Dreamin' Layout - Live, Love - Camp!

My friend, Janet, had never been on a REAL camping trip until this summer when she went on a canoe trip with us! She wanted to help with everything, from preparing the food, to packing the backpack. She was a hoot, asking all sorts of questions and wanting to learn about how to do everything. She had a great time, even though we got rained on, and the weather was pretty cool. Her dog even came along, and as you can tell from the last photo in the layout, he was exhausted after the final portage! 

Hopefully she'll join us again in the future - it was fun teaching her all the skills and chores of camp life 

(and not having to do it all ourselves)!

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Supplies used are all CTMH

Paper: Dreamin' Paper Pack

Stamps: Love Life, Togetherness, Campin' Fever (ret.)

Inks: Pacifica, Chocolate, Goldrush

Accessories: Cricut Art Philosophy Collection, Bronze Glitz Glitter Gel, Mocha Opaques, Foam Tape

Rainbow - Celebrate Blessings Layout

We paddled all day in the non-stop rain, only to get to a campsite and face a storm. It didn't last long but the result afterwards was this gorgeous rainbow. It started out just on one side and before too long, it stretched from one side of the lake right across to the other side. You could pick out the individual colours in the rainbow, it was so brilliant, but it only lasted a couple of minutes. These photos really don't do it justice. It's times like this when I wish we had a better camera, but we got the best shots we could. 

 As always, click on the pictures to see more details. 

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Supplies used are all CTMH unless otherwise noted:

Paper: Sonoma Paper Pack

Stamps: Harvest Happiness, Token Alphabet, Beautiful Things (ret.), A Little Everything (ret.), You and Me (ret.)

Inks: Olive, Cocoa, Smokey Plum

Accessories: Cricut Art Philosophy Collection, Foam Tape, Lace (not CTMH), Green Ribbon (not CTMH), Brown Marker (not CTMH)

Dog in a Backpack - by Choice!

Kelsie loves to curl up and sleep just about anywhere. His favourite place when we are camping is on a pile of dirty clothes or just off the ground somewhere. In these photos, we caught him deep inside the backpack - we actually had to lift him out of the pack to get him closer to the top to get these pictures. He is pretty comfy - he can barely keep his eyes open!

As always, click on any of the pictures to see more details. 

The last picture is a close up of one of the clusters on the layout. 

Enjoy, 

Alyson

All supplies are from CTMH

Paper: Roxie Paper Pack

Stamps: Instant Memories Stamp Set

Inks: Black, Tulip, Desert Sand, Black Staz-On, Black Re-inker

Accessories: Liquid Glass, Tulip Mini-Medley Accents, Colonial White Designer Ribbon, Art Philosophy Collection, Canvas Badge Buttons, Licorice Opaques, Pewter Mini-Medley Collection, Foundry Pin Clips, Bling Assortment, Just Blooms Flutter Paper Shapes, Foam Tape, Colonial White Ribbon Slide (ret.), Black Marker, Dimensional Elements Monograms P, E, R, F, C, T, Craft Jar, Embossing Stylus

Portage Trails Layout

I apologize in advance for my long write-up before the photos, but this requires some explanation for those of you who are not familiar with wilderness canoe tripping. I have always wanted to do a layout on the realities of what it is like to portage gear while on a canoe trip. Many people think you just pack up gear and stuff it in a canoe and off you go. That is so untrue. Everything has to be carefully thought through and packaged in certain ways. Some things have to be packaged in special places inside the pack due to the weight or size or even their shape; for example, the saw has to go in directly against my back as it is the only place it will fit due to its height. Things like the food (which we dehydrate and prepare ourselves) and the cookware must go in against my back and as close to the top as possible as it is heavy and I want it to sit high as it is easier to carry that way. Things like the sleeping bags can go at the bottom of the pack as they are lighter. There is a careful method to packing a heavy backpack, especially if we are unfamiliar with the terrain we will be traveling. We also portage ALL our gear in ONE trip. That means that whatever doesn't fit in the backpack does not go on the trip. My backpack usually weighs around 100 pounds. The big bag on top of my pack is our tent. Hiking boots are a necessity and rain gear, water and a first aid kit must be easily accessible at all times. My husband, Dave carries the canoe and a small backpack with some other necessities. We do fly-in trips as well. This means that we hire a float plane and the canoe gets strapped onto the pontoons of the plane and we choose a lake to fly into. The plane drops us off there and he picks us up and a pre-arranged destination lake usually about 150 km away 7-10 days later where we flag him down in the center of the lake in our canoe using our PFDs.

The title reads "Portage Trails... it can be changed around to read Portage Trials..." as well because this often can be a trial... it is often a very difficult process and Dave and I have walked some extremely difficult trails - some have been very long - others have been very steep and rocky. Some have been so steep that we have had to lower the canoe and pack on ropes. We have had to slide down others, jump from rock to rock, use our GPS to find the correct route, walk through waist deep mud (and pick of the dozens of leeches afterwards), wade through waist deep rapids holding the canoe over our heads... you name it.... We have walked a 6.5 km forest trail to reach the mouth of a river on the hottest day of the year with a full load, thinking we would never reach the end... THAT was a trial if there ever was one!   

Anyways, these pictures were taken by a friend who recently joined us for her first canoe trip EVER (brave sole, isn't she?) That is why there is a barrel in the photos. It shows the process of Dave helping me to get the pack on my back and him balancing the canoe. 

I hope you enjoyed the story. Feel free to ask any questions or make any comments. I know people think we're crazy but this is the way we spend our vacation time!

As always, click on the photos to see more details.

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Supplies used are all CTMH
Paper: Believe Paper Pack, Animal Cookies Paper Pack (ret.), Pear Cardstock, White Daisy Cardstock
Stamps: Trinity Alphabet
Inks: New England Ivy, Pear, Sweet Leaf, Cranberry, Dutch Blue
Accessories: Art Philosophy Collection, Sweet Leaf Mini-Medley (ret.), Corner Rounder, Micro-Tip Scissors, Foam Tape

Majestic Moose!

On our last canoe trip, we encountered this gorgeous moose grazing in the shallows just before the entrance to a portage trail. We managed to get quite close to him and took several photographs. We just watched as he ate the weeds and shook off the bugs. It was threatening to rain at the time and it was quite humid. We tried not to move or to put our paddles in the water. Eventually, our dog, Kelsie heard him and let out a little growl. At that, the moose turned his head our way. We had to make a pretty hasty exit as were were pretty close to him and we were a little afraid he might charge our canoe. As it turned out, he just returned to his grazing and we continued on our way to our portage. Sometimes, I wonder about Kelsie - he seems to think he is a lot bigger than his little four pound frame sometimes... 

As always, you can click on the photos for more details. 

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Supplies used are all CTMH unless otherwise noted:

Paper: It's A Guy Thing Paper Pack (ret.), Bamboo Cardstock, New England Ivy Cardstock, Cocoa Cardstock, Olive Cardstock

Stamps: None

Inks: Cocoa, New England Ivy, Cocoa Re-inker, Brown Staz-On Ink

Accessories: Cricut Art Philosophy Collection, Spray Pen, Brown Satin Ribbon (not CTMH), Antiqued Copper Brads, Pewter Mini-Medley Collection, Notable Chipboard Alphabet, Sponge

Roxie Birthday Card

I have a lot of birthdays coming up in the next few months - and I don't like to wait to the last minute to make my cards. This is a card that was totally inspired (read CASEd from Vicki Wizniuk (click on her name to take you to her blog to see the original card for the idea). I loved the idea so much but I really wanted to use the new Roxie paper. I love the Dreams Come True stamp set and wanted to incorporate that as well. 

This is the result. 

Enjoy, 

Alyson

All supplies used are CTMH

Paper: Roxie Paper Pack, Vanilla Cream Cardstock

Stamps: Dreams Come True, Card Chatter - Birthday, Backgrounds and Borders

Inks: Black, Tulip, Smoothie, Grey Wool

Accessories: Red Glitz Glitter Gel, Scallop Punch (SU), Foam Tape

Dreamin' Layout - My Breakfast!

I had such a hard time with this layout... I saw the layout on Studio J and decided to duplicate it. It seemed so easy... I had the Cricut machine, I estimated the photo sizes, I had the papers... I'm not sure what happened, but it took me the better part of three days to complete this and it still doesn't look the way I want.

Anyways, it's finished and I am leaving it as is.

The story behind this layout is that I dropped my supper plate on the ground the night before and Dave kindly shared his supper with me. The next morning, I was presented with this plate for my breakfast - of firewood kindling and twigs... I guess he assumed I couldn't handle anything that was hot or I would drop it again. Good gruel for a hearty breakfast, right?

As always, just click on the pictures to see more detail. 

I finally used my cricut with the new Dimensional Elements Banners and the fonts on the Art Philosophy cartridge. The shapes on the left page were also cut using the cricut. I am in love with that cartridge now.... 

I have so many photos from our last few canoe trips - I need to get around to working on them or they will never get completed.

Enjoy,

Alyson

Supplies used are all CTMH

Paper: Dreamin' Paper Pack, Grey Wool Cardstock, Grey Flannel Cardstock, Colonial White Cardstock, Crystal Blue Cardstock

Stamps: Dreamin' WOTG Stamp Set

Inks: Pacifica, Grey Wool, Goldrush

Accessories: Cricut Art Philosophy Collection, Dimensional Elements Banners, Bronze Glitz Glitter Gel, Shimmer Designer Brads, Brads Metal Assortment, Colonial White Waxy Flax, Goldrush Buttons (retired), Computer Font, Sponge

How can You not Love this Dog??

We just returned from another canoe trip. How can you not just love our little dog, Kelsie? Weighing in at a mighty four pounds, he can wiggle in just about anywhere. He loves to curl up off the ground in a nice warm spot, but inside the backpack of all places?? We often find him on top of our clothing, the food pack, inside our hats, or in the tent if the door happens to be open, which is a rare occurrence. 

In the canoe while we are travelling, he likes to nestle between either Dave's or my feet, mostly to stay out of the sun or the rain. And yes, he does wear a life jacket with a convenient handle on the top if he happens to fall overboard, which has never happened, but just in case. 

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Typeset WOTG

We're back from our canoe trip - and I managed to get a good case of poison ivy in all the places you don't want to get poison ivy... Trust me - don't squat in the bushes before checking them out really carefully first! It will be a very uncomfortable next few weeks! 

Anyways, the following layouts and cards can be double clicked to see more details if you wish. We did indeed come this close to this moose in the first layout - he visited our campsite a few years ago and we simply could not get him to leave... he just kept coming back. To get an idea how large he was, check out the size of him walking in front of our tent in the picture on the right side on the layout... 

I was at a real loss for photos to use for the second layout - we don't have kids and do not play hockey so photos to use for a title of "Speed and Umph" just weren't in my stash, so I chose some old ski pictures. These type of grunge-like layouts and cards are really not my style. but it was nice to try them out for a bit of a change. 

I hope to down to some creating in the coming days now that I am home for a while. I have some photos that I need to get onto some layouts and some of my own cards to get done as well plus a cricut machine sitting here that is is crying out for some play time!

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Supplies used are all CTMH

Paper: Typeset Paper Pack, Colonial White Cardstock

Stamps: Typeset WOTG Stamp Set, Token Alphabet

Inks: Black, Cocoa, Juniper, Creme Brulee, Cocoa Re-inker

Accessories: Milepost Shapes, Cricut Art Philosophy Collection, Texture Tools, Create-a-Shade Pearl Paint, Dry Embossing Stylus, Craft Jars, Foam Tape, Wooden Buttons, Bamboo Waxy Flax

Birthday Card

I made this card for a relative in England. This is my first time using the Sonoma papers - I wasn't sure about my first impression of this kit but I rather like the way this card turned out. It's an 80th birthday card so I hope it's a hit!

We are off on another canoe trip this week - it is forecast to rain for the next few days but hopefully we will see SOME sunshine! 

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Supplies used are all CTMH

Paper: Sonoma Paper Pack

Stamps: Sweet Moments, Say it in Style

Inks: Smokey Plum, Olive, Bamboo, Cocoa

Accessories: Sonoma Stickease, Heirloom Assortment, Olive Mini-Medley Accent Collection, Designer Ribbon Green Collection, Foam Tape

I made the TOP TEN on H2H!!

I can't believe it! I made the Top Ten on the Heart 2 Heart Challenges Blog! It's only the second time I sent in an entry and this one was so far out of my comfort zone! I haven't had any time to create for almost an entire month and this notice was in my inbox this morning! I am over the moon at the moment! I was so unhappy with the outcome of this card, too! Man, my weekend just got a whole lot better... 

I guess sometimes the things that we think are not so great are seen very differently by others. 

Thanks so very much,

Alyson