Memory Ornaments

For Mom and Dad's Fiftieth Anniversary we gave them a party inviting family and friends. Since they were married on Christmas Eve, we asked everyone to bring an ornament that has to do with their lives together. I made this ornament for my son to give them. His grandma used to make chocolate cakes just for him. He loved them.

My Dad was an English teacher so I made this book for him. My husband used to listen to the radio on the way to our house to pick me up for a date so he'd have something to talk to Dad about when he got there. Dad always said he never had to listen to the news, because my future husband would fill him in on everything. So I made this radio for Hub to give them.
I made this to show my Dad after he retired. He loved to stand in the backyard with his binoculars and watch birds.

More Memory Ornaments

I made this for Cath to give her Grandma. Cath got a lot of phone calls.
I didn't make this, but it's one of the ornaments I gave Mom. She made almost all my clothes up until I got married.
And this house was one that Dad's brother gave them. Mom and Dad built a lot of houses.

There were lots of other ornaments, one for how they met, and one for babies born, and lots more. I thought you might like to see these. They make a real "family tree."

Merry Chris Mouse

Well that's what I'm calling him anyway. These are what I gave to my co-workers for Christmas. They are chocolate covered cherries with a Hershey kiss stuck to them. They are super easy. I found the directions here and added my own little twist by putting them on a plastic spoon, and tying a note to them which read "Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse". They were a bit hit.

Nevermore

I have thing for ravens and crows.

Simple easy-peasy card made with Mrs. Grossman stickers, acrylic stamps from Autumn Leaves and CTMH. 

Quick tags

A little late in posting, but these are a handful of the tags I made for Halloween. They're stickers from Rusty Pickle and Moonshine Design. 

A Birthday Cake Can Be Creative...Can't It?

My gson had a "Cars" themed birthday party.
I used Little Debbie Cakes to hold the signs up, and graham crackers for the signs and the road. I used those tall elegant cookies that look like sticks to hold the back of the signs, and sprinkled crumbled candy, over the top with candy boulders. This is one of the easiest cakes I've ever made. My DIL had the cars from McDonalds, and I found the little car shapes on the sides at Walmart. If you make this for a little one, be sure and press in tire tracks like the car has run off the road, and use a toothpick to make the cracks in the dessert floor. Just icing the graham crackers like you're putting butter on bread, and voila! a birthday cake!

 

embracing the sweetgum tree

We have this tree in our front yard. It is an annoying tree. It is annoying because it's limbs are somewhat brittle and break easily and it also drops nasty little spiney balls all over the yard. It is a Sweet Gum tree.

For several years it has been a pain and I have grumbled and complained about it. But this year it was part of my list of goals to revise my attitude toward the sweetgum tree. So I took it upon myself to learn a bit more about it.
Did you know sweetgum balls have the same stuff in them used to make the vaccine against the bird flu?
Well it does.
Did you know crafters really like those little spiney boogers? I didn't.
And that people in certain parts of the country have no idea what a sweetgum ball is?

Well anyway, after discovering that they are good for crafting, I made a new goal of finding a few crafts to use them for. This spider is my first. Next up a holiday wreath!

Cousins

I don't think you can see the text I wrote below the "We are blessed". It says Thanksgiving 2003. Because that's when it was.

And thankfully, this is all I have for now.

Greats

How lucky our kids are to have great grandparents. This is TulipMom's mother. And Grandpa Grumpy's Father.

He just turned 90. We went to the birthday party. After the party, his ladyfriend waited by the door while he went out to get the car. He drove it up to the door, went to her side and let her in, then got back into the driver's seat and drove away. My points are: 1) He's still driving at 90 years old and 2) He's still a gentleman.

Halloween

For the first couple halloweens, I tried to put them in coordinating outfits. Here, Micky and Minnie Mouse. Too young to protest, he was.

Because Sleeping Babies are Cute.

The glaring white rectangle on the right page is actually a soft white card with a sweet little moon and glowing, glittery stars. I don't know why it looks like it's emitting radiation.

They are elusive.

This is Poppins and HeWhoShallNotBeNamed. They aren't mentioned much because "We Do Not Blog About Parents".

This is all chronilogical, by the way. He was born the end of August, this layout is nearing the end of October. There are lots of layouts because I chose a book without considering how many pages it had in it. Now I have lots of space to fill.

Christening

I left out 2 pages/1 layout here. Not that I think you mind because I'm putting up like a million posts here. I promise I won't do this again. I'll do them as I go, rather than all at once.

And yes, I put a photo of the cake in his book. I can't remember the name of the place but they made THE BEST cakes I've ever had. And that's worth a spot in the book.

One Stripey Month Old

This was my favorite little outfit for the longest time.

Great Adventure

Great Adventure is a Six Flags park in New Jersey. They have a Drive-Thru Wild Safari park too. It's like a zoo you can drive in. The giraffes walk up to the car and lick your windows, peacocks make scary noises at you...the baboons used to tear stuff off your car until they closed that section. It was cool. This is the favorite layout of The Man.

First Real Bath

She thought it was entirely unfair that he got to take a bath in the sink (in the baby bathtub) and she didn't. So we let her sit in the sink for her bath that day too.

Best Friends

The paper on the left page has cool dots of glitter that didn't show up very well. She was about 2 years 3 months when he was born.

First Day Home

The washers say "Imagine" "Dream" "Believe". For some reason the First Day Home layouts are always my favorite.

All of Us

Left Page Missing...

The missing page is the big birth record they gave us from the hospital.

Just Born

When Ev was born, we didn't yet know what his name was. So I didn't really say "Hi Everett, I'm Your Mommy." I left out his name at the time. He was to be either Everett, Joey (Joseph), or Henry.

1st Layout

Most of these will be 2 page layouts. So imagine the pages bound together in a lovely brown suede album. The pages of the album are black, which has been a bit harder to work with than the cream of the other book I did.

I've left a couple pages out that have documents with personal info on them. My scanner doesn't pick up the textures well and the colors aren't quite right on-line. Also, most of the time if the pictures look crooked, it's the way I scanned them. But not always! Like on this first page...not straight at all. It's way cuter in real life, I think.

It has taken me a little bit to get back into doing this, but I'm really enjoying it now.

Fast Forward to Halloween!

Here is the little gourd ghoul I made for Phin.
This is the newest member of the trio...a little mummy gourd. He has Mou-Ah-Ha-Ha written on his tummy.
This is Ragged's "Ready for the Ball" little gourd witch.

Our gourds along the fence are doing beautifully. We've counted thirty-five so far. I've been reading more about when to cut them from the vine in the "Foxfire Books", and it said to let them go through two frosts to harden the skin. I go out to check on them every morning and every afternoon just to trim them and see how they're doing.

Hub and I went to Cumberland Gap again this week-end...yes, we love it there. I spoke with one of the merchants of a primitive art shop and asked her if they bought from locals. She said they did, but she'd have to take a look first. She said she bought them outright from the artists and then marked them up for whatever she thought she could get. I'm such a novice at this that I don't have a clue about all the buying and selling part of it. But I did notice that Hub's ears perked up, and he became much more interested in what I'm doing!