Christmas in july

After looking at this it could very well be a Christmas card if I changed the sentiment. I tried using some PP on this, it is stamped and colored with copics. We had a really good thunderstorm yesterday, a really good soaking. I am needing to get my fall garden planned, we mowed down one garden, now have to find time to till it! Today is a busy day, off to town this a.m., stopping in some stores and then back home to clean. The boys have a busy weekend with fishing Sat., and golfing on Sunday if the weather holds up. Have a great weekend!

Enjoy the moment with Peach butter

I once again started with the intention of using the colors in the Play Date Cafe color challenge and once again failed. I don't know why I get stuck when I have to use specific colors. Anyway, I ended up stamping the Hero Arts flower 3 times, then adding the sentiment from PTI in various places. I used Ranger stickles in Antique Linen on the flower center. The butterfly was stamped twice and cut out to give some dimension.

Today I am making peach butter, like apple butter but with peaches. It looks yummy and DH says it taste good, but this is my first time canning. I discovered for whatever reason you cannot use the large canning pot on glass cooktops. Bummer! So DH started the grill for me and I am canning on the front porch, hope it works out! Got 4 Quart Jars plus some out of a crockpot full of peaches. Amazing how much they cook down!

Natural rose and Peaches

I started this card for the intention of entering the PDCC39 Challenge, but could not find a good place to add white to the design. So will try to work on it later today again. The card is stamped with brown ink using the hero arts rose and butterflies and saying from PTI.

 I have been busy making things with our peaches. I feel like bubba from Forrest Gump, Peach cobbler, Peach pound cake, Peach Jam, Peach sorbet, Peach ice cream...  Our best tree was struck last year during a storm but  luckily we had a small one growing right next to it. In another year or two we will once again get the best yellow peaches I have ever had! The peaches I have now are from our white peach, and while they are good, they are best when used in something. Although Wyatt loves to eat them, he goes through 3 or more while we are out havesting our stuff. I have also been working on the babies quilt, I have all the blocks done and sewn together, now I have to add the borders. Once I get that I will post a picture of work in progress! Have a great Tuesday!

It's Friday!!!!

This is the same stamp set from Unity, stamped in versamark and embossed in white. I used the canvas stamp from hero arts for the background. I can't believe how quickly the week has gone by, DH bought a used bass boat this week. The boys have been excited for the weekend to come so they could take it out on the river. My DH and I use to fish quite a lot when we lived in MD. I loved going out and fishing and then relaxing with a book, so peaceful. I am sure that it will not be like that when we take the kids out, but maybe one day again it will! Owen is so excited he has never been on a boat so he it is all he can talk about. I am eager to get out on the water again too, just have to see if it's safe for me right now. Hope everyone has a fun, relaxing weekend.

Purple coneflower

While at Debbie's I played with her new stamp set from Unity, I love it. I stamped the image with distressed inks peeled paint and dusty concord.  I also love the embossed background it is from Tim Holtz and on my "must have" list now!

I finally ordered a new digital camera, the Canon G11, I still want to get a digital SLR but decided to be realistic in my expectations. I needed something that was still a point and shoot, but also takes great low-light photo's, very portable and compact. Once the kids get a little older I will not be lugging a diaper bag, and all the other stuff, so maybe then I will have more room for a SLR. I am excited and can't wait to get it to start playing, I hope I like it as much as the reviewers I have read do!

Pretty Peacock

I had such a productive day yesterday! I spent the day with my friend Debbie and had such a fun time! We stamped, talked, had some some awesome spaghetti that her husband made, so yummy, I thought about it all day today!  It has been awhile since we have had time to get together, but next month we are taking a road trip to Charlotte for a convention and shopping I can't wait! I love having a chance to play with sets I don't have, and plenty of times I come home with a wish list of ones I "need"! I used the peacock set from Hero arts, and colored with copics.

This week I am going to try to get going on my quilting projects, I spent a good part of Saturday at a local quilt store getting my pattern together. I love looking at patterns and books for inspiration but find that I usually end up just figuring out my own pattern. The challenging part is the measurements and amount of fabric I need. Thank goodness the woman who owns the store she is awesome at figuring that out. I now have the pattern and all the fabric to do a quilt for Wyatt's big boy bed he will move into early this fall. Then I got all the stuff to do the baby quilt in lavender and greens. I can't wait to get started I just need the energy to get them done!

While cleaning up my craft space I became distracted and started playing with the butterfly stamp set from PTI. I forgot the entire reason I "needed" it was for the butterfly borders that I have yet to use. So I stamped the border in ripe avocado on the same cardstock to create a background paper. Then I stamped a background from studio 490 in shabby shutter and overstamped the floral images. The three small butterflies and the flowers were all colored with copics.

It's Friday again! The busy week is coming to a close! My ultrasound went well yesterday, the babies cord is apparently inserted too low which can cause low birth weight and cause her to not get the nutrients she needs.  However for right now she is already 1lb 12oz they estimate and is on the large side. My other two were large babies too, and I was hoping with this one being a girl I might finally have a smaller baby, as of right now it doesn't look like it! They now have to check her in 6 more weeks to make sure her growth is still on track. Everything else looked great, 24 weeks down!  Hope you have a great weekend. I am excited to finally have time to visit my friend Debbie on Sunday. It's been awhile since we have had time to get together and craft!

Birthday roses

Both the boys slept in this morning and which I am surprised since we had some really good thunderstorms. It was so nice to lay in bed and listen to the rain and thunder. I made some birthday cards and am still loving the red and avocado color together.  I stamped the hero arts rose in black on the notepad background, then colored the  image with copics.  The sentiment is from PTI, as is the rick-rack on the side.

I can't believe the summer is halfway over already. I feel like we have been so busy, doing nothing!  It has been so hot, no one even wants to go outside! This week is crazy with Dr.'s appt, car appt.'s and tomorrow I have another ultrasound. Today I really need to do some laundry and clean,  so much for the lazy days of summer! Thanks for stopping by!

Artsy blooms

The flower stamp on this card is from Cornish Heritage Farms, the Shady Tree Studio collection. I received an email last week saying they were closing the company. They have really pretty stamps, but the flower ones I love. I stamped the rustic background from Studio 490 in shabby shutter. Then I stamped the flowers in black and colored with copics, R24, 27 & 27, YG93 and 95. The butterflies from PTI, are stamped in ripe avocado as well as the sentiment from Hero Arts. Have a great Tuesday!

Coloring inspires me

I haven't been feeling very inspired lately, I think it has to do with the thousands of projects I want to do before the baby gets here. I get so overwhelmed trying to get one started that I end up just moving stuff around until I then I just give up.  I finally just pulled out some stamps and started coloring, I find it very relaxing and I LOVE my copics. I have not found any other coloring tool that blends and creates a professional look like the copic markers. Definitely the best investment I have made, now my colored pencils, other markers, crayons and twinkling H2O's just collect dust!

I stamped the hero art poppy stamp over a background stamp from Studio 490 which was stamped in old paper distressed ink. The poppies were colored with copics, R24, R27 & R29, YG93,95 & 97 and the orange I forgot to write down. I ran the ribbon through the xyron and then used glue dots to adhere the folds down. The sentiment and die is from PTI. 

We have a busy week here, work has slowed down considerably, hope that it picks up again soon. However there are a lot of things that we haven't had time to do like caulking and painting the house and cleaning up around here. It will be nice to have these things done, always some type of upkeep when you have a house!

Mojo 146 sketch challenge

It has been awhile since I worked from a sketch and since I have had trouble getting inspired I decided to do the Mojo Monday Challenge. I used PP from Memory Box, and then stamped hero arts tree background in brown. I used my positioning tool to get the bird on the branch and then stamped him in black ink. I then stamped him again on white and colored with copics and cut out. The sentiment is from PTI: Mega mixed messages. TFL

Pair of birds

Just a simple card, the bird stamp is from memory box, I stamped with a versacolor ink in Mauve. It looks less muted in person though. I forget I have all these yummy bo bunny papers, so I thought I would use one for this card.  Can't wait for CHA this year to see the new stuff, not that I need anything! Spellbinders is coming out with more dies, I love their stuff.  I am sure there will be sneak peaks of other products coming out too. Then there will be the waiting to get the new stuff...

It is HOT here again, took the boys to the local Farmers Market to pick up some corn, butterbeans and potatoes for dinner. Our gardens are doing okay, the zucchini and squash have seen better days. Even with our spraying for bugs something has devastated the crops. Have a few things we are going to try next year like separating the crops and planting a second harvest. The peppers and eggplant are doing wonderfully, but the tomatoes are hit or miss. Some plants never did anything, and some are going crazy. The plum tomatoes I planted to make sauce did not survive, but we have enough cherry, pear tomatoes are going crazy.  The cantaloupe are looking really good and so are our carrots, every year we learn something new. It is worth it thought to go out and pick your own stuff! Have a great day!

missing you snail

This card uses a new set from PTI: Flutterby Friends, I love the little snail. I die cut the shape and then stamped everything in black. Then I colored with copics and added my own ground to give the snail something to crawl on. Then I mounted the image on green cardstock. The background is embossed and then everything was attached. Just a simple card to send to someone you are thinking of.

Well the holiday weekend is officially gone, but now we at least have a short week! We got a few things done, but mostly just relaxed and played with the boys. DH smoked a pig butt, to make some carolina bbq.   He bought his smoker when I first found out I was pregnant and food smells made me feel terrible. He smoked everything, and it has taken awhile for me to finally be able to eat it again.  It was so good ! Have a great tuesday!

Sunflowers

Owen and I planted sunflowers again this year and they are so pretty. However last week we had a wicked storm come through and it broke many of our tall ones. There are still tons blooming but the effect is not as pretty with most of them laying down. I love to cut them and bring them inside. We grew a few different varieties,  my favorite is the last ones, the orange is so beautiful. 

Our baby chicks are all doing well, we ended up with five!  Yesterday we had one get out and he was not able to get back in the house with his Mom and siblings. Owen and I spent 1/2 hour trying to catch him, and finally reuinited him with his family. Only to find that a few hours later he was out again, but that time he was easier to catch and Owen did it all by himself. I am going to try to get pictures this afternoon, the black and white one is adorable, reminds me of a penguin. We had a great 4th of July, our plans of eating Mexican and bowling were changed when we discovered that both places were closed. So we ate at Two Guys Grill and then went to the park with the kids to watch the fireworks. It worked out perfectly, we found an awesome spot to see the fireworks they put on at the  battleship and the boys loved it. Wyatt kept saying "fire coming", they both enjoyed playing with our friends two girls and now all Wyatt can talk about is "Anna Grace".  The sweetest thing was when we were walking back to our trucks, I looked back and saw Owen holding his friends Katie's hand.  I think the both the boys have crushes!  It was such a fun night.  I think that was the first time I have seen fireworks that close in about 10 years.

Watercolor rose

I got a chance to play with the new rose stamp from PTI's June release. I love the style of this stamp it allows for so many different ways to color it. I chose to use the watercolor technique that my friend Debbie taught me. I samped the the image in versamark and embossed with white detail powder on watercolor paper. Next I used a sheet of acetate and smooshed broken china and tumbled glass on the acetate. I used a water brush to pick up the color and add it to the rose. I used the same technique on the leaves, but used shabby shutter distressed ink. I cut out the images and attached them to a piece of white cardstock that was debossed with a flower plate from PTI. Then I matted the white on a green and then blue cardstock. The sentiment was embossed in white and colored with the same blues I used on the rose.

We are having such nice weather today, the boys and I have a few errands to run for the holiday weekend,  then hopefully get some time to play outside. The only drawback from playing outside right now is the mosquito's, they are wicked right now.  DH has some fishing lined up, he is practicing for a tournament on the 10th, and then we plan on smoking some ribs on the smoker. Can't wait! Hope everyone has a safe and fun 4th of July!

Butterly dreams

Had a busy morning OB check up, while Chris took the boys and Midas to the chiropractor. Yes, we take our dog to a chiropractor, he is 11 and has severe hip dysplasia and so far we have kept him off meds with chiropractic maintenance. He loves going and you can tell that he feels better after the adjustments. When we got home we went to water and feed the baby chicks and found 2 more a black and white one and a grey one like it's momma. It is so much cooler today, all the birds seem to be enjoying the break in weather.

The card was stamped with a script stamp in grey to create the background. Then I stamped the flourish in versamark and embossed with white detail powder. It was distressed with shabby shudder and the sentiment embossed in white. The butterfly is colored with copics and cut out then attached to the card. Then I attached it all to a piece of purple cardstock. It has been nice to get back to creating again. Thanks for stopping by.