Liberty Bell Watercolor Painting

In case you missed it, the US Mint is producing the first non-round coin since 1915, when the $50 octagonal Panama-Pacific coin was introduced. This new coin is shaped like the Liberty Bell. The price? $19,600. It contains one ounce of gold, the current value of which is $4,053. They're only producing 2026 of them, so apparently the scarcity makes up for the extra $15,500? Hard pass, obviously. 

Instead of buying a chunk of gold shaped like the Liberty Bell, I recommend keeping $19,550 in the bank and putting the rest toward some fun art supplies. Then use them to make a painting of the Liberty Bell. Affiliate links below. 

Liberty Bell Watercolor Painting

Materials: 

• watercolor paper
• watercolors
• metallic watercolors
• colored pencils

Steps: 

Find a reference image of the Liberty Bell. I used the picture on the Wikipedia page. Sketch the basic shape of the Liberty Bell onto your watercolor paper. Only include the basic shapes; ignore all details. Fill in the basic shapes with a combination of brown and black. 

When the first layer is dry, add the next layer. I put streaks of browns and black onto the yoke, then painted the bell with blue, grey, and brown. I added some of the details, like the metal bars connecting the bell to the yoke, and the supports at the base of the bell. 

When that layer was dry, I added metallics to the bell. This was my first time using the Soho metallics - they're awesome! I added streaks and patches of gold and bronze to the top, bottom, and right side of the bell, then added silver and white to make the reflection. Then I painted the background light blue. 

Then I added the famous crack. 

For the final step, I used brown and black colored pencils to add in the last details. I chose not to write the text on the bell, but I did add the lines. I was worried that the colored pencils might not work well on top of the metallics, but it wasn't an issue. 

This was a fun project to do. I really enjoyed experimenting with the metallics and am excited to use them again. Next time, I want to try more of the colors. 

Fourth of July

We celebrated the Fourth of July with Suzzi, Larry, Dawn, and all of our kids... none of whom are kids anymore! We had a delicious meal with festive drinks that were tasty if hard to drink and hung out by the pool. We saw a beautiful sunset and many (illegal) fireworks. We had a wonderful time. 

Fourth of July 2026 (affiliate link)

The pictures I took around the table inspired this page. Because there was so much empty space above and below the smiling faces, I cropped all that off before printing my photos. The six photos you see were printed as two 4x6" photos, which I then cut into thirds and separated with a journaling block.  

Posca Colored Pencils and the National Parks Postcard Coloring Book

Many of you probably know Posca for their amazing paint markers, but did you know that they now make colored pencils as well? When the folks from Posca reached out to me to try their 12-pack of colored pencils, I happily accepted. Posca Colored Pencils have a creamy wax-hybrid formulation intended to produce bright and consistent color, with the ability to blend and layer smoothly. I was eager to see how these pencils would perform. This post contains affiliate links. 

I decided to use the Posca pencils to color an image from the new-to-me National Parks Postcard Coloring Book. This A6-size book contains images from 20 units of the National Park System on thick cardstock appropriate for mailing. 

I selected the image of a bald eagle at Olympic National Park and started coloring. I loved how vibrant the color was and how easy it was to get good coverage. The pencils felt good in my hand. The colors blended well, although with only 12 colors it was infinitely more difficult to get subtle blends than if I'd had a larger set. The thick paper of the postcard took color beautifully and worked very well with the pencils. 

Here is my finished postcard. 

This is what the back looks like. I added a tiny bit of color, but didn't want to cover the writing area. I'll probably end up decorating it after I address it and add my message. 

I really enjoyed this project. The Posca colored pencils are a delight to use, though having only 12 colors is very limiting. The postcards feature beautiful images printed on paper that it ideal for coloring. The small size allowed me to finish the project in a much shorter amount of time than a standard coloring page. I'm eager to use both the pencils and the coloring book again!

Luxembourg

I have a bad habit of putting off scrapping our travels because it is so hard for me to go through hundreds of photos and select just a few for a layout. I currently have 19 travel pages and and 8 non-travel pages on my to-be-scrapped list. Of the last 15 pages I've completed, only 4 were about travel. For as much as we travel, I'd like to keep those numbers a bit more balanced. All this to say, I'm finally starting to scrap photos from our 2024 trip to Europe. 

I started with Luxembourg, even though it wasn't chronologically first. I missed the country entirely, but I still want to document it in the album for the rest of the family. Since I wasn't there and obviously have no memory of the visit, I leaned heavily on the blog post that Steve helped me write just after the trip.  

Luxembourg (affiliate link)

Looking at these photos makes me sad that I missed seeing such a beautiful country, but I am so grateful that's all I missed. There was a very real possibility that I could have missed visiting the other nine countries we saw on that trip.

Coloring Donald and Daisy Duck with a Neon Effect

After coloring Dumbo with a glow effect, I was excited to color Donald and Daisy with a neon effect. What a fun technique! And so much easier than I expected. Affiliate links below. 

 

Like Dumbo, Donald and Daisy came from the Disneyland Parks Colouring Book. I cut down the image to a 7" square. I got out my black Ohuhu Honolulu...

... and colored the background black, making sure i could still easily see the lines of the coloring page. 

Then I traced the lines of the characters using Ohuhu Nahukus. 

The next step was adding a really thin line of white over the center of each of the colored areas. It didn't end up perfect, but no matter. When that was dry, I used my Ohuhu Halawas  to add a soft glow around the edges of each line, then colored right up to that glow with black. I worked on one section at a time. 

In retrospect, I wish I'd used the black Honolulu or a black Kaala to color the background. It would have been easier and faster than the colored pencil. Not to mention, my black Halawa is now half the size of the rest of the set. 

I love how this turned out! And like I said, it was a lot of fun. I will definitely be doing this again. 

Where I've Been: National Historical Parks

When most people think of the National Park System, they think of places like Yosemite, Yellowstone, or the Grand Canyon. Our 63 National Parks are incredible; I've visited 19 National Parks and am eager to experience more of them. While well-deserving of their fame, these parks represent only about 1/7 of all of our National Park units. The National Park System includes 433 locations, including National Battlefields, National Monuments, National Preserves, and units in 16 other categories, covering over 85 million acres. Today I want to focus on National Historical Parks. 

There are 64 National Historical Parks (NHP) in the National Park System. These units "preserve places and commemorate persons, events, and activities important in the nation's history." Units designated as NHP tend to be physically larger and more complex than the units designated as a National Historic Site (NHS). While an NHS usually has a single historical feature (such as a historic house), an NHP often extends beyond a single building and includes later structures and/or significant natural features. Below is a list of all 64 National Historical Parks, along with their locations. I've starred the ones I've visited, and added links for any I've been to since I started blogging about travel. 

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Where I've Been: National Historical Parks

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park, Kentucky

Adams National Historical Park, Massachusetts

Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, Virginia

Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park, Rhode Island

*Boston National Historical Park, Massachusetts

*Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park, Kansas

Cane River Creole National Historical Park, Louisiana

Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park, Virginia

Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, District of Columbia, Maryland, and West Virginia

*Colonial National Historical Park, Virginia

Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia

Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, Ohio

*First State National Historical Park, Delaware

Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park, South Carolina

George Rogers Clark National Historical Park, Indiana

Golden Spike National Historical Park, Utah

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia

Harriet Tubman National Historical Park, New York

Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park, Maryland

*Homestead National Historical Park, Nebraska

Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, Ohio

*Independence National Historical Park, Pennsylvania

*Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, Louisiana

Jimmy Carter National Historical Park, Georgia

Kalaupapa National Historical Park, Hawaii

Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park, Hawaii

*Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, Alaska and Washington

Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, Oregon and Washington

Lowell National Historical Park, Massachusetts

*Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, Texas

Keweenaw National Historical Park, Michigan

Manhattan Project National Historical Park, New Mexico, Tennessee, and Washington

Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, Vermont

*Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park, Georgia

*Minute Man National Historical Park, Massachusetts

Morristown National Historical Park, New Jersey

Natchez National Historical Park, Mississippi

New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, Massachusetts

New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, Louisiana

Nez Perce National Historical Park, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington

Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park, Georgia

Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park, Texas

Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park, New Jersey

Pecos National Historical Park, New Mexico

Pullman National Historical Park, Illinois

Pu'uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park, Hawaii

Reconstruction Era National Historical Park, South Carolina

*Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park, California

Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve, Virgin Islands

San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, Texas

*San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, California

San Juan Island National Historical Park, Washington

Saratoga National Historical Park, New York

Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park, New Hampshire

Salem Maritime National Historical Park, Massachusetts

Ste. Genevieve National Historical Park, Missouri

Sitka National Historical Park, Alaska

Thomas Edison National Historical Park, New Jersey

Tumacacori National Historical Park, Arizona

*Valley Forge National Historical Park, Pennsylvania

War in the Pacific National Historical Park, Guam

Weir Farm National Historical Park, Connecticut

*Women's Rights National Historical Park, New York

I've been to 15 of the 64 National Historical Parks. That's fewer than I expected - a lot fewer. There are some where I'm not sure if I've been there, like Sitka NHP. I've been to the Alaska Raptor Center that is 0.3 mile away multiple times, so there's a decent chance that I visited the NHP. Another example: I thought I'd been to Salem Maritime NHP, but we drove by it on a guided tour and heard all about without actually getting out and seeing it ourselves. Regardless, there are a lot of great places on the list that I hope to visit someday.

Coloring Dumbo with a Glow Effect

There are a lot of really cool coloring trends lately. In her latest video, Sarah Renae Clark covers thirty (30!!) of the most trendy coloring techniques. Some of them look like so much fun! I've especially been wanting to try the neon effect, so I got out my Disneyland Parks Colouring Book (affiliate link here and below) and picked a Dumbo image.  However, as I almost always do when crafting, I ended up going rogue. Instead of following the easy steps for a neon effect that Sarah outlines in her video, I complicated things with a bunch of experimentation. I'm calling this a glow effect, because it definitely isn't the neon effect and it reminds me of the lighted inflatables at the zoo during the winter.    

I cut my coloring page down to a 7" square, then got out my black Ohuhu Honolulu. 

I colored the background, making sure i could still easily see the lines of the coloring page. I decided that I would just be coloring Dumbo, not the nephew riding him or anything in the background. I traced all the lines I'd be keeping in white using an Ohuhu Nahuku. In retrospect, I should have jumped in with color, not white. But we learn through experimentation. 

I started out trying to do a gradient kind of thing with the three blues in my set, but ended up coloring over most of that. I love how the Nahukus can just layer and layer and layer. As you can see, I decided to add some of the greenery back into the image. I (mostly) followed the lines on the right-hand side but made up my own design on the left. 

Oops. I gave Dumbo three front feet. Did you notice? It's a good thing the Nahukus layer so well. Third foot gone!

After I finished coloring, I used Ohuhu Halawas to add a soft glow around the outside edges. Finally, I added more black to the background. I kept the coloring page on the cardboard you see protecting my table, which is what gave the background that interesting mottled look. It helps disguise the original lines of the coloring page. 

I learned a lot while coloring Dumbo and had a lot of fun. I'm eager to try this glow effect again, but before that, I'm going to try actually doing the neon effect properly. Stay tuned!

Celebrating Dad

One year ago today was the memorial service for my dad. It was a celebration of his life, a time to focus on happy memories. We had a really nice service at my parents' church, followed by reception with a popcorn machine (one of Dad's favorite foods) and a cake inspired by his years coordinating the summertime hot dog lunch giveaway at Hope Lutheran. Family and friends traveled to Idaho from California and Washington, along with the many local friends who attended. Dad would have loved it. 

Celebrating Dad (affiliate link)

Instead of a guest book, I put Dad's photo on cardstock and asked guests to sign that. These two pages are now together in the album.   

I miss you, Dad. Thanks for a lifetime of memories. 

Root Beer Float Craft

I can only remember a single time in my life when I wasn't happy to see a root beer float. Every other time, I've been excited to receive this creamy and delicious treat. The root beer float dates back many years, although exactly how many is unknown. We do know that the ice cream soda was invented in Pennsylvania in 1874 by Robert Green. But did he specifically make a root beer float? Legend has it that Frank Wisner of Colorado made the first root beer float in 1893. Whether you're in Pennsylvania, Colorado, or anywhere else, this is a great time to make a root beer float craft and follow it up with the real thing. Affiliate links below. 

Root Beer Float Craft

Materials: 

• watercolor paper
• scissors
• white colored pencil
• scoring board (or ruler)
• watercolors
• cardstock or construction paper
• craft glue
• cotton balls
• root beer barrels to enjoy while you're crafting

Steps: 

Cut out the pieces you will need from watercolor paper: a rectangle with rounded corners at the bottom for the mug, a C-shape for the handle, a cloud shape for the ice cream, and a bent (or straight) piece for the straw. 

I should have arranged these the better way for this photo. See above.

Put the mug piece onto the scoring board. With the white pencil, score the center line. Then score more lines an equal distance apart. You can do this step with a ruler, but the scoring board is easier and more fun. 

Color the very bottom of the mug shape with the white pencil. Paint over the mug shape with brown watercolors. The white pencil will resist the paint. 

I chose to add a really pale wash of brown to the handle so that it didn't look so stark white when the rest of the mug had a brown tint. Paint the straw the color of your choice. I experimented with painting the ice cream a slightly yellow, but it looked weird (to me) against the pure white cotton balls. So I left the ice cream white. 

When all the pieces are dry, choose cardstock for the background. Add a contrasting strip along the bottom for the table the where the mug is sitting. Glue the pieces in place. Tear the cotton ball into a dozen or so pieces. Add glue along the bottom of the ice cream and the top of the mug, then place the cotton ball pieces into the glue. 

Invertebrate Crafts for Kids

Did you know that there are around 1.3 million different species of invertebrates?! This includes approximately: 

• 1 million species of insects 
• 100,000 species of arachnids (spiders, scorpions, ticks, etc)
• 85,000 species of slugs and snails
• 47,000 species of crustaceans
• 20,000 species of bivalves 
• 72,000 other species (everything from sand dollars to jellyfish to octopuses)

Those are staggering numbers! And when you consider how many individuals of each species there are, it is simply mind-blowing. Invertebrates are absolutely fascinating. Pair a study of invertebrates with a series of kid-friendly crafts. Below are nine of my favorites. 

Invertebrate Crafts for Kids

1. Cardboard Tube Honey Bee - Where would we be without bees? Craft a model of this vital pollinator using a cardboard tube.

2. Pretzel Monarch Butterflies - Make a gorgeous edible treat, inspired by the monarch butterfly. This craft is best for teens and tweens.

3. Ladybug Under a Magnifying Glass - What better way to study a tiny animal but under a magnifying glass?! This craft lets kids focus on all the details of a ladybug. 

4. Peanut Picnic Ants - Ants are absolutely amazing. Sure, they can be annoying, but when you learn more about their strength and teamwork, you can't help but be impressed!

5. Glue Resist Spiderweb - Create a beautiful spiderweb with two kid-friendly items you likely already have at home. It's a lot of fun to make. 

6. Lobster Drawing - Learn how to draw an American lobster, step by step. Then add watercolors to give it mottled coloration.

7. Crayon Resist Swallowtail - Use a fun crayon-resist technique to color accurate pictures of your favorite butterflies. This is an Eastern tiger swallowtail. 

8. Cardboard Tube Firefly - Fireflies are such interesting insects! Make your own firefly using a cardboard tube. Lights are optional, but totally cool. 

9. Painted Dragonflies - Create a beautiful painting featuring lots of colorful dragonflies. This mixed media project is really fun to do. 

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Be sure to check out the rest of the invertebrate craft tutorials! If you're looking for ideas for other animal crafts for kids, I have those too. Click on the links to find bird crafts, mammal crafts, fish crafts, reptile and amphibian crafts, and even crafts featuring mythical creatures!

New Toy

While I do most of the bunny care (feeding them, cleaning the litterboxes, combing fur, arranging for in-home nail trims, taking care of vet visits, scheduling bunnysitters, and endless vacuuming), Steve is in charge of making sure we have enough bunny supplies. He orders this hay and this litter from Small Pet Select; he buys Oxbow Adult Rabbit pellets locally at a pet store. Steve loves to spoil the rabbits, so he often adds extras to his virtual or in-person carts. We currently have Belinda's Blend, the entire range of Healthy Snackers, multiple packs of Herbal Blends, one pack of Loops, and plenty of Pea Flakes (affiliate links here and below). So basically, enough treats for 200 rabbits, not the 2 that we actually have. 

Steve likes to get new toys for the bunnies as well. This layout is about a toy he bought last year. It was an instant hit, especially with Brayden who chinned it the moment he saw it, thus claiming it as his. He worked hard to chew through all the ropes within the first few days and then played with the previously dangling toys he had released.  

New Toy

You probably noticed that Tulip isn't in the pictures. She likes that toy, but not as much as Brayden does. She has other favorites, especially her set of stacking cups. Rabbits truly are unique individuals, with different preferences and interests. 

Trio of Floral Cards

We had a cardmaking workshop after church last weekend. I made three cards using the same layered stamp set. It's fun to see how changing out the small details can significantly alter the card's appearance. The muted colors and subtle sentiment of this sympathy card...

... give a completely different look than the bright colors and bold sentiment of this thank-you card. 

The backgrounds on the first two cards are just ink. For this Hello card, I did a quick sweep of ink directly on the die-cut, then added details and shading with Prismacolors (affiliate link). 

I have very little experience with layered stencils and it was fun to experiment with different techniques.  Cards are great for trying out new skills and taking risks. I'm looking forward to playing with ink on cards again soon!

Red, White, and Blue Patriotic Frozen Drinks

When we were invited to a 4th of July party, I asked what we could bring. Suzzi requested a red, white, and blue drink. Last year, she made one using colored beverages with different densities and it was a hit. I wanted to try something different. Rather than relying on density, what if I froze the layers? One problem: we'd need to transport frozen drinks for an hour in the summer heat. If they melted, I'd be showing up at a 4th of July party with a light purple drink instead of a red, white, and blue one. 

I'm happy to report that my drinks arrived frozen and were indeed red, white, and blue. Unfortunately, there was a different problem I hadn't anticipated. Read on to find out what I did, versus what you should do if you want to make this drink in the future. Affiliate links below.

Red, White, and Blue Patriotic Frozen Drinks

Materials: 

• clear plastic cups
• Kool-Aid (Cherry and Blue Raspberry Lemonade)
• granulated sugar
• Simply Limeade
• plastic slushy straws

What I Did: 

First, I prepared the blue raspberry lemonade Kool-Aid according to the package directions. I cleared space in our freezer, then set the cups into bread pans that would keep them upright while freezing. I filled each cup 1/3 of the way full with the Kool-Aid and put the pans in the freezer. 

When the Kool-Aid was slushy, I added cute patriotic paper straws. This was a big mistake, so don't do that. I let the blue layer freeze completely, then added the white (Limeade) layer and let that freeze completely. 

I made the Cherry Kool-Aid and packed it into a Thermos. We put the bread pans into a cooler and crossed our fingers that the layers would stay frozen during the drive. When we got to the party, I set out the drinks and added the final layer, which remained liquid. They looked so pretty!

It should have been obvious, but freezing paper straws in a drink is a bad idea. You couldn't sip through them since they were frozen in a block of flavored ice. As the drinks thawed, they began to disintegrate. Most of us ended up using a fork to free the straw and then drank the resulting slushie. The good news is that the three flavors go together really well!

What I Would Do Next Time: 

First, I would buy slushie straws instead of paper straws. That's what I put in the materials list at the top of the post. I would not freeze the straws into the drink. In fact, I would not freeze the drinks like this at all. Instead, I would use my beloved Cuisinart ice cream maker to make a slushie of each color and store those in the freezer until it was time to serve them. I'd pack in the blue and tamp it down, pack white on that, and top with red, and THEN add the straws. I don't know how well slushies would travel, but I think this would work well at home. If you give it a try before I do, let me know how it goes!

Mom's California Visit, Part 5: Capitol Park Tour and SMF

On Sunday, June 28 my mom and I had our third (and final) luxurious breakfast at Willow. I highly recommend a visit if you're in Sacramento. We checked out of The Exchange and headed to the Capitol. You may be wondering why, since we had toured the Capitol just two days earlier and the building is closed on weekends. We were there for the free Capitol Park guided tour. 

  

The tour explores the 40-acre park, focusing on the history, flora and fauna, and memorials and monuments. 

We learned that Capitol Park is home to 14 state and national Champions - this is the largest Valencia orange tree in the US.  

This is the California Native American Monument. It honors the Miwok and Nisenan tribes whose ancestral lands include present-day Sacramento. The central statue is circled by nine seals that show California native plants and animals, representing the connection between the natural world and the original inhabitants. 

This is the California Firefighters Memorial. It remembers the more than 900 firefighters who have died in the line of duty since California became a state. 

There are interesting and unique plants from all around the world thriving in Capitol Park. 

There are over 1000 trees representing hundreds of species in Capitol Park. You can find a complete list on page 16 of the Tree Booklet. 

The Native Plant Garden includes cacti and other plants from across California. 

This is the World Peace Rose Garden. 

At the base of many of the roses, you'll find writings that promote peace. 

This is the Vietnam War Memorial. 

This is the Veterans Memorial. 

There is a lot more to see and enjoy in Capitol Park. Definitely plan for enough time to enjoy the beauty and the history of this unique place. 

After our time at Capitol Park, Mom and I headed to the Sacramento airport for her return home. Normally, I wouldn't have much to say about taking someone to the airport, but I did something I've never done before. I requested, and received, an airport gate pass. 

Before September 11, 2001 anyone could accompany a passenger to the gate. It was normal and expected that a non-ticketed person would see their loved ones off at the gate, and be waiting at the gate when they arrived back home. I suspect that will never be universal again, but there are circumstances where someone who is not traveling can accompany a child, a senior, or someone with a disability who might need a little extra help. To get a gate pass, I spoke with the agent at the Southwest ticket desk, who took my ID and returned five minutes later with my pass. It couldn't have been easier. 

There are an increasing number of airports that allow non-ticked visitors to get a gate pass. Take SFO, for example. You can apply for a Gate Explorer pass not only to accompany loved ones, but to go shopping, eat at airport restaurants, visit the airport museum, or to spend time at the SkyTerrace watching planes take off and land. I'm really glad for this option.