North Carolina Vacation - Day 3 (part 2)

Now for the rest of our vacation, day 3. We made it across the mountains and headed down the very long road to Cade's Cove. This river followed the road the entire way and even though it was pretty cold, we saw these people kayaking.

After driving for awhile, we finally made it into Cade's Cove. It's a driving tour. It was pretty long because of the distance itself, and the fact that you have to go very slow. But it was well worth it.

There are quite a few historic buildings here, and I believe they are all in their original spot. This one is John Oliver Place (circa 1820) - the oldest in the park.

It was interesting to see just how tiny these houses are. What kills me is that people have written on and carved their names in the walls of these places. So destructive and so sad.

But look at this view.

After that house, there were three churches. This grave was outside of the Primitive Baptist Church (1887). Note that it says he was murdered by North Carolina Rebels.

Here's another section of the same graveyard.

This is the Methodist Church (1902). We read that it had two doors because men & women entered through separate doors, and sat on opposite sides of the church, but that they didn't follow this. They just copied the plans from another church.

This is the LeQuire Cantilever Barn.

And the Cable Mill (1870).

Another unique barn.

I believe that this is a corn crib.

And yet another unique barn.

Now the main reason we didn't get more photos on our way to Cade's Cove, was that we figured we could take more time coming back home, and we'd stop then. So we left Cade's Cove and headed out. We finally made it to the end of the road, expecting to turn right, and take 441 back towards Cherokee, NC. Except the road (Newfound Gap) was closed. For snow & ice. Oh my god. We pulled in to the visitor's center, only to find it was also closed. I didn't panic, but definitely got kind of worried. We were in Tennessee. We needed to get back to North Carolina. So we headed the only way we could.

And that was Gatlinburg. We had a GPS but it was worthless. It kept trying to have us do a u-turn. Thankfully we had an atlas with it. We had to make a huge circle out of the way to get back home. It took about 4 hours, but we made it! It was quite the adventure. I kind of wish now that we had just found a hotel room in Gatlinburg, and spent the next day coming back across the Smokys, but we were afraid that Newfound Gap would be closed again, and we'd be stuck. It was a long day, but we had a great time.

Art Journaling

Lately I've been admiring some of the art journal pages I come across on Pinterest. I have always loved doodling and art, and I used to draw all the time. But it's been a long time! I thought about it for awhile, but finally decided I'd buy a book and try my hand at art journaling. Here are a couple of pages I stumbled across that I really like.

Source

Source

I got this notebook at Michael's. The pages are thicker than regular drawing paper. I really wanted watercolor paper instead, but I couldn't find any notebooks, only pads. So I went with this. And Staples recently had 12 packs of Sharpies on sale for $3, so I helped myself to a few.

I wasn't really sure where to start, but I just started doodling.

I misjudged my spacing, so I ended up with space at the bottom. I didn't want to start the rainbow over, or have a huge chunk of purple, so I wrote "just begin" which is what I'm doing. I thought it fit well. Quit thinking about what to do and just do it, ya know?

When I bought my journal, they were buy one, get one free, so I decided to get Layla one as well. She has a horrible habit of drawing on everything (paper, walls, beds, furniture... she's 7, we should be past this stage!). I'm hoping maybe this will help direct her creativity to paper, not my freaking walls. I guess she was inspired by my page, this is her first page.

I was showing her some other pages I had saved to Pinterest, and she wanted to make one like this. (source).

Here's her version. I did the lettering on top and the boxes.

Have you done any art journaling? I've only done that one page so far, but I'm ready to do more. Do you have any favorite online places for inspiration?

Linked to: Sundae Scoop at I ♥ Naptime, Think Pink Sundays at Flamingo Toes, Creative Bloggers Party & Hop at Homemaker On a Dime, Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table & Dreaming, Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog, Talent Tuesday at Vintage Wanna Bee, Too Cute Tuesday at Funky Polkadot Giraffe, Show Me What Ya Got at Not Just a Housewife, Show & Tell at Blue Cricket Design, Look What I Made at Creations by Kara, Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts, What's Up Wednesday at Sew Woodsy, Project Party Weekend at Bubbly Nature Creations, Friday Favs at Naptime Crafters, Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now, Delicately Constructed Friday at delicateCONSTRUCTION, Weekend Wrap Up Party at Tatertots & Jello

North Carolina Vacation - Day 3 (Part 1)

For day three of our vacation, we decided to head to Tennessee to see Cade's Cove. The pass has been closed the day before, so I was excited when I found out it was open that morning. And even more excited when not too far out of Franklin, we saw snow! Not a lot, but still, snow.

I could kick myself for not getting a photo when we entered Great Smoky Mountains National Park. But we figured we'd have a chance later. More on that to come. But the drive was so pretty. The roads were really nice and there was a stream/river running along most of the way. It didn't take long before we found snow. This sidewalk was completely coated in ice.

Of course, once it thickened up a little, we had to stop and play for a minute. Morgan was sleeping.

As we slowly climbed higher, the snow started to thicken. There was some ice on the roads, but they had laid sand on the road to help with traction.

Of course the kids had to make snowballs.

Layla throwing a snowball at a tree.

After a bit of driving, the snow was getting pretty thick. There were people pulled off everywhere, having snowball fights and sledding. I regret not bringing a sled. Or getting more pictures. But we thought we'd have more time coming back across, and were in a hurry to get to Cade's Cove. This is my first snowball!

This photo does not do the view justice AT ALL. It was amazing.

This is Layla's version of a snowman!

Blake snatched my snowball!

This was such a gorgeous drive. Not near as scary as the trip by the waterfall, even though we were much higher. We crossed the Tennessee border up here, but at the time I didn't realize where it had happened. It was at Newfound Gap, near Clingman's Dome, which is the highest point in Tennessee. It was closed for the season or we would have went up. No pictures of course.

Here we were coming back down the mountains, heading towards Cade's Cove. Since there were so many pictures, I decided to split day three into two posts. Check back soon for part two!

Juice Pouch Valentine's

I posted about these last year, but it was very last minute, so I'm reposting this year! I was trying to think of something different than the crayons I had been doing, and I remembered we had a fridge full of Capri Sun drinks. And then I had an idea! I started by printing "love juice". I could have made it more intricate, but I don't have any fancy programs & was short on time.

I punched each one out using a large round punch.

And I also used a large scallop punch to punch circles out of red cardstock.

I could have skipped adding extra Valentine's, but I had purchased these previously for 90% off, and the kids wanted to use them. So I punched a hole in the corner of each one.

And a hole in each tag.

Add 33 Capri Sun pouches.

And punch a hole in the top of each one. Just make sure you don't go below that line, or you will have leaky pouches!

Then just take a piece of curling ribbon, and string them all together. Cute, huh? This one is for Blake's class, and the boys in Layla's class.

And this one is for the girls in Layla's class.

I think they turned out really cute and are a nice alternative to all that candy.

Linked to: Sundae Scoop at I ♥ Naptime, Think Pink Sunday at Flamingo Toes, Creative Bloggers Party & Hop at Homemaker On a Dime, Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog, Talent Tuesday at Vintage Wanna Bee, Show Me What Ya Got at Not Just a Housewife, Too Cute Tuesday at Funky Polkadot Giraffe, Show & Tell at Blue Cricket Design, What's Up Wednesday at Sew Woodsy, Look What I Made at Creations by Kara, Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts, Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Creek Cottage, Catch-as-Catch-Can at My Repurposed Life, Hookin Up with HoH at House of Hepworths, Delicately Constructed Friday at delicateCONSTRUCTION, Valentine's Categorically Crafting at Someday Crafts, Friday Favs Party at Naptime Crafters, Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now, Valentine's Week Linky Party at The Shabby Creek Cottage, Watcha Got Weekend at Jolly Jane Boutique, Weekend Wrap Up Party at Tatertots & Jello