Amazing Arts: January 2010

Sunday, January 31, 2010

fast food fashion

McDonald's + Fashion = McFancy!!
read the full article in here

I truly haven't dropped off the face of the earth. ;) My father-in-law passed away the day after Christmas, our daughter had some medical tests and went back to college, and we've been trying to get back into the "normal" {what is that anyway?} routine.

Here are a couple cards I made at Christmas time that I haven't had a chance to show you yet. I used a sketch from Stampin' Sisters in Christ (SSCC18) for both of these cards.

Supplies: BG Eskimo Kisses papers & Woolies, Dew Drops, Stamp - Studio G, Bazzill card bases, ColorBox pigment ink, Stampendous Clear embossing powder, Stickles

KL Stampin' and Scrappin' Sketch Challenge

This is my entry for this week's KL Stampin' and Scrappin' Challenge. I used a cute little Stampavie stamp from Rachelle Anne Miller called Giving Shelter for my card. The yellow cs is from Gina K and it is her pure luxury line in sweet corn. The green cs is SU Kiwi Kiss. The cute yellow dotted paper is from the Farm Fresh Collection by October Afternoon (lovin' it) and the other patterned paper is from a DCWV stack, I believe, don't quote me on that as it was a scrap piece I had left over. I colored the image with copics and then added lots of glitter. The green gingham ribbon is from American Crafts and I added some skittles to finish it off. Hope you like it!

Saturday, January 30, 2010

A Sad Farewell to Freckles....

Before I start rambling...if you are looking for the Sew Many Cards Blog Hop...go to the next post down. I made this card in honor of a sweet, mischievous, kid loving horse named Freckles. A very long story that I won't go into about how Freckles came into our lives but....he was a horse with so much personality that he reminded you of Mr. Ed (if anyone else is old enough to know the horse I'm referring to). Freckles was with us for about 3 years moving with us from VA to SD. I specifically remember one night that I was mucking out his stall while he roamed the aisleway of the barn and he was not happy that he had been in his stall so much at that time because of some treatment to his hooves. So...he decided to take his nose and shut the cafe style stall door with me inside. Well, I thought it was kinda funny and opened the door back up and told him not to do that and went on cleaning. The next thing I know he is taking his rump end and using it to push the door closed again....I'm sure he was telling me why don't you stay in there if you think it is so grand. I also remember one day when we had just put out a brand new large round bale of hay....now...Freckles loved to eat so not much could distract him from a big hay bale but....we were working in the pasture and the boys got cold so they were going to go inside and Freckles left that bale of hay to follow them to the gate and then continued to wait at the gate until he saw them safely inside before he went back and joined the other horses at the bale. I know many times if I were alone and called him to the fence he might or might not come depending on how hungry he was but no matter what if the boys were with me he would come trotting over. He loved kids. Sorry to ramble....the reason I'm sharing this with you is that when we moved to HI we opted to donate Freckles to a therapeutic riding academy in SD called Suncatchers. He loved his job there and the kids loved him! I am so sad to tell you that I got a message last week from Suncatchers that he had a horrible accident and had to be put to sleep. So....I guess that is the reason I chose black and white for this card as it is a very sad card for me to make but I want to send it to the kids at Suncatchers as I know they fell in love with this big old guy, too. Enough sad talk....I chose the CCEE Stampers challenge as it is a sketch and I wanted a jumping point off as I often do....Freckles was a big old gray with lots of freckles...hence the name so I just gave a little color with some of my gray copics and the coloring was done. The stamp itself is from Serendipity stamps I believe. Thanks for looking and letting me share a little of my life with you.

Happy Anniversary

Today, I want to say Happy Anniversary to David's parents, Jim and Caroline (AKA Crusty Jim and Pocket Change). They have been married for 49 years and still going strong. 49 years, wow that is a long time!!! They are both retired and very active in SASS (Single Action Shooters Society) . I wouldn't want to meet up with either one of them at a gunfight!

I wish them the happiest day and many more happy years together!

Here are the card details:
Stamps: Elegant Post (Gina K. Designs)

Paper: PL White (GKD), Frosted Pink (Prismatics), Print Papers (Making Memories)

Inks: Cranberry Adirondack, Petunia Pink Versamagic

Extras: Ribbon

Friday, January 29, 2010

So....

Hi Company Girls! Unfortunately I'm blogging from my office so no cute coffee cup image for me this week..HOWEVER, if you want to find out all about the Company Girls, check out THIS great blog!!

And now, for my post!

We're supposed to be leaving for Alabama in the morning (at ahem, 4 am) and an ice storm has taken over the south. NICE. I move to the frozen tundra, and an ICE storm happens on the one week in the south, that I decide to visit home. Ah, life.

On other news fronts (fronts, get it, storm fronts, home fronts....heheh..ok it was a VERY pathetic pun), homeschooling planning is coming along nicely. After prayer and some research I felt a lot clearer in my goals and I have a nice outline of tasks I want to accomplish. I'll be putting my first lesson plan together this week on vacation and school will begin when we return! YAH!!!!!

Not much else to blog about because I'm super busy getting ready--no posts from me for a week because I'll be without a computer AT ALL! (EEEK!) Oh, one thing....every time I walk through a door lately I've had this strange urge to scream "Science kid in the hoooowwwwwwwse!"

Yep. I think I've officially overdosed on PBS.

CHA Inky Antics

Good morning! Another quick post from me today. These adorable boards are from Inky Antics. Inky Antics has been around for along time, their images are sweet and adorable. The samples on the top (Merry Mousies) board were created by my internet BFF Debbie Fisher. I am so happy for Debbie that she has the opportunity to create such adorable works of art for Inky Antics. Tomorrow, I will be sharing with you a new company that Robin and I both fell in love with.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Sew Many Cards New Release Blog Hop!!

Welcome to the Sew Many Cards New Release Blog Hop!! We are so glad you could join us this week for a chance to see Angela's new releases and a chance at winning some great prizes!!! We'd like to say hello and welcome to all of our new followers, welcome back to all our supporters and a huge THANK YOU to all of you for a wonderful first month at our new challenge blog! Our sponsors this month are Wags N'Whiskers and Simon Says Stamps!

To win a $25 gift certificate to the Wags N' Whiskers Store and a new release stamp from Wags N' Whiskers you MUST comment on EACH design team members blog. We realize we have a large team, but it will be well worth the hop to see all of our team's great projects and our sponsors awesome prizes! Here is a little information about Lacey Stephens, owner of Stamp and Create and the donor of the above mentioned gift certificate:

I was a stay at home mom for 7 years so stamping was a great way for some "Mommy time". But after stamping for over 2 years, my hobby became my obsession...so my obsession became my dream! Now I own an on-line store! Stamp and Create is a new on-line story carrying many popular brands of stamps, paper, and embellishments including: Wags 'N Whiskers Rubber Stamps, High Hopes Stamps, Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps, Whiff of Joy, Stampavie, Penny Black, The Greeting Farm, Basic Grey, 7 Gypsies, Shimmerz, Nestabilities (always 20% off), charms and more!! I am always adding new items to the store...so check it out at http://www.stampandcreate.com/.

Would you like to win a $10 gift certificate to Simon Says Stamp and the ENTIRE line of Sew Many Cards new releases....then we have a special challenge this week for you during our blog hop...You will find all the details on the last stop of our hop!!

I am so excited to get to play with this new Duncan image! I think he is the cutest duckiest little ducky I've ever seen!!! I "lifted" my layout from this wonderful card here. If you haven't perused Laurie's blog - it is so worth the time as she makes some BEAUTIFUL cards. I used Microsoft Word to size my image to a height of 2.2" and then colored it with copics. I wanted a more distressed look to mine so I distressed the edges of the green layer which both that and the other patterned paper are from the Fancy Pants Happy Holidays pack. I used Gina K's pure luxury cardstock in sweet corn for my base and some green gingham ribbon from American Crafts for accent. I printed my sentiment from the computer using the Curlz MT font in 18 and after inking it up added some Memory Box gold pearl stickers.

Please stop by each of the design team members blogs and leave a friendly comment, and be sure to leave us an email or link to your blog when you finish the hop at our challenge blog! You should have arrived here from Ceal's blog - if so - then your next stop is Mary D's blog.
If you have lost your way along the hop here is the map:

Angela (Owner)

Me - you are here

Jeri (SMC DT Coordinator)

Sarabeth (SMC LO Coordinator)

Sew Many Challenges Blog

Have fun hopping and don't forget to leave a comment on each DT member's blog as not only will it enter you in the above mentioned prizes but....you have a chance at winning each DT member's image that they are showcasing. Plus....everyone who makes it to the end of the hop wins as you can pick up the Friday Freebie there!!!

not there

How can you be in other places if you are always in my heart?

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Ok, hands down, this is one of my absolute favorite family movies! HILARIOUS! I swear I nearly fell off the couch laughing...but my favorite part was courtesy of Reagan. Right as the carnivorous flower was about to eat Diego and Manny, Reagan screams at the tv "Bad Plant! Bad Plant! You spit him out right now or you go to time out!!!!!!!"

Kids say the darnedest things... ;)

CHA Kaisercraft

Hi there! Whew, I am sure glad to be home from CHA. The trip was fun, but always lots of work too! Over the next few days I will show you some pics that I took at the show. Today I am sharing a few from the Kaisercraft booth. Robin and I were lucky enough to have two spots in their make and take. We made cute little notebooks like the ones above. I really liked the collections pictured above, they were some of my favorites. I didn't get a pic of the collection that the little bird journal was made from. I think my head was spinning from all of the excitement at being at CHA.

Tomorrow, I will share an extra special picture that I took of a display board created by a dear friend of mine for Inky Antics.

#71) Greek Shortbread

This lovely looking sweet treat also played a part in my New Year's cookie buffet, too. Although everybody else seemed to favour the Dirty Bottoms, I actually prefer these guys. I am a shortbread lover and I like pretty much all varieties, but this one was really great because it had a great texture and a crumb that melted the second it hit your tongue, and the sweetness from the icing sugar is, well, the "icing on the cake!"

Give 'em a go and let me know what you think :)

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
1 egg yolk
2 1/2 tsp vanilla (I used homemade vanilla that was given to me as a Christmas gift and it was awesome! Thanks Laura :))
2 3/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder

Steps

-Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat.

-Beat together butter and icing sugar. Add egg yolk and vanilla.

-Sift in flour and baking powder. Beat until combined then knead with hands until smooth.

-Roll into small balls (about 2 dozen) and place on cookie sheets. Flatten with hand.

-Bake for 15 minutes, or until pale golden brown.

-Meanwhile, sift icing sugar onto falt plate. Place hot cookies in icing sugar. Let sit for 3 minutes and then sift more icing sugar over top.

-Let cool completely.

Check out these pics!!

Aren't these fabulous!?? I love them!

Ok, so my totally adorabely awesome neighbor/favorite babysitter/friend, Tori, took photos off my blog and made them into something super fabulous and glamourous!

THANKS TORI!

Reaganism

So cute! When Reagan is talking about something that happened today or something she wants to do today, she'll say "THIS DAY" as in "We went to the doctor THIS DAY!" Can you say adorable!? LOL! She's a hoot!

Dear Alexa and Lillian,

I love you both SO MUCH!

Looking at this picture of you makes me smile.

Thank you for being you! :)

Love, Mommy

The Greeting Farm Relay Race Day #3 & Paper Take Weekly Challenge

So far so good....I have made it through the first 3 days only 2 more to go!!! This has been quite fun and very motivating! The Greeting Farm always has such cute images to work with!!! I used this week's Paper Take Weekly sketch challenge and this card came together pretty quickly. I'm also entering this in A Spoon Full of Sugar's challenge this week as it is an open challenge. I used some unknown minty green cardstock from my stash and some SU Chocolate Chip along with some Basic Grey and K&Co. patterned papers and added some ribbon from my stash (pretty sure it is left over from some Target $1 bin ribbon) and added a Making Memories birthday wishes tag. Hope you like it!!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Blog Candy!!

I was just blog hopping today and found this wonderful blog here and she just happens to be giving away some awesome blog candy!! This is one of the cute images - there are 3 Valentine girls and they are all 3 the cutest!!! Be sure to check it out and put your chance in to win one of these super cute images!

3 in 1

Few years ago, I had my devotion about prayer which can be granted. The article put Matthew 7:7 as the main verse. It says:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you”

When I read this verse at the first time, I thought like this,“how easy all of this. We just ask and will be given; just seek, and will find; just knock and it will be opened..Woo..i want to experience that but that’s not as simple as it is rite? That’s too easy!” That’s my first idea when i read this verse. I asked in my mind,”What’s the correlation between this verse and prayer which can be granted?”

God verses in the bible cant be read just in a glace or just like read novel, comic etc. God verses have lots of meaning and it speaks in many ways. Even we have read the verse over and over, it can speak again in the different way every time we read it. It’s beyond our common sense.

But, we cannot experience God’s words if we are not preparing our heart properly. I usually pray before I read it. I ask God to give me wisdom so I can understand His words with His perspective not mine. I did it when I read Matthew 7:7 and the verse spoke to me! Now I know what the verse means by ask, seek and knock. I found that they are three actions which become into one process and they must be done in sequent. First, ask. Second, seek. Then third, knock.

1. Ask, and it will be given to you

The first step is “Ask”. The word of ask speaks about will, need, hope or whatever we wish in our life. Without them, we will not ask (or need) for something. We must aware that we need something from God. Something that we cannot do by our own strength.

2. Seek, and you will find

“Seek” means there must be an action to do. After we tell God what we need, we must do something to act. Maybe what we need are beyond our strength but we can do the best we can. We do our part. This is the second step.

3. Knock, and it will be opened to you

This is the final step and the most important one, “Knock”. After telling our need (or wish), doing the best we can, now we surrender both to God. How? We go to His presence then knock the door so we can enter and stay in His presence. When we knock the door, we must want to enter inside rite? We need to close to God so we have strength before we get what we've prayed. Thank God because He never rejects us. God always open His door whenever we want to enter because He loves us.

So, if we think God don’t grant our prayer or He don’t give what we need, please re-check what we have done. Have we done the three of them or not?

-september, 19th 2008-

oh my oh my...

The official posters have released and they are so awesome!! Make me want to watch it soon. There are lots of movie fan doubt this film coz it is directed by M.Night Shyamalan. M Night is brilliat but his latest two movies (Lady In The Water & The Happening) failed. I'm a fan of M. Night Shyamalan movies since The Sixth Sense and i have a strong feeling that The Last Airbender will be his great comeback!

Avatar: The Legend Of Aang is a fenomenal TV show and it has the prospect to become a movie franchise like Harry Potter. It depends to M.Night Shyamalan who directs this first film. If this film success, there will be a sequel, triquel, and so on. I pray so this movie will be successful so there will be more to come =) Cant wait for July 2nd 2010!

Adventure Park @ Edinborough Park in Edina

Alexa went on a field trip here today.

Doesn't this look FUN!

Sick Little Girl

My little Lilli has been battling a cold for a little over a week now. Last night she woke up complaining of her right ear hurting. She was so restless and in so much pain. She didn't seem to want to lay or sit. I tried holding and cuddling her, but she just wiggled in my arms. We watched The Little Mermaid at 2 in the morning, just to take her mind off of it. She ended up falling asleep on the couch with me during the movie. I had given her some Motrin, but it didn't seem to kick in until 2 1/2-3 hours later.

Adam took her to the clinic this morning to check for an ear infection and he said her ears are clear and her breathing sounded good. Her oxygen levels were good, but recommended to keep up with her nebulizer treatments, just for precaution. He advised to giver her a dose of Motrin an hour before she goes to bed to help her sleep. Adam just emailed me this photo of her napping. It was a long night, so I expect she will take a good long nap today, at least I hope so. Wish I could be there, snuggled up to her.

The Appliances Are Revolting!!!

No, not revolting as in I haven't cleaned them in 20 years...I'm talking revolt as in refusing to do their jobs and encouraging all other appliances to quit around them. First the stove (ok, ok, my fault..but the other appliances took it to heart), then the microwave (started shooting sparks at us), now the dryer isn't drying properly AND the printer has completely given up...I swear I saw a white flag run up last night. Add to the fact that the van's lights and radio need worked on, and *I'M* about ready to run the white flag up! ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday, January 25, 2010

sunny math

Math is definitely not my fave subject on school. Yeah, i'm not good in calculation but i want to learn it =) Yesterday, i found this cool site about the new way to enjoy math! This math is fun and very creative. After read all of it's posts and sorted them, i re-post my faves here. Enjoy guys!

How? Is it fun guys? To make it more fun, let's make our version. It's easy to do this. Find your fave word and transform it into "sunny math". I've made mine!

C'MONNN Guyss!!! Make yours!!! :D
Find the other "sunny math" in here

The Greeting Farm Relay Race Day #2 & Pink Elephant Challenge!

This is Charlotte - isn't she a cutie!! This is the 2nd digi image in the relay race over at The Greeting Farm (see more info in the post below). I hope to play all week! I wanted to play in the Pink Elephant Challenge also this week which is to use dots, a bow, and pink - well, I just couldn't help but combine these as they seemed perfect for each other! This card also fits the Crazy 4 Challenges Pretty in Pink Challenge this week and A Spoon Full of Sugar's open challenge! Hope you like it!!

Vikings Vs. Saints - NFC Playoffs in New Orleans

Chip and Benski resting up before the big game...

Looks a little uncomfortable...

Adam, grilling for the Vikings game...

The food...

Benski said when he gets nervous, he eats...

He was really nervous...

GO VIKINGS!

Lillian eating her Vikings cupcake...

Alexa eating her cupcake.

Go Purple & Gold!

I was having a big of anxiety watching the game. It's funny, because not being a huge football fan, I was more nervous than I ever anticipated. During the 4th quarter, I wasn't even able to watch. So, I took pictures instead...