A Grand Time!

When I go back to Montana in the summer.  We have a lot of celebrating to do.  My family has a lot of birthdays in June, July, and August.  My husband, daughter, and I went back in 2008 and my mom threw a Caribbean themed party.  It was right around her birthday, my nieces, and my parents' and brother's anniversaries!  Whew!

I used my Cricut Expression, Storybook Cartridge pages 66 and 68 for the marquess, butterfly from Gypsy Wanderings.  The words are cut from Gypsy Font (I believe).  I used my Cuttlebug to emboss the pink and blue cardstock.  I used Tim Hotlz to distress the embossing.  The little white flowers were on clearance at Michael's in the bridal section.  They have a pearly iridescent color. 

Anna - This is only a small fraction of the people that were at this party!!!!

Christmas in a Small Town

Last year I took my daughter to Christmas in a Small Town, which is hosted in Imperial, CA.  She got to have her picture taken with this sweet little pony.  If it were up to me...I would get some land in Montana and get her a miniature horse to ride!
This LO is featured at If It's Groovy and it was done in 30 minutes.

Making Cookies

My mom, Bead Bum, and my daughter, made CCCs (chocolate chip cookies) while my mom and dad were visiting.  My daughter sampled the recipe at ever step of the way.  I used my Cricut Expression and the From My Kitchen cart for the wording.  The paper is My Mind's Eye and the stickers are chipboard from Creative Imaginations.

This LO is featured at If It's Groovy for their Home For The Holidays challenge for Dollbabies.

Gearing up for the big day!

Well, the last two days have been great.  I completed a LO that I can't show you yet!  I also made a couple of bracelet earring combinations for my family for Christmas.  Yesterday my mother, Nanny, and my daughter, Hannah made cookies.  It was so sweet watching them together.  Hannah had to sample every ingredient as it was added.  First the butter, then the flour, munched on a few chocolate chips, then tasted it with everything in it, many times!  She loves helping and learning how to cook.  I think this could turn out to be a very good thing.  I think I'll see what she thinks about splitting cooking detail when she's older!!!  Hee hee!

My mother and daughter also helped me get some pre-Thanksgiving food prep done so that we can enjoy the day together.  I love this time of year in the desert.  Cool weather, blue skies, green grass, family, yummy smells, happyness all around!  God Bless You and Your Family This Thanksgiving!

We also had the opportunity to partake in some yummy handmade tamales made by our awesome gardener's mother-in-law.  They were piping hot when he and his wife brought them to us Tuesday and I had to let them cool off so I could store them in the fridge.  Here are a couple pictures of them.

My Rendition of Sketch #41 at 52 Sketches 52 Weeks

This weeks sketch #41 at 52 Sketches...52Weeks can be seen here.  This is my take on their sketch.

I am still trying to break out of the mold a little.  Instead of doing a circle I did a flower under DDs picture.  I also did individual embellishments as a border along the top instead of a single scalloped border.  I did 5 lines of journaling instead of three.

I thought at first, and you might agree, that the colors would be too bold.  However, I think that they worked well as a focal vortex to focus your eye on the less busy part of the LO which is the picture of my DD.  The print on the paper in which the picture is on resembles the print on her shirt.  She loves butterflies and calls them "Yi-Yi's" with a long "i" sound.
This is my first entry over at 52S52W and I hope my work inspires some others as they inspire me.
I used K&Co paper, and embellishments from their "Berry Sweet" collection.