Four Seasons Challenge September: Fall Challenge - Life is Full of Beauty

Hello and happy September! Are you ready yet for summer to end? Not sure I am as I do love the long and sunny summer days and we had plenty of those. Hopefully this month will bring some more nice weather and those crisp September mornings are always so nice too! I might start adding a few fall decorations around the house soon too because I am just ready for a little change of color. This year I actually never changed any decorations since I removed winter and added spring decorations, other than remove a few Easter things I had gotten out... it's been a busy year!

But let's get to the point of this post, a new card to share!

September means a new season starts at the Four Seasons Challenge blog and we are entering the Fall season. That means our theme is "Anything Fall Goes". Below is our wonderful optional mood board for the month in case you need some more inspiration. 

This month also marks The Four Seasons Challenge one year anniversary and we hope you'll join us to celebrate this wonderful occasion!

Here is what I made inspired by the overall colors of the mood board and my stamp choice was inspired by the beautiful mums in the photo (bottom right).

Using a stamp platform I inked up the stamp (Penny Black Bejeweled) with some distress inks then slightly spritzed with water before stamping. Most of my Distress markers are pretty useless now :( so I used regular sized ink pads and when needed I used a paper towel to wipe off some areas like where I touched up with yellow ink on the edges of the blossoms. Thankfully with the stamp platform it's possible to build up to the colors I want. 

I used one of my new (to me) background stamps from Darkroom Door (Grid Texture stamp) on the bottom half for some interest and flicked some diluted green distress ink onto the card. As I was trying to decide if the card was needing something else, I saw this honeycomb die cut (from this Sizzix die set) on a shelf next to my desk where I keep more recent unused die cuts (I do have a whole box of them but rarely ever look into that box) and I decided it would make a nice addition to the card. 

Related Fall Themed Products:

I thought this paper strip was a good match for a fall themed card. The sentiment is from a Hero Arts monthly stamp kit but a few years old and sold out. 

Some natural jute twine by May Arts and paper piercing finishes off the card. 

Thanks so much for visiting! Remember, the challenge runs until September 25th so hope to see you over there too!

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 planning to link up here:

Stamping Sensations - Feminine // Penny Black Saturday- Use PB stamps // Double Trouble Challenges - AG // Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Make Your Own Background // 613 Avenue Create - AG // We Love 2 Create - AG creative // Paper Shelter - Autumn Colors // Simon Says Stamp - AG // Paper Minutes - In the Garden // 

Always Anything Goes here:

A Place To Start - AG // Taylor Made Cards 4 U // 613 Avenue Create opt. twist watercolor // Creative Moments // Through The Craft Room Door // The Corrosive Challenges // A Perfect Time To Craft // Classic Design  Challenge * // Crafts Galore Encore // DL.Art Linky Challenge // Love to Craft // QKR Stampede // The Creative Crafters // World Wide Open Design Team Challenge // Lil Patch of Crafty Friends 

Link Parties:

Dare to Share //  Sunday Showcase - First Sunday with Ada and Mireille  //  Inspire Me Monday //  Link Up Potpourri //  Random-osity Good, Random, Fun // You're The Star Blog Hop Link Party @Stonecottage Adventures // Anything Goes with Your Hosts @ My Random Musings // Jenerally Informed The Happy Now // Spread the Kindness Linkup @ Shelbee on the Edge //  Wonderful Wednesday // Thursday Favorite Things // Little Things Thursday // Encouraging Heart and Home @ Slices of Life //  Funtastic Friday //   Link Up On The Edge

Blush Rose

Hello and welcome! 

It's time for a new card share as a new theme starts today at Allsorts challenge. It's another 2 week theme to cover parts of summer and this time around our theme is "Roses or Anything Goes". Hope you'll join us for your chance to win one of our two prizes (a cute stamp from Oakwood or a choice of 3 digis from Ruth Hamilton Designs).

For my card this week I went with the option of Roses and I selected a gorgeous image from Ruth Hamilton Designs - Roses. 

I colored the image using copic markers. I decided on Blush for the rose so I chose colors in shades of blush along with a few greens for the leaves. The image has been printed twice, fussy cut once and then I fussy cut the large rose from the second image to pop it up with foam tape for some dimension.

The background was done with blue brusho powder from this set for a quick and simple watercolor look. Then I stamped the script (old Stampin Up background stamp) using gray Distress ink. 

    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>Scrapbook.com Die Cutting Sale Going On Now/Ad

Patterned paper strip is from my box of scraps and the sentiment is from Penny Black's set Blooming Sentiments. Paper piercing finishes off this CAS- ish card. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Hope to see you at the challenge blog too :)

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!

Recent posts you may have missed: 

• Hiking Red Beds Trail at Devil's Tower National Monument (My last set of vacation photos)
• Blooming Friendship

I plan on linking up here:

Colour Crazy Challenge- coloring // Craft Rocket Challenges - Flowers // Moving along with the Times - AG // TIME OUT Challenges - DIY Background // Digi Choosday Challenge - AG // Pammie's Inky Pinkies Challenges - AG // A Gem of a Challenge - AG // Crafty Calendar - AG // 

Always Anything Goes here:

A Place To Start - AG // Taylor Made Cards 4 U // 613 Avenue Create opt. twist watercolor // Creative Moments // Through The Craft Room Door // The Corrosive Challenges // A Perfect Time To Craft // Classic Design  Challenge * // Crafts Galore Encore // DL.Art Linky Challenge // Love to Craft // QKR Stampede // The Creative Crafters // World Wide Open Design Team Challenge // Lil Patch of Crafty Friends 

Link Parties:

Dare to Share //  Sunday Showcase - First Sunday with Ada and Mireille  //  Inspire Me Monday //  Link Up Potpourri //  Random-osity Good, Random, Fun //  Travel Tuesday. // You're The Star Blog Hop Link Party @Stonecottage Adventures // Anything Goes with Your Hosts @ My Random Musings // Jenerally Informed The Happy Now // Spread the Kindness Linkup @ Shelbee on the Edge //  Wonderful Wednesday // My Corner Of The World //Thursday Favorite Things // Little Things Thursday // Encouraging Heart and Home @ Slices of Life //  Funtastic Friday //   Link Up On The Edge

Hiking Red Beds Trail at Devils Tower National Monument

When visiting the South Dakota Black Hills you don't want to miss also visiting the Devil's Tower National Monument in North Eastern Wyoming. It's a less than 2 hour drive from Custer or you can drive the beautiful Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway which will take about an hour longer as it's a scenic road with some waterfalls, the historic town of Deadwood and more to see along this way.

On our last trip we took the Scenic Byway to Devil's Tower and visited all the sights/Deadwood along the way, this time I wanted to arrive at Devils Tower sooner because I wanted to hike Red Beds Trail  so instead we took the quickest route to get there but on the way back we took the Scenic Byway.

We found Red Beds trail head just uphill from the visitor's center. It just happened that we took the trail counter clockwise which I afterwards read is also the recommended way and I was so glad that we went this way!

The hike starts with a walk through a beautiful but narrow meadow trail which did scare me quite a bit as I am terrified of rattlesnakes and they are very common here. There were areas where the grass reached my hips or even higher and the trail was so narrow at times! But we were lucky once again and didn't come across a rattle snake although you could here them occasionally.

Next to the trail is this beautiful view of the valley down below and you can see Belle Fourche river.

I'm wearing one of my Athleta hiking shorts again (the Dipper Style) which is now discontinued, but you can find selected sizes on Poshmark otherwise the newer style (the Trekkie) is available from Athleta. (They do come in Bermuda lengths too if that is your preference as did the discontinued Dipper style - find those on Poshmark). 

Below is a good view of what the trail looked like. In several parts it was more narrow than this and sometimes the grass was a high as my hips. But those weren't the parts where I would stop for photos. 

This view is behind you if you go counter clockwise  so if you take the trail clockwise it will be just as beautiful but will be much more exhausting as there is barely any shade in this part of the trail.

We saw several of these beautiful caterpillars along the way. They were about 4 inches long. 

The beautiful views never stopped! There was a cave up here but I was too afraid of snakes to climb up there to investigate. 

Related:

This might be my favorite photo from this trail!

Here we were approaching the red rocks after which the trail is named. I think this is about halfway around. 

Not having a lot of shade was exhausting!! It was a hot July day but at least it wasn't humid! Definitely start this trail as early as possible and bring plenty of water! 

I was SO happy when we finally approached this forested area! I needed some shade badly and I was running low on water! We all could have used an extra bottle of water!

Would you believe even though we forgot to apply bug spray none of us got bitten by any bugs!! Maybe they just weren't around at this time of the day! 

A legend...

Even though this trail was only about a quarter of Black Elk Peak Loop trail I felt just as exhausted. But it was so worth it and I highly recommend! Maybe you can choose a day when it isn't this hot! But truly a must hike trail when visiting Devil's Tower.

Related:

Did you know, Devils Tower was the very first National Monument of the United States? Devil's Tower National Monument is part of the National Park system so you can use the "America the Beautiful" pass (which is free for US military and veterans). 

It was early afternoon when we drove away from Devils Tower so decided to take the the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway back to Custer. 

Along the way we took the short trail to Roughlock Falls.

My daughter came across this snake along this trail. It was probably a Bull snake. Glad I didn't see it in real life as I had already passed this area and was gone when we walked back.

This cute squirrel was about the size of a chipmunk!

The Falls are below. This photo doesn't do it justice. It's hard to see the tall waterfall coming down in the back and then spreading out over the rocks. I love the moss covered rocks.

On the way back to the parking spot I came across this spider web and thought it was absolutely beautiful. (No I am not a fan of spiders!!) 

We also stopped in the historic town of Deadwood but didn't take many picture there and I really enjoy nature so much more so we only stopped for a short visit. (We spent a bit more time here on our first visit to this area). 

If you missed my other posts about our trip out west and would like to see them, you can read those posts  HERE,  HERE and HERE. They are all photo heavy with nature pictures fo various hikes. If you do want to plan a visit to the Black Hills, you might want to skip a visit during the Sturgis Motorcycle rally which takes place each year in the beginning of August for 10 days (think it starts the first Friday in August) and this area will be extremely busy during that time!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you enjoyed seeing some of my travel pictures and maybe I inspired you to visit this area too if you haven't already!

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!

You May Also Like These Posts:

 

• Wildlife Loop, Mt. Rushmore, Sylvan Lake Trail
• Hiking to Black Elk Peak in Custer State Park
• Prairie Dogs, The Badlands and a Few Bears

Link Parties:

Dare to Share //  Sunday Showcase - First Sunday with Ada and Mireille  //  Inspire Me Monday //  Link Up Potpourri //  Random-osity Good, Random, Fun //  Travel Tuesday. // You're The Star Blog Hop Link Party @Stonecottage Adventures // Anything Goes with Your Hosts @ My Random Musings // Jenerally Informed The Happy Now // Spread the Kindness Linkup @ Shelbee on the Edge //  Wonderful Wednesday // My Corner Of The World //Thursday Favorite Things // Little Things Thursday // Encouraging Heart and Home @ Slices of Life //  Funtastic Friday //   Link Up On The Edge

Blooming Friendship

Hello and welcome!

It's time already for a new theme at Allsorts challenge, this week it's Lorraine's turn to host and she chose "Anything Goes with Option of Make Your Own Background". Hope you'll join us for a chance to win. We have a £15 store voucher from WOWVOW to give away. By the way this challenge runs for 2 weeks over summer. Here in my corner of the world summer is slowly coming to an end as there is only one more week of summer break for the public schools. It always goes so fast!!

By the way, I posted more vacation photos yesterday. It was planned to share them with today's post but had extra time this Thursday to work on the blog so I shared them a day earlier. You can visit this post if you'd like to see more Black Hills/Custer State Park photos. 

Now onto my card. 

The background was made with Distress inks and I added a bit of stenciling too. 

The floral stamp is Penny Black's Blossom Branch brushstroke stamp, inked up using Distress inks and markers and stamped with the help of a stamp platform, which in my opinion is a necessity when using brushstroke stamps. 

The sentiment is also by Penny Black from the sentiment set Friendship. I also added a couple small sentiments from the Penny Black set Snippets. I used a retired Whimsy Stamps tag die (options) to cut it out. Some mustard colored ribbon and natural jute twine was tied onto the card/tag. The little butterfly is one from Penny Black's Soaring die set.

Related Products:

           >>>>>>Save on Stamping Products at Scrapbook.com/Ad

Thank you so much for visiting! 

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 plan on linking up here:

Penny Black Saturday - PB Stamps // Craft Rocket Challenges - Flowers // Krafty Chicks - Stamp Act // Moving along with the Times - AG // The Paper Funday - Friendship // Crafty Calendar - AG // Di's Digis Designs - Die Cuts // 

Always AG:

A Place To Start - AG // Taylor Made Cards 4 U // 613 Avenue Create opt. twist watercolor // Creative Moments // Through The Craft Room Door // The Corrosive Challenges // A Perfect Time To Craft // Classic Design  Challenge * // Crafts Galore Encore // DL.Art Linky Challenge // Love to Craft // QKR Stampede // The Creative Crafters // World Wide Open Design Team Challenge // Lil Patch of Crafty Friends // 

 

Link Parties:

Dare to Share //  Sunday Showcase - First Sunday with Ada and Mireille  //  Inspire Me Monday //  Link Up Potpourri //  Random-osity Good, Random, Fun //  Travel Tuesday. // You're The Star Blog Hop Link Party @Stonecottage Adventures // Anything Goes with Your Hosts @ My Random Musings // Jenerally Informed The Happy Now // Spread the Kindness Linkup @ Shelbee on the Edge //  Wonderful Wednesday // My Corner Of The World //Thursday Favorite Things // Little Things Thursday // Encouraging Heart and Home @ Slices of Life //  Funtastic Friday //   Link Up On The Edge