SPRING...Green popping up everywhere?!

Green is popping up everywhere! My fruit trees are budded, the chives have erupted, strawberry plants are spreading thier little runners everywhere so WHY oh WHY do we have snow FLURRIES? Here it is May and we have snow flurries! LOL well one thing these little surprises do give me is a bit more desire to sneak down to my craft room to play. Do you wonder where I've been? I've been busy catching up on some recent swap commitments. Just recently we had an unexpected trip out of town that followed our return from our annual Xango Elevation retreat...this year's trip was a cruise to the beautiful Western Carribean. When we headed out of town there was just a faint hint of green in the lawn but coming back the lawn has greened up (aside from the white from the unexpected flurry.) The iris are beginning to bloom, I see sunflower leaflets emerging at my friends house and it just excites me to use some of my flower embellishments I've been stashing since fall :) I wanted to take a
minute to show off some of the things I've been working on.


After all that creating my craftroom has become a huge mess of leftover scraps so most recently I finished some swaps using up some of the leftovers and discards LOL. I've decided I need to do that swap more frequently :)

Pretty Packaging- A Recycle Challenge

Clever design...it catches our attention and our imagination! For me it also makes it hard for me to discard...even when it comes to me as "just a cheese box" or "just an oatmeal container"...especially if you've been on Pinterest lately and seen what others are doing with just a toilet paper tube! Ahh, recycling and upcycling, what this post is about :) What can I do with the accumulation of clever packages I've saved.

What about these cute earrings! Upcycled Earrings
Here are a couple clever links too!

Pay It Forward

Bunny Box

 

This cute round box is what I want to focus on today. I have a pile of these setting around and am excited to try my hand at them. Wanna join me???

Upcycled Brie Box

 

Update: I'd like to offer up a challenge! What clever idea do you have "in your little brain" as my friend Melanie D. often says... 

I'd love to see what you created with a Laughing Cow cheese box, so here's the deal. Send me a picture of your upcycled pretty package, I'll post them :) I'd love to hear your comments.

Neighbor Christmas Treat Bags

Each year as the holidays approach I am on the lookout for clever ideas to create a gift to share with my neighbors and friends. I love Christmas and giftgiving but it can be physically taxing to get all of my preparations and shopping done. Each year I look to getting my tasks done earlier so I can spend time doing fun activities, hanging with family and friends. In July I saw a wonderful little hand made container...so-ooo perfect for those special homemade cookies, candies and other created surprises. I decided right then I needed to try it out then get my thoughts recorded so when the holidays came I would be ready with the idea. I'm a visual learner and I was so grateful to the folks at Cosmocricket for their How to Fold a Treat Bag Video Tutorial. And....Ta-da!!! I've found the perfect treat for my neighbors I though but when it came time to work on the treats I changed my mind and went with a chocolate dipped mini pretzel because of all the fun possibilities in decorating and flavoring them. I can't wait to hear what my neighbors think of them :)

Here are my results...Isn't it cute!!

Chasing Color The Saga

As many of you know, my dear husband and I celebrated 40 years of marriage on September 22nd...no accident that we planned a trip to see the Fall Colors in the east...Vermont to be more precise. September 22 marked the first day of Fall and it is also my MOST favorite season. Some people view Fall as the last hurrah and goodbye to Summer, not me!

Here is a quote I really identify with...

For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together. For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad. ~Edwin Way Teale

I had so much to share and had hoped to keep you all updated on a day by day basis...NOT happening LOL! I'm kind of going backwards a bit just so I can get my thoughts all in one place so for the repetition I'm sorry ;)

So-ooo here's the rest of the story illustrated in pictures. I hope you enjoy!!


Heading out of town we see the beginnings of fall color as we pass Provo and beyond in our own fair state.

Our first stop was to visit friends in Colorado...errr I missed the opportunity to get pics of all of us but the kids were having so much fun dancing, I just couldn't resist!

We had a fun time catching up, enjoying a meal together (thanks Mike & Maureen) and then we had to get on the road.  

Colorado is beautiful this time of year... 

We had one more stop to make in Brighton, Colorado. Dear friends and partners in business.The Huss family is always ready at the drop of a hat to share their lives... whether business, family or for entertainment it is just as though we saw them 10 minutes ago...except for how much the children have grown LOL. Tyler will be taller than me before long...Sophie is running all over the place...Oh my! Karen didn't have to do much arm twisting for us to stay for a meal...she offered Cincinnati Chili, YUM!

Well we really did have to get on the road if we were to make it to Vermont in time for the peak colors so we headed out with a goal to get to North Platte Nebraska.

Upon arriving in North Platte we headed for the nearest Walmart...we had planned to pick up a travel size blender previously but time ran short. Why a blender? Well as many of our friends know, we have been changing our eating habits...a lifestyle reset.  Favao™ has made a huge difference in how I've been feeling so I didn't want to leave all our success behind as we traveled right??

 Here's the one we picked...It turns out this is a great portable blender! Toward late afternoon, heading into Lincoln, Nebraska we were so needing a break and we found a wonderful place called the Sunken Gardens. Wow! What a wonderful stop! I posted a ton of pictures on day 2, check them out.

 

We continued on our way arriving in Iowa City, Iowa quite late. We had arrange to stay at the Smith Family B&B. I wish we would have taken pictures of the driveway space we pulled up into that night...OMG! Do it in the daytime is all I have to say! They have a wonderful room with equally wonderful beds and we had a really nice visit with them over breakfast before heading out again. Did I mention how much I like B& B's...

Even the rest stops had interesting moments... The Iowa transportation department incorporated the story of the underground railroad and the beautiful quilt designs used to secretly tell their secret coded messages. 

 



Then on to...

And...

And...

Whoo-Hoo! New York...

Then on to Niagara Falls. Night time at Niagara is so fun on the Canadian side... Should we get tickets for the Sky Wheel??? 

Sure, why not! 265 ft up in the air!

 

We arranged to stay to allow time for a proper tour of the falls and I am so glad we did! The falls are breathtaking. I wanted to share so many photos I decided to create a Niagara Falls folder on Flickr.



 What can I say about the amazing beauty of the falls? I echo what the psalmist said; Psm.19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

O LORD, how many are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your possessions Psalm 104: 24.

Leaving Niagara was sad but an anticipation for the main event has been building in my heart for so long... 

Continuing along through small towns and long patches of highway we enjoyed glimpses of beautiful architecture from long ago, roadside harvest delights, enjoyed meals at uncommon spots, stopped to stretch our legs along the Batten Kill and thoroughly enjoyed the just living in the moment. This beautiful church, founded by a Scotch settlement in 1792 caught our eye as much for the fall color as the delightful victorian-gothic design.

 

 

Our first covered bridge siting!!! This historical bridge built in 1858, is a Town Lattice Truss. It crosses the Battenkill in Eagleville, NY.It has a single span bridge, 101 feet long!

 We're just a just a few miles from the Vermont border now...yippie!

 

Our journey started on Sept 23rd in the afternoon, our goal to get to Vermont to see the leaves at their peak is about to be tested. It is September 29th and our fun app Leaf Peepr has been doing a good job so far of reporting where the colors are turning.

Drum roll please....hey...where are the fall colors?? Shouldn't there be a huge stand of maples right here under the sign??? Ok, patience...

Our first destination is Manchester and the Manchester Art Fair. Did I mention it has been raining, and raining, an-ddd raining? When we got to the fair (late in the day) it was truly a mudfest...Oh my...now I know why in some areas of the country the designer boots are rubber bottomed!

  

 

The fair is a three day event and we planned one full day to fully enjoy all the offerings but we now were having second thoughts. Deciding to do a quick walk about it was determined that YES it was going to be worth a mud trudging experience...TOMORROW.

Our whole roadtrip has been very loose in the planning. We've not made lodging reservations until the actual arrival and so far we've had mostly wonderful experiences. We went looking for a nice place to eat and in the process also came upon some wonderful new friends and a comfortable, cozy room at the Stamford Motel & Nippers Cafe, thanks Karen for making our stay so fun!

Ok, on to the promised beautiful Fall pictures...In my next post which I promise to post before Thanksgiving so stay tuned...

 

Oh, and this blog IS primarily to share my Scraproom adventures so stay tuned for whats been happening in my scraproom since my return :)