Hello, friends! It's been a while since I sat at this keyboard to blog. There were many posts scheduled ahead of time lately, and now I am coming to you 'live' for a change. =D At the end of this post, I'm sharing some pics from our recent Las Vegas vacation, but first, I'll start with the cards and a big THANK YOU to my new subscribers! I am delighted that you like my stuff enough to sign on, and hope I will continue to inspire you.
Long post alert -- I am feeling very chatty today and have many photos to share!
A while back, my friend
Rebecca sent me a whole bunch of goodies, just because, and the
Stampin' Up! set,
Fabulous You, was in the box. Fiiiiiinally, I inked up this adorable shoe and started with a muted color scheme. I outlined the butterflies and the shoe with W01 and W00 Copic markers to give a subtle shadow.
(here's that box of goodies -- honestly, it was like Christmas morning! Rebecca, thank you again!)
After a pastel version, I pumped up the colors.
Entering the above card at
CASology: 'Glow'. These colors are so bright I can see the Chiquita Banana lady wanting to wear it!
I learned how to merge two pictures with my photo-editing software (
GIMP - it's very powerful, and it's free), so I could see the two shoes side-by-side. It looks like I just sat the cards together in one pic, doesn't it?
happy dance!
Our trip to Vegas was fun. That is truly a city that never sleeps! We're not gamblers, really, but took in some shows and a trip to the Grand Canyon. Hope you enjoy these pics:
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| Family selfie, first night in Las Vegas. |
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| We saw an amazing show by David Copperfield. I didn't know that he is from New Jersey, too! |
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| We stayed at the BEAUTIFUL Venetian hotel. |
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| Venetian hallway. |
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| Amazing gilt work and frescoes lined the ceilings. |
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| I never tired of seeing the beauty in our hotel. |
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| Venetian hotel lobby. |
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| Even the pools at our hotel were amazing. This one looks like an ancient Roman garden. |
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| My sister-in-law is really into succulent plants, so I took this shot for her. |
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| This is High Roller, a reaaaally big Ferris wheel that we could see from our hotel room window. We did not go on it, because a couple of us are quite unhappy with heights. (me being one of them!) |
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| Inside the Venetian are shops that make you feel as if you are outdoors, but all in air-conditioned comfort. We ate lunch at Canonita. Yummy, yummy fish tacos and fantastic spicy salsa. |
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| There's a gondola ride inside the hotel, and another outside. This one is indoors. |
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| We ate another lunch at Otto, owned by chefs Mario Battali and Joe Bastianich. Oh, my goodness, the food was divine! |
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| One night, we took the monorail to the Paris hotel for dinner. We did not go up into the Eiffel Tower: it was late, we were still on East Coast time, and had been running all day. Oh, and the line to go up into the tower was pretty long. |
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| From a gift shop where Bally's meets Paris: yes folks, you can own your own jewel-studded hamburger. (!) |
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| The Strip is really something to see at night, with all those lights. |
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| Hubby and I in front of the Hoover Dam. We stopped for 20 minutes on our bus tour to the Grand Canyon. |
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| We passed through a 'forest' of Joshua trees. These looked like cactuses to me, but they are trees. If you cut into a trunk, you will not see rings like with average trees. The way to roughly determine how old each one is: count the branches and multiply by 10. |
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| Let me tell you folks, even dry heat, at these temps, is HOT!! LOL |
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| Can you see the eagle, with its wings outstretched, in this rock formation? We visited the west side of the Grand Canyon, where the Skywalk bridge is located. It is located on the land of the Hualapai Native Americans. |
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| The red dirt and rocks remind me of Kauai, Hawaii. |
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| Can you see a white speck on the top of that one rock pile? That's my husband, daredevil that he is. |
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| There's water down there - the Colorado river - but it looks almost the same color as the rocks surrounding it. |
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| These black birds (ravens?) rested in a tree on the very edge of the cliff. I used my camera zoom to get this pic. Ain't no way I'm going any closer to the edge! It makes my stomach flip just thinking about it. ;) The birds sat with their mouths open. I'm guessing it's how they perspire. |
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Here's the Skywalk Bridge, hanging 4,000 feet above the base of the Grand Canyon. Hubby is in the white shirt with his arms raised. It has a clear glass floor so you can see to the bottom. Um, no thanks.
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| Sitting with his booties on, 4,000 feet on top of the Canyon. |
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| The Bellagio hotel, with the fountain show beginning. |
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| Inside the Bellagio hotel lobby, a ceiling full of glass poppies. |
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| The Bellagio has BEAUTIFUL gardens indoors. I spied these hydrangeas. Love! |
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| A large hand, made from greenery. |
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| A whimsical, larger-than-life garden tool and poppy. |
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| A lighted obelisk. |
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| A cute snail, covered with flowers. |
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| Inside the Bellagio, a French pastry shop features a train covered entirely in candy. |
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| From the Bellagio, it was another great shot of the Eiffel Tower in its entirety. |
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| At Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, I met a really handsome young man named Elvis Presley. ;-) |
Thank you so much for your visit, and letting me share my vacation pics!
Stamps: Fabulous You - SU; 'for you' - Cherish - Inspired By Stamping Paper: white - PTI; Summer Sun - SU Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black - Tsukineko Accessories & Tools: Copic markers; circle , corner rounder punches
