Natural Beauty

We had beautiful weather here today in Nebraska so we decided to take a drive out to the Wildlife Safari Park.  We had never been there but had heard good things about it so we thought we'd make an afternoon of it.  Boy am I glad we did.  We had a nice walk on the nature trail and a great drive through the park.  I love seeing animals in the 'wild' so that was great.  There were also so many pretty fall colors everywhere.  I never cease to be amazed at how beautiful our world is.  Here are my favorite photos from our afternoon.  To let the beauty of nature speak for itself all of these are SOOC (except for the watermark).  If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?  Thanks for stopping and enjoy!

Barns, Reflections, and a Sunset

The title of this post may sound a little crazy but believe it or not they are all connected in a round about way.  A few weeks ago we took a little road trip up to the Mall of America.  My boys were super excited!  Yes, they were excited to go shopping!  As long as the only store we went to was the Lego store.  :)  They actually did great and walked the whole mall.  Now I'm guessing you are wondering where barns, reflections, and sunsets fit into the Mall of America.  Let me tell you. 

I was born in Minnesota, grew up in South Dakota, and now live in Nebraska.  I've always had those farm roots since I can remember.  I always loved going back to my grandparents farm every summer to see my extended family and get a little fresh air.  Unfortunately I wasn't into photography back then so I don't have many photos of my time there.  One of the things I wish I would have photographed was the barn.  I LOVE old barns.  There is just something comforting about an old barn.  I've always wanted a picture of an old barn to hang on my wall.  Sure I could buy one but what fun is that.  I wanted a picture that I took on my wall.  So while on our trip to the Mall of America that was one of my goals.  To get a barn picture.

So while we were driving on Minnesota highways to visit family, my husband and I were on the lookout for old barns that I could easily take pictures of.  I really wanted an old red barn with some pretty foliage in the background.  Sounds a lot easier to find than it was.  Luckily we did happen upon a couple of barns.  One had the added bonus of being by a lake so I was able to get some cool reflections. 

 

And what about that sunset?  I was kind of screwing around trying out some settings on my camera and got lucky.  This one was shot through the window of our van while my husband was driving down the interstate.  You never know when you are going to get one of these shots and I'm so glad I was ready.     

 

 So there you have it.  Barns, reflections, and a sunset.  I think there is going to be some new art on my wall soon and I couldn't be happier.  Thanks for stopping. 

 

Lego Card

One of my boys has a birthday party to go to this weekend so I needed a card for him to take to the party.  Legos seem to be all that we think about here lately so I decided to go with that theme.  Plus, what boy doesn't love Legos!  I found a few Lego cards on Pinterest and used those as a start.  Then I happened upon this sketch and it worked perfect for what I had in mind. 

I've been wanting to use a few of my new supplies lately and this card was the perfect chance.  One of the things I've recently purchased is the Polka Dots embossing folder.  I used this on the white part of the card base, but not as you would expect it to be used.  I used the backside of the embossed image!  What a fun way to add dimension in a different way. 

 

I've also wanted to try some masking, stamping, and embossing.  I did just that on the Happy Birthday sentiment.  First, I stamped Happy Birthday on the sticky part of a post it note and cut it to the shape I wanted the final image to be.  I then put the sticky note on the white square where I wanted it to be.  Using my watermark ink I stamped over the whole image.  I then heat embossed the image with clear embossing powder and finally stamped the sentiment in the blank space and traced around the area with a black marker.  Such a fun technique and another great way to add texture!!  I know I'll be doing more of this in the future.

 

The Legos were super easy to make.  I just started with a square and then punched out four circles (all from scraps of course).  I inked the edges with watermark ink to give them just a bit of depth.  I also put them on foam adhesive to make them standout.  A little bit of white gel pen gives them the final touch. 

There you have it.  A super fun, super easy card to make for the boys in your life.  This card could be for a girl too.  Just change the color of the Legos.  Thanks for stopping. 


Supplies:

• cardstock: scraps
• stamp: Glitz Design (Distressing), Stampendous (Mini Happy Birthday)
• ink: Memories Dye Ink (black), Versamark (Watermark)
• embossing powder: Ranger (clear)
• marker/pen: Zig Memory System (black), Uni-Ball Signo Broad (white)
• embossing folder: Provo Craft Cuttlebug (Polka Dots)
• twine: Doodlebug Design Inc. (Boy Assortment)
• tools: We R Memory Keepers (Corner Chomper 1/8" and 3/8"), EK Success (circle punch)
• misc: pop dots, adhesive, paper trimmer