Lost In Space

Hi guys and my poor little neglected blog!  Seems like my mojo has took a Summer vacation and hasn't came home yet!  There's just endless work to do on the farm plus I do have a REAL job that pays the bills.  Hopefully with Autumn around the corner I can slow down and enjoy days snuggled indoors scrapping and crafting. 

I have 2 cards to share with you tonite using adorable digital clipart from One Pink Lemon.  First up is a "hoot" of a card. I can't get enough owls!  Who would think they'd be so cute on paper. 

Eek, I just love this little owl.  My patterned papers are My Little Shoe Box, ribbon is PTI, and bling is Creative Charms.  Owl and sentiment are One Pink Lemon.  I'm enterning this little card in the following challenges:

• Stamps R Us - Happy Birthday Challenge
• Ribbon Carousel - Anything Goes
• Victorine Originals Challenge 13 - Bling
• Ruby's Rainbow - Gems

Up next is another card using goodies from One Pink Lemon.  This time I used the Home Sweet Home digital clipart set. 

For this little card I used PTI Cardstock.  Patterned Paper is My Little Shoebox.  Twine and seam binding.  Button is Crate Paper and bling is Creative Charms.  My house, sentiment, and flower border are One Pink Lemon. 

And I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

• Ribbon Carousel - Anything Goes
• City Crafters Challenge 68 - Home Sweet Home

I'm happy to report that my duck Fredda still has 1 baby duck alive.  That may not sound like happy news since she started out with 3, but believe me we're happy!  She's a wonderful mother.  I've got all kinds of new chicks running around.  Here's a picture of the barnyard:

This is my little barn.  It's where I keep my chickens and turkeys.  I adore my little barn - this is the most peaceful place on the planet and I could sit there for hours and watch my chickens interact with eachother.  That's me surrounded by chicks and turkeys!  They were preparing for a midday snack of corn. 

My neighbor gave me a Silkie rooster today.  We're thinking all of the Silkies I hatched are females so we needed a rooster.  My new rooster has a history of picking fights and being a bully, so we named him Ivan the Terrible.  Hopefully he will prove his name wrong and fit in perfectly!  And hopefully we'll start having baby Silkies! 

Ups and Downs

Hi all!  Have a few LO's to share tonite made with goodies from July's Sampler Kit from Scrapbooking Supplies R Us.  The kit will be available any day and it is loaded with fabulous goodies!  So get ready to shop!!!

First up is a LO I made for this week's Sketchy Thursday challenge:

And my LO:

Ahhhh fun in the sun!  Love doing layouts of vacation pictures.  Perfect ways to preserve great memories. 

Up next is a LO made for Sketchy Thursdays Guest Designer for August:

Here's another LO:

Logan, my nephew, loved kite flying at the beach.  Such a fun picture opportunity! 

This week has been full of ups and downs at the barn.  My duck Fredda has ducklings!  Yes, after 2 years of infertility she's finally a Momma!  She had 3 little ducklings hatch and now is down to 2.  Hoping and Praying the 2 remaining make it:

My rooster Quagmire, who I've had for at least 3 years, has had a bad foot for a while now.  Today it finally got so bad he couldn't walk or use the foot so we made the difficult decision to put him down.  It just kills me to decide between life and death and weigh the quality of life he had. Here's a LO I did in 2009 featuring Quagmire:

He was a beauty!  The barnyard always has one rooster that steps up to be the ruler.  Quag was our leader and I'm anxious to see who steps up and takes over.  There will never be another Quag!

Terrific Tuesday

Hi all!  How's your Tuesday been?  My work schedule allows me to be off a lot during the weeks, so I love Tuesdays.  It's quiet and relaxed.  Have a little card to share tonite that I'm entering in the following challenges:

The Shabby Tea Room #68 - Use favorite papers and embellishements.
The Crafty Pad Challenge 127 - Bold & Bright Colors

Here's my card:

Who couldn't love these bright fun papers?  Love the colors, so vibrant and some of my favorites of the Summer.  My newest favorite embellishments are these Vintage Fabric Tags from Amy Matte's Designs.  Oh the possibilities are endless for these cuties.  And I had to add a little strip of teal glitter paper to make things blingy. 

Id also like to give a big thanks to the Color Throwdown for listing me as one of their favorite cards from the past week!  And a shout out to The Front Porch Kits Blog for liking my use of their adorable garden glove! 

Last but not least, I've decided to start a Family History Scrapbook.  I started one a few years ago, before blogging, but didn't finish it.  Since my Papaw passed away, I feel like I need to record things he's told me about our family before time diminishes those memories.  I got the book Scrapbooking Your Family History from Creating Keepsakes and the workbook a few years ago.  I got them back out and have all my tools ready to get to work, so wish me luck!  I'll post pictures as I go along.    Have any of you created a project like this, any tips?  It's a bit overwhelming to think about where to even begin! 

I've got a picture to share before logging off.  You know me and my camera!  I love snapping pictures in the barnyard.  Here's a cute one I took the other day:

Chickens love watermelon!  No matter the age, size, and breed it's one thing they all seem to have in common.  This little chick got his first taste of melon.  He watched his Mamma eating and had to join in the fun.  It's just so adorable.  Here he's (or she) is drinking some juice from the watermelon.  Isn't Summer grand! 

If The Shoe Fits

Hi guys!  Time for a new challenge from If The Shoe Fits...Scrap It.  This week we're thinking "roses".  This month we're celebrating June's birth flower - the rose.  So make a project and use roses, rose colors, rose papers, the possibilities are endless.  I also entered this little card in the following challenges:

Stampavie and More #145 - Butterflies
Whoopsi Daisy Challenge - Pile on those flowers.
Color Throwdown #147 -

And here is my card:

I used Papertrey Ink Stamps, Prima Flowers, My Mind's Eye Patterned Paper.  I used my Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch and lace from Crate Paper.  Visit The Shoe to see the Design Teams take on our rosie challenge and play along! 

Now who wants to see a new picture of my Silkies???  They are growing up, love these little guys. 

Aren't they adorable?  And they stay so very clean.  They love to stay in our "community center" of the day and come out in the barnyard of the evening when the shades over. 

This week has been a happy one.  My turkey Shanana hatched 2 baby turkeys, so everyone's tickled about that.  I got Shanana last Autumn.  She obviously had it rough and we think she lived most of her life confined to a cage.  She has to be the ugliest turkey I've ever seen, but she can't help that.  Now she's a Momma. 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right???  She's so proud of her 2 baby turkeys and I couldn't be more pleased.  She's an excellent mother and I'm so happy we've given her the life she deserves and to never be in a cage again.   Will keep you updated on her wee ones.

Amy Mattes Designs

Hi all!  Have some fun Design Team news to share tonite.  I'm now part of the Amy Mattes Designs DT.  Amy has fabulous Etsy shops with custom or premade goodies, invitations, digis, and more! 

I want to share a card I made using some of Amy's adorable digital embellishments.  The printable digis I used can be found at Chocolate Sundae Designs.

Such a fun and easy way to make cards!  My sentiment, flower, and flower pot are all from Chocolate Sundae Designs.  My pink pearls and butterfly are from Creative Charms.

Does this card have you thinking of Spring?  Spring is in full bloom in Kentucky.  Some days are chilly, but all the trees are budding and there are even flowers out!   All of you know how much I love my chickens.  Well I bought Hubby an incubator for Christmas so we could hatch any eggs we like.  My neighbor has Bantam Silkies and gave us a setting of eggs.  Here is a picture of what an adult Silkie looks like:

Photo from Back Yard Chickens

Isn't it gorgeous?  We hatched 5 Silkies and 2 standard big chickens and 1 mystery chicken.  Here's a picture:

The chicks with the black feet and beaks are the Silkies.  They're soft chick feathers already reach their feet!  I'm in love!!!  They have a wonderful little chicken hutch at the barn with all the necessities a chick might need.  But today has been chilly and tonite it may get to freezing.  So guess where this picture was taken?  I have the little guys in a bath tub in one of my extra bathrooms.  They are nice and toasty!  Tomorrow is suppose to be warm, so hopefully they'll return outdoors in the morning. 

Enjoy!!!

A Bright New Year

It's challenge time at Scrapbooking Supplies R Us.  Take a look at this month's darling sketch:

This month The Sampler DT used the beautiful January kit, "A Bright New Year" to create LO's using this sketch.  Here's another picture of the kit:

This kit is just fabulous!  Love all the earthy colored papers and fun embellishments!  It really makes you want to start creating and gets your crafty mojo going for the new year! 

Here is my take on the sketch:

This is Big Red.  No doubt you can tell which one she is, hence her name.  She became great friends with my little chicken Black Gold last Summer.  So Black Gold decides to go and hatch some chicks.  Big Red started sitting in the nest next to her.  Big Red's eggs didn't hatch, but Black Gold's did.  Honestly I wasn't sure what to do, so I took them both off the nests at the same time and Big Red decided to play Nanny to Black Gold's chicks.  They both took care of them, watching them and teaching them to eat and play.  It was the cutest thing I've ever seen.  Big Red would let the little one's sit on her back and she would cover them to keep them warm.  So we decided the perfect name for her is "The Nanny".  And I thought in honor of all her hard work, she deserved a LO telling her story! 

Here are links to The Sampler's Design Team Blogs and their fabulous takes on this month's sketch:

Rochelle Spears

Sandy Tanaka

Sarah Swann

Diana Fisher

Diana Gonzolas

Holly King

Letty Lucero

Jules Dix

Monique Liedtke

Visit Scrapbooking Supplies R Us to play along with our sketch challenge and to purchase your kit today!