Friday, November 30, 2007

They're not the BEST pictures but..........
















.....it's all good.


While I was getting ready for our class dinner the other night, which, by the way was wonderful! Well, since I brought it up........I am DONE with
school!! We had our LAST exam this past Wednesday and what a relief!
The truth of the matter is, it's more of a bittersweet type deal. I've truly made some incredibly wonderful friends over this past year and it's going to be SO strange not seeing them every week anymore. I just hope we DO keep in touch.

Anyways, moving right along....................I was getting ready and...................................................

.........I happened to look out our bathroom window and saw this amazing Eagle munch'in on her catch for the day, a steelhead trout. I asked Joe to grab one of the camera's to take a picture. I just LOVE Eagle's. I just think they are BEAUTIFUL. MY thought was for Joe to take the picture from the balcony off our bedroom........guys think differently from us though girls........he took them through the bathroom window. I LOVE my husband to death but can you say, 'deedeedee'!!! UGH! I TRIED to 'fix' them. They're a LITTLE better but not much. It's alright......she's STILL AMAZING to me!!

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!
I hope your day is FILLED with multiple blessings and MUCH JOY!!
We don't usually do much for Thanksgiving and it's certainly not 'traditional'.
Nikki has requested for Joe to make 'his ham'. We ALWAYS have it (Joe's ham) for Christmas but Nikki ALWAYS tries to get him to make it for Thanksgiving as well.
So, YES! We are having HAM for Thanksgiving!!!
We'll also be having mashed 'taters, sweet 'tater casserole, green bean casserole, green salad, home made crescent rolls (I have a KILLER recipe!!)
and pun'kin pie.


Samuel helped me earlier this morning in the making of the pies.....He LOVES to help us bake and cook and I hate to discourage him for fear that then he'll NEVER want to cook or bake. So, even though sometimes it's a pain in the neck........I let him do as much as I can.


We got to the part where you pour in the evaporated milk.....it was like pale yellow in color---hmmm.... well, I thought, it's fat
free....maybe it's supposed to be yellow?? Well, when the white chunks started coming out I pretty much knew somethin' wasn't 'right'. Turns out the 'best used by date' was 2005!! Guess THAT can had been around for a little too long huh??? I guess we're just not a big evaporated milk using family!!
Anyways, down the drain it ALL went!
Luckily we had another can of pumpkin and JUST enough sugar--errr, well, splenda--it's all the same!!!


Anyways, here are a few pics of my 'lil man makin' his pies.......


...and the finished product(s)!!


Hopefully we can 'train' him to be as GOOD a cook as his dad!!!
Again,
Happy Thanksgiving from our home to yours!!

Sunday, November 18, 2007

For a friend.......


This is a card I made up this afternoon for a friend.
I came across this paper yesterday when I was looking for paper for my gaudy flamingo card. This paper just caught my eye. Believe it or not I picked up the stamp from the $1 bin at Michaels the last time I was there.
I hope she likes it!!
Okay! NO MORE creating for me today. I'm off to study.
Materials Used:
Stamps: for you (Michaels $1 bin), Ink: Pumpkin Pie & Ruby Red (SU!), Topiary (CTMH) Papers: OLD paper (unsure), pumpkin pie & old olive (SU!) Ribbon(Offray)
Misc: crystal stickles (Ranger).

It is what it is!


OK, so I lied....
ONE MORE CARD for tonight.......
I'm not totally sold on this card yet....maybe I'll feel differently when I get up in the morning and look at it again. I came across this paper tonight when I was looking for other paper and when I saw it all I could think of was the Baroque Motifs set. I dunno......

....maybe if I stamped on the lighter yellow paper instead of the off white??? Maybe I'll give it a whirl tomorrow....we'll see........but for tonight, it is what it is................

Materials Used:

Stamps: Baroque Motif's (SU!), Ink: Pumpkin Pie-(I think!), Ruby Red and Close to Cocoa (all SU!) Cardstock: Chatterbox Patterned Paper: from a stack Misc items: brads (?)

Saturday, November 17, 2007

old truck

Yeppers! Another card.....
This one is for my dad.
My mom was real sick a little over a year and a half ago and hospitalized for 5 weeks. I flew home to Connecticut to stay with my dad and youngest brother. During that time the relationship between me and my dad REALLY grew. After I returned home (to Washington state) we'd gotten into a little routine for a while where we'd talk once a week or so-sometimes more often. Not for too long but just long enough to 'touch base' and talk for a little bit to see what the other was up to. Well, my dad's been SUPER busy lately--as I have--and we just can't seem to connect-the whole phone tag thing... I miss talking to him. He makes me laugh, he makes me think-I mean REALLY think about stuff-and he can even make me CRAZY at times. :) BUT, as crazy as he can make me sometimes, I'm SO thankful for the time we had to grow our relationship.
Anyways, this card is for my dad. I'm going to write a nice note on the inside and remind him of just how much I love and miss him-and also tell him how excited I am to see him, and my mom, next month when they come to visit!!
Well, I think that's all for tonight. I'm tired so I think I'm going to head off to bed.......
ENJOY the rest of your weekend and come back and visit again SOON!!

-S
Materials Used:
Stamps: oldtruck (TAC), Geometric Thoughts (CTMH-B1090), Simple Stitches (C1234)
Ink: Close to Cocoa (SU!)
Paper: Chatterbox
Accessories: brads & photo clip (CTMH), twill (just4fun crafts)


After looking at this card for a while I decided I should just go ahead and color it in........
What do you think??
I was really looking for more of a RUST color to color the truck but it would seem I DON'T HAVE a rust colored chalk. This is the closest I could get.
I'm pretty sure my dad will like it regardless :)

tickled pink

I picked up my TAC (The Angel Company) order from Katrina! Of course I had to cut all my new stamp sets down so I could use them BUT I have managed to get one card DONE...a few more are part way done...I'll post when they're complete.


But, for now, here is this one:


Is she just too much or what!?!!
I just noticed (from the picture) my bottom little 'bling' rhinestone was crooked. YIKES! Luckily it wasn't dried completely and I was able to straighten it out!
I'm not so happy about my pink cardstock not matching perfectly so I guess I'll either have to keep my eyes out for a darker hot pink OR just color her in with a different color next time.
I used colored pencils and OMS (Odorless Mineral Spirits) to color this beauty in and then went over her boa, hat and heels with crystal Stickles (LOVE that stuff!!) The paper is just stuff I have had forever. I don't even know where it originally came from--probably paper stacks or something.
Alright, off to work on something else before it's time for bed!! Tomorrow is going to be dedicated to studying--after church of course.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend........
-S

My FIRST Saturday 'PLAY' card-

SO--I woke up early this morning but had a headache and just was NOT motivated to 'play'.

After a cup 'a Joe and some toast (AND making breakfast for Sammo-a banana smoothie and eggs) AND put'zin around in my craft room for a little while I decided to do SOMETHING!! Well, here it is:

It's not the BEST picture, I KNOW. But really, I didn't feel like taking another.
It's a pretty simple card. I embossed the background with my Cuttlebug--which I LOVE!!! with the snowflakes folder. I had originally THOUGHT about just highlighting some of the embossed snowflakes with some icicle stickles but I didn't care for it....soooooo....I tried wiping it off....well, that didn't work so well, it just smeared but then I kinda liked the look so I smeared on MORE. I like the sparkliness. ;)
Well, Katrina just called....she has my TAC stamps!! YIPPEEE!!! I'm gonna go pick 'em up from her at work!!
Materials used:
Stamp: A Tree for All Seasons (SU!)
Ink: Blue Bayou & Creamy Caramel (SU!), Archival Black, Holiday Red (CTMH)
Cardstock: Ruby Red & Not Quite Navy (CU!-Earth Elements paper pack)
Ribbon: White Daisy Organdy (CTMH)
Misc: Icicle Stickles (Ranger), Snowflakes embossing folder (Provo Craft)

Time well spent....

LOOK at what Shelli from SU! sent to all of her Demonstrators!!!!

Aura? Have you gotten yours?? Have you had a chance to 'play'?? I can't WAIT to see what you do with it!! :)
Well, mine arrived yesterday and I am SO glad I have today and tomorrow off so I can PLAY with it!!
The name of the set is Time Well Spent. It is a Level 3 Hostess set in the upcoming catalog SOOO....if YOU'RE LOVING this set as much as I do, think about doing a party (home or book)!!

Gotta go PLAY now---
Until next time....................

Thursday, November 15, 2007

The plan is.........................


....to stamp-n-play on Saturday!!!
Check back sometime this weekend to see if I actually followed through with the plan!!
This picture was taken by my friend Julie. She took it while she and her son Riley were out hunting. I just LOVE it!!! One of these days I'm going to have it printed and framed. It's on 'the list'.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

GOOD FRIENDS KEEP YOU WARM



Another card I made up using the same sketch as the last (see earlier post).


I bought this little stamp a few weeks to a month ago. I think I got it in a clearance bin somewhere.I'm just having a little fun 'playing' this morning. I'm going to HAVE to get something done today so I think this may be the end of my 'playing' for this morning.


The kids are making cotton candy--YES! at 10:00 in the morning. My son is a sugar FREAK-but it's keeping him busy for right now...he hasn't actually MADE any yet but he will be here in a few minutes............So, until next time--Happy Stamp'in and ENJOY your weekend! It's off to work for me tomorrow BUT I DO have Monday off!!!


Materials used: Paper: White Daisy, Cranberry and Blush Cardstock (CTMH) Patterned Paper: The Christmas Stack (DCWV) Ink: Orange, archival black, White Daisy (CTMH) Stamps: Baroque Motifs (SU!), Snowpeople (studio g) Ribbon: white organdy (CTMH), red with snowflakes ($1 bin-Target) Misc: Icicle Stickles (Ranger), Liquid Applique (Marvy)

The Snowflake Spot

I had the 'day off' yesterday....I had some homework to finish up but after I got that done I thought I would 'play' a little....and I DID play just a LITTLE! (The kids were off early again yesterday due to conferences and we had Sammo's conference in the afternoon so that kind of cut into my 'play time' a bit...but it's all good....it was nice being able to make it to his conference. I haven't been able to do a lot of that kind of thing for a while so it was REALLY nice to be able to go. I know he liked that I went too. He's a good student and I know I didn't have anything to worry about but it's still nice to go and see what he's up to in school....
Moving right along........

I picked up some paper the other day at JoAnns. It's a Christmas Stack by DCWV. It was on sale for $11.99. There are 180 sheets in the pack which makes each sheet about $0.06/sheets. There are some really cute patterns in that stack-I'd looked at it a couple times before and decided to just get it. The problem is, I have SO many of these darned stacks, well, I have SO MUCH PAPER, I hate buying more....but really, just like with the REST of this hobby, it's an ADDICTION and at $0.06/sheet!!! So, I KNEW I wanted to use some of that new paper for this card but I ALSO knew I wanted to use my cuttlebug too....(yet another addiction)--turns out I didn't end up using much of the paper after all! Anyways, this is what I came up with...........


I wasn't so crazy about it at first..but it's kind of grown on me a bit....It's pretty simple and didn't take much time to put together. I LOVE the icicle stickles BUT it's got a bigger tip (I'm sure to accomodate the bigger glitter pieces) and it had a tendency to clump up and blob out a bit.
And, of course you'll notice the embossed snowflakes. I just LOVE that little machine!! (Samuel LOVES coming in and making up different embossed papers too. I'm going to have to figure a way to 'nix' that or I'll be out of plain paper before I know it!!) I used blush cardstock (CTMH) for the embossed snowflakes and then sanded the top a bit.
Materials used:
Papers: CranberryWhite Daisy and Blush cardstock (CTMH)
Patterned Paper: DCWV, The Christmas Stack
Stamps: The Snowflake Spot (SU!)
Ribbon: White Daisy Organdy (CTMH), light blue grossgrain (Michaels)
Misc: Icicle Stickles (Ranger), 'rhinestone gems' (WalMart)



This is Beate's sketch challenge so if you want to 'get in on it', start creating! You can check out her blog: http://beate.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/
for details. She has links to work by other ladies too who have participated in this challenge and their work is just beautiful-so check 'em out!!
Let me know if you do something too, by leaving a comment and a link to your blog. I LOVE seeing what everyone comes up with!!


Enjoy your weekend!!

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Frame for Katie



This is a picture frame I did up for Katie for her bday. It matches the paper from the card. These are SO easy to make up and they always come out so darned cute-to me anyways.

I bought the frames at Michaels 'forever' ago for $1. They really just snap together. The longest time is waiting for the glue to dry!

oops-just noticed the background paper doesn't match. You get the point anyways! :)

Have a GREAT week!

-S

Birthday Wishes for Katie


This is a birthday card I made up today for Katie, a girl in my class.
I KNOW I have a test tomorrow and I SHOULD be studying. I've just been SO busy lately....I just needed a little 'me' time to clear my head.
The card is TOTALLY lifted from Cambria Turnbow (http://www.cambriaturnbow.blogspot.com) I'd been looking and looking for some inspiration and when I saw her card on her blog........I knew THIS was IT!!
PLUS, I got to use my new cuttlebug!! I was SO excited when it arrived but I haven't had any time to REALLY do anything with it--on a card or anything...I've embossed TONS of paper already that's just sitting on my desk. The flowers were made with my flower marvy punch, 2 of them stacked on top of each other with one of the little embossed flowers cut out on top and then a rhinstone brad.
I hope Katie likes it!
Until next time......I'm back to the books!!
Materials used:
Stamps: Birthday Wishes ($1 bin-Michaels)
Paper: Brooke Paisley & Brooke Narr Stripe (making memories), pink carnation cardstock (CTMH), white cardstock (misc).
Ink: pink carnation (CTMH)
Ribbon: Dashes, Dots & Checks
Misc: Oval Bookplates (JoAnn Fabric), Rhinestone brads (making memories)
Cuttlebug, Bloom Dots embossing folder

Happy Saturday!

Gosh! I haven't posted in a while!! BUSY, BUSY!!
No rest for the weary you know..
I studied with a fellow classmate the greater part of the day today and it looks like we'll be at it again tomorrow. We have a test on Monday.
I WANTED to spend some time in 'my room' today but the books were calling my name-I guess the books were a little louder??
I did actually get a chance to clean my room up a bit-after Korie left. I have a few cards I want to make so I was TRYING to 'get in the mood'. I had a tough time at first but FINALLY got ONE (of the three I want to get done) done. I went to upload them and was pleasantly reminded of some pictures I took the other day. Let me share.........

I've never really been much of a Fall person. Spring has ALWAYS been my ALL TIME FAVORITE season--and I even grew up on the East Coast (Connecticut) where everyone just talks of how BEAUTIFUL Fall is and the changing of the leaves and all........I dunno, it always reminded me of death and dying-cold- where Spring always meant rebirth and renewal to me.........
Well, I don't know if it's because I'm getting older or WHAT but I am just LOVING Fall and all the beauty that surrounds me. I took this picture from our back deck. It's looking up the river (Okanogan).

Next, a few pics of my little man!
Now, if he isn't just THE CUTEST guy-I don't know WHO is!!!! :)

I always TRY to get pictures of the kids with this tree and it's leaves before Fall passes. The leaves are just absolutely GORGEOUS to me and the pictures always come out SO nice! -Well, I think so anyways.........



OK, so when I saw this picture, I just CRACKED UP! I have NO idea what he saw, THOUGHT he saw or heard or what but the look on his face just made me chuckle!
Ya know, as I was looking at this picture I was reminded of another picture where Samuel has this SAME look on his face! I'm pretty sure I don't have it saved to the other computer but if I can get it scanned I may just post it. The only difference is he was 1-1 1/2 sitting naked in a little wading pool we had. How FUNNY is that!



Alright, alright..................

So, this is the last one of Sammo.....

Mittens (Nikki's cat) just HAD to get in on the 'going's on'...silly kitty!!

No pictures of Nikki! :(

I don't know WHERE she was, for heaven's sake, I don't even know WHEN I took these pictures, my guess is she wasn't home.....AHH!! She was at Vanessa's and didn't get home until it was too dark. I hope I get a chance to get some pictures of HER at the tree....Maybe Monday-we'll see.

Of COURSE I'll post a few of HER too if I can get her to take some.

I'll post that picture of the card I was working on in a bit..........

Until then, Tata!

A special card for a special friend.......


I made this card up for a fellow classmate and friend, Kris.
We had a project to do for class last week and the four of us in our group had a HECK of a time coordinating our schedules to get together (three of us live up north and Kris lives in Wenatchee-2+ hours away) -THEN, trying to coordinate work and preceptor times for all FOUR of us and trying to come up with something we could ALL do..... UGH! Well, Wednesday afternoon our project was due and low and behold we hadn't gotten together ONCE to go over it. Kris emailed me what she'd put togetherTuesday night and luckily we were all able to meet for a little while before class to figure out what we were going to do. Well, Kris went above and beyond in pulling 'our' project together. Both myself and the other two girls were/are SO appreciative of Kris that we decided we should get her a little something to thank her for all her hard work. I haven't gotten the gift YET but this is the card I made up for her.....
I cased it off emilymaeanderson at SCS. To check out her gallery click on the link.........
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showgallery.php?page=2&cat=500&ppuser=78970
A BIG thanks to Kris, not only for ALL you did but also for being such a GOOD friend! :)
Now I just hope she doesn't check out my blog before I see her on Monday!!!
Smiles!
Materials Used:
Stamps: Stem Silhouttes, Baroque Motifs (both SU!)
Ink: Chocolate Chip (SU!)
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Garden Green, Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla
Misc: label holders (making memories), photo hanger (CTMH), Gingham Ribbon (Cocoa Collection, CTMH), other ribbon (Offray).