I will be out for awhile - I have had an accident -

Hello - I have started getting a few emails wondering where I am. I am sorry I haven't posted, but I have had an accident here on the farm -

Wednesday evening while out watering the donkeys - I was struck in the face with a bungee tie down strap. I was alone, Hubby had been out of town, and was on his way home. Thank God our Dr. Neighbor was just driving up the road, I could barely see her in the distance,  and I yelled for her. I have had one eye surgery - and will be going in on Tuesday to be examined... I have lost my right eye. They will start the processes and surgery's to get me a artificial eye as soon as they feel that my face and eye has healed enough.

First thing I want to say... I am OK - I will get through this, I have the most amazing Husband, family and friends that are here with me - I have two concerns and goals... One... I have to get back to coloring as soon as possible, and two I need to train my "good eye" (I say that loosely cuz I have always been as I said before blind as a bat and wore contacts) Now that eye will need to be trained and made stronger so I can get back to life and my second goal... Driving.

Things seem bad... but I have faith in God that this will all end up good. I am not going to let this get me down- it is not my personality to be depressed I am going to get through this and be just as good as new.. just one less eye -

I will try and post updates from time to time, but at the moment, the computer screen really strains my eye so I can't work on it for very long.

Thank you for the prayers and well wishes - I know I need the strength of all of my family and friends - including each of you -

HUGS and

Spoon Full of Sugar - Best Wishes/Good Luck

Today's Spoon Full of Sugar is for Best Wishes a Good Luck project. Great timing as I needed a Best Wishes card for a friend :0) And one of my favorite images to use for Good Wishes or Thinking of you .. is Stampavie's Tina Wenke Mouse in a Teacup - I just love this image!! Fun to color and too adorable.

I tried to do a bit lighter coloring with my Copics. I tend to be a "heavy colorer" (.... I know that isn't a word, but hey it works here... )  So I tried to go lighter in colors and use of ink. Was tough, but I like it... and it still ended up a bit more than I was going for.

For my card I pulled out DCWV Linen Closet stack, love this collection, so pretty - and has a touch of sparkle. I layered and then cut into the scallops of one of the patterns in order to slip another layer behind. I sewed everything together. I cut my image with my oval Nesties, and then matted with another pattern cut with the scallop nesties.  I stamped the Hero Arts sentiment Best Wishes across the bottom... a bit "black" I wish I had tried a different color, but it was all put together so it was what it was. I added three small white pearl buttons to the top corner. Simple but I like it.

Now you can visit A Spoon Full of Sugar and see all the DT Best Wishes and Good Luck cards - too cute and too pretty! And then join us for the challenge and the prizes!

HUGS and -

Have you heard??? Stampavie is having a DT CALL!!!!

Stampavie is looking for five new, full-time Design Team members to join the team!

Entering couldn’t be easier :- simply leave a comment on the Stampavie Blog HERE before midnight GMT July 11th with your name and link to your blog (DT members must have a blog).

How cool is that?? 5 chances to join the team! All the details are on the Stampavie BLOG HERE 

Good Luck! Can't wait to see who joins the team!!!

HUGS and-

Told you Vicki was really close!!! -- Meet Mimi :0)

I knew she was close!!! You could just see it in her face, she was ready to have this baby! So yesterday evening just after 7pm.. she went into labor! And now ... Meet Mimi !!!

This photo is just minutes after she was born... Vicki was pretty tired and was wanting to stay down a few minutes, I don't blame her it was a tough birth in the heat! But she did wonderful - and Mimi is just gorgeous!

This photo I took this morning - you can see she is a carbon copy of her Mom... I am so thrilled! I think she is going to even have Vicki's GREEN EYES!!!! Mirta... Mimi's older sister from last year has a hint of green in her eyes, but we have never had a baby with this light of eyes at birth before.. fingers crossed they stay that way!

Runway Super Model I think!!!

See carbon copy huh? And I think Raffie needs some extra hay or something special tonight for fathers day... I think that is 9 babies "from" Raffie... only one boy out of the nine! If we would sell more.. lol ... that would mean lots more money! LOL if we sold more :0)

And we had to have our day one photo with Dad of course... Mimi was pretty calm about it, Mom on the other hand really would like her baby to stay on the ground please....

Hope you enjoyed :0) Have a great Sunday -
HUGS and-

Animal Crackers - From Four to One....

It is a bit of a sad morning in the goat pen this morning - last night Paintbrush lost 3 of her 4 babies. They moved next door - now that is good, cuz I can visit them. But a bit hard on Paintbrush. The neighbor isn't right next door, I can see her house but she is a ways off. But sound... well sound carries a long way here in the country. And Paintbrush can still hear her babies calling out - just crushes my heart - Ricky, Fred and Ethel are talking non-stop. New home, new pen, new house and all the "mini donkeys" that they are use to being surrounded by... well they now have warm blood horses.... WAY WAY bigger. But they have a nice pen and house and they will be fine once they get use to their new home. But tell that to paintbrush today...   Oh and I kept Lucy :0) She is my girl... and at least Mom still has one of her quads...

Annie... she is getting closer to being a Mom again. By my calendar 3-4 weeks I think. Annie had her first baby in January - a gorgeous little girl. She didn't survive. So I hope that this time she has a bouncing baby full of health and life. She isn't huge, so I don't know if she will have more than one... what ever as long as they - he - she is healthy!

 Speaking of getting close.. I am sticking real close to home this weekend - Vickie is really showing all the signs... I think we may have some new baby photos to show off right away!!!  She is more than ready by the looks of this photo... 

I just love Bella's ears - they are so large, and silky... She may be a "plain grey dun" but she is pretty - and has a wonderful loving personality. We purchased her as a youth.. to re-sale... but well, we fell in love with her and decided to keep her, so glad we did :0)
 

Scraggly Felicia  - poor little thing. She doesn't know that she is a mess. She thinks she is beautiful. And that is how I like all my children, despite the fact that Mom and Dad sheared her and she is just a mess. She was our long hair donkey, and the heat was just too much for her, we sheared most all of her fur one night and thought in a few nights we would clean her up and make her pretty... weeks have gone by and life has been crazy busy so she is still a mess. But she feels better, cooler and that was the goal. She is so tiny and beautiful regardless of her hair.


No Libbie and Autie this week, I snapped 40-50 photos out there this morning, and they were all just horrible. With the goats all making noise, all the summer bugs screaming - it was just more than they could handle...

I did get a cool "bug" photo... A Dragonfly. Love that blue color! Hubby says we have bright pink and green ones too.. need to snap photos of them, really pretty wings too... just as I snapped this photo he flew away... but that is ok, cuz they eat mosquitoes and that is a GREAT thing here with two ponds on our property!!

Just Magnolias - In the Garden

Hi - it is Friday and time for Just Magnolias!! And today is great challenge.. In the Garden! That means flowers ;o)  And we love our flowers!

Our sponsor this week is Wild Orchid  Crafts ... oh I just love this place!! Can it get better than getting a box in the mail and having it full of BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS??? Ok.. maybe chocolate, but I can't have that now can I? ... LOL   Seriously visit them, order you won't be sorry.. LOVE their flowers!

Alright I'll stop drooling over the flowers now and show you my card -

I started with purples - - - the flowers were my starting point - So all of my papers are following them, I went through my scraps and found two shades of purple simple patterns to use on my Bazzil purple card stock. Then I found a simple dotted lime green - Love purple and green together you know ha!   A band was made with the green with a Martha Stewart border punch - everything is sewed down.  I found a flourish of pearls, and layered it around the image - The sentiment is from Hero Arts and is matted with a Stampin Up punch. Oh and spare pearls  -

Tilda is colored with my Copics - and cut with my oval Nesties.. and scalloped Nesties  - I sewed it together -

And before I go.. lets just take a moment to admire the flowers... love them! OH and the Crystal Stem Chandeliers..... yes Wild Orchid carries those too at a pretty good price too ;0)

Now pop over first to Just Magnolias Challenge and see all the gorgeous In the Garden Flower cards from the DT - and then from there run over to Wild Orchid and start drooling over all the gorgeous flower and extras!

HUGS and -

Busy Stringing -

Don't ever leave me waiting around in Micheal's... I wander around and then find new things I want to try and have always talked myself out of.

I love to look at all the gorgeous beads... so many beautiful beads - this week they were on sale. And I was getting bored waiting around... and well... some just ended up in my cart :0) I know... sad... I have way more than I am going to admit to from the paper crafting section... WAY MORE.

So... I made some bracelets! These took me less than an hour to make, and I just love them ;0)

These were the first beads to end up in my cart.... I fell in love with them! The colors, and those little daisy flowers, they are a round flat bead, so they are different. I found some spacers that I liked with them and then parked my cart to wait for MIL a little longer.... oops look at these beads...

I ADORE these brown with iridescent coloring! They ended up in my cart too.. the sale was a buy two for price this week :0) But I couldn't find any spacers that I like with the beads, was sort of bummed but just nothing looked right. Then when I went up to the counter I found a display of the Swarovski beads, and these shaped beads were the exact color as the base of the iridescent ones! This bracelet really sparkles a ton! I just wish the beads were a little larger :0)

Now this one... I think it may be my favorite - but more for sentimental reasons. Once home and I had made the first two bracelets, I got to thinking about Grandma's sequin/bead box she gave me years ago... In the bottom of the box were a few pieces of costume jewelry that were broke and she was going to "someday" restring. One was this really old, these gorgeous baby blue glass beads. I took it apart, then went to my "paper-crafting" stash and found my spacers I use for centers to flowers, and strung myself up a bracelet! There were enough beads left.. I strung up my Sister one, still more beads left... so I made two more for my Cousins....  I hope they like them... I really think this one is my favorite of the three styles I made.

Now I have a SERIOUS problem... I have gotten to a point that I really don't purchase much in craft stores that much.  A new stack of paper from time to time.... New punch.... but really don't need much. Now there is a whole new section of the store I normally don't venture into... and I think I could be getting sucked in... I really enjoyed making these :0)

HUGS and -

Spoon Full of Sugar - Enjoying the Sunshine!

Today is Spoon Full of Sugar Day and the theme this week is all about the sun! The team is asking for anything that makes you enjoy the sunshine, whether that means your image shows enjoying the sunshine or you use colors that feel the warmth of enjoying the sun - me I did both :0)

My card starts off with a bright yellow Bazzil Bling card stock.. yes BRIGHT yellow huh? I then pulled three pattern papers from the DCWV Songbird collection, love the warmth of this collection - perfect for the challenge. And they have bling.. :0)  I matted with the dark orange pattern, then the flower pattern - sewed together. The green glittery pattern paper is used as a large band, bordered with EK Success border punch and more of the yummy dark orange paper. Again Sewed. The satin ribbon might be a bit brighter than the rest of the card, but I think I like it. And the sentiment is from the DCWV Collection, cut from one of the patterns.

My image - I think the Stampavie Gillian Roberts Looking at You image is a perfect enjoying the sun image - what better than lounging in the grass stretched out admiring a gorgeous summer butterfly? I colored with Copics and then doodled around the edge, trying to go along with the doodle look of the floral pattern.

Hope my card brought warmth to you and you enjoyed it.. for more Enjoying the Sunshine visit the Spoon Full of Sugar Blog and then join us for a chance at a great prize -

HUGS and-

Animal Crackers - Frankie Got a New House or Igloo?!

Yes, Frankie.. our "Buck"  got a new a new house - or igloo? He actually got his own new private pen - under some trees. We think it is nice, but he doesn't like not have a girl friend in there with him. Patience Frankie... at times we will bring you friends to "visit", and he is next door to all of the girls and kids so he isn't alone, they share a fence :0). But in moving him, we decided that he need a private man cave... LOL So we got him an Igloo Dog house! Time is short for us right now, and really this thing is perfect for him! When we first put it in - he first stood against it to check its strength.. then he bit into a few places to check again.. now he just loves it :0) You find him in it all the time -

 I headed out to the youth pen to take some photos this week... all of my 6 month - 3 years old "babies". I see all of these children out here and it just makes me so happy... all of these babies were born here :0) And today.. I was laughing at Pavo -

Some of the donkeys like to climb to the top of the bales of hay.. well at least when they are fallen over and smaller they climb. Pavo is a more reserved donkey - he is careful in all of his moves, but today... he was trying hard to be the King of the mountain... but this was as far as he made it... just too scary up at the top I think.

 Irene on the other hand she is ALWAYS at the top of the bale. I really need to try and capture a photo of her being the Queen of the Mountain, but it is tough.. as soon as she sees me walking out to their pen she jumps down and comes to the fence... You know the Queen always gets the first bit of attention..... :0)

I have really been trying to get a photo to show how big our baby Autie is. But I just have not gotten them to sit still together. Today he was following her out into the yard, and I snapped from the side. You can see he is just a bit bigger than she is. Libbie is right at 10 lbs, and 10 inches tall... Autie is probably 11-12 inches and at least 11-12 lbs.... he is definitely heavier than she is... especially at 2 am when he jumps in the middle of your back or stomach...

Autie found a broken limb out in the yard... I yelled out to him to leave it alone and not chew on it.... and before I could get out there to him...

Crunch Crunch.... that boy eats everything......

By the time I cleaned up the limbs and got Autie under control, I wondered where Libbie was... "Here I am Mom... I found shade under the BBQ pit!" She doesn't like the heat or sun.


Now I have to tell you I have the best Hubby in the world - he built me a fabulous craft room, he takes care of all our babies so wonderfully, saves us from all kinds of snakes and scary bugs well... I could go on and on how wonderful he is... except... when it comes to these bugs...

This is a walking stick, they don't really hurt you, it is over 8 inches long, but harmless. Oh they will bite I guess, but they are so slow... and don't bother you if you leave them alone. Well Hubby HATES these... He FREAKS over them!! It really makes me giggle... my Superman and walking sticks are his enemy!! LOL He is gonna hate this photo!!!

Hope you enjoyed! Have a great Weekend!

Just Magnolias - Mina's Great Sketch -

Ok, I really must have LOVED Mina's sketch for this weeks Just Magnolias, because when I made last weeks challenge card I had her sketch in mind and made it then - LOL so here is a new card with the sketch from this weeks Just Magnolias!

 See.. it is a great sketch huh? I started with a white card stock for the base, and then a scrap of Bazzil Dotted Swiss Royal Blue card stock for the mat. I found two scraps in my stash I believe they are Graphic 45 - love their papers and I save every scrap of it! I matted the blue and white table cloth pattern with red card stock - and cut two long strips to match the sketch - And then sewed everything down -

 For my image for the circle in the center I dug to the back of my box of Magnolias and found this Tilda sitting on a fence ... Colored with my Copics - and the used my Nesties to cut the circle and the red card stock scalloped circle mat. I VERY SLOWLY sewed around with a zig zag stitch. I added the sentiment, with a Fiskars Scalloped punch mat - and the three mulberry roses with Martha Stewart Frond leaf punches -

I hope you enjoyed my card and don't mind that I used the same layout sketch as last week.. LOL (really try this sketch you will enjoy it too!) Then go and join in on the challenge at Just Magnolia's!!! GREAT PRIZES every week!


HUGS and-

Spoon Full of Sugar - Floral Delight!

Tuesday  - means a Time for A Spoon Full of Sugar! And pull out all your favorite flowers this week the challenge is to use flowers on your project! YEA! We all love our flowers! Whether punched, pattern papers or adding yummy Mulberry flowers..

I started with Stampavie's Gillian Roberts Daisy Chain image, Flowers in my image :0) I colored with my Copics - and then cut out with Nesties.

My card - Starting with a light yellow card stock with a light purple mat- I found that the Heidi Grace Pattern Papers were perfect colors to match my image. And fun colors too - I sewed them down with a zig zag stitch. And then more flowers with the new EK Success Daisy Chain punch... FITS THE IMAGE HUH? This was my first time to use this punch.. and not the last :0) Really love this punch! placed two runs of the daisies along the edge of the pattern papers as a band.

Mulberry flowers are added for some fun - and for the challenge!! With some Martha Stewart Frond leaf punches.

The sentiment is a Sizzix Card Makers Die - Love that too :0) And because I really do love it a close up of that Daisy Chain punch again :0)


Hope you enjoyed my Floral Daisy Chain card  - now pop on over to Spoon Full of Sugar and see more flowers and join us!

Leere Aldrich - The Graduate

Well it is that time of year... school is ending and the Graduates are celebrating and planning their next direction in life.

My niece Graduated this past week. Seriously... I can't believe it, it was just a couple of years ago a toddler in my living room being told not to pull the cats tail.. while learning to walk around the coffee table.  But now she is graduating High School and planning  her College career!

Well I had to come up with a graduation card and wanted it to pop! So I started with my New Sizzix Big Shot Pro 6x6 envelope die. I don't use it as an envelope though.. well sort of I do cuz I don't put the card in and envelope.. but I really make it the card and present all in one. A yellow card stock was used, and then I pulled out a bunch of Sentiments... all that work together for a Graduation Card for a teen. I stamped all over the card stock in all different directions to create my own pattern paper of sorts. I used my dark red Copic and colored in some of the shapes. A Black Dotted ribbon is run through the back of the card out to the front to use as a tie to keep the scalloped front closed.

As you untie and open you get this... an almost presentation of your inside image and pattern papers. I found a piece of graduation paper in my stash and matted it with a deep red card stock. then I also found a piece of paper that looks like notebook paper... like how that fits the theme :0)

I used my favorite Graduate stamp... I just love Stampavie's Leere Aldrich Graduation Girl image - too cute if you ask me - stylish Grad with a cute purse, puppy and boots! I colored with my Copics with a yellow coloring behind her - wanted a sort of glow about her.. a TA DA spot light I guess. I cut her and a mat with my long scallops Nesties.

I made a hidden pocket behind the "notebook" paper for her present.. :0)  I think she liked it.. he he.

Hope you liked it too! ;0)

HUGS and -