Happy Thanksgiving - Meet Cleatus and BLOG CANDY WINNER

Happy Thanksgiving for all the US people - For everyone else Happy Thursday! ;0) Today is my Blog Candy winner day, but I also wanted to introduce you to the newest member of the Animal Cracker Family!

 Lillie interrupted our house re-do yesterday... she was in labor! The first baby was out and already talking when we ran outside. But the second one... well it was breech, and stuck. After about 20 minutes we finally got it free and out. Sadly it was too late. Thank God Lillie was ok. And loving on her first baby not watching us take off the second one. She lost her last baby, it was only one, and it really effected her badly. She looked for that baby for days and then started stealing other babies. Since she is the biggest and oldest... she kept what she took. Until we moved her out into a small pen on her own. But this time... she is obsessing over her son - and showing him off to everyone. He is a cutie.... I named him Cleatus. Hubby just shakes his head at me. LOL I don't know why... he looks like a Cleatus doesn't he?

Now the only babies left for the year is Darlene and Victoria... Darlene is looking pretty close. Vicki.. nope no signs yet. So two baby donkeys to look forward to still  -

NOW ... time for my Blog Candy Winner!

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21

Timestamp: 2011-11-24 14:32:40 UTC

Ashley Lydia said...one of my favorite holiday traditions is singing the 12 days of Christmas on christmas eve with my family. We all pick out a day from a hat and we have to sing that part. Its loads of fun, especially the 5th day solo lolol. Asides from that I love watching the thanksgiving day parade with my family, and then gong shopping with my mom and all the sisters my aunts on black friday. We all take turns buying "surprise" shirts that are revealed during thanksgiving dinner and we all wear them while we shop the next day. Its so much fun, im tearing up because this year im away from my family for training ,I will be with them but I miss them so much. Ohhh the memories =)

So Ashley Lydia... if you will email me at michelleo@hughes.net   - I will get your Candy out to you!

I am already stacking up things for the next candy! So look out for the next candy.....

Ok... gotta go and find my kitchen in the house repairs so I can start my Thanksgiving Dinner going. See you tomorrow for Just Magnolias and Hanglars Challenge!

HUGS and

Inky Impressions Challenge - Cookies for Santa

Hello - today is Inky Impressions Challenge day! And it is my day to post on the Inky Inspiration Blog as well! Yea! The theme today is to make your own embellishment. I love doing that. And today I got to ink up a brand new Inky Impressions stamp. I TOTALLY LOVE this image, too cute! This is Joey & Lynnie's Cookies for Santa 

Too cute I told you!  it has so many details to it, but it isn't too much to color in. For my card I used Bo Bunny Blitzen Collection - love the fun colors in this Christmas collection. I sewed down my image and papers. Then I went to work on my embellishment.  - First I made my flower, Now you can make these flowers with just a strip of paper. Fold every 1/4 inch then attach the ends and lay flat for the flower. I hope that makes sense. Now mine.. I was lazy and used a Sizzix Tim Holtz Die :0) It cuts too sizes at once -

I cut out of a scrap of off white paper.... Was thinking that I wanted the flower white. But when I put it on the card it was totally blah. So I took out a Marker and colored it! It matches better and has a much richer look now.

 And then speaking of coloring it... My ribbon leaves... I LOVE this "technique" LOL I say that loosely, it isn't really a technique just a simple change of color. And I love to color ribbons to match my projects. But recently I found this seam binding tape that really colors up perfectly!

 This is 100% Rayon Seam Binding and when you color it was an alcohol marker it really takes the color gorgeously! Here I took the beige ribbon and colored it with a Letraset Promarker Pear Green color.

This is the binding I use... you can find it on the internet - google it. - Ebay has a bunch of it. And with 100 yards on a roll it last a long time ;0)

I hope that this gives you some ideas for making up your own flowers - And ribbon leaves.

Make sure to pop over to the Inky Impressions Challenge today - fabulous challenge, and the other DT projects give some other great inspiration for making your own embellishments!

HUGS and -

 

I am still here ....

Went MIA again didn't I? Sorry about that. Just FYI - anyone who says "Oh common, just a quick paint and a little repair to the floor before the holidays... it won't be bad" - - Please have your head examined at once! This has been a nightmare! A much needed nightmare and once we are all done it will be wonderful!! But oh my... what a can of worms we have opened up here!

Ok, so I have told you we were painting the inside of the house - and the repair to the flooring. Nope wouldn't work... so we had to purchase all new flooring. Then while ripping out the old flooring - Hubby nearly fell through the sub-floor!! So back to the store for Sub-flooring to make sure the house is safe. It is all coming together now, but man what a headache. I smashed my right hand last week while working - it was pretty bad but now is all better other than the scrapes. Then this weekend I smashed my fingers on my left hand... not as bad but made me feel really stupid! I am an accident waiting to happen! Hubby says I am just trying to move to fast, and with no depth perception I am being even more klutzy than normal. I guess that is true. So today I am trying to move a little slower... nature and my old rear end are helping with that too, cuz I am worn out! But it is seriously looking so good!

I'll snap a few photos when we are done. But for now... wanted you know that Libbie and Autie are on the watch for us...

The dogs have loved having the flooring boxes stacked up in the Living Room... they are like stairs for them... they run up them and sit and can see out the front windows perfectly, without having to stand on their tippy toes at the sill. Libbie especially has loved this spot. Hope she isn't gonna mind that by tomorrow night... this should all be gone and in place in the house and she is gonna have to go back to her toes. If you are wondering where Chica is... that little girl has just been in so much trouble. She seems to like being right under Hubby while he is painting... she is a mess and has had two baths this week already...sigh too cute to get mad at, even when she has a blob of paint on her head.

I'll be back tomorrow for my Inky Impressions Post... See you then!
HUGS and

Animal Crackers - WE ARE FREE... sort of...

Yesterday we created a temporary area off of the Young Girls pen - an area to let them eat some green growing grass. Why mow it? Especially when their pen isn't taking off so well with them eating things before they even get a chance to grow.. LOL

 Here they are just starting to come out their gate... run hurry.... Check out how high Mirta has her back end off the ground! LOL Wish Lina wasn't in the way darn it!

 They were all lapping the open area - running and bucking!!! YEE HAW! Fresh grass and Freedom!!! Well... a little more freedom ;0)

 This one is blurry I know... they were running and I was laughing... But look All fours off the ground here!

 And then all together it sounded like everyone was "Thanking Us" all at once. Man the neighbors were probably wondering what we were doing... IT WAS LOUD! LOL Hubby and I were both laughing so hard.... they are just too funny!

Then I went to see the babies.... 

Sonia is getting to where she is gonna need a hair clip to hold back those bangs! I hate that they loose that as they get older... Many of them are starting to get that woolly look to them. Funny some get long winter fur and some don't. But when those that do... do, it is gonna be a cold winter!

Miss Estella... "Stella"

Ok.. I don't have favorites you know.... But oh my "Stella" has personality that just melts my heart. She is soooo funny, warm and LOVES Donkey hugs. When she sees me come out the back of the house, she grunts at me.  And she loves for me to sing to her.  We sing "Stella bo bella... fee fi bo...." You know the banana song? Come on all together now... LOL

Sorry this next one is a HORRIBLE photo... bad lighting, and it was taken with my phone. 

But I just couldn't miss it. Chica and Gato were on the bedroom floor the other night. Chica gave Gato about a 30 minute bath - You know those hard to get places... her ears, above her eyes, all down her next. Hope Chica doesn't get a fur ball.....

Now one more photo... this one again isn't great as Hubby took it with his phone at work -

 Is this a scream or what? Hubby has lots of pet cats at work... strays that they feed. After getting them all trapped and fixed of course. Population control for sure! Anyway - Hubby gets attached to all animals around him. At work it is these cats... this is one of his favorites - taking a "Cat Nap" in the afternoon sun. Was sound asleep... Too funny.

Well hope you all have a wonderful Saturday - Hubby and I have been deep in re-doing... one mess has led to another and another and another.... I'll snap some photos to share later in the week -

HUGS and

My Sizzix Photo Album - too cute!

Hello - Today I have something to show that has no stamping! Shocker huh? I few weeks ago I found a great sale on a few Sizzix dies at their outlet. REALLY great prices. Most everything I got was 60-80%off! Was a great way to get a couple of the Pro dies that are normally $60.00 - I got a few for $11.00! And then I also added a couple of smaller things that I just thought were too cute to pass up for the price.

This photo album die was one of those things. It is the XL Photo Album die -

 I usually make up a "practice" item when I use a new die for the first time. Play with scrap stuff you know? Well this one was going so well and easy that my practice mock up was too cute so I just kept going with it! The outside of the album is cut out of Sizzix scoreboard, It was cream colored, but I used a copic to make it blue to match my papers. All of the papers I used for the album inside and out are from The Girl's Paperie - totally love these papers!!!! The die cuts out the two outer boards, the binding edge with the scallops and then creases in the folds at the perfect places for easy folding. It also cuts out the label for the title, which I added an epoxy sticker that seemed fitting. 

Now after I got the inside all done it was pretty poofy... wouldn't stay flat. So I fixed that by adding a stretch lace ribbon from the back to the front held closed with a Maya Ribbon Ribbon latch. I think that may be my favorite part. :0)  I then found some metal corners while digging for the latch, and they just were screaming to be used on this one!

Here is the inside -

The instructions tell you to make an accordion piece to attache the inside papers to the cover. That worked out perfect, I used chipboard pieces cut to fit in just a tad bit smaller, each piece covered front and back with different coordinating papers.

I didn't like the accordion showing once the book is opened, so I cut out some sizzix large border dies (Also purchased on sale for a couple of bucks!) Love how cute that turned out!

I know you could make this with out the die. Really it would be pretty easy... but sometimes it is nice to just lay the piece of mat or scoreboard in the Big Shot and all the pieces come out for you... with all the creases and a perfect fit.

My Mom asked me the other day what I do with the things I make for my blog. I had to laugh as sometimes it is funny I make things just for the fun of making them and showing them here with no purpose for it after that. This turned out so cute, I can't decide if I should just wrap it up and give it as a gift - or just MAYBE keep it for myself :0) Wouldn't it make a great Donkey Album? LOL We will see... I am sure this Sizzix die will be used again  -

Well better get going... Hubby is banging away in the living room as I type. We didn't get to do much last week in our living room. But this week he is getting deep into re-doing it. Funny... or Sad though as we move things to paint and clean and rearrange... the flooring we were hoping would last us another year or two (10 year old inexpensive laminate) well... it ain't going to do it. We all thought didn't want to get into it now.. are having to put down new flooring, and because all the rooms run together that means new flooring in the living room... dining room and our main hallway. Hubby's day or two of painting... just turned into a huge project. BUT when it is all done - we will have freshly painted walls.... new trim and NEW FLOORS! Totally awesome! Good thing we decided to not have Thanksgiving here this year - otherwise I would be totally freaking out right now!! LOL

HUGS... I just heard him yell at Libbie for chasing the cat into the room.... better run myself and help corral our furry kids. :0)

Me and My Space - Needing a New Home - More Clean Out Candy!

Today I thought I would share more of my stuff with you - Just breaks my heart that I have stamps that have not seen the light of day, much less ink! So I am offering up more for you to love and use for me -

Also in my candy, I found a box this week with lots of "things" in it. You know those things you pick up over the years on sale, at conventions and in kits. You mean to use them on something... but they end up lost in a box. Yep.. my box is full of those "things" -

So here is my Candy -

 I have Four Whiff of Joy Stamps - three images and one Christmas sentiment. I think I may have used these each maybe once....

And then there are two Sugar Nellie images - again.. maybe once they have been inked up.

Then there is a small pile of my "Things"... chipboard stars, felt embellishments, stickers, fabric labels, stickers and wood embellishments.  Lots of goodies for card making, scrapbooking or whatever you are working on.

A couple of close ups of the stamps.....

Now what do you need to do to have a chance to win? Leave a comment on this post - how about telling me about you favorite holiday tradition? That is it! I'll ship world wide, so no worries there. And I'll pick a winner next Thursday! Share my candy if you like :0)

Wow.. it has taken me over an hour to get this post done this morning. We have a thunderstorms moving over us! And Satellite Internet so it isn't working so well this morning, but that is due to rain so YeA!  So far we have gotten close to 2 inches of rain this morning - That is such a blessing!!! Hubby got up at the crack of dawn this morning and put down 100lbs. of grass seed, and finished up just as it started to rain really good. No wind to blow away this seed! Just good heavy rain to soak it in.... Now you will see us out there each day looking for green sprouts... LOL

Have a wonderful day - us... right now we are just enjoying watching the rain - then errands later in the day.
HUGS and

Dust it Off Sunday - Papertrey Ink Through the Trees

Today I pulled out some of my Papertrey Ink stamps! Ok, to be honest here. I have been slowly buying Papertrey Ink stamps over the past year or two, I LOVE them! But I don't use them as much as I should, get wrapped up in DT work and other things and just don't get the chance to play as often with them as I would like sometimes. Well the other night I was in a mood to do something simple, quick and with a bit of fall feel to it.

Here is what I came up with -

 I totally fell in love with the Papertrey Ink set Through the Trees as soon as I saw it. Adore that the leaves and the trunks are two separate stamps... and there are lots of sentiments other images that are part of the set.

The papers are from Prima, all fall colors I think. Kept things pretty simple, just layers of papers - I stamped three trunks, then went across with green leaves and then again with red leaves. Changing colors you know :0) I doodled around the edge - The band with the sentiment. Been dieing to use them! That too is a die from Papertrey Ink they are Photo Finish Strips - you get four different dies to top off photos.. or whatever project you are working on, have so many ideas for these! I stamped with the coordinating die and then inked the edges. Then added 6 adhesive rhinestones.

Simple.. but I like it :0 And I got to use these stamps!! Do you have any stamps you need to ink up? Go for it! Have some fun with stamps that are just begging you to ink them up!

HUGS - have a wonderful Sunday!