Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Just wanted to pop in and announce my winner!

What a fun event every year!

Carla send me your addy and I'll get this right in the mail to you! Just need to email me! (My address is on the top corner of my blog!)

cghundleyDecember 5, 2013 at 3:17 PM

Wonderful giveaway! Great
use of the skates, very
pretty.
Carla from Utah

Congrats and MERRY Christmas!

P.S. I had another winner first, but she was a participant, so had to draw again!

Day 4 of Visions of Sugar Plums: Altered Ice Skate Give Away

A week or two ago I was sitting on my living room floor messing around with some vintage ice skates I got at the second hand store for $2. 

I was half gloating and half scheming.

I would have been tempted to try them on, but I have a very nice pair of skates already. Plus these were purchased to make something similar to what my friend Lisa made at You Made Me Ink. I do love ice skating but I like decorating more. ;-)

I was having a mild panic attack on giving them up though or even hooking them both together for hanging. Although Pinterest was just a click away, it was way easier to text Lisa and ask if she used one skate for her project or two.

I was much relieved to find out I had two to work with! One for me and one for a giveaway!

The nice part about this skate is that you can prop it up and insert the flower swag. I made it separate for easy of sending. Could also easily be hung with some command strips too. 

So, comment away! I have one all boxed up and ready to send your way should you be the lucky winner! Lori will announce the winner on her blog tomorrow!

Lori -http://lorihairston.blogspot.com/

Debbie - http://www.papersweeties.com/category/blog/

Maria - http://asimplefive.blogspot.com/

Mitra - http://mitralee.blogspot.com/

Lauren - http://www.laurenhairston.com/

Jane - http://jane-janesjournal.blogspot.com/

May - http://mayshappydaze.blogspot.com/

Shelly - http://gingermelondolls.blogspot.com/

Ignacio - http://nicecranedesigns.blogspot.com/

Giveaways:   $10 gift certificate - Paper Sweeties - http://www.papersweeties.com/

                    1 set of choice -  Moonlighting by Mary - http://www.etsy.com/shop/MoonlightingByMary

                    Christmas Creation - Mitra - Mitra - http://mitralee.blogspot.com/

                    Into the Woods Stamp Set - Lawn Fawn - http://www.lawnfawn.com/

                   $20 gift certificate  - Nicecrane Designs - http://www.nicecranedesigns.com  

                   Gingerbread Folk Pattern - Gingermelon - https://www.etsy.com/shop/Gingermelon

 2 sets of choice-Vintage Remix

And for the very fine print:

You get your name entered for the day's giveaways every time you leave a comment.  So visit each blog and leave a comment on each one.  Lori will check out the comments every day, so if you comment on 5 blogs, you have your name put in the drawing five times for that day.  She keeps a record over the whole week so if you comment each day on 5 blogs, you have your name in her BIG All-Week-Long giveaway 25 times.

Happy Thursday and GOOD LUCK!

Hunting and Gathering the Glitter Way

I am terrible at shopping. Not the kind where you sit in your easy chair with a laptop. Now that kind of shopping I excel at.

I mean Black Friday shopping or hunting through the big box craft store for goodies kind of shopping. I stink at that. Mostly just pick up stuff that is shiny without any kind of plan. Yes someday I WILL use a piece of paper that looks just like real peacock feathers...

I am much better at second hand store shopping.

This here is my type of Hunting and Gathering.

Behold, the ice skates for $2 and the $4.50 wreath complete with lights that still work.

Now this wreath was still in fairly good shape. If you squinted, you might have been able to get another season of of it.

I really wanted it for the red flower/leaves and the slightly tattered gold peeling holly. Those I fixed up with some gold spray paint....they aren't quite as shimmery, but almost nicer...and not peeling! ;-)

A bit of work with some clippers, major gold glitter all over the floor of the garage..and here is some of my harvest.

Believe it or not, I intend to use some of those red leaf like thingies on a scrapbook page.

A few of the glittery branches, two gold flowers, and some of those velvet green leaves have already made their way into a project. That my dears will be up on this blog tomorrow and given away! ;-)

Happiest of Hump Days! Hope there is a bit of glitter on yours or a cool second hand store find! Both is also good! May the glittery gods of thrifting shine down on you!

P.S. The Grapevine wreath was unharmed in the process. Minimal hot glue was used, so now I also have a perfectly good wreath...

Day 2 of Visions of Sugar Plums: Altered Christmas Tea Set

The other day, my friend Marilyn came by. She was hanging out with my MIL and they both know a little something about antiques.

I was showing them my very not so silver tea & creamer set. I had bought them with the hopes I could polish them back to silver. Sadly, nothing worked and I came to the theory that perhaps they were pewter.

Marilyn cleared it right up. She said, nope, they probably were silver plated and someone didn't use the right stuff on them at some point...

And THAT my friends, gave me permission to haul out the gold spray & silver spray paint and glitter.

Kinda mixed up the gold and the silver a bit. And then decorated simply with some really luscious roses I found at the local green house/gift shop. They were a wee bit nicer than the kind you get at a big box craft store, plus I was buying local!

The gold twigs came from our trees and also got a spray paint treatment.

My post was created specially for a very cool holiday hop sponsored by Lori Hairston who blogs at ChouxChoux and has organized some fun for us at Christmas!

If you have a minute, take a trip through the blogs below. Some fantastic giveaways and inspiration.

Lori -http://lorihairston.blogspot.com/

Debbie - http://www.papersweeties.com/category/blog/

Maria - http://asimplefive.blogspot.com/

Mitra - http://mitralee.blogspot.com/

Ira -  http://irascreacorner.blogspot.com/

Regina - http://reginaeaster.blogspot.com/

Ignacio - http://nicecranedesigns.blogspot.com/

Giveaways:  3 sets of choice - The Cutting Cafe -   http://www.thecuttingcafe.typepad.com/

                   1 set of choice -  Moonlighting by Mary - http://www.etsy.com/shop/MoonlightingByMary

                   1 digital set of choice from Vintage Bella - https://www.etsy.com/shop/vintagebella          

                   $10 gift certificate- Paper Sweeties - http://www.papersweeties.com/

                   $20 gift certificate  - Nicecrane Designs - http://www.nicecranedesigns.com  

And for the very fine print:

You get your name entered for the day's giveaways every time you leave a comment.  So visit each blog and leave a comment on each one.  Lori will check out the comments every day, so if you comment on 5 blogs, you have your name put in the drawing five times for that day.  She keeps a record over the whole week so if you comment each day on 5 blogs, you have your name in her BIG All-Week-Long giveaway 25 times.

And in case you missed the glittery feet on the tea set...

Happy Tuesday and enjoy the hop! I'm back again Thursday, this time with MY giveway...here is a sneaky peaky!

Candy Cane Treat Box for THE CUTTING CAFE

So last night I was having a scrap attack. I'm much better now, thank you very much. 

The Big Shot alas is not, but hey, I have other cutters! 

I have my hands AND I have my Silly!

Cut this little candy cane box on that last night. 

This little cutting file comes from THE CUTTING CAFE and is called The Candy Cane Box Set. 

I had my heart set on dry embossing, but settled for some silver embossing power and a heat gun instead!

I grunged it a bit...

Can you also tell I felt the urge to BLING it up! ;-) I think I was trying to make myself feel better!

Tomorrow, I am part of something really really fun!

It's going on today too, so maybe you want to check it out. Great give-aways!

Last year I was part of this and boy was it awesome!

The first blog on the list is where all the fun starts!

Lori -http://lorihairston.blogspot.com/

Debbie - http://www.papersweeties.com/category/blog/

Maria - http://asimplefive.blogspot.com/

Sandy - http://simplysandy-sandy.blogspot.com/

Regina - http://reginaeaster.blogspot.com/

Jane - http://jane-janesjournal.blogspot.com/

Vivian - http://vivs-whimsy.blogspot.com/

Ignacio - http://nicecranedesigns.blogspot.com/

Shelly - http://www.springhillgraphics.blogspot.ca/

Giveaways:   $20 gift certificate  - Nicecrane Designs - http://www.nicecranedesigns.com  

                    1 set of choice -  Moonlighting by Mary - http://www.etsy.com/shop/MoonlightingByMary

                    $10.00 gift certificate - Paper Sweeties - http://www.papersweeties.com/

                    1 set of choice -  Springhill Graphics - https://www.etsy.com/shop/SpringHillGraphics

I will be blogging along with that crew and a few others tomorrow with something that is pretty easy to make and really makes me happy!

Oh and if you read my post yesterday where you can tell I was losing my brain cells?

I did find my hot glue gun. IN THE BATHROOM in my drawer where I keep my brush!

I KNOW, that is crazy right there!

I might need to slow down a little!

Happy Monday!

Bad Chi, Bad Lighting and Excuses

So, I had high hopes today of writing something up for the last Story Telling Sunday.

Instead, I bring you excuses.

YOU see, I was planning this fantastic little project in my head which tied into a little story I had all thought up.

It involved my new Tim Holtz snowflake rosette and a lantern chipboard. Now interestingly enough I did not have a lantern chipboard, but I did have the new rosette die that I was dying to use. I figured the rest would work itself out and I was really excited about my project.

Here comes the bad part....

I am on my second electric Big Shot. The first one died a couple of months ago and I discovered they discontinued the electric model when I tried to buy a new one.

I know it's dead for sure as THE MAN took it apart and determined I fried the little motor inside. It's probably three years or more past the year warranty, so I didn't feel too bad initially.

Finally found an electric new old one on Amazon a week or so ago and did a happy dance. I have been DYING without mine, but have been trying to stay strong.

Well, that one died in my arms after one pass of an embossing plate.

Then I lost my glue gun.

Then I lost my temper.

Good thing somebody called me down to supper since I was fixing on quitting scrappin!

I headed back up after we cleaned up and proceeded to destroy things.

My poor project is a conglomeration of frustration and everything cute I could find to glue on it with the smallest glue gun ever I borrowed from my daughter.

I can't even find my phone it's all such a mess up in my studio!

I'll show you the project tomorrow...with some decent lighting.

Hopefully the bad Chi in my studio evaporates overnight....

Thankfully Story Telling Sunday is open ALL week, so I still have a chance...

P.S. I did find my cell phone. It was tucked into my shirt...where I put it to begin with....bad chi I tell you!

Hawtness & Coolness

It's Turkey Day here in the States. Of course it doesn't FEEL like Thanksgiving with the recent snow we just got. Shirley the best next door neighbor ever captured these images from our trails. She was lucky to get out in it. I was quite jealous since my foray into the snow was to shovel off the deck with the two small people. By the time I was done with that, it was back to work! Free work out though.

Thanksgiving here means lots of good food to eat and then of course a mandatory nap later to rest up after all that eating. And some thankfulness and football. ;-)

I just wanted to pop in and share something I found on a recent google search which surprised me quite a lot.

I was looking for a vintage looking Thanksgiving image and ran across four or five really odd images.

They were old, racy, pin-up ads from way before I was born. This post does a good job of showing quite a few. My favorite of course is the lady dressed up like a pilgrim with no shirt but just that white flappy thing. No not really. Bathing suits and turkeys do not really go well together.

Anyhow, I thought I'd pop in and share before Over the River and Through the Woods It's off to Grandmother's House we go for dinner.

Have a good one!

Still Awesome Friends Layout for Marilyn

I had to make this page to celebrate a friendship my Father in Law has had since he was LITTLE!

He lived next door to Marilyn when he was a kid and they still hang out now as BIG PEOPLE!

Marilyn has always been a really great friend to our family and when she visited recently, she brought me this photo of her and my FIL from when they were little!

 I scanned it in so I still have the original. I think I'll send this page to Marilyn for her scrapbook. Left her lots of room for journaling. She has the prettiest handwriting.

Hope she likes the gold accents and accordion blooms! Those little gold twigs are from our woods and some I spray painted gold the other day. I do love how they pop against the blues and the greens.

Hope you like it Marilyn!

Happy Hump Day!

Love Cards for Fun

Darn cards kept getting blown over when I was taking photos of them! And yes, that is real snow! Brrrrr!

I had some snippets of card stock at the very bottom of a kit that I was trying to use up, so made a few cards. Also, the gold embellishments were so pretty! ;-)

They are a bit early, but it's always nice to tell someone that you love them!

I am not usually a card maker, but once in a while I get in the mood....

Just like accordion blooms....I made a pile so you will be seeing those for the next five posts or so!

Happy Tuesday!

The Flag Layout for THE CUTTING CAFE: Subtitle BAD MOM!

How fantastic is that huge tree?

Can you believe it was a little tiny tree that was part of a cutting file for a Halloween treat box?

I actually cut it out of cream colored cardstock but added a variety of inks and mists to make it painted up like this. It shimmers in real life! ;-)

Check it out at THE CUTTING CAFE. Regina has all kinds of fun things over there.

I have made those milk carton treat boxes before, check them out here. They are also a blast!

I have also had bottle caps on my brain for the past couple of days.

See the latest challenge up over at Scrap For Help involves bottle caps. I LOVE these Angry Orchard Hard Cider tops and thought they fit well with my page on climbing our apple tree.

Here is a close up of my accordion bloom bottle cap flower. Loved pairing those up together and then adding those pearls on a wire I just found recently at the local flower shop. SO pretty.

See, this girl can still CLIMB the tree, however I was glad for some help coming down. Hence the "Service Please Sign" I was challenged to use on a scrapbook page that was acquired recently during a hotel stay.

See the kids were playing capture the flag for Luke's 11th Birthday. Lexi was recruited for playing to make the teams even. She also runs fast. ;-)

She was a good sport, even tackling a pine tree to get a flag. She was less of a good sport when I waited until no one was paying attention and captured the flag that was tied at the top of one of our apple trees. Since it was her idea, she was a bit miffed.

I didn't have a chance to get down before she pulled my boots off my feet, the meanie!

One last side view of my page!

Hope your Monday is FANTASTIC! ;-)

Wise Guys Layout

There is always a story behind a page isn't there.....

So a while ago we started planning Luke's birthday party.

Lexi pretty much told us what she wanted for her party, which was not the case with this one.

I guess we could have skipped all the discussion and went with the the theory that five boys just want to play!

So, my kids have assigned vacuuming chores on the weekends. That way they know what goes into keeping a clean house and what makes a house dirty.

It was a proud moment when Luke told his four friends to take their shoes off at the door upon their arrival.

However, the house was not to stay clean for long.

In a fit of madness, THE MAN and I decided to take six perfectly clean kids on a wagon ride around the trails. The first five minutes of the ride erupted in giggles as we crossed the first wet area in the field and they got splattered.

Encouraged, THE MAN decided to take them over the back trail.

We soon realized our folly.

Boys are mud magnets. And then we got stuck.

We had to unload them in the swamp to get the 4-Wheeler out!

Thankfully most of them were wearing actual boots...

Of course shifting the 4 Wheeler down for optimal mud splattering when we were heading down over the second creek crossing might have also not been a good thing....

A twenty minute ride resulted in a load of laundry, small boys running around just in shorts, and dirt EVERYWHERE. The problem was there weren't any clean people as the adults in charge were also covered.

NOW keep in mind that although some of the kids at the party were from the country and used to the mud, some had never ever been that dirty before.

Of course it did not help Tommy was putting mud on everyone's head. I knew he was since I was watching from the back of the 4-Wheeler, but was laughing too hard really to be at all helpful.

A little mud is always good for a kid, makes them grow better I think...hope the parents thought so too when they came to pick up kids and I was digging clothes out of the laundry basket still pretty damp...

Anyhow, we are mud-sliding into Friday now!

Have a good one!

P.S. that orange ribbon is from the rocket that caught on fire during our birthday rocket launch, but that is a story for another day. ;-)

My Patric Page for Fun

I do love sunny days even if the glittery decks are really cold on the stocking feet! ;-)

Just popping in with a little Hump Day post and a recent photo of Miss Patti, our dog. 

Since Lexi traded me her cat for my dog (don't ask, since the animals rarely do what we'd like them to do anyhow, it was more in name) she has decided to rename Miss Patti. 

Patric is what she calls her. It sounds like PA-TREEEEECE the way Lexi says it. She says it's spelled just like Patricia minus the ia. Seems like it should have an e....She says it with a bit of an accent. The dog doesn't care if she also hears the sound of a bouncing tennis ball....

I though it fit this rather regal photo of Patti. Plus you can see see those pretty fall leaves floating around the lawn from a few weeks back...they were all frost covered this morning!

Loving dotty paper, drips of ink, and perfect pearls in the center at the moment. 

Of course, I always love a nice staple!

Hope you are having a fine middle of the week!