Snow Land Boy - Layout

I found my other layout! This was for the 'Celebrating the Seasons' Class over at 2Peas... Each month we are to do a layout related to our seasons..

This layout features several photos of Jake battling that huge snowball!!! Too darn fun.. I was spying on him from the living room window.. These photos are shot from inside the house...and on Dec. 29th, but I am using it for January...

BTW - We have been under an Inversion for over a week! The sun has popped out just a couple times to taunt us... Oh how I miss that big ol' yellow orb!!! Come BACK sunshine!

Happy Birthday Paulita!

Paula and Me - 1986

Gads. We so need to get together to get some new photos!
Hello! This is 23 years old!!!
Older than her son! Older than my children!
Older than so many things!!!!!!!
We are old.

Another Vintage Photo of Paula, my little sis

My little sis Paula is celebrating one of her 4o something birthdays... Don't know if I'm allowed to share her age, but rest assured she is younger than my 46 years, and we are roughly, oh, 3.5 years apart!

She lives near St. Louis, MO.

I miss her.

She is a sweetie pie. She has spent the majority of her life doing things for others, you know the drill - cook, clean, scrub, do your dirty work while you sit on the couch and watch TV. She GIVES to her church, her work, and GOD knows who or what else... (hello! Take a break, will ya?)

She has always has been my little sis and my partner in certain crimes and secrets. I love her dearly. And we so need to make more crimes and secrets together!!! We are WAY over due!!!

Tonight she is having dinner with her only child, so hopefully he will treat her with respect and for once, pay for her dinner and buy her a gift and treat her the same way she has treated him all these years. As in Spoiled!

(Are you reading this Andrew??? Your 17 for crying out loud! Do something for your MOTHER for once, will ya? It's not all about you!)...

OK, my duty as the big sister and God Mother are now complete. That kid needs a huge whack upside his 'what's in it for me' head.

Happy Birthday Little Sis.

And just say 'no'. Or better yet, say 'there's the door, Pal!'.

(I do believe this is the exact same advice she gave me - yesterday????)

Tee he!
Love ya baby.

Some Layouts to Share

Digi Layout of Sami's New Birthday Duds

Traditional Layout (paper, stamps, etc.)
of Jake Making His Monster Snow Ball!

Just thought I would share some things I have worked on lately! The layout of Jake was for the Hero Arts 'pocket' challenge, and the layout of Sami is for a 2peas Digi Class for January.

I have another layout of Jake, but can't find where my darn computer filed it! ARG! It's a 12x12 layout that was 'stitched'. Every time I do something different in Adobe PSE3 (take photo, take scan, or create new canvas, or save as jpg) it files it somewhere funky....

Still learning that darn program...

Have a great day!

A Tribute to Andrew Wyeth

While blurfing the morning Google News I saw an article that Andrew Wyeth died yesterday.

Oh my.

The articles that I have been reading this morning are so degrading of his style and his Art!

Damn the Art Snobs!

So this post is for Andrew.

I have always loved his Art.

Gorgeous American art. Of rural life.

I love the Master Bedroom piece. Every time I have seen it, I have imagined myself right there, looking out the window or curling up with the dog for an summer afternoon nap.

Even before I became a rancher's wife. I have been drawn to his paintings and the lifestyle they have depicted.

Thanks Mr. Wyeth. Thanks for sharing your gorgeous work with all of us.

Peace be with you.

Recap of Eleven-Tween

Do YOU know this girl?
Here she is, little miss Eleven-Teen
All decked out in her new duds from G. Grace

Vampin'
Or Scampin'
Or Saturday Night Feverin'

Oh, and Let's Not Forget the Office Supplies Wish List!
This girl asked for office supplies for her birthday.
I see a trend toward playing with paper, punches, ink, etc.
It's addicting.
I know.
Auntie Paula is sending office supplies...
And she cracked up when she heard the request.

Headin' to School With Cupcakes!
Yes, it's dark.
We walk down the drive at 6:30 am.
Look out your window at 6:30 am.
Tell me, what do you see?

A Digital Camera!
Thanks G. Pat!!!

Sami turned Eleven-Tween on January 5th.. yep. You heard me. Eleven-Tween... See her? There's no denying that girl is not a babe anymore... Look at that bundle of gorgeousness!!!

So, normally,Jan. 5th would have been the kids first day back to school after their EVER SO LONG Christmas break... But we had a huge ol' storm so school was closed. Highways were closed. And there was no gettin' out of dodge. No mommy escape routes. Dang.

We had Sami's party that night. Lots of fun! Her favorite foods were served (Buffalo Drums, shrimp). The oreo cookie cake was a hit. And her gifties. She is getting a custom rabbit hutch in addition to all you saw above, as well as earings from Auntie Avis, a sweet gift from Great Auntie Alice, and lots of office supplies.

The classroom cupcakes had to go to school a day late, another snowy day, but alas, no wind, and thus no drifts...and my escape route was opened! Yahoo!

Little Gal (Cornish Heritage Farms Set) Creations

Creation #1: So Girly Happy Birthday Card
Supplies:
Cornish Heritage Farms Kim Hughes 'Little Gal' stamp set
(the 'shoe' and 'girly')
Stampin' Up Background Stamp (the plaid design)
Stampin' Up Doodle Alphabet Stamps ('So')
SU Black & White Card Stock
Black Stazon
Hero Arts Pink Gemstones
Black Gemstone
Pink Spica Pen
Ribbon, paper flower, plaid brad, and happy birthday epoxy tag
(first three were a RAK, all unknown mfgs!)

Creation #2
Supplies:
CHF KH 'Little Gal' Stamp Set (text filled butterfly)
Hero Arts Pink Gems
Black SU Pen
Pink Spica Pen
Autumn Leaves Buttons
Heidi Swap White w/black dots circle Journal Spot
White Inksentials Pen
SU Hemp
SU Card Stock
SU Scallop Border Punch

Creation #3: Sami's Birthday Card :)
Supplies:
CHF HS 'Little Gal' Stamp Set (sugar & spice, Ice Cream Cone)
Kim Hughes Mocha Chica Patterned Paper (morning blend)
Hero Arts Clear Design Cupcakes Stamp Set (Happy Birthday)
SU Cardstock
Black Stazon ink
Worn Lipstick Distress Ink
SU Regal Rose Pen
Worn Lipstick Distress Stickles
Autumn Leaves Buttons
SU Pink & Chocolate Ribbons
American Crafts Striped Ribbon

Yeah!

I finally played with a new stamp set that I was so lucky to win from the super Cornish Heritage Farms Creative Blog site (uh, back in October!!!)! OK, so perhaps Sami's birthday gave me the push... I needed a super cute girl card, for a super cute girl, and well, I just could not stop with just one!

I just adore Kim Hughes. She creates so many adorable sets and has a super fun blog! Be sure to go check out her place... Everytime she posts, she leaves a few tips... And, she recently shared an awesome giveaway of FOUR of her brand spankin new stamp sets at another cool site!

Thanks for looking!

And Thanks Again Cornish Heritage Farms!!!!!

Some Creations and Confessions from 2008

Some Distress Stickles, HA stamps,
Cosmo Cricket Patterned Paper and American Crafts Letters
Along with Kraft card stock, and super fun embellies!

Purple Onion Designs tree and little leaves stamps,
HA big leaf, distress stickles
Cosmo cricket patterned paper, American Crafts letters

More Purple Onion Designs, HA, Cosmo Cricket
And some very fun embellies! I loved the paper flower used for the tree!
(Too bad I don't know who makes it!!)

More of the Above Supplies
Can you tell I was on a roll?
This one uses some HA bling on the tree

And More!

Hero Arts Stamp (leaf), And Cosmo Cricket papers
American Crafts Letters

Hero Arts Stamps
(I forget who makes the paper and embellies!)

My Minds Eye patterned Papers & Hero Arts Stamps

Hero Arts Stamps and Basic Grey

Hero Arts, Maya Road and Basic Grey

One of My HA Christmas Cards
(HA stands for Hero Arts)
The 3 big trees, sentiment and little tree are all HA stamps.
Thanks Jennifer for the big trees!!!

Most of these are for the weekly Hero Arts Challenges
Which seem to get me motivated!
(Especially the sketch week)

Card Using a Gifted HA stamp (the little birdy)
My favorite Christmas paper of the year - My Minds Eye!
The scallops and sentiment are also HA stamps.

Thanks Sue for the sweet stamp!!!

A Little Card
HA tree stamp, snowflakes (thanks Jennifer!), sentiment and Basic Grey papers

A Valentine's Day Card!
HA stamps and Basic Grey

Another Valentine Card
HA stamps, Basic Grey papers, and Grunge Board!

A Layout of Sami
(Click to Enlarge)
I love this layout!!!! My favorite creation of the entire year...
And of course one of my favorite 'creations' (my daughter) of my life!!!

A Layout of the Kids and Bugsy
Our 'Christmas Card' Photo!
Which has not been sent.
Yet.

*****************

Do you do this? I am going through my computer files and 'cleaning things up'.

This means I am deleting things I don't think I need, shuffling files, and finding little goodies I didn't share with you!

Above are some of my favorite things that I forgot to share!

And now for some confessions:

1. Remember when I made a bunch of Thanksgiving and Thank You cards? I still have most of them! Arg! I did not send them in time, and then had to send Christmas Themed Thank you cards!
2. Remember when I asked for help on our Christmas Photo? I still have not mass produced the cards (aka ordered them from Snapfish), or made my annual letter... I got side tracked with baking! So, I do believe I will be doing a Valentine's Mailer instead!

Thanks for looking!

Gorgeous Inspiration - Guy's E-Scapes

I need to share with all of you an awesome Artist that I am related to!

I'm not kidding. We are related, by blood, not by some obscure 'married to my husbands sisters son's' thingy.

This guy, Guy, is my cousin! Not my second or third or 4th down the line cousin. A real cousin. My moms sister's oldest son.

Click on his name to go to his blog, My E-Scapes.

He's hot.

He's talented.

And he teaches classes!

Anway, he's got a great painting going right now and I want all of you to go look at it! Then save his blog in your reader so you can catch the changes that he makes...

Be sure to click on his header and go back to all the posts of the painting from the very beginning...

OH my!

Welcome 2009!!! See ya, 2008!

Thank Goodness it's January 1st!

Let me tell you, I held the door wide open so 2008 could hit the high road!


So, last night we attempted to stay up late. I was the first Indian out at 10 pm. Dick was 2nd. Then Sami, then Jake. How do I know all of this, since I was the first one out?

Well, let me tell you! EVERYONE is sleeping in the same room! One big slumber party during Christmas Break, and everytime another person comes into the room, the lights go on and there seems to be some sort of room chatter. Ai Carumba! I do not sleep pretty when my rest is interrupted. Whole lot of ugly going on right now!

So, Jake, who was the last, and has a habit of being very focal and loud... came into the room, and he kept saying things like 'I dont' want to go to bed', 'I want to stay up'!

No one was holding him down, mind you. It was each man for themselves last night.

Then, about 2am I heard Jake again, loudly, IT'S PAST MIDNIGHT! WAY PAST MIDNIGHT! I MISSED IT! And then he started crying... uh oh. Poor little guy!

(BTW, Sami came to her sleeping bag bed with an alarm. It went off at 10 til midnight but she did not get up. So I turned it off... Perhaps I should have just woken everyone right then! Looking back at how the day progressed and all ... )

I swear I just dosed off, and then... Dick's alarm started going off at 4am and every 15 minutes.. you know the drill.

So each time it went off, Jake would wake, and remember what happened the night before, and more loud talk and crying...

I could not stand it anymore! So I got up.

Then Dick got up.

And we consulted.

Then, we woke the kids up. And told them it was New Years and time to Bang Pots and Pans!! (We were very very loud!)

We turned on the TV to the programs I pre-recorded (( really really thought I was being smart! But did you know they were only 1 hour? Instead of 2???? CRUD, we missed the Ball Drop!)..

We said 'uh oh' after realizing we did not get the Ball Drop..

So, we went to the Computer.

Pulled up a U-Tube video of the drop.

And brought in the New Year with banging pots and pans, followed by sour dough pancakes and a days worth of grumpyness...

sigh...


I am so looking forward to 2009!