Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Enjoy the Ride & Honey, I'm Home!

It's always SO HARD for me to get back into the swing of creating and blogging after returning from vacation.  I think part of the problem for me is having too many ideas!  Course it didn't help that I needed to make a "man" card for my BIL's birthday next week -making masculine cards just isn't my "thing" :)  I took my inspiration from the current Moxie Fab World's Tuesday Trigger  :




This image made me think of some colorful pp that's part of My Mind's Eye Fly a Kite collection.  Now the OUTSIDE of my card is pretty simple -just some diecutting and minimal stamping:


I had alot of fun finishing off the INSIDE of the card:

Never made a pop-up card before and it's alot easier to do than I thought!  My BIL and SIL really enjoy spending some of their free time motorcycling :) 
Materials Used:  Hero Arts Birthday (outside sentiment) and Going (motorcycle) sets, Penny Black Hello Gorgeous (inside sentiment), Stamp Art pine tree, Stampscapes Duck Trio in Flight, Papertrey ink cloud die, Cuttlebug border embossing folder, Cricut Kate's ABC's (number die cut), Spellbinder's Nestie, WPlus 9 banner dies, My Mind's Eye Be Merry pp, Stampin' Up red and kraft cs, Hero Arts eggshell layering paper, Ranger walnut stain, tumbled glass and peeled paint distress inks, SU so saffron ink, HA latte ink, silver gel pen

My husband and I returned from Madrid, Spain last Monday night right before the violent protests erupted.  We knew something was brewing as evidenced by the Occupy Wallstreet-like camps set up in some of the plazas and the very prominent police presence throughout the city especially at night.  None of this dampened our enthusiasm and we experienced as much as we could in the too short of time we had.  My husband is quite the shutterbug - he took over 700 photos on this trip! - and I plan to share some of them in my blog posts starting with this one :)

We spent three days in Barcelona before taking the train to Madrid.  I read somewhere that a person really can't appreciate the essence of Barcelona without walking its streets.  Can't see this stuff in a museum:



Gaudi's infamous Casa Batllo - don't the columns look like bones?!! :

Gaudi was really ahead of his time - can you believe he actually had to sue the people who commissioned him to build Casa Mila to get his money because they didn't like it??!! :

Aren't the mosaics and intricate ironwork adorning this building's facade just beautiful??!!  I was almost jealous of the couple we watched walk arm-in-arm into the building:

Rainbow cake - Yes, please!!!! :

Doesn't he remind you of the Hero Art's owls??!!  :)

Fishing bobbers as ornamentation anyone??!!! :

You can tell my husband had hunting season on his mind - he was quite enamored with all the "camoflauge" trees we saw during our walks :)


Thanks for stopping by!  I've been "lurking" around everyone's blogs when I could and will now have time to actually comment :) 

13 comments:

Nancy K said...

Hi Robin, so happy you are home safe and sound. I love the motorcycle card, it's definitely up to your mega-creative standards, simply fabulous!
Thanks so much for the walking tour of Barcelona via your amazing photos. I love the bicycle photo and pinned it to my Bicycle board on Pinterest; it goes wonderfully with the bicycle my friend snapped in Germany.
Can't wait to see more of your vacation photos.

Trinh said...

You are the queen of scenes, Robin! Your BIL's card is awesome.

Welcome back and glad you made it back safely. Love the photos! The bike makes me think of HA too. Looking forward to seeing more photos.

Barb said...

Sure am glad the two of you left for home when you did - welcome back, Robin - been missing you! Love all the wonderful, interesting photos and I'm looking forward to seeing more.

Your card is amazing! So fun with the pop up motorcycle!

One more thing - because you were at Scrapfest last year, I thought you might want to see some photos from this year. Here's a link to my blog post: http://bdengler4.blogspot.com/2012/09/scrapfest-2012-what-fun.html Sure wish you could have been there again! Hugs! :)

Anita Rex said...

LOVE YOUR CARD! You came back with a bang! :> So love this card! The inside is amazing! I bet there jaws dropped! AND WOW is Madrid ever beautiful! :>

Jacquie Southas said...

love your take on the inspiration!

Lisa said...

Looks like an amazing city to visit! So happy you had a good time and were able to avoid any strange politics!
LOVE your card- you are one of the best at making the manly cards, Robin, and I just love how you did the pop up here- it's wonderful!
I know exactly what you mean about getting back into crafting once yo step away for a bit. Man is it hard! We got back from vacay in Aug. and I still haven't gotten back to "normal" yet!!

Greta said...

Welcome home, Robin! What an amazing trip you must have had--unbelievable pictures--so glad you're sharing! Your card is perfect! So creative & appropriate for the recipient. Your creativity is still in full force!

Rosemary said...

if this card is any indiction i really don't think you have that hard a time getting back into the swing of things... it is FABULOUS!! and wow... really cool photos of spain! can't wait to see more!

Michelle said...

Holy smokes, Robin! Your card is completely amazing!! Awesome take on the Moxie Fab inspiration!!!
Your pictures make me want to book a trip to Barcelona! The building are stunning! Thanks for sharing!

CinnamonSally said...

Oh my goodness all these photographs remind me of our trip to Barcelona, what a stunning city, looks like you had better weather than us as it rained most of the time we were there.
Your card is fabulous Robin I bet your BIL was thrilled.

Agata said...

Welcome back! :) Your trip seems to have been quite awesome! And so is your card! Love the motorcycle inside, genius!

Maria said...

Fab bday card inside and out! So enjoyed looking at your vacation photos...thank you...take care!

Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking Editor said...

Hey Robin! Thanks for linking this up to this week's Tuesday Trigger in the Moxie Fab World! I'm so glad you joined in on all the fun! :)