Meet Candy Colwell!

I can't wait for you all to meet my dear friend, Candy Colwell. I've known Candy since April of 2011 when we attended Ranger U together. I know you'll love her talent and grace as much as I do. Be sure and check out her blog, candycreates.blogspot.com, to see her work.

Candy showing her handiwork at Ranger U. I don't know who that guy is standing behind her. ;-)

Candy will be teaching at Rocky Mountain Memories during our Fall Festival September 18-21. Don't miss out on the chance to get to take her classes!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:E Elkhorn Ave,Estes Park,United States

Sweet girls from Germany!

Some people just make your whole day delightful! These two came by the shop recently and and asked me about classes. Unfortunately, there was nothing scheduled during their stay in Estes Park they could take advantage of. So we just did a make & take.

Distress Inks make it ridiculously easy to create a background and stamp a beautiful card. Quick and easy elegance, what could be better!







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:140 Moraine Avenue,Estes Park,United States

Wendy Vecchi Archival Inks!!

I am JAZZED. At the end of the day (a phrase so overused I save it for truly momentous occasions) its about the ink, right? Today we got the NEW Wendy Vecchi signature Archival Inks. GREAT colors. Great. Very WV, very RMM, perfect for your earthy, natural, vintage and grunge projects. Yum. Come get inky. Happy day!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Cherokee Dr,Estes Park,United States

Antiquities Embossing Powders

I am an admitted Ranger groupie, but I LOVE these embossing powders. They give a grainy, earthy finish instead of the shiny result you get with most embossing powders. Easy to use and they work great with vintage and shabby chic styles. Come check out all the new colors we just got in at Rocky Mountain Memories!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

My Other Passion

Besides paper and ink, I love to refresh old furniture. I reworked my studio a few weeks ago and needed a piece for die cutting. I knew just the dimensions and configuration I needed and decided I'd wait until exactly the right piece came along. Which took about 2 weeks. GREAT!! Here's the one I found, a cherry sideboard.



I bought it a garage sale in a bundle, along with a sofa table and two side tables.






I've only finished one piece, the one I needed for die cutting. Sort of a Vagabond table. :-) Here's the final result, installed & ready to go:



Love it!! I've got a desk I need to complete before I can start working on these other three pieces. But summer is here and its so nice working on these out on the deck.
Reuse, recycle, repurpose. And make things pretty!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wendy Vecchi Embossing Paste

I wanted to freshen up our front window at the shop and knew I wanted to make a sign. I wanted it to be sort of like a sign you'd find on a hiking trail, but with a message. We've got this B Line stamp in the store and thought it would be perfect. But how to create it?? Wendy Vecchi's Embossing Paste to the rescue!




I printed out the message on my computer, sizing the text to fit my sign post. Rick built this for me out of some reclaimed wood (he is the KING of reclaimed wood!) and it was just what I had pictured.




I cut the letters out and attached them to some vinyl flooring scraps I got at Lowe's. The picture above shows the print out in red and the letters I had cut out in black on the vinyl. The red means nothing, except that I had run out of black ink on my printer!








I used a hot knife and cut the letters out of the vinyl, creating a custom stencil. The vinyl flooring was perfect because it had a foam backing and was about 1/8" thick. I wanted an extra thick stencil for this project.




Using my palate knife, I applied this yummy stuff through the stencils onto the wooden sign. I colored some white paste with Vintage Photo Distress Reinker. Awesome. Because I laid down such a thick layer of Embossing Paste, I let it dry overnight. I'm sure it didn't take that long, but I wanted it to cure thoroughly.




So here's our window. It turned out really great with some other vintage hiking equipment. The first afternoon we had TWO different people come in and ask if they could buy the sign! Well, you could, except its PRICELESS!! Thanks, Wendy, this was just the thing for our message to our guests this year!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Custom Sign Making with Wendy's Embossing Paste

Weekend Recap

We are having a beautiful Memorial Day weekend at Rocky Mountain Memories. It was "instant summer" weather-wise (thanks for the phrase, Kris Hazelton!). The river is just roaring, the sun is warm and the air is cool. I love this time of year!

Susan Mostek taught a great card class Saturday morning continuing her Kittie Korner theme. These cards are so lovely and easy to make with Memory Box dies. You have another chance to take this class Tuesday, June 18!!


The spring weather brings back our yearly guests to Estes Park! I always love it when friends from Iowa, Nebraska, Texas, California, New York, Oklahoma, and all over the country, indeed all over the world, come back to enjoy the Rocky Mountains. This special lady was in the shop this weekend.
We were chatting as she shopped and she asked me, "Do you know what my cats names are? Cricut and Gypsy." Ha! How cute and what a way to demonstrate your love for scrapbooking. This is Carol, from Iowa. Thanks, Carol for coming to visit. Hope you enjoy your Colorado vacation!!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad