Freshly Made Sketches: Branch Out

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by Jen Mitchell and here’s what I did with it!

 

I was feeling like fall - but yet it was still 90 degrees outside my window - so I compromised with a fall theme but on a clean and fresh CAS card. I just got this branch from Taylored Expressions so I had to play with it. Behind it, I cut five stripes in subtle fall colors. 

I had the stripes and the leaf all done and I went to my autumn stash to unearth the sentiment that I had envisioned with it. I looked and looked and could not find it. Then I looked on the Taylored Expressions store and it turns the set is still sitting on my wishlist.  (It's Grateful Greetings - a set of gorgeous bold sentiments.)  A bummer for this card, but it does mean I have to do an order, right??!!  So I went a different direction and found a plain and simple sentiment from Penny Black.

So why was I feeling fall?  My husband and I did a long weekend in a part of Colorado that we've never visited - Walden, Colorado - the moose viewing capital of Colorado!  It's a small town - a real town, not at all trendy - and it sits in a large valley surrounded in the distance by State Parks and National Forests and Wildlife Refuges. We stayed in this cute little studio-size Airbnb - the Majestic Moose Cabin.  Absolutely charming!  That's the murphy bed to the right.

The weather was fabulous.  The first night got below 40 (I LOVE cold weather) and the days were in the 70s.  Thus my craving for fall.  

Here's my husband fishing at Lake Agnes, an alpine lake in the State Forest State Park (yes, that's the actual name.)

Then totally dumb luck on our part, Walden was having their annual balloon festival.  Don't think big festival where a hundred balloons go up and cover the sky - this is small town.  But what you do get in a small town festival is the ability to be up close and personal with every balloon.  My best shots are videos but here's a pic of a couple in the process of inflating. 

It really is the moose viewing capital.  One of the visitor centers has a flip chart where people can record sightings and there aren't that many.  In the short time that I was browsing the center, the park rangers were asked a dozen times where to find a moose.  So we were headed out of town early Saturday morning and lo and behold...

He was actually walking down the highway when we first saw him but it took me a second to calm down enough to pull out the phone for a picture!  He even turned and looked at us but his face was blocked by a branch - and even I know enough not to get out of the car and move around for a better picture!!

But now I'm back - and I do love my craft room - although not so much the 90+ degrees outside my window.

I hope to see you playing along with us at Freshly Made Sketches.

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Penny Black Autumn is Calling

Dies: Taylored Expressions Branch Out

Paper: Taylored Expressions Mango, Sweet Potato Pie, Raspberry Sorbet, Sprinkles, Lime Zest

Ohter: Pinkfresh Blossom Glitter Drops