Our Creative Corner Challenge (second post today)

Tomorrow I will probably not get around to posting, so I thought I would go ahead and do this one now. The challenge from Our Creative Corner was to use music as your inspiration. Well I was just talking about some sheet music I got at an estate sale. I've never used it, so I thought now would be a good time to start.

I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but I am actually ecstatic with how this card turned out. I have a couple of stamp sets from SU! and this rose is from one of them. It lends itself extremely well to watercolor pencils. And Little d (apparently my new harshest critic) said "why don't you add some pollen to it?"

My mom needs a condolence card and I'm thinking of asking her if she would like this one with a "Thinking of You" sentiment.

On a completely unrelated note: If you've never checked in with the blog The Noble Pig you really should. Especially today. She posted a recipe for Cinnamon Donut Muffins....ugh...the picture alone will make you run to check your pantry for the ingredients!!

Details: CTMH unless noted

Paper: patterns (K&Co) sheet music (estate sale) vanilla cream cs

Ink: chocolate, black

Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral (SU!) Thank You

Other: cranberry watercolor pencil and water brush pen

Christmas Card Challenge #9

I haven't yet decided if this year I will send out different cards to everyone or use my new digi image from Karen's Doodles to create a family Christmas card, but either way, I'm going to play along with Sparkle's weekly Christmas Card Challenge when I get the chance.

This week is an inspiration challenge--to gather inspiration from this photo which is utterly beautiful.

I not only love the colors, but I love the sparkle and composition as well. Here's my interpretation. My daughter pointed out "you left off the strings."

Here's a crappy photo of the detail so you can see the silver ep. I stamped the decoration in versamark and then sprinkled on the silver EP---forgetting that the colored ink wasn't dry enough so of course a light coating of silver stuck to the whole ornament. I decided to try it and thought the results turned out kind of neat.

And as for the strings? I haven't decided if I'm going to go back and add them or not...

Details: all CTMH unless noted

Paper: cream card base (HL)

Ink: Sorbet, Tulip, Creme Brulee, Versamark

Stamps: Holiday Trinkets

Other: Silver Embossing Powder (HL)

Framing Pictures (part one)

I'm labeling this post part one because I will add more photos of framing as it gets done. What's fun about framing pictures is that it mostly just looks like a bunch of wood studs sticking up. Kind of hard to get an idea of what the walls will look like unless you are actually standing in the area. But here goes...

This one is pretty straighforward...the garage.

If you walk in the garage door to the house you will enter here. A very long hallway...

And here's what's done so far on the interior. You're basically looking at one long wall of the kitchen.

So that's what has been done so far. The forecast is calling for rain here Monday through Thursday which means probably no new work for awhile. We'll see...

LOL

Oh my gosh y'all. Just go read this post. Too very funny! I read her all the time anyway, but this one cracked me up.

Little Cards

I was killing time during Little m's nap yesterday (you know, why do laundry when you can goof off at the scrap table?) and I was still in the mood to do those inchies.

I thought of making some small 3x3 cards that you can just tape under a bow on a present. Here's what I came up with...



I also opened another new embossing folder that I have had for months and never used. I really love this texture that looks like little pebbles. Would you believe that this entire card was made from scrap paper? I was thinking this would be a quick and easy way to use up lots of scrap paper (especially from my non-CTMH stash).

In house news...We chose the front door and the interior doors today and also went out and checked on the work the framers were doing. I can not describe how exciting it is to see the walls going up and think "this is the closet and here's the bathroom". Yea yea yea!!! Dumb me forgot to take the camera, so pictures will have to wait. :(

Thanks for stopping by!

Penny's Inchie Challenge (second post today-egads!)

I think I've done one other inchie card in my whole card-making career. Penny's challenge this week inspired me to try my hand at these little bitties again. It was a little work, but fun! I wanted the main inchie (the flower) to be finished using the cracked glass technique, but alas, Liquid Glass does horrible things to the Cranberry ink. Here's the finished card...

I changed the rotation of the card at the last minute, so really I should have spaced the stripes a little differently, but I'm okay with it...

Details: all CTMH unless noted

Paper: Moon Doggie B&T, colonial white cs

Ink: desert sand, cranberry, honey, garden green

Stamps: Extreme Happiness, It's Your Day

Other: antique copper bitty brads, sponge dauber, deckle edge punch (MarvyUchida)

Mojo Monday #123

I started to say something stupid like "it's been a long time since I played along with the Mojo Monday sketch" when clearly it's been a long time since I've been playing along with any challenges!

I don't think I've ever made a round card, so for this one I just incorporated a circle with the CD envelope and left the card square. I thought it worked for the more masculine theme I was going for. D's birthday is next month, and I really wanted to break out that diamond plate embossing folder!

You Rock is embossed in black, but it doesn't show in the picture. D's not into rock music at all, but he is my rock so I thought it was okay to use this sentiment. Now let's see if he checks in here and sees this before his birthday...

Details: all CTMH unless noted
Paper: grey wool cs, white daisy cs, black cs
Ink: versamark, grey wool
Stamps: You Rock, Weathered Backgrounds
Other: sanding block, brads (stash) diamond plate embossing folder (provocraft) black ep, foam squares

Pink and Brown Cake

I really love the CTMH February Stamp of the Month "Piece of Cake". Today I decided to use it to make a chocolate cake. Mmmmm, chocolate cake sounds good, doesn't it?


Anyway, one of my favorite color combos is brown and pink. So that's where this card came from.

ETA: Just found out this card qualifies for The Pink Elephant challenge this week!!

Hope you all are having a fabulous day! I am in such a good mood because we hired a framer at a really reasonable price and we ordered the rest of our windows...it's starting to feel like we might have a new house some time soon!

Details: all CTMH unless noted

Paper: colonial white cs, chocolate cs, hollyhock cs, blush cs

Ink: chocolate, hollyhock marker, creme brulee marker

Stamps: Piece of Cake

Other: chocolate grosgrain, pearl

Let the bidding begin

I pretty much thought that by the time the construction loan was secured, all the bids for various work on the house were settled. I was wrong.


The original plan (in D's mind because in the back of my mind I was never fully on board) was for D to do the framing and save us money...a pretty good chunk of it. My husband is quite capable of doing it, but I knew it would take three times as long as he thought it would. So when he said...'I can do it in a month'...I figured on three months (plus). {You may be wondering why I assumed that. Everytime he gives me a deadline for when something will be done, it turns out to be roughly one-third of the time it actually takes. And of course I have the whole water well fiasco still sitting in the back of my mind. And in the back of the new house as well, since it never did come to fruition. You can read about it HERE and HERE. But I digress...}


So the more we realized how labor intensive the framing would be (and the more I voiced concerns) and the longer the weather delayed starting the house, the more we looked into finding a better bid on framers. Right now we have two new bids (actually one is still working on the bid) and the original bidders--I guess learning that we are shopping around--want to talk to D today about seeing what they can 'work out' with him regarding their previous bid.


I guess the moral of the story is people in this business are pretty hungry for work right now. When we were out pouring the walls, two different contractors drove by, and stopped to give D a business card and offer to work up bids on various projects.


Speaking of hungry for work. We also started looking at estimates for the cabinets and countertops. At place A we got the countertop bid $6900. At B we got $5900. At C closer to $6900--without edging. Place A is still working on the cabinet bid. B's cabinets in the kitchen were $16,000. C's cabinets--including bathrooms--were $13,000. B is using particle board crap on the interior, C is using solid wood.


Okay I'm just going to say it "B" is Home Depot. The others are custom kitchen and bath places that have been in business here for a while. C's guy is annoying a little. He's called here about seven times last week. Hungry for work I guess. But he's a mechanical engineer running his parents 50-year marble business so he knows what he's doing.


Anyway this story does have a point. My dad and I decided that we could do the cabinets ourselves. My dad is a master carpenter and knows the ins and outs of workworking. And with cabinets it's just a matter of mathematics. He's a perfectionist, so while we may not have cabinets installed in two days, they will get done correctly and material will cost us less than a third of the bids we have now. And I can change things and work things as we go along not just order the cabinets and hope I like them when they get there.


If you've read along this far congrats! I guess this all seems pretty boring unless it's your house that's being built, because to me it's super exciting! Maybe I can make it more exciting by posting pictures of the kitchen stuff I'm looking to use.


Here's a picture of the countertop sample...


HERE's a page (I think) that shows a similar cabinet style. It's a recessed panel with rope trim in a cream color with dark glazing.


I'm also looking forward to working with my Dad on this project. How cool is that going to be? H



Have a great day y'all!

Mom's Birthday Card

This was my second attempt...the first one ended up with not one but two smudges. My inspiration was the ribbon. (I'm a little worn out today--I actually cooked supper. And just washed the kiddos, they are playing in the tub now. So that's why I am keeping it short and sweet.)

I will add that I have the best Mom on the planet, hands down! Happy Birthday Woman!

Details: All CTMH unless noted

Paper: white daisy cs, cranberry cs

Ink: black, cranberry, cranberry marker

Stamps: Piece of Cake, A Little Everything

Other: ribbon (HL) black brads (HL)

CPS Challenge 150 (second post today)

Oh look at me playing along with challenges again! Two in a row in fact! This week I am playing along with the CPS sketch. I haven't played with this one in ages!!

Yes this is the same paper from my last card, but you know how I get when something is out on my desk...use it 'til I'm blue in the face.

I have to tell you about that main image stamp, though. I was looking through an old Gooseberry Patch catalog and noticed in the center pullout part (you know the part you either pull out and throw away, or just brush past because who ever still mails in an order with that order form?) anyway--on that part they had the most adorable clear stamps! How had I not seen them before?!?

I immediately went online to order them! But they were all sold out. I was so upset. I thought maybe they would have them again, but after emailing customer service I was told they were not carrying them anymore. What? Why ever not?!?! They told me to contact the manufacturer. So I finally located the stamps online...thank you Google...and ordered them.

Thankfully they work with CTMH ink. That can be such a pain with some other clear stamp brands. Anyway if you like looking at the Gooseberry book because it just has the cutest illustrations, you would love these stamps.

Details: (CTMH unless noted)

Paper: pattern (K&Co) Garden Green cs, Vanilla Cream cs

Ink: Desert Sand, Chocolate

Stamps: Baked With Love (PJK Designs, LLC) Piece of Cake (future stamp of the month)

Other: Antique Copper brads, sponge dauber, sanding block, colored pencils (EK Success)

Moxie Fab Challenge (attempt number one)

I love looking at all the inspiration on the Moxie Fab blog. I've only played along with one challenge, and it was a vintage one too. This challenge uses Anne Taintor inspired sass. It's where you take a vintage image and add an expression that is cheeky and sassy and in some cases a little raunchy.



I went to a garage sale a while back. Actually an estate sale and they had tons of old sheet music and antiques and these vintage pin up girl playing cards. I totally snagged up the deck and some sheet music. I thought the playing cards would be perfect for this challenge, but coming up with a sassy little message...I was fresh out. So I stole an appropriate one from Anne Taintor site. Not really sure if that qualifies me for the challenge, so I think this card will just be for fun.



Although I really think this might end up being a birthday card for my BFF since she is contemplating getting a 'tramp stamp' as she calls it. And worse yet she wants me to get one with her! Not gonna happen my friend!

The cards were actually from a meat packing company in Houston...I guess for advertisement. I couldn't make that up if I tried...

Details:

Paper: Pattern from K and Co. Vanilla cream cs (CTMH)

Ink: black (CTMH)

Stamps: Tiny Typewriter (CTMH)

Other: flowers, card (garage sales) ribbon (HobbyLobby)

We have walls!

Yesterday before 7am my husband woke me to tell me that ICF Constructors called to say they were going to pour the walls at 10:30! I was so excited!

We all got ready and went to the land. The weather was absolutely fabulous--sunny with a nice breeze.

Here's the start of the pour. They began at this corner and then worked around the entire house, pouring about four feet high at a time and then coming around a second time. It was really neat to watch them work!




This is the back bay window area. They ran out of cement and had to wait a bit on the next truck.




And this is them at the end finishing off the peak. D and the girls and I jumped in the shot. Check out that ginormous pumper truck arm!

Can't wait to go back out once the bracing is out of the inside and maybe pop some chalk lines to see what the interior wall placement will be...

Well look at that!

This will be the third creative post in a row. Bet you all thought I forgot how to. Amazing what a clean scrap desk will motivate you to do.



My BFF was having an off day, so I made this card today to send her. I'm hoping it will cheer her up a little. We have the best relationship. We can call each other anytime and bemoan what's going on or if we're in a funk and it really helps out. Of course that's not all we do! We also share family life anecdotes and what have you.






On the inside I wrote "In other words...cheer up buttercup!" And then put a little message that I'm always here to listen.



House news: To wet to pour the walls Tuesday, waiting to see if they can pour at the end of this week of not. Also, my dad and I have decided to build the kitchen cabinets ourselves. I know, I know, almost as crazy as my idea to raise chickens, but I think this could work.

Baby news: I really think this boy likes keeping his head directly under my stomach and lungs. I'm almost at week 26 and that makes me extremely happy! Also I think (fingers crossed) that D is going to agree to use the name I picked for him. If so this will be a Little h. We'll see!

Other news: I'm in a really good mood today and it has quite a bit to do with a certain Senate election that's not even in my state...

Ooooh I almost forgot! Check by at Karen's Doodles (there's a link on my sidebar). She is have a super give away--gosh I love those digi images she's drawing! Y'all have a great day!

Details: (all CTMH unless noted)

Paper: Key to My Heart (love that special), Juniper CS, Colonial White CS

Ink: Juniper, Sorbet, Tulip, Creme Brulee

Stamps: Flower Pot--an upcoming stamp of the month!

Other: edge distresser, cream ribbon (Hobby Lobby) sponge dauber

Rest of the January Workshop

Here's the rest of the months in no particular order. Again everthing CTMH.

It was fun, but whew--I'm creatively pooped! Thanks for stopping by!

What? Huh? I crafted something??

It has been a very long time since I did anything crafty. (How to make dinner from pantry supplies not withstanding...) But this weekend I finally, finally cleaned my scrap/office room. Sweet niblets it was filthy. I spent most of my time crawling around on hands and knees picking up beads, bits of paper and itty bitty Barbie accessories--among other things. The really sad part? It's still not pretty enough to take a picture of, but at least almost everything is in it's place.

As a reward, the girls and I spent today crafting at our newly cleaned crafty areas. Little m practiced cutting paper to bits, Little d put newly found shoes on Barbies and I started on prep for my January workshop.

I can't under any circumstances take credit for this idea. Becca at Amazing Paper Grace made this adorable birthday reminder clothespin, and I loved it so much I decided to create something like it for this month's workshop. BTW, if you've never seen her blog, definitely put it on your to do list. It is phenomenal. She is extremely creative and comes up with the neatest altered items and beautiful cards.

Here's my clothespin. I went with Perfect Day papers since I had the most of them.



I chose to do front and back cards for the 12 months. Here's January and April.

And on the backs of those, February and April. (I haven't finished the back of the clothespin yet.)

It was really rewarding to be crafting again. And a little exhausting, but in a good way. Of course now my desk is a mess again... :)

All supplies CTMH except that little red button on the front, the clothespin, and the Spellbinders scallop die.

Starting to look like a house

No not me!!! Our house-house! You people!

Today the ICF people finished the forms. We are scheduled for the concrete pour on Tuesday...thank you weather.

I realized I never talked about the ICF or the why we're doing them. So here's the short version. (And you know how well I do short versions...) A few years ago my husband brought up the subject of ICF, which is basically styrofoam--okay not technically styrofoam--forms that are filled with concrete. They can be four inches wide and up (ours will have six inches of concrete inside the forms). I looked at him like he was crazy and said, "um, no."

We didn't discuss it for a while. Then he (ever the patient one) brought it up again. This time he showed me the webpage and described all the benefits: really really low electric bills, sound proof, fire proof, termite proof, will withstand a hurricane or tornado...etc. The drawback...cost. These walls tend to be about 10% more expensive than tradition wood frame walls. Of course you gain that back in energy cost savings, insurance breaks and well, peace of mind.

I agreed we could look into it. So we went to the local Amvic dealer and met with the owner. We both left incredibly impressed. I resolutely made up my mind that we were going to build with ICF. Even when D said something about not using it to get the house built sooner, or cheaper, I said no. That's how completely sold I was on this type of construction. I told D I would make cuts other places, but that we shouldn't sacrifice structure.

Here's the latest shots from the ol' dream home. (Front door shot)

Garage area. Am I the only one impressed that the contractors piled all their trash in a neat little pile?

This is the back of the house.

You can see in the far left of this picture the framing being done on my brother's house. Their house is being built also. He and his wife, and D and I bought the thirty acres of land that our houses are on. We have a single driveway and are building on either side of it. Okay off to relax...sounds like the thunderstorm is hitting.....

The walls are going up!

Today the ICF Constructors started bright and early. They plan to work all week and--weather permitting--pour the walls on Friday. Here's some pictures from today.

The first row of ICF going up.

A picture of the back of the house showing the bay window in the kitchen.

This is the front of the house and that's the porch and front door.

Here is the front of the house with the garage slab showing in front. Our garage walls are to be made of regular wood frame, the wall separating the house and garage is ICF.

The girls has SO much fun running around on the slab and around the house. Can't wait until we actually live here!!

Also today I had an OB appointment. We got to hear the heartbeat and guess what? I am weighing in at 145lbs. Must. stop. eating. junk! But all else is well. And I'm not worried about my weight. If the doc doesn't mention it, I'm not concerned.

The slab is done!

Well I can breathe a huge sigh of relief. The slab is done. It was a long, but fulfilling day. We spent most of the day out at the land as a family and that was very rewarding in addition to getting the first major piece of construction under way!

Here's the roughed in plumbing at sunrise...

The first cement truck of the day....

The crew working the cement from the pumper truck....

The crew smoothing and finishing the slab. This literally took hours to do....

I have decided in my next life I do not want to come back as a foundation crew member...way to much labor involved. Bravo to them for working so hard today!!

Stew and Grapefruit

Not together!!!

Nothing says cold weather food to me like a delicious bowl of beef stew. As long as you don't add tomatos to it..ewwww! But you may be surprised to know that I also love citrus (especially if I'm pregnant).

My dad missed his calling to be a citrus farmer. He has lemon, grapefruit and orange trees. And they are fantastic. Right now he's harvesting grapefruit. I just ate half of one...with a lot of sugar on it.

Is your mouth watering yet? Well this is how us southerners survive this cold weather. And no Sarah I will not trade you places! But you are welcome to visit the new house anytime. And I think Little s will arrive (way) before the house is done...

Dream home will have toilets!!

This just in...plumbing! Hahahahaha...whew I crack myself up.

The rain really worked a number on us this last month and a half. The house pads and the road became so soggy (even with the black topping) that work was really impossible. Finally we had a few days of dry-ish weather after Christmas and Hugh had new road bed hauled in, so progress is being made again. This is the new road...

Here's our house pad. See? All those white pipes sticking up? That's where the bathrooms and sinks go. That's D on the tractor re-working some more road base we had to haul in.

Here's a closer shot of the house pad. The corner up front is the garage. The plumbers are standing in a hall bathroom.

And it was freezing out there. The wind was arctic. I mean I almost didn't get out of the truck to take the pictures, but I sacrificed for you--my wonderful blog readers. I knew you were just so anxious to see pictures of the progress! (Of course these pictures are kind of lame, but it's a little weird to take pictures with the workers out there.)

Speaking of cold--it's going to be a really cold weekend. Today the wind chill was 19. As in degrees Fahrenheit!

So Monday we are scheduled to pour the slab! And Tuesday they are hauling in the ICF (integrated concrete forms). Hopefully the walls will get poured soon also. Here's a site to check out ICF walls if you're not familiar with them.

And guess what else?? I won some blog candy from Nikki at Sealed with a Stamp! If you aren't familiar with her blog, you should check it out! She makes cute creations and throws in a good helping of humor as a bonus!

Thanks for stopping by y'all!

Sigh of relief

Things are good this morning. If fact, life is downright perfect.

Yesterday sucked a little.

On Friday my dad was scheduled for his regular appointment with his cardiologist. As required by family history, my dad (and most of his brothers, some of his sisters, and mom) has something going on with his heart. Dad has high cholesterol. A few years ago he had a stent put in an artery.

Yesterday he had another installed.

Both times, thanks be to God, no heart attack and heart damage.

But can we discuss how some men are so stubborn? See Tuesday night when we discussed his appointment, dad pops up and says 'Yeah I'll probably go straight from my appointment to the hospital.' Huh? we all look at him. Apparently he's been having shortness of breath since September. Are you freakin' kidding me?!?

Then yesterday he tells my husband (who totally thank goodness rats him out to the rest of us) that in addition, sometimes he gets a burning in his chest. Mom and I promptly made an executive decision and called his cardiologist behind Dad's back. Note: this is what happens when you act like a five year old with your health...grownups take over.

They ask if he can come in now. Like within forty five minutes. And yes, after an ultrasound, Dr. C decides it's too risky (meaning may cause a heart attack) for him to do even a chemical stress test, so he is immediately taken to the hospital (driven by the doctor's nurse herself--we love Dr. C and his staff--did I mention?) and has the angioplast or whatever done, that results in the stent. One artery (the same as before) had 99% blockage. That's a lot people. The good news is everything else looked great including the previous stent.

He spent the night in the ICU and is recovering well after coming through the procedure with flying colors. He promises to never leave us out of the loop on how bad things are again....mmmm-hmmm. We'll see when he can get out of timeout.

Well if that last post cracked you up...

get a load of this one.

You know I mentioned that Little m was on the mend, but well, I fudged a little. She is better, but she still has a yucky runny nose. Now I hate reading blogs that talk about sickness, but bear with me, there is a little funny at the end.

Little m is over blowing her nose. I mean after a week of me hitting her up with "one more time, good girl" she's just over it. Yet she still needs to blow it. Trust me she does.

Today I got the brilliant idea to use the boogie-getter. You know that bulb syringe they pass out at the hospital and make you sign a legally binding contract that you will keep it near the baby at all times should choking ensue. Well around our house we affectionately call it the boogie getter. It stays in the same container with all the dosing cups and what have you. And I just thought it would be perfect.

I mean one or two little suctions and boom, she'd be snot free for at least half an hour, right?

So I grab it up, sit down on the floor by her and proceed to use it...twice. She stands still for one or two seconds and then completely freaks. She starts crying (completely defeating the purpose of blowing her nose) and grabs on to me in a bear hug. Apparently it scared her. I never thought of that! I thought she would take a deep clean breath and want to try using the boogie getter herself. She's such an independent "I Do IT!" personality. But this thing truly freaked her out.

She has calmed down now. And is peacefully eating her chicken nuggets and drinking her milk. With just the slightest bit of snot running down her nose. Excuse me while I go get the tissues...

What's going on?

I've been hiding. Well not really, I've been blowing my nose. Ha! Yes ladies and gentlemen, I have a dreaded cold. Complete with low grade fever. Fortunately, Little m is getting better, and Little d has a very light case of it. My mom and dad having been alternately helping me out since D just completed a full week of overtime. And of course now my mom has it as well.

So here are a few updates.

The tree is still up, but oh well. The girls like taking turns turning the lights off and on at night and in the morning. They even have a little ritual of saying good night and hugging the tree at night. Huh. My kids are tree huggers.

My brother and his wife are having the slab poured on their house tomorrow and I am so excited for them!

Our slab is scheduled to be poured this weekend. Don't get me started on the fact that our contractors have been on the job for a month longer than H and L's contractors. I am really not going to get hung up on the fact that our crew is not working as fast. Really, I'm not.

I've been having the best conversations with Little d lately. Two nights ago when she was sitting with me in bed (and I was all pathetic with this cold) she said "mom, you are really old." I laughed so hard, because at the time I was feeling really old! Then later she said, "mom, when this new baby is born, and when he grows up and if he doesn't chose a wife, and he lives with us, then when dad is at work maybe he could get the jewelry box down for me to look at!" My jewelry box is on top of a dresser and I always use the excuse that it's too hard for me to get down so we can only get it down with D gets it. I guess she was thinking about asking about it that night and knew what my answer would be. I love following her thought processes.

She cracked me up on Christmas day when she said "mom you think Pawpaw could stop focusing on the motorcycle and start focusing on going to Grandma Hawes' house?"

Or when she said "I'm smarter than a banana with eyes on it!"

She also told me yesterday (when I said I was tired of blowing my nose) "when you have a cold mom that's what you do, you better just get used to it."

I'm so glad I have her to keep me grounded.

Well I'm going to get off here and focus on resting. Or maybe just check facebook...

Blog Candy at Booth #32

Aaron is giving away some awesome blog candy in honor of 100,000 hits. Pop on over and leave a comment for your chance to win!

If you don't know of her blog yet, you should totally take some time to check out all of her innovative ideas!