Tuesday, July 17, 2012

My Road Trip Adventure!

Hi everyone! Just a random blog post here... ❤

I just returned from a much needed vacation with my family and boy did we have a BLAST! But it was one of those vacations where you tell yourself, "why oh why didn't I just stay home and vegetate?!" LOL! But my kids had an AMAZING time as did I and my hubbs....

Let me share our journey with you... feel free to grab a cup of coffee or some chocolate for the ride. ❤

We started off from sunny Northern California and drove 9 hours southeast to Las Vegas, Nevada. Here are my boys doing some yoga stretches at a rest stop along the way.... (LOL, they crack me up!)


My parents have property in Las Vegas, so when we drive down, we typically don't have to deal with the craziness of the "strip", we just stay at their house which is literally 20 minutes from the strip. But this time, we stayed on the strip because we celebrated my Mom's 70th birthday over at the Wynn Hotel and Casino. Anyhow... we did a TON of walking during the day and let me tell you.... the 111 degree desert heat was NOT pretty!! Here are a couple of pics I took during one of our walks...



Here is a pic of my beautiful Mom at her birthday dinner at the Wynn (with my son Dylan.)

After Las Vegas, we took a 5 hour drive to the Grand Canyon.... and yup, it was just one of those day trips! We were up and out by 5:30am and back to Las Vegas by 9pm. CRAZY right?! But the trip was so worth it. I haven't seen the Grand Canyon since I was 10 years old and my kids just HAD to experience it... they had a good time... here are some more pics!

I'm such a poser... haha!

I love my boys!

My Mom and me...

Logan LOVES to hike... he had a great time!

GO Logan!

My 3 little men...

After a few more days in Las Vegas... we drove 5 hours west to San Diego to visit Sea World... the Sea Turtles ("honu" in Hawaiian) were my favorite... Logan's, too!


Great shot my husband took from inside the aquarium... doesn't it look like he's comin' at ya?! LOL!

Then off to Disneyland and California Adventure we went for a 3-day extraveganza! Here are some pics of the new Cars Land at California Adventure --- SO FUN!!!! The new Cars ride is a must ride!! :-) We all had a BLAST!

I felt like we were back at the Grand Canyon! LOL! But this is Radiator Springs...

At the Cars Land entrance...

This is what the vehicles look like on the Cars ride... but they come in an assortment of colors... we rode a green one and a red one...

One of the views while on the Cars ride...

A pic inside the ride... thats "Red" the fire engine!

And... you can't go to Disneyland with out riding the Pirates of the Caribbean, my ALL TIME favorite... The boys love it too, even Logan! I just love how they incorporated Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) in some of the scenes on the ride...





I still get goosebumps when I read this... ha! A true Disney fan at heart. ❤
This sign is posted on the bridge at the Disneyland entrance...

 In front of the Disneyland Railroad station on Main Street...


Last but not least... we HAD to visit Universal Studios to check out the new Transformers 3D ride... and OMG people, it is the BEST experience ever! And I say experience, not ride, because really... you feel like you are THERE... in it! It's a trip!!! SAVE the all spark! LOL!




With Bumble Bee... YES, there IS a person in there!!

My little guy...


Well... I could stick around and share more with you... but I did take over 500 pictures during this entire trip... way too much to share and even more to scrap! LOL!

Prior to leaving on my vacation I was hard at work creating CHA projects for both Graphic 45 and La La Land Crafts. I'm super excited to share the projects with you, so I hope you come back to visit soon!

Enjoy the week ahead and happy crafting! ❤



Friday, June 29, 2012

La La Land Crafts Inspiration Friday -- "Birthday!"



Happy Friday, everyone! I'm here today with a project for La La Land Crafts Inspiration Friday!

This week's theme is....

BIRTHDAY!

And what an exciting line up the design team has today! If you haven't already been to the LLLC blog, I'll direct you that way in a short bit... first let me show you what I created!

This super sweet birthday card was created using Heart Balloon Marci, the perfect stamp for a birthday girl card. Sweet and girlie to the core! hehe! I used Prima's Almanac papers...


The Filagree Corner die is the perfect touch to any project... I added it to the corner of the card's top layer and accented it with a pearl.... 



I always finish the insides of my cards... this one was no exception. I just adore the Butterflies Set 1 die... I added one of the butterflies from the die set here... the sentiment is from an old Stampin' Up set...



Copic Markers:
Skin: E00, E21, E11, E93, BV00
Hair: E74, E77, E79
Dress/Balloon: R00, R11, R12, W5, W7, W9
Headband/Shoes: W5, W7, W9



Now be sure to stop on over at the La La Land Crafts Blog for more project inspiration for this week's theme!

Have an awesome weekend! ❤

hugs!



Products:

Heart Balloon Marci
Filagree Corner die
Butterflies Set 1 die
Prima Almanac Papers & embellishments
Lindy Stamp Gang - Starburst Sprays: Salt Water Taffy, Cape Cod Coral
I Am Roses mulberry flowers
My Favorite Things - Die-namics Fishtail Flag Stax
Paper Trey Ink True Black and Kraft cardstock
Stampin' Up Birthday stamp set
Black Doilies - Owl & Thistle on Etsy
Black lace from my stash
Black twine

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

8x8 "Cherished" Scrapbook Layout & Tutorial

Hey everyone, Arlene here again! ❤

Today I'd like to share a fun 8x8 scrapbook layout I created of my son Logan and his all-time favorite preschool teacher, Ms. Janice. This pic was taken at pre-school graduation and as you can see from the picture... they just adore each other! I had to 'scrap' this photo for Logan's memory album. ❤

I used a variety of I Am Roses products on this layout (product links included at the bottom of this post.) Here are some photos of this fun layout...







Check out my video tutorial for this layout...


Don't forget about our monthly challenge over at the I Am Roses Challenge blog. We hope you play along and enter your chance to win some I Am Roses products!

hugs!




Products

Prima Almanac Papers and embellishments
Lindy Stamp Gang Starburst Sprays - Cape Code Coral & Salt Water Taffy
My Favorite Things - Mini Pennants DieNamics
Creative Imaginations "You are the Best" brad 
Recollections pearl bling
Black doilies - Owl & Thistle on Etsy
Black heavy weight chipboard (from Joann.com)

Friday, June 22, 2012

Graphic 45's new Nutcracker Sweet paper collection - Sneak Peeks & Prizes!

Happy Monday, everyone! Check out this SUPER sa-weeeeeet sneak peek of Graphic 45's newest paper collection, Nutcracker Sweet, coming your way SOON! Eeeek, such a fabulous collection! I just LOVE Christmas, it's my favorite time of year... and O-M-geeee, look at the Nutcracker and Ballerina!!! :-)


Now to add to the excitement... Graphic 45 is gearing up for 3 weeks (yes 3 WEEKS!) of sneak peeks of the new collections over at the Graphic 45 blog (hint-hint... there's much, much MORE to come!) And best of all, in classic/generous G45 fashion, there will be 4 prizes given away PER DAY! -- WHOA,  that's 60 "Win it before you can buy it" prize packages of the new collections! I just had to share my excitement, now you know why. LOL! I hope you're as excited as I am! Whoot whooot!!! :-) Visit the Graphic 45 blog to follow along!

Enjoy your week everyone!


La La Land Crafts Inspiration Friday - "Fun in the Sun"!

Welcome to another Inspiration Friday with the La La Land Crafts design team! We hope you play along with us this week -- the theme is "Fun in the Sun!" And the new dies & Hawaiian stamps from La La Land Crafts perfectly compliment this theme! :-)

I used Hula Marci and some of the new LLLC dies on my project today... isn't Hula Marci just adorable?! ❤


I attached the sun from the Cloud, Sun & Island die set at the center and pulled on it lightly to make it "pop" from the card... an easy way to create dimension! ❤

The little turtle comes with the Hula Marci stamp set... he is floating around the ocean with his little fish friends that I fussy cut from the Graphic 45 Tropical Travelogue papers. The "ocean" was created using La La Land Crafts Wave Border die and some of the Tropical Travelogue paper. Super fun! ❤




I die cut the Palm Tree with my Vagaboond using kraft cardstock, then used my Ranger Distress Inks to color it up... I added brown Recollections pearl bling as the coconuts... 


I always finish up the inside of my cards by bringing in some of the design paper and elements to tie everything together...❤



I hope you enjoyed my project today! Be sure to head over to the La La Land Crafts blog for more inspiring projects from the design team!

Have an AMAZING weekend everyone!

hugs! ❤


Products:

Graphic 45 Tropical Travelogue papers
Ranger Distress ink (Pine Needles, Walnut Stain)
Recollections Pearl Bling (Brown)
EK Success Ticket punch

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