Flirting with the border-Nogales

 

It was a pretty ride down to the border.

and it was crazy once we got there.

Sadly, this bustling town is now a ghost town.

And seeing the wall surrounding the city

was mind boggling actually

and awesome to see.

The cities together are like right there.

Easy to walk to and fro right there, houses and stores

are so close that the word neighbor comes to mind.

It's okay for neighbors to have fences.

Streets of Tombstone

Amazing who you run into on the streets of Tombstone.

My cousins that I haven't seen in like 30 some

years. Way too long.

So it was soooo cool to meet up on the road.

Love meeting up with peeps!!

It's a fun, kitchy place and if you're in the area you should walk the streets of Tombstone.

 

Ghost town road

It was a lot of fun driving down this road.

Of course it was gravel/dirt.

Naturally there were no ghosts hanging out

but there where dramatic skies.

And you know I love a dramatic sky and this

was the other side of the road.

Arizona is like that. 

fickle skies.

 

Cochise's Stronghold

Basically it is a drive-through park with some camping

but it is really pretty.

With structures.

I love structures.

And the curious.

and curioser

It is fertile land in a canyon surrounded by mountains.

A defensible place where his tribe can winter.

I

This is a western scrub jay.

I seem to be attracting blue birds.

It did have a 4 wheeling road but we were in the

canyon late in the day and didn't know

how long the road was and didn't want to be 

on it after dark.

 

Chirachua National Monument

 The land through this monument is quite stunning.

Lovely mountain roads taking you

to beautiful vistas.

On my way toward said vista I made a friend.

This is a Mexican Jay and 

he was sweet enough to pose for me.

I had a hard time getting his picture 

while he was posing in the tree 

because it was dark in there.

This is Queens Mine - a huge

copper mine back in the day.

A big hole.

Arizona is very pretty but dry.

Not good for sinuses that are used to a lot

of humidity.

Challenge #3 - Brooke & Lynn rocks it-totally

Having a BLAST!!!!

We both love how our challenge turned out.

This was the sketch for Brooke

8"circle as background

cardstock

design your own pattern paper

watercolors

something handmade

She totally nailed it and 

I LOVE THE TITLE.

Awesome play on words involving her hubby.

and in her words.....

So, it's on 9x12 watercolor paper. Background done with oxides and shimmer mists, with various stencils, bubble wrap. Strips under pic also done on watercolor paper. One is embossed with scales them misted with shimmer mist. Other one is done with handmade "wave" border with oxides. Oxide colors used are speckled egg, broken China, pumice stone, black soot and blueprint sketch. Shimmer mists are patina, sea glass, honeydew mist and walnut shine. Even added some magic mesh!

Brooke's challenge for me:

Nuvo glimmer spray

heat emboss title

envelope

6 different color cardstock

3 washi tape

WELL.....I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!

It was so much fun.

So I did use 6 different cardstock colors for 

both the flowers and the banners 

with the flowers tucked nicely in the envelop.

The nuvo spray color I have does not match the

cardstock colors so I sprayed it on

a tag and tucked it into the envelope.

3 different washi is stacked on each other

and the heat embossed title.

Well...I used a puffy title and had some shabby chic

embossing powder and it worked

great until I got a little too close to the J and

it started to melt the actual J. 

Ooops.

It works.

We are currently thinking of tossing another challenge

SO STAY TUNED...

 

My new 6x8 Chipboard album

I decided that after doing Traveler's Notebooks

in a homemade chipboard album 

using rings I wanted to do something a bit different.

I LOVE them don't get me wrong but I have concerns.

There are no page protectors and because

it's on rings I was also concerned about storage.

Tossing them in a box and hoping for the best without proection

SOOOOO

hunting around there are 6x8 albums

(I know where have I been)

with page protectors.

So I found an album and it's chipboard which means

DECORATING.

So technically this is still a Traveler's Notebook.

So I gessoed the album which kind of gave me choices,

inks, oxides and alcohol, oh my.

In addition to paint. 

Therefore, I found a tag I liked that had these colors

on it and I really really really liked it.

Of course it's not EXACTLY the same but I 

love how it came out all the same.

Inside.

I used Rustic Wilderness-ink and Blue Lagoon and 

Pickled Raspberry Oxides.

Then I dithered about the rest of it and decided on

these awesome stamps that I used before

on an album.

Why yes, yes I'm a copy cat. LOL.

I used this stencil on the inside of the book along with some stamps.

Love how it turned out.

And the rest of the stamps.

I just love this and yeah it's been done a bazillion times.

But I love it.

Oh and the page protectors are on the project life size.

Pockets. 

So that'll be fun to do on this trip which is called

Over the COVID Tour

😂