Train Ride At the Zoo

Isn't She Adorable!!

photo by Stephanie Luman (Thank you!!)

Images © 1990-2007 Stampin Up!

Not attending this year's Convention in Denver was a huge mistake, I have heard reports about all the fun and excitement taking place. I have been following all the convention threads on splitcoaststampers and wishing I had gone, even if I didn't go to stamp lol.

Several demonstrators have been gracious enough to post photos of the display boards, I was excited to see some of my submissions on display from earlier this year. Thanks to two of these lovely demonstrators I will be able to share some of these projects with you (please see photo credits). The hardest part of creating all these fabulous projects, was keeping them a secret lol! Check back, I will posting a few each day over the course of the next week.

Project Details
I created this layout in February of 2006 as part of my submssion for the Artisian Award. I am giving a list of materials by memory, hopefully I get them all, I did not even make one of these for me to keep lol!

Stamps: Letterpress Alphabet, Warm Words
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Very Vanilla, Au Chocolat Designer Series Paper.
Ink: Certainly Celery, Regal Rose and Pretty in Pink Stampin' Write Markers, Chocolate Chip Classic Ink
Other: Pretty in Pink Brads, large oval punch

More Details: I colored the Au Chocolate Designer Series paper with Certainly Celery, Regal Rose, and Pretty in Pink Stampin' Write Markers. Using a sponge dauber and Chocolate Chip Classic, I rubbed ink over the top of all the colored areas. I am a huge fan of AMM paper, when coming up with this idea for altering paper I was wishing we had designs similar to theirs...... and then I decided to try something new and make our paper look like theirs lol. I distressed the edges of all the cardstock using the same method.

As you can see from the photograph above, I decided to do some hidden journaling. Each of the journaling pieces has a brad to allow it to only slide partially under the picture. In addition the piece that has been pulled out, you will see two more journaling tabs at the bottom of the page.

I used each of the Warm Word Sentiments to coordinate with the journaling. You can read the journaling below for more details.

Adorable- Her face says it all. She has the most vivid facial expressions, you can always tell exactly how she is feeling by the look on her face... the train ride was the last thing on our agenda at the zoo, after a great train ride going home was not exactly what Tayllar had in mind. Tayllar absolutely loves the zoo. Creating this scrapbook page almost 6 years later I can tell you that her love for the zoo hasn’t changed a bit... we visit the zoo every year in the spring. Even though some of the same animals have been there throughout the years, it is still as exciting as the first time.
The last few years have been even more exciting as they update exhibits, Tayllar was very excited to see all the new changes. Her favorite thing at the zoo continues to be the train ride, no matter how many times we ride it.

Sparkle- No matter what Tayllar is feeling she always has a special sparkle about her eyes... she was so excited to ride the train and see the animals at the zoo.

Giggle- Tayllar was anxiously awaiting her turn for a train ride. We tried to talk her into visiting the gift shop before the train ride... she wouldn’t have it, she was going to “sit here” and wait for the train. She giggled every time she heard the train whistle blow.

Cards for Troops Update!

I wanted to apologize for the delay in getting the contest completed. There are several reasons for the delay, here are some updates. All of the cards are here and absolutely beautiful!! Everyone did an amazing job with their projects. I am still waiting on one of our judges to send in her donated gift certificate and card prizes for the contestants, I know it has been a while but most of the judges selected are designers for various design teams and companies and are very busy. I appreciate your patience as we wait for the last and final elements to come together. I do not want to roll without this last judge because her work is amazing and I know her cards will be well worth the wait.

Starting next week I will be displaying some of the donated cards from the contest and will hopefully have the winners to announce very soon. Thank you to each of you who donated, all of the cards are beautiful. I am hoping to get the contest wrapped up in the next week or two and these cards sent off to the troops. Thanks again to all those who participated.... and thank you for your patience. After hosting an event like this I would do a few things with dates differently, it takes a lot of time to coordinate.... I did not allow for the time delays :). Hopefully the next one will go much smoother with all I have learned, I would love to bless our troops with some Christmas and Holiday themed cards to send to their families and friends.

I have lost my mojo!

I never thought I would ever find myself not wanting to stamp. It seems these last few months have been so filled with stamping excitement that I have found myself in a serious burn out. Has anyone else had it this bad? I have not had any desire to pick up a stamp, in over a month... If you had asked me in the early months of spring if I would ever thought this possible I would have laughed and told you "never". And here I am now after all of this years amazing accomplishments, wondering whether I will ever get over the burn out. If you have any tips or ideas for getting back into it, please share them... at this point I am open for suggestions lol. I am truly hoping my mojo returns to me quickly... or maybe you have some I can borrow for the time being LOL. Rubber Hugs!

~Kyla Maestas

P.S. I also want to thank those of you who have taken the time to email and say hello, it is always wonderful to hear from you!