turkey owls

Hey there!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We went down to the in-laws house for a yummy turkey dinner.  I'm still full.

I have no Thanksgiving day pics.  I know.........you're disappointed.  Me too. 

There were only 9 of us for dinner.  We decorated gingerbread houses.  That has become a Thanksgiving day tradition.  We leave one for Gramma, one for Uncle Danny and take one home for us.  Grace gave us a little concert on the flute.  So cute!  I wish I had taken a video.  I'll have to learn how to do that. 

I do have something stampy to show you today though.  Can you believe it?  Earlier in the week I had made a couple of Thank You cards.  They should have been received by now so I can show you. 

Woodgrain and A Word for You sets.  Soft suede, more mustard, crumb cake, old olive, cajun craze, early espresso, whisper white, pumpkin pie, basic black and bashful blue cardstock.  Black Stazon and crumb cake inks.  Big shot, top note die, owl punch, fun flowers die and dimensionals. 

Its a turkey owl!  Isn't he cute? 

I sent these as a thank you for a couple of online orders I got.  I think they were friends because they both ordered the owl punch.  I wanted to make a card using the punch so they would have an idea that they could copy and since it was close to Thanksgiving I thought it appropriate to turn him into a turkey.  HA!  I crack myself up.  Its probably been done a million times but humor me here. 

I cut off his little ear tufts and used the Fun Flowers die to make feathers.  I couldn't resist giving him some baby blue eyes.  I think he's adorable.  Gobble...Gobble!

Oh yeah, and the top note?  Just cut out a top note then turn it sideways and run it through the machine again.  You'll get this groovy square.  Gobble.....Gobble!

Alrighty then, thats it for today.  I have some more craftiness up my sleeve to show you later.  I hope you're getting geared up for the December Daily journals.  Come on........get ready. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I appreciate it more than you could ever know. 

Blessings, b.

December Daily

I know, I know, I said I was going to be on here more often but, .............. I've learned that once you step away from blogging, its easy to stay away.  Same can be said for stamping..........darn it!

Not that I don't have things to share with you (not much stamping anyway) but when I do get time to sit down and write to you.......I just don't feel like it.  Hmph........

This will rememdy that situation............December Daily. 

And like right now, when I do have things to show you.......the dryer just sang to me.  I'll be right back.........................................................




Okay, December Daily.  Its time to stop thinking about it and start getting ready for it.  I've got a pretty good start:

Grace saw me getting this together and said, "Can I do the cover Momma?" 

I couldn't say no.  Besides, ultimately these books are for the kiddos anyway.  So here is her creation. 

Groovy huh?

I went with a half sheet ( 8.5 x 5.5) of cardstock for the pages.  That way I don't have any waste.  And since I don't have a fancy photoshop program I can just print 3.5 x 5 pics from my regular program. 

The patterned paper I'm using for this is the Frostwood Lodge DSP from the Holiday mini.  The colors are Garden Green, Cherry Cobbler (which I don't have so I'm using riding hood red), Whisper White, and Marina Mist. 

So I made the pages Crumb Cake, Riding Hood Red and  Confetti White.  I chose Conf. White just because its a little more sturdy than Whisper White.  I just rotated them throughout.  Right now I'm thinking of just having one page per day.  But I can always add more for those days when I have more pics.

I used the same binding as last year since that worked pretty swell. 

Here is a running list I've got going of things I could include.  There are always going to be those days where I don't have a story to tell.  Ali Edwards has a great post talking about things you could include check it out here.  That will give you even more ideas. 

So I feel like I'm ready to go.  My other embellishments are going to be very simple; some hemp, Forest Lodge DSP, punches.  I don't really have a stamp set to go with it this year.   I'm keeping it flexible so we'll see what I end up with. 

I hope you decide to do your own Dec. Daily.  You can look here at my 2009 album and 2010 album for some more ideas. 

Everybody has enjoyed going through the old ones.  Funny how quickly we forget little things.  Even The Boy got a kick out of them. 

So I hope you do it with me.  Everybody has a story to tell. 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great Thanksgiving. 

Blessings, b.

10 things

Oh, how I've missed you! 

How I've missed stamping! 

I've been in a funk.  Too many things swimming around in the ol' noggin that were bringing me down.  BUT, I've sorted things out and I'm getting back on track.  So here are 10 things from the past month that I've been doing.


1.  Work

   CELDT   testing is finally over!  (almost half of our student body speaks a language other than English)  This school year has been absolutely stressful.  Lots of drama.  Lots of extra unpaid hours.  But its done now.  We were the first school in our district to turn everything in and everything was perfect.  Yipee!  Yes, I'm sleeping much better now, thank you.

2.  Band

The Boy graduated last year and we are feeling the absence of band.  Our school hosted a competition a few weeks ago and we had to go.  I don't really understand our theme this year but the drumline still rocks!  Grace is taking flute this year with her school and I just kept thinking that maybe in 4 years we'll be back in band again. 


3.  College

17 is applying to colleges.  I want her to broaden her horizons and think of maybe going out of state.  When the market picks up we are planning on moving out of state.  We are thinking Oregon or Idaho.  So she has applied to a few locally here but is also going to apply there.  Although by the time we move she'll be done with college.  The thought of her not living with us just about kills me.  (deep breaths)

4.  Anniversary

We celebrated our 22nd anniversary a few weeks ago.  We did not get to go camping/fishing this summer so we decided to go and stay at the lodge and pull our friend's boat.  Such beautiful weather!  Really, it couldn't have been nicer.  We've never been when all the leaves are changing.  The fishing wasn't all that but, who cares?  I didn't want to come home.

5.  New Microwave

Ours was only 3 years old and the computer died.  It would cost more to fix it than to get a new one.  We got a Samsung.  It had great reviews so lets hope it lasts longer than 3 years. 

6.  Downton Abbey

Did you happen to catch this earlier in the year?  Oh my!  I'm not sure why I love the BBC productions but I do.  When I happen to watch a movie my wonderful family will say, "Is this a another movie where they wear too many clothes and talk funny?"  Aren't they super?  I didn't watch this when it first came on but when they won so many emmys they showed the first episode again and I got hooked.  I can't wait for season 2. 

7.  The Good News Club

My good friend has started a chapter of The Good News Club at my school.  Its a Bible based club for the kiddos.  I'm volunteering to help and its so cool.  We get out of school early on Fridays and I really loved getting that extra hour home alone but, this is worth it. 

8.  The garden

The weather has finally cooled of this last week.  It actually rained a few days ago and today.  The zucchini are hanging on.  The chili peppers are going wild.  Cherry tomatoes are super happy and we pulled our first carrot.  It was really good!  The cucumbers are finally coming around too.  I'm getting ready to start the winter garden soon. 

9. Halloween

Grace wanted to do Halloween "right" this year.  That meant a scary costume.  She is a vampire.  17 went with her friends and dressed as a cowgirl.  The Boy also went with his buds and dressed as a ......a.........I'm not sure what to call it........he wore his old Gi and a bamboo hat.  Old Chinese guy?  Anyway, everyone had fun.  I'm glad its over though.  Bring on the turkey!

10.  December Daily  (Ali's)  December Daily (mine)

I know, I know.......December Daily already Beth?  Yep, time to start thinking about it.  Ali Edwards has a new kit available to make it easier.  But.......when have I ever done things the easy way?  I've been thinking about what supplies I'll be using this year.  Here is what I have going on so far:

• I'm going to do the same size as last year, 8.5 x 5.5
• I might do the same binding.....not sure yet
• I'm going to use the Frostwood Lodge DSP from the Holiday Mini Catalog
• Colors:  crumb cake, cherry cobbler and white or vanilla, twine,

Ali really gets her pages set up beforehand.  I don't usually do that but I might.  Right now my mantra is "Simplifiy, Simplify"



Alrighty then, thats it for now.  Thanks so much for putting up with my absence.  I just had brain overload for awhile and needed to step away from myself and figure things out.  Its so easy to get caught up in the unimportant stuff and lose sight of what is important and what makes me happy.  So, you'll be hearing from me alot more often now.  Because checking in with you makes me happy.

Thanks so much for stopping by and keeping the blog warm while I was away.

Blessings, b.