Little Red Wagon #196

This week's challenge at Little Red Wagon is all about Christmas in July!  Yep, Rosanne wants us to pull out our reds and greens and make up a Christmas project!

I colored up a little image with my Copics and made up this card:

I'll admit it is hard to think about Christmas when it is hot and sunny outside, but it was actually kind of fun!  Plus now I have one Christmas card ready for December :)

I also now have the song, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", running through my brain! lol

Why not join us for some Christmas in July fun?  Pop on over to Little Red Wagon and show us what you create!

Little Red Wagon #195

I have been away and I am just now getting around to posting my project for this week's Little Red Wagon challenge.  Regan wants to see a tag or a project with tags on it!

I decided to make up a tag that I will eventually add to a layout.

Happy and fun with lots of my favorite colors!

These bits and pieces are from Echo Park's Here & Now line.

Thanks for looking! Now be sure to stop over to Little Red Wagon and see what the other Girlfriends made for this week's challenge! You will be delighted to see all the great inspiration!

Such An Awesome Day!

This past Monday was my birthday and, fortunately for me, I happened to be in Las Vegas with my BFF, Carolyn, for a trade show for work.  Since the trade show didn't start until Tuesday, we decided to make a trip out to the the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon!

It was such an awesome day and I took tonnes of pictures.  Here are just a few :)

Our first stop was the Hoover Dam!  It is truly an engineering wonder and a work of art all at the same time!

There was a bit of a wind when we were there, so we had fun trying to get a picture of each of us without our hair flying in front of our faces!

 Standing in two states at once! How fun!

From the Hoover Dam we made our way to the West Rim of the Grand Canyon.  

The road to the Grand Canyon was such a delight for the eye!  There were awesome cactus, Joshua trees, and cattle everywhere!

For some reason this row of mailboxes intrigued me.  They seemed to be begging to have their picture taken so we stopped along the side of the road and I grabbed a couple of photos :)
 

This turquoise one was my favorite, even though it looked a bit neglected.

The cattle that roamed near the road were just beautiful!

This mama cow had her little one with her.  The baby obviously has not been taught how to smile for the camera yet!

After lots of driving, we finally saw the sign welcoming us to the beginning of the Hualapai Nation Reserve.  Only about 45 more minutes to go!

Our first view of the canyon!  Just breathtaking!!

 Perfect place for a photo op!

This is Eagle Point - can you see the eagle?

Yes, we went out on the Sky Walk!  Scary but amazing!

Guano Point is the site of an old Bat Cave where they mined guano 

(I will let you look that one up! lol).

 Part of the old mine.

Picnic anyone?  This table is literally 'on the edge'!

Carolyn taking shelter in the shade :)

 This fascinating little lizard was having a feast of very large flying ants! Yummm!

 

  Our last stop was Lake Mead at sunset - gorgeous!!

God's beautiful creation is such a wonder that it is hard to take in the fullness of it's beauty.  I am so glad that I have these photos and the memories that go with them to remind me of all that we saw and experienced.  It was such a blessed day and a great way to spend my birthday!

Little Red Wagon #194

Are you ready for a really fun and interesting challenge this week?  Well, Tammy at Little Red Wagon has issued a great challenge and I hope you decide to play along!

Tammy wants us to do a Project Makeover -- take a project you've made but never felt satisfied with and make-it-over!  It can be as simple as adding/removing embellishments or doing a complete do-over, keeping only the basics.

My first reaction to this challenge was... HUH?  I had no idea what I was going to do!  But then I started looking through my cards and I came up with this one.

BEFORE:  This was one of the very first stamped images that I colored with my Copic markers.  I did an OK job, considering that I was just a beginner, but there was definitely room for improvement.  Also, the card itself is very plain and simple.

AFTER:  I decided that the coloring needed some help, so the first thing I did was add some more color with my Copics.  I darkened her hair and made it look more natural and curly. Then I darkened her coat up a bit and did more blending.  I also fixed up some areas where I had colored outside the lines!

The next thing I did was give the image a new background.  I turned the card into a tri-fold card and used some pink and yellow pattern paper.  Then I added some die-cut swirls (from my Cameo!) and some flowers and buttons that I had in the depths of my wagon :)

So there you go!  A 'before' and 'after' that I am really happy with.  Thanks for a fun challenge Tammy!  Now be sure to stop by each of the Girlfriends on the Design Team at Little Red Wagon to see what they did.  Then join in the fun ~ I would really like to see what you do!