One Month Ago Today

I've been missing from action with my blog the past few months. My mother passed away March 13th, and I am just starting to come out of the fog. She was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in January so it all happened so fast. She lived in Overland Park, KS, where I grew up, and I live 700 miles away in Colorado. We were in town for Christmas, then I was back four more times between January and March.

My crafting gene came from my mom, she painted the shirt she is wearing in the picture above! Along with crafting, she loved music, gardening, reading, animals, and playing bridge. She loved nature and appreciated the simple things in life. Hmmmm---I think I just described myself!

Thank you mom!

I love you.

♥

Home is Where Mom Lives

I grew up in Kansas. After college my sister and I ended up working and staying in the same area close to our parents. My brother's career took him to Michigan. I thought I would always be in the Kansas City area, I didn't know anything different than being surrounded by family and friends. My sister and I started our families there, her youngest and my only child were born three weeks apart. Three out of five of the grandkids were in town, close by, for grandma to visit often. 

As it turned out, because of our husbands jobs,

my sister and I moved out of state--in--the--same--week.

Can you imagine the devastation this was to my mom?

I started this awhile ago--but it got pushed aside. It has been leaning against the wall, close to my computer for quite sometime so I would see it everyday, it just wasn't quite what I had envisioned. I wish I would have taken a picture of it at that point, but yesterday, I started adding to it, doodling on it and slapped  more paint here and there, then declared it done.

I'll give it to her when I go visit this week.

I'm going  to KC so I can be with my mom

 when we have the consultation with doctors about the

cancer

that has attacked her body.

Happy Valentines Day

I found this little heart shaped snowball on our Valentine hike last Sunday. We celebrated Valentines Day on the 12th this year, we were in the mood for a hike in the mountains so we headed for Rocky Mountain National Park. I told my husband that if we could go to my favorite restaurant in Estes Park, we could call it our Valentine's dinner.

So pretty!

We picked a short hike, Bierstadt Lake, 2.5 round trip and a trail we hadn't done before.
It was the perfect hike. Once we got to the lake, it started lightly snowing.  I like hiking in colder weather, it is so invigorating. Then we topped it off with an Italian dinner at the Dunraven Restaurant.

My sweet boy!

Yikes! He is taller than Dad! When did that happen?

 I hope you have had a wonderful Valentines Day or Week!

Cheers!

December Madness!

December madness--but I love every day of it!!

Hasn't the month just flown by?

It has been way too long since I have been able to sit here and compose for my blog. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I made a bunch of things to put in a craft boutique. (Cherry-Lime Boutique, they keep their facebook page updated just about daily--lots more pictures of the shop there! It is such a cute store.)
Here are pictures of a few of the items:
Some decorated notepads.















The Tic-Tac Snowmen were a big seller!

I made a few mini-albums, that I forgot to take pictures of, but they were the mini made with the 5x7 craft envelope. You can see a picture of one I made here.

I also made a few of what I call, "The Coffee Table Photo Display", that is made with a Laughing Cow cheese box. See a picture here of one.




This little mini-album was a new one for me. I found a very talented blogger at Just a Few Designs. Elsa has YouTube videos and is so much fun to watch. Anyway, bulk of this mini is made with just two sheets of 12x12 paper! Visit her Youtube video, here, to learn how to do it.
I used paper from the retired Mistletoe Level 1 paper pack, which is not double sided, so I had to cover some white pages with B&T paper. I can't wait to make one with Close To My Heart's double sided cardstock!









This album has lots of pockets, tags and surprises with every turn of the page. It was lots of fun to make!



Believe it or not, it has 28 spaces for pictures and journaling!

Click on each picture to try to see some more detail.
Like I said, it was tons of fun to make, and really easy!

So--I got all of that to the Boutique on December 5th. Then I had to get the house and me ready for a visit from my sister.

She came in from Minnesota on the 8th. We spent that night in Boulder, and had a wonderful time eating, drinking and pampering ourselves. (so sad that I don't have any pictures of us there)

On Friday the 9th, we went to see a play that my son was in. He was the narrator of the play and did an awesome job!

THEN--on Saturday, December 10th, we had a big birthday to celebrate-- my 50th! We had a party here at the house with about 20 people! This was the reason my sister came to town--I had also invited my brother, who lives in Michigan, hoping he could come help celebrate too, but he said he had too much going on that weekend. Guess what--He and my sister-in-law surprised me
and showed up. It was such a good night!

From left to right in this picture: my husband, me, my (little) sister, my brother, and then my sister-in-law.

OK--after that huge weekend--I had to get busy and make my Christmas cards! Well--I did already have some done, because on December 4th, a friend came over and we had some fun creating-I got 20 done that night. I needed about 40 more though! I was going to post pictures of some of my favorites, but I must have put those in the wrong file on my computer, because I can't find them. lol!!

Last night we visited this awesome Christmas display. It is one of those displays that is set to music. It was incredible.
Click on the picture to see a Youtube video. We didn't take the video, I just searched for a video to show you.
They also have a website, The Greeley Grizwalds!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all my blogging friends! Wishing you love, happiness and abundant joy in the new year!

Merry, Merry,
Lisa

Boy to Zombie

Still haven’t gotten the camera fixed yet, so these pictures are taken with the old camera—that takes horrible pictures inside; blurry and yellow. BUT I just had to share my sweet boy being transformed! I had fun applying makeup!

I had to get a hair band to pull back his hair.

A foundation of white.

After applying black, green and blood, he starts to get into character!

Help me! There is a Zombie in my house!

Before and After

I LOVE the "How to Books" from Close to My Heart, they are so helpful in quickly putting layouts together! Often times I have more photos than the planned design calls for. This layout design is from the "Cherish" how to book and is called Portrait Collection. The original design calls for only 4 pictures --and one of those is only 3x3 in size! I liked the design of the page--nice and easy--but I had way more pictures than that! Never fear, a little playing around with photo placement, and I found a way to make it work! I liked the way it turned out! (click on pictures to see them larger)

Supplies used all from Close to My Heart:
Cherish (how to book)
Miracle Level 2 Paper Pack
Inks: Desert Sand, Twilight and White Daisy
Kraft Color-Ready Borders
My Legacy Writer Black Pens
3-D Foam Tape
Stamp set: Off the Block Alphabet (retired)

Have a great weekend!

Wings Workshop on the Go

This layout is my version of Close to My Hearts "Wings" Workshop on the Go kit. It came together so fast--well, the flowers were a bit time consuming-but I like the results! Of course I changed my layout a bit from the original, I always want to put more pictures on my layout than called for, but that is perfectly fine! Since this is a Mother's Day layout, I wanted to add the flowers. I rarely get to "do" flowers!
I highly recommend the Workshop on the Go kits, (view all of them here) they include the paper pack, embellishments, a stamp set and instructions to make a layout and cards, they are so much fun to work with.

Christmas Decorating

This post is to show my family our house at Christmas. You were all in my thoughts today-I missed being with you. A few have asked about the home and Christmas decorations--so this one is for you! (you can click on each picture to enlarge it and see better!)We didn't do a whole lot outside, just these two small Alberta Pines by the front porch, but you can see the Christmas tree inside the front door. In the back we had one pine tree covered in blue lights.
I was thrilled that our Christmas tree worked in the new house. We were afraid it would be too tall. No room for a star at top--but it fits! Hard to believe we have had this tree for 13 years and we still love it!


The mantel. The fireplace is in the corner of the room and bookcases hit right up next to it, so no draping garland and lights. Went very simple this year, but will work on this area next year.

The built in hutch was the perfect place to display some of my Christmas bird houses and Santas. Up above there were twinkling lights and it gave off a nice glow. For those who haven't visited yet; to the right of here you enter the kitchen and to the left the hearth room.

This shows some of the garland and lights above kitchen cabinets. On the counter is the Gingerbread house Marek and I did on the 24th.
The next two pictures show the display of Santas and birdhouses in the stairwell. There was a (fake) candle in each window up the staircase--so that would be 4 windows!



And then we get to this morning! Marek and Ace were very excited to dig into their stockings!

It was a beautiful day--50+ degrees--the kind of day where you just had to be outside. We took a nice walk along the Pouder River.
Hope your day was nice and relaxing too!
XO

Merry Christmas

From our house to yours, Merry Christmas!

Fall Drive

We started a tradition the first fall we moved to Colorado, the "Fall Drive". We just love driving through the mountains and taking in the spectacular color display of the Aspen. This year we drove for three days, and crossed the Continental Divide seven times!
Ace went with us and proved to be a wonderful travel companion. He loved all the new sights and smells. He attracted lots of attention from other people and met quite a few nice dogs too!

(click on any picture to see it full size)

Day 1: we stopped at Gray's Peak; it would have been only a 5 mile hike to summit this fourteener and Brian would have loved to add it to his list , but we just didn't leave ourselves enough time to do it. We did hike the path for quite a way, it was Ace's first hike and he did a great job! We did have to carry the little puppy down the mountain though! Next we drove through Glenwood Springs which was beautiful and ended up in Redstone, where we stayed in a cute little cabin at a place called Avalanche Ranch.
We absolutely fell in love with this place! The next day we headed out and immediately started driving through photo opp after photo opp!

We drove to Crested Butte via Kebler Pass, a wonderful drive to see the Aspen. We stopped in Crested Butte for a picnic lunch then headed to Aspen via Cottonwood Pass (summit 12,126 feet) and Independence Pass (summit 12,095 feet). When I mention these "Pass" names and summit elevations, do you picture narrow dirt roads, with major drop offs on the passenger side? Yes, that is how it was! We were off the beaten path and on the scenic route!At one point, the drop was actually on the driver's side, and we were on a really rocky road. Brian looked out his window and said, "Wow, look at the view down there." Then he looked at me and said, "you probably would rather I watch the road!"
It was quite the adventure! We saw so much and had a wonderful time, it was a great trip!

Good Times

My sister and nieces came to visit us last week. We took them up to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park on Saturday and had the best time. We took the Aerial Tramway to the top of Prospect Mountain for some wonderful views and to feed the chipmunks. The kids could have stayed here all day!

We then took them to Rocky Mountain National Park, to go boulder climbing at the Alluvial Fan.
It was just a perfect day in every way!

Alluvial Fan

Our favorite place to hang out up at Rocky Mountain National Park is the Alluvial Fan. Marek loves to climb the boulders. He finds the trickiest route to go--and makes me very nervous! I was a brave mom this trip and followed him up! He said because I was with him--he took an easier route! Hmm--

Trip to Santa Fe

June 19-21, 2010
Brian needed to be in Santa Fe at 8:00 a.m. on a Monday morning, so we decided to go down together. We left Saturday morning. Our first stop was a dog breeder for a Smooth Fox Terrier in Denver. (check this dog off of the list for possible family pet). We had a reservation for Saturday night in Alamosa, CO. So we had all day to get there and no plans. Brian decided to take a "scenic route". This wasn't a marked route, it was just something he thought would be pretty by looking at the atlas.This was the beginning of the drive. (click on pictures to enlarge, they are so pretty!) We had to stop and take a picture because it was so pretty. We are actually headed to a pass over those mountains in the background, the gravel road should have been our first clue to what we were in for! At first the road didn't bother us. There were some camping places along here; they were real nice, located along a stream. We made it to the pass, got out and walked a bit. Didn't take a picture here--because it just wasn't as pretty as we had hoped! SO--we head on down the other side of the pass--and our gravel road got worse and worse. Let me just say that we should have been in the CRV but we were in Brian's Civic. It was quite the "learning" experience!


Well we made it out of there and continued on our drive.
We went to the Great Dunes of Colorado.
We didn't arrive there until 7:30 p.m. Wish we would have been there an hour or so earlier so we could have hiked to the top of the dunes to watch the sunset. Marek had fun rolling down some hills. Brian and I were attacked by mosquitoes.
Sunday morning we headed to Santa Fe. We stayed at a wonderful place called The Inn on the Alameda.
The only picture I took while in Santa Fe was of Marek and Brian at our Father's Day Lunch.