I made it!

Good morning!  ( afternoon and evening....and morning and afternoon......its taken me 2 days to write this).

 Well, I survived the train.  I was really concerned that I would get all crazy claustrophobic but it was ok. In fact we decided to keep our reservation and take the train back.

We reserved a "roomette".  Very small.  Here she is on the top bunk but she didn't sleep there.  No, she slept with me on the bottom.  Well, I didn't really sleep.  Especially with us both on a bed smaller than a twin size.  Can you say cozy?

Food was pretty good.  Walking to and from the dining car was hilarious!  The train was very, um........shall we say turbulant?  I know thats not the right word but I can't think of another way to describe it.  There's a good reason why there is a harness on the top bunk.

 Anyway, we got here safe and sound. 

It was a busy day for my dad because right before we arrived my cousin came by plane.  So happy she was coming. 

Why they both got up to stand behind me I'll never know. 

You all know Grace but this is my cousin Jeni from Iowa.  She is so sweet and wanted to spend some time with my dad.  I'm so glad I got to spend some time with her.  She went home today.  Already miss her. 

Oh, for those of you in the ABQ area, you probably recognize the restuarant, El Pinto.  I had to take her there.  The food is good but I really wanted her to have the experience.  She had her very first sopapilla and green chili.  She loved it!  Maybe I can get her to come to New Mexico again eh?  Although we'll go to Little Anita's next time. I like Little Anita's. 

Okay, thats the last family pic for now. 

I did do some stamping before I left home.  I've been using the new Reason to Smile set.  Check out the flyer here.  For only $5 bucks its a great bargain.  Tuesday is the last day you can get it.  So don't wait! 

I'm going to drag it out a little and show you just one today. 

See this shirt that Grace is wearing?  This was the inspiration for this card I'm going to show you.  The colors are more of a Rose Red/Cajun Craze, River Rock, Baja Breeze and Early Espresso. 

Ready?

Reason to Smile and Fabulous Phrases.  Crumb cake, very vanilla, early espresso and watercolor paper.  Rose red and summer sun (retired) watercolor crayons, early espresso, baja breeze, daffodil delight, river rock and crumb cake inks.  Big shot, finishing touches edgelits, lattice square embossing folder, jewelry tag punch, dazzling diamonds, 2 way glue pen, vanilla seam binding, linen thread, aquapainter. 

What do you think?  I've  been thinking about my watercolor crayons lately and I wanted to try them with this set.  I first colored the background stamp with the rose red and then layered summer sun on the edges.  Squirt with water and I let the water set on the stamp about 5-7 seconds so it would sink into the grooves and then stamped, letting it sit on the paper for about 5-7 seconds before lifting it off. 

After it was dry I stamped the line image in early espresso and stamped the smaller flowers in crumb cake.  Then I watercolored the flowers, the centers and the background.  I love coloring and miss doing it.  Good thing they are a bunch of awesome sets in the new catalog that are line images just waiting to be colored.

 Check out that groovy border.  That is one of the new Finishing Touches Edgelits.  Love it!  Another trick on this card is that the word friend does not fit in the jewelry tag punch.  So I cut a piece of cardstock to 3/8" and stamped my word then stuck it in the punch from underneath to punch the round part.  Is that clear as mud?  Let me know if you have questions.

Alrighty then, I'm done for today.  It only took me 2 days to write this.  Geez!  We've gotten an afternoon storm and its really cooling things off.  Super happy about that.  I probably should get off in case the lightning does something crazy to the computer. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and hanging out.

Blessings, b.