summer vacation

Five days after I finished teaching, we were on the road again from Southern CA  to Oregon and Washington.  In the morning, Caitlyn had her last gymnastics class, and we journeyed to the Compton's high desert home for a few days stay with Grandma & Grandpa.  From there we drove north to our favorite overnight stop at the Gaia Eco-Hotel in Anderson, CA (just S. of Redding - see post here).  I love to stay in eco-luxury for, like, $80.  Awesome.

Here's Caitlyn doing a dance for joy after 1,200 miles in the car!!!  We arrive in Netarts, OR - on the coast just west of Tillamook (cheese lovers unite!) 

We hit the road for the trails about as quick as we can.  Later our friend's, Jen & Josh (newly relocated from Arizona) take a long walk in the lovely, gray-zy weather.

What we call 'rock beach' is one of our favorite hangout spots.  We go at lowtide to hunt for sealife and agates.

 I say a hike's not a real hike unless there's an element of danger in there somewhere.  Here's Caitlyn jumping over the "rushing river" to the sea so we can hike down the beach.

We found these amazing barnacles and green and pink sponges.

Caitlyn got her first hand at scrambling as we climbed out amongst the rocks & tidepools.

After a few days of relaxation on the homefront at Netarts Bay, we drove up to Washington state and took the ferry to the San Juan Islands.  Caitlyn did a good job at the wheel.

Once on Orcas island, we drove to Moran State Park, where we camped for 3 nights and 4 days.

We didn't see the family staying in the tent in the background at the site near ours, until late at night.  They were a couple from Seattle, Ian & Christina, with a 5-yr old Caitlyn (1/2 yr. older than ours).  They invited us over for Smores, and we made plans to hike around Cascade Lake, since it was there last day there.

The hike was green and gorgeous - the weather was sunny and perfect.

The girls were intrepid young explorers.

The lake was beautiful, but we didn't want the fun to end too soon, so we kept on the trail.

 

After a quick map check we decided to take the hike up to Cascade Falls.

 

 

Lovely!  And not far from a good place to stop for a lunchie trail snack.

 

Sunny fields of foxgloves and thistles on the way back.  Tallest foxgloves I've ever seen!

It was a good day with a new friend - they were both great hikers!

The next day we drove to Mt. Constitution to visit the tower.  Impressive looking!

Our last full day at camp, Caitlyn made one more friend - Mila from NY.  We had a relaxing visit to the lake for a swim and some reading.  There was a gorgeous bald eagle flying and roosting!  It makes sense that we forgot the camera :)  

There were also a few incidents with a midnight camp robber - oh deer!  Before you know it, we were back on the ferry heading to the Oregon coast again.

This time Grandma & Grandpa were staying at Netarts, so we had a few days stay together.

Just a few family shots when we went out to dinner in Oceanside at Roseanna's.

(Someone got a full haircut and shave for the vacation!  Made the trip much cooler)

We had a few days to get our gear in order, and then we were off for another 3 nights and 4 days of backpacking in Oregon at Mt. Hood National Forest up to Buck Lake.

The arrival was wonderful - we were carrying all the camp gear and 4 days worth of food!

But we resisted the temptation to set up camp right near the trail, and took off around the lake.

 It was worth it for this GI-normous, secluded spot on the far side with the best view, a 'private' beach and warm, morning sun.

The water is cool, crystal clear, and turquoise blue.  I was so sweaty and could not resist the urge to take a quickie dip :)

The next day we took a hike around the lake - the trail got really tedious and very scrambly, so it was definitely a hike in my book.  

 I couldn't believe I was seeing fall colors on the trees on that side of the lake!

It's always hard to say goodbye, but we had to be back in Portland for the weekend to visit with my brother and his family.  We were consoled with a yummy visit for ales and meat sandwiches at Rogue Brewery.

On this vacation I read Ender's Game, Red Mars, two John Constantine/HellBlazer graphic novels, a Martha Stewart Living magazine, and 2 papercrafting magazines.  The adults listened to Brisinger (Eragon series), unabridged on CD, and the whole family enjoyed listening to tapes of The Adventures of Squirrel Nutkin, and good ol' down-home Uncle Remus stories.

pti blog hop - office

Yippee!  I'm really excited about today's project!  I've always been obsessed with office supplies and organizing - I'm a teacher and a Capricorn, so it's a double-whammy.

One thing I Really love is a rainbow of 'things'.  My class periods are organized by rainbow color, I use a rainbow of dry-erase pens on my white board, I have a rainbow of categorized hanging file folders, and, of course, my craft room is FULL of supplies displayed in rainbow order.

The moment I saw Dawn's Color Couture download - with the little file folder cards, I knew I would have to make the entire PTI rainbow.  And I did.

 I needed little files to hold all my colored, punched shapes - this is what I do with my small paper scraps.  I printed the download, enlarged the image by 108%, then trimmed about an inch off the bottom and taped the templates in order to fit into the egg box.

And because it's for MOI, I was free to decorate however I wished!  I see a little of my whimsy-gothy came out :) But I love it.

All right - I'm looking forward to tonight's inspiration!!! 
xoxo,
ChrisTea™

SUPPLIES:

stamps - PTI Damask Designs, Recipe Label, Big & Bold Wishes
paper - every PTI CS except rustic cream and harvest gold
ink - PTI true black, pure poppy
accents - PTI black twill & swiss dot ribbon; pure poppy twine; white and black vintage buttons; black rhinestones
template - PTI July Color Couture Download
tools - Scor-It Mini; Cricut 'A Child's Year' cartridge
other - PTI egg box

graduation card

Oh boy, another post of cards past.  I made this card in May and sent it in July (hate when that happens).  It's a CASEd card from Debbie Olsen on p. 126 of PaperCrafts 'Go-To Sketches' - with a masculine spin & I "PTI-ified" it.  I've never put buttons on a guy card, but it does look real classy.

It's perfectly timed with the 8th grade graduating class from the school I teach at - this Tuesday!  What a wonderful class they are...  I've never seen a group of kids this amazing and they will be dearly missed :)

SUPPLIES:

stamps - PTI Background Basics: Retro, Fresh Alphabet, Around & About Sentiments
paper - PTI white, enchanted evening, true black; PTI PP Black & White Basics
ink - PTI enchanted evening, true black
accents - PTI vintage black buttons

tools - Marvy circle punch

birthday season tags

Whew - this post has been molding in my saved folder for far too long.  Summer's here, but I'm still teaching for 9 more work days.  Just gotta hang in there!

Summer's one of those birthday season times of year.  To simplify the card making, I had three large manila tags sitting in my paper drawer, and voila!  I used Dawn McVey's Dotty Biscotti papers to inspire the color theme (which only ended up as a patch on the back) - C. picked the pink, orange and green.  Of course, I only photographed the first of the set. *bummed*  I never seem to get to b'day gifts in time.

The same swiss cheese border is on all three, and but the scalloped scissors used to cut the pink trim I substituted for dragon back with the boys' orange and green tags.  I stamped the koi from PTI's Masculine Motifs - in Tsukineko Pearl Orchid ink for a shiny, girly effect.  The sentiment is PTI Birthday Basics, letters are from a $1 alphabet set, and swirls are from the Basic Grey gamma series.  Cardstock is PTI Raspberry Fizz, along with the other ink.

The other two boy tags were a purple & green owl tag, and a red & orange robot tag.  Very fun stuff!  I think I love making tags - instant gratification!

spring break

Spring Vacation - we all had a full 2 weeks off and decided to take a FABulous roadtrip.

First stop - the beautiful desert in bloom!

The pond behind the Compton's high desert home always attracts birds and wildlife.  On the horizon you can see where the shuttle lands when weather's bad in Florida.

Caitlyn, Grandma and Grandpa - scouting potential hiding places for snipes.

Our half-way point from CA coast to Oregon coast - Anderson, CA.  This is a luxury eco-hotel, Gaia.  In the background is a salt-water pool! (We didn't try it.)

The rooms are set around 'pod' units, each with private patio and lounge chairs.  Our pod featured a swan nest (behind that lattice).  Here's the daddy protecting his territory.

After two full days on the road, we arrive on the Oregon coast, at the Compton's pad in Netarts (not far from Tillamook).  This is the view from the upper porch - stunning.  The house backs up to an alder forest but you can still hear the surf over the wind in the trees.

The second the sun peeks out - we hit the trail!  Not far from the house is this scenic ocean hike.

After seeing that, you just have to get down on the sand.

Spring time was gorgeous, but we'll be back this summer.  Adding a little backpacking on to the adventure when the weather's better will balance things out nicely :)


Life is sweet!


xoxo,
Christy

button cherries

Welcome PTI blog hoppers!

Tomorrow's my last day of teaching before a 3-week spring break!  (I must say, I LOVE year-round schedule.)  So, hours after my last class we'll be on the road for an up-the-coast trip, San Diego to Seattle.  I haven't had much time to craft, but inspiration came from the blogs this Sunday morning!

I made a set of thank you's - inspired by Mish's cherry card post (here) and a CPS sketch (here).  I love that this sketch made me think to try new ways of cropping papers, which now I'll try again!  First I made this card:

But I really wanted to use some chartreuse ink so I made this one, stamping the sentiment in hibiscus:

At that point, I had to have a trio, so naturally there would have to be hibiscus - back to scarlet jewel ink for the sentiment:

Inside  is a strip of coordinating paper with a thank you sentiment from Big & Bold Wishes, along with a little cherry stamp.  The card front sentiment is from the Basic Grey gamma series.  I discovered you don't need the die to cut this label - just trim the frame and use a ticket-corner punch.  I also fell in LOVE with the rustic white PTI CS - that is THE best new neutral for me!

Enjoy your night, cherry bombs!

SUPPLIES:

stamps - PTI Everyday Button Bits, Fillable Frames #1, Big & Bold Wishes (not pictured, inside card), Paper Tray (not pictured, back of card); Basic Grey gamma series
paper - PTI kraft, new leaf, aqua mist, hibiscus, rustic white; Basic Grey lemonade series
ink - PTI chartreause, aqua mist, hibiscus, scarlet jewel; linen Distress Ink
accents - PTI vintage scarlet jewel buttons, cream twine

tools - Glue dots, adhesive

party thanks

These cute little teapot thank you cards were the perfect end to our Alice-inspired 'tea' party birthday (see previous post, here).  I just had to bust out the Cricut again.  They coordinate with the teacup invitations (here).  I white embossed the image onto PTI cardstock.  The swirly vellum is Michaels circa 2004 (leftovers from wedding invites.  I wrote on the insides in most of them with white in.  

 I have 3 Cricut cartridges but everything I cut is from A Child's Year - for this party there were red roses with green leaves, purple & green Mad Hatter's hats, and a banner in pink, mint, blue and purple.  

We decorated the back patio with crepe paper, balloons - half of them polka dot with big white spots, and mixy-matchy dinnerware, all in the same fun colors.  We hung a few strands of white star lights and put out some pretty tulips.

The HIT for the four-year old crowd were the cake pops.  Bakerella of course (here).  These were definitely red velvet yummi-ness.  They stand in a foam rectangle covered in a sheer ribbon.  I used sewing pins to push in a few buttons I've had lying around from making an Alice costume years ago.   

(HOW does Bakerella make the pops look so perfect???  I tried two batches - one with melted white choc. chips and another with Wilton candy melts - both times it was very gloppy).  

Here's a little gift set for Caitlyn from us - CASEd from Nichole (here).  I LOOOVE this beauty she made! (Nice how I didn't take the time to iron the recycled ribbon ;)


Alas, for more photos.  Before I knew it, the day was simply,

going...

 going...

GONE! 


CAKE POPS HINT: after you've coated the cake pops for use in the display you'll have 40-something cake pops left in a typical batch. TOO many to coat (at least, for me).  Instead I chilled the cake pops, then melted white chocolate chip, put the chocolate in a baggie, cut off the tip, and drizzled them on the cake balls.  I did the same with dark chocolate chips.  Deeelicious, easy and yummy for the adults too.

xoxo,
cch