Nuggets O' Fun

Happy Friday! This past Monday's challenge on SCS, was to make a nugget box. I finally got around to making some last night and I love them! I made the boxes out of cardstock, made a cover to slip over the box with a transparency, and then used DP to wrap the nuggets in the box. They're so easy to make and they look so cute. These are thank you gifts for my 3 friends that hosted the craft day in celebration of my birthday. We had such a fun time together and made some very cute things.

We won!

Our gym had their own "Biggest Loser" contest and we won! Yay! N won first and got 2 free one-hour training sessions and I won second and got 1 free one-hour training session. It was a fun motivator and we both got better bodies in the process! N lost weight (I don't remember how much) and dropped 6% body fat while I lost 12 pounds and dropped 3% body fat in 2 months. We were excited to win the great prizes and the new bodies. We both have a little more to lose and shape up but it feels good to see some progress. Thanksgiving was hard for me with the twice baked potatoes and buttermilk pie around the house, but we're back on track after a slight detour!

Healthy holiday wishes from me to you!

Snow

We had our first snow last night. It didn't last long and quickly turned to slush, but it was fun while it was coming down. :-) It really made it feel like winter, finally! I think it helped get me into the Christmas spirit, too. Unfortunately it was too dark to get any pictures, but maybe it will come again soon. Happy Winter!

Tea bag or Chocolate holder

One of the technique challenges over at SCS the other day was to make a tea bag holder. I made this one, but the individual yummy teas that I have are bigger than this and so it won't fit! :( Boo. I'm sure I will find something to fit into this cute little thing. :-)

Early Christmas

My friend Codie was decorating for Christmas early (before Thanksgiving) and I thought I'd send her a little something to get her in the spirit. :) This was accompanied with a cute snowman ornament.

Snowflake Joy

I made this yesterday for an SCS challenge. It took me quite a while to come up with this finished product...sometimes the creative juices just aren't flowing! I also don't think I stuck to the challenge very well, as we were only supposed to use one embellishment! Oops! :)


I also had a fabulous afternoon with my friends Holly, Anne, & Rochelle who arranged a crafty afternoon in celebration of my birthday. They are so sweet and we had a wonderful time! I really enjoyed the fun crafts. We made all natural herb topiaries (which are beautiful), snow globes, glass-etched candles and made little bags for the candles. It was all so much fun. I'll post pictures after I get them developed.

Giving Thanks

Today we are giving thanks to God for each other and our marriage, Bexar, family, friends, freedom, His daily provision, and His lovingkindness. Just taking time to be thankful and remember all that He provides fills our hearts with joy. May your day be filled with joy, too.

Y'all should be receiving your cards soon - I mailed them late. {Gasp!} Doesn't sound like me, does it?!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

It's my dad's birthday. I can't believe he's 60 years old. He neither looks like it or acts like it, yet God has blessed him with 60 years on this earth. Sixty used to seem so old but not anymore. I'm a little more than half his age, so I guess that puts it into perspective a bit. ;) I'm late as always with a gift and card, but I think he's come to expect that and he's in no shock that it's not there yet! It would have been nice to surprise my parents for Thanksgiving (as I've been known to pull a few surprises) but we couldn't do it this year. My dad asked me why I wasn't on a plane today when we talked! LOL He was hoping. :)

I hope his day was as wonderful as he is.

I've been baking today and believe it or not - haven't even set foot into the studio today - or for the last 2 days!! There's going to have to be some stamping therapy tomorrow before we go to the Arneson's for dinner. ;)

I hope y'all have a wonderful time with your families.

My hubby, the Sign Builder

And what an awesome sign it is! We thought we needed a bigger sign since I have driven past our driveway a couple of times! I think he did a great job. We put a copper solar light on top and there's a copper end cap on the side post. The plaques with the addresses were stained with cedar stain before the numbers were screwed on. I think it's fabulous and hopefully I won't pass by our driveway anymore. :)
Have a great day!

Amuse Swap

I'm finally finished with the ATCs for the swaps. These are for the Amuse group. I really feel like these need a sentiment, but I didn't leave any place for it! I need to get these in the mail, too, so I'm a little pressed for time. I'm looking forward to receiving the swaps - should be fun! Click here to see the ones I made for the SU! swap.

International Harvester

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b52SDopaMZY

Once a country bumpkin, always a country bumpkin. I heard this on the radio the other day and can't get it out of my mind. It's my new favorite song right now!

Here are the lyrics (they're a hoot)!
http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/morgan-craig/international-harvester-18379.html

Thank you Veterans

Happy Veteran's Day (yesterday)! I made a card for my Grannie (on Sunday) and knew it would be late, but that's okay. It's the thought...

Truly Blessed and Thankful

We are truly a blessed people. I was just reading an email from Wycliffe (a Bible translation ministry), which I will share because it impacted me so much.

"The Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaïre, is coming out of a brutal period of war. More civilians have died in this war than in any war since the Second World War, at least 10 and perhaps 20 times more than in Darfur. Elections were held in late 2006. Peace and stability have returned to most of the country. Millions of displaced people have moved back to their homes. However, in two eastern provinces, North and South Kivu, instability started again in August 2007. In addition to as many as 650,000 displaced persons in those provinces, another 90,000 were displaced in September 2007 alone. One Congolese translation team works in the area and their houses have been flooded with family members. One has 18 living with him."

I realized what a blessing it is to be creative and for my mind to even be able to focus on stamping, creating, watching movies, and enjoying life. That is not the case for millions of people - wondering where their next meal will come from, looking for a place to lay their head, needing peace in their hearts and minds so they can sleep, needing a warm or cool place to get out of the elements, and many other situations. Some may be in physical pain, split up from their families and loved ones, have no one to call friend, or worse yet....Godless, faithless, and without an eternal home with Jesus. The possibilities are endless.

With the remembrance of Veteran's Day (yesterday), what a wonderful blessing to meditate on...our country's freedom and prosperity - a gift of God.

Thank you Grannie B, Tina B (Grannie's close friend), my late Grandad, my late Pappaw, and all veterans who have sacrificed to fight for our country. Thank you to the soldiers who are fighting now, all over the world. You are loved and appreciated.

First swap

I'm participating in my first ATC (artist trading card) swap where you make small 3.5 x 2.5 card fronts to swap, sometimes using a particular image, theme, etc. Taylor (an amazing artist) over at Taylored Expressions is hosting a huge swap with multiple groups. Each group consists of 9 people, but we will submit 10 cards. Once we mail them to her, she will make sure everyone in the group has one of each design, and then mail them all back out. Frankly, it sounds like a ton of work...so many thanks to Taylor!

I decided to try two different groups, so I've signed up for an SU! swap and an Amuse swap. I'm having fun desiging and making these. Although, I must say that as always, I've included too many steps on this first one, which makes it more difficult and time-consuming to reproduce. But, I love it...and that's the important thing! :-) I needed a tree on Friday and since I don't have a tree stamp, I used a couple of flower stamps to make the grove of trees. These were inspired by my card on Friday. You will notice I changed a few things up; I decided to use another stamp to layer over the flower (it's actually the 2nd stamp used to complete the 2-step-stampin' effect) from Stampin' Up!'s "Heartfelt Thanks" set. I think it helps to define the tree better. And when I went back for more of that lovely Bo Bunny dp (green paper), I found those dainty little pearls. I felt like it needed a little extra punch and they really softened it up.

It's time to go back to the stampin' studio and get busy on the Amuse ATCs. :)

Very Happy Birthday Wishes

To my mom...YESTERDAY!!! I'm late as always, but at least I called her. :) Her card is sitting on my table, ready to be mailed....I am my mother's daughter. :D

Thank you for your Business

I finally finished up the plant database that I've been working on for a tree nursery close to the house. He was my first customer with my new business "Vefficient." I made a "thank you for your business" card because I thought it would be a nice gesture. He's a supernice guy and I was thankful that he gave me some work! Plus, I just had to get up to the stamp "studio" yesterday for some relaxation. :)

Recipe:

For the main image, I used a flower from my SU! Heartfelt Thanks set for the "leaves" and stamped them in various shades of green listed below. I sketched the trunks in and followed with my brown marker. After cutting it out, I used some yellow chalk to soften the contrast of the stark white bg. I "distressed" all edges by running the hard edge of my stamp around it until I was satisfied. I also used a sponge and chocolate chip ink to dirty up the edges of the polka dots and blend better with the burgandy. Tied a ribbon around the image, then mounted on dp. I don't have any oval punches (but I might need some - LOL), so I used MS Word's drawing tool and made a few ovals that nested inside each other. After printing and cutting my "templates," I traced them onto my paper, cut them, distressed edges (same as main image) and mounted using a thick foam tape to give it some depth. This took me some time to make, but it was well worth it. I think this actually came out much prettier in real life. :-) Next time, I think I want to add some hardware in the top left corner - maybe 2 brown brads. :)

Stamps: SU! Heartfelt Thanks, "Thank You" stamp was an SU! incentive stamp (freebie from demonstrator)

Paper: SU! Bravo Burgandy, Bo-Bunny's yummy reversible "Eire Tartan" dp, yellow polka dot dp from a huge pad (name fell off and I didn't think to keep it), and SU! white

Ink: All SU! - Certainly Celery, Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, Brown Fabrico marker

Accessories: Just a simple ribbon to hold down the tree trunks and some light yellow chalk around to soften the stark white places.

I have lots of ATCs to make today and I think this is going to be my SU! one. :) Perfect! Just a smaller tree and I've got it. :) Yay! Now just one more design for my Amuse swap. :D

Stamping Fun

Lately I've been stamping quite a bit and I think everyone has received their cards so I can post them. :)

This was a card I made in memory of Wendy's visit here. When she was here, she was 13 weeks pregnant and I told her we should draw "13 weeks" in the sand and take a picture, but by the time we got to the next beach area, it was dark and we didn't feel like hiking down to the beach. It was also an SCS challenge to only use numbers on the front of the card - guess I failed! Hehe

I sent this one to Mindy. This was also for an SCS color challenge.

This one was for Wendy in celebration of her new job. Congrats, Wendy!

I sent this one to Matthew and Mindy welcoming their new puppy Max! He is just too cute. We're so excited for them as they embark on the adventure of "parenthood." {The reds actually looked like they matched when I made it. :( Shoot! So much for stamping at night!}

I made these for our "mummies" for Halloween. :-) I cut up some cheesecloth for the background and wrote little notes inside. I couldn't resist decorating the envelopes with polka dots of course!

Enjoy!

Yesterday: Fun day with a funny sign

Yesterday I had a fun day. After I did a little work, I had coffee with Brooke, took Bexar to Marymoor, worked a little more, and then went to the gym for a 2-hour workout while watching the "Biggest Loser." I have really come to enjoy my Tuesday nights at the gym; it feels good to have a long workout once a week! :-)

While we were on our way to Marymoor, we passed a sign. I've seen it before and wondered how much business these people actually get. I really wish I had picture, but I don't, so let me try and describe it for you. It's a big rectangular piece of plywood spraypainted with black lettering that reads "Bussiness Open." Normally I would have the reaction of a heavy sigh filled with disgust, but today I noticed that someone had circled the extra "s" and written "C-" above it. For some reason, this really tickled my funny bone and I couldn't stop laughing! I felt proud at that moment and vindicated! LOL

Muddy Buddy

I finally finished a scrapbook page that I had been working on for several nights. This one wasn't so easy coming together...and I'm still not 100% satisfied, but it will do for now.

Happy weekend!

Too cute to scare!

I just got some trick-or-treating photos of my nieces and nephew and their cousins. Aren't they such a cute crew?!

Cheese, wine, and the finer things of Life

I was checking out our church's website this morning and came upon this fantastic article.
http://www.trinitywa.com/posts/10

I must admit, I've never been to or even heard of a dedication of a cheese cave, but I think it's a neat idea. It really made me ponder if I'm doing EVERYTHING to the glory of God. (This especially includes the mundane tasks of cooking (which I admit is more rare than I'd like it to be), washing clothes, keeping a clean house for my family, taking care of Bexar, as well as the fun stuff like stamping and scrapbooking.) It also made me want to get in the kitchen and cook, which I'm sure is music to Nathan's ears! :-)

Praise God for Friday!