Mini Envelope Album

Here is another little project I created on Saturday while scrapping with my girlfriends. It is a cute little envelope album. I modified it a little bit when I put it together because I just wasn't happy with how it sat. I still think I need to make a few modifications to it, but it will work out. This is my first attempt, so they should look better after this. You know how that is-your first attempt at anything new sometimes needs a little help!Happy Scrappin'

My interactive swap pages

I had a great day yesterday. I was able to go scrapping with my friends. What a great day to spend together. We also did a lot of chatting and catching up. How much more can a girls ask for? I was able to get my swap pages for July done (and I even took pictures this time before I sent them away). This time around we had to make interactive pages. This is what I came up with.Simply untie the ribbon and flip open the interactive part of the page. All it will take is a little creativity in how you put it in your page protector (make a slit in your protector).

Thanks for a GREAT day and the wonderful food!

Hopefully the weather will cooperate this week. Last week it was so uncomfortably hot and humid, I would get home from work and not want to do a thing. Maybe one of these years we will put air conditioning in our house!?! I think it is supposed to be a little better this week. I also hope the weekend weather holds up for next week, we will be riding our motorcycles down to Iowa for the weekend. What fun!

Happy Scrappin'

Almond Crunch Cookies

I thought I would share a recipe with you. I brought these along to my class reunion over the weekend. I love them and they are a good change from something chocolate that would have been melted all over (we really never got nice spring weather, we just went right into the hot summer stuff :) These cookies taste kind of like Pecan Sandies, so if you like them, then you'll probably like these.

1 cup sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup oil
1 tsp. almond extract
2 eggs
4 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cream of tartar
2 cups almonds, chopped
6 oz. pkg. almond brickle chips
sugar

Blend sugars, butter, and oil until well mixed. Add almond extract and eggs; mix well. Gradually blend in flour, baking soda, salt, and cream of tartar. Stir in almonds and almond brickle chips. For easier handling, refrigerate dough about 30 minutes, then shape dough into balls and roll in sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten with a fork in a criss cross pattern. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around edges. Cool about 1 minute before removing from the cookie sheet.

Enjoy!

Happy Father's Day, Dad's!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there! I hope you have a great day. Around here, I think Father's Day will be spent baling hay. Not very fun, but in the life of a farmer, you bale hay when you can. What's that old saying? Make hay when the sun shines. Very true.

My Dad has been gone now for 12 years, but I still miss him and hold him dearly in my heart. I'm thinking that he better be taking good care of my son up there! This is one of my favorite pictures of the two of them together. It was taken 14 years ago when my sister got married. They were all dressed up in their tuxes and told not to get into trouble or get dirty :) They were a couple of mischief makers, let me tell you.I was going to post yesterday about our evening Friday night, but just got too busy yesterday to do it. Friday night when we went out to eat with our friends, we were talking about all the bear that have been in the neighborhood lately. I was joking with my sister-in-law that I was going to camp out in her gazebo just so I could see a bear in real life. I have never seen one (except in the zoo, but that doesn't count). As we were driving down the road talking about it, Dale said, "there he is now!" Holy Cow! It was a bear! He was in the field and started running away. I always keep a little camera in my purse, so I grabbed it and tried to snap a picture while I was driving, backing up, rolling down my window, plus stay out of the way of an oncoming truck. It is not a real good picture, but at least I have proof of what we saw.Then there was a deer in that field, too (I didn't take a picture of that as they are very common). Then about 10-15 miles down the road, we saw another bear! It was on the side of the road and went down into the ditch and the thick brush. We tried to find it, but couldn't. The there was another deer about a mile or two down the road. Then, on the way home, we saw 2 more deer. Talk about a night of wildlife. After never having seen a bear in real life, then I saw 2 in one night! I loved it!

Yesterday morning was a busy one as I had to do a little running in the morning to get parts for the tractor. Rhonda decided she really wanted to pull Tony's tractor in the pull yesterday and it didn't want to run right. It was a tough decision to make whether to let her pull it or not, but we decided it was meant to be. Was the tractor not running Tony's way of saying leave it sit? Be then we figured he must have taught her to drive it for a reason last year, so we said she could. Normally she wouldn't be allowed to touch his tractor, but last year, he taught her all the ins and outs of it (his tractor is really unique in that he made a lot of modifications to it and it has a lot of little things you need to know about it to drive it). Everyone was very happy to see it out. They even had a moment of silence in honor of Tony. It was very special. Rhonda ended up getting 1st place with it! She was so proud (as we were of her).Then it was off to my 25th Class Reunion. Can you believe I've been out of school for 25 years?? I can't! Here is a photo of some of us yesterday (I missed a few of the group as I was late because of the tractor pull). It doesn't look like a very big group, but we also only had 27 people in our graduating class. We had a great time reminiscing and laughing. I can't wait to do it again.This is me 25 years ago. I just laugh at those trees in the picture. I think every one of us had the same tree in our photos. Back then, we all went to the same photographer. My, how times have changed.OK, I've rambled enough for today, sorry for the long post. Happy Scrappin'

Thank you card swap

Since I am not working today (the last of our mandatory days off-boo hoo, I will miss these) it is a day of trying to play catch up around here after the crazy week I had again. It sounds as if every time I am on the afternoon shift, they will shut our line down on Friday and we will have to double back and come in on days that day. It sounds awful, but really, it gets us out of there on Friday nights. In the long run, I think it will save me a lot of vacation days. Plus, now instead of rotating shifts every 2 weeks, we will work 4 weeks of days then 2 weeks of afternoons. That really won't be so bad-just a little harder to keep track of is all. No wonder I keep my planner handy at all times.

I have shown you my planner before, but for you newcomers, here it is again. I always use the 9x9 calendar from Close To My Heart. I love that each day has enough space for me to write what I need in it (plus I frequently use the left side of the page for notes also. I can't survive without my planner. Usually each week gets totally filled up. I love it!Here are the swap cards I received the same day as the layouts. I just didn't have time to take pictures of everything all at once. I already showed you my card, so here are the rest of them.KateKellyLynnSheriAnd our over-achiever of the month, Rachel. She also sent us the template for making this uniquely folded card.Enjoy your day and Happy Scrappin'

One Lovely Blog Award

Wowsers!! Look what I received from not one, not two, not three, but four blogging friends! Yes, I said FOUR! Can you believe it? I know I am pretty overwhelmed. I am very honored. Thank you to Brenda, Liz, Carla, and Deneen. You don't know how much I appreciate this award. I will display it proudly.

**OK, an update-now I have FIVE blogging friends that have sent me this award. Add Iona to that list. Thank you so very much everyone!

Now, as part of this award, I need to:

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog with the name of the person who gave you the award. Be sure to link their blog so people can visit them!!
2. Pass the award to 15 other blogs you've newly discovered. Remember to post to their blog to let them know they've received the award!

Here is my list of blogs that I have passed the award on to (maybe not 15, but you really need to visit these gals, too, as they are either great artists, great writers, or a combination of both!) These are listed in no particular order.

Antionette
Melanie
Doresa
Tiffany
Nona
Amy
Kim
Rhonda
Jennifer

OK, the list needs to end for now. I NEED to head to bed. Once again, it has been a crazy week at work. I was on afternoons this week, then had to double back and work days today. That means, I get home a little after midnight and then have to be up, ready, and out the door at 4:45 the next morning. Yikes, it's amazing I am still awake.

We did have a wonderfully relaxing evening, though. We had pudgy pies for supper. We burned the huge pile of sticks that has been accumulating in our fire pit, so, being the multi-tasker that I am, I figured we'd make good use of the fire and make our supper out there. Kinda like camping in our own yard :) Where was my camera?? Sometimes I wonder how we end up with any photos for in our scrapbooks!?!

Good Night and Happy Scrappin'

Swap layouts

Remember that layout I said I made for a swap but forgot to take pictures of? Well, here it is! The mailman delivered my swaps to me today. Wow! Talk about some great artwork. I can't wait to get pictures put on them.Without further ado, here are the rest of the swap layouts.
Lynn-Rachel-Sheri-Holly-Val-Kelly-Kate-Heather-And a couple that I am not sure who made them (this is why I love it when artist claim their work and include a label that tells me who made them). I would love to give credit to them!As always, you can click on the photos to see more detail if you wish. Enjoy!

Happy Scrappin'

What a gorgeous day!

What a gorgeous day it was today. First off, we spent a good share of the day at my in-laws celebrating my Mother-in-law's birthday. What a great day to sit outside and visit with the family.

Then, since it was so nice out, we all went for a ride on the motorcycles. We went to Bona to eat and then I went over to my sister's house (as I just couldn't stop riding yet). I also cleaned my bike up after I got home. Let me tell you, my new Norwex cleaning cloths are amazing! It takes the bugs off the windshield like magic and the chrome...it just shines! I am totally hooked on these products.

Also, my day of scrapping went great. I didn't necessarily get that much done, but us girls had a great day of catching up together. I need to put a few finishing touches on the layouts I did for my cruise album before I show them to you, but I did manage to get a bunch of cards made. I needed about 20 thank you cards, so this is what I came up with. A very simple card, but I like it.Happy Scrappin'

A crazy week

I know, I know...it's been too long since I have posted! I have had a crazy week.

I did manage to get all those wedding invitations, RSVP cards, motel info cards done. The bride and her Mom came and picked them up and LOVED them! Whoo Hoo! She said she's been talking me up to her friends...gotta love that. They have also hired me to make their programs for the church and also her thank you's. I LOVE this work!

Work this week has been crazy, too. I was on the afternoon shift and then had to double back and work days on Friday. It wouldn't be that bad, except that I live about an hour away from the place. Factor in drive time, and I've only got about 4 hours in between shifts. That part stinks. No wonder I didn't go to the tractor pull last night with my husband and daughter. (My daughter did call me from the pull last night. She was so excited, she just beat her Dad! If you know the tractors, that's a pretty big accomplishment. She only rubbed it in to him a little bit :) It figures she'd do so well when I wasn't there! I am happy for her, though.

Today it is off for a day of scrapping with my friend Sheri. I promise to post some pictures of what I get done!

Happy Scrappin'

What's been keeping me busy...

Our weekend has been busy with Graduation parties. Love it...no cooking for me this weekend :) I guess that's a good way to spend my birthday today, too-at another Graduation party. Works for me.

I was going to post a photo of the layouts I finished on Friday night, but I forgot to take pictures of them (sorry). I completed 13 two page layouts using the new Back Country papers for a swap. I wanted to get them done before yesterday so I could bring them along to the Graduation party and drop them off. Hey, it saved me lots of postage...when was the last time you sent out a Flat-Rate package?? When I get them back, I will take photos of them all and post them for you-you'll just have to wait a little longer.

I will post a couple of pictures of another project I have been working on. I am making Wedding invitations for a couple here in town. I love how they are turning out (and better yet, the bride and her Mom loved them, too!) I will just block out a little of their information in the photos. The colors are Sweet Leaf, Blush, and Black. I think they look great together. I need to get these all finished sometime this week (hopefully).
Happy Scrappin'

Happy National Doughnut Day

Today is National Doughnut Day (the first Friday in June). Although they are not necessarily nutritious, I have a great recipe from my Great Grandma. I used to love to go to her house and have some of her wonderful homemade doughnuts. They are the really heavy cake doughnuts. When I say heavy, that is exactly what they are, but they are my all-time favorites.

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
4 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 cup milk
3 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
3 cups flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup flour

Slightly beat eggs in a mixing bowl, add sugar and mix thoroughly. Melt butter and add to mixture; beat, add milk, mix. Sift dry ingredients together and add to mixture, add vanilla, mix well. Add last cup of flour. Roll out dough and cut 1/2" thick. Deep fry until golden brown.

I like to dip these in sugar when they are cool. Mmmmm, my favorites. If you bake some, send some my way and I'll let you know how you did :)Here is a nostalgic photo of me with my parents and 10 of my grand parents. Yes, that is correct, 10 grandparents all in the same house at the same time (no photo-shop involved with this photo)! I am the cute little girl in the red dress sitting on my mom's lap, next to my dad. The Great Grandma this recipe came from is sitting in the chair over my right shoulder (Grandma Dena). Of this whole group, only 2 are still living today. I am one lucky girl to have had, and known, so many grandparents. Not too many people can say that!

I also have a couple of cards to show you. The first one is from a party I did. The hostess wanted a kid's card and this is what I came up with. The pattern is called "Sunrise" and it is right out of our new Wishes book. They make it faster, simpler, and easier for us to create some wonderful artwork!Then, I finished up the swap cards I needed to make. Why work harder when I can work smarter? I used the same pattern and papers and came up with a thank you card. I just love this new card size (3x6). Using a 6x6 card base, I can get 4 cards out of a 12x12 piece of cardstock. How cool is that?OK, I need to head back downstairs to get my 2 page layout swaps done today, too. I have the day off of work, but have been trying to catch up on everything else that gets undone while I am away at work.

Happy Scrappin'