ROAD TRiP // POPS SODA

It's taking me far too long to get all this posted. I feel like by the time I have our whole trip done it will be the end of the year! Lets hope that's not the case. I have also decided to switch my blog over to a different platform that will hopefully make getting things posted quicker and more streamlined for me. I like the freedom of blogger and all you can do but I just honestly don't have the kind of time I would need to make this space what I had initially wanted so I will still be posting things at random until I can get things more organized and moved. 

I finally have the next set of photos from our trip to share. On our first night, after checking out an abandon amusement park in Kansas we made it to Pops, a soda wonderland located in Arcadia, Oklahoma on historic route 66. Pops is in a really cool gas station that has a giant soda sculpture that lights up with different colors. They also have a restaurant and shake shop inside the station. We ate dinner there and was pleasantly surprised with the food. You can also get just about any flavor added to your soda for a custom drink and you get free refills so you can try other flavors. Our trip couldn't end without us picking out some sodas to take home with us from their rainbow of drink options in every flavor you can imagine including gross and weird ones. Because we were fascinated by the strange flavors we ended up taking some back that just sound like they would taste really disgusting. I can't even imagine how ranch flavored soda would be and because these were gifts for friends we still don't know how they taste but they are funny conversation pieces. I ended up getting a more normal flavor because the drink was teal and I have a problem with wanting to eat and drink anything blue. It tasted more like cream soda. Doug ended up with Martian Poop soda that was pink in color. It tasted like candy and was actually really good. Pops had an area outside with tables to sit at but it was way too cold and had just snowed so we just walked around and took some photos. They had covered the trees in lights which was so magical looking in the snow.

If you're ever in the area I highly suggest visiting. If nothing else to look at the cool display of rainbow sodas they have lining the glass walls.

Have a wonderful night!

XOXO

Sara

VALENTiNE'S RICE KRiSPIE POPS

Hey it's not Valentine's Day! Yeah, I'm late posting this but they can be made for any time so I guess it's really never too late, right? I made these last week because I've really been needing to make something, ANYTHING. I sit for far too long in front of a computer. So I decided to wander around Michael's and look at what they had for Valentine's products. I picked up some cookie cutters and sprinkles and had rice krispie treats on the brian so heart shaped rice krispies it was! I added the paper straws and arrows because I usually go overboard with things so I just kept adding to them. I had added arrows to each heart but wasn't really liking how much was going on so I didn't get a photo before I removed them all. Ooops. You get the idea with the one left I took a photo of. Didn't think to make a tutorial for the arrows so hopefully it makes sense what I did. They were really easy to make. 

So here is what I used:

3 tablespoons butter

1 package (10 oz., about 40) Marshmallows

6 cups Kellogg's® Rice Krispies® cereal or off brand cereal.

heart cookie cutter

red food coloring

paper straws

OPTIONAL:

box of tooth picks

paper

ribbon

sprinkles

DIRECTIONS

1. In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. 

2. Add cereal. Stir until well coated.

3. Using buttered spatula or wax paper evenly press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. (add sprinkles if you want) Cool. Cut with cookie cutter. 

4. Put in paper straws as high as you can get in the rice krispie treat but do not go all the way through. 

5. To create the arrows I cut some arrow parts out of paper and glued each end to a tooth pick. You will have two tooth picks total. Put tooth picks into rice krispie wherever you choose so they look like they have been shot through by the arrow. 

6. Tie ribbon around straw and make into a bow or glue pre tied bows if you still want to add more on to decorate.

If you're anything like me you will probably eat more than you have left at the end. I like to pretend they are good for breakfast too because their made with cereal, ha! These would be great as a bundle like flowers to give as a gift or at a party. Regardless of why you make them just have fun and experiment. Different colors, different shapes and adding on a cellophane bag over the rice krispie treat will make them last longer if you are giving them as a gift or for kids to take home from a party.

I hope you had a nice Valentine'd Day and weekend in general! Have a great Tuesday!

XOXO,

Sara

FREE VALENTiNE iLLUSTRATiONS

I use to avoid Valentine'd Day. I really didn't celebrate it. It was fun when you're a kid but I never got into it as an adult. Then I got a job as a greeting card artist and REALLY didn't celebrate it. I got sick of seeing pink, red and roses everywhere. Being an artist though, and liking cute things, I just cannot escape the day entirely but now I can make it more fun for me and the things I enjoy. I've always made crafts and holidays, silly or not, are the perfect times to make fun things. I've decided to share some Valentine inspired things this month. First up are some downloads on Creative Market, which by the way is a favorite site of mine. These are currently free for the rest of this week. Just click on the images to go to where you can download them. 

Also check out these photoshop actions for your photos.

I think both of these are fun to play around with for any project, not just Valentine's related.

Have a great day!

XOXO

Sara

ROAD TRIP ADVENTURES // JOYLAND

It's been a month since I left Kansas City to drive across the country to my new home in California. It honestly seems like it's been longer because so many things have happened already and so many new adventures. I have not really traveled much for most of my adult life. There are very few things I got to see and enjoy. Everything is new and amazing to me. Sure it can be scary, a new state, new home, new people, completely new environment but I'm loving it so far. I faced a lot of fears to get to this point.

So back to my road trip, I have never driven across the country but it's something I've always wanted to do. You get to see so much that you normally wouldn't get to see and most of the places we drove through I had never visited before. Almost at the last minute we decided to change the direction we were going to drive in because we were unsure of how the weather might be and my car does not do well in snow and ice. We had already spent some time looking up places we could stop at and see along the way and had a ton or recommendations from people. So many that I want to do that drive again one day and stop at some places we didn't have time for.

Our first stop was at an abandon amusement park, Joyland, not too far from my home in Kansas City. I had no idea it was that close to me all these years. I have always loved abandoned places, my mind goes crazy with the history, what happened there, what it looked like when it was being used, etc. It's just fascinating and has never been something "creepy" to me. I just don't get creeped out by things like that. It's actually incredibly peaceful to walk through them. After walking a bit through some abandon or possibly in use trash and random sofas, we made it into the park. The rides that are still there have been broken down some, like the ferris wheel doesn't have seats, but a lot was still in tact. We didn't see or run into in other people which actually surprised me a little since this place wasn't really difficult to get to and there were tons of signs that people might go there quite often. I would have loved to have explored a little more and taken more photos but we could have easily stayed all day looking and we needed to make more distance in our drive. Here are a few photos we managed to take before we were on our way.

Here is a link to more images of when the park was open if you're interested in learning and seeing more about it. Joyland Amusement Park. 

I will be posting our trip in segments because there were just way too many photos to add to one post.

Have a wonderful day and OMG it's February already?! How did that happen?

XOXO

Sara