What Did YOU Get for Christmas?

We had a fabulous Christmas this year.

I had the best gift of all.  When my Grandson arrived for the festivities, he was all dressed up in his holiday best.  Everyone kept urging me to "take off his vest".  TAKE OFF HIS VEST!

I obliged.  I unzipped that little red flannel vest and found the absolute best gift written there on his Christmas Onesie.

 

Not gonna lie...it took me a minute to soak in the news.  I was flabbergasted, really.  I had thought they were going to wait a bit longer...seems the mom is the last to know...

We did have a little fun with the news.

We adore this little kid more than anything.  I sometimes wonder how big my heart can get...will there be room enough for another? Surely, my heart might explode.

I could not be more thrilled.  

Secretly hoping for a girl this time...

Holiday Weekend

Thursday, July 3

Couldn’t wait for our weekend to start. So excited to get packed and head out.  Twenty minutes later...we were stuck.

Mass exodus.

Where are all the people coming from?  Good heavens, driving I-70 before, during, or after a 3-day weekend is pure torture!  STOP MOVING HERE!  Denver is not the place for you!

Colorado Department of Transportation advised not to travel east between the hours of 3:00 and 7:00 p.m.  We obeyed.  It took us one hour to get from our home to the top of Floyd Hill.  Thank God we had hospitable friends in Evergreen.  A nice place to rest, refresh and use the bathroom.  We visited and caught up with them for two hours waiting for the traffic to subside.  It did not.  We got back in the fray and headed east.

Destination:  Glenwood Springs

With the unplanned stop, it took us 7 hours to reach our hotel.  God we were tired.  Good thing our tee time was @ 12:20 p.m.

Friday, July 4

We let it go.  It is heavenly to wake up in the Rocky Mountains.  We wonder where the crowds have gone.  Glenwood is not overly crowded.

 

We stumbled upon a beautiful, little, unknown jewel, the Ironbridge Golf Course which used to be a member-only course.  Not anymore.  We really enjoyed our day here.  Several holes are on the river and the back plays into the mountains.  We will most definitely be back.  Hopefully, upon my return, I will be a better golfer…

19th Hole.
Red, White & Blue.

We spent our Saturday at the “pool”.  Not just any pool.  It is the world’s largest,125-year-old, naturally-fed hot springs pool with therapeutic waters.  We love it here.  This has been a regular summer activity for us for the past 23 years. 

See that reddish "spa" building?  It is the original from 1888.

We were a little disappointed to find out that the city would not be having a fireworks display in honor of the 20^th anniversary of the Storm King Mountain fire and the fallen firefighters.  We Googled to find any other holiday celebration in the valley.  Really.  How did we manage before cell phones?  Siri?  MapQuest?  I digress.

We decided to go to a family-friendly-picnic-in-the-park in New Castle a very small, nearby mountain town.  What a gem!  The park was small and the BBQ dinner was hosted by the local school.  It was clean, friendly and quaint.  The fireworks started promptly at 9:30 p.m. accompanied by an amped-up stereo, playing every American anthem ever written.  Only problem?  A fairly big wait time in between the obviously choreographed timing of the rockets.  We noticed firemen with headlamps and flashlights scouting the hillside after every display to make sure there were no burning embers.  The fireworks exploded directly over our heads with an eerie echo in the canyon.  Bits of soot and artillery shell landed in our laps.  After a short while, we decided every city should lengthen their display.  These were some of the best fireworks we’ve ever seen!  The “show” lasted until 10:20 p.m. – 50 minutes! 

Pleasantly surprised. 

Happy and feeling patriotic.

We decided to hike on Sunday.  With the 20^th anniversary of the Storm King Mountain fire celebration going on; there was no better hiking trail than the 4.2 mile Storm King Memorial Trail. 

OMG.  About had a heart attack. 

It was straight up & hot.  Glenwood had really planned a special day here.  A helicopter was flying back/forth bringing in the fallen firefighters’ families, landing on the original helispot.  An airplane dropped 14 yellow banners, one for each firefighter.  And, there were firefighters stationed all over the trail.  Most of them lived in the valley, but some were from Bend, Oregon, where the fallen hotshots and storm jumpers had lived.  It was really something.  Man…it was steep.  I hiked with such a lump in my throat!

 

And my heart hurt.  And my lungs.  My head!  My legs!  My back!

 

 

These men & women are in shape!  They wore their packs.  We tried one -- 35 lbs!  OMG.  He also carries a 25 lb. chain saw, wears a hard hat and suit.  I can’t even imagine.  These people have a special calling – a “fire” in their gut.  They were born for this. 

Wildfires are somewhat of a common occurrence here, but now we understand a little more.  We appreciate what they do for Colorado.  The firefighters had to scramble up this mountain without the benefit of the trail, the manmade stairs, and they couldn’t see and the fire was racing up behind them.  What a tragedy.

It was an honor to hike on such hallowed ground.

We were not in a hurry to get back on I-70 and make the trek home.  We had many "what if” plans.  We hit the “ascent” at 4:26 p.m. – the long approach (a 9-mile climb) to the Eisenhower Tunnel, fully prepared for bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Surprise!  There wasn’t any, we didn’t even have to hit the brakes once.  This is the mountain escape I remember from my youth.

 

What a glorious, meaningful weekend in our great state, but please…don’t move here!

(in)Famous Couples Subway Art

With a new grandbaby, most of my free time has been zapped with babysitting.  Not that I mind, however, I really love this Grandma time with Gavin.  He's already getting so big!  But...along with that, means I have less and less time for some of my other loves.

I decided not to buy Valentine's this year.  Everyone got something homemade.  I had really good intentions and had loads of holiday inspiration (thank you, pinterest).  Well, let's just say...eight-month-old babies don't cooperate!  I had to sideline my big project for my dear daughter.  Gavin was having none of it.  I'm so glad I did get the onesie and the shoes done.

The big kids got pretzel hugs.  We usually make these at Christmas, but this year they were tweaked with pink & red.  Still just as yummy.

Bill is on a new "wheat free" diet. Don't ask.  It's always something with him.  He got none.

I have had a "famous couples" project in my head for quite some time.  I had planned to make a really big one on canvas for the upstairs loft.  I really had no idea what to get him this year.  It donned on me on Thursday, that I could just do a subway art famous couples and frame it for him.  Much smaller.  So easy. The hardest part was editing the famous couples.  There are many, and of course, I wanted them all.

It's been awhile since I made subway art.  I have made several...mostly for friends/gifts.  I had not made one for us.  This one is 8" x 10" all done in Photoshop on a chalkboard background. Took me all about 4 hours total.

Maybe I'll do another.  Bigger.  Someday...

I think it turned out great.  He loved it.

Valentine's Gifts for an 8-Month-Old

Been playing with my Cameo and the Heat Transfer Vinyl (HTV).  I am in love with HTV!  So easy to work with, so easy to cut, and transfers like a dream!  Don't look too closely, as I am still a novice, and you will notice some boo boos.

The "muffin" shape is from the a cupcake card design in the Silhouette online store.  I just took off the "foo foo" so it looked more like a muffin boyish.

Of course the backside, got some HTV love too.

As for the shoes, I am 100% sure the red vinyl will not stay on permanently for two reasons:
1.  He's a boy
2.  He's a boy

I'm just hoping for a couple of really great photographs for Mr. G's first Valentine's Day!

Gavin's First Christmas

Boy, oh boy, are we having fun!  Everything that was old is new again! 

All kinds of "baby's first Christmas" activity going on over here.

Spoiler alert:  I got to be the official photographer for my DD's first Christmas card.  We had planned for a day at the park, but December weather in Colorado is just too unpredictable. Very windy.  We went inside by the nice warm fire.

I got 77 pictures, but I'm only sharing one photo...my fav.

On the 5th, we took our little peanut for his very first visit to Santa.  He didn't cry!  Nor did he pull Santa's beard (good thing, too; as this Santa had a real beard!).

And on the 7th, our dear sweet Grandson celebrated his "1/2" birthday.  He was in a really good mood for his (six month) photo shoot. 

As you can see, I'm really loving the "animation" feature of Photoshop.  Can't stop myself!

Later that same afternoon, we kidnapped the "little kid" for our own Christmas Card photo shoot.  As he gets older, he gets harder-and-harder to photograph.  Besides the never-ending drool, his two new six-month tricks are blowing raspberries and shaking his head (with not much coordination yet).  On any other given day, this Grandma finds those antics hilarious, but not on Christmas photo day! 

"Hey Santa, Grandma needs a wireless shutter remote, please!" 

I won't be sharing spoilers.  Sorry.

Jingle

Confession:  I've had my Silhouette Cameo machine for a year now.  It is awesome for scrapbooking and paper crafting, but I have never used it to cut vinyl (or tried any of the other special uses for it).  Stupid me.

Not anymore!  I am officially a vinyl-er? (made up word)

Oh em geeeee!! Why did I wait so long?

Love it!  Love the product and love the result!

I think this project is a hybrid scrapbook/vinyl project.  The 12" x 12" shadow box was made for the 3D scrapbook pages that you don't want to smash in your albums.  I already consider myself an expert on the machine (disclaimer:  NOT the software) and have used it numerous times in my scrapbooking.  Cutting vinyl is awesome!  I watched many tutorials before I even attempted my first cut, and truthfully, was just to darn scared to try.

Second confession:  the first two cuts were trash.  One was not sized properly for the 8" vinyl and the other was not loaded into the machine properly.  Yes.  I wasted some vinyl.

But...oh the third!  Smooth as butter.  I might also mention that I loved the "weeding" process (i.e., removing all the little bits of vinyl that do not appear in the finished product.  Think "negative" space.)  Tedious yes, but perfect for my OCD.

The vinyl is adhered to the outside of the glass. Maybe I'll learn the "mirroring" technique and try that next time.  I don't know if you can see the detail, but the paper is actually printed with the Jingle Bell lyrics.

Products:

• 12" x 12" Shadow box:  Michael's
• Jingle Bells:  Hobby Lobby
• Jingle All The Way Cut File:  Kerri Bradford
• Paper:  Teresa Collins
• Vinyl:  Cricut

Guess what the girls are getting for Christmas?

A Hunka, Hunka Burning Love

Happy belated Halloween!  Can hardly believe it's November already. 

Today, I wanted to share some precious memories of our dear sweet Grandson's first Halloween.

When my daughter announced that she had ordered a baby Elvis costume for Gavin, I was definitely a "thumbs down" on that idea.  I thought he needed to be a bunny, a cow, or a monkey for his first Halloween.  Something furry and cuddly.  Something more baby-ish.  It took me quite awhile to get on the "E-train".

Additionally, I thought we should hold out on the Elvis costume until he could walk. If we waited, I was sure we could teach him the "thank you, thank you very much" for trick or treating.  Right?  Dancing would also be cute.  And, what about the lip curl? 

When I saw the first two pictures she posted on FB, I about died!  He was so darn cute.  No need to wait!

Of course, I am biased.

More Elvis love.

Grandpa was helping to get the hips loosened up and do a little lap dancing.

The guitar was actually a (new) dog toy...with the plastic bottle removed, but so perfect for the costume, and he was starting to fuss with Grandma's obsessive photo taking. But, I think I captured his best Elvis wave.

 

 Isn't he the sweetest?  Everything goes in the mouth!

Caught in the candy!  Maybe next year...

Everything that was old is new again.  And we are having so much fun.

Weekly Layouts

Darn it...I think I missed a week.  or two!

I've just returned from a 3-day scrapbooking retreat in the beautiful Colorado mountains with lots of finished projects.  So, this week I'm posting two:

The first is a trip to the pumpkin patch last fall:

Based on this sketch from Let's Scrap:

Here is a closer look at the detail:

  

All of the paper & embellishments are from a coordinated line from SEI.  This is a beautiful line of products.  I hope you can see the iridescent foil touches to the leaves.  The round medallion and the paisley are mounted on pop dots.

 

The title and the large background pumpkin were cut using the Silhouette Cameo (shapes are from the online store).

 

The second LO is the butchering masterful carving of the aforementioned pumpkins:

Based on this sketch from Let's Scrap:

Some close-up detail:

Source:

• Paper:  Fancy Pants
• Title and chevron pumpkin were cut using the Silhouette Cameo (shapes from the online store)
• Carving knives, pumpkin seeds and fuzzy felt pumpkin are Jolee's

Anyone else like Halloween as much as I do?  Only two more weeks to get out to the patch, get some pumpkins and make your own Jack-o-lanterns!  We're taking our grandson out on Sunday just for a photoshoot.  Hope the weather cooperates.

Der's Gold in Dem Der Hills!

We are officially in Indian Summer.  We've had our first snow and our first hard freeze (two of them).  But, boy is Indian Summer great in Colorado!  It's been so nice, baby Gavin and Grace, and I have a daily afternoon walk on the path that runs along the water canal.  I call us the three G's.  We're quite a sight.

Anyway, I digress.  This past Sunday was absolutely one of those days where I was not sitting at home to watch the Bronco game.  Uh huh.  I do love the games, but like 'em even better when it's truly football weather.

I could not get the Broncos #1 fan to leave the house, cause after all, "how many trees can a guy see in his lifetime?"  Really?  I left him at home in all his Bronco finery and Gracie and I headed out for a Sunday drive. 

Just a girl and her dog.

And...her camera...

I'm gonna let the rest of the post be about the beautiful day, beautiful weather, and the beautiful color/show Colorado puts on for us every year.

 

 

Rare sighting.
Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep.
Made my whole day!

Mt. Bierstadt, 14,060'
Just one of Colorado's 14ers

 

The aforementioned girl and her dog.

 

It's not just about the golden leaves.
We have some sweeping vistas as well.

 

 

  

I hope your fall is as beautiful as it is here!