My Own Leathers

This was a Designers Life for the ScrapGirls newsletter yesterday. Thought I'd share it here too.

I had never been on a motorbike until a month after I was engaged. My father-in-law declared that if I was going to marry into the family, I needed to know how to ride a bike. He had me climb on the front of a dirt bike, then he sat down behind me and told me to give it some gas. I drove him straight into a fence. He's never had me try to learn again.

Instead, I've enjoyed the thrill and view behind my husband as we've ridden dirt bikes in the mountains and road bikes down the freeway. Years ago when I was dating someone else seriously, I thought horses were the best thing around. Boy, was I wrong. There is nothing like the wind whipping through your hair, weaving around beautiful canyon roads, or gunning it for the speed. Yes, my husband has sold me on bikes.

We never knew that when we purchased our house that the garage would be our best investment. Winter comes to Wyoming (where my father-in-law currently resides) two-to-three months earlier than Utah, and then stays two-to-three months longer. Because of this timely seasonal happening, for the last couple of years, I have started to count down the days till winter chills start hitting Wyoming. As soon as they do, I can count on a beautiful red road bike being dropped off and stored in my garage for the winter. The only thing is, when it's dropped off, it's not winter here. It's beautiful, and the scenery calls for as many rides as possible on this new love of mine, at least until it's so cold that it's impossible to ride any more.

We plan date nights and excitedly drop the kids off so the two of us can climb on and speed away for a night together. One day recently, in the middle of winter, we actually had a beautiful day in the 50s. It was warm, it felt like spring, and it was all I could do to not call up my husband, tell him to come home early, bundle up, and go for a mid-winter ride.

The last couple of summers we've been able to take a two-to-three day road trip on his bike for our anniversary. It's been so much fun. The first year we were caught in a downpour of rain for the two-hour ride home. I was frozen, but what a thrill. The second year, we took long drives in the Idaho countryside, saw beautiful farmlands, gorgeous mountains, and geocached when we needed breaks. I came back with dry swollen lips, saddle sore, and a wind-burned, sunburned face. I never had so much fun. We hope to make it a continuing tradition.

I joke with my husband that when we finally graduate from school we're going to forgo that second car we'll need when he gets a real job. We'll just go straight for the bike. When the day comes that we have a bike for keeps, if he knows me well, he'll hand me a large gift at Christmas of my own leathers. Yes... that's right. This girl wants her very own leathers.

- Shalae

Favorite Product I've designed:
Biker Collection

Commercial license versions of Biker Collection are also available.

This collection has to be the most fun collection I have ever designed. Maybe because I felt like I was creating it for my husband and my father-in-law. Really though, I was creating it for me, all those things I love about the biker "attitude" and the ride. All those things I have started to love. Most people don't realize that the collection can be used in so many other ways besides the obvious biker theme. There are aspects and embellishments that can be used for Cowboy (old west), teens, masculine, road trips, truckers, first car or bike, Americana, mid-life crisis, silver wedding anniversaries, proms or elegant evenings, and more.

Layout by Shalae Tippetts
larger view

Commercial license versions of Biker Collection, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Black Leather 4901, The Weather Outside Collection Mini and Geocache Collection Mini are also available.