Merry Christmas from ALL of Us -

I wanted to take a moment to wish each of you a Very Merry Christmas from each of Us here - I hope you have a wonderful holiday with family and friends and get all the crafty things you asked Santa for!

HUGS and-

A Big Thank You from my Nephew Tagen -

I wanted to take a chance to shout a huge Thank You from my Nephew Tagen!!

For those that don't know - my nephew had surgery a little over a month ago, and has been wearing full leg cast on both legs. As a 6 year old, this is a tough thing to deal with. But Tagen has been taking it all in stride. He does with everything, he is one great little trooper. This was to repair a few different things for him mainly the tendons in his legs and his arches in his feet. My sister could tell you all the medical talk, but for me that is all I can understand but I know it is much more detailed. Anyway he has been in full leg cast for over a month and just had them taken off and now has cast to his knees. He will wear those for 4-6 weeks, then braces, then they will evaluate from there.

I put out a request asking for cards from all over the world to give him something fun to look forward to, the plan is after the holidays to take them all in to school with a map and share them with all of the kids in his classes. It has been wonderful!! I have even had fun with it, as each day he received a card I would get a phone call from him with him telling me what the card looked like and where it was from. I got some pretty cute answers on a few. One he said it came all the way from across the big blue part of the map!! Wow! He is just too cute for words.

So from Tagen, my Sister and her husband, Tagen's Sisters who also have enjoyed helping find where the cards were from on the map. And especially from me - Thank you so much! The photo is an odd photo I know - this is one my sister sent me a couple of weeks after getting the cast. He was so proud he finally could lift the cast on his own and he yelled for her to come quick, she dropped everything and ran in a panic to find him on the sofa just like this screaming "Look Mom no Hands!" LOL He is a pretty funny kid. I love the socks on the tips of the cast, his toes kept getting cold....

The second photo is one we are very happy about as well. He takes horseback riding lessons as part of his therapy, it was thought he would have to give it up for a long time, and he loves it so much this was really sad. But no! He couldn't ride by himself, but he still got to ride!

Here is the list of Cards they have received so far -

Heidi Steinnebel – Pinckney MI

Heather Gigey Bend, Lanes, England

T. Traxler – Whitewater, WI

Holly Young – N Little Rock, AR

Kelly Scheiske – Cluny, Alberta Canada

Anita Autore – Turlock, CA

Diane Zechman – Towanda, PA

Heather Fullerton – Hillsborough, NB Canada

Debby Yutes – UK

Lori King – Cary NC

Jay Jay – Hamburg Germany

Amy Howell – La Vernia, TX

Donalda Cox – Brownstown, IN

Suzanne Lumber – Bristol UK

Saundra Vale – San Antonio, TX

Sarah Anderson – Oshkosh WI

Kirsten Sheridan – England

Shary – England

Cynde Shaw-Rogers – Sonora, CA

Ruby – Midlands UK England

Lynn Anderson – UK England

HUGE HUGS and-

A little crafting time before Christmas!

I was one busy elf yesterday! I worked on Christmas gifts all day almost all done with them! I had an hour or so to "play" and just have some fun. I used one of the new Sarah Kay images Picnic Time, I love how cute the little doll is in the high chair. I had a high chair sort of like this as a kid, it was so little and cute.

I colored her with my Copics, then used all Basic Grey Wassail papers on a black card stock base. The swirls are really fun! I got one gift from my MIL early - she got me a Making Memories Slice!!!! This thing is really cool, I think I am really going to love it. I only have a few cartridges now, I hope they come out with more words next year - While cleaning part of my stash this last week I found a package of Making Memories metal tags (and a bunch of other things I forgot I had LOL!). They seemed perfect for this card. I then added three buttons, then stitched doodled the edges. It felt so fun to just make a card - a simple fun card.

Ok... gotta run now we are going out for a couple of last minute gifts. You done? I haven't wrapped one thing yet, then I have to bake a million cookies and clean - I hope to get on at least once more before Christmas - if not have a wonderful blessed day!

HUGS and-

Almost Christmas Donkey Day

Well it is almost here... ready or not! At least the Donkeys are ready.. they love Christmas - not that they really know it is different from any other day. But they do enjoy Christmas, my family comes out - my Sister's three kids... yep lots of carrots for them. And that is what matters in life you know, lots of yummy carrots make it a great day for them.

Well I got up early this morning and went out and snapped a few photos. Wasn't really totally light yet so the flash kept coming on - I don't like the photos of them with the flash - washes them out.

First Today is Josephine "Josie" and her Momma Jolene "JoJo". She doesn't look like she has grown much - but she really has! Man she is just a tiny little donkey! And a real sweetie. This morning she ran up to Dad and wanted Donkey Hugs. She loves Donkey Hugs..... pushes as hard as she can. And then got a photo of her tail... wish I could have video taped this. It was going so fast I thought she was going to take off!

Then we have three of our little ladies. These three are all bred to Raffie (the dude in the background) Well I say that... but poor Ellie Mae in the middle has had trouble getting pregnant. She is over 6 years old and never gotten pregnant. But we are really hoping this is her year. She is so beautiful, well they are all beautiful. You can see in this photo that Lacey and Vickey both are getting their tummy's... Spring babies here!

My last photo today... My lovely Gloria... my black little girl. Yep black. She is so sun faded she is a red head for the winter. We call her our little orangutan... LOL... her face is just so cute! All the donkeys have really gotten woolly... we are suppose to be really cold here this coming week. Well cold for here anyway. They have all gotten really thick fur, but I think Gloria wins for thickest coat.

Hope you enjoyed Donkey Day - I hope to do a few post this coming week. I have a few presents I want to show and I actually made a card for fun!!! Needed some pure stamping fun. Last night I was going to look for a piece of paper, 2 hours later I had sorted and cleaned up all my papers. Didn't get any crafting done, but my paper stash looks a whole lot better!

Hope you have a wonderful week, and next weeks Donkey Day photos will probably be from Christmas Day with the kids visiting!

HUGS and-

Believe! with Alota Rubberstamps!

I got a package of the new stamps from Helene yesterday! They have been MIA for over a week now and I was really worried they were lost - but they arrived yesterday and I couldn't wait to ink them up! So I inked more than one up for this card.

So Here are the stamps I used:

The Wall/Window (I couldn't wait to get this one, I love it!)

The Park/Pond (I didn't use the pond portion... )

Believe Sentiment

Michelle's Sweet Little Donkeys (OH my I giggle every time I see the name... wonder where she got it?? Thanks Helene!)

Merry Christmas Set (I used a few of the toys from the set to put in the Donkey Wagon)

I colored everything with my Copic Markers, and white gel pen. Then cut out the Donkey and wagon, the toys and the wall. I pop dotted the wall/window on the park scene, then pop dotted the donkey and wagon on this. Lots of layers, and I love the shadows. I cut a slit in the wagon and added the toys into the wagon... more like a Christmas Wagon now! I matted the sentiment "Believe" with a scrap piece of card stock, and then matted the "images" with the same. I then matted the with green piece as well then used brown card stock for the card base.

I doodled with the white gel pen around the edges, then I had some "snow" fun! I used white puffy paint and added snow to the park scene! Love that look, then I used Diamond glaze and gave the windows a shine. (I don't think you can see this darn it!)

I Love how it came out and it was a whole lot of fun making it. I needed some coloring therapy and de-stressing. Thank you all for your well wishes for my doggie, the news at the Vet wasn't good, and now we wait to see just how bad, it looks as if she does have Cancer. Although you really would not know it by seeing her, she is still running and barking a playing and chasing the cat all over the house. So I am praying that we caught it in time and she will live as long as possible in good health. Christmas is the time of miracles right? Thank you again.

Also I may miss a day or two here and there from now to the holidays - With all the challenges on break and me so far behind in my Christmas gifts... time needs to be spent on them. I will maybe post a few of those that don't peak at my blog ;0)

Hope you have a great Wednesday and have some inky time yourself!

HUGS and-

My House Mouse Guest DT Sketch Card

I have enjoyed so much my two week Guest DT of House Mouse Challenge. As I have said in the past House Mouse was my first love in stamps, and now with all the friend that are out there House Mouse is still one of my favorites. I purchase this image a while back and just never have inked it in. I think coloring in the Panda was a bit scary. I love Pandas and didn't want to mess him up.




I colored with my Copics, then high lighted the presents with my Spica Glitter Pens and white gel pen. Wish you could see how much they sparkle! The sentiment is from Studio G, one of those Dollar sets from Michael's.





I followed the sketch by using scraps! Well all but the American Crafts Card base. The matted the piece of Bazzill Swiss Dots and the pattern paper with yellow card stock and then distressed the edges a bit and sewed together with yellow thread. I inked the edge of the image with green ink to give a bit of distressed look. And I love the flowers! Prima in two shades of yellow, I added white gel pen to high light, used a jewelry spacer and a green mini brad for the center. I started to make this a Christmas Card... would have worked as well in reds and greens - but I wanted to use some color and needed a birthday card. I think I am going to have to ink this one up again. I really enjoyed coloring it.





Again I want to thank Emma and all of the DT at the House Mouse Challenge. I loved joining you! These ladies have amazing talent, they wow me each week... I hope you will take a look and see yourself, then join in!




Better run - Bonnie has a Vet appointment this morning, and Hubby is off to help take her. Hope you all have a wonderful Monday -
HUGS and-

Magnolia Vs. Stampavie Challenge Sketch -

One last Magnolia Vs. Stampavie in 2008! Wow I still can't believe it is almost over....

This weeks challenge is a fun sketch. Love how different this one is, I sat and stared at it for a long time before I saw the squares as windows -

and this is what I came up with. I giggle every time I see it. I picked my three favorite Tilda's... or at least three favorite that were facing forward and same sizes.. LOL...

I colored them with my Copics, and highlighted with white gel pen, then cut them out with my Fiskar's fingertip craft knife. And the mounted them on three squares. I used scrap Bazzill Swiss dots for the top portion. The pattern paper for the bottom is from Scenic Route. Red ribbon for the band across the middle. The sentiment just seemed to fit the three girls.. "Friendship Warms the Heart" and is from Hero Arts, I think. I inked the edges of all of the yellow squares, matted the sentiment with the same green. then stuck everything down. For my flowers I used EK Success Retro flowers punched from red scrap and the same yellow scrap. Inked the edges with brown, and high lighted with white gel pen, centered them with copper jewelry spacers and mini brads. The leaves are Martha Stewart Frond Punches. Stitched the edges and done. I really do giggle when I look at this one, don't know why... but I like it.

OH and you really will want to give the challenge a try... The prize this week is COPIC MARKERS!!! yes you read right Copic Ciao Set of 12 with FREE Wallet !! And this challenge runs until January 2nd to enter... WOW Copics!

Well I am off. Busy Busy Busy Sunday - I so hope I get all my Christmas Cards done and ready to mail in the morning, then I have a few gifts I want to tackle. Have a great Sunday yourself and hope you have time to get inky too!

HUGS and-