The "girls" and their 1st snow

Here in Michigan you never know what the weather will be! We woke up the other day and had at least 1" of packable snow on the ground. The dogs just loved it. We have a 4 year old Brittany named Sadie and a 5 month old German Shorthaired Pointer puppy named Gretchen.I couldn't get them to come in the house. They played for hours chasing their "jug". They have the cutest toys but choose to play with an old plastic jug! Who would have guessed ;-o.

Scrapbook Room Update:

I've really been working hard on my scrapbook room this week. It took about 3 hours to completely clean out the closet. It was a craft room for many years after my son moved his bedroom to the downstairs bedroom. I kept collecting more and more craft goodies and that's BEFORE scrapbooking became so popular. I have drawn a diagram of what I have in my mind for closet organizing and then also a diagram for shelving units for the wall area in the room over my work top. I will be painting soon and I can't wait to see this room finally become an organized pretty space that I want to go into and be creative. I'll post pics every once in a while so you can see how it develops. I'm always multi-tasking so this room will probably take me a couple months with holidays coming up. A little work here and there will always get me to the goal eventually.

Have a great week!

Jada Layout

I did this layout of my grandaughter Jada for a challenge on YMBD. We took a trip to the Detroit zoo (Jada, Aunt Heather, Grandpa Tom and Grandma Darlene). There was this beautiful metal butterfly chair right outside the butterfly house so of course we had a perfect background for a picture. Jada couldn't wait to just hop on up and pretend she was this graceful, beautiful butterfly!

On YMBD the challenge was to use "texture" on a LO. Here's link to the actual challenge

http://yourmemoriesbydesign.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1802

Give it a try!!!!

I used grungeboard for the butterflies and inked them and blinged them with Ranger distress inks, glitter and rhinestones. I even stamped a butterfly on a transparency for a different texture.

I added a bit of blue Stickles to the patterned paper and also stamped a butterfly cardstock and bentd it for dimension. I added some thin silver wire and ribbon to the Lo and picture corners and glued alot of beads for the flower centers. MORE texture :-}

A little foam leaf or two and...

It was done! I really like the blues and greens together.

TFL!!!! Have a super day :-}

Santa Baby

Here's a little glimpse of someone that everyone is at least aware of at this upcoming holiday season. This is a picture of some details on HIS hat. I'm sure that eye will also give it away and of course the title of this post. I'll be posting more pictures on Monday.

Enjoy your weekend with family and friends!

A GREAT recipe

My husband and I agreed last night to set the alarm for 4:30 a.m. We weren't sure how long the voting lines would be since Michigan is a swing state. We showered, had our coffee and headed off to our precinct. We arrived at 6:15 a.m. with no lines outside. A few people were lined up inside the building and everyone was cheery and very polite. We were number 16 and 17 and our experience was the best we have ever had. I don't know if that means we were super early or if that means that the voters figured it would be a mad house early so they are going tonight. Anyway....





and now I can play with all my scrappin' goodies and paint the WHOLE day...woohoo!

I have felt like making some peanut butter cookies too and I remembered that I did this LO a few years ago. I'd like to share this recipe with you....it was a favorite of mine as a little girl.

I scanned the original recipe (with my mother's writing on it) so I had a memory of her too! I always have a hot cup of tea with these cookies in my English bone china cup and saucer. I hope you like the recipe. You may want to make a double batch!


Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup Crisco
1/2 cup Jif creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1 1/2 cup sifted all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Cream shortening and peanut butter together until light; add sugars gradually and blend well. Beat in vanilla and egg. Sift flour with soda and salt and blend into the first mixture. Shape dough into small ball and place approximately 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten the top of each dough ball with the tines of a fork dipped in sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 10 minutes. Makes 4 dozen.

Note: To keep cookies crisp store in a loosely covered container. If they absorb moisture from the air you can crisp them again in a 300 degree oven for 5 minutes.

ENJOY!!!!

Some of my favorites!

I started going through some of my fall decorations and thought I would share them with you. I just adore this ceramic pumpkin. This was a great find when my husband and I stopped at a Cracker Barrel restaurant on the way down to North Carolina. I've had it for about 5 years. We were traveling south to visit my son who at that time had been in the Marines (just returning from his first tour in Iraq. He had 2 tours total.) They had such wonderful choices of these pumpkins I couldn't refuse to buy a set of 3. One was a quaint teapot and also a smaller version of this large pumpkin. I love them because I can put them out in Sept. and leave them for all to enjoy until Dec. 1st without anyone getting tired of them.

I also enjoy this wonderful pinecone wreath that I have displayed in my bathroom. The walls are a warm gold and it compliments the border paper so well. There are touches of maroon and green in the border also. This wreath didn't come with the dried ivory glitter baby's breath. I had a package of that left over from my wedding favors so I just spent an afternoon hot gluing it to the center. I like how the light hits it from the side and it glitters just perfectly!

TFL!