My body hurts...

These past few weeks have been the most physically challenging ones I've had in a loooong time! But, they are almost over! Whew! My body hurts though and I have a serious sun burn from planting my watermelons, cantaloupe, and pumpkins. Everything is planted though so that is a relief. Now we just have to finish the chicken coup. Yes, we got chickens! Thirty 3 week old chicks and two 3 week old roosters. We are building a movable coup they won't make a big dirt pile where they will eat the grass. Every day or every other day we will be able to move it (it will be on wheels) so they can have fresh grass and we aren't left with any bare spots! It's like a big triangle and at the top will be there nests and roosts and at the bottom will be a fenced area that is directly on top of the grass. Once they get big enough to free range we will just let them out during the day and put them back in their coup at night to keep them away from predators. So far and quite surprisingly, the boys are my favorite. They actually let me pet them and hold them without freaking out. And before I tell you their names please take no offense as my kids helped name them. Little Bill and Pecker. I said Pecker to Joe jokingly and the kids loved it. It's so nice how kids can be so untainted by the world! Anyway, I will have a few pictures to share later this week, just haven't had time to edit them. We will have to thin our group down by about 20 by the time late fall gets here. Hopefully the kids get attached to the ones we are keeping!

Moving on to crafting now, I wanted to share a few more Doodle Factory cards I got done last week. Drumroll please....

I wanted to keep this one simple and obvious...

• STAMPS- House from DF Country, Alphabet, Stitches (Starving Artistamps)
• PAPER- Mellow Moss, white
• INK- Brilliance Black
• OTHER- Copic Markers

For this one I was channeling my inner layer-er. LOL

• STAMPS- Drake from DF Fairytale, Miss You from SSS Thanks (Starving Artistamps)
• PAPER- Basic Grey Archaic, white CS
• INK- Tim Holtz Tea Stain distress ink, Brilliance black
• OTHER- Nestabilities, Copic Markers, pop dots, sponge

I have some super cute QKD cards to share tomorrow! Be sure to stop back by to see them and get a glimpse at our chicks! Thanks for coming by today! Have a great day!

smARTworks is here for tea!

Today is another day for our smARTworks Tea Party! The big boss herself Susan gave us a sketch to try today....


This is my take on it. I know I extended the circles a little farther than the sketch but that's the beauty of a 'guideline' right?

STAMPS- Sunny Smiles, Combo Sentiments (smARTworks)
PAPER- The Slab
INK- Brilliance black ink
OTHER- Copic markers, buttons, pop dots

Be sure to check out the other Smart Cookies throughout the day!
In the Works.....smARTworks
Mama Dini's Stamperia
Tah Dah!

Well, as much as I'd love to stay and chat, I have to finish planting our sugar snap peas, green beans, carrots, and onions!! Oh, and did I mention we are thinking of getting chickens???? I think I'm gonna lose my mind! {grin}

I think I'm still alive!

Give me a second to check my pulse...... Yep, I'm still here. Not going into too great detail, I have been very busy with lots of different things lately. We have been starting a garden which means we had to dig it, till it, fertilize it, and today I have to plant everything. By the way, the tiller must hate me because my arms and hands are so sore! The kids and I have been doing more homeschool subjects too which has added to the lack of time during the day. We are getting rid of our extra couch, chair, end table, dining room table, chairs, and a few other stands so I have been trying to take those things apart and get them ready to go to the incinerator. All of the things we are getting rid of are older and not so sturdy anyway. The only thing we do at the dining room table is school anyway. And we are also building me a super cool desk that I designed! I am so excited about it! Hopefully it actually gets done and in a timely manner! It's got everything I need on it! Anyway, the girls started gymnastics too (which they love) so I'm stuck trying to get everything I need to do done on the day of their class since gas is so high!

So, other than a few things I left out, you can tell how busy I have been the last few weeks. However, I have gotten a lot of DT cards done in the process! Mother's Day cards too! I'm gonna share a card from each company today that I have been working on.....

STAMPS- Blip of Doodle Factory Urban, Lil' Squares BG (Starving Artistamps)
PAPER- black, white, gray, metallic adhesive back paper
INK- Brilliance black ink
OTHER- Copic markers, Nestabilities, ribbon, pop dots

STAMPS- Harlequin BG (Queen Kat Designs)-soon to be released
PAPER- Basic Grey Sultry
INK- Versamark
OTHER- buttons, chipboard

STAMPS- Daisy Trio #1, Proverbs 31:28 (smARTworks)
PAPER- MME, brown CS
INK- Versamagic Agean Blue, Colorbox Chestnut Roan
OTHER- Nestabilities, pop dots

STAMPS- Beautiful, French Quarter (Inque Botique)
PAPER- Cool Caribbean, Certainly Celery, black
INK- Palette Hybrid black, Versamark
OTHER- Marvy punches, edge distresser, sewing machine, ribbon, pop dots, Stickles

Thanks for stopping in today and I'll probably be back on Wednesday to share some more Doodle Factory goodies!

I scream for Ice Cream!

Good morning all! I hope everyone is enjoying their Friday morning and looking forward to the weekend! I know I am! I will be visiting my momma and sisters tomorrow! My mom is making my favorite food......macaroni in a tomato/bacon/onion sauce. It's poor people food, but I grew up with it and I will eat it until I feel sick! I am sooooo looking forward to eating that tomorrow! Then on Sunday the kids and I are going to Ruby Tuesday's (I am in love with their garlic mashed potatoes!!!!!) and his mom is going to come and take them to their camper (more like a second home!) for the night so Joe and I can have an evening at home (he works 12 hours on the weekend) together. THEN! On Monday I am hoping to get in to the salon to get a facial and a hair trim. It will be a most wonderful Mother's Day weekend! Yahoo!

Now, moving on to the card. This is one of my favorite cards using the Queen Kat Designs 'Sweets' set (which is now available in the store). I wanted to keep it really simple with the kraft paper and the ice cream, although it is hard to see, is shimmer paper. I attached a button for the cherry and viola!

• STAMPS- Sweets, Mrs. Piggie (Queen Kat Designs)
• PAPER- kraft CS, shimmer
• INK- Stazon Jet Black
• OTHER- Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder, ribbon, button, pop dots
  

Because I am a big dope, I completely forgot to announce Queen Kat Designs Big News! Starting May 1st they are offering a stamp kit called "TAKE 3" Here are the details:

Each month we will have 3 large stamp sets exclusive to the club. If you don't subscribe to the club, you won't be able to get ALL of the images ever again! Sure, we MAY release 1-2 of them... But you won't EVER get these sets in their entirety ever again! Tanis, SJ and QK have been working hard to bring you the best sets possible and man, you don't want to miss out on this Take 3 club!!!! Here's the film strip for May's stamps..

There are bunch of cards in the gallery that use these stamps. Click here to go see. Retail value of the stamps will always be $27.00 or more.

Prices are as follows: (free shipping included)
1 month: $22
6 Months: $21/month
12 months: $20/month

You can add this club onto an existing club from Queen Kat Designs. Just check out in the store and let us know it's to be added to your kits club. You can send this as a gift to someone. A handmade card will be sent with the first month's subscription.

Get your subscription today!! Kits will ship on the 15th of each month.

**************************
If I'm not back on here before Mother's Day (I hope to share some MD cards tonight that I plan on making today) then I hope all of you beautiful ladies have wonderful days/weekends! We have the best job in the world!!! God bless and thanks for stopping by!

Sunshine Filled Tea Party

I am a little sore this morning. Yesterday was a non-stop day. We started at 9am and didn't stop till around 8pm. We had to do a lot of regular things (grocery and such) and then we had to get Jolee's hair cut (she looks so grown up!), I went to Big Lots hoping I could find some thick CD cases because my stamps are overflowing and I need some more to store them in. Nope! So now I guess I am going to have to order online which is what I was trying to avoid. Anyway, we had to pick up the rest of our veggie seeds and plants for our garden too. After that the girls had their first gymnastics class. They loved it and it was fun to watch them through the plexi-glass. After that was home and unload everything. Then the fun part came.....digging up more of our garden! Yee-haw! We bought a tiller a few days ago but you still need to work the ground a little to make the tiller easier to use. We did that will about 8:30 and then I had to put the groceries away. I was super tired by the end of the day! We are planting all kinds of stuff for our garden so I am really excited!! Corn, tomatoes, all kinds of peppers, cucumber, lettuce, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, watermelon, strawberries, pumpkins, and I'm sure I'm missing a few. Now we just get to play the waiting game!!

This morning is another smARTworks Tea Party! We all got our new batches of rubber so I think all of us were excited for this challenge. Well, another reason could be that Dina challenged us to make a card with NO ADHESIVE OR GLUE. It's so funny how there are so many little things you don't think of! When I was done with the card I almost glued on some baubles not even thinking! I caught myself though! Here is my card and I challenge all of you to make a no glue card too!

• STAMPS- Sunny Smiles, Sunny Smile Sayings (smARTworks)
• PAPER- MME, American Crafts
• INK- Stazon Jet Black
• OTHER- edge distresser, large brad, Word Window punch, Sewing Machine, Stickles

Be sure to check out the other Cookie's creations throughout the day!!
In the Works.....smARTworks
Mama Dini's Stamperia
Tah Dah!
Dee's Studio

Hopefully all of you have had a great start to your weeks so far! I have to really get busy and make some Mother's Day cards! We have just had so much to do around here that it's been crazy! Maybe I'll make it to them tonight. Have a super sunshine filled day!!! Thanks for stopping by!

Doodle Factory Princess!

Hey guys! Glad to be back today! My allergies have really done me in this week. I feel better but still woke up stuffed up this morning. Anyway! I got my new Doodle Factory stamps yesterday and finished this one this morning! I just absolutely love it! I really went out of my creative boundaries for this card. I did masking, brayer on glossy CS, crayon resist, and I tried layering the same color Copic markers. It's rare for me to even do a 'technique', let alone 4 one one! Hope you like it! And hope it makes you wanna buy this set! Then we can swap ideas! You can use my 10% discount code on my sidebar too!

• STAMPS- Castle, Princess Winifred, Tufts of Grass, Banner, I love you madly (Starving Artistamps)
• PAPER- glossy CS, Paper Trey white, Metallic white (for castle) from Staples
• INK- Brilliance black, Palette Hybrid black, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue
• OTHER- Copic markers, brayer, white crayon, post its (for masking), pop dots
  

Here is a close up of the castle so you can see the shimmer in the paper.

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

I did want to share a picture of Clinton's first fish he caught a few days ago. I just love this pic!


Well, I hope you all have a great rest of your Sunday! We'll see ya tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by!

A fishing we will go.....

Good morning everyone! Sorry I have been absent the past few days, my allergies have been getting the better of me.....and still are. My eyes are bloodshot, my nose is stuffed up and red, I can't stop sneezing, and now my muscles hurt from the sneezes and such. I can't taste my food and sleep has been quite a challenge since I can't breathe through my nose. Okay, there, I'm done complaining. I'm gonna switch to my happy face now.

Last week, I promised the kids I would take them fishing on the first warm day this week (unfortunately something I wish I didn't promise) which just so happens to be today. After lunch they are going to dig in the yard for worms for us to fish with and then out we'll go. I'm sure my nose and throat will just love that! Okay, so I lied about being done complaining. Now I'm really done. I'm taking my camera so hopefully I get a few good pics. The wind is pretty bad here now so hopefully it dies down by this afternoon so they can see what they are doing.

I'm gonna share a very simple Thank You card I made for our landlord. She is just the sweetest person to us and always makes sure we have everything we need out here. We get all the annual check ups and even get our driveway re-graveled in the spring because of the snowplows that go up our lane to make sure we can get out in bad weather if need be. In my opinion she goes above and beyond. So, I wanted to offer a small token of thanks to her. I took a few flower and sewed the button in the middle and adhered to the card with heavy duty tape. Of course I stamped the swirl and thank you first, then outlining with a gray Copic marker. I really think that gives it depth. Then I sponged the edges and a little of the flower.

• STAMPS- Mini Birdi, Petals (Inque Botique)
• PAPER- white CS
• INK- Colorbox Olive Pastel, Stazon Jet Black
• OTHER- flowers, button, sponge, gray Copic marker

Well, I'm off to make lunch and then supervise a hunt for worms! Wish us luck! This will be Clinton's first time fishing and I know if he catches his first fish and Joe isn't there to see it, he will be bummed. Fishing is all they have been talking about for months though so I didn't want to let them down. Hopefully I'll have pictures to share tomorrow! Until then, have a great day!! And as always, thanks for stopping by!