The last of Scotland :(

So much for updating my blog on a timely basis! Betty is really into knitting and aquired quite a lot of hand spun yarn. This is Shilasdair, the Skye Yarn Company on the Isle of Skye - what a remote but beautiful setting! We drove there via this one lane road where it widened periodically so you could pull over to let the oncoming car through.

We continued on to Dunvegan Castle to see the Fairy Flag and the lovely gardens. Dunvegan Castle is the oldest continuously inhabited castle in Scotland and the Fairy Flag is rumoured to protect the Clan MacLeod in times of war. Clansmen who had a photo of the flag in their wallets in both world wars all came home safely. The exterior of the castle was under extensive renovation so my photos did not do it justice but I did great shots of the gardens!

We stopped at Talisker's to taste some whiskey.....too nasty for me. On our way out, we had to stop in the middle of the road because there was a bunch of sheep crossing the road. Betty got out to help herd them by not letting them go up the road. What fun!

We tried to take the ferry across to the mainland but we didn't have reservations (didn't know we needed them!) so we had to backtrack and therefore we missed seeing the west coast of Scotland. We drove past beautiful lochs though that we would have missed so it all worked out. This is Loch Garry, then we stopped again while driving through Glen Coe. Actually, we could have stopped every 10 minutes since there were so many photo opportunities!

We continued on through the Rannoch Moor, past Loch Lomand and ended up in Helensburgh for our last 2 nights. We stopped at Hill House designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh who is all about Arts and Crafts style of art, architecture and furniture. We flew out of Glasgow and eventually made our way home. There is still quite a bit of the country I haven't seen so some day I would like to go back!

2nd week of Scotland vacation

Betty and I rented a car for our second week in Scotland - we wanted to drive around the highlands and be able to stop whenever we saw a photo opportunity (which was quite a few times!). I drove and Betty navigated - what a team! She carefully watched traffic and signs as I had to go clock-wise around the traffic circles. Most of the roads were quite narrow and did not have shoulders. Try driving in these conditions on the wrong side of the road, on the wrong side of the car, and shifting with your left! I had a blast! We started out by driving to Sterling Castle (home to some of the Kings and Queens of Scotland) and then on to Doune Castle where Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed. We then motored on to Scone Palace where the Kings of Scotland were crowned. We stayed overnight at Corriechoille B&B located at the end of very narrow road that looked more like a cart path - but what a view when we finally arrived! This photo was taken out the reading room window of their 'back yard'. Those 2 cottages can be rented also.
The next morning we drove to Loch Ness where we took a boat tour to try to find Nessie - no luck! We then headed across the width of Scotland to the West coast and stopped at Eilean Donan Castle of Highlander fame.
We then drove on to the Isle of Skye and stayed at The Gables B&B in Portree. We had to call ahead to reserve our room and most of the places had no vacancies. I finally just asked if the person knew of any other B&B not in the guide book - we really lucked out at this place. Their back yard bordered the bay so had beautiful views!

I'll post the rest of the trip tomorrow - really!

It's been a while....

Yes, it has been quite a while since I last posted. While I was away on vacation, my mom was in the hospital for a few days but was home when I got back. How was that for a welcome back?! The entire family enjoyed a great party for the Mighty Quinn's christening a week later and then a few days after that my mom had a massive stroke. She passed away on September 18th. It's taken me this long just to post this and it is still difficult but I want everyone to know how special she was to me and every one else in the family (immediate and extended!).

England and Scotland

I just got back from a two week vacation in the UK traveling with my cousin, Betty, going from England to Scotland. I am still recovering! We started in London and went to Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower of London, Harrod's and had dinner with our UK's cousin, Eileen. Betty didn't get to see the Crown Jewels as the line was a mile long - bummer! We did get to ride on the London Eye - I took this photo of Big Ben at dusk from across the river.

We then took the train up to York where we were met at the station by new friends Anne and Pat. What sweethearts! Anne invited us to stay overnight at her house and we hadn't even met in person until then! They took us around York to see York Minster (cathedral), the Shambles (a funny, narrow little road that inspired Diagon Alley), York Castle Museum and then a drive through the Yorkshire Dales the next day. Thank you Anne and Robert!

Later that evening, we took the train up to Edinburgh where we stayed in a dorm at the University of Edinburgh - 2 twin with a private bath and breakfast included...not bad! The first day there, we took a bus tour with Rabbie's Bus Tours to Melrose Abbey and Roslyn Chapel. Roland, our bus driver was absolutely hysterical and he stopped at 2 extra places not on the itinerary - Abbotsford House (Sir Walter Scott) and the small village of Temple (Templar ruin). The rest of the time in Edinburgh, we enjoyed the Fringe Festival, the National Gallery of Scotland, the National Musuem of Scotland, Edinburgh Castle and the Military Tattoo.

The second week I'll post tomorrow!

On a roll.....!

Wow - it's been a busy week for posting! I just received my Ransom Note ATC swaps in the mail and luckily, I got one of my own back. Usually I make a few extra to trade and one to keep for myself. This is a one-off set but at least I scanned them before mailing.
I was supposed to use individual letters but I decided to go with the words because the phrases were so long. These are the lyrics from Evanescence's "Bring Me to Life" and I thought the 'Classic Captions" stamp set from Stampin' Up would work perfectly together! The background papers are ones I created using the Salt technique where you dab inks on the cardstock so it is very wet and then you sprinkle salt over it, heat set it to dry. You get a wonderful mottled effect - it is different if you use table salt vs. coarse salt like sea salt. I used watercolor pencils to color in the images but did not blend them.

Baby shower card

My dilemma for this baby shower card was how I could incorporate my style instead of "cutsie". I started by running a piece of Stampin' Up Mellow Moss card stock through the Cuttlebug and embossing with the Diamonds in the Rough folder inked with Mellow Moss. I then swiped the tops of the diamonds with So Saffron ink. Also from Stampin' Up are the ribbon and saying (Happy Harmony set). The Suzys Zoo duck was watercolored, cut out and popped up with 3d dots. The 2 flowers are a Tim Holtz die run through the Cuttlebug and painted with Radiant Peals paint.

Sticking with the baby theme...

I created this card for the Western New York stamp gathering in Buffalo this past May. I know for a fact that my table mates were swearing a blue streak at me trying to get the baby stamps glued in behind the "film strip"! Many of them use a tape runner, while I use gel glue and of course I didn't think of that when I set out my project or I would have included gel glue for their use! I think they all loved the card anyways (at least I did!).

I started with Stampin' Up Rich Razzleberry card stock and stamped it with the French Script background in white ink. The "film strip" is black card stock that I punched using a square punch and SU's spiral punch. The babies are stamped on glossy white card stock in Archival Sepia ink using the Stampsmith's unmounted set "Ooh Baby". The clock stamp is by Tim Holtz and is stamped in black ink on white textured card stock. I sponged the edges with the Sepia ink. I glued a soda tab on the back, popped the whole thing up with 3d dots and add the ribbon as a watch fob.

I gave this one to my brother for his 50th birthday!