May Paper Pumpkin trip into the Redwoods

 My husband's friends from college days and their family get together once a year for a camping trip in Redwood State Park in Humbolt county which we look forward to every year.  The air is so clean and fresh and dewy, the trees so majestic, you can't help but relax- even for a type A like me.  We took hikes along trails although Dylan got a horrible tendonitis of his foot by the end of a 6 mile hike- poor little guy!

 The elk are aplenty - grazing all over the place.  We went to Fern Canyon where they filmed Jurassic Park, the place looks absolutely prehistoric with ferns growing up and down the canyon walls and wood pilings rich with green growth.

At the beach  it is miles and miles of beautiful sands.  Driftwood here and there but rarely with anyone else besides us.  We even saw some whales from the shore  spewing through the blow hole and surfacing and diving which was amazing.







 This was our campsite with the huge netting for the mosquito- challenged family like mine- although my legs today still looks like a map of the constellations with all the bites I still got...

Now what does all this have to do with stamping?  Well, as I was leaving for the trip, what arrived in the mail but my favorite little monthly box!  I took the box off and tucked away the package with my portable stamping bag (with all my essential stamping gear). just in case I had any time to kill.

 This was the corner of the picnic table where I laid out my kit to figure out what I wanted to do with it. The kids were still snoozing, I had my morning cuppa and I had my little Quiet Time- Yippee Skippee!  Time to get out the Paper Pumpkin!

This is a picture Kyle took of me literally "stamp camping" as he was goofing with my camera after he got up.  Now I am more in love with my Paper Pumpkin than ever. I love it that it is complete and portable.  I used my catalog as the stamping surface, even.

Below is one of my finished cards- a variation on the sample in the pack.  Love the stamps in this Hey, Man kit-  Love the baby tags and the words that go inside it- Dad, Son, and Bro.  And out of the whole kit I brought the only thing I really needed was my scissors and that was because 'I had to be different' and wanted to make a horizontal card instead.

I think Stampin' Up should have a "where can you take your Paper Pumpkin?"  challenge- Imagine it on a plane, on a train, in a box, with a fox....
by the pool, at a game....