Busy busy!

ETA: I was able to fix the problem! woo hoo! So here's the 2nd card we'll be making for my Christmas Card Club. The reindeer & Santa are embossed. I dont' think you can see the shine to it. I really do love that stamp. It's one of my favorites!


Sorry for missing a Friday post, went over to help a friend make Barnyard Animal Cupcakes & did not expect to be there all day! But boy was it fun! I love decorating cupcakes. We made horses, pigs, cows, chickens & she made baby chicks out of brownie balls.

Did I get any pictures? No I forgot, but I hope she remember to take some before all the well wishers at Cody's birthday party gobbled them up!

Well, it seems my link to add a photo to this post is on the fritz. I honestly don't understand it at all and am extremely frustrated! So please hang in there & I'll see if I can't fix the durn thing!

Check out my girlfriend, Dana's blog - Kismet, Art & Life. She's got more talent in her pinky finger than I do in my whole body & she's on more design teams than I can shake a stick at! *Ü*
I am in awe of her daily!

Have a good week.

The Chickens Have Arrived!

Now I'm only talking about a couple of them. Six to be exact. A friend in town got 2 chickens at Easter and now wanted to find them a 'forever' home. Well, welcome Fefe & Marley! So sweet to have domesticated chickens. I just wish they weren't so darn small!

The other 4 come from a friends farm and have not been domesticated at all. I adopted 2 Barred Rocks & 2 Australorps. They are twice as big as Fefe & totally scared of people. Not to mention they pick on the smaller girls. Granted I KNOW about the pecking order thing, but I think since Fefe is the only one laying eggs right now (a small blue one, so cute!) that SHE should be alpha female. Guess it's hard to explain to the big ones.

The hardest part is that the chickens have to be locked up in the coop for about 7 days. That way once they are let out, they will always know where their home is. We'll see how this works for the girls though. I'm thinking I will have to trim the wings of the smaller ones as they've already tried getting out of town (i.e. the coop) twice! Too smart that Marley is.

Enjoy the pictures of the coop. I will have pictures of the girls on another day!

I have been wanting chickens for a while. Yes, chickens. We had them growing up and I have fond memories of them, well except for one incident with a rooster, but that's for a whole other post! So after trying 2 times previously, my hubby has finally finished my chicken coop. Third time's the charm! He saw a coop made with a truck cap in one of the many chicken books I checked out at the library. So he went with that one and here's what it looks like:

See right next to/above the white block of pine shavings? There's a handle with a latch. You undo that one and the one on the opposite side of the coop and just take something & shove it through. That will push all the pine shavings w/chicken poop (under the roosts) out. Pretty easy peasy! He also made it mobile, but the wheels aren't doing too well with the weight of it. They've turned wonky lol.

This is the backside. Undo the latches, pull it open & collect the eggs out of the nesting boxes. Pretty darn easy! LOVE this feature. My next coop (or version 4 if you will) would have nesting boxes protruding out the backside with a little hinged eve (covered w/roofing stuff) that you would just lift open & collect the eggs. Hee hee


This is the front of the coop. The horizontal white thing is where the hatch is. Pull the bolt out & open the hatch. Out comes the girls! The cap is open we made a sturdier cover to go over the opening. It's made out of fencing.


Here's the hatch open. There are peach skins on the plate next to it. I put it in through the hatch so the girls can eat it. Yummm!


Here's one inside picture of the nesting boxes. They are under the roosting area. You can see my Barred Rocks. The Australorp's are too scared right now to come out of one of the nesting boxes. Poor girls.


Here are the roosts. Plenty of light so maybe I'll get eggs year around? I can wish can't I?

Gotta LOVE Routine!

Yes, I have to say I enjoy being a creature of habit as far as schooling goes. Summer is fun and all, but so darn tiring! Dealing with your kids and then other kids everywhere you go. Mine do great most of the time, but there are those days when they were in 'time out' in their rooms at 9am... seriously at 9am?? Those are the days I didn't like at all!

What have we been up to? Well, my chicken coop is almost finished and I will be able to post pictures of that soon. I keep forgetting to take the pictures lol.

I have 2 new downlines! Woo hoo. Melissa rejoined and a new-to-me previous demonstrator, Shannon, joined up too! I'm so excited.

Here's the first Christmas Card of the season. Hope you like it! I will be posting other ones soon. None of the Christmas Card gals could make the date last month so we decided to do take a Saturday afternoon & do 2 months worth! Should be a lot of fun!

Babies, Babies Everywhere!!

Seems like there's another round of babies being birthed! My cousin in California, Marcelo, called me last fall (I SWEAR it feels like a week ago!!) to say that he and his wife are expecting TWINS!!! I honestly had to laugh and laugh. Poor guy, doesn't know what's going to hit him!

I got an update last week and she's at 32 weeks and both babies are doing GREAT and weighing in at 5 lbs each. Can I feel any more sorry for her? I don't think so! One of my pet sitting clients also has a daughter that is expecting TWINS! Wow, what is in the water?! I'm excited for both couples and I sure wish I lived closer to my cousin so I could help out.


Here are some things I made for a baby shower. One main Diaper Cake and 2 smaller ones that were table decorations.


I love making these things and I'm getting pretty quick too. Which makes it REALLY nice!

Here are a couple of gifts I donated as door prizes. SO sorry for the picture being sideways, but it's not like that in the folder I imported it from. I don't know how to get it turned. So if you injure your neck, I am apologize in advance. The first time is a checkbook cover, the second is a pad of paper and the third is a post it note holder. So stinking cute!

Stamp set: Inspired by Nature, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Pretty in Pink
Accessories: Flowers a Plenty Embossing Folder, Top Note Die, 5/8" Satin Pretty in Pink Ribbon, Slot Punch, 1" Circle Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch

Here's a card I gave my MIL for Mother's Day. It is so pretty in person. I love it. Haven't used the top note die in a while. We will definitely be making a form of this card in June's my 8 for $10 class!

I will be posting the Last Chance List tomorrow! I'm only losing 16 stamp sets & I'm excited about that! I will have them for sale!

Can You Believe It?

My Baby Girl is SEVEN today!! Wow, how time flies. Unfortunately, after all the fun at Grandma's on Sunday she started complaining (well crying and whining if you want the TRUTH, the whole truth & nothin' but the truth!) on the way home that her ear hurt. She proceeded to wake up at 12:45am, 3:30am, 5:30am and then getting up at 6:30am. All the while crying about her ear. I gave her tylenol, but didn't know what to do for it otherwise.

Needless to say, we headed to the doctor yesterday a.m. & she has TWO ear infections in ONE ear! That's a first for us. She's got a middle and outer ear infection. The outer one is also known as swimmers ear. They are two separate infections sitting next to each other. And apparently the swimmers ear can be VERY painful! My poor baby girl!

She's on the mend though and is looking forward to today! We'll be picking up a friend to spend the day with us & stay the night. Can't wait. It should be a lot of fun and involve a LOT of bouncing. I hope to have pictures for you. hee hee.

Okay, we've got a full day ahead and I still need to get my flower replacements replaced before we leave. Have a GREAT day and

Happy Birthday to my Lgirl! Sunshine of my Heart!

Such a pleaser and I'm so blessed to have her in my life!

Where did May go?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller, Bueller? lol. I honestly don't know where it went! I guess I was consumed with end of school days, Scrap Club and PMS night. Oh and we cannot forget Memorial Day. Then BAM it's June!

We spent Memorial Day at Grandma's & Papaw's. It was a lot of fun. The kiddos got to go hiking through the creek with Grandma, drive tractors AND watch Papaw & daddy cut down some trees. Me? Well, I marinated the steaks and made up one of the desserts. I really enjoy cooking AND watching me some cable TV! Had to watch a bit of the Real Housewives of New Jersey, and then figured out I had seen the episodes & switched to Cake Boss. Love that show. Those cakes are unbelievable!

Check out these fox boxes I made. Are they not THE cutest? Kimberly Morris (she's AWESOME!!) gave me the directions for the original one and then my upline, Tracy, and I souped it up a bit. We stamped with the Sanded Background Stamp and roughed up the edges w/the edger. I thought up the girl all by myself. Isn't she a cutie-patootie? Look at the way that boy is staring, he should be ashamed! :)

Teachers Gifts Part 1

Gman is finished with Preschool! Woo hoo. Or maybe not so much lol. He never did get a 'S' in 'Leaving the car without any drama' (made up in my own words, but you get what I mean).

I'm hoping we can remedy that NEXT year. Even on the last two days of preschool, I had to 'talk' him into going. I hope this isn't a precursor of things to come in the future. A mother can DREAM can't she???

Here's what I made for his teachers. They are post it note holders. Quite cute if you don't mind me saying lol.

Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry, Razzleberry Lemonade Designer Series Paper, Whisper White.
Ink:Rich Razzleberry.
Accessories: Scallop Border Punch, Silver Brads, Trio Flower Punch, Spring Flower Punch, 5/8" Rich Razzleberry Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon.

If these look a bit odd it's because I hit the 'Auto Adjust' button in Corel Paint and this is what it did. It's better now than what it was, but still just a bit off shall we say?!

Paper: Old Olive, Pale Plum, Rich Razzleberry, Cottage Wall Designer Series Paper, Whisper White.
Ink:Rich Razzleberry.
Accessories: Scallop Border Punch, Silver Brads, Trio Flower Punch, Spring Flower Punch, 5/8" Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon.

A New Look...

And how do you like it? I hope everyone likes it... if not then oh well lol. It looks so much more professional lol. I made a siggy too, but I think that needs a bit of work. I should find a FREE font that I like. I don't like the lowercase 'b's' in my name in cursive so I may go on the hunt soon.

Or I will probably forget about it lol.

Paper: So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, Sweet Pea Designer Series Pack.
Ink: Chocolate Chip,
Stamps: Freebie from Sale-a-Bration
Accessories: Scallop Border Punch, 5/8" Satin Chocolate Chip Ribbon.

Here's one of the 8 for $10 cards we made last month. I think it's cute and the girls loved it. It showcased the Designer Series Paper Stack that was offered in the Occasion Mini really well. LOVE that paper! I hope something similar will be offered in the NEW Stampin' Up! Catalog in July!

Busy Week

this week. It's Staff Appreciation Week at my daughter's school and I was in charge of the Luncheon yesterday. This year I sent a flyer out asking for donations for the ingredients needed to make a Mexican Lasagna for 60 people. I got all the ingredients donated (woo hoo!) and boy was it delicious!

I also made a blackberry cobbler and a blackberry pie for the luncheon. I really enjoy being in charge of this. I also go there an serve all the staff that come to eat. I get their drink and dessert orders & I clean up after them if they will let me. One way I can show them how much I appreciate what they do!

On another note, here's a card that is VERY popular with my customers. They made it a year or so back and requested it again. SOOOO cute! Hope you like it. We made it at my Stamp-a-Stack last month.
Here's both of them together. The stamp set is retired, but the stamps used to make the background pattern are still available in the current catalog. Trendy Trees was used on the blue card and WOW Flower was used on the pink card.


This one was made for girl birthdays this summer.

And this one was made for boy birthdays this summer.