Travelers notebook - Wander

The lighthouses of course called my name.

Several times.

Two lighthouses - Almost the same name - different places - same job.

Even though they are old, they are 

both beautiful, both doing their jobs by

shining a light to keep seafaring vessels safe from

rocks and currents.

I love that I can include the pamphlets that are available from all parks.

Studio Calico, Tim Holtz

Of course I'm last on the bandwagon

Painted rocks.

Passe by now I'm sure.

Sigh.

Anyway it was fun and of course I did the grinch

because I had success with that bad boy on a card.

I also found relatively flat rocks in the last camp we were in.

They were calling my name.

There ya have it.

Change up in the campground album

The campground album wasn't just ugly it was

COYOTE UGLY.

Trust me.

I did a couple of post - you can find them. 

Because they're ugly.

I actually posted a couple of pages on the blog

and I know I rendered the majority of you speechless.

So....

 I decided a dayplanner, calendar would be the way to go

especially to keep up where we camped and how long and the 

campground's information can all be done here.

And I can make it snappy.

More or less.

So being the genius I don't claim to be, I picked up this planner

and shazam- it had pages from July 2019 

through the entire year 2020.

Well....

I needed it from March because that's when we started our Adventure.

And of course I wanted all the camps from then.

So there were like bonus pages up front that I'll never use

and printed out the calendar and added those pages.

I also watched a tag video and was compelled to make tags

which is another post.  😏But I love how the tag works here.

This is planner is gonna be sooooooo much better.

Yeah, yeah I have made it clear that I would NEVER be calendar

driven again. My entire career depended on being one with my planner

however, this is different. 🤣

Tags Tags Tags

I happened on a post in Scrapaholics Anonymous FB page

that had really lovely tags.

So I watched  Lara Rahel Crosby u-tube on it and

really enjoyed it.

So, of course, I had to make tags.

She also has a challenge going on with Rachel Tallman on

making tags with the Wild Hare Kit that they both subscribe to.

Anyway I watched both and the really cool thing 

while they both subscribe to the Wild Hare - they receive

different items in their kits based on YOUR style profile.

Well ain't that interesting.

Some stuff is the same, but based on your profile

you may have different stuff in your kit.

Genius actually.

Now I need to figure out how I can sign up

AND GET THEM on the road.

Also, they also don't require a monthly subscription.

Woohoo!

I was also inspired by how they just tossed everything on.

No overthinking, no pondering, no agonizing and all their tags

were really really cool.

So that's what I did.

Very freeing.

Anyhow, check out their u-tube channels.

Mixed Media - Awaken my soul

This is a photo of favorite eldest son doing what he loves.

I'm only a fan because he loves it.

But this 360 shot just positively rocks.

Flying above the earth with just fabric I'm sure 

awakens a certain spirituality, peace, and awe.

It's a different quietness with the wind, space and time.

It would totally scare the snot out of me.

 Therefore, breaking out the Tim Holtz - using his star

stencil for a subtle background of different soft colored distress inks.

Using Tim Holtz cards and quotes finish it up.

Travelers Notebook - Heceta Lighthouse

Lighthouses just make me swoon.

They are just soooo cool looking, have "romantic" pasts

that involved a lot of work and sometime solitary existences for

the lightkeepers. So yeah my darling sweet hubby 

chases down lighthouses for me.

 I remembered I had some thread so I popped some

in along with some frayed "cloth" for

some dimension and texture.

Some Tim Holtz paper.

Breaking out my MS alpha punch again.

Love that font.

Mixed Media - Make a wish

This page with the black lines was done for the Monkey Man page.

The monkey was going to dangle on the page

and well it looked..stupid.

I abandoned this page until I came upon this photo

of my brother's birthday party rolling around in my embellishment bin.

 I am also using stash from my embellishment/die cut extravaganza and

these primary colored flowers are perfect for the photo.

The photo was actually printed on regular paper because I had

visions of using it in a junk journal. 

Since I'm not doing well with the junk journal thing it was perfect

for this page. 

Sadly, all I know in this photo is my brother (with the black 

suspender look) and I'm the cranky looking one

jealous of the attention he's getting. LOL.

Evidently I'm in trouble because everyone's looking my way.

Love the buttons galore tossed about. I happen to have

a jar in just primary colors.

Shazam.

Love the sequins and those itty bitty red bits. 

Adding a bit of color.

And no page is complete without some Tim Holtz words

topping it off. 

Mixed Media - Monkey Man

If you been following, and I hope you have,

I posted yesterday all my homemade embellishments here

and I have made a page using one of the monkeys.

The monkeys are big and adorable and I love the googly eyes.

 In the background, I used smoke grey ink on

the Tim Holtz stencil "coffee stains"

with some red raspberry ink since the page
turned out to be almost monochromatic - but I wanted
to use red because of the heart in the quote
and it needs the red ink to tie it all together..

I tossed some buttons "galore" around

which have those itty bitty little fun pieces are well as sequins.

I was inspired by these two itty bitty photos

of Shane at 3 months that was rattling around in my
embellishment bin.

I've scrapped this photo before because it's really

a cute story about my baby having so much fun getting

his photo taken in Walmarts and laughing so loud 

everyone in the store came to see the fun he was having.

However, his nickname was monkeyman because he used

to curl his toes like monkeys do. LOL.

Fussy Cutting, Watercolors, Stamping and Dies.

Because I had decided to break out the Sissix machine

because I wanted a certain font for a title

I decided that I needed to die cut

more stuff.

The problem is what STUFF and in what COLORS

 does one choose as it's for future use and

who knows what will be needed.

And as we all KNOW, I do not pick this stuff well at all.

Also, because I couldn't decide on what die cuts although

I did choose random ones and colors

I decided that why not STAMP random things on white

cardstock and then watercolor them in because

again, I pick so well.

LOL.

I decided to do three of each.

Except for pineapples, one didn't stamp as well as I wanted

but decided to use it anyway.

So there's 4 of them.

OR maybe design pages around THEM.

And then I decided I needed monkeys and birds.
Of course.
Whilst I still had the sissix out.
It's not out anymore.
Now to get to work.

Mixed Media- artist

I have learned to make paint swirls with a paintbrush 

that actually look pretty cool.

Go me.

I did use a polka dot roller for the yellow dots

which worked out perfect I think.

 Lots of layers going on with Pink fresh, TH bird and

some stamps that were fussy cut out.

I did breakout the die cut machine because

I wanted to use this font (Vixen) for

the title.

Filled up the entire page and balanced everything on out.

Very fun. 

Owen showcasing his artistic talent.

Pink Fresh, Studio Calico, Dylusion paints, Vixen QK font.

Mixed Media - believe

This page was what Adele calls "use it up" page.

I had a stencil already messed up with modeling paste

for one page, so I use it up on an unsuspecting blank

page in my mixed media album.

So why not add "use it up" watercolors t as well.

 And wa-la - instant page ready for a photo.

I used quite a bit of layering because

A. I love laying

B. It makes the photo rock

 The stickers from Momenta (I think Hobby Lobby)

that "believe" was really tough to get out

of the packaging which was annoying.

And the rest just worked right in.

Love how it turned out.

Mixed Media - Play Loud

Love the photo.

So I used my new Tim Holtz stencil and stamp set.

I love the combo.

So also are the paints used - Dylusions.

 The numbers are also Tim Holtz rub ons.

So the stencil background seems to be covered up.

Shocking.

The top part of the stencil are holes that look

ripped up and the bottom is honeycomb looking

that is not exactly perfect.

You'd totally love it if you could see it LOL.

 The rest of the embellies are Pink Fresh

and a couple of sticko hearts.

Love that I got to use those stamps I love

how they give some dimension and cool background.

Favorite Eldest Son with his mutt Jaxon.

Looks like everyone is having a great time.

Traveler's Notebook - Cascade Lakes

Hopefully you saw the post of the photos of Cascade Lakes

because it was a really pretty ride.

 And mostly because of the eagles, I wanted to scrap it.

 Using my Martha Stewart punch for the title.

Love that punch.

A stamp from Studio Calico that I fussy cut.

I actually remembered to use my Oregon sticker.

It worked well.

And also that scene which had the cool clouds.

Traveler's Notebook - This life

Love that bow, and used some die cuts that 

look a bit more messier in the photo than on the page.

Oops.

I tucked that tag in the bag because the colors

work so well and there's no journaling on it because

there is no need to be that windy.

 And that owl.

I've been eking out that paper because

I do love the owls - and like to tuck them in.

Also making more use of my stamps.

Love that.

Captured out day in the lava forest.

So much lava.

Everywhere you look, step.

Studio Calico, Tim Holtz die (the orange honeycomb thing)

and my pal Holli's bow punch.

National Volcanic Monument

Lava Cast Forest 

A one mile stroll through a lava flow

as far as the eye can see.

 Lots of things now growing there.

 Love the trees.

 It's a lovely stroll on a paved surface.

 It did a lot of damage and there are big holes

where trees used to be.

 Beautiful paintbrush amongst the lava.

Found a poser.

Scenes from the Cascade Scenic Highway

After the eagle/vulture encounter we tooled down a side road.

While we were waiting for a car to pass, I

really liked the flowers and the wood thing going on.

So....

 At the end of this dirt road was a campground

surrounded by lava rocks.

Lots and lots of lava rocks.

 The lava goes on for literally miles.

 And then unbeknownst to us, we were climbing

and we came around the bend and 

SHAZAM!

Snow crusted trees on a  mountain at 6,000 feet more or less. 

The temp also dropped from 60-30 like that.

It looked soooo pretty.

 There are 12 lakes around this drive.

Some you had to really look for.

 Of course, we're all excited about snow on the ground, it started snowing.

 Snowflakes on my lens.

 A curvy road to show all the snow that still hanging around.

 More eagles

We ended up in Bend, Oregon, and went to the Mill that

we were told is a must.

Stores, lots of stores, we went into REI (sells recreational

equipment) and I never

heard of them so we had to look after all we re-cre-ate.

And had coffee.