Summer Camp Week 2, Day 1 - One assignment, one 'sort of' assignment, and one just because

Last I wrote and shared a card, we'd just wrapped up officiating at a bike race on Sunday, and I was in a hurried frenzy cleaning and packing in preparation for our journey south.  Monday, we made our escape, traveling from the thunderstorm that made loading the car a bit of a water-dodge, into sunny skies, and incredibly warm temperatures (at least for us!).  Our first day destination - Kennewick - proved not only a welcome relief from 10 hours of driving, to a bit of a shopping 'score' for me!  I had a couple of quick 'time-and-budget limited' jaunts to Joann's (Tombow adhesives, some adhesive paper, which I've not seen before, being my 'featured buys) and Hobby Lobby where, left to my own devices, I'd likely still be shopping.  Featured buys included two 6 X 6 paper pads (seriously on  sale. Seriously!), a Christmas sentiment stamp and some clear embossing powder (I think I've been bitten by the embossing bug, as a result of Summer Camp).  My little 'fix' fixed, we carried on to Bend....

Our 'race-themed' Bend trips have an "arrival' routine that I thoroughly enjoy, even though my husband's part has me both marveling at his commitment to racing, as well as shaking my head in bewilderment.  Our first stop - before even entering Bend - is to head over to the charming tourist town of Sisters, which is also the starting point of the winding, sometimes hilly, sometimes steep roads of the McKenzie Pass.  We park, my husband dons his cycling gear, reconstructs his bike that has been wheel-less for a couple of days, grabs a couple of water bottles and off he goes, for a three hour ride.  Three hours: after spending 5 hours in the car previously, and previous to that, upwards of 10!  Admirable craziness!  While he's off training (his last 'hard ride' before Friday, the start of four competitions over three days), I do exercise of my own: poking around the shops in Sisters, some of which are totally darling!  My favourite is The Stitching Post, and even though I'm not a quilter, and have but dabbled in knitting, if I were so inclined in either of these ventures, this shop has it all!  I love looking at the wool, thinking about the numerous skeins I have at home, awaiting the touch of knitting needles (perhaps another scarf waiting in the wings...that's about the extent of my skills.  Although my mother-in-law gave me, last Christmas, a book to make knitted dinosaurs that are just so stinkin' cute...but I'd need to advance immensely before tackling any of those).  I love admiring the quilts on display, especially as this is the tail-end of a quilting show, so the artistry is quite amazing.  I love looking at patterns, wondering if my mom, who does quilt on occasion, might be interested.  Yes indeed, a sweet shop.

A couple hours later, I meet up with my husband at our pre-arranged destination - this time, at the Dee Wright Observatory - where, happy with his 'exercise high' (and I'm whining about feeling slacky and lazy), he changes, disassembles his bike, and we're off to buy groceries and beverages, before heading to our vacation rental.  Awesome.  All.

Yesterday, nestled in our new 'home,' I had time to explore other things 'new' while Andy went on a 'light' ride:  new cards from my amazing crafting friends, new challenges, and of course, new colours, sketches and assignments from Summer Card Camp.  Oh my, but I'm behind in my homework - and so, detention it was!

Week 2, Day 1 (already!!) and the featured card that caught my eye: Kristina's circle Thank You.  My first card is essentially a full-on copy of hers - and whew, good thing I thought to bring my circles and thanks dies (amongst a box full of other things!) and cuttlebug.  I used some of the new paper I bought at Hobby Lobby, as well as the technique Kristina shared for adding layers to word dies to mimic the dimension of chipboard.

Here it is, in all its simplicity:

Since this was so much fun to make, and because I had a detention anyway, I made a second.  A bit of an ooops with this one, in that I didn't follow the colour scheme. Blame shifted onto the papers: just tooooo tempting to play with:

Apologies for the lighting and rather busy background, which is the countertop in our rental. Another oops.

And, before I end this long post (oops #3), a circle pocket card I made a couple months ago as a 'just because' inspired by a card on the Scor-Pal site.  Oops #4, as you'll see, is the upside down patterned paper.  Note: if you attempt this at home, choose a random pattern, where up-down, left-right doesn't matter.

Circle cards: love 'em!!

Thanks so much for dropping by; please let me know you did.  Your comments add sparkle to my day!!