All safe and accounted for...

It's funny how life goes...  Tonight, instead of doing one of a million things I should be doing,  I dashed off to my craft room for a few minutes to work on the next onesie, but instead got caught up in my e-mail and reading today's lesson in Learn Something New Everyday.  I found today's prompt really interesting.  I pulled out my journal and was just about to start writing in earnest, when I looked out the window in front of my computer.  It's not the best view (the old boat that will someday be off to a new home and our RV) but I do love the beauty of the raspberry vines (especially now that I don't have to go out and pick them all them time) and the bay leaf "tree" that started as a little whip that we planted long ago.  I was thinking I should go fill the bird feeder when I noticed something a little different. 

A small curled up kitty sleeping on the RV pad between the RV and the raspberries.  I thought one of the neighborhood cats must have chosen it as a napping spot, but then thought, "it looks a little like Tigger.  Wait a minute, it looks a lot like Tigger."  I called hubby in and then tapped on the window.  It was Tigger!  How the heck did he get out? 

For those of you who don't know, hubby built a kitty prison compound in the back yard.  They can go outside all they want, but they are confined to a safe space that gives them plenty of room to run around, hunt whatever birds or frogs are silly enough to venture into a yard patrolled occupied by five cats and just generally enjoy the outdoors safe from cars and predators.  Now every once in a while, a kitty escapes because someone doesn't latch the gate properly when going to the garden or the door from the house into the garage gets left open a moment too long.  But the gate was closed and the greys were both still inside (the usual escapees).  So I got out the treat bag and kept Smoke and Chewie occupied while hubby opened the gate for Tigger, who happily came back into his backyard.  Hubby walked the perimeter but didn't see any breaks that would account for Tigger's escape.  We eventually surmised that Tigger must have gone out the garage when hubby was taking the recently canned corn out to the storage. 

So that got me to thinking about what an amazing thing "coincidence" is.  I wonder how long Tigger would have been locked out if I hadn't decided to work on my class project, if I hadn't been drawn to look out while I contemplated what to write, if he had chosen anywhere else to lay considering I can't see but a small area from my window with my big old computer screen blocking the view...  So whether you think it was just a coincidence or part of a master plan, tonight I thank God that our little guy chose that exact spot to lay down and that I chose to goof off and go do tonight's lesson now before it got too dark, because that little guy has made a huge improvement in our lives since he bounced down the freeway in front of us three years ago that I don't even want to think about not having him with us for many more years to come.

So now back to the crafting at hand.  I'm a bit stumped about what I want to do for the next onesie, so tonight I have a card that I want to share.  I found the inspiration on Pinterest a bit back but knew I would have to make my own version.  No surprise, it's from Karen Thomas at Luv to Stamp again.  I was so completely taken by how cute the first couple of her cards were that I had to follow her blog and pin a whole lot of them! 

This one was super fun to make.  I used the chrysanthemum from the Silhouette Design Studio because it makes me think of fall. I used a cute argyle embossing folder from QuickKutz.  I switched out the ribbon for some baker's twine and I just loved this little ticket stamp from Inkadinkado combined with a little stamp from Studio G.  So perfect!  So thank you Karen for your constant inspiration...

Amazing day...

I had been thinking for days about things that absolutely needed to be done today: pick the peas, pick the last of the raspberries, pick the blueberries, pick the zucchini (well, you get the picture). So this morning when I couldn't go back to sleep, I just got up. I went outside and it was glorious. The neighborhood was so still and the morning was cool, but not cold. It was really nice just being out there. It wasn't long before dear hubby came to join me and we made pretty quick work of the picking and a little weeding. Well, two hours worth. But we also watched the furballs having a ball running all over their yard. Smoke and Tigger did a little tree climbing, but we only got pictures of Tigger in the tree (don't worry, they are small trees, no kitty was harmed in the making of this blog post). Eventually they all tired and found their own places to rest for a bit. Chewie picked the top the rail on the deck.Smoke found his favorite hiding, ready to pounce "resting" place in the flowers under the deck:Cha-Ching was in his "no hoomans can get me here" and don't you dare get too close or I'll run resting place. I swear that cat is the most beautiful apple faced seal point but he is the least photogenic cat I've ever seen with Tigger running a close second. Eventually even ADHD kitty, err Tigger, decided it was time to rest too and found a comfy(?) place in the barkdust.While watching the furballs cavort, I finished picking the blueberries and said for about the 100th time that I was going to pull out the one blueberry bush that I don't think has grown an inch in five years and looks half-dead. Of course, I say this every year so I mentioned to dear hubby that I wanted to go get a new bush. He said we'd have to wait until next year when the stores will have them again, but I protested that Al's would have one and since we were planning a drive a little while later over to Silver Creek Falls, why not head that way afterward? He didn't seem to keen on the idea. Maybe it's that I also mentioned wanting to pull out "the beast" in the front yard and the peach tree that didn't have so much as a single peach this year...

Any how... a quick shower later, we piled into the truck and took off to tour the campground at Silver Creek Falls. It seems that we always camp at the same places every year so we've decided to look at some other options. This one is not too far away but is always booked solid. Now I know why. It's a really nice park. There's great walking and hiking trails. Many of the campsites are very private. I love it, oh and the falls are stunning too. Here's the north fall from a viewpoint during our drive: So we were driving on the backroads when I just could not believe my eyes. There were these entire fields of flowers. No, this is not photoshopped, this is an actual picture (well minus the big old sign that says private property and not to stop and no trespassing)... Honestly, I didn't pick a one and I really only stood on the edge of the road to get the picture of these bachelor buttons, African daisies and California poppies. So then we drove through Silverton and hubby pointed out where he went to grade school and floated milk carton boats down a drainage ditch in the summertime. Doesn't that sound like something every grade school boy would do? Now for my favorite part... We stopped to get Oktoberfest sausages. I love Oktoberfest. So sad that I won't get to go this year, but this is the next best thing...Then it was off to Woodburn! I didn't turn him off with all my talk of pulling out trees and vines and such. On the way, we saw another field of flowers. It wasn't quite as stunning as the first, but still quite remarkable. I often forget just how much we grow here in the valley until we go for a drive on the backroads. It really is stunning. So now we are back home and I'm going to try my hand at making a Kusudama flower, well right after I go eat the garlic chicken that hubby was cooking. Here's a shot of it browning in the skillet before he pops it in the oven. Yes, those are whole cloves of garlic and I have the most amazing just baked french bread to spread those on. Yummo!

Cup crazy

Okay, so this is the last cup for a while. I've made four this weekend alone and gave my friend Glenda her Lakers emblem I made from a .jpeg on last week at the casino and then cut. Of course, I never could find a cup for it so she'll have to do that. Why is it that when you are looking for something the store never has it, but the minute you don't need that anymore, they are everywhere?

But I've been thinking about making one for my hubby ever since I ordered a big batch of vinyl off of Oh My Crafts. When I realized their mixed pack had yellow, orange and black, I knew there was a Tigger cup in Matt's future. You see, two years ago on August 1st, this little ball of fluff came bouncing down the freeway. We scooped him up, took him to the vet to be fixed up and he's been a part of the family ever since. He's a little skittery (well who wouldn't be after that kind of trauma) but he's a little love. Mostly though, he's really Matt's cat. He loves Matt and Matt loves him. So today I finally finished cutting out the bouncing Tigger from Mardenz and came up with the words "He's had us wrapped around his paw ever since he bounced into our lives" and cut them out in a circle. I learned a little while ago that if you have small cuts, it's best to put a clear overlay over them, so I cut that out of contact paper and covered the whole thing. Well, that's it for crafting today. The in-laws just invited us down for dinner so no more crafting. Good timing too, I just finished the laundry a few minutes ago. So happy Fourth everyone!

Guest bedroom

The guest bedroom is pretty much done now except for a couple of things. I have a desk that I need to refinish and I have to make some decisions about what do do for the wall art on the big wall. But at least the room is clean, put together and usable. Oh, and I'm not really happy with this artwork. It still needs something more because it looks awfully empty.

I also realized that Chewie kind of became my inspiration with the grey and white fur, pink collar and the black of pupils. Of course, the cats had to check it out. Tigger checked out under the bed.

Smoke and Chewie checked out the view. Oh, and the bed too:

With a bit more tweaking...

So tonight I decided to finish tweaking last night's layout. I added hand stitching to make the blocks look somewhat quilted together and button to finish off the corners of the central photo. It's shocking how long it takes to do a little hand stitching on the layout, but I'm really pleased with how it looks now. So here are side by side comparisons of last night (left) and the final (right). I probably spent the better part of two hours doing the hand stitching and the finishing the buttons off. Of course, that was with some minor interruptions to turn off the audio because I just couldn't stand to listen to the Winterhawks lose the opening game of the second round of the playoffs and start a new episode of Glee. Oh, and, of course, there were a few feline interruptions. Smoke came looking for a little love and some treats. Tigger took up residence in the spare craft room chair. I was cold this weekend and cuddled up in an afghan my mother-in-law made. I then left it on the spare chair and ever since Tigger's declared it as his own. Even Zoey came in to check things out tonight! She's a good looking girl for a 17-year-old!

Finally Done!

Whoo hoo! I'm done. Ten pages all finished and ready to go with days to spare. I even took some time today to clean up the last of the summer plants out of the front yard. I stared out with a sketch from Nuts About Sketches to do the page for Lee. Then I jumped over to Sketch Savvy for a layout for Ken.Next, I pulled up the December Page Maps to find a layout that truly inspired me to finish Mike's page. So I looked at a few of the past months on Page Maps and found this sketch in the September 2010 .pdfs that was perfect for Doug. Viola! I even had some company from Smoke in my craft room for most of the day. But then I was abandoned for the Christmas blanket.




I guess I can't blame them. Cuddling on the couch sounds pretty good to me. In fact, that's what I'm going to go do.

Pamela's World of Scrap Sketch 227

I loved this layout design when I saw it and I've been meaning to do a page about our home. Now that I think about it, lately it seems like I'm finally doing a lot of pages that I've been meaning to do for a long time. I guess it's just all that great inspiration I've found on various blogs lately. Well this one is from sketch 227 on Pamela's World of Scrap. I decided to use hidden journaling, mostly because I had a lot to say and didn't want to clutter up the design with so many thoughts. Now that I think back though, I wish I would have done the journaling as the background paper. I think it might have been interesting looking. Anyhow, here's what I settled on:

Oh, and Chewie and Tigger have abandoned the craft room in favor of Daddy's chair. Smoke and Cha-Ching have claimed the living room and Zoey, of course, is happily sleeping on the bed upstairs. So I had absolutely no creative help here tonight. Maybe that's why I still feel like this page is missing something. But I'm tired now so that's all for tonight.

Mojo Monday inspired

Boy it seems like I'm making cards like there is no tomorrow anymore. A co-worker is having surgery soon and I wanted a card that we could all send to him. Argh, yes, the dreaded masculine card. So I headed out to my favorite websites to find some inspiration and decided to use Mojo Monday this time. I love this argyle paper from DCWV. I've used it on several cards and I think it goes well on a masculine card. I just had to make one little change to one of my Stampin' Up stamps to remove the I and hand-insert "We". Fortunately I was able to put it together in minutes and still make the Cricut class tonight.

Oh, and I should add that my helpers were quiet tonight. Tigger has adopted the extra chair in my craft room and Chewie found a hidey hole in the entertainment center (or maybe I should call it scrapbooking center since it only houses my scrapbooking stashes now?).

One last thing, it seems that no matter where Matt leaves his jersey, Tigger finds it and camps out. Maybe he's dreaming of the 'hawks bringing home the Memorial Cup? Considering they are 10-2, at the top of the WHL US Division and have the most points of any team in the whole league, that dream may become a reality.

Clean & Simple inspired

So I've needed to make a get well soon card for my cousin Teresa for a couple of days, but I just couldn't find any inspiration. So tonight I was trolling the craft blogs looking for something to jump start me when I came across the current sketch on Clean & Simple. It did the trick and I immediately knew what I was going to do. I ran my paper through the printer for the sentiment (using Walt Disney Script of course) then cut the paper to size and ran it through the Sizzix with a couple of Cuttlebug embossing folders to add a little texture. Then a coordinating Mickey shoe yellow ribbon (although I wish I had the wider ribbon in this color - maybe next Michael's trip) and cut a cute Mickey with the Cricut Mickey and Friends cart. With a pop dot, he was done. Finally I cut a "get well soon" sentiment from an svg I picked up from someone's site for the inside and, viola, card done. Of course, I can't fail to credit the big helper I had too.

We're coping

So we are all very sad and miss Gandalf like crazy. Mommy cries all the time. Smoke and Tigger even seem to be finally getting along. But we are trying to be as normal as possible. So Mom went on her little trip to walk in the Race for the Cure. She and Auntie Val got a hotel room close to the race shuttle. They spent the evening visiting Auntie Michele, swimming in the hotel pool and just being silly. This morning, they walked the 5k in the Race for the Cure. It had been a goal of mom's all year. It was strangely anticlimatic when you consider that she pretty much walks a 5k or more several times a week but it's still a great event and it made her think alot about life.

While she was walking, Daddy and Mommy's daddy went fishing together (male bonding). So Mommy got the bonus of some alone time when she got home from the race. She put together her goals for this week: one of which is to download all the cute pictures she's taken of all of us including this one of Tigger on the hammock under a work table in her craft room. All together now ... Aaahhh! Isn't he cute?