Live a "splendid" life

Ready for more from Authentique gorgeousness? Okay...ready or not, go!
Today I'd like to introduce you to"Splendid". This is another one of Authentiques new Summer 2011 releases.
For starters my favorite paper has got to be the woodgrain print. It is seriously fabulous, is it not?! I really want to hoard this paper because I ♥ so!
My second favorite paper in this line is probably "Renown".
The colors of this line are appropriate for both boys and girls which makes it such a versatile line to work with. I, however, chose a non-human subject on this layout. I have always ADORED horses since I was a little girl. When I was about 4 or so my mom and I would stop by a pasture nearby my older sisters' school to feed the horses. Thus began my affection for these sleek, gentle, yet powerful four legged creatures.
See the flowers on the layout? I altered some 2 different sets of Epiphany felt flowers; Whimsy and Adobe and combined them with some wooden buttons and bling to complete the look I was going for. I also used one of the "Tea Room" Vintage settings and the Button Studio on the tag in the upper left hand corner.

Next up is Glowing! I have never liked a Halloween line as much as this. The papers have much more sophistication than the typical Halloween line.
I love to decorate my house for the holidays and decided to alter an extra large Ball jar to hold treats for our home.
For the front of the jar I used a large a tag and cut slits in the sides and put lace through the slits and tied it in the back. I used a couple of die cuts layered on top of a accordian wheel that I made. LOVE that skull and cross bones! Around the lid I cut strips of paper to fit and hot glued them to the side. I added lace and ball trim for added texture. I wanted to add a bit of height to the jar, so I made a little witch hat and adhered it on top. It's going to take lots and lots of will power to keep from dipping into this jar too often. hee hee
Hope you enjoyed checking out what I've been up to. See you soon.

New manufacturer, new love

Hi friends! I have something I'd like to share with you today. I was introduced to a new manufacturer called "Authentique" a couple months ago and it quickly became one of my favorites. Not only do they have beautiful paper lines that double sided and printed on heavy weight cardstock; each of their lines boast rich colors and fabulous, usable patterns as well. Initially this is what captured my attention. Upon further investigation I learned a bit more about the company and that is when my true love affair for Authentique began. The companies philosophy is about being genuine is the only way to live. They celebrate the individual creative spirit, family, preserving memories and many other philosophies that resonate deep with in me. In all of my years in the paper crafting industry I have never seen a company takes my "hobby" to the next level and promote the deeper reason of why I craft. With that being said, if you haven't already become acquainted with Authentique I'd like to share them with you now.
Introducing Uncommon
I recently created two layouts using this line. It is pink, girlie and has a vintage flair; three things I love wrapped into one feminine line. I made this layout titled "Love so sublime" using Uncommon. I recently visited one of my favorite vintage stores in old town Elk Grove called "the red door" and wanted to create a layout about this unique little place I discovered. For this layout I fussy cut the doilies out of "original" and the rose cluster out of "Unique" to add softness to the layout design.
Here is an example of one of the die cut sheets called "Icon" and a few of the papers I used on these layouts.
"Special" (back)
"Original"
"Distinct"
"Gifted" (back)
"Unique"
Aren't they all lovely???? If you haven't had the opportunity to work with these papers yet I'd encourage you to get your hands on some. If you live in the Bay Area, stop by my friend Sarah's store "Our Paper Place". She has all of the newest lines in stock including the alpha's and die cut sheets. Hurry and get yours, she sells out of this stuff QUICK!
Thanks for coming by and reading about my new heart throb. lol Be sure to come back soon, I have another layout to share that I made using Authentiques line "Splendid" and a cute little Halloween candy jar using "Glowing". See ya soon.

Epiphany Crafts and Best Creations in the house!

Hi all, it's me again! Today I am sharing some layouts I made for a swap between Epiphany Crafts design team and Best Creation Inc. I was given the entire "Travel Forever" line to play with! That worked out wonderfully for me since I had some photos of some of our summer excursions that I had yet to document.
This first layout is of Brad taking in the landscape at Stinson Beach. It just so happened to be a clear summer day on the typically foggy California coast line, so we were taking full advantage!
I call this one "Live in the spirit of adventure". He has such an adventurous spirit and love for life. It is one of the things that we have in common and something I hope that he never, ever loses. I feel like this picture sort of captures his adventurous side (especially since I know he had to hop a fence to be able to hike up to this peak)!
This picture is from that same day. It details some of our activities that day. We had a good time playing frisbee, flying the kite, boogy boarding and having a picnic on the beach.
This one is from when Brad's parents made their very first trip from Ohio out to California to visit! We had a great time showing them around San Francisco and succesfully exhausted them and ourselves in the process. lol We showed them the Palace of Fine Arts, The Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Street, Ghiradelli Square and dined at Alioto's just to name a few! See what I mean? Exhausting!
Thanks for stopping by and taking a look. If you get a chance stop by Epiphany Crafts and Best Creations and take a look at some of their newest offerings.

Nature walk

One day while we were camping at Patrick's Point me and my little man set off on a little adventure. He wanted to see where each path and fork in the road led and I obliged him as I knew it would be a little bonding time for us as well as a great opportunity to take some photos of the foliage around the area. With camera in hand, or on back rather, we set off on our nature walk.On occasion he would check to make sure I was still with him since I was stopping here and there taking photos of stuff. This pretty little flower is called "Queen Anne's Lace". It grows wild and some were over 6 feet tall!Look at how they close in on the trails.Ferns were growing all over the place. There were parts of the forest that felt kind of tropical with the flowers and ferns even though it was in Northern California.These flowers bloomed from what looked like pea pods which I thought was pretty interesting.You can't really tell from the picture, but these creatures are actually pretty large for a slug. They are called "Banana Slugs" and I think it's pretty obvious as to why.I loved this little leaf because it looks like a heart. ♥This is actually a weed and not a flower, but I loved how the condensation had settled inside the little prickles.The are is so green and lush.We took some time out to enjoy the beautiful views.
And to allow him some time to enjoy one of his favorite features of the area, "The Sand Wall".

Our little excursion ended up lasting several hours and we were both pretty tired when we returned, but we wouldn't have had it any other way.
Thanks again for spending a little time with me.

This is one of the fantastic, unbelievable views up at Patrick's Point State Park. This place is full of natural splendor and beauty and I truly enjoy spending time up here.
My kids and I spent a week camping at Patrick's Point with both of my sisters and their families and a few friends. In all we had a group of 13 that took up 2 camp sites. Here is a glimpse of one of the sites. This picture was taken from the rim trail and our tent is the blue one.
Here is what was directly behind our tent.Magnificent,isn't it? We were lulled to sleep by the sound of crashing waves every single night. It was such a pleasure and a sound that no "sound machine" no matter how sophisticated can every reproduce!
This is a view of the "puppy palace" where the doggies camped out some of the time.
They were even given chairs to lounge in by the campfire. Tell me these dogs aren't spoiled?! lol
The littles enjoying some beach time.

Here is a view of Palmer's Point. We went down at low tide and had lots of fun tide pooling. Getting down isn't really a problem, there is a well maintained, albeit steep, trail. It is quite a hike up however, but well worth the efforts!
My nephews and my son checking out the sea life in the tide pools. I thought for a moment one of my nephews was going to get a little wet because he was so close to the water and precariously perched on a rock. lol
There were sea anemones, urchins and starfish EVERYWHERE!

We even got to see some seals sunning themselves on the rocks. This is just a few of them but they were my favorite because of the two babies. Aren't they just the cutest little things you ever saw?!?!?
That's a small glimpse into my camping trick. I took some photos on me and my son's nature walk that I will share with you in a future post. For now, thanks for stopping by!