Spoonflower Challenge: Days 21-30

The Spoonflower sketch a day challenge is now over, and I am happy to say that I did not miss a single day of sketching the entire 30 days!  Also, one of my sketches was featured on Spoonflower's blog here.  (It's the cheetah) I was a little surprised but excited about that! 

I loved challenging myself to draw so much that I'm going to keep it up another 30 days and see what happens.  I'll continue to post my artwork every ten days as I go along.  It's just so fun to see the progress, so I will also be posting on Instagram @shimmerskys each day to keep myself motivated.  

Prompt #14: Cat

I'm not really a cat person, but I do like Cheetah's for some reason.  They are just fascinating creatures.  This is the sketch that Spoonflower posted on their blog...but I'm not really proud of it.  It's kind of embarrassing really.  I really don't know how that line down his back got there, but I just remember making dots and trying to get this done with.  Maybe I can redo him and make myself feel better. 

Prompt #15: Fish

I love drawing fish.  I've never done it before this but I want to draw more...it's just so relaxing.  I also want to redo this one because some of it I don't like.  That's what happens when you use pen I guess.  You can't erase.

Saturday's Sketch on Mount Rainier

Yup, I hiked all the way up to Summerland on Mount Rainier just for this one.  :) We were camping but I was determined to keep sketching!

Sunday's Sketch on Mount Rainier

If you've ever been to Mount Rainier than you would understand what I'm talking about here: the place is covered in foliage!  It's so pretty so I chose a few leaves to sketch.  I wrote "Listen to the forrest" at the top because I wanted to remember those sounds as I sat there...it was very peaceful.  I think I'm falling asleep thinking about it...

...okay where were we?

Prompt #16: Skyline

Do you recognize this skyline? Thought so...okay I did fail on this day.  I didn't have anytime to draw a skyline...but I was drawing some pitchers so I think that counts right? :)

Prompt #17: Taxi

I've only driven in a taxi one time in my life.  It was in Miami on my honeymoon.  It didn't look like this.

Prompt #18: Map Legend

It's a legend of my sewing room.  There's no map...it's too complicated.  I can't even figure it out.

Prompt #19: Landmark

Have you ever tried to make a cairn? I learned about these when I worked at Anasazi.  (It's a wilderness therapy program where you bushwhack through the desert.)  Anyway, a cairn is a stack of rocks used to mark your way.  They can be pretty fun to make. 

Prompt #20: Selfie

I used a selfie I took of myself to draw this selfie.  It was fun.  I like drawing faces but I haven't for years. My kids want me to draw them now.

Saturday or Day 30

More summer squash, but this is for another contest I'm trying to enter for fabric design.  It's on Creative Live.  I'm going to take these into illustrator and have some fun with them.

That's it for the Spoonflower challenge, but the sketching still continues!

Thanks for stopping by!

Summerland And The Bear

This past weekend we hiked the Summerland Trail, part of the Wonderland Trail that circles Mount Rainier.  And we met a bear.  We had such a fun and exciting weekend, so I thought I would share with you our adventure.

Top of Summerland Trail

We wanted to go on one last trip before the start of the school year, so we packed our things, and drove about 2 and a half hours to Mount Rainier.  It was the perfect weekend.  The weather was amazing!  We weren't the only ones who knew it though.  There were a lot of people there enjoying the scenery and the many trails Mount Rainier has to offer.   The first night we made it to the Naches Campground, then packed up and found a nice spot at the White River Campground, closer to our hike we wanted to take.  This is a big campground, but it fills up fast on the weekends.  I highly recommend it though, it is beautiful and close to some really great trails, one being the Wonderland Trail.  This trail circles the mountain, and my husband did the whole thing with his brother and friends before we ever met.  

Here are a few pictures of us at the White River Campsite.

Saturday Morning we got ready for our big hike.  We decided to do the Summerland trail, a 4.2 mile hike to a beautiful high mountain meadow.  Nathan took a backpack, and I took the baby.  Like I said, it was a perfect day, and that means there was a lot of people wanting to do the same hike.  We had to park a ways away to even get in.  Regardless, it was worth it.

Ok, I'll tell you about the bear now.  I know that's probably the most important part.  So we were maybe a half mile into the hike, when I got the idea that we should discuss what to do if we saw a bear.  "Ok kids, what do we do if we see a bear?", I said.  Now, my husbands reaction was priceless: "There is no way that's going to happen! I hiked the entire Wonderland Trail and never saw one!".  Yeah, I figured he was probably right.  This was a high traffic trail today and the bears were probably far far away from the scent of our soaps and perfumes.  But what was the harm?  So we all decided that if we saw a bear, nobody was to run off.  We needed to all huddle together and yell really loud.  That I thought would be the best bet to being safe and the kids were happy about it.  

So then I took the lead.  This was maybe 5 minutes after we had that discussion.  As I rounded the corner, I was roughly ten feet ahead of the group, and there in my face was...a black bear!  Okay, maybe not right in my face.  But that's all I saw was this shinning golden brown fur in the sunlight.  The bear was nose down, grazing in the foliage.  My first thought was, "Why did he not hear us?!!".  We were all talking the entire time, he should've at least heard us coming, if not smell us first.  

So immediately I turn around and all I could say was "Bear! Bear!" as I grabbed my kids and gathered them in a circle.  All my husband said was, "What? There's no bear.".  In my mind I was thinking, "Are you crazy!! How do you not see that?!", but what I didn't realize was that a big fat tree was blocking the view.  My husband saw that I was serious...finally, I'm sure he thought I was teasing, and took off his glasses to see better.  While I was scooting the kids back, he was walking forward.  By now the bear had moved further down the hill and was nearing the trail so they all could see him plain and clear.  In my mind, I thought he was going to walk right up to us and ask for crackers.  This bear must've been somewhat used to humans.  When he had crossed the trail in front of us, Nathan hooted really loud to get his attention.  

All the bear did was slowly look up at us, perk his ears, then return to his foraging and continued downhill, towards the river.  That's it...

Yeah, he really didn't care about us at all.  When he was almost out of view, a few more hikers caught up with us and we told them the story.  We also met some forrest rangers, who by now must have documented the sighting.  

Nathan was upset he didn't have his camera ready.  That would've been cool, but also dangerous.  I've heard stories of people following bears to get better pictures, and then getting eaten.  Better safe then sorry.  

So we kept hiking, laughing and relieved that we were all fine.  However, let me tell you, I was completely out of shape to be carrying a baby on my back, but also this hike is literally up hill the entire time.  Well...not on the way back of course...just to make that clear.  :) 

On the way Up!

Exhausted...the kids did better than me

Me, tired again.  Kids doing great.

We finally made it to the top, and it was all worth it.  The view is unbelievable.  Do this hike! You must! Next time I'm going to excursive first, then I will enjoy it more. 

There is a cute little family of marmots up there.  They make a high pitch squeal that has them all pop their heads up and do a head count or something.  Probably making sure we aren't crossing their territory. 

That little bump on the right is a marmot too.

I couldn't miss a day of my Spoonflower sketch per day challenge.  I didn't have much time but it was fun.

We drank this beautiful running water.  Best water I ever tasted. 

We tried a group selfie. :)

Another hiker was nice enough to take our picture, then it was time to head back down.  

My husband is so awesome that he carried the baby and the backpack on the way down.  I was almost dead, so thank goodness he is strong.

My son took this picture of me.  

We found this little army guy nailed to a log, so we took a picture.

Finished! And almost dead! Oh, and some kind soul saw us waiting there (Nathan was getting the car) and warned us that there was a bear in the area.  Isn't that nice? :)  He was a little shocked when we told him we were the ones that saw the bear, and we didn't seem too concerned.  

The next day, we just did a small, small hike around a little lake.  I can't remember what it was called, sorry.  It was just off the road on the way back home.

Do these pictures make you want to go to Mount Rainier?  They do for me...I want to go back now.  

Until next time!

Garden Delights!

We have been gathering and making all kinds of delicious food from the garden.  I know I've been sharing pictures on Facebook and Instagram, but I thought it would be fun to share these on my blog. Gardening is so much work, but I tell you it's worth it!

We have an abundance of peppers! I took some more pictures of them that maybe I can share later.  I love the variety and shapes that they make!

My uncle lead me to this Paula Deen peach cobbler recipe, and believe me...it's the best recipe and most simplest recipe I have ever made! And yes, I know that means more butter...but butter is not bad for you okay!? Seriously...I'm really serious.  

My husband Nathan is the salsa guy. He knows how to make this stuff, and there is absolutely nothings like fresh salsa...NOTHING! :)

I love yellow tomatoes...and I thought this was fun.  I've been playing with illustrator...I could probably spend all day with that.

Love this variety of colors and shapes!

My son actually insisted on stacking these...and I think he did a pretty good job. :)

Happy Gardening!