Hello and welcome! It's time for my weekly Allsorts card share and as menioned
last week I am sharing more photos from my recent vacation in the second part
of the post. Simply scroll down if you're not interest in the papercraft but would like
to see my hiking photos.
This week's
Allsorts challenge is
hosted by Mervi and she would like to see "Butterflies or Bugs". There are 2 prizes from Craft Stash to win this week so hope you can join us for your chance to win!
I am finally seeing more butterflies around my garden as my seed Zinnias are
finally in bloom and Butterflies do love those!
Here is my card:
Hard to believe I used more dies than stamping today, but I was inspired by my
newer Penny Black die set Soaring as I totally love these butterflies.
I started out by creating an inky background with my new
Brusho Powders. It's just my second
card using them but so far I really like them. It appears that I used more
than one color but I only used orange. Each powder includes different colored
pigments so you can see some yellows and even pinks mixed in here. This time I
sprinked them on dry card stock then spritzed with water. On
my last card
I first spritzed with water and then sprinkled the powder.
Related Products:
The butterflies were inked with
Peacock Feathers ink and I used my
Whimsy Stamps script background stamp (retired) to add the words. I
wanted to add some of the smaller butterflies too (the die set includes 4
different sized butterflies) but the card started to look too "busy" so I left
those off.
The die cut on the bottom portion is part of Penny Black's
Diamond Borders die set. I added some
tiny rhinestones between each diamond.
The sentiment is part of Penny Black's set
Snippet stamped using Versafine Onyx
ink.
This post may include some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission
if you purchase something through the links. As always, this is at no
cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting this blog!
I'm sharing my card here:
Always AG and Link Parties:
Hiking to Black Elk Peak Trail
As mentioned last week, here are more photos from our trip to the Black Hills.
If you missed my photos from last week and would like to see them, simply
visit
this post.
My blogging friend
Amy inspired me to hike up
to Black Elk Peak which is the highest peak east of the Rocky Mountains and
west of the Pyrenees. It definitely was the longest and most exhausting hike I
have ever done and it took us around 6 hours to complete this loop trail.
The trail was pretty wide and well marked, and not too close to any drop offs
(as long as you stayed on the trail) so the hardest part was the steep
inclines at times and much of the trail was exposed to the sun on the way up,
and some times it did seem like the trail went on forever. So we did
frequently run out of breath a bit and somewhere about a mile or so still to
the peak I was questioning my decision to do this hike LOL. That last mile up to the peak was also the hardest. But we all managed
with plenty of breaks, plenty of water and snacks.
By the way, this trail is located in Custer State Park and there is a small
entry fee to the park per car. It is not a National Park so you cannot use the "America
the Beautiful" park pass here. The park entry fee is good for one week so you
will have plenty of time to enjoy all the beauty of this park.
I've done lots of research before going as there is more than one way to hike
up to this peak. We decided to take trail no. 4 up and trail no. 9 down. You
can do it vice versa or you can simply use trail no. 9 both ways which is
easier but you won't get a chance to hike the short 1 mile spur trail to see
the Cathedral Spires close up. And I really wanted to do that too! Most
reviewers said the views on trail 4 are better and I have to agree.
Trail 4 is steeper than 9 and while going uphill seems harder than going
downhill, it is actually easier on your joints this way. Yes you run out of
breath easier climbing up hill but you're less prone to injuring your knees. There is also more sun exposure on trail no. 4
than trail no. 9 so it made more sense to use this trail in the morning when
the sun wasn't at its hottest.
Seeing wild flowers is always so nice when hiking. There were also lots of
wild raspberry bushes but sadly they weren't even close to being ripe! I would
have loved to eat a few!
If you look closely in between the trees below, you can see Black Elk Peak
where we were heading. There is what used to be a Fire outlook at the top.
It's a long way to go still!
We're getting closer to the Cathedral Spires. This was a spur trail off the main
trail which added an extra mile to the round trip, but I really wanted to get a
closer look.
My husband and son both got pretty sunburned on the back of their legs hiking
in the Badlands the day before so they decided to wear long pants. Blue jeans
are not really a good choice for hiking but my husband managed. Hiking shoes
or trail running shoes of course are a must!
More beautiful views as we continued on.
I'm wearing the same style of hiking shorts that I've worn in the Badlands (by
Athleta - the Dipper style) this time in dark olive color. As mentioned last
week this style is only available on resale sites like poshmark or eBay. Their
new style is the
Trekkie
made of the same perfect hiking material.
A group of hikers took these horses down as they were passing us on the
way back down on trail no. 9.
A beautiful view from one of the fire tower windows.
And here we are with these spectacular views.
I'm afraid of heights so I didn't really venture out onto these rocks below.
It even made me nervous to see some people getting way too close to the edge.
If you look closely towards the middle of the photo below you can see someone
standing there. When I see that I get so nervous and almost dizzy.
What goes up must come down!
Can you spy the chipmunk?
Here he is - I cropped the photo! We found a few of these cuties on the way
down but forgot the peanuts at the hotel so couldn't feed them. (Which is not
really allowed here anyways!)
Some areas were full of broken/ damaged trees from the forest fire here a few
years ago.
And when you finally get to the end of the trail you will see the pretty view of
Sylvan Lake. You may recognize this beautiful lake from the Nicholas Cage movie
National Treasure - Book of Secrets.
It took us about 6 hours from the start of the trail until we got back down.
It is totally doable as long as you don't have any mobility issues but
definitely bring plenty of water (better too much than not enough!!) and
snacks, and just take breaks whenever needed. You will also want to start this hike as soon as possible in the morning. We were so sore after this hike but it was so worth it!
Next week I will share more photos including our more leisurely hike around
this beautiful lake.
Thanks so much for visiting!
I am linking the travel portion of this post up here:
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