Apache Trail

Well I meant to post some more Arizona vacation highlights a little sooner but life sometimes gets in the way.

Anyway one of our first excursions was to drive the Apache Trail in the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix.

There are some interesting stops along the way including Goldfield, a recreated mining town.

There is still an active gold mine here, although not mined regularly.

Brittany about to go into the gunfighter's saloon!

Another sight along the way is Canyon Lake. The surrounding area is very dry with scrubby underbrush.

The road turned to gravel along the way, not too bad here, well graded.

Now  here is a sharp turn!

And that is the trail down there, the well graded gravel changed to a very bumpy dirt road.

About 70 miles of dirt road  later we arrived at the Roosevelt Dam.

More of Arizona to come soon!

Little Red Wagon #143 - Chevrons

One of the hottest trends right now is the chevron.


I've seen them used in decorating, clothing and crafting.


So this week over at Little Red Wagon I would like you to use a chevron in your project.


I created a couple of quick and easy cards that feature a chevron:

If you can please play along and link up your creation over at Little Red Wagon,we love to see what you create!

Papertrey Ink Stamp-A-Faire

This past Saturday I crafted my day away at a Canadian version of PTI's Stamp-a-faire organized by my friend Dee.

She along with some friends made some cute tent and trailer table decorations  and each of us received a gable box filled with crafting goodness like washi tape, buttons, flowers and muffin cups to make  our own flowers.

The event was camp themed so I took crockpot franks and beans for our potluck lunch along with some s'more trail mix packets for each attendee.

Jeannie brought each of us these goodies:

Dee made s'more pops, yum!

Kathryn used jiffy pop containers in which to put her own popcorn. And you can also see some of the other goodies including sandwiches in camp appropriate ziplocs.

There were 15 of us , here's a look at a few of us.

We covered two tables in cards after our 14 hour cardmaking marathon!

I made 14 cards including some for future Little Red Wagon challenges but here's a few I can share now.

I did use mostly PTI products but this first card features Stampin' Up's Hello Doily stamp along with PTI's  Happy Hydrangea stamp set.



These two cards use some ribbon that Avril gave me after I admired it on her card, it goes perfectly with PTI's aqua mist cardstock.

This card is a direct lift of one I found on Pinterest and features use of the PTI butterfly die.

Jeannie gave me the inspiration for this card which uses PTI's Happy Hexagon stamp set.

It was an awesome event that I hope we repeat again soon! Thanks for organizing Dee!

Saguaro Cactus

One of the first things we saw when arriving in Phoenix was the Saguaro Cactus.

It is only found in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona, a small area of California and the State of Sonora in Mexico.

Saguaros can grow up to almost 100 feet tall but are very slow growing.

The first side arm can take up 70 years to develop.

The average lifespan of a cactus is 200 years.

It has white night blooming flowers in April to June then red coloured fruit that matures in late June.

The Saguaro blossom is the State Wildfower of Arizona.

The red fruit is highly edible and prized by the locals.

It is truly a remarkable plant!

Little Red Wagon #142- Package It Up

This week Regan is challenging us to reuse some scrappy packaging.

I decided to use some cardboard backing to create a tag which I then attached to a gift:



I used Everyday Button Bits from Papertrey as well as some Thrift Shoppe paper to put it together.

If you can, please join us over at Little Red Wagon, with your repurposed packaging. We love to see what you create!

Taliesin West

We recently returned from a visit to Phoenix,Arizona and while there attended an evening tour of Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright's winter home.

Construction started in 1937 with buildings being added until Wright's death in 1959.

The name Taliesin is Welsh and means shining brow which is appropriate to the location of the home which is on the brow of the McDowell range outside of Scottsdale.

I was expecting a house but it is actually a complex of buildings which Wright actually referred to as their Arizona camp.

The buildings are constructed using rock found on site and were built by Wright's apprentices. The ceilings were originally made of canvas to allow the light to filter through.

The camp is still actively used by the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture.

Sunset views.

All the furniture was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright with replicas on display for us to actually sit in.

Bougainvillea.

Wright's bedroom - when he was in the bed closest to the left you were not to disturb him.

The sunlight reflecting off the building.Buildings include a drafting room, his office, living areas,music room, cabaret, vault used for all the sketchs and storage room.

Another sunset view.

Pool and fountain view.

A gas powered dragon only lit on the evening tours.

More bougainvillea lining the walkway outside the drafting room.

An evening view.

Some of Wright's original students still live onsite, one of which is a sculptor.

These two faces are the same sculpture.

A running woman sculpture.

The cabaret, one of Wright's best designs.

Built with six sides, out of the standard rock, concrete mixture, in an irregularly hexagonal shape, the theatre provides its occupants with 95% acoustic perfection. One sitting in the back row can hear the lightest whisper from a speaker on stage.

Taliesin West was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1982.

More posts on our desert adventure to come soon!