Squirrel Saga Continues

I did get the Christmas lights down last Friday at least what was left of them.

Out of five strands of 100 lights only one strand survived.

You might say they didn't have anything to eat. And I would say since when do squirrels not like pecans?!

You see all these pecans?! Now we didn't pick these up because they are the small natives and they are very difficult to shell to get the nuts out. Now you may say...the squirrels didn't feel safe collecting nuts from the ground. Then I would say....what about these!

Look at all the nuts still in the tree! Why on earth would the squirrels prefer electrical wire to these jewels!
I think part of the problem with the squirrels is we made it easy for them. We have what are called "boxed eaves". Doyle had to do some repair that required him taking down the enclosure. He did not complete the repair at the time and hoped he wouldn't cause problems but....

He left these openings which he discovered the squirrels had been entering as he found pieces of my light strands in there! He closed them up while I took down the lights.

Ok, I'll quit venting about the squirrels. At least they waited until after Christmas to do their destruction as the lights worked up until New Years.

I didn't not get to ride that day. I had planned to after I took the lights down but Doyle needed some help with the repair and then I ran out of time. I did get a glimpse of what was left of the sunset.

Kennedy came over on Friday night and spent the night with us. Since I didn't work at the store Saturday we slept in. Well, she slept in! After she gets up we go take care of Clyde. We come back and I make us some breakfast. Mom comes over to see Kennedy and have some coffee. After she leaves Kennedy and I play. We stamped, painted, played hide and seek.

She is painting a picture for Mommy. We also made one for Daddy and Remi.

We went outside for a while but not long as a front had moved through dropping temperatures drastically from the day before. But in that short time Kennedy fell and kissed the sidewalk. I saw it happen and was afraid to look to see what the damage was. She busted her lip and scraped her nose. I thought for sure she would want her Momma but no she wanted me!

Kennedy went with me to Tractor Supply to buy horse feed tonight. On the way to the check out she saw this huge container of "Cheese Puffs"! She LOVES these things! Guess who got suckered?

One happy girl! If you click on the picture you can get a better look of her battle scars from her fall on Saturday.


A very dear friend had a birthday Sunday and I made her this card.

I just love this "triple stamping" technique. You can make so many different variations of this card  and its so easy! For the tutorial go here. The ribbon I used is what I get from Really Reasonable Ribbon monthly ribbon club.
 Come back tomorrow for WOW Wednesday. I have more creations to show you!

Have a good one!

Simple But Exquisite

I know Christmas is over but it's my most favorite holiday and when you are a crafter you can never start Christmas projects too early! Besides making my own Christmas cards I like to make Christmas cards for Operation Write Home. I learned about a card challenge through my friend (and fellow card maker) Sandy  that is specifically for Christmas cards called Christmas Cards All Year Round. This month's theme is "Anything Goes" as long as it's Christmas.

This is very simple but I absolutely LOVE how this card turned out! The picture isn't bad but the sparkle really shows up when you hold the card in your hand. Unfortunately this card is NOT OWH friendly as the white glitter paper I used for the background does flake and that isn't acceptable for sending to our Heroes.  The blue glitter paper I used does not flake and I really prefer this for my projects I want to sparkle! I used an ornament die from Sizzix. I also diecut chipboard for the ornament to give it dimension. I used a Tim Holtz Alterations die "Noel" for the lettering in the ornament. Used ribbon from my stash to tie a bow and a bling. That's it!

I would also like to enter this card in Sandy's challenge January Anything Goes With A Twist. The only specifics is whatever you make must have the colors blue & white. For more details click on the link.

We got much needed rain. Final count I poured out 3 inches from my rain gauge. It rained a slow soaking rain for two solid days! Very unusual for us! Rain usually comes and goes rather quickly. It definitely helped put a dent in our drought conditions. Just hope it doesn't wait for months to rain again! We will have a really nice day tomorrow. I want to ride. I haven't ridden since before Christmas.

I also need to take advantage of the nice weather and take Christmas lights off the roof. Not much to remove though, squirrels chewed them up! Darnedest thing I've ever seen. I've been putting lights on my house for 7 years. This is the first time squirrels have been a problem. Not sure why the squirrels preferred my lights to 4 pecan trees loaded with nuts!

I first discovered it when I was throwing the frisbee for Kaidence. I saw some clips on the ground and when I went to pick them up I saw the wire.

Out of 5 strands only 2 have seemingly survived. What's even stranger is that the lights have worked all through the holidays and it wasn't until after Christmas I found the damage. Thankfully they waited to destroy my decorations! Guess I will be buying more lights next year.

Have a good one!

Keeping It Simple

Hi everyone! It's WOW Wednesday at Cat's Creations Blog. For this week I've managed to get some layouts done...of Christmas...last year! I've got to move faster. I kept these layouts pretty simple as I was just wanting to get them done and in the book so I could move on!

For this layout I printed the pictures 2x3 so I could get more on a page. This paper is Echo Park's Christmas collection from last year. I think it was called Holly Jolly but don't quote me. The journaling box is a Unity stamp and the Title (Welcome Christmas Into Your Heart) is a stamp from Stampin Up. I embossed with white powder on the red card stock.

These pics were taken at my brother's (Wayne) Christmas night last year. He lives in the country so I had a good view of the gorgeous sunset that night. We all posed for pictures for Mom. For this layout I used My Mind's Eye Christmas Collection from this year called Winter Wonderland. The red glitter letters and numbers are Thickers from American Crafts.

This paper is from that same line. These letters I had in my stash. Kennedy wanted me to wrap her up!

I also managed to make a card.

I used sketch #30 from Seems a Little Sketchy and will enter my card there.

My image is a digital from Mo Manning. I just love her images. I colored with my Copic Markers. I am also entering my card in Clear It Out Challenge. The Theme is Warm Fuzzies and to use textured items from our stash. Seeing the kitty on the dog made me think of "warm fuzzies". I made my sentiment using Just Write Alphabet Letters then punch out with a circle punch. I used a scalloped circle punch for the circle behind the sentiment, put it in an embossing folder for texture and inked the edges with Distress Ink Gathered Twigs. The brads I had in my stash.

Leave me a comment for a chance to win some blog candy from Cat's Creations. A random commenter will be picked. Then head over to the blog and visit others who have linked their creations to the blog for more chances to win. Link up your own creations. We love to see what everyone is doing!

Have a good one!

My Top Ten in 2012

Operation Write Home started off the year with encouraging card makers to post their Top Ten cards they made for our heroes this past year. I didn't get this done New Year's day but after reading the blog post a little closer I saw where it wasn't too late to participate! Woohoo!

It brought me great joy and sanctification in making cards for our heroes. Here are 10 of my favs.

I am looking forward to creating even more cards this year.

Have a good one!

"Crazy Love" on WOW Wednesday

There is a lot going on but not as much crafting as I would like. I've been trying to get my craft room back in order. Had to put up a 6ft table to have more flat surface to stack things while I try to organize. Makes for not much room to move around in!  I did manage over the holidays to make a few love cards and get them sent to along with other cards I had made to Operation Write Home by the December 31st deadline. Here's a couple.

The brown background is corrugated paper I got from my LSS Cat's Creations. The paper is Bo Bunny "Crazy Love" Valentine collection from last year. The image is a Unity Stamp that I colored using a black embossing pen, Memento pen and Liquid Pearls. The sentiment was already on the paper and from the collection of many diecuts.

I was so proud of how this card turned out that I showed it to Kennedy. Big mistake! She said "You make this for me?!" with excitement in her voice! My heart sunk! How do you explain that you have made a card for someone to give to their kid?! Well, I did the best I could and made a mental note to make another as close to this as I can to give to Kennedy for Valentines.

Here is the other card I made. I do have a 2 page layout in the making but I haven't completed it yet. I'll share it another time.

Don't forget its WOW Wednesday over at Cat's Creations Blog. Be sure to leave me a comment then head over to Cat's Blog to see other creations and leave them a comment too! One random commenter will be chosen. More comments means more chances to win!

Before I go...I leave you with a couple of pics from Christmas Day. We didn't have a "White Christmas" but it did snow! I felt rooked! Everyone else around us got enough to at least make a snowman! Not us! I was disappointed...for my Lil' Peanut of course :)

Here's my Lil' Peanut in what little snow we got!

She wasn't quite sure what to make of this cold, wet fluffy stuff!

Have a good one!

The Reveal

Remember the sneak peeks I gave last week of a project I made as a gift? Well, the gift has been delivered and recognition of receipt received. It was a hit! I'll have to admit there was just a twinge of uncertainty of how it might be received but here the picture is worth a thousand words!

This is my Aunt Sandy, my mother's younger sister. Her birthday was December 22nd. Thanks Auntie for getting photos for me otherwise this post wouldn't haven been possible! See...I realized after I mailed it that I didn't get complete pics of the box...just partials for the teasers I used in last weeks blog! Goofy me!

This is what the box looked like before I altered it. I purchased it from Cat's Creations along with all the other products I used.

I used the Carta Bella "Beautiful Moments" Collections line. The handles are "Antique Metal Door Pulls" by Graphic 45. 

 Here is another view of the box

. Here's a view of the inside of the box before it was altered.

Inside of the box after alteration revealing handmade cards made of the same paper line inside.

Cards I made to go in the card box.

 I include a mixture of birthday, Thinking of You, Thank You, Anniversary and sympathy.

I kept the cards pretty simple in that I used mostly paper. No ribbons or other embellishments.

 This paper line makes beautiful cards don't you think?

Hopefully you made it this far to find out it's WOW Wednesday over at Cat's Creations. Leave me a comment and you have a chance to win blog candy. Cat's always has great prizes. Check out some other talented folks who link up to Cat's Blog. You might even be one of those talented people. If so link up your work to Cat's so we can see your handy work.

I'm so late today as my family celebrated Christmas today. Hoping to blog about that at a later time. Thanks for taking time to look! Have a good one!

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas

and the sun had set

with clouds in the sky 

giving the promise of wet.

The moon not quite full

dimly seen through the clouds

gave an eerie feeling

to me on the ground.

The stockings were all hung

on the wall with great care

Stuffed full to to the brim

with no room to spare.

The tree fully decorated

with gifts all around

and there are more Christmas

decorations to be found

The front door is covered in

Christmas attire

With Christmas cards on the wall

from family and friends to admire.

The Nativity scene is set to remind us of the reason

We celebrate and enjoy this wonderful season.

Merry Christmas!