My Hubby loves me ...

I really love my Big Shot!

This machine has opened up new doors of creativity for me.

I was visiting a favorite blog last fall - Stampin By The Sea - and the editor of this blog,

Kimberly, posted a video clip of her craft room. (It is fantastic!)

One of the things she show-cased was a cart for her Big Shot and dies.

Storing my machine and dies had always been a problem for me so when I saw her cart ..

I knew I needed something like it!!

I surfed the internet and found a cart for $125.00 plus shipping and handling.

I called Joel in to take a look at what I wanted for Christmas - hee, hee!

His reply, "I could make that for $25.00"

"WHEN????" was my reply.

I know my husband and when he tells me he can make me something, I sometimes wait for months...years...you get the picture? October was the promised month - we shook on it!

In February this is what came out of his shop!

I love it! Worth the wait for sure!!

This little goodie is on wheels so I can cart it around my craftroom.
Plastic lines the table top for easy clean up and an smooth working table.


The side arms open for more working space
and any kind of paper scraper NEEDS more space!


This ended up costing him more than the original $25.00 estimated,
but it's just what I wanted.
On top of all this he made me another shelf on wheels to hold
all my Stampin' Up card stock!
Can you believe that man??
Thanks Joel darlin'.

New card technique ...

I'm always looking for something fun in card making. I came across this idea and wanted to give it a try.

All paper, punches, brads and ribbon are from Stampin' Up.

I used the Pattern Stack papers for the back ground and the stamp is from the Punch Bunch Sale-A-Bration set.

The flowers to the left and right are from a discontinued punch.

I LOVE the black, yellow and white color scheme.

(My granmother's favorite colors)

Here is a link to the sight I got the idea from -

Smiles, Laura: Another Funky Fold Card...

Thanks Laura for sharing your cute card!

Fun goodies for my Primary class!

I teach the 8 & 9 year old Valiant Class and I've been trying to get them excited about digging in their scriptures. I made them these little cards that hold a stack of post-it-note tabs to mark the scriptures we study. I was pleased the way they turned out. I used Stampin' Up card stock and PC Hug ware clip art for the scriptures.

"I Know The Scriptures Are True" is this years theme.

Spring has sprung!

The weather in Western Colorado has been amazing!

Warm temperatures starts that "itchy" feeling to start digging in the dirt !

Since Joel retired, he has been taking the Master Gardener Course through the County Extension Agency.

It is quite the program and with the temperatures in the low 70's, the old farmer had to show me what he has learned about pruning!

...and more pruning

Even the girls can tell things are changing!

They celebrate by giving us about 8 eggs a day!

(Sure glad we have neighbors who like eggs)

Of course Mr. Darcy keeps those girls in line! He's always there to let them know who's the boss!

Woof!

Mr. Darcy goes to Canine Cottage!

It was time once again for Mr. Darcy to visit his favorite grooming establishment!

He was one scruffy, naughty little dog.

No matter - we love the little guy!
He was so happy to see us and show off his new hair cut!
We had just arrived home and I think he was looking for that
big black cat that teases him in our pasture.
A pose for the camera .. he loves being on my blog!

Like Mother - like son!

Today I was looking through some photos of Addie. She asked me to scan some of her baby pictures to her so she could see if Quinn looks like her. I knew that he had her smile but I was so surprised to see how much he looked like her! If you super-imposed some curls around his head, you'd think it was Addie as a baby!

What cutie-pies!

Quinn at almost 1 year

Addie around 1 year Addie at 2 years

(Josh was around 4 years)

Addie around 18 months

Valentines day...a day of love!

Valentine's day...ahh, a day of love~

Joel came up with the "lovely" idea to go to the small town

of Hotchkiss and spend the afternoon looking in all the fun

antique stores, eating at a favorite resaurant - The North Fork -
and end the event at the fudge shop! How could I say no???

When we arrived, we discovered all the antique shops were closed!

No matter, the meal was fantastic and the town was still charming.

(Joel was happy to find the fudge shop open)

We found this candle holder at the art museum and Joel bought

it for me. A perfect reminder of our "lovely" afternoon.

Thanks honey!

Quinn's latest face...gotta love it!

Addie had this on Face Book today. Had to Face-lift it to my blog.

What a cutie -pa - tootie!

(Do you think Addie and Trevor could be in for trouble?)

How I love the grandbabies!!

My ugly fabric turned into a quilt!!!

The ugly fabric I put in my bag is the black sashing ...with the moon and stars on it.

Not really ugly but it was a piece of fabric I would probably never use or know what to do with.

And this is what I got back!!! A lovely lap quilt! Perfect for the cooler nights in Colorado.

I love it!

The Ugly Fabric challenge

I belong to a local quilter's guild called "The Basket Case". Every February they have an ugly fabric challenge. Each member that wishes to participate, brings in 1 yard of her ugliest fabric inside a brown paper bag. At the end of the meeting all the bags are numbered and those that brought a bag of ugly fabric goes home with someone else's bag of ugly fabric. We have several months to take that piece of fabric and make it into something fun. In the February meeting we bring back the brown paper bag, filled with the project that was made. Below is the ugly fabric I brought home. (It would have been cute in the 80's)

As soon as I got the fabric I went to a local fabric store and found some pieces that I thought would go with it.
Then I had to decide on what to make with all this fabric. This was the hardest part for me. I wanted to make an apron but that was not allowed...sigh! Should I make a bag? A decorative piece? Something for the sewing room? I took days to decide

When the decision was made, I pieced the fabric together. Really had fun with this part!

When complete, I had one funky sewing machine cover!

The pocket holds a pattern:

The card I made to go into the pocket.

-I got to use some new Stampin' Up stamp sets I just got-

All wrapped up in a brown paper bag...ready to give to the person who submitted the ugly fabric!

What fun!!