Janurary's Paper Swap - from South Africa

WOW!!.........I'm just loving this Paper Swap...I found it on Lawendula  and you can go directly to her Paper Swap blog. To join, go to the site, and you will be hooked up with someone for the next month, and this goes on ALL year. You can participate for just one month, or every month...your choice.I've been participating for several months now and have gotten so many lovely papers and ephmera. And....you get to swap with people from all over...I have had the U.S., Germany, Australia, and now South Africa. Here's this month's loot.....

 The second picture shows all the wonderful bird prints/pics that Barbara sent me. I told her that I am really interested in birds.........and she is an artist, so she sent me copies of some of her bird prints. 

and look at these feathers..they are Guinea Fowl feathers...absolutely amazing...God didn't just create the bird...He added symmetrical beauty in the white spots on the bird.I marvel at His handi-work...

These are porcupine quills........WOW..the are sooo sharp...I can't imagine have one pierce my body..just think.........these grow out of their bodies.........I was THRILLED to receive these. My grandkids enjoyed looking at them too!




They are wonderful and my newest project is to make a Journal of Birds.....hummm...(.I really wanted to say a FOWL Journal...but that JUST dosn't sound very pleasing.)...

 Barbara and her husband own a ranch in South Africa...and she even sent me a label from their business.

 and.........do you see the stamps on the envelope..........HELLO...this is part of my reason for doing this swap....I LOVE stamps lately and getting all these different ones is sooo much fun.

       You can go to Barbara art website where she sells her work...http://www.africanpainting.com   and see all her work...


Thanks for stopping by.........till next time..........
God Bless....
M

I can't believe this has happened....

Yes....they say it will happen..............don't take a chance....but I did....and now....it's all lost....my external hard drive fell off the counter and died. My wonderful geeky husband who is sooo talented with the computer, tried everything....but it was not going to come alive. I have lost everything for the last five years. Digital scrapbook stuff...documents....pictures................oh the pictures I had...grandkids, vacations, scaned pics of my parents and my childhood....free pics from blogs.....quotes that I have been saving...EVERYTHING...I am so sick about this...but it's my fault....EVERYONE says you have to backup your files....

SOOOO..............listen to me.....................BACK UP YOUR FILES BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE, cause it will happen eventually......................and then.................it hurts...it really hurst.....

I'm Addicted....to Pinterest!

I recently was told that I "had" to get on Pinterest." What's that?"....well little did I know...it is total addiction to everything lovely!!.........beautiful scenery....fun crafts....lovely homes....plants, quotes, and even art journals!......no one needs to every buy a magazine again cause it's all on line at Pinterest!

So I found a great quote....and I doooo love quotes....that said.......this is it...."Don's let a bad day make you feel like you have a bad life.".......well...THAT spoke to me. I have depression...and usually it's kept at bay by good medication.......but some days.........well...some of you will understand..........so here is what I did with the quote!

Oh that poor gal..........she's definately having a bad day!!..........I'm printing this out and goin over to my craft station and glueing this right in...........Have a GREAT day!!...(yes...this is a good day!)

Digi Layout of Sierra and Nathaniel

With a new greatgrandson I had to start a new Digi album.....here is Nathaniels first page.

A New Addition to the Family

Today our family has been blessed by a new Great Grandson...Nathaniel....born at 9:34am (with over 12 hours of labor). He is 8lbs and 21inches..........Congratulations Sierra....

Where are the clean clothes?

When things go missing............
                 and you live with youngins.............
                                        you NEVER know what you'll find...................

Oh.....Alexander has been helping with the laundry again!!

It's Game On!

Hello World!

How have you all been doing? It's been crazy here and I tend to zone out when that happens....hiding in my bedroom. Drawing and watching British tv series and movies.....love them.

 And....while I'm in hiding the family is in full swing....Sunday the football season began...RATS! But my honey now has others to watch the games with Him. DD and her hubby...plus the 4 and 2 year olds chanting the whole time...."GO RAIDERS!!!!........yes...the are hopelessly lost to us....Hubby is a 49'rs fan....and so the game is on....who will win more games this season....Raiders or 49'rs

And....due to a bet the dueling duo made LAST season......Hubby lost...Raiders did better than the 49'rs soooooo.........Hubby had to wear a Raiders shirt....ALL DAY.....when the new season started. Well... that was this last Sunday and Hubby humbly wore the shirt to church...he wasn't happy...but he honored the bet

...(see....he really isn't a betting man...now I know why)...

Let's see how the rivals do THIS year!

Look at the Great Font

Hello World...

I wanted to show you all the wonderfull font I found in the new fall Lands' End catalog.

I think this is a fabulous font because of the flow of letters and also the tall letters are slightly exaggerated. Any know what this font might be? The search is on....

Back to Work....

It's been FOUND!!...YIPPEE.......I had posted on Two Peas In A Bucket forum a request for help in finding this font and wooooohoooooo it's been found. Cost a little bit because it's a commercial font, but it will be worth it. Here is the link if anyone want's to know. Font in Lands' End Fall Catalog and fyi this is the first link i've done...hummmmm wasn't so hard afterall!!

Have a GREAT day everyone!!!

Happy Birthday Katherine

Hello World........
.....it's Saturday and it's already a day packed with errands and such....but I had to give a Birthday greetings to my friend Katherine........another fall nut....(Katherine in Yosemite with her pumpkin).......
craft nut, and my friend for over 31 years. When we met I had one child age 3 and she was pregnant with her first....now we have 6 children(3 each), son's and daugher in-laws, grandchildren and even great grandchildren....and thru all this time we only lived in the same town maybe 9 months total.....it's been a long distance friendship and we have shared sooooooooooo much together over the years. So Happy Birthday My Friend!!!!!!

September 1...W00-HOO

Hello World!!................Two Big Events for Today.

1.....Its been 38 years for my honey and me...where does the time go??? We met in our first (on only) year of college and majored in each other. ...here's a pic of Honey. It's been an adventure with ups and downs, any sooo many blessing along the way. I'm so glad he's my hubby and God willing we will have many more years together.

2......FALL begins today for me and a few other nuts (my friend Katherine and my youngest daughter Catherine)....this is OUR first day of fall...............summer is soooo over rated.......yuck....but fall....yummmmm, the colors, the feel of the air on your skin, the smells of the fall season.......and I live in California and I'll take what I can get of fall in the area, but I can't BEGIN to imagine what living on the northern EAST Coast would be like where it is a it is a feast to the eyes..............(...hummmmm, some day)
So....to start the season off right I had to may my favorite fall receipe "Great Aunt Myrtle's Pumpkin Bread"....which came from my friend Katherine........yummy.........want the receipe?
                          sure I'll share........I think Aunt Myrtle would get a kick out of it!!
                                       AUNT MYRTLES' PUMPKING BREAD
          3 CUPS SUGAR
          1 CUP COOKING OIL
         4 EGGS
         2 CUPS PUMPKIN (FROM A CAN)
         2/3 CUP WATER
         2 TSP. SODA
         1/2 TSP. SALT
         1 TSP. CINNAMON
         1 TSP NUTMEG
         3 1/2 CUPS FLOUR  
Cream sugar, oil and eggs at low speed, add pumpkin, water, dry ingredients and nuts in given order. Place in 4 greased and floured 1 pound coffee cans. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Can you guess that this is an old receipe? I have used all different sizes of loaf pans and even a bundlt pan for this receipe. It makes a lot of batter...so have fun...............enjoy the yummy bread.

NOTE......cooking time REALLY varies due to size of pans....just play with it...it always comes out good!

Heres to hoping you enjoy the season.................

Struck Gold....or....Look at all the Loot!!

Good Morning World........

I wanted to show off all the wonderful scraps that came in an envelope swap that I joined over at LaWendula... www.lawendula.blogspot.com  a few weeks ago. The most WONDERFUL paper and ephemera was sent to me and just made me giddy....yes people, giddy....I just LOVE paper.
                             
                                         Just LOOK at all the loot!! whooo-hooo!

Monopoly money, tickets, B&W photos, a lotto ticket...music, wallpaper, a red Chinese money envelope, stamps from all over the world, scraps of paper, tags, an 1915 receipt...from Jayne in Oklahoma. Thanks SOOOO VERY much Jayne.........

Hope your heart went pitter-patter like mine did!!!

My Own "Remains of the Day" Journal

Good Morning World!

In my previous post I showed a "Remains of the Day" journal that I made for my friend Doris. Does everyone know who coined the name, "Remains of the Day?" Besides being one of the most boring movies I ever watched.....this is a Journal class taught by MaryAnn Moss www.dispatchedfromla.typepad.com that is incorporates sewing, using recycled paper, and really anything you want to use, making it a fasinating hodgepodge journal.....which is why I fell for it and paid for a class. Even though my craft money it tight, taking classes expands my creativity and I find that I start combinging ideas that eventually gives me my own style.

So here is my own "Remains of the Day" journal...hope you like it!

I used Mary Engelbreight fabric, old uphostry fabric, and a crochet flower (pattern from Attic 24)....using my favorite colors...red and yellow..

and here are just a few of the pages. After I figure out how to add Flicker to my blog the rest of the pages will be there.

This pic is showing that there are two signatures....(Learned about that in the class)

old envelopes

paper sewed together to create the page size

isn't paper grand!!

Remains of the Day Journal for Doris

Hello World!...

It's time to show you what I have been working on for the last two weekends. A journal for my friend Doris..........who loves green and pink and everything feminine....

The journal cover has a lace doily sewn on it.........a heart made from vintage fabric, and the other heart is from the fabric of her bed set. Vintage button and fabric for the closure.

 

 

I am pleased with the way the journal turned out, but more than that.....Doris REALLY liked it...and that made me REALLY happy!!

Now What?

Now that the Summer of Color Challenge is over, I see the need to belong to groups.....keeps the momentum rolling. So with that.... I am joining some of my friends in a Calendar of the Year ATC swap. Every other week we will make an ATC for the designated month and by the end of the year we will have 12 ATC's times 6......WOW.....72 ATC's. That should be fun and then we can display the cards of the month all thru 2012.

Here is my first ATC for January.....I decided to have a theme of Gemstone and Flower of the month and go digital again. (got to keep at it and moving forward)

(think I will start some fall art....it's ALMOST here!!!!)

Show and Tell for the AWESOME Summer of Color Challenge

Thanks, thanks, thanks....to Kristen for running this challenge. It was so motivating to work in the different colors and then put the layouts on the web each week ......waiting to see if people liked it....and as this was the first challenge I had done...showing people besides my family my work...I was VERY happy to see that people liked my layouts...meaning to me...keep it up...don't give up...I'm finally getting somewhere with Digital Scrapping!

                                                                     Week #1...BLUE

Week #2...GREEN

                                                       
                                                              Week #3...Yellow

                                                                    Week #3...Pink

                                                               Week #4....Brown

                                                                     Week #5....Red

                                                                   Week #6....Purple

Week #8....Orange

And to everyone who participated....I enjoyed looking at your pics..... found some new blogs to follow....and was truely inspired by all. It's amazing what talent there is in this world!!!! 

The Last Color of the "Summer of Color" Challenge

The "Summer of Color" Challenge has been so much fun. I think it has actually helped me to make the summer go by faster....cause I'm EAGERLY waiting for fall...(I'm so not a summer/heat person).The color challenges HAVE been challenging as some colors have been more difficult to work with...and I can proudly say....that I have done a layout each week....and not given up...which is my usual style...but one that I need to ditch...forever!!

It's orange for this week...........and my layout features the sheep barn (there was also another barn for the horses and cows) on my mom's family sheep ranch. Her father loved the ranch and his sheep...and was successful...until...the fire...that burned the barn to the ground...and many sheep were lost. Mom remembers her father being devastated by this. He wasn't able to ever recoup his losses from this and it wasn't long until the depression started and he ran out of money....eventually he sold the ranch and moved into town.

The hill behind the barn is named Middle Butte and on the other side of it is Canada. Mom and her siblings could only climb the butte by going to the back side of it. She is still proud of the ranch and what her family had.... but it is tainted by the sad memories of her early years.

It's Purple This Week - ick!

I knew it had to come........eventually.........purple had to show up.......blick...blah....ick! I don't know why I don't like it... I even had a lavender bedroom once..........but now.................no way....don't wear it...don't have it, don't work with it..............except...........ok.............I'll give it a try.........afterall this IS A CHALLENGE.
So here is this weeks layout...my dear mommy who is 93 now. A wonderful women. I love her sooo!.

that's all folks...

It's Red this week

Hello World!

This past week was a long one for me.......chest cold and lots of coughing.....but I couldn't miss creating a layout for the Summer of Color Challenge...cause it's RED....my favorite color....red just warms my heart......especially red barns, red houses, red Fiestaware dishes....oh...there's no end to the list....I just LOVE RED!!

The layout this week is about my home...the family home where four kids were raised in rural Sacramento....it was country, but now all the surrounding land is gone and taken over by homes. I had a wonderful childhood, running lose all day...(yes... all day...Mom was smart!!) riding bikes, playing in the fields...just being kids. We never got seriously hurt...no one bothered us....we were truely free.....

My father built our home, slowly over four years and in several phases. He completed it in 1952 and we owned the home until Mom was no longer able to keep up with the place......memories...

Summer of Color Challenge

Hello World!

How are you all doing? Everyone enjoying their summer? For those of you who love the heat...lucky you, and for those of us who don't...boo hoo!

The Summer of Color Challenge has sure been fun for me and I am slowly working my way through the stack of old photos that I have from my mom and dad.   This week the color is brown..... which I truely love along with all the fall colors, but I chose not to go that direction.....got to stick to the task of getting a family album done for my siblings and children. So this LO is kind a drab....but done that way intentionaly. It was a drab situation for these kids....my mom and her siblings...

First the kids had lost their mother when the youngest child was only a few weeks old. The family was quickly divided up to relatives because their father was a rancher and couldn't care for the kids. Mom was at the boarding place across the street from the school when she was 4 years old. She remembers being so afraid.......

Then were sent off to Ursuline Academy in Great Falls, Montana as live-in-boarders for three years, possibly returning to the ranch in the summer, but mom is not sure.

My mother is still alive and lives with me......the only one left in her family.......she is 93 1/2 years old...and still misses her mom..............

Happy 4th of July!!!

Good Morning World!!.....

Happy 4th ..............We are so proud in America of our country's history...and all that we stand for. All the men and women who have given their all in the protection and defense of the US...and for others as they have deployed to other lands to help them in defense of tyranny. To have freedom and wanting others to have that choice....hummmm. Such a tall order......and costly......

Many people will celebrate with fireworks at home................or go to places that have scheduled HUGH blowout extravaganzas. Picnics.........family and friends getting together.....but we must remember what this all cost......"some gave their all"......."Home of the Free, Because of the Brave"....

ok......deep breath........

Summer of Color Challenge.........this week is yellow........and I do LOVE yellow....but I choose to only used it minimally in this layout. I seem to be on a roll with family pics...I am sooo blessed to have a large amount of my family's photo's (on both sides) and it's time for me to start getting them scanned and protected and then distribute to my siblings and children.

The house is my mothers home.....she grew up on a sheep ranch (the largest one at it's time) in Montana. The lady of the left is my grandmother (I never new her) with the two eldest kids....in total there will eventully be five kids..........the other lady we think is her mother-in-law......soooo...here is this weeks layout.........

sorry for the long post....I got a little sentimental!!!..........