Happy Easter!

Since my studio is in chaos I didn't make Easter cards this year so some clip art will have to do to wish you a wonderful Easter Sunday.

Actual Metal

I don't recall where this metal circle came from but it was perfect for a trading card design.  I embellished it with other metal pieces and added "w i s h" using metal stamps.  The gold design is a sticker and the strip on the left is also a sticker.  It's glittery which doesn't show well in the photo.  The background was paper I used to catch the overflow as I was painting/spattering/inking another project.  Sometimes those sheets are my best art.

T-Shirt

Although personally I go for a plain t-shirt, I have to admire the art and clever text on the other shirts that I see.  This one struck me as particularly funny.  It was in a shop in Ouray CO.  Unfortunately we have way too many search and rescue missions in our part of the world so it can't hurt to have these little reminders for people.

ATC in blue

You won't be seeing many more atc's on this blog as I've decided to quit making them.  I'm just catching up with a few exchanges and then will devote my time to other things.  I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately and felt like something needed to go.

This card started with a sponged background in blues and greens that included metallic colors.  It looks much richer than the photo shows.  I added some cord with knots which I also painted.  Embellishments are a cut out stamped flower and leaf and dots of gold metallic paint.

Ouray's Main Street

I chose a couple of photos to provide a sense of the essence of the small community of Ouray, Colorado.  It is rightly referred to as "The Switzerland of America" because it is nestled at the base of towering mountains.  It is also quaint and has maintained the historic buildings on Main Street.  It depends on tourism to survive and I think it's a great place to visit.  They are the gateway for a variety of scenic Jeep trips in the summer months and they host an ice climbing event in the winter.  There's always a reason to visit.

Hexed Again

Can't stay away from my hexagon dies.  I punched flowers and butterflies to add some color and interest and put everything on an embossed background.  The design was finished with some narrow satin ribbon tied in a bow.

Series of Tags

Some time back Becky had a card similar to this on her blog (scrappinandstampiningj.blogspot.com).  It stuck in my mind and I tried something similar.  The paper is from one collection and I punched the end to make it decorative.  The text is stamped and since I wanted to add a little heart brad and didn't have one that was purple, I inked it with clear embossing ink and dipped it into embossing powder that was pearlized.  A touch of heat and it turned out perfectly!

Birthday Lunch

Lunch for my birthday outing to Ouray was at O'Brien's Pub, recommended by one of the local business owners (figure you can't go wrong with a local recommendation).  I had spinach and mushroom soup and a corned beef sandwich which had cole slow built in rather than sauerkraut.  Both were excellent and I'd have lunch there again without hesitation.  John had a cup of stew and a half turkey and bacon sandwich and he liked that, too.  There was no room for dessert.  Prices were reasonable and service was great and, no, I'm not a part owner nor do I have any vested financial interest.  It was just a good, fun place to eat.

Hexagon

 I decided to revisit my hexagon dies and created this spring card.  The choice of papes and colors was easy because I used a 6x6" paper back.  I just added a strip of ribbon and punched some butterflies.

Washi, washi

This time I decided to give my washi tape a workout.  That's five layers of tape and some red satin ribbon for contrast.  The flowers were die cut and I inked the ends to add a bit of dimentsion.  The leaves were also die cut and the text was stamped.    Washi tape really makes it easy to add color and there's certainly a lot of it available these days.

Time For Lime

I got this designer paper at Michaels some time ago and it struck my fancy this week.  The upper white flower was part of the paper design but I drew on that for the overall design and just added the other flowers and leaves.  On the inside is another "thank you" popup.

Birthday Breakfast

Before we headed to Ouray for my birthday outing we stopped at the downtown Dreamcafe for breakfast.  I'm sure I was drawn to that coconut chocolate tea when I noticed the word "decadent" in the name.  And the cream-filled crepes with strawberries and banana seemed to be decadent enough to complement the tea.  Excellent way to start a birthday; it only comes once a year!

A Birthday Outing

My husband and I took a trip about 100 miles south to Ouray on my birthday.  One of our goals was to relax in the hot springs pool.  As you 
can see, there weren't many sharing the pool with us which was an added benefit.  I spent my 
time on this end of the pool where the water

was the warmest, 170 degrees.  The sun was shining and it was nice to look up at those towering mountain peaks.

Nearby was a small pond where large goldfish thrived.  They shared the pond with a number of turtles.  I felt like the Pied Piper as I walked along the edge of the pond and all those fish followed me.  I didn't even have any food for them.  I'll have to plan better next time since food is available at the pool.

Thank You Card

Check it out! - two stamping posts in a row.  I'm actually getting a little more time for stamping and it's improving my outlook on life.

This card made use of an embossing folder border and a Stampin' Up piercing kit.  The leaves, flower and butterfly are all punched and I added white pearl embellishment.  There's a surprise popup on the inside which I cut with my electronic cutter.  I embellished with matching flower punches.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Wishing you. . .

All the joy a day can hold.

all the luck a year can bring,

All the happiest things in life

All the best of everything.

The background is designer paper.  The garland of shamrocks is a cut file.  I embellished with satin ribbon and punch outs with a brad at the cewnter of the large shamrock.

Medals Galore

Of course a business who takes pride in their product will put it up to any competition and that seemed to be the case for Meadery of The Rockies.  This is just some of the medals that just one of the meads has earned.  Quite impressive.  And quite delicious!  Or did I already say that?

The Label Goes On

This is near the end of the fancy assembly line.  This is where the label is applied to the bottle before it moves to the end where the bottles are put in boxes.

Shamrock Trading Card

The shamrock is composed of heart punches.  The center is a brad and the border is deco scissors.  

Bottling Mead

The Meadery of The Rockies has a fancy, Italian-made, complicated device where the bottles go for filling, capping, and labeling.  It takes a couple of hours to get it all set up and then it moves very quickly, filling 2500 bottles per hour with a staff of six humans assisting.  The holder for the corks or caps has to be refilled and two people work at the end to put the bottles into boxes.  The others deal with whatever comes along that needs done.  This photo shows the beginning of the process where the mead goes into the bottles.      We only saw it work in slow motion and even that was quite impressive.  Now if we could just time it to see it in "real" operation . . . . . 

Artist Trading Card

I decided to skew this design a bit.  The designer paper is matted on a metallic gold paper and I embellished with satin ribbon with a metallic gold edge.  The shamrock is made from heart punches and the larger green ones were embossed.  The center shine comes from a brad.

Are you wearing green on Sunday?

Mighty Mead Tank

This is a mighty big tank - big so someone can get inside to clean it out.  But judging from the size of the opening (which I assume is how someone gets in there) it's not a very big someone who does the cleaning.

This is where the mead goes after the fermenting is done.

Roll Out The Barrel

No winery is worth much without it's barrels.  Impressive how perfectly they were stacked and how many there were.

Cut And Emboss

This beautiful card started with cardstock run through the Big Shot in a folder that both embossed and cut the design.  The folder was purchased from Paper Wishes.  I added purple cardstock to the back to accentuate the cut sections and popped it up on the card front.  The flowers were punched and I added pearls for centers.  The leaves are a die cut.  This would also make a nice card for a wedding, sympathy, birthday or thinking of you occasion.  Pretty cool that it can cut selected sections I think.

Shiny and Bright

One of the first things you notice when you go behind the scenes at the Meadery Of The Rockies are these big, bright, shiny barrels.  It's the last stop for the mead before it is bottled.

There wasn't a speck of dust anywhere and elves must come during the night do do all the polishing.  (I didn't ask.)

More From The Meadery

This is the start of the production line for the mead.  Honey is placed in two stainless steel "mixers" with water.  It's essential but difficult to mix the two ingredients.  The upper photo shows  one of the mixers which has a rotating paddle to assist with the mixing.  The second container doesn't have those paddles so they use the "spoon" and manually do the mixing in that one.  Yes, that's the spoon that our tour guide is holding.  Looks like a lot of work to me.  I think I'll just wait for the end product.

Meadery Of The Rockies

I've reported before that I don't really drink much alcohol but my nephew Ryan visited recently and since he has been dabbling in making of mead, he had an interest in going to the local Meadery Of The Rockies so off we went.  We were fortunate to get a tour and I have to say it was a great experience - and I'll be drinking more alcohol!

Mead is perhaps the earliest alcoholic beverage and it starts with honey and water.  This meadery uses only orange blossom honey which they import from California and Florida.  I could attempt to tell you more about the production but it would be better if you just checked out their web page if you have an interest.

Just let me say that the end result is a sweet, delightful wine that comes in various flavors.

Bendy Card

This "bendy card" was introduced to me by Alison at a stamp club meeting.  Thanks, Alison!  It consists of three rectangles of cardstock and the bend comes from insertion of tabs but it lays flat for mailing.  I added color with patterned paper and embellished with punchouts, ribbon and pearls. 

Instructions for this card can be found at www.ladynthestampblogspot.com

Icy Waterfall

This frozen waterfall was right next to the road and since I knew it was coming up, I had my camera ready.  The blue in the ice made me think of the glaciers in Alaska.  Talk about thick, colorful ice!  Of course the ice in this photo isn't moving like that in a glacier but it will fall in few timely  clunks when the temperature is warm enough.

Tree Line

At our last camera club meeting we talked about what inspired us to take a particular photo.  It was easy to decide in this case since I was attracted to that curve and the contrast between the trees and the snow.  I thought it was quite striking.

Flourishing

This image is from Hero Arts.  I white embossed it on purple cardstock and then colored portions of it with black marker for contrast.  I added three layers of ribbon and a bow and embellished with punched flowers and a die cut butterfly.  There are pearls for the butterfly body and flower centers.  It's hard to tell from the photo but the image is matted onto white and then adhered to a black card.  This design would be good for a lot of different occasions.

Snowy Pinnacles

It's hard to tell from this photo but these pinnacles top one very big hunk of solid rock!  It's pretty amazing to see and more so from traveling from south to north rather than the opposite direction that we were driving.  I always hope there are any stray pieces to come tumbling down as we drive by.  So far, so good.