Monday, September 20, 2010

Verve September Week 4


As many of you know, I love the colour green so this picture was a shoe in for me.  I totally bypassed the zebra print chairs and focused on the wall paper with it's leaves, greens and pops of blue.

I pulled out my Verve Plain Jane leaf image and had some fun.  Blue leaves just didn't look right, even though there are some on the wall paper, so I used Celery and Olive on the leaves and added some blue buttons from my Michael's $1.50 bin score.  Sure hope they bring them back again as I'll buy them out LOL!  I used the black from the zebra chairs as my accent colour, added Swiss Dots to the green panels for some dimension and I'm happy to say I'm all caught up on my Verve challenges for the first time since May and it feels good!!

Today I'm joining my daughter's class as they do the Grouse Grind, and a grind it is!!  You are walking up to the top of one of our local ski hills (Grouse Mountain) and it is a an extremely steep and mountainous trail with an 800 foot elevation over a distance of approximately 2.9 kilometers.  For the average person, if you do it in under 1.5 hours you are doing well, under an hour is getting pretty impressive, and under 45 minutes is superb!  This summer, a university student set a new record of  27 minutes!!  Insane!!!

This is a picture of part of the trail.  It's a very popular "conditioning" trail, and many people do it 3 or more times a week.  The real bummer is you have to pay to ride down the gondola!  The first time I did it (over 20 years ago now)  I couldn't believe it!  After sweating away on the trail, I figured you deserved a free ride down LOL!  However, so many people do it on a daily basis I can appreciate why they have to charge for the ride down. You can actually buy a season's pass to save yourself some money.   I'll let you know how I make out as it's been over 10 years since I've done it!         

Thanks for popping in for a visit today.  It's always wonderful to have some company in blog land LOL! Have a fabulous day.




What's In It?
Stamps:  (Verve) Leaf Plain Jane, Savvy
Paper:  Brilliant Blue, Certainly Celery, Old Olive
Ink:  Certainly Celery, Old Olive
Accessories:  Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Blue Buttons, Black Half Pearls, Black Ribbon, Dimensionals

10 comments:

Chris Olsen, Glowbug said...

This is stunning Marissa!! I love your colors!! Your design and your take on the inspiration is phenominal!!

Emily Keaton said...

Gorgeous card, Marisa--I just LOVE those greens and blues. Your take on the inspiration room is terrific!!

Oh, that Grouse Grind trail looks pretty formidable!! I hope that all went well. Do tell us about it!! Seems to me that the thing to do would be to pay to take the gondola UP and then walk back down ;)

Maureen said...

love the leaves and buttons, Marisa :) I had to do that room too, but because of the zebra chairs...I had some of that Michaels zebra paper left over and it was calling to me :) How did the climb go? I've only done it once in 2002. My sister and I did it in about 1.5 hours (she had to take a few breaks). Jake's done it once or twice too with friends. It is a workout!!

Benzi said...

Your card is just outstanding! I love the added blue buttons with the leaves.
Good luck on the Grouse Grind. We'll be waiting patiently to hear how you did. I'm tired just thinking about it but I know it will be fun....and plenty of good exercise.

Sue said...

Loving the mix of colours Marisa! The leaf stamp is fabulous!! Hope you made it through the walk with your daughters school! :)

Glenda J said...

This is so pretty Marisa! Love the colours and you've kept the sketch so crisp and clean!

Hope you survived the Grind! I've never done it!

Andrea Ewen said...

Wow, Marisa, how old is your daughter? Is this survival school? I don't think I'd be able to tackle such a mountain! Can you pay somebody to take you up as well as down? Ha ha...
Speaking of ferns, (was I?) anyway, love your card...perfect coloring and super duper job on the sketch. Beautiful clean lines and wonderful texture. Glad you're all caught up, now you can take a sigh of relief...and climb back down.

Renée said...

My mum and sisters have done the Grouse Grind! It IS tough! I hope you have fun though!

Gorgeous card, Marisa! Love the way you pulled together the colours and the fun layout :)

Colleen Dietrich said...

Love this blue and green together, and I am happy you chose to ignore those zebra stripes. I mean, really. I guess I do not have "ultra-chic designer genes" in me, because I don't like those patterns together!

Stacy Morgan said...

Pretty CAS! I know it rained out on your little trip, but its one that you won't forget. And those are the fun ones. hee hee