Crazy long time

It has been a long time since my last post and so much has happened around here. I will share more later, but for now...I just need to post to get started with posting again :) I have a layout that I finished yesterday using the Carta Bella Beach Day line and the Tim Holtz Oxide Inks. I really like the way it turned out. Hope you enjoy! Thanks!

Stuck Sketches Challenge

Have been scrapping a lot the last few days and felt I needed a little boost so I went to Stuck Sketches and decided to play along. Here is the original sketch...

And here is my layout using Echo Park Paper - Here and Now.

 

So fun to take a break and use a sketch. Thanks for looking!

Almost done!

Three more layouts left and I am finished scrapping 2013!!! Pictures from this time of year are hard because they are so dark. I have felt so uninspired by them that I keep trying to avoid them. I have perused Pinterest and forum challenges on some of the scrapbooking website, but nothing felt right. So, I did a search for sketch blogs and only found card sketches *sigh* After a while, I was going to give up, but then I found a blog called Stuck?!? Sketches and the first sketch I saw was perfect for a couple of my pictures from Christmas morning! Here is the sketch:

 

 and here is a new layout of Austin from Christmas morning. It is made with the fabulous October Afternoon Silent Night Line.

 

If you want to check out the blog it is located here:

Stuck Sketches

 

Thanks for looking and Happy Scrapping!

 

More layouts...

Here are a couple of layouts from today. They were hard to do because the photos are so dark. So they didn't quite turn out as I intended, but they are finished and I am one step closer to finishing 2013!

The first layout is of BJ, Austin, and our elf on a shelf all laying on the couch.

 

This layout was made using Studio Calico's Darling Dear Line. It is a photo of Austin cheering on Vanderbilt at the Tennessee vs. Vanderbilt game last November.

Sunny Saturday!

It is the first truly sunny day that we have had since we got home from vacation. It is so lovely outside. Today will be a nice day. Austin has a friend coming over tonight, so, we need to straighten up a little. I would like to work in my garden a little and I finished 3 layouts that I need to take over to Scrappin' in the City for my design team commitment this month. So, here are my newest layouts!

 

The first layout was taken last winter. Austin has a morning routine that he always has to do before school that involves getting up at 6:30am (his choice) and watching the news. He is too funny, but definitely set in his ways. This layout was made using the My Minds Eye: Now and Then: Izzy line.



 

The next layout is of two of my friends and I on our way to a weekend crop that we went to last summer. It is made using the Websters Pages: Our Travels Line.

 

Finally, the last layout is of Austin at the Science Museum we visited when my cousins came for a visit last fall. He is standing in front of some kind of shadow maker. This layout is made with the Jillibean Soup: Spicy Social Soup line. Sorry about the colors. I took the photo and night and tried to fix it so it looks washed out :(

 

Thanks for looking!

Peru Vacation - The End

The day after our visit of the city of Lima, we woke up, ate breakfast, then went to visit Museo Larco. It is an amazing museum full of ancient Peruvian antiquities.  This is also a private museum. It is not run by the government and was started by a man that collected these items. We begin with the beautiful entrance.

 

The ramp leading to it is full of this beautiful bougainvillea in a wide range of colors. 

 

Even the wildlife loves this area :)

When you enter, you start in the main collection which is made up of various pieces of pottery, weapons, jewelry, weaving, and lots of other stuff.

 



 

After exiting there is a room to the side that is full of all of these glass cases from floor to ceiling full of artifacts. There are so many rows that it is hard to count. They are arranged by what they are and what they represent. They have a whole case of panther vessels!

This museum also has a very interesting exhibit on ancient fertility art. I am not posting it here, but it is unique because much of this type of art was destroyed when the Spaniards came to Peru. They were Catholic and found this kind of art to be offensive. So there is not much left today.

 

After leaving the museum, we went back to the hotel and enjoyed another dip in the pool and hot tub. This hotel had a heated infinity pool on the roof and  lovely views all around!

 

 

Afterwards, we went to dinner, began packing, and relaxed a little.

 

The next morning, we had a guide and driver to take us to some of the other areas of the city to do some shopping. We went to a huge mall type place that sold all kinds of name brand stuff. It was cheap on most stuff, but some of it was regular price. We then did a little shopping and walking around town. Miraflores was so beautiful. They had these murals everywhere. The colors were fantastic!

 

 

We then went back to the hotel to rest a little before our shuttle arrived to take us to the airport for our overnight flight home. While we were resting (about 4:30 or 5:30), there was an earthquake. It was surreal at first. Everything was shaking and swaying and I looked at BJ and said is that an earthquake. Austin, BJ, and I were on the 10th floor of the hotel with only 1 other floor above us so the hotel was really swaying from our vantage point. When it was over, we looked out the window to see what everyone was doing, and it seemed like they were just going about life as normal. (We later heard several reports that it was anywhere from a 5.2-5.4 on the Richter scale).

 

We were picked up at the hotel at 7pm and made our way to the airport where we checked in and went to the lounge to wait for our flight. We knew it was an overnight flight and that if we didn't want jet lag that we needed to sleep, so we upgraded to business first class. The seats lay down flat to make beds. SO WORTH IT!!!! I wish we could fly that way all the time :)

 

 



 

Our flight was about 7 hours and 30 minutes. Plus when we got on, they served dinner. So, we watched a movie and ate dinner. I then went to sleep but Austin didn't. So, he only slept for a few hours. When we got to Newark, we checked into the lounge and Austin promptly fell asleep.

 

We left Newark and went to Washington, D.C. where we ate lunch with REAL ketchup! We then boarded our plane home to Knoxville. Austin was so excited to get home. Here he is watching carefully for home :)

 

Our trip was amazing and we are so blessed to be able to travel sometimes. Peru was definitely a beautiful, friendly, and interesting place to visit. I do wish we had spent more time visiting the Sacred Valley and maybe another day in Cusco, but I am glad that we got to see as much as we did. Hope you enjoyed our travels!

 

Peru Vacation - Days 4 and 5

So, on May 31st, we left Cusco, Peru early in the morning and took a plane back to Lima. When we arrived in Lima, we met up with our guide who took us back to our hotel, the Hilton Miraflores. It is a beautiful hotel and has fantastic views, amenities, and above all staff!!! Austin was tired and we promised him a laid back day at the hotel. So, we arrived and went swimming for almost 4 hours! We then went back to the room and got ready to go out for dinner. We ended up walking to the huge outdoor mall Larcomar in Miraflores. It is really amazing. I couldn't get good pictures because it was nighttime, but we dined at Tony Roma's (I know not Peruvian, but BJ wanted to eat there and it was his birthday). We had a table by the window and we were looking over a cliff to the ocean. Amazing! Here are a few of the pictures we took at dinner. Sorry they aren't great but the lighting was terrible.

After dinner, we walked back to the hotel and while BJ and Austin went up to the executive lounge, I ordered BJ some strawberry ice cream. He had been wanting ice cream the whole trip and we couldn't find any he liked, so instead of cake he had strawberry ice cream.

 

After the ice cream arrived, BJ began to eat it and we got another knock at the door. It was room service again and they brought him this:

 

for his birthday as a gift from the hotel. They even wrote "Happy Birthday" in English. It was a lovely tiramisu. I told you this hotel was great!

 

 

The next day, we got up and wandered around our area a little before going back to the hotel to catch the afternoon tour of Lima that we had scheduled. Lima is quite beautiful and diverse. The architecture is so different and detailed. Here are a few places we saw.

 

This was one of the streets off of a square in Lima where people were shopping and hanging out.

 



This is from Plaza Mayor. It is where the President of Peru lives.

 



 

This is the cathedral on the Plaza Mayor. Beautiful!

 

Some of the carvings.

 

We then walked over a couple of blocks to tour the San Francisco church and monastery. You could take pictures in the church but not in the monastery which was amazing. They have fantastic details, architecture, library, and catacombs. Definitely a must see in Lima.

 

 

Only 2 more days left!