Monday, November 19, 2012

Day 8 ,9 & 10

Day Eight was a day of travel...from Moab, Utah to Flagstaff, AZ which was our second destination and one that I was anxious to reach as we would be seeing our daughter, Amber.
On the drive to Flag I snapped a few photos along the way. That's what I like to do when I get bored with the drive :
 I have no idea what the "hole in the rock" is. I didn't see any hole.
 Can't remember the name of this arch. It was right along side the highway. Sorry about the glare from the truck's window.
Water in the middle of the desert is always a welcome sight.
 A cool looking rock formation in the middle of nowhere.
 A close up of that cool rock formation.
We finally arrived at our campground in Flagstaff and thoroughly enjoyed our three days there. We had actually planned to stay only two but Amber wanted us to stay an extra day.
She showed us the new gym that they finished last year at NAU. It is very nice (Now we know why tuition went up).
She took us up to Snowbowl. The Aspens were so pretty even without most of their leaves. The first time Amber took us up the mountain there was snow. This time Snowbowl was in its fall finery.
 It was a perfect fall day and we all wished we could have stayed up there all day.
 Wayne, Amber and Nanook on the trail.
 Nanook enjoying some freedom off the leash.
 One happy dirty dog!

 Weather was gorgeous all three days we were in Flag. The first day it was 75 degrees but boy did we get a surprise the first night.  I woke up around 3:00 in the morning. I was warm under the flannel sheets and thinking how glad I was to have them. But I noticed my face felt colder than it had the entire trip so I woke Wayne up  and told him that it felt colder than  usual and maybe he should check the water hose. Of course he grumbled that it wasn't any colder but got up anyway. Sure enough the water hose was frozen solid. He brought it in to the shower to thaw and turned the heater up a bit. As it turned out it got down to 25 degrees that night! A fifty degrees difference from the day.
Oh, the adventures we have camping!

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Autumn Blessings

Two more Thanksgiving cards to share with you today!
This one was inspired by a leftover scrap from the previous card I made yesterday:
 
I used the frame that was left over, ran it through the Cuttlebug in the Swiss Dot EF added a couple of stamped images and the banner with the sentiment. I stamped the quote and the three acorn image onto cardstock and placed it behind the frame. Once I adhered the embellished frame to the background cardstock I was done.
I used the same cardstock, stamp set and inks as I did on yesterdays card except I inked all the edges on this card with Walnut Stain Distress ink.
 
My second card is again made with the Linen Closet Matstack from DCWV and the same stamp set and inks. I did use a sketch from http://deconstructingjen.com/archives/6980
Here is sketch #78 that I used:
 
 This card was a little challenging since I didn't have a circle big enough so I had to raid my kitchen cabinets and finally found a small bowl that was perfect. Also I had to cut the circle by hand but I think it came out OK. I almost didn't add the small partial circle at the upper right corner but decided to go ahead and add it. I thought it looked too plain  so I stamped the acorn in it. Not sure if it makes the card seem a bit unbalanced. Maybe I will like it better after it sits for a while. Do you ever have that happen when your finished with a card and you just aren't that happy with it then you come back to it later and find that it isn't that bad after all?
Again this card was made with the same supplies as the other two. This time I forgot to ink some of the edges with distress ink. I think it would have looked better with all the edges inked but they were already adhered down.
I even did some stamping on the front and back of the envelopes. Now I need to get the cards ready for the mail first thing in the morning! Although I am sure they will get there day after but hey it's the thought that counts right?
Have a Happy Sunday!
Teresa
 
 


Saturday, November 17, 2012

...Watch the Leaves Turn

Finally a card!!  Even though it was a quick one it feels good to be creating again.
For this I used this sketch from Cardabilities:

You can find the details for this sketch here Cardabilities #63 .
 Every piece of paper except for the background pattern paper cardstock is all scraps and all the paper is from DCWV Linen Closet Matstack.
The only embellishment I used were the gold pearls.
The stamps are Inkadinkadoo Autumn Harvest. I used two stamps but I laid them out how I wanted them then laid the acyrlic block down on top of the stamps so I only had to stamp once.I used VersaMark Watermark ink first then inked it with Timber Brown Staz On ink. I like using Versa Mark Water Mark ink with Staz On inks and Distress inks. I seem to get better coverage and I can heat emboss even using quick drying inks like Staz On.
 
It's getting late and the dog needs his last walk for the day so I better get going.
Thanks so much for stopping by!

Friday, November 9, 2012

Day 7 Arches National Park

Day 7 we spent at Arches National Park. If you go wear comfortable hiking shoes and be prepared to do a lot of hiking if you want to see a lot of the arches. There are only a few that you can see without walking far.
Here are ANP photos:
 Entering the park.
 First stop was at Balance Rock
A nice couple offered to take a picture of the both of us and we returned the favor.
The skies are so blue they look fake at times.
 This arch is called North Window. Wayne looks so small underneath the mammoth arch.
This is the South Window.
This is actually Turret Arch. North,South and Turret arches are all together.
We climbed up Turret Arch and you can see South Window in the background.
On the way down from the Turret Arch you could see both the North & South window at the same time.
me
Delicate Arch was the next stop. We were having a great time scampering up all the red rocks...then came this hike. The sign said three miles Round Trip but we swear it was three miles one way. Wayne of course reached it about 10 minutes before me but as I rounded the side of the mountain and Delicate Arch came in view let me tell you it takes your breath away and you forget how hot and tired you are as you stand there awestruck at its beauty and size. It was well worth the the hike.
 Delicate Arch is the one that you see on computer screens and the license plates in Utah.
I felt sooo small.
This was the hardest part of the hike on the way up. This rock seemed to go up forever. Going down was much easier. The stack of rocks you see in the photo is how they mark the trails.
This section of the park is called Firey Furnace because of how they glow red in the setting sun.
This is the start of the trail to Landscape Arch. The sign said it was a mile hike but here again they were wrong.  Little did we know you had to hike .9 to the trail head then it would be another mile to the arch. Slightly misleading wouldn't you say?
 It was a pretty hike to Landscape Arch and this photo is just a sample.
 Finally we made it!
I just love these old twisted, gnarled trees. They withstand such tough elements.
 Another view of Landscape Arch.
 A really cool gnarly tree.
On the way back to the trail head. We were tired after hiking 10 miles total in the park and we were also out of water. Time to head home and try to catch the sun going down.
A beautiful sunset at the end of a beautiful day!
















 

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Day 5 Canyonlands National Park

Day 5 We were excited to get out and do some sightseeing after four days of driving. We enjoyed Canyonlands and the weather was beautiful, 75 and sunny.
Here are a few of the many photos we took. Enjoy:










 

 
 This is Dead Horse State Park where we are staying. It is pretty awesome too.

 This is at sunset and you can see the Colorado River.
 This is entirely by accident but it looks like I am holding up the sky.
 The sun is almost gone and time to head back to camp and have dinner.
 This is back at camp and the fading sunset was still pretty so I snapped one last photo before ending our day.