dang handy that set.

I wanted to create a card that is kid-friendly, and the "bee" pun is perfect. Plus, who can resist those bees?

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Gnome Sweet Gnome + Sophie's Sentiments / Ink: Hero Arts Shadow Ink in Soft Yellow + Tsukineko Memento in Tuxedo Black / Embossing powder: American Crafts Zing in Opaque White / Markers: Triart + Letraset ProMarkers / Carstock: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White + DCWV Silky Smooth / Adhesive: Tombow + 3L

One popped-up bee.

You can barely see it, but there are swirly lines in the background.

That super bright red paper is from a small pad that DCWV sent me. It's called Silky Smooth, and it's exactly that. Slightly shiny, and almost texture free on one side (pretty hard to stamp on). Slightly texture-y on the other (perfect for stamping). The stack I got has neon colors, which are just so hot right now (say it like Mugatu!) Love smooth cardstock! Thank you DCWV!

One other super cool discovery? Milwaukee embossing gun! Who knew! Well, Jennifer McGuire knew. That's who! It heats super fast therefore melts embossing powder super fast. Thank you Jen and Hero Arts! It's exactly what I was looking for. I love it! 

And don't forget to go by Lawn Fawn to see what the other designers created. Plus, there's a pretty awesome giveaway if you enter a humorous card AND another giveaway if you post a comment. Go now!

Have a great weekend! Thanks for dropping by.

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Weekend In Photos: Central Coast California

A bit late, since it's Wednesday already. But I was lazing around yesterday with the kids. It's their Spring Break, so we are just taking it easy.

This past weekend, we drove up the coast of California to Cambria, stopping at a few cities along the way. The kids didn't bring their nintendos. So we had a chance to talk and take in the views as we drove up. Once there, we hiked, played games, watched movies, slept, ate. The kids had fun, we had fun, it was heaven!

Solvang / Cambria / Cambria / Cambria / Cambria / San Simeon / Cayucos

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Happy Friday!

Driving up the coast of California, looking for more of this:

Have a great weekend!

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Jillibean Soup: Projects

March was my last month on the Jillibean Soup team. I've had a great year with them. It's such a great group of people! Jill, Kimber, Jen, and Laina are all so sweet and caring! I can't wait to see them again at the next CHA.

I thought I'd share my Jillibean projects from the past few months.

I will miss working with their products on a regular basis. Actually, so much so that I've already ordered some from an online store!

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Weekends in Photos: So Random!

I didn't take a lot photos this weekend. That's because I spent most of it in bed. Pretty much all day Saturday. Reading, napping, reading, napping. It does the body and soul good! So on Sunday, I forced myself out of bed, and we took the kids to grab some dim sum in the San Gabriel Valley. For you non-SoCal folks, it's an area in LA with amazing Asian restaurants. Did I say amazing? Yeah. I don't eat Chinese or Vietnamese food outside of that area. Really.

I had to bribe the kids with boba to get them to not do Calvin faces for this shot.

Later on, the little and I headed out to take some practice shots. I've been trying forever to take good panning photos, and it's a real hit or miss. A good friend of mine, who's race car photographer, was kind enough to explain it to me. It sounded simple enough... But it's not. So I did more googling, and found this article. The author suggests to practice by swinging a kid and turning with the kid. Well, my smallest kid is NOT small, so swinging him was out. But I did get him to hold my free hand, and we spun together, resulting in this photo, which I love! I love how his hair is taking flight, how happy he looks, how the background is swirling around him. Love this frozen moment of happiness. I need more practice.

We also have a new family member: Billy, the pacman frog. He's not the cutest critter around, but I'm beginning to warm up to him. I tried to pet him today. He tried to bite my finger. I guess we are not friends yet.

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More Cards! Lily Bee!

Happy Friday! This is the week of cards! I'm actually going to send some out, because what fun is making cards if they are not used? Never mind I really dislike going to the post office...

These first two cards were made using a Silhouette. I created the chevrons using the accompanying program, and it was pretty darn easy. Backed them up with some patterned paper, used some letter stickers, and presto: two cards made.

patterned paper: Lily Bee Design Double Dutch 6x6 Tiny Tablet

patterned paper: Lily Bee Design Buttercup 6x6 Tiny Tablet / stickers: Buttercup ABC Cardstock

This other one took a little more work, but I really love how it turned out. Bright colors with a nice deep navy patterned background. I think I'm going to make them in various color schemes with various sentiments. The banner is actually a stamp from the Double Dutch set. Love it!

clear stamps: Memorandum, Buttercup, Double Dutch / ink: Colorbox Picante, Citrine, Razzberry, Blue Jean ; Jenni Bowlin Lemon Drops

Hey, thanks for dropping by. Hope you have a fantastic weekend!

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Technique Tuesday: Cards

I feel a little weird posting Technique Tuesday projects on a Thursday. Maybe I should save them for Tuesdays? (Who cares... you mutter under your breath.)

Well, it's Thursday and here are a few cards I made with their fab stamps.

featuring Petite Posies mini set / ink: ColorBox Pigment ink in Berry, Jenni Bowlin in Lemon Drops, and some unlabeled blue ink / thread: DMC

featuring Hearts by Ali Edwards set / ink: ColorBox Pigment ink in Scarlet, Stampin' Up Classic Ink in Going Grey / thread: Gütermann

My go-to technique is hand-stitching. Usually I draw a picture or use a computer font as a guide for my stitching. But I'm loving using stamps for that. So easy. Love how it adds more texture into an otherwise flat stamped image.

Thanks for dropping by today!

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Lawn Fawn: Cards

Lawn Fawn has been debuting their new March stamps on the blog, and giving away big prizes. (So don't forget to go by and leave a comment for several chance to win.)
Here are two of my contributions to the party!

featuring Grand Greetings set / patterned paper: Lawn Fawn Petite Paper Pack / ink: Versafine in Onyx Black (my favorite black ink pad!) / punch : Martha Stewart Crafts Heart border punch

featuring Flying By set  and Love N Breakfast set / ink: Memento in Tuxedo Black / markers: Letraset ProMarker (my favorite markers) - it was featured by the cute folks from Moxie Fab!

For the hearts card, I used Martha Stewart Crafts' heart border punch. It punches a few different sizes at the same time. Very handy! Some of the hearts are just glued directly onto the card, and some have pop up dots behind them. For the paper airplane card, I cut the sentiment from Flying By apart and added the "I love you" from the Love N Breakfast. The little heart is also from the breakfast set. Cut the airplanes out, and popped them up. Easy peasy!

Thanks for coming by! See you again soon.

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Lawn Fawn Bright Side

As you probably already know, Lawn Fawn introduced its first patterned paper line this past CHA. Bright, sweet colors, and cute flowery patterns. Plus the most perfect patterned kraft papers. It's real kraft (not just printed to look like one), and it's the perfect color: not too bright, not too dark. There are also letter stickers in a 12x12 sheet with four sets of alphas on it, 3 small and one big. A 6x6 pad of paper, and hemp cord! You can take a closer look (and order) your own stash here.

Here's a layout I created recently with the new goods:

I just got a Silhouette, so I had to use it on this layout! I cut out the words first, then stamped around it using a polaroid stamp. Backed the words with bits of the Petite Paper Pack. Added the photo, and adhered to the page with pop up dots. The border around the journaling is from a new set called You've Got Mail. See that background kraft paper? Zig zags! LOVE!

There's lots more Bright Side inspiration on the Lawn Fawn blog today. Plus giveaways! So go by and leave a comment to win some yummy stuff.

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