A bit about me . . .

So today's post is a little different! My dear friend Colleen Dietrich, of Dietrich Designs, called me last week to ask if she could tag me as part of a blog hop she is participating in. It seems that the goal of the hop is to learn about other blogger/artists by sharing some details about one's self, one's work, and one's creative process in a fun "interview" style blog post. The posters were encouraged to tag one or two fellow bloggers to share the fun, and I'm so honored that Colleen chose me! Colleen asked me to share some details about myself in this post today, so here goes . . .

1) How do you know Colleen?

My friend and fellow stamper, Colleen Dietrich

I first "met" Colleen on Splitcoast Stampers sometime after I first joined that online community in 2009. She always made the most beautiful cards and left the most wonderful comments. Not much has changed in either area! Before long we were sending PMs (that is, private messages) through Splitcoast, then exchanging our email addresses for more direct access, then snail-mail addresses so we could mail cards to one another, and finally phone numbers so we could chat even more easily.

It has been a wonderful journey building this friendship of ours! To have someone to chat with about our shared papercrafting interests has been a godsend--someone who understands the drool-worthiness of a new stamp set or paper collection, the thrill of finding fun paper punches or dies on clearance at Michael's or A.C. Moore, the joy of being asked to join a design team, the frustration of losing one's creative mojo, the elation of having a papercrafted project accepted for publication, or more often: the dejection of not having a project accepted for publication. Colleen was the one who encouraged me to start this blog in 2010 shortly after she had established her own. And then we had yet another interest in common: the world of blogging! Even more to chat about ;). But we aren't just papercrafting/blogging friends. Over the years, we've discovered we have so much more in common than our shared hobbies. These days we call one another to chat about our families, our jobs, our health concerns, our vacations, our daily triumphs and aggravations, our joys (and frustrations) of motherhood, and more. I am so blessed to count Colleen among my very closest friends!!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Colleen, for your gift of friendship!!!

2) What are you working on right now?

Well, as much as I'd like to say that I'm knee-deep in challenging, meangingful, and creative papercrafting projects right now, that would be the furthest from the truth. In fact, I just noticed that my last post on this blog o' mine was on June 26, over a month ago! I do believe that's the longest lapse in posts I've ever had on this blog. Yikes! I never intended for that to happen, but sometimes everyday life gets in the way of the best intentions, right?

So, since the end of my kids' school year the last week of June, my 11YO son went away to a week of arts camp sponsored by the Boston Symphony Orchestra; my 15YO daughter and I went away on a trip to Burlington, VT, with her Girl Scout troop; my hubby and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary; our family worked together to replace our disintegrating wooden deck with new Trex planks and vinyl-clad aluminum railing systems; AND our family went away for a week to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary! As our gift to them, my sister and I rented a Victorian house in Cape May, NJ, for her family, my family, and my parents to stay in while vacationing for the week. What a lovely time that was for the three generations to hang out together!

Our rental house in Cape May, NJ

That's me in the sunglasses posing in front of a shipwreck just off Sunset Beach. In the background, the cousins are folicking in the waves along this pebbly beach known for its superb beachcombing.

The Dr. Henry Hunt house in Cape May's historic district. We found it on one of our early morning walks and just had to take a photo. We found out later on a trolley tour of historic Cape May that it is one of the most-photographed examples of "drunken" Victorian architecture--known as such because it combines elements from multiple different Victorian styles all in a single "drunken" mish mash!

My hubby and I near Sunset Pavilion at the end of Cape May's Promenade just before sunset. See the Cape May Lighthouse in the distance?

My parents, the happy Golden Anniversary couple!

So I guess that's what I've been "working" on right now! I'm happy to report, though, that I'll have an all-crafting post to share with you soon as part of a guest-designing gig I'm really thrilled about! More on all that later. Stay tuned!!

3) What is your signature style?

I like to dabble in all sorts of different styles! I play around with clean and simple, shabby chic, vintage, bold and graphic, fun and cute, layered and frilly, elegant and classy, punch art, . . . you name it, I've probably done it. I generally use the projects I create for my own purposes (as gifts to give, or birthday cards to mail to friends and family, etc.), so I guess overall you might describe my signature style as "mailable!" I like to make relatively flat cards to make them as USPS-friendly (and low-postage!) as possible!

Here's an example:  the mailable golden anniversary card I made to send to my parents for their 50th wedding anniversary:

Background stamp is from Hero Arts; flower is from Unity; sentiment is from Flourishes

4) What are your favorite types of projects to make?

I enjoy making all kinds of projects! Cards are easily what I make the most of, but I think my favorite projects to make are papercrafted gifts to give. This past spring my daughter and my nephew were both confirmed at their respective churches. I enjoyed making each of them some commemorative gifts to mark the occasion.

I created a framed and personalized piece of subway art for each confirmand using a variety of electronic brushes and fonts I've collected over time and my favorite (and free!) photo editing software, The GIMP

I made each confirmand a papercrafted bookmark perfect for use in their favorite Bibles. Each bookmark was personalized on the back with the occasion and date.

And here are the confirmation cards I made for these special young people:

For my daughter: because I could hand-deliver it, I added a less than "mailable" embellishment on the cross. Stamps are from The Craft's Meow

For my nephew: an elegant, mailable card. Stamps are from The Craft's Meow

If you are interested in seeing more of my papercrafted gift projects, please be sure to check out these "Gift Idea" posts!

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Well, readers, thank you so much for sticking with me through this long post! I think I'll wrap it up here. A huge THANK YOU to the fabulous Colleen for inviting me to post with her today. If you have arrived here outside of the blog hop, I'd love it if you popped over to meet Colleen and say HI! Her work is so beautiful and elegant--I know you'll love visiting with her!!

Thank you so much for visiting today!! I hope that your summers have been swell thus far and continue to be.
Be well!
Emily

MOAV 2: The Adventure Continues . . .

My family had so much fun on our "Mother Of All Vacations" last year, that we had to take another! In fact, we started planning this year's 30-day camping journey on the final leg of last year's trip. Our focus this time? The Four Corners region of Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico.

Where the corners of CO, UT, AZ, and NM meet at Four Corners Monument, Navajo Nation Tribal Park

Yes, we hit the American Southwest in August--in monsoon season--and survived it all: 7800 miles, 19 states, 100-plus-degree temperatures, wind-driven rains, 50-plus-mph winds, high elevations, mountain driving, desert driving, and some pretty rugged--but utterly beautiful--terrain.

The Mitten Buttes in Monument Valley Navajo Nation Tribal Park, AZ (taken by 13YO daughter)

We ended up visiting 26 National Park Service/Bureau of Land Management sites in eight states, hiking in many of them.

Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (St. Louis Arch), MO

Fort Scott National Historic Site, KS

Fort Larned National Historic Site, KS

Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site, CO

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, CO

Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO

Aztec Ruins National Monument, NM

Mesa Verde National Park, CO

Arches National Park, UT

Natural Bridges National Monument, UT

Valley of the Gods (BLM), UT

Grand Canyon National Park, AZ

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, AZ

Wupatki National Monument, AZ

Walnut Canyon National Monument, AZ

Petrified Forest National Park, AZ

Petroglyph National Monument, NM

White Sands National Monument, NM

Three Rivers Petroglyph Site (BLM), NM

Valley of Fires Recreation Area (BLM), NM

Pecos National Historical Park, NM

Fort Union National Monument, NM

Capulin Volcano National Monument, NM

Fort Smith National Historic Site, AR

Hot Springs National Park, AR

Mammoth Cave National Park, KY

The kids earned their Junior Ranger badges at 18 NPS units. We also visited national forests, tribal parks, state parks, city parks, and drove part of Historic Route 66. It was epic, breathtaking, educational, and unforgettable.

Wanna see some photos? Just keep scrolling for the "This Land is Your Land" tour. Many thanks to Woody Guthrie (feel free to pull out your tambourine. Go ahead--I don't mind.) And remember, just click on any photo to enlarge it.

As I went walking

Hiking the Long Logs Trail in Petrified Forest National Park, AZ (taken by 9YO son)

that ribbon of highway

US-163 leading through Monument Valley, AZ

I saw above me

Owachomo  Bridge at Natural Bridges National Monument, UT

that endless skyway

Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, St. Louis, MO

I saw below me

Step House cliff dwelling at Mesa Verde National Park, CO

that golden valley

Moki Dugway, Utah State Route 261 (taken by 13YO daughter)

This land

Pike's Peak viewed through the Siamese Twins formation in Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, CO

was made

Blue Whale, Historic Route 66 attraction, Catoosa, OK

for you and me.

Ancient macaw rock carving at Petroglyph National Monument, NM

I roamed and I rambled

Wagon on the Santa Fe Trail outside Bent's Old Fort Historic Site, CO

and I followed my footsteps

Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO (taken by 13YO daughter)

To the sparkling sands of 

Gypsum sand dunes below the San Andres Mtns, White Sands National Monument, NM

her diamond deserts

The Painted Desert, as protected within Petrified Forest National Park, AZ

While all around me 

Ruins at Fort Union National Historic Site, NM

a voice was sounding

Oil-drum kachina doll outside the National Route 66 Museum, Elk City, OK (taken by 13YO daughter)

This land

Closeup of a petrified tree stump in Petrified Forest National Park, AZ

was made

Rock cairns at Three Sisters formation overlook on Valley Drive in Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, AZ

for you and me.

At the aerial tramway depot atop Sandia Peak in Albuquerque, NM (taken by 9YO son)

When the sun came shining, 

Sunrise over tug-propelled barges on the Mississippi River in East Memphis, AR (taken by 9YO son)

and I was strolling

A leisurely hike in Petrified Forest National Park, AZ (taken by 13YO daughter)

And the wheat fields waving

A view of Sierra Grande from Capulin Volcano National Monument, NM

and the dust clouds rolling

The dusty Valley Drive passing by Elephant Butte in Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, AZ

A voice was chanting, 

Ancestral Puebloan dwellings in Aztec Ruins National Monument, NM

As the fog was lifting,

Sunrise along US-191 enroute to Arches National Park, UT

This land 

Indian paintbrush at Sandia Peak summit in Albuquerque, NM

was made

The Watchtower at Desert View in Grand Canyon National Park, AZ

for you and me. 

Our accommodations at Wigwam Village #2 in Cave City, KY

We are back to reality now, getting ready for next week's return to school, but this MOAV is sure to live on and on in family lore!

Thanks for checking out my vacation photos!

Emily

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

Bryce Canyon National Park, UT (taken by our 8YO son)

If you think you haven’t heard from or seen much of me lately, you’d be right. I am pleased to report that we have just safely returned (late Monday night) from what my husband has been calling our MOAV (that is, Mother Of All Vacations). It could also be termed our “America the Beautiful Tour.”

"Park Avenue," Arches National Park, UT

As you might guess, this trip has been in the making for a while. You could say the idea for it started three years ago when my husband and I started mapping out the kinds of vacations we wanted to take with our kids before our oldest turns 18. We hoped to take the kids on a road trip to Disney World, which we did in 2009--along with stops at George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. We thought that we’d like to start camping with the kids, which (after buying a small used pop-up tent trailer for the purpose) we did in 2010 with both a few local trips and a longer one to Michigan. We decided that if all that went well (and it did), we wanted to take the kids on a grand camping tour of the American West, visiting as many National Park Service sites as we could fit in.

Alpine Visitor Center, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO

Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park Campground, Redwood National and State Parks, CA

But the idea for this trip went back much, much further for me. When I was growing up, both of my parents were teachers who had the summers off. In 1978, they took my older sister and me on our first extended camping trip—out west for four weeks. Two years later in 1980, we went on an even longer trip, eight weeks camping out west on a loop path that took us to the Pacific Ocean. Finally, the summer after I graduated from high school in 1988, we took our last family camping trip, a six-week journey that followed the Rocky Mountains from the Mexican border all the way north into Canada. I suppose that ever since that first trip in 1978, I’ve always expected to take my own kids on a similar trip some day. This was a dream come true.

Our 2011 Vacation Route

So, some statistics:

Number of days away from home: 31 (originally we had planned for 30 days, but Hurricane Irene had other plans.)

Number of miles traveled: 8964

Number of photos taken: 4480 (amongst three cameras)

Number states traveled through: 19 (MA, NY, PA, OH, IN, IL, IA, NE, CO, UT, AZ, NV, CA, OR, ID, WY, MT, SD, MN)

Number of National Park Service sites visited: 24

in order of visitation:
Chimney Rock National Historic Site (NE)
Scotts Bluff National Monument (NE)
Rocky Mountain National Park (CO)
Colorado National Monument (CO)
Arches National Park (UT)
Bryce Canyon National Park (UT)
Zion National Park (UT)
Kings Canyon National Park (CA)
Sequoia National Park (CA)
Yosemite National Park (CA)
Redwood National and State Parks (CA)
Crater Lake National Park (OR)
Newberry Volcanic National Monument (OR)
Craters of the Moon National Monument (ID)
Grand Teton National Park (WY)
John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway (WY)
Yellowstone National Park (WY)
Bighorn National Forest (WY)
Devils Tower National Monument (WY)
Jewel Cave National Monument (SD)
Mount Rushmore National Memorial (SD)
Wind Cave National Park (SD)
Badlands National Park (SD)
Minuteman Missile National Historic Site (SD)

Hottest temperature seen: 111 degrees F (in the Mojave Desert in CA)

Coldest temperature seen: 38 degrees F (in Bryce Canyon City, UT)

Highest elevation: 12,183 feet above sea level in Rocky Mountain National Park, CO

Lowest elevation: 100 feet above sea level (here at home in Massachusetts)

Now, here's a peek at some of the sights we saw on our "America the Beautiful" tour:

O beautifulGrand Teton National Park, WY

for spacious skies,Lake McConaughy State Recreation Area, NE (taken by our 8YO son)

For amber wavesChimney Rock National Historic Site, NE

of grain,Corn Palace, Mitchell, SD

For purple mountain majestiesNewberry Volcanic National Monument, OR

Above the fruited plain!Grand Junction, CO, as seen from Colorado National Monument (taken by our 8YO son)

America!Bryce Canyon National Park, UT

America!Lower Yellowstone Falls as seen from the base of Uncle Tom's Trail,
Yellowstone National Park, WY

God shed His graceMount Rushmore National Memorial, SD

on thee,Alpine Visitor Center, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO (taken by our 12YO daughter)

And crownStout Grove, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, CA

thy goodBison, Yellowstone National Park, WY

with brotherhoodMud Volcano Basin, Yellowstone National Park, WY

From seaBeach at Thomas H. Kuchel Visitor Center, Redwood National & State Parks, CA

to shining sea!

Sonoma Coast State Beach, CA

The post-trip laundry is all done now, but we're still working on unpacking and going through 31 days worth of mail. As soon as we get completely re-settled, I'm looking forward to getting back to creating again! And I also hope to find some time to visit your blogs. It's been too long! :)

Thanks so much for stopping by for my not-so-little slice of bliss that has been my summer. That's all for now!!
Emily