Monday, July 25, 2016

Birthday Theme at BBTB2


This week our Bitten by the Bug 2 DT sister, Laurie, is having a birthday so she chose that as the theme of the week. Happy Birthday!!

My project is every bit as much an experiment as it is a birthday card. I decided I wanted to create my own "boxcard" type card using a different shape. I picked this cute flower pot from the Serenade image set, duplicated it and then addedsome rectangles on the sides to create the box part. It should fold, but I'm not sure what size envelope it would fit into.  The flowers are from the My Quiet Book image set and the birthday balloon is from Thoughts and Phrases - Good Times. 

After the horrible time I had with blue paper on my Dory card I decided to take advantage of the Cricut sale and ordered some of their blue paper. I'm pretty happy with it so far. The yellow is also Cricut paper and it cut that intricate "happy birthday" very nicely. I will play with the blue more later in the week to see if it does well on some of the more detailed cuts.

As always there are beautiful projects on the BBTB2 blog. Come join us and add yours!

Sunday, July 24, 2016

Juneau part 2 - Herbert Glacier

I mentioned in Juneau part 1 that I stayed in town because I was too much of a chicken to go up the mountain on the tram. Wellll, I actually got into the helicopter to ride up to Herbert Glacier for a little stroll. Not without a fairly decent amount of panic, mind you, but I went. I actually really enjoyed the helicopter and would not hesitate to do it again.

Our ride

Flight crew
 We had to wear boot things that slipped on over our shoes and were equipped with spikes to keep us from slipping around the glacier when we landed. The lovely ladies helped us get ready and gave us moral support and instructions while we waited for our pilot. They were a lot of fun. 
Taking off 

Off we go...
 The only problem I had being in the helicopter was being over the water. I had a bit of motion sickness there that went away immediately after we got over land. Weird.


Glacier from above


We flew around a bit both before and after the glacier visit. The sights were spectacular!

One of many waterfalls

Another glacier

Herbert Glacier
 The line down the center is all the dirt that the floes have pushed together as it has moved through and around the mountains.


The same dirt from the ground.


The blue is amazing!
 There is actually water in some of these pools. We couldn't resist giving it a try, after all when would we have another opportunity to drink glacier water. It was extremely cold and very fresh. 
Our ride sitting on the glacier.


The snow had melted so there was a clear delineation between the glacier and the mountain. There is a light layer of dirt on much of the glacier.

Evan - the pilot


 The people pictures all got a little wacky when I uploaded them here, but we all had a great time. They told us it was only about 10 degrees colder on the glacier than it was in town that day. They lied!! It was pretty darn chilly and windy up there. I think we were all so in awe of the whole thing we didn't really care.



 Waterfalls were not in short supply on this trip. The were all over due to snow melt.



 One of the first things Evan, the pilot, told us was to be careful around the crevasses because , "it's really hard to get you out if you fall in". So of course what do we do???



Yep, stand right next to it, jump over it, straddle it to take a picture. We are great listeners;-)


View looking from the glacier toward the water.

There are so many colors.
The boots
At first glance this is a picture of boots. The blue is amazing and it shows we are all there. What it doesn't show is that this is a moment we are remembering our friend Barbara and thanking her for the wonderful opportunity she gave us. She was with us the whole trip and we never forgot.



Monday, July 18, 2016

Traveling at BBTB2

The theme for the week at BBTB2. I was lucky enough to actually do some travelling this summer, so I really enjoyed this challenge. My card is more a homage to where I went than actually travelling, but I really like how it turned out. 


I spent 11 days travelling around Alaska with 5 of my friends. We had a grand time. I made this as a thank you to my roommate for being such a great travelling companion. It's kind of an inside joke, but it's very representative of the things we saw. The animals are from the Woodland Whimsy Animals image set. It's so cute, I need to make lots more. And the Forget-me-not (Alaska's state flower) is from the Spring Cottage image set. The only paper that is not Recollection is the dark blue, it is Bazzill. I have such a hard time with blue paper cutting well, does anyone have any suggestions for something that works?

I'm excited to see what you all come up with for your projects. Have a great week.

Anything Goes at Fantabulous Cricut

Welcome to another Challenge Me Monday...



Challenge #281 Anything Goes!
Make a project using whatever image or materials you prefer!

This Weeks Sponsor:




Winner will receive one Craftin Desert Diva's stamp set of their choice!
(USA address only)

To qualify for the prize, be sure to use at least 1 Cricut cut on your project and if it's not obvious, let us know what cartridge you used. If you use a Cricut Explore machine, at least one cut must be from the Cricut catalog of images.


This is my project for the week. I used basic rectangles for the background and the pocket. I used the slice feature to get the rectangle to match my background. The tags are from the Phrases image set. The stamps are a combination of Unity and Hampton Arts. The paper is from my stash and some scraps.

I hope you all come to join us this week. It's a great chance to build up your card stash.

Sunday, July 17, 2016

Juneau part 1

Juneau was a different kind of day. All of my travelling companions decided to take a trip up the side of the mountain on the tram and I just could not make myself do it. I stayed behind and spent the morning wandering around town shopping (mostly window) and taking pictures. 



Parking garage


Midway up the hill


St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church

 There were so many flowers blooming I just couldn't help but take a picture or two.


 There was a lot of construction across the street from this building so I didn't get any shots that direction. I
Four story totem.
This was very cool. There is some interesting information about it right in front.

Welcome sign at the dock.

At the dock



The "other" side of Juneau. 
There are two "sides" of Juneau with a bridge separating them. It was very much a combination of my Wyoming home and my Florida home. The views and weather being Wyoming-esque, and the water way, Florida. The best of both worlds, at least in the summer.
Ben Franklin
One of the most fun (silly) finds for me was the Ben Franklin store downtown. I haven't seen one for years. It was fun to go in and see what their version looked like. It was souvenir central with some regular items thrown in the mix. 



My friends didn't realize there was going to be so much to see and do up on the mountain so our original, and loosely made, plans were changed up a bit. I ended up finding a great place to have lunch called Tracy's King Crab Shack. It was very unique and the food was awesome! It was a gorgeous day and this was the view from my table. Couldn't have found anything better!

The afternoon's adventure is going to require it's own post so I will stop here. If you're reading, I hope it's giving you a small glimpse into our wonderful experience.

Monday, July 11, 2016

Fun in the Sun at BBTB2

Hello! Emily is our hostess this week at Bitten by the Bug 2 and she chose a beach theme for our challenge. I went more toward the ocean than the beach but hey, it's still water.

I know there is a new movie out this summer starring this lovely friend and I couldn't resist using the Disney Best of Pixar image set to create this. All of the images are from that image set except the speech bubble. It is from the Photo Booth Props image set.



All of the paper is Recollections and I used a Cricut pen in black to write the sentiment. The color is a little off because I could NOT get a lighter blue paper to cut this to save me. 

Sunday, July 10, 2016

DCD July sketch challenge (not for all ages)

One of my co-workers retired at the end of the school year and today we celebrated with food and trivia. It was a fun time. I used the sketch from the Die Cuttin Divas July challenge to create his card. There is "potty humor" involved and I hope it doesn't offend you. 


The paper is from my stash and the stamp is an "edgy" stamp from Unity. There is some foam tape under the sentiment and the image for some dimension. The only new thing on the card are the stamps, all the rest is stash stuff. I cut the card, base and envelope on my Cricut Explore. The circle is from My Creative Time.

Monday, July 4, 2016

Happy 4th - Celebrate with Fireworks at BBTB2

Today's hostess at BBTB2, Caroline, picked the theme of Fireworks for this week's challenge. Very appropriate considering today is the 4th of July, or Independence Day here in the states. There have been fireworks going off in my neighborhood for days already, and I'm sure they will continue long after the holiday is over.



My card this week was made from 2 Cricut Image sets, Stand and Salute and Photo Booth Props. I took a little departure from my norm this week and used Bazzill card stock for the base of my card. It's really thick and I had a bit of trouble figuring out how to cut it as far as settings go. It's hard to change when you get used to something. The glitter paper is Recollections and the white is scrap.

There is some foam tape under the hat and the firework to add some dimension.

I hope everyone has a safe holiday and a great week. Come join us with your creation and be sure to add some fireworks. We love to see what you create!