Contain Me!

The light bulb went ON! I found two band-aid tins in my Stampin' FLYBabies Fall Craft Kit. Would you belive a gift card fits in there perfectly?! The fall kit had some really pretty burgundy paper / tan / green paper that could do double duty for Christmas projects. Two patterns of it! And off I go to create not one, not two, but THREE gift card holders. Man...I'm gift card holdered out! Thankfully, there's only one more gift card to "wrap." He might just get a regular ole' box. (wink)

Ok...here's the first one:

Mom will love this! Inside I stashed a $50 Michael's Gift Card! I am positive she will use the tin to stash things, maybe coins...who knows.

Stamps: Tidy Alphabet, one of the "tag" stamps from SU!
Paper: Reminisce DP, Cranberry Crisp, PTI White
Ink: Cranberry Crisp
Accessories: Cranberry Crisp stitched, Small Tag Punch,, Large Tag Punch, ribbon, Sticky Strip

Here's another tin:

This is for a kind nieghbor. Ya know, I've lived in this neighborhood for 10 years. I don't go around asking for help. I just do it myself, ya know. Well...to keep a long story short...this neighbor helped me out on the farm this fall. I am deeply appreciative for and of his help. Inside he will find a $50 Gift Card to Ryan's. I hope his family will enjoy dining there as much as mine does.

Creative Details: An Imaginisce chipboard ribbon slide was smooshed in Chocolate Chip Craft Ink, doused with SU! Glassy Glaze Enamel and fired with the heat gun. I punched a hole with my Cropadile for the word brad. That was THREE holes actually, but, who's counting (wink). Wide grosgrain ribbon that matches Certainly Celery and some cranberry colored ribbon from the Craft Kit were threaded through the slide.DP is a fall design from Reminisce, which I think works wonderfully for Christmas as well.

Paper: Reminisce DP
Ink: Chocolate Chip Craft
Accessories: Ribbon, Chipboard Ribbon Slide, Word Brad, sticky strip, Crop-a-Dile, Corner Rounder, SU! Glassy Glaze Enamel, Heat Gun

And one more gift card holder.

(sigh)

Ever create something and wonder if it's cheesy? That's how I feel about this one...then I look at it...there's things I really do like about it!

The tag...it's an Imaginisce Chipboard tag (from the SFB Fall CK) smooshed in Creamy Caramel Craft Ink & dried with the heat gun. It looks like leather. I love the pinecone stamp (also from the SFB Fall CK). I colored the image with SU! markers and huffed on the image before stamping.

I love the paper; candy cane design from Provo Craft, dotted DP from Reminisce on top of the can and punched in circles (SFB Fall CK). I love the wide cream grosgrain with the faux velvet zigzag on top...I love the punched shapes and buttons (SFB Fall CK), kind a sorta.

Well, there's definitely NOTHING cheesy about what's inside...a $50 Lowe's Gift Card! I'm sure Joe will love the gift card. He usually chucks the box / wrapper / whatever pretty darn quick. (wink)

Stamps: Unknown
Paper: Provo Craft, Reminisce
Ink: Creamy Caramel Craft
Accessories: 1" Circle Punch, Twine, Imagninsce Chipboard, Buttons, Pop Dots, Sticky Strip, Coluzzle

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas, I'm glued to the tree.
I'm wondering what Santa brought just for me.
Could it be cardstock or chipboard or lace?
"Or a Cricut," I said, with a smile on my face.
And that's when I heard him, "Hi Santa!" I said.
"You know....good little girls should be in their beds."
"I know I should Santa, and now I've got caught.
But I was just so excited to see what you brought."
"Well, let's take a look in this room where you work."
He shook his head quickly, and left with a jerk.
I heard him exclaim as he put it in gear...
"You've got enough crap, I'll see you next year!"

-- from a SplitCoastStamper received who this from one of her customers.

Call Me!

I was inspired by the MFT Who's That Girl? Challenge (MFTWTG14) - Dec 15. The challenge was to create a card in blue, brown & white with "Call Me".

I don't have "Call Me". So I had to get creative.

This is how I get called. Twice a day. At feeding time. By my cows.

I used MFT's Punny Farm! I've also pulled out JessicaLynnOriginal's Relaxation Tree for All Seasons! I'm lovin' the fall look for this tree.

I'm really pleased with the richness of the ground and the sky. I sponged the ground with Kiwi Kiss, Close to Cocoa and Always Artichoke. I sponged the sky with Baja Breeze, Pacific Point and Basic Grey.

I'm going to use this in a progressive page. Featuring...what else, but my COWS!

Stamps: JLO Relaxation Tree for All Seasons, MFT's Punny Farm, Rubbernecker Barbed Wire Fence, Tidy Alphabet

Paper: SU! Hostess Prints Back (Kraft), Not Quite Navy, PTI White

Ink: Not Quite Navy, Chocolate chip, Baja Breeze, Pacific Point, Basic Grey, Close to Cocoa, Kiwi Kiss, Always Artichoke, Palette Hybrid Noir

Accessories: Sponge, Masking "stuff", Copic Markers, Pop Dots, Xyron, Sponge

Techniques: Masking, Sponging

Welcome T2!

We went through a really rough patch this summer...really rough. There was a little kitty, the daughter of Callie and Phillip's beloved Tigger. Both of these cats were killed this summer and are buried side by side up at the grain bins. When school started in August, Phillip decided to take care of this little kitty. He named her "Tigger the 2nd". I shortened it to "T2". For a while, we did feed the cats on the porch. Really, they should be fed in the barn. So eventually, we began feeding them in the barn again and took T2 to the barn. Shortly after moving her to the barn, I noticed two holes in her neck. They were infected. YUCK! So I cleaned them the best I could with peroxide and applied neosporin each day for about a week. She was still unsteady on her feet, but I didn't see anything else. Then one morning I saw some "snot" on another place on her neck. UGH! Upon further investigation, it was NOT snot, there was another set of holes in her neck. She had four holes in her neck!

That afternoon after work, I went to the pet store and bought a crate. I was not about to lose this kitty that Phillip had named T2, especially after he came home from a week of Boy Scout Camp & found Tigger dead in the barn. I also made a vet appointment.

The next day, I pack T2 away in her crate & take her to the vet! Poor thing. Not only did she have four holes in her neck, she had fleas, ear mites and a respiratory "thing". Can ya say miserable?

DH was very firm in the years after we got married that there were to be NO pets in the house. I guess he kind of figured T2 was coming to live with us when I brought her back from the vet. He didn't say a word.

I think T2 has been a healing thing for our family. She makes Dale smile, she makes Phillip smile. She makes me smile.

Here's a page created using items from the Stampin' FLYBabies Fall Craft Kit dedicated to our little lifesaver.

T2 loves to sleep on Dale. She loves to play at night, while we're trying to sleep. Sometimes, she's really annoying. She even jumped in Dale's bowl of chili he was having for lunch one day. Dale just laughed and got her out of his chili. He made the comment that "she cleaned up good" when I arrived home from work that evening. She even likes to play with her poop or the clumps from the litter box. This little kitty can really amuse herself.

I've since nicknamed her "Trouble to the 2nd degree". Dale calls her the "Attack Cat". Phillip is still trying out nicknames for her.

Winter Has Arrived

in Kentucky! We had ice / freezing rain / snow. That combo, in the correct order, makes for GREAT sledding. But I was unable to partake in the sledding fun, as I worked yesterday. My son had a get out of school free card yesterday and AGAIN today. Since things in life are rarely "free", they'll have to make up two days of school next spring.

I was looking at my blog banner! It looks so strange...all bright and summery! I need some SNOW! I've contacted the fab Ms. Beth for assistance.

All this talk of SNOW and my project is pumpkins! Here's the first project I have created with the Stampin Flybabies Fall Craft Kit.

I love that expression "Hello, Pumpkin!" I just had to use it as a title.

Here's a close-up of the left side:

My son rasied pumpkins this year. I usually do it, but he wanted to. He had a bumper crop of big, firm, heavy pumpkins this year. It was the year of the pumpkin!

The circles were cut using Coluzzle and then I added a row of chocolate chip brads, then tied a knot and added that.

Here's a close-up of the right side:

I love Pumpkin Patch Riley. I received the image through Wish RAK on SCS! Riley was colored with Copic Markers. This was one image I colored ahead of time and actually used. I'm not a fan of coloring images ahead of time, because I never know how I'm going to use them. I'm also loving using those SU! Carousel Notes. This was creating using one of Sally's sketches and Sally likes circles in her layouts. I'm getting lots of use out of that Coluzzle. (Did you know that is pronounced to rhyme with puzzle - that's the only way I can remember how to spell it - yeah..I know DUH me.) I do love the "pumpkin" word brad over the chocolate ribbon.

I'm not sure on the vendor of the paper, but I will check.