I'm a little late with this card technique. I think this was a featured technique on Splitcoast Stampers about six months ago. I never made one of them but decided it was a good technique for this nautical card. It was a lot easier than I thought. I made this card for my nephew for his birthday .... a little bit late, but hey, better late than never!
The colors I used are Night of Navy, Cherry Cobbler and Whisper White along with a retired Nautical DSP. I'm so glad this stamp set was included in the new SU catalog. It is so great for male cards. Here are the directions to make a telescoping card if you are so inclined.
We had a busy weekend. Friday night we enjoyed dinner at Prickley Pear in Mooresville to celebrate our friend, Bob's birthday. He and Sharon were visiting Marianne for the weekend for graduation. Saturday we attended the Mooresville High School graduation ceremonies and watched my nephew, Harrison graduate. Where have the years gone? He will be going to Central Piedmont in the fall. After the ceremony, Marianne had a party for him at mom's club house. It was fun. Today, Sonny and I went out on the boat. It was my first time on the boat all season!
The NEW Stampin' Up! Firm Foam Ink pads are great! They change your stamping experience for the better. Here's what they look like (plus check out a quick video by Shannon West from the Stampin' Up! home office - great information!)
I think you are going to love these new Stampin' Pads! Just look at all the exciting benefits listed below:
•Provide better ink coverage for your stamps!
•Light-tap stamping produces flawless images!
•Pad stays juicier for longer resulting in better ink pad longevity!
In addition, our new Stampin' Pads:
•Have a crisply printed, glossy label on the top of the pad that is easier to read and that will not fade or chip off!
•Come with color name labels in all four languages (English, Spanish, French, and German)-just choose your language, peel it off the back, and add it to the side of the pad for easy identification!
•Use the same patented flip-top case design that stores the inking surface upside down, so the pad surface stays moist!
•Are available in all colors, including our exclusive In Colors!
NOTE: Five ink colors have undergone formula changes to improve functionality and color stability with the new firm foam pads. These colors are:
•Basic Black
•Basic Gray
•Marina Mist
•Perfect Plum
•Tempting Turquoise
All five colors of the reformulated inks have been fully tested and approved. While using the new ink formula in the old Stampin' Pads is fine, we do not recommend using the old ink formula in the new firm foam pads.
Additional features you will love:
•The firm foam is nice and flat and will not become wavy.
•The firm foam material does not imprint on the stamp images like the felt pad sometimes did. However, because the firm foam material is a foam base material, the stamp image can momentarily leave an imprint on the pad, which can transfer to a second stamped image. By inking your stamp on different areas of the pad or waiting momentarily for the ink to rise back to the top, you can easily avoid this situation.
•The firm foam material is soft and has a nice bounce to it. It’s not hard like the felt is.
•The ink lay-down (how the ink is absorbed into the card stock) is even, not blotchy, and dries quickly. It has an increased opacity and stamps solid images beautifully.
Sorry for not posting yesterday - seems as I've picked up a bit of a cold since returning from our trip. I think I sneezed my head off yesterday while I was going through a box of kleenex blowing my nose. So, I'm staying close to home today and taking it easy.
I took my mom out to lunch yesterday just to get her up and out of the house. (I tried to keep my distance so she wouldn't catch my cold but at the time, I thought it was just allergies.) She did great - using her walker to go to the restaurant. We just did a short outing - to a deli for lunch and back home. But last night she called me in tears she was hurting so bad. This is getting really frustrating. Today she and Angela are getting their hair cut so we'll see how today goes. I have a call in to her doctor to discuss the situation. I hate being at the mercy of these doctors.
I finally picked my 2 free stamp sets (compliments of my SAB sales) Tuesday and put my order in for them. I ordered Everything Eleanor and From My Heart. Of course, I have a whole page of other stamps that I want on my Wish List but they will be there for another time. I also ordered all the in color cardstock, Polka Dot DSP, Dahlia embellishments, Chevron embossing folder, Delicate Designs textured folder, and was able to get a new stamp set that will be offered for $5 in July for every $50 order, Reason to Smile. Now I just have to be patient and wait for UPS to process my order and bring it to my doorstep.
In the meantime, I have been having fun playing with Papaya Collage, the new stamp set I got in the pre-order as well as the new In Colors.
I know a lot of people are on the fence about the new Summer Starfruit color. I probably am too. I love the color that it stamps. This is the first time I have used it for a card and I love how it coordinates with the other colors. I stamped the background with Versamark to add a little contrast to the color. The frame is stamped with Midnight Muse and the leaves are stamped with Gumball Green. So what do you think?
It's Wednesday, so that means it's time for another sketch challenge from the Stampin' Queens. One of the things that I love about these sketch challenges, is how versatile the sketches are. Here is this weeks sketch:
I decided to do a card about traveling in honor of my recent Alaska trip. I used the May 22 download, World Traveler to make this digital card. I finally got it to download today by turning off my Norton security options. It wasn't SU's fault - turns out, it was Norton that was blocking it and deleting it since it was a new and quite large download. So, now can get started scrapbooking my pictues.
When I returned from our Alaska trip and picked up the mail, I had two great Monday Mailer cards!! Such fun plus ... they are wonderful cards. Remember, we were to use retiring stamps. I am really going to miss these stamp sets - especially Three Little Words. It always came in handy for a sentiment.
I needed to send a birthday card out today but luckily, I had left a card partially finished on my desk when I went away. So I was able to quickly finish it today and get it in the mail. It will still be late, but at least not too late!!
I used Forest Friends for this card. I honestly don't know if I used this set but a couple of times! Wish I'd remembered it at Easter when I was looking for a rabbit!
World Traveler Photobook Template
I downloaded some newly released My Digital Studio templates and photobooks this weekend. One of them, World Traveler, was released on May 22. I thought it would be great for my Alaska pictures and have been wanting to start scrapbooking with it. Unfortunately, there is a glitch with my computer and I can't get it to download. I have never had this problem with any of the downloads so I am waiting to speak to the technical geeks at SU to fix it - hopefully tomorrow!!
Every Tuesday, Stampin' Up release new digital products. They are announced on My Digital Studio.net so if you have MDS, check them out each week. You can also access all the downloads and all the products offered for MDS HERE or by clicking "Digital Items" just below my blog banner.
ALSO - if you have My Digital Studio, then go get your new In Colors! The new 2012-2014 In Colors (Gumball Green, Midnight Muse,
Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple, and Summer Starfruit) are
available for FREE when you update your software. Not only will you see
them in your color palette, but you'll get the card stock as well. You can update your software by clicking Help (in MDS)
and then Check for Updates, Make sure you take advantage of this offer!
I'm home!! We got back Friday and I've been trying to catch up on my sleep ever since! We had a slight delay on our return flight - it was delayed several hours. We were supposed to leave Anchorage at 8:30; instead our flight left at 11:30 making us miss our connection in Houston. But luckily, we got on a flight leaving Houston at 10:00 am and arrived home around 1:30 p.m. only to find that our car battery was dead! Welcome home! We were both exhausted after being awake over 24 hours. We both only grabbed a couple of hours sleep on the plane. Saturday, I slept till about 11 a.m. and finally woke Sonny up around 1 pm!!
My mom ended up having another surgery while I was gone. She had her first back surgery about a week before I left town. But, she was still hurting and not progressing like she should have. So, she went back to the doctor and had an MRI done. A week later ... when she went back to the dr. for the follow-up, he finally looked at the MRI and saw a mass where the incision was. So, they sent her over to the hospital and prepped her for surgery on Thursday. It turned out to be a blood clot pressing up against the nerve. They kept her over night this time and now that she is home, she is doing much better. The incision is hurting her, but she seems to be able to get up and around much better than before. Hopefully, this will do the trick.
I haven't had a chance to do any stamping since I got back home but hope to do some this week to share. In the meantime, I will share a few more of my Alaska pictures.
We went to Seward on Tuesday which is on the coast and pretty rainy. It rained the whole time we were there,. We were scheduled to go on a day long wildlifemand glacier viewing cruise on Wednesday but because of the bad weather, we were only able to go out into Prince William Sound to look at wildlife. As it turned out, it was a good thing! The closer we got to the open water, the more my stomach turned. I never get sea sick, but I have learned to never say never! I ended up standing out on the back deck in the cool air during most of the trip with the other people who were feeling queasy! But before I started feeling bad, I was able to see a lot of wildlife - sea otters, lots of bald eagles, porpoises, seals, cormorants, and puffins but no whales. The scenery was breath taking with waterfalls and a couple of glaciers.
Enjoy this video of the porpoises that were swimming along side the ship for quite some time. (hope it works!)
Ashley & I at the beginning of the cruise on the ship. We were all bundled up - that wind was cold!
Sea Otters lounging around on the rocks. They also "sang" for us!
Sea Otters were posing for us on the top of the rock!
These are Black Legged Kittiwakes. There were thousands nesting at the end of Cape Resurrection. They secure their nests to the sheer cliffs.
End of the day catch - unfortunately, not ours!!
Remember - you can click on the pictures to see them better.
On Sunday after we visited the "resort" and ice hotel, we drove to North Pole, Alaska! It's one of those towns that is typical of Alaskan towns - if you blink, you miss it! But this one would be hard to miss. Driving through North Pole in any season you will notice Christmas decorations, street names, and light poles that reflect their motto - "Where the Spirit of Christmas Lives Year Round." We drove down Santa Claus Lane with giant candy cane light poles and stopped at the Santa Claus House, the official home of Santa Claus himself. Many of the streets bear holiday names: Santa Claus Lane, Snowman Lane, Kris Kringle, Mistletoe, Holiday Rd., Saint Nicholas Drive, North Star Drive, Blitzen, and Donnor. Street lights are decorated in candy cane motifs and many buildings are painted with Christmas colors and designs. Live reindeer, a variety of photo opportunities, and Santa Claus himself are available for photographs. The only thing missing was the cold weather! We walked around in long sleeve tees. It's amazing how warm it has been on our trip - we haven't needed our coats at all. In fact, most of the time, in our hotel rooms, we have needed air conditioning and not all the hotels have it!
Reindeer - none of them had a red nose though!!
Mural on outside of the building
I loved this mural on the building!
For over 60 years, they have been sending letters to children all over the world with the North Pole postmark and the assurance to the child that Santa is watching and will be making a visit soon.
We ended the day by returning to Fairbanks and wandering around Pioneer Park which is a themed park emphasizing historic Fairbanks. It is a really nice 44 acre park that was built for the Alaska Centennial. The park includes: the steam train that Pres. Harding rode in when he drove the Golden Spike for the Alaskan railroad; a 40-foot antique carousel; cabins have also been refurbished as close as possible to their original condition and are occupied by local merchants offering an assortment of refreshments, gifts, and Alaskan souvenirs and a riverboat, S.S. Nenana, which once sailed Alaska's rivers, is permanently docked at the park and has a great diorama of the points of call in its heyday. It is listed as a National Historic Landmark. They also have a Salmon Bake that is very popular but we didn't have that since we had eaten a huge Chinese lunch about 3:00.
We are still in Fairbanks - leaving here tomorrow headed to Valdez. Today we drove about an hour to Chena Hot Springs Resort. Believe me, Alaska's idea of a resort is a little different than resorts in the lower states! The Resort has become world famous for their legendary healing mineral waters and beautiful Aurora Borealis displays that occur 200 nights a year on average. We didn't see the Aurora Borealis - it is not the time for it nor did we soak in the hot springs BUT we did visit the Aurora Ice Hotel/Museum. It was awesome! The Ice Hotel was the first of its kind in the United States, and one of just a handful worldwide. It features a gallery and ice bar, overhead chandeliers made of individually carved ice crystals which change color every six seconds mimicing the northern lights, countless sculptures including a gigantic chess set, life sized jousting knights, an ice fireplace and four galleries with varying themes. The first Ice Hotel was built in 2004 but it melted and was rebuilt in 2005. The front foyer room is full of warm parkas that you need to put on because it is so cold inside (20 degrees!!) Inside we walked through the ice artist's room which is full of blocks of ice, torches, and ice tools. Then we roamed around and looked at ice sculptures and took tons of photos. There are a few different rooms with ice beds in them like a hotel. You can actually book a room and stay there for the night!! (no thank you) Sonny asked how many take advantage of that and they told us 3 people stayed there last year. One of them was an 81 year old woman who lasted the whole night. (They also give you a regular room in case you can't last all night in the ice.) There is an ice bar where you sit on ice stools covered with carribou fur and drink your $15 Martinis. (We passed on the martinis!) The ice xylophone is playable and it is in tune so Ashley gave it a try!! It's one of those things that I don't know if my pictures will show you how cool it is!!
Still no internet access in our room but at least I have it in the lobby and the bar. So, Sonny and Ashley are planning our next trip for 2013 (train trip through Canada) while I am on the computer. We are also catching up on laundry .... real exciting stuff!! We are now in Fairbanks, which is Alaska's 2nd most populated city. It is not anything real special so far but we just arrived around 5 pm and walked around town and through the Cultural Center. On Thursday night while at Denali, we took a tour out to a Mush Camp. It was so interesting. It is run by Jeff King who is recognized as the "winningest musher in the world." He has won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race 4 times. The Iditarod starts in Anchorage and ends in Nome on even years and goes the other way in odd years, covering 1000+ miles and going for approximately 10 days! All of this with the average temps 25 degrees F!! Not a race for the faint of heart!! The teams average 16 dogs so that means that about 1,000 dogs are leaving from Anchorage. A red lantern is awarded to the last musher to finish Iditarod. The longest time for a Red Lantern was 32 days, 15 hours, nine minutes and one second by John Schultz in 1973. The quickest Red Lantern musher, Celeste Davis, with a time of 13d 05h 06m 40s. Jeff told us that he races the dogs for 6 hours, then rests for 6 hours. He spends 4 1/2 hours while the dogs are resting getting things ready and he only rests for 1 1/2 hours - usually sitting outside in his sled. He doesn't go inside because it takes 10-15 minutes to get out of his gear and another 10-15 minutes to get back in and by that time, he's wasted 30 minutes. My question (although I didn't ask it!) was how does he take care of his bodily functions during those 10 days!!
Aren't these puppies so cute??
Jeff King - looks pretty cold, huh?
Here's a link to information about the race if you are interested. It is pretty fascinating.
Well, it's 11:00 and they are closing down the bar here in the hotel so heading up to bed!
This will have to be a quick one! I didn't get internet last night and we only get it in the lobby today and tomorrow. We left Anchorage Wednesday a.m. and drove to the "town" of Takeetna. I say town loosely since it only had 2 streets and looked like a town you would have seen back in the gold rush days! We walked through town (took about 15 minutes!) and found a bakery that had a sinful cinnamon roll! Yumm!
Takeeta!
From Takeetna, we drove a short distance to board a float plane (10 passenger) that flew us over Mount McKinley and landed us on a glacier. We got off and walked around. It was cool! I thought it would be really icy but it was a really deep snow. Ashley even got on the ground and made a snow angel. The weather has been unbelievable and we didn't even need a jacket.
Making Snow Angels on Mount McKinley!
We also visited a Musk Oxen farm and a Dog Mushing Camp and I will share those pictures later. We are now at the Princess Lodge at Denaili National Park and will take the shuttle bus onto the park in the morning. We have our lunch packed and now need to get some sleep to make the 8:30 bus. Sonny has already left to go back to the room and shower. Ashley is waiting for me to finish so we can go back and get ready for bed so it's sayonara time for me! Praying that I will feel better tomorrow. I am having sinus problems and my throat has been killing me all day. Last night I took an allergy pill and I have been soooo sleepy all day!
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