Babies on Review 2011

Wow... last day of 2011. This year seriously flew by didn't it. I thought I would take today to go back and see some of the babies born this past year - love to see the babies!  Honestly I thought I would be showing you some really new babies today.... Libbie just decided she wants to wait until 2012 to have them.... but man is she wide! And waddling everywhere. Can't be too far off now though -

But here are a lot of the babies from 2011

  Yolanda - She is sold... we are just baby sitting until Estella is old enough to wean then the two will be moving next door - She has turned out to be a really friendly girl.

Belle - She is the only one out of the triplets born that we still have. I am hoping she gives us more blue eyes in her babies. She isn't the friendliest, but she wants to be. Hoping she decides to be a bit more outgoing -

 Fric and Frac... ok so these went to auction, they don't live here any more. But man they were cute!

Daisy Duke - The only one of triplets we kept. Total freak she will barely let us touch her. I really really am hoping that we get some gorgeous babies from her. She is bred now with Peso grey and white... with her gorgeous black and white and those blue eyes. If I can't get her babies to be friendly she may go in the future. I can't stand unfriendly children. But she was so gorgeous I had to take a chance we can tame her and/or her kids.

Louie.. born on the 4th of July. He should have gone to auction, but well.. he had so much personality and was so friendly Hubby just couldn't send him. So he was "fixed" and now is basically wasted space, and a pet. We love him totally :0) I just wish he would stop growing! He is now wider than he is tall... LOL

 Rhett and Scarlet - the two friendliest goats in the world. Obnoxious friendly. These two are keepers for sure! We have to remind them that they really shouldn't be lap climbers now that they are now full grown, but hey.. they are dwarf goats so they aren't too too big I guess... LOL

Libbies summer puppies. Both have great new homes now. We wanted to skip this last cycle and give her a rest, but oops... time got away and it was here and out of control. So we will have this next litter and hopefully Hubby and I will have the strength to actually follow through and get her and Autie fixed after this - I'll miss the puppies, but not the noise and mess. And Libbie has had her share now -

 Gabriella "Gabby Gabby Goo" My sick girl. She started off life aging me - ran high high fevers that first month. Many times getting up to 107! I spent a few weeks there icing her down more than once a day and taking her temp every 4-6 hours. But when it leveled out at normal - she was fine and hasn't had an issue since. She is really a gorgeous red/brown girl. And looks so much like her full sister Rosie. Since we lost Rosie this year - we think we will probably hold on to Gabby... I hope.

  Sonia and Ramon - born just days apart from each other. Funny... Macie and Jazz ALWAYS deliver within a week of each other - last time with in an hour! Makes great playmates! Sonia will probably stay to see if she is a good breeder donkey - Ramon will go into the sale pen. He will make a great friendly pet for someone.

Jose - Now this guy... he really needs to be a stud! Solid black, great confirmation and SMALL! I hope we can find someone that needs a stud like him. Hubby says maybe we should keep him for when we retire Black Jack Jose's dad. But that is a ways off.

 Estella - we believe she is sold and going with Yolanda next door. They think that is who they want to take as Yolanda's BFF. We have nick named her "Parana" - yep she is a biter. Just like her older sister Irene.. who was nick named "Shark" - So they may want to rethink taking Estella the land Parana!... Ha!

Cleatus - this guy seriously cracks me up! I can watch him for hours he is so funny. Not that he means to be at all. He thinks he is the biggest goat in the pen and picks fights with everyone....and boy does he stand his ground even if the other goats are 10 times his size.

 And the last baby of the year. Leticia - Oh this girl is unbelievable! So so so tiny, and so gentle and friendly. She will stay on our not for sale list - future breeder - she is so gorgeous, and has lots of color in her background!

So for 2012... Well first up will be Libbies puppies... goats for sure LOTS and LOTS of goats. New Buck Peso has really been doing his job and I can't wait to see what color babies we get. And the only donkey. Well Annabell is it - she won't be due for a long way off, but that should be our only baby donkey for the year. We have had some population control in effect. And this year we really want to thin out and sell a bunch of our babies from the last 3 years before there are more. Just way too many to feed - Hubby is wanting to look into getting Boar goats this year, breeding them for selling more off. They are a great auction goat, I just don't want to think of where they go from the auction. But if we can sell more that will help with the feed bill right? Well that is what he keeps telling me anyway - And with all the donkeys we have they will start doing a job in the pens with the goats and keep the coyotes away. That is the biggest problem for people with boar goats in our area. Shouldn't be an issue at all here with all the donkeys!

Hope you have enjoyed Animal Crackers in 2011 - and I look forward to a great 2012!
HUGS from all of us here!

A special gift

Hope you had a wonderful holiday with family and friends - We had lots of family here yesterday for LOTS of food and visiting with the animals. We are all truly blessed. Today since I have no craft project to show off to you I thought I would share a present I received a couple of weeks ago. I have wanted to show this off since the moment I got it and well... my head was lost in the mad dash of Christmas - so I thought now that all is calm I would share this wonderful little joy that traveled across Texas to me. HUGE THANK YOU to Anna "Sweet Miss Daisy"


Totally gorgeous right? I had one of these a few years back... and a oops with a new kitten and it was gone. Anna thought of me when she saw this and sent it to me just cuz! Isn't she just the bestest? This beautiful piece of glass is a donkey pulling a cart.. right you can see that, but it is  vintage - probably I would guess 1940's. It came with candy in the cart and now are collected.

I have been an enormous fan of Annas for years, and so thrilled to now call her a friend. Love my Internet Friends! I just wish we could meet up in person.   You would think that since we are both from Texas Anna and I could do that easily right? But actually we are pretty far apart. Texas is a big place you know! One day we will get too - I know it. 


If you haven't been to her blog (which I doubt you haven't she is the really awesome) Make sure you visit her blog Sassy & Sweet Notes. She is super talented and her stuff will really inspire you to new levels. GORGEOUS! But she also lives on a farm... and that means lots of fabulous animal stories! She even has donkeys!!! :0)

Thank you Anna!!

HUGS and

Animal Crackers Merry Christmas

Wanted to share our holiday Christmas Card with all of you

So from all of us here at Animal Crackers to your family A Merry Christmas! 

Hugs and - 

A Card I received.... Thank you TA!

Hello - Today I just had to show you a card that came in the mail!! I received this from a dear Internet Friend -TA, she has been a wonderful joy for me to get to know over the past few years. You may know her from her blog Carbone's Corner. She has always been great at comments on my blog and from there we started emailing and getting to know each other. She is a really sweetie and one day I really do hope to meet her in person - Well you just have to see the Christmas card she sent me! This card will for sure go into my Donkey cabinet for safe keeping!

 Totally awesome right! She has had this card in the works for months she said... I so love it! It is a scream!!! What could be better than a Gift bearing Christmas Donkey?

A view of the back of the Donkey of course!!!!

How totally awesome is this card seriously???

But the inside is also fabulous -

 

Thank you so much TA!!! Love ya girl and one day I really do hope to give you a huge DONKEY HUG in person! 

Hope her card gave you a Christmas Smile as much as it did Hubby and I!!

HUGS and

 

Me and My Space - A little of my collectibles and GATO

HI! Wanted to show you something that just makes me happy! Tickles me! Now Hubby would say get over it, it is just a plant. But who cares, I love my plant! You see that Christmas Cactus? That is last years Christmas Cactus!! And I kept it alive all year, and now it is blooming! Just in time for... CHRISTMAS! TA - DA!
I feel so proud!  This is the top of my Glass Display cabinet, off our kitchen. This entire room was part of what we re-did this month. The top of the cabinet makes me happy - and those flowers really make me smile! You see I am not that great with plants... so keeping that alive and having it bloom is just short of a miracle! The other plant is part of my Prayer plant. My Grandma had one that I always loved, so Hubby got me one a few years ago. It grew 10 miles long (well really long) and this is a piece of it that I rooted and have planted... again how cool is that????  Let see you can see my my favorite bread and cake box - and a few of my vintage toys. Love the top of this piece of furniture! ;0)

Inside isn't too bad, just really crowded! And this is after I cleaned it out - thinned out the collection and cleaned everything ... I just didn't think out enough - but I oh well I just HAD to keep all of these pieces

 I love to collect! What can I say have lots of different things - :0)

Oh in our re-do Gato got a new window bed - She seems to really like it  -

 Cozy and warm there - and up away from the three dogs and that is probably the best part of the window bed!

Hope you liked my quick peek... if you like I can snap more photos around the house now that it is all painted - new floors and clean! I really had planned to do one of the room... but lost track after I saw all the blooms on my cactus! LOL

HUGS and -

Inky Impressions - Christmas Cheer!

Whoo Hoo! I have two presents purchased! (INSERT SHOCKED FACE HERE) - I have never been this far behind at Christmas. It just hasn't felt like it was this close. And I guess my brain has been focused on getting my house back in order so I just wasn't watching the calendar. So you can imagine I am in a bit of a panic this week. I went to the grocery store yesterday to get my baking stuff... needed to be in combat mode for that trip! Wow dangerous place with all of us with our list talking to ourselves going up and down the isles. But I think I got everything. I am going shopping this morning to pick up a few more gifts then come home to bake and make candies. Maybe then I will start feeling the HO HO spirit. I'll find some Christmas music to work to that really should do the trick.

But for my post today I have the Inky Impressions Challenge. And the Challenge is - Christmas Cheer!  To use Green and Red basically -
Here is my card -

I used MarLeigha's Ornament Dance again - ;0) I just think she is adorable! She is colored with ProMarkers I used Basic Grey Christmas papers from my scraps - Die cut with Nesties label 17, and then the red piece is cut with a Papertrey Ink die. I added some bling and an epoxy sentiment.

Make sure to pop over to the Inky Impressions challenge and see all the DT's  Christmas Cheer! Then join us for this weeks prize!

On the run!!!! HO HO HO!
HUGS and -

A Family Christmas Accordion Album

Happy Sunday - today I wanted to show you an accordion album I made of my family through the years - I really thought my Mom might like this :0)

 The pieces of the album are die cuts from Sizzix. So easy to just pop in chip board run through the die, holes all line up and corners are perfect. I then went to town decorating! LOTS going on here. The cover is a new Stampavie Tina Wenke Christmas image. Santa with Children. Then I used lots of Tina's new Christmas sentiments.

This side you see photos of me with Santa... me and my Sister in front of our Christmas tree, and then one of my sister and her new baby doll... she is gonna love me for showing these online :0)

On the other side I showed off her kids at Christmas-

With Santa - Posing with their Christmas outfits - and our family tradition of the kids posing with the donkeys on Christmas day. What ... you don't know lots of people with that Christmas tradition? LOL well it is one of ours!

There are tons of embellishments and papers here - I just had fun and put as much as I could on them! Love how it came out. And I think my Mom will really enjoy it.

Hope you enjoyed seeing it and maybe it gave you an idea for a different gift for someone in your family!

Have a great Sunday-
HUGS and

Animal Crackers - A Hello and a Smile!

Ok, so I have been off a day all week. And am behind. This entire month I have been behind. So I wasn't prepared for today's post ahead of time like I usually am. It was really cold outside early this morning. But I braved the cold just for you and went outside to see if I could get some donkey "noise" for you to enjoy. Normally when you go out to feed every single donkey hee haws and screams until that hay is thrown at them. This morning it was not so loud. Figures... I wanted them to make noise this morning. But I did capture a very lame scream from Ellie Mae. Now remember this is lame... she is normally much much louder and much more longer in her screams.

Oops.. should have warned you to check your volume ;0)

I went over to capture the goats talking... and got this short but totally funny little clip of Peso... now you have to look REALLY close... but he looks over to me and then SMILES! seriously... watch his lips!!!! Darn it is hard to see!...

OH and take a look at how puffed up they are... brrr... Peso is a really handsome man. But as Louie ages he is really becoming stunning. He is cut, and worthless as a stud for us as he is related to all the girls. But seriously, his fur is gorgeous! And he is super sweet. :0)

Now I thought I would share a few photos from my phone this week -

 Here is Hubby getting attacked by all the babies. While all the Mom's were eating dinner one evening this week. Lets see... behind him is Gabby, then left to right, Sonia, Ramon, Estella and behind her that you can't see is Pedro :0)

This is a great shot of Gato... she was keeping an eye over our house projects - 

 The girl loves to sit up on top of things... and the ladder was just too perfect!

Here is a great photo I got of Leticia the morning after she was born... Man this girl is soooo tiny and stunning!

And one more... this is from Hubby's phone this morning. We were making our way around the pens, and he was getting ready to water.. when all hunkered down in the grass was this little girl. Now you have to know... there is no zooming here. She let us walk right up on her and wasn't about to leave her warm spot in the grass.

We have lots of Bunnies here on our property. Neighbors can't believe it as they have very few. But you see, we have many many donkeys. Donkeys scare off coyotes and other predators so we are a safe zone for the bunnies in our area. With all the winter clover, and winter rye that Hubby seeded, they are really happy right now.

Libbie update... we are with in a week or two of puppies! She is wide as she is tall now.. Wouldn't Christmas Puppies be fun?

Have a great Saturday!
HUGS

Stampavie WinterBird House Photo Frame

Hello - today I wanted to share with you a project that I made for the Stampavie DT. I love how this came out! Sometimes I see things in my head, and they actually do come out just as I imagined them!

This is one of my favorite gift items to make -   Love how easy and wonderful these frames turn out. You start with a artist Canvas. Turn it upside down. Then cover it with scrapbook paper, cut an "X" in the inside of the wood part of the frame, and fold in to cover outer edges of the frame. Measure the inside depth of the wood, and cut strips of paper the same width and cover the sides. Then measure the inside opening and place inside. The papers I used are Basic Grey Figgy Pudding. For a lacey look, I punched an EK Success border folded the edge and attached. Let it stand up around the edges - give a great dimensional look.

My image is from the Stampavie Winter Release - This is Tina Wenke's Winter Birdhouse. I totally love this image! Gorgeous. I colored with Letraset Promarkers (Ivory, Tan, Caramel, Apricot, Denim Blue, Powder Blue, Cobalt Blue, Warm Grey 3 & 5, Marsh Green and Poppy) I then use a Marvy Snow Marker to create the puffed snow. This marker is awesome! 


Here is a side view so you can see the depth inside the frame. Oh and that gorgeous sentiment! This is also Tina Wenke's - Stampavie release.

 I also added some large dark red flowers and leaf punches. Oh and I guess I should tell you the fabulous photo is my Mom's family. My grandparents... Mom with her brothers and sister. My Mom is that cute little girl sitting on her Mom's lap :0)

Hope you like it!
HUGS and-

Past Christmas Cards.....

Hello - Is it just me or is Christmas hurling towards us at the speed of light? Seriously, it seems like Halloween was just a week or so ago. And Thanksgiving was really just a blur. And now Christmas is like a week and 1/2 away? I finally got my Christmas Cards done. I do photo cards of my "children"... started that tradition over 10 years ago and now if I didn't do it I think I could get some people upset at me. So each year I try and find a different way to make a fun Christmas scene with all the animals.... then it had to go to just new baby animals. Hey have you ever tried to get photos of over 50 animals in one image? LOL not fun. So Hubby has taken 1/2 out to mail today and the second 1/2 will go out tomorrow. I'll show it here next week... :0) Cuz I really would love to mail one to each of you that visit my blog and make sure I am not talking to myself in cyber space. But since I can't do that I'll show it here closer to Christmas.

But since I haven't done much crafting this week, I have been working on those cards. I thought today I would do a little stroll down memory lane and show off a few of my past cards.

This is a couple of the earlier cards... dorky I know... but I was just learning how to use digital scrapbooking... LOL

 It is a little sad to see animals that are no longer with us. Bonnie especially... man we miss that dog! She was amazing. Smart, never had to train her to do anything - but her time was short, and we were blessed to have her.


This was one of my favorites - was a fun idea but I questioned it 1/2 way through ... LOL Those blocks haunted me for a while. But it was different! And the blocks now are scattered all through my donkey cabinet.

Then I was having to create new ways to add everyone... this was the photo part of the front of one card, I did it here.. but this was the last year I put everyone on the front of the card. It was set on a lace piece on a red card.... sorry no finished photo...

This was a more recent one... went to just new additions to our animal crackers family. For sure makes it easier to be a little more creative.

 I did one I really loved in turquoise and brown.. can you believe I can't find a photo of it at all? Sigh.. I am so disorganized. But please don't tell anyone, cuz I hate to admit that.

So you all ready for Christmas? I would like know that somewhere in the universe things are going smoothly... AAAHHHH ok off to get things done ;0)