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This week's SCS Inspiration Challenge comes from Anything Preppy. I chose this fun Lobster Fest Tunic to inspire my card design.
I swapped the lobsters for whales, but stayed with the same color palette.
Sentiment is an oldie from Simply Stamped and the layout is this week's Retro Sketch.
I finished with several wraps of baker's twine and some vintage metal anchor buttons. I hope you find inspiration.
We're still celebrating Ribbon at Jingle Belles this week. For my card I started with a fantastic vintage holiday card from my stash ... those colors are my favorites.
And since it was so lovely on it's own, all I added was a wrap of bright pink ribbo to pull out that color from the top bell in the vintage design (On tall narrow designs like this, I use a craft knife to cut a slit in the fold of the card to slide my ribbon through).
Tonight I needed a sympathy card for my depleted stash. This Faith Bird Stamp from Crafter's Companion is one of my go-to images for sympathy cards ... it includes both a lovely image and soothing sentiment that makes for easy card making.
I used the lovely colors from this week's Inspired By Challenge using papers from Fancy Pants Park Bench Collection & PaperTrey Ink's Smokey Shadow cardstock.
The layout is this week's CAS(E) This Sketch.
Another week of fun blog finds:
Have a tremendous Thursday.
Tonight I used a few sketch challenges to make some birthday cards for sweet little girls who love pink. The first one uses this week's Freshly Made Sketch.
I flipped the sketch so I could use a fun little library card pocket. Papers are fun glittery pinks from DCWV's Magnolia way (because what little girl doesn't love glitter). I added a puffy little cupcake, a wrap of ribbon and an SRM sticker sentiment (with a hidden sentiment inside the pocket).
I combined several pink designer papers using this week's Sketch from the Paper Players.
Some pretty pink gems and birthday balloons complete this design ... I also added some mint green washi tape to help hide the edges between the papers.
Since CAS-ual Fridays is celebrating Red, White & Blue, I broke out the We R Memory Keepers Red, White & Blue papers to create a fun birthday card for a bingo-lover who also loves red, white & blue.
I used a sketch from Red Hot Stampers Challenge & also took inspiration from this week's Cupcake Inspiration Challenge.
Instead of pinwheels, I punched stars from one of the designer papers (inking the edges to cover the white bits) and then added gems to the centers. The sentiment from CatsLife Press.
A few days after returning from California, I hopped in the car and headed for Missouri for our annual Sisters' Weekend. As always, we had a fantastic time with lots of laughter, fun activities and scrumptious food.
We started our adventure with a day at Silver Dollar City. Although during our childhood we went to the theme park multiple times each year, it had been many years since I visited ... and while much had stayed the same, there were a lot of changes & expansions.
We started by braving the newest ride ... the wooden roller coaster Outlaw Run. I will confess, as I age, it becomes harder & harder for my body to handle that type of craziness. After the initial ascent, our car went almost straight down (81 degrees) resulting in a feeling of weightlessness. The rest of the ride was just a blur of twists, drops, turns and barrell rolls (most of them with my eyes closed hanging on for dear life) ... but we survived.
We took a little break before our next ride and enjoyed a funnel cake ... a must-do when we visit the park ... and it was as good as I remembered.
We took a ride on the vintage (and during my childhood the only) rollar coaster Fire in the Hole, which resulted in us getting pretty soaked with water on the final dip into the water splash. Next we took a ride on the Powder Keg, which shoots you from 0 to 53 mph in 2.8 seconds ... it was filled with lots of surprises, but at least I was able to keep my eyes open for this ride.
The Train Ride was a great way to relax after all of that roller coaster activity.
While Geyser Gulch was built for kids ... it's plenty fun for adults too. We had a blast shooting balls out of air guns ... and shooting water canons at targets.
We also had to explore Grandfather's Mansion, which is one of the original attractions we remember from childhood ... lots of wonky angled walk ways and mirrors.
We also made our way across the swinging suspension bridge that has been swinging for years.
And we stopped to watch the original mill run for a while.
We ended our time at the park with another required activity ... taking a silly picture inside the jail cell.
We finished our day dining outside on the patio at Cantina Laredo on the Branson Landing. The food was sooooo good (make sure you have the guacamole which was made fresh table-side), service was perfection, and weather was ideal. We got to watch the water & fire show while we dined.
and we finished with this amazing Mexican Brownie served on a sizzling skillet with boiling brandy butter.
I had the chance to play with lots of new goodies today in my studio. The Challenge theme at the Hero Arts blog for May is to use stamps from their newest catalog, Stamp Your Story. My card uses images from two sets ... My Words & Time.
The layout is this week's CAS{E} this Sketch. I added some fun little K&Company embellishments I picked-up at the dollar store recently. I'm also joining the Blog Named Hero for their Clean Up Your Act Challenge.
On our recent trip to California, we had some wonderful dining experiences. We started our trip at the Kimpton Harbor Court (if there's a Kimpton in the area, that's our hotel chain of choice ... the service & quality never disappoint). We had a bay side room with a gorgeous view of the bridge.
Our first meal was at Epic Roasthouse, which also had a beautiful view ... and their own house cured Charcuterie, homemade pickles, and delicious onion rings.
I also tried their raw fish dish of the day which was a fabulous tuna with mango salsa.
On our Real SF Walking Tour, we had lunch at The Plant Organic Cafe, which was rather disappointing. I tried The California Plant Burger which was a very unappetizing pink color (due to the beets) and was so mushy it squished out the sides of my bun when I tried to eat it.
However, our afternoon stop at Smitten Ice Cream made-up for the disappointing lunch. They make their ice cream when it's ordered using liquid nitrogen, which produces the smoothest most wonderful ice cream I've ever eaten ... see the happy smiles on our faces.
Supper was at Gott's Roadhouse in the Ferry Building, which was on our walk back from the Exploratorium to our hotel. I enjoyed their Black & White Shake and some Ahi Poke Crispy Tacos (yes, if there was raw tuna on the menu, odds were that I'd be ordering it).
Next we headed to San Jose, where my brother and family took us to Emporor of India for the lunch buffet ... which was so delicious, I failed to take a single picture ... seriously yummy. The next day they took us to Jalisco Taqueria, one of their favorite Mexican restaurants, where we enjoyed their trio of salsas.
For supper, we enjoyed live music and cajun food at Poor's House Bistro ... loved the cornmeal coated fried oysters ... and the awesome harmonica tunes.
On Mother's Day, we ventured to the Skyview Flea Market in Santa Cruz. The perfect treat for a warm day was this fabulous cup of fruit, veggies and juice ... I detected mango, watermelon, cucumber & jicima in a sweetened orange juice with a chili powder/candy coated straw ... I want to try to recreate this at home.
Next we headed to Carmel and took the drive to Big Sur. We stopped at the Restaurant at River Inn for a relaxing lunch on the patio. Once again I tried the raw tuna ... this time on wontons ... a little heavy on the wasabi for me, but I was able to easily scrape off the excess.
And this was the half-order of their apple pie with ice cream.
We enjoyed supper at Flaherty's Seafood Grill, where I had some delicious Fried Oysters and a perfectly spicy sauce.
We stopped back in San Jose for one more chance to see family & enjoy lunch at Krung Thai ... I had chicken with Chinese broccoli.
The next leg of our vacation was back to San Francisco where we stayed at the Kimpton Hotel Triton ... a perfect location for accessing lots of areas of the City on foot or by public transportation. We stayed in the Jerry Garcia suite, which was filled with his fun art work and had his signature on the wall.
On our walk through China Town we enjoyed some bubble tea ... Mango Milk Tea for me.
We walked to Little Italy for one of the top rated San Francisco restaurants on Tripadvisor ... and according to our tour guide, where Anthony Bordain gets a sandwhich when he's in town ... Molinari Delicatesson. We both had the Molinari Special (mayonnaise for me ... mustard for him). You pick your own bread out of a big bin ... I chose what I later found out is called Dutch Crunch Bread ... so yummy.
After a full day of walking, we decided on a little picnic supper in our room at the end of the day. I couldn't stop munching on these little goodies ... so crunchy and good.
I also loved this Grapefruit Grown-Up Soda.
The next day we ventured to Hayes Valley for some exploring and had a fabulous lunch at Stacks. While my Banana Pecan Waffle was more photogenic, Rod's Banana Coconut Macadamia Nut Pancakes stole the show.
For our final supper in San Francisco, we ventured out in search of one of my favorite meals ... a Bánh mì sandwich. After some online research, we walked to Latte Express and had wonderful (and oh-so-affordable) sandwiches. I will be learning how to make these myself this summer.
Hope you enjoyed our little food tour. We had a fabulous time in California.
My great aunt has lived a full and adventurous life ... and whenever she sends me a letter, she always ends it with an admonition to *Be Happy* ... and I do my best to follow her instructions. This week's Unscripted Sketch card was inspired by her.
I broke out lots of hoarded elements from my stash including this great journaling card I got from my crafty friend Cyndie ... several types of flair .... and a wooden typewriter.
Remember ... You never know when you're making a memory ... so make it a good one.
