Jami’s been asking for updated pictures of the chickens, but I keep forgetting to go take them. I finally did it today after washing down the backyard for them. So this one’s for you, Jami! 

Here is MeMe, a Rhode Island Red (P.S. MeMe does have two legs, LOL!!! The angle is a little funny, but it’s there!):

Here is Betsy, an Ameraucana:

We are down to two chickens, if you remember from last year we ended up with a total of five: Betsy, MeMe, Domino, Clicky, and Nugget. For our area we can have up to five chickens but NO roosters. We had a feeling Clicky was a rooster, so he got taken to my Sister-in-Law’s parents’ home where he could run around with their animals. It turned out our guess was right and he quickly became the boss even though his breed of chicken was quite small. Unfortunately, Clicky was later eaten by a bobcat in their area. They were all upset, he was a favorite with one of their boys. We then suspected Nugget was a rooster, but we couldn’t separate him from Domino, they were buds. So Nugget and Domino went over to their home as well. We were right on Nugget, too. We haven’t been back to see Nugget, but my Brother-in-Law tells me he’s quite The Man around the hen house. He’s even got a strut! LOL!

Don and I have been watching X-Files in preparation for the movie this summer. We watched this while we were dating, so it has been fun to re-watch them together. Although, since having kids, I tend to get the creeps (or “creaks” as Perrin would say). These things didn’t used to bother me so much before. So after a good session of X-File watching I have to stay up later and watch something happy! Typically it’s Friends, but sometimes it’s a movie that I enjoy while I try to get the thought of Squeeze, or other such characters that tend to linger, out of my mind. Last night one of the episodes was 2Shy, the guy who preys on fat women because he needs their body fat to survive. Yeah, that made me feel better!

Anyway, I’ve been missing my friends since SCSM. Both the ones who were able to come and those who were not, so I thought I’d actually get my act together and stamp something for those who mean something to me! (and send it) This is also a great way to occupy my mind during the creepy shows! Hahaha!! The more shows we watch, the more steps that I seem to add. Here is my “simple” focal point that evolved and isn’t finished yet.

I love the whimsy of justjohanna stamps, especially the opened letters! I love to color them in with my white gel pen! I also love mellow birdy because I can make his legs as long as I want! I still have a couple more steps before the focal image is completed, but I’m sure I’ll have them done today.

The card base will be another story. The more X-Files we watch, the more steps it will have. Hahahaha!!

Stupid Squeeze!!!

This month in Owen’s Kindergarten class they have been learning about Community Helpers. I had originally planned to go in as a Baker but with StampMania this past weekend, I was pretty exhausted! I was going to just call it and cancel until I had the idea to go in as a Paper Artist, also known as a Paper Crafter. I figured that since Artists are listed as Community Helpers, that this would fly. When I told Owen’s teacher, she loved the idea! So I came home after dropping him off yesterday and prepared for my “presentation” at 2:00 later that day.

I brought in several projects to share with them, telling them that cards are my favorite to make because you can easily send them to people. We talked about tools you use to be a Paper Artist, and that you don’t need to draw either! You can stamp!! I then asked who wanted to be a Paper Crafter and they all raised their hands. Gotta love Kindergarten! I had prepared a card for them to create and it was a hit! I thought it would be a good idea to finish off the month by creating a Thank You card that they can give to one of the Community Helpers who came in.

The school mascot is a bengal tiger, but I have zero tiger stamps!! This cute cheetah is the best I could do and the art style just fits for Kindergarten. I loved the expression on each child’s face as they stamped the image and saw it appear on the paper! It was priceless! They were also very interested in the ink pad, which I told them is like a big marker that you put your rubber stamp on so that it will appear on the paper. Once their image was stamped I told them to create the background for the cheetah. We let them draw grass, tress, sky, whatever their little hearts desired. I loved seeing what each child came up with and they were all quite pleased with their pictures.

All the cardstock was precut and scored. The Night of Navy layers were already on the Pumpkin Pie card base so they only had to glue on their focal image. The “thank you” tags were ready to go and they got to put those on once they glued on their focal image. I’m so glad I had this orange polka dot ribbon! It added the final touch to complete the card. We even stamped the cute “I did it” image from the SU! set I Did It.

This all made for a fun time with Owen’s class before we track off for next month.

I hope you all have a great weekend!!

Wow! The week has flown by for me and I don’t remember being this tired in a long time.

SoCal StampMania (SCSM) was this past Saturday, April 19th, and it was a BLAST! It is such a good feeling to have things run smoothly and get nice feedback on the event. We spend a good eight months planning the event. It’s quite an evolution as it starts with us just figuring out the small details, then during the last five months it really comes together. Fortunately, we work so well as a team that we are able to pull this off each year.

I have to say, that quite possible the biggest reason SCSM is a success each year is highly due to our awesome Volunteers!

If it wasn’t for these ladies (pictured above), I think that the three of us would have been in a padded room a long time ago! When you have a crowd like we did this year (125 people), you really rely on the help of your Volunteers to get the job done! Each one helped with different areas from registering, photography, organizing the door prizes, and with the SCSM Make and Take. We couldn’t thank these ladies enough for all their help during the event!

Another part of SCSM that I really enjoy is getting see and meet all the Splitcoaststampers who come! Several have attended more than on SCSM, and each year we always have some who are new to the event. It is a pleasure to get to see familiar faces and meet new ones!

This year it was fun to have several of the gals that I regularly chat with over at Splitcoast attend the event! A couple of them I finally got to meet for the first time! We are all in different parts of the U.S. so it was a big treat that several were able to come from out of state! We call ourselves HYENas and as you can see below, we can get kinda silly.

By this point in the picture taking, we were getting a little funny. Leslie held that pose for about five photos so I thought it’s be a shame not to post it! LOL!!!! You can also see Debra’s GINORMOUS name tag!! She even won the prize for favorite name tag at the event, too! I couldn’t help but giggle each time I saw her running around at the event, you seriously can’t miss that name tag!

We were also blessed this year to have several companies sponsor us for the event by donating some AWESOME prizes!! Contacting companies for prizes is one of my jobs each year, so to get a response like this year’s really made it worth the effort! I wanted to take time to thank each sponsor again by posting who donated:

eclecticPaperie
Stampendous
Ellen Hutson of Ellen Hutson LLC
Karen Lockhart of Lockhart Stamp Company
Lisa Lee of Inchie Arts, LLC
Taylored Expressions
Copic
Splitcoaststampers
Freckled Fun Designs
Flourishes
Gina K. Designs
Stamping Bella
The Card Ladies
Impress Rubber Stamps
justjohanna
Cornish Heritage Farms
Lizzie Anne Designs
Verve Visual
Mandarin Pixie
Inque Boutique
Auntie Amy
Doodliedoo
Hope Stamps Eternal
A Muse Art Stamps
Jacksonbelle Embellishments

As you can probably guess, we had lots of fabulous gifts to raffle off!

You can see more pictures from the day’s events in the SCSM gallery located at Splitcoast here: SCSM V Gallery

Hope you all have a great day! Tomorrow is the last day for my boys before we track off for May. I’m so looking forward to a break and we have some fun outings planned! I can’t wait!

Today my challenge is for you to reuse your wrapping paper scraps instead of designer paper on a card. There are so many fun wrapping papers out there, and if you’re like me, you have a small stash of some left overs from carefully opened presents.So go to your stash (or cut a piece from a roll, I won’t tell!) and create your card! ;)The wrapping paper on this one is really sparkly, so it was a little hard to photograph but it makes a really festive holiday card!Don’t forget to check out the justjohanna forum for all the Earth Day Challenges!Thanks for joining me for my justjohanna Earth Day Challenge!

This Saturday there are several Earth Day Celebrations going on around where I live. But I think the most fun one will be happening on line!! justjohanna will be hosting some fun Earth Day challenges all day on Saturday April 19th and the prizes are not to be missed!

Everyone who participates will have the chance to win the Grand Prize of a $250 shopping spree!! You’ll want to be registered at the justjohanna forums, since that is where all the events will be posted throughout the day. The Design Team has lots of great Earth Day related challenges for you, so be sure to check in!!

Just saying a quick “hi”!

SoCal StampMania is just a few days away! Which means I get to pick up Jess from the airport! Then I get to have Debora for the weekend, too!!

See this cute cupcake face? This is my niece Brooke! (by the way, I have three nephews and six nieces with another niece on the way!) I always love her little pigtails! Today was the baby shower for my Sister-in-Law Katie and Brooke was lucky enough to get to tag along with her mom, Jenna. (Yes! She’s so cool she had the name before 13 going on 30 came out. )

Anyway, today Brooke took her first steps! It was so fun to get to watch! She started walking and I wasn’t certain until I saw the look on my Sister-in-Law Jenna’s face, then I knew! Do you want to know what she was walking for? Do you? Huh? huh? (I’m totally dragging this out, but I need a nap) She was going for these:

Oh yeah!! Jenna had a cupcake they were sharing and when Mommy scooted away, well, Brooke knew what she had to do! Go for it, Brookie!!

She get her yummy treat. Mmmmm! Chocolate frosting!That’s my version of Brooke’s first steps and I’m sticking to it! Brookie, I’ll make you ALL the cupcakes you ever want! Just ask Auntie Emily!

Bye-bye! Hope you’re all having a nice weekend!

P.S. Jenna, I’ll send you the pics this weekend! Notice I didn’t post the “one”. Mwahahahaha! 

 It’s crunch time for Joy, Jami and me with SoCal StampMania coming up fast in just NINE days!! Yikes!! It’ll be crazy around here these next several days, but once Saturday hits it will be worth it! I love putting SCSM together every year with Jami and Joy! This year marks our fifth for hosting the event and we can’t believe how it’s grown!! My fun will double once my house guests arrive! I’m so excited to get to see Jess and Debora again! Yeah!April 19th is also going to be a fun day for the justjohanna Design Team! We’ll be hosting an Earth Day event that you won’t want to miss! You can see more details here on Johanna’s blog. You won’t want to miss out on the opportunity for the grand prize drawing of $250 justjohanna shopping spree!!! Wowie!!This also marks my last month designing for the Splitcoaststampers Dirty Dozen Design Team. The DD is a special Thank You to Fan Club members who help support the site. It’s been so much fun to be on the DD and I really hope to make it all good with my projects for my final month! This month’s theme is a fun and challenging one for me! I can’t wait for it to be revealed on the 15th!So that pretty much sums up my life until next Saturday with one more event thrown in. This Saturday is my Sister-in-Law Katie’s baby shower! I get to make the cupcakes for the shower and will start working on those tomorrow. April will go by all too fast, but at least the boys track off, which means I can sleep in in May! LOL!! I’ll need it by then! 

I was at JoAnn’s yesterday getting something for a project I’m working on when I spied this book: Amigurumi

I’m in trouble, people!! One of the other crafty things I enjoy doing is crochet. I’ve made blankets for a couple of my Brothers-in-Law (I still owe two of them blankets! D’oh!) as well as baby blankets for some friends. I’ve recently picked up my crochet hook again to make a baby blanket for my Sister-in-Law Katie and it reminded me how much I like to crochet. It’s nice to work on when I’m watching Perrin at TaeKwonDo, when I want to relax and watch a show, or for those trips to the Dr. when you are waiting for your turn.

So when I saw that book, I about died! When I was younger my Grandma Arlie (my Dad’s Mom) made crochet Strawberry Shortcake dolls for all her granddaughters and even a Huckleberry Fin one for my brother. (Granddaughters outnumbered the Grandsons) I cherished that doll and still have it safely in my stash of childhood memories. I also have one that my Aunt Charlene made for me. They were some of my favorite dolls. Oh! I had a donkey, too! Almost forgot about him! I named him Zeeke after my Aunt Charlene’s donkey. LOL!

So, since I spied that book yesterday I’ve been busy looking up more in the art of A