Road Trip - Yellowstone - a reluctant family

After many years of discussing we have committed to a family road trip to Yellowstone this summer.  We have not taken an epic huge road trip with the kids like this ever.  The oldest child will be leaving the nest in the fall, so I thought we must.  My children seem unhappy with the prospect of spending more than a week in the car with their parents and each other.  I hope that our adventures will prove them wrong.  I really want everyone to have fond memories of this trip, much like our visit to DC several years ago, so I am trying to pack in an activity that each person in the family will love.

First person to please son.  He was the least thrilled about this trip - I also happen to know he does not love nature and is fascinated by history especially any of the great wars and their weaponry.  I was so happy to learn that on our way to Yellowstone we will be passing right by the Minuteman Missile Silo in South Dakota - when I told son about it - his enthusiasm for the trip went up about 200%.  National Parks Minuteman Missile Silo

Next hubby - it was his idea to road trip not fly and he choose Yellowstone (I wanted Glacier), I wanted to see soaring mountains not bubbling mud pots - but to make the best of it, I'm adding a tail end to our trip 2 days in the Tetons.  Hubby was not super enthused about this until - I discovered that we can rent Razrs (aka side-by-side UTVs) and spend a whole day cruising the mountainside in the Tetons.  Since Hubby has been dying to purchase a Razr of his own, I knew this would be an instant hit.  Daughter did not want to spend the day "riding" on a Razr - she wants to race with hubby - so we will be renting 2 Razrs - one for her to drive and me ride, the other for Hubby to drive and son ride.


 JH Adventure Rentals Side-by-Sides

Finally Daughter, I was not really sure what would really excite her, she does love the outdoors, nature, animals and photography so I really think she will enjoy herself more than she thinks she will.  Finally I asked her and she said, "I would love to see wild horses" - WHAT?? I wasn't sure that was possible - but enjoying research like I do, I started to dig.  I discovered that in the Pryor Mountain range there is indeed a herd of wild horses, not only that - daughter has a much loved book that she read in her youth about Cloud the Wild Stallion and it turns out - it's his herd - we might actually get to see Cloud!  Getting to the Pryor mountain range will be a bit of a detour but should not add more than 2 hours to our travel time - so it seems well worth it.

Amazon Link to Books about Cloud Wild Stallion
Pyror Mustangs

Beauty Thank You Box Card

I wanted to say thank you with an extra special card for my sister's new sister-in-law who did our makeup prior to the wedding.  I quickly searched makeup on the Silhouette Design Store and found an adorable set called "makeup" by Sarah Bailey (Bonus it looks like it is on sale for .75 today!).  I also used my cut file that I already have for box cards by Lori Whitlock.

I spent way to much time selecting papers and resizing the shapes.  (It was so fun I didn't realize how much time I was spending).  The base color matches the bridesmaid dresses in the wedding (leftover from previous wedding project) Then I assembled my super cute makeup shapes and laid out my card.  Final result is so adorable.

Box Card for Halloween - Cameo Silhouette

This weekend I dove into my Halloween Party invitations.  I downloaded the Lori Whitlock Halloween Box Card from Silhouette.  (Price 1.99 less .50 using my gift card I purchased at 75% - net cost $1.49).  I had quite a bit of card stock and ribbons sitting around the house.  I did go out and buy some halloween paper.

Lori Whitlock Halloween Box Card

Didn't they turn out cute!  I can't wait for my guests to receive them.  I found that assembly line process was most efficient.  I cut out all the base card stock and folded it (the download put dotted lines in the cardstock on the folding edges).  Then I cut out several squares and semi circles from the halloween print paper.  Finally I cut out the haunted houses, fences, bats and graves.  Once every thing was cut out my daughter and I sat and assembled them together.

Tomorrow I will show you what I did with the box card pattern next.......

Cameo Silhouette Money Savings

Truely my cameo silhouette is one of the neatest craft tools I have ever owned........ however it really does have a bit of a learning curve to it.  Sometimes I'm so frustrated I want to throw it out a window.  Sometimes I'm so thrilled with what I've created I want to do a happy dance.

I have had it for 2 years and only recently started to use it regularly.  I took a class in making box cards and loved them.  Then I spent a small fortune on stickers, flowers, etc. to make some at home, finally I looked at the cameo silhouette and decided if I could figure out how to cut out the shapes I would save myself quite a bit of money.  So here I go.

Want to save some money???  I did find one neat trick I want to share.  You can buy an Amazon Gift Card for Cameo Silhouette for less than face value of the card.  I have no idea why, but I'll save money any place I can.  I paid $18.76 for my Silhouette of America Gift Card that's a 25% savings!  I have amazon prime so shipping was free.  Another note to remember is that every July you get 40% off Christmas downloads.  Double savings :-)

Cameo Silhouette Gift Card

My Flower Garden:  Last spring I shoveled out the messy blue rock by the house, tore out the sod and started planting a new flower garden - I'm so proud of how it looks this year

The Downside to Quilting no one tells you about

I am not a quilter - yet anyways - this is a craft I have wanted to master for a long time - I love fabrics and have serious quilt envy every time my boss completes another beautiful one, for five years I have had quilt envy.  I finally did it I decided to start a quilt.

I'm starting the cheater way - I bought a quilt kit for a log cabin quilt - which my boss says is one of the best beginner patterns.  The kit includes all the fabric pre cut and ironed!  All I have to do is sew it together.  It started out really smoothly, I was wizzing through these - I decided to sew the same fabrics for each block one after another - kind of assembly line production - that got a little boring.  Then I decided to complete one block at a time so I can have the satisfaction of looking at that beautiful completed block.  I can not believe how long it takes to sew one block - I worked on this most of the day Saturday and I have 2 1/2 quilt blocks done.  Good thing I picked a Christmas pattern - maybe I'll actually be done by then.

This is one of my boss's quilts she made for her husband - see why I have quilt envy?

Today I learned the downside to quilting - my neck and back have been bothering me since the weekend - I didn't put two and two together yet..... Went to the massage therapist and she said "have you been doing something where you're looking down a lot?, that's what it feels like these knots are from"  duh - quilting - oh yes she tells me, you need to take a break at least once an hour and do stretching exercises.  No one ever told me you could have quilting injuries - running injuries I understand - but quilting?????  On the plus side my massage therapist asked what kind of glut exercises I'm doing because they are really working :-).  (Guess I have to keep running - but very nice to know I'm getting results there)

Here's my first attempts (notice the puckering - not good my seam allowances are not all exactly 1/4")

2010 Concrete Rhubarb Leaves

So after two years of checking these out in magazines and online - I finally got around to making them!  Last fall some coworkers and I got together and made enough to fill our sandbox - but this is a learning process....

First attempt - we patted the concrete out to the edge of the leaves - it slopped over the edge and the finished product and no imprint of the leaf around the edges because of the overslop.  Other mistake - we waited a week to peel the leaves off the concrete - almost impossible to remove dried crackling leaves at this point.

Second attempt - last Friday by myself - I mixed the concrete WAAAAY to runny - it was slidding down the leaf - not good - also they ended up much to thin so all of the GIANT leaves broke in half :-(.  I did get several good smaller leaves that I'm really happy with.  I peeled the leaves out two days after casting - piece of cake - and at that time the concrete was still soft enough that I could kind of sand the edges and break off any rough spots.

So here's my results.....

 

(this one someone else casted last fall and I painted)