Christmas Cards 2008

These are my Christmas cards for 2008.

I used a brayer on the Blue Frost Spectrum pad, then used Bashful Blue and Brocade blue for the framing. Using the "ticket corner" punch, I gave the card a little extra "something".

The stamps sets were:

"Lovely as a Tree" and "Short and Sweet".

They turned out very nice.

I've gotten alot of complements on them too.

Merry Christmas!!!!

May the everyone enjoy the blessing of the seasons.

To all our family and friends, prayers and warm wishes.

Last month was my birthday, and as usual I figured it would be forgotten, (all my crafting sisters at SCS remembered). I asked a co worker at the hospital to please wish me a happy birthday when she worked again the following week. Well she did better than that, she gave me a card! Although she is not crafty, she found this card and put 3 -$5 bills in the little shopping bags. She even printed off a gift certificate. Even though it wasn't the official one from Hobby Lobby, she said I could go shopping and get whatever I wanted from there.

A BIG shout out to my friend Matilda Messing, a wonderful nurse, great friend, and someone I can go to with any medical question. You're the best.

I know I'm a little late on posting this, but these are the goodies I got from my Goofy Gobbler over on the Michigan Minglers thread on Splitcoast stampers. A very beautiful card using gold embossing, the small box with the skater on it had 3 bottles of liquid pearls in it, a sour cream container with Bliss chocolate, and some hardware, 2 small spools of pretty ribbon, and finally a container with blossom and matching brads. I loved it!!!!

The identity of my Goofy Gobbler was revealed in this, the final package of the month. It was Pattyb. She was very generous and I had alot of fun getting her creations in the mail. She did spoil me though.

Right now is the time of the Rowdy Reindeer, and we are in our last week. I already have my final gift and can't open it til Friday 12/19/08. So I get to sit and stare at the envelope the rest of the week.

Ohhhhhh! The wait is going to be soooo long.

Some of our cattle

Just thought I would share a pic of some of our cattle. As you can see from the date it was taken in July, when the weather was alot warmer. We have 2 barns that hold cattle; one a slat barn, where all manure goes thru the floor into a holding tank, and one with a regular cement floor that gets cleaned and has fresh straw put in every week. In the slat barn there are 3 pens with 50 "head" of cattle in each one. The same for the pole barn with the exception of there being 4 pens. The cattle in the slat barn get to move to the pole barn once they get a little bigger.

The manure pit gets emptied out twice a year. Dan is actually gettig ready to empty soon. He has to place an "agitator" down into the pit to get it mixed, or else it won't go thru the pump, out into the tanker to spread in the field. This type of manure is more concentrated and has a stronger smell due to the fact that there is no straw to soak up the liquid part. Once spread on the field it has to be worked in within a certain time period.

Hope you have enjoyed your cattle lesson today, be sure to check back for more soon.
TTYL.

Rowdy Reindeer.

I got this card in the mail today from my Rowdy Reindeer over at SplitCoaststampers. It's kind of like a "secret spook". Last month was "Goofy Gobbler" for Thanksgiving. I love getting a surprise in the mail. It is so much better than getting junk or bills. Every week you are required to send something and in the last week you reveal yourself in your final package. It's great fun.

A quick upload for the holiday.

Happy Turkey day to all!

Thought I would try and upload a pic of the card I am making for a dear friend at work. I used my Cuttlebug machine, with the Snowflake embossing folder. The paper is Ballet blue, white, and bashful blue all from Stampin Up!. "Holiday Greetings" is from Stampin Up!'s Sincere Salutations.

The snowman is fun foam is covered with glitter and was purchased at Wal-mart in their crafting isle.

I think this turned out great.

Happy Thanksgiving To Everyone!!!

Hope everyone has a great time with family and friends.

Things I am thankful for:

Dear Hubby

Family

Friends

Co-workers

I'm not just thankful on this holiday, but everyday.

Lunch tin for my Cuttle Bug folders

I thought I would show off another project I did. I found this idea on SplitCoastStampers.com; a lunch tin that you decorate using card stock and Modge Podge glue.

First you measure the paper to fit around the tin. Apply a small layer of Modge Podge to the tin, then apply the paper, adding more glue on top using a sponge brush. Let it dry over night, then using the double sided "red" tape, wrap ribbon for added decoration. I purchased some butterfly stickers at Walmart to go along with my flower paper. Then using the same ribbon, I tied some to the handle at the top. I use this tin for holding my Cuttlebug embossing folders. They fit just right on the inside.

It's snowing!!!

Been snowing all day. Most of it is lake effect, but still nice to see. I have heard from different people that it's not snowing west of us in Bad Axe, or south of us in Port Huron.

Dan's Birthday gift

Thought I would post a pic of Dan' birthday gift. I found this fleece panel at Hobby Lobby in Port Huron and thought of Dan. Not sure if you can see it, but there's a little boy on a peddle tractor, a little boy pulling a calf, and a red barn in the back ground. I purchased additional fleece in green to "tie" to the printed panel. It's hard to find anything with red tractors on it, so it was a thrill for me to find this for him.

When Dan opened the blanket up he was surprised! He said he now has his "own" blanket to take a nap with. He used it that night, and boy did it keep him warm.

Birthday cards.

Thought I would share some cards I made for upcoming birthdays.
All the paper is from Stampin Up!, along with the stamps and inks. Most of the corner were trimmed using corner punches that I have purchased. This is a set of stamps I discovered on Ebay.

I liked the idea of overlaying the balloons so there was more than just one on the card.

Have a good day to all you Hunter's widows.

I met a fellow SCS member

I just have to share this photo. I'm standing in Archiver's, a scrapbooking store with a friend. This is Dawn, a fellow blogger and someone I will be meeting up with in March. We met on the SplitCoast Stampers website, via a blog for Michigan crafters. I had a dr.'s appt in Lapeer and thought I would run down to Sterling Heights to see a new store. When Dawn saw that I was headed her way, she and I decided to meet, since we chat with each other almost everyday.

It was great meeting her. She is very soft spoken, fun to talk with, and considerate to meet me, a complete stranger. When I told her I brought my camera, she said she did too. She even posted it to the chat thread we met at.

It was great meeting her, and I can't wait til March when I will meet the rest of my SplitCoast friends.

These good looking kids are my sister JoAnne's. Starting on the left is Shawn 14, Josh 16, and Haylie 4. This was the day of Josh's homecoming dance. The pic is a little fuzzy since Jo took it with her camera phone. I have this on my computer at work.

Shawn plays football and basketball, and loves both sports. Football just finished and he is looking forward to basketball.

Josh likes to play video games online on his X-box. He just got his license and a car. He takes Shawn to school and most of his practices.

Haylie, is 4 going on 16. She is one smart little girl. She currently goes to preschool 4 days a week with the boy across the street. His mom shares dropping off and pick up with Jo.

Just wanted to send birthday wishes to my little sis who's b-day was Sunday.

Wooooooooo Hooooooooooo!

We're done with the sugar beets!!!!

Thursday night at 8:30 the last load of sugar beets was hauled away. Thank goodness too since it rained all day Friday.

I got this card in the mail a few days ago from my mysterious Goofy Gobbler at the SplitCoast Stampers website. I won't know who it is until the end of the month. I just love the use of the paperclips, I am definitely going to have to attempt that.

Thanks Goofy Gobbler!

If you would like to know how to make this great card click here.

Another one of my hobbies.

I thought I would post about one of my other hobbies; counted cross stitching. I found a "leaflet" that had pics of red tractors in it. Most of the machinery out at the farm is Case IH. There's not alot of merchandise on the market for Case, John Deere has there name on almost everything, but Case is very hard to find.

It took me a few months to get this finished. I had it framed up at "The Corner Store" in Harbor Beach. Pam Semp is the owner and does most of the framing up there, she does a great job. I have all of my framing done there. Although it is hard to see in this pic, but frame has the appearance of old, grey, withered barn wood. Just like the old barns you see when traveling in farm country.

Dan was really impressed when I got it finished and on the wall. He's one of those silent types, but he thought I did a great job.

Chopping corn

A few weeks ago I spent three days out in the field chopping corn. We have a "bunker silo", which consists of cement walls on three sides. As you can see this is an outside storage area of feed for our cattle. Every year around this time it's just about empty and when the corn is "fit" we have a chopper come into the field and cut it down. "Silage", which is the corn cob, stalk and leaves, gets chopped and put on this pile.





My job was to drive with a chopper wagon along side the chopper as it chopped and blew it into the box, until it was full. Then I would go back to the silo area and dump, while another tractor was pushing it onto a pile. I was one of three people hauling that day.


During this time, that tractor would start piling and packing down, getting ready for the next load to come in. At one point we had two tractors packing the pile.




At the end of the 3 days the bunker area was full. By this time next year it will be almost empty again. Once the pile is done, we then cover is with silo plastic and put tires on top to keep the air from blowing it off. Since it is covered and packed it won't rot during the winter months. As the silage is scooped and fed to the cattle, you can see the steam coming off it.

My sis and Haylie

Sorry for not posting sooner, but this week has been quite busy and I haven't had a chance to do anything crafty.

Since I always talk about my family. I thought I would post a pic of my sis and her daughter. I went to a football game for my nephew Shawn, with Haylie, who is 4 and my sister JoAnne. It was a cold day and everyone had sweatshirts and blankets. This was the first game I went to and they won, 32 to 14 against Bridgeport. Since it was only Junior high football the stands weren't so full, but there was alot of spirit.

Good afternoon. I thought I would show off some scarves that I made a few years ago for Christmas presents, using Bernat Eyelash yarn that you can pick up at Wal-Mart. I used a "Kniffty-Knitter" loom. You wrap the yarn around the pegs on a round loom, and using a "L shaped" hook, you lift the yarn over the piece you wrap around. Sorry I can't explain it any better. The more you make the faster you can get. Even though I made them, I let DH choose who got what color. I had to let him join in the fun somehow :)

My day off...sort of.

Yesterday DH started digging beets in one of our fields. Full time digging won't take place til Oct. 20th, so anything that is hauled to the dumping grounds gets a premium. This is so the sugar plants can get started early in their processing. I was looking forward to my day off all week, til I knew I might have to go to the field. Don't get me wrong, I love being out there, just that if I have stuff to do, it's kind of inconvenient. I'm sure you would agree we would all like to be stamping instead of anything else. So, I decided to get on here quick and post something.

I thought I would show off another piece of farm equipment.

My father in law drives this one when out in the field for beets. The box behind the tractor is the "beet topper" This has to go down the row first before any other equipment. It does 4 rows at a time, "slapping" the leaves off the beets. The processing plants only want the actual sugar beet, plus you get docked some way for leaving these on. If you get the speed of the topper going too fast, you can even knock it out of its row, and the digger tractor will run it over. I get to run this when FIL gets tired or if we don't have enough help in the field. Otherwise, that's where he stays most of the time.

Thank you to everyone checking out my blog and leaving great comments.

The sun is out

After having the clouds stick around for most of the day yesterday, it's nice to see the sun out. The leaves are rapidly changing color outside my window. Beautiful browns, reds and yellows. In front of my house are two maple trees and in the fall their leaves turn yellow lighting up the front yard. There is a house in Sandusky, MI just east of the light near Pizza hut, that has three huge maple trees and in the fall the leaves turn yellow and orange. Those trees give off such a beautiful color, that I could sit and look at those all day.

Today I thought I would share a pic of last year's Christmas gift. I made this after seeing one at my Aunt Geri's house down in Bay City. I took four small "crafting" pots and used silicone to glue them to the sides of one bigger pot. I used masking tape to hold them in place while they dried. Then I glued two of the same size pots to the inside of the body for legs. After letting this sit to dry for a couple of days, I then glued a pot to the top for the head. Then using a hot glue gun, I glued styrofoam insidethe top pot so I could stick flowers in, and then hot glued Spanish moss around to hide the silicone I used. I topped it off by tying raffia around the neck for a little more added decoration. They were a big hit for the ladies of my family.

Good morning

Well it's gloomy here and the sun is hidden away behind the clouds. I'm a fall person and when days like this arrive, with rain, I just want to stay home and veg on the couch. I would rather work on a sunny day and stay home during the rain.

Since it has rained here Dan will be home for lunch. Can't combine in the rain. He has 2 small days of beans and he'll be done. We still have corn and sugar beets in the field and the beets will be coming off full time in a couple of weeks. So that means I will have a week off from work, to sit in the beet fields of Huron County. It's really not that bad, I take a book with me and read when I'm not helping open the field or carting beets out to the trucks

The picture on the left is of the beet digger that DH runs. The pic on the right is the tractor I drive with the dump cart. You have to get close, but not too close so you don't damage the truck while dumping. Usually the driver of the truck will climb on top to see into the box. It's a real pain when you dump over the box and the beets land on the road or field. The poor drive has to pick them up and toss them into the box.

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

My First Post!!!!

Welcome to my first post.



I've been thinking of starting a blog after reading so many other intersting ones on a crafting website. Everyone has so many beautiful ideas and share interesting parts of their lives. I also thought I could share my "daily-doings" with family and friends.



So kick back and enjoy looking at my lastest craft projects and work being done down on the farm.