A little Ditty from Christmas!

Happy Sunday!

I thought I'd share with you a shadow box I did for Glen's Aunt and Uncle for Christmas.  

I added the Scor-tape for them to add their favorite family pic (hence the four white strips of 'stuff' that totally screw up the photo.  =)

It's been ages since I've done any scrapbooking it seems like - definitely need to get back into that - it was SO MUCH FUN!!!

Tools - Cuttlebug, Sizzix die, Cricut, Nesties (for the flower), Embossing Folder

Extra STUFF - Burlap, Fall leaves, dimensionals, Gold Button from my button box, Color Box Chestnut Roan Ink and Miscellaneous Papers from my scrappy stash.

Thanks for stopping by and visiting!

Hope you're having a wonderful 2013 so far!  =)

Hugs & Happy Days!

Gettin' Back In The Groove

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  We certainly did.  We took a MUCH deserved trip with my mom and dad in the "Lake House" to Tawas Michigan.  It's been years since we've camped in an RV or 5th wheel trailer.  After dad's diagnosis, we've all been looking forward to this trip (and a trip to Aruba sometime soon).

While I don't have any projects to share with you today, I thought I'd share some photos that we took this weekend.  We took a bunch, but I'll just share a few with you.

These few are when we got to our campsite and were getting things set up. 

 My wonderful hubby, ducking before we put the awning up - yep, we're a bunch of shorties and my hubby is 6'5" or so.

This was the Tawas Point Lighthouse - just up the beach from where we stayed this weekend. Glen and I walked the beach on Friday afternoon once we got to the park and got set up.

A different angle of the light house

We just love the sunset photos we too (I must have snapped 30 photos and they're all just gorgeous).  It's hard to pick our favorite, but I think this one is pretty close to our favorite.  :)  This was one of my favorite from Saturday evening.  That spot on the beach - it's actually the sun reflecting - not a bon fire.  Gorgeous, huh?

We too more photos today, but on mom and dad's camera, so hopefully next weekend I'll have a few of those.  We walked the beach on the opposite side of the point, actually went up to the light house, took some photos and just had a nice morning wrapping up a terrific weekend.

I'll be back a bit later - there's lots of great things going on today that I don't want you to miss.

Happy Hauntin' n' Craftin' Too!

Green Beans & A Lake House!

What a wonderful weekend we had - nice and long celebrating with family and friends!
We celebrated our first College Football WIN of the season on Saturday with both Michigan and Michigan State winning.  YAH HOO - GO BLUE!!! 
Sunday, dad was feeling well enough that both sets of parents and Mrs. M (my honorary g-ma) came out for a YUMMY FAB BBQ.  We had some super yummy chicken, brats, homemade french fries, the BEST BEST BEST corn on the cob (yep, gonna be freezin' that this week!!).  We had more food than we knew what to do with!  What a great day!  It did my heart good to be able to clean the corn in the kitchen with my dad helping me.  He even gained 2 pounds!!!  We had such a great time with family yesterday - There's just something about letting THEM enjoy one another's company (our family is a bit different - both sets of parents get along and heck, we even celebrate the holidays together and for that we are blessed!!)

Last Saturday, my folks got what we're jokingly calling their "Lake House" (Sounds better than 5th Wheel) to do a little traveling in.  It will be the "Beach House" if we're parked at the beach :)  We had so much fun with them on Saturday when we met them so we could see it and heck, it was even delivered on Saturday. We didn't know they'd be delivering it that quick. We're already looking forward to a few little mini-trips as my dad continues to recover.

At the dealership

At The Dealership (Dog and All)

(How Happy do these three look?? - Dad, Mrs. M and Mom. . . oh and Royy the dog).

Of course last weekend, we picked more beans and a crazy amount of tomatoes both roma and cherry tomatoes.

So, of course last Sunday we spent the day canning green beans.  Yep, another dozen jars!  WHEW!
Tomorrow we will finish freezing some of the most amazing corn we've had the ENTIRE summer!!  YUMM-O!  Next weekend, we will most likely be canning peaches and freezing raspberries (and celebrating my mom's birthday!!)
I hope you all had a WONDERFUL holiday weekend.  I hope that you got to spend time enjoying your family and friends and the last little bit of Summer.
Of course, it's back to the grind tomorrow....but at least it's a short week.  That's a definitely BONUS!

Happy Weekend!

What a gerrific weekend!!  And of course, I don't have many photos to share!
Friday we spent the day with my dad at an old car show that he goes to every year.  This year we didn't want him to miss it, so Glen and I spent the day with dad.  I was absolutely amazed by the amount of old car parts and how all these guys knew what all these parts were too and what year vehicle, it was absolutely fascinating.  Trim pieces for instance, they knew what model, vehicle and model year.  Amazing!!

Saturday we spent the day in the sweltering heat (big surprise there) working on the deck.  We were able to finish the railings and get the lights installed.  It looks awesome and mom & dad were thrilled!!  Dad and I made a quick trip to Lowe's even, which as simple as it sounds, is a huge step for my dad in his getting stronger for his surgery.  While we were at my mom and dad's yesterday we also ended up harvesting a FEW (like a DOZEN) cucumbers, banana peppers and even green onions.  I didn't take photos of that, however we were home today and WE have some veggies ready to pick in our garden (and a few that aren't yet ready to pick, but are growin like crazy!

We even got some time around the house today which was FABULOUS!!

So, on the crafty side of things - if you haven't been over to Crafters Digital Art Center, you MUST stop by - they have some absolutely FABULOUS challenges AND even some freebie images for you to download, use and enjoy! 

You can join for free and I'm sure you will enjoy your time there - there are some amazing digital designers and amazing inspiration!!  Heck, you can even join us at Shelly's Images.  We'd love to have you!

This week, Shelly's Images is hosting the sketch challenge with this fabulous new Birdie Birthday freebie -

How adorable is this?

Image - Shelly's Image (Freebie for CDAC #2 challenge)

Sketch - Scrappy's Sketch for Shelly's Image CDAC Week #2 Challenge

MORE Challenges - Scrap-Friendzy Bonus Challenge #9 (cards with ONLY scraps)

Papers - Basic Grey & MME

Technique - A neat new technique to me making clouds thanks to my Design Team sista Marion

Thanks Girl!

Punch - Fiskars Apron punch

Extra STUFF - Copics, Stickles and Flat back Bb's

And, if you're looking for more freebies -

Join us this week at Shelly's Images Blog for a BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION!!  This week is my sis Shelly's Birthday and she's CELEBRATING in a big way!  Each day if you play along you can be a winner of some great freebies (she's been adding some AWESOME images to the store!)

Come join us and CELEBRATE!!

Happy Weekend!!

Our favorite little Deere!

Deere you may ask, not Dear?  We have a little man in our family, Johnny who has John Deere Green in his blood!  This little birthday boy who is celebrating his birthday tomorrow and will be 3 tomorrow and  LOVES ANYTHING that is John Deere!  And because we didn't get him anything John Deere for his birthday, we had to get that Deere in there some how.  Well, this is what we came up with and to tell you the truth, I LOVE the way this turned out - I'm not a great "BOY" card maker, but this is perfect for him!!

Image - It's a coloring book image off the internet :o)

Paper - Kraft, Green, Yellow & Black from my stash

Technique - Magic Colored Pencil Technique

Cuttlebug - Distressed Stripes

Miscellaneous - Chestnut Roan Ink, Jute & Dimensionals

Computer Generated Sentiment

~ WARNING WARNING - REMOTELY FUNNY FAMILY STORY ~

I have to share too - we went to my mom and dad's to work on the farm today - Glen, Glen's mom and I.  The Grass needed to be mowed, brush needed to be cut, flower beds needed to be cleaned out, pasture fences needed to be fixed after a winter of deer running thru them.  Anyway, around 4 or so, we heard gobbling.  Now, if you don't know the gobbling story, I'll try & keep it short.  A few years ago, my mom INSISTED that she saw TURKEYS in the trees on the front part of their property - there was no alcohol involved in the seeing of the turkeys in the trees (just had to include that disclaimer).  First of all, I didn't think turkeys could fly and honestly, I've never looked into whether or not they can, or weather or not they perch in trees.  My mom didn't have her camera at the time, so presently we've written it off as urban legend that we haven't been able to confirm. 

So today, we were taking a time out.  Mower needed gas, brush cutter needed gas and we all needed a beverage.  So, we hear gobbling and realize that there were turkeys in the back field of the neighbors property.  Luckily, I had my camera and snapped a few photos.  My mom joked that she was so happy I had my camera because my dad never believed her about the turkeys.  Now I believe in the Turkeys, just still unsure about Turkeys in Trees.  We counted 7 of them - 4 male (we thing b/c they were all 'puffed' up) and 3 female.

Yep, WILD TURKEY (no, not the stuff in the bottle, lol), real feather bearing, gobblin' wild turkeys (on the ground, not in the trees).

Happy Weekend - thanks so much for stickin' around for the blah blah blah Wild Turkey story.  lol

Happy Craftin'!  Hopin' to get a little scrapbookin' in tomorrow.  I just got the CUTEST photo of my cousins little girl Alexis in the mail today - Her one year photos I can't wait to scrap!!

Happy Almost Sunday!

Min

A Family Tradition

When we were growing up, I remember my mom always making nut rolls at Christmas.  She'd make three.  Half would go home with my grandpa and grandma - they were my grandpa's FAVORITE treat.  The other half my mom would keep and we'd have on Christmas Eve after Church service.

My grandpa has been gone for 13 years this past August and it's been that long since we've had his favorite nut rolls.  So, this year I decided to bring back the family tradition, but to include my in-laws into the tradition.

So, this was one of the beauties I baked up yesterday.  I had to smile.  My mom gave me the recipe that Aunt Irene had written out for her - it was the original recipe, splashed with ingredients after making the recipe for so many years.  I love getting recipes like this!  A recipe that has a story.  In reading through it, I actually had to do some research - anyone know what 2 cakes yeast are?!  Now, we cook quite a bit, we make bread on a pretty regular basis I make dozens of cookies throughout the year and we'd NEVER heard of 2 cakes yeast.  Well, thanks to my hubby and his quick bing.com skills, we learned that 2 cakes yeast are equilivent to 3 - 1/4 oz. yeast packets or 6 3/4 teaspoons of dry yeast. 

You learn something new every day, don't you?

Doesn't this look yummy?
If you've never had a nut roll before, it's a yeasty bread dough rolled like a jelly roll and the filling is a combination of ground walnuts, brown sugar, white sugar, honey, butter and milk (and no joke, that's about what the directions provided as far as ingredients for the filling - there were NO measurements).

My apologies for the not so attractive looking baking sheet.  Ever have one of those go to pans or baking sheets that you KNOW how everything will turn out that you cook on it, in it?  Well, that's my baking sheet.  My mom in law was kind enough to get me a few new sheets, but this one just seems to be the one everything gets baked on.
Well, this afternoon we'll be delivering the other two nut rolls to both my mom and dad and Glen's mom and dad when we get together for Christmas Eve Dinner.  I had to have a little sample (you know, quality control!), and they're not quite as good as what my mom made, but pretty darn close.  With a few years of practice, they just might be.

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to my other blog readers that may not necessarily celebrate the Christmas Holiday!

Wishing you a time of enjoyment with your families and friends!

Min

In the Knick of Time!

I finished the Family album last night, just in the knick (is it knick or nick?) of time to catch the New Season Premier of Survivor (yep, Glen and I both find entertainment in the drama of 16 people thrown together without clean clothes and food) and to start playing along with the Work of He{art} Online Crop at Scrap-Friendzy. I have to say, I think this season of survivor will be better than last season! We've already decided Fabio (the soccer coach, Fabio wanna-be) needs to be voted off. We LOVED the twists at the beginning AND the outcome of the first tribal council. So for those of you who are survivor fans, what did you think about last night's episode?? Okay, back to the crafty stuff - be sure to check out Scrap-Friendzy's Work of He{art} Online Crop this weekend - challenges started last night and will run thoughout the weekend. The girlz there have some fabulous challenges!! Go Check it out!! Last but not least - Here's the Family Album. Finished & being mailed on Monday to the recipient. What do you think?

Materials used - We R Memory Keepers: Hoopla Collection (I LOVE THIS LINE!!), Primas & Brads from my stash. I think everything cut out in this book was cut out with the cricut - carts used: Cuttin' Up, Jasmine, Joys of the Season, My Community, Opposites Attract, Stretch your Imagination & Walk in My Garden, I inked quite a bit with my usual go to ColorBox Chestnut Roan ink. Quotes and poem were found on line.

Thanks for looking! Happy Craftin' and come join us at Scrap-friendzy for some great online croppin'!

Min

Freezer Jam & Kittens - Chapter Two

Isn't this the most beautiful Jam?
Mom titled the jar on the left, the one the 'elephant sat on'.

My mom and I had a wonderful time this weekend!

The Freezer Jam experience alone is worthy of its own page in the ole' scrapbook! Because neither mom or I have ever made the freezer jam, we had no idea how much 'STUFF' we'd need (peaches, jars, sugar, pectin etc.). So, on our FIRST trip to Mejiers for some munchies, necessities and Jelly Jars, we thought we were set. So home we traveled (this was AFTER the trip to pick up not one, but 2 kittens--photos below, a trip to the yarn shop and a stop at Kohls).

We started peeling our peaches, cleaning the jars, boiling the lids and reading directions (good call here). So, we got our first 2 large bowls of sugar & peaches mixed together, and realized that we were going to need more pectin and and A LOT more jars too......Who would have thought that 14 pouds of peaches could make so much Jam! Hence, trip number 2 out into the monsoon rain to Kroger we went.....of course, we had to pick up more salsa and chips as we put a large dent into the one we'd picked up on the FIRST trip....

And wouldn't you know it!? They were out of the pectin, but had jars, chips & salsa. So, we picked up those things and BACK to Meijer we went (it's still raining and about 6:30).

It was a comedy of errors, but my mom and I had a good laugh all the way home.

Poor Glen - not only was the weekend a TERRIBLE football weekend, I think he officially figured out where I get my ADD - doing 25 things at once, mass chaos syndrome from!!!

We had just enough of the jars for 4 batches of Peach Freezer Jam - not enough jars for strawberry.....maybe next year.....

Okay, so on to the kitty photos....mom & dad were only going to get 1 kitten. There's a wonderful Animal Care Center not too far from our house (Auburn Hills Animal Care Center for anyone who is looking for a new best friend who wants to love you....). The folks there were absolutely WONDERFUL! So, we went in and looked at the 70+ kitties they had - kittens, little-itty-bitty kitties, toddler kitties and some adult kitties too. I wanted to take them ALL home. About 1/2 way through, we found the sweetest gray & white tiger. She was waving to us from her cage. She's such a lover kitty! And boy, what a little motor she has. She's got the biggest ears and the longest tail and body and is just a sweetheart. (Glen playing with sweet kitty - he called her 'Squeeks'. She loved his wool slippers for some reason - they were fast friends!)

So, as mom is telling me, okay, no more pets, she finds a cute little black, white and brown calico kitty with a tiny face and body, and a voice that is much larger than her tiny body. She too was waving at us - mainly mom! Mom fell in love with her. (This is her Sunday after we picked her up from 'camp'. She was feeling a bit owie!).Our rational - you can't just have one kitten! So of course, I had to call my dad and tell him mom was bring two kitties home - their kitty and 'MY' new kitty who would like nothing better than to stay at mom & dad's.

My kitty had already been fixed, mom's kitty, had not, so we took one home and the other one spent the night to go to 'camp' as we call it around our house. We picked 'Cali' up Sunday afternoon.

Aren't they just the sweetest little things??

So, project wise, other than the Freezer Jam and the Kittens, I'm currently in the process of dressing 50 Mr. T dolls for 80's themed birthday invitations I'm working on. I think I made my mom chuckle when I told her I had 50 little clothes-less Mr. T's with only their boots on on my craft table. Kind of comical if you think about it! I'll be sure to post the completed invitation.

Okay, so off I go to dress the little Mr. T's!

Wishing you all a dry week (it has finally stopped raining here...), with sunshine and creativity!

Min