A Pound Party??

Hello!!

Thanks for stopping by today!!

My beautiful daughter is a sophomore 

this year and as their first fundraiser,

they are having a Pound Party!!

I had no idea what a pound party was,

even after it was first explained to me

I didn't get. Then I actually got a flyer from

the teacher about it and it finally clicked.

The whole idea is to UNIQUELY wrap

a package that weighs at least 1 pound, 

and has a value of at least $3 dollars.

Then they are auctioned off, based on what 

they look like and without know what's inside.

Interesting.

Perfect for a paper crafter!! :)

So I came up with 2 packages that I think

are awesome. The first one:

 A close up of the front:

 Close up of the lid:

Inside is a biscuit mix and a jar of apple butter.

I made the pattern for this after seeing one 

similar but much, much smaller!! I made this from

chipboard and then covered it with the paper.

The second package is a lot more simple, 

but I think it's a cute idea:

I used flat marbles to make this weigh up some.

Inside is purse type things;

hand cream, mints, chap stick, hand sanitizer, ect.

I've had the pattern for this purse for years, 

sorry but I can't even remember from where. 

However, it was small. The whole thing would have

fit on an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet. I enlarged to a 12x12

sheet so it would be large enough to hold everything.

I'm very excited about these projects!!

I can't wait to see if they are popular for bids!!

*LOL* Fingers crossed!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

I hope that each of you have a wonderful,

love filled day!!

Until next time............................tootles!!

Chickens in the DR

Hello again!! 

Just taking a moment to brag on 

my daughter. She has such a big heart, 

and I wanted to share this story!!

This is the lo I did for the occasion:

The story behind the pix:

Vashti is just the sweetest thing!! After Christmas (2011) she decided that she want to send a goat and a dozen chickens to another country through Samaritans Purse. She was so excited!! She used all her January allowance and her Christmas money…$84 dollars.
Which got her thinking about whether or not she could do the same thing for CCS’s sister school in Santa Rosa, Dominican Republic. So, we had a talk with Mr. Krontz, who is in charge of the Sr. Missions trip to the DR to pitch her idea!! She thought we could get them a bunch of chickens!! He was thrilled. He told Vashti that if she could raise $100 he would match it, dollar for dollar!! I decided it was such a good cause, that I would match her dollar for dollar as well. She got right to work looking for ways to EARN the $100. She didn’t want to use gifts or her allowance. She wanted to work for the money. She picked dandelions for Opop at the rich price of .03 cents each. She ended up earning $27.51. So exciting!! Besides that, she cleaned my car, did some outside work for daddy, and helped Opop clean up his yard. She ended up with the whole $100 that she could truly say she earned!! Then to top it all off, daddy gave her $30 and Gram gave her $50!! This meant that when she was all done, she had $380 with which they could buy chickens. But she was so close to $400, she decided to throw in her May allowance to make it that even $400. Off the seniors went to Santa Rosa, with $400 dollars to buy chickens!! They were able to buy appox. 127 chickens, and food for 6 months!! It’s just so exciting!! Each family from the DR school will get 3 chickens. They were so tickled to be getting a means of having food. It’s just wonderful!! Vashti was thrilled to have been a blessing to the DR. Mr. Krontz had this picture made in appreciation of Vashti’s gift. On the back of the picture is the recite for the first 102 chickens!! In 3 years she will get to go to Santa Rosa to see the people and visit the chickens. She’s already starting to save for next years chickens!! God is so good!! May 2012

Thanks bunches for taking the time to read this!! 

There is always room for anyone who

would like to help send chicken to the 

Dominican Republic. If you would like to give

to this project, please feel free to email me!! 

Thanks!! Have a wonderful, love filled day!!

And the Winner is........

I apologize for being a day late

in announcing the winner of

my Blog-O-Versary blog candy!!

My brother came into town yesterday

so I was slightly side tracked!! :)

So......without further ado....

the WINNER IS.........

VICKI

Congrats Vicki!! I'm so glad to have you visit

and for becoming a follow of my blog!!

Please email your mailing address at

finallymama at hotmail dot com

and I'll get this gift right out to you!!

Thanks to everyone who played along with me!!
I hope that you will come back often to visit!!

Until next time................tootles!!

Bling it!!

Lollipop Crafts wants to see you bling it!!

So I did this cigar box for my big sis!!

She loves glitz, so it will be perfect for her!!

Personal I think it's a little overboard!!

Die Cut Dreams-sketch.

Image by Angie Whally.

Paper Cupcakes-make your own flowers.

I made the flowers. The vines and butterflies are from

3 Tails Crafts.

That's it for now!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Thanks also for all the comments you leave!!
It's very sweet of you and I so do enjoy them!!

Until next time................tootles!!

Hello!! Yep, Cards Again!!

I've had a busy week.

So I have quite

a few cards to share with

you today!!

Getting to it:

For Tuesday Morning Sketch,

Flutterby Wednesday,

and Paper Pretties.

The paper is DCWV.

The butterflies are a MS punch,

as is the around the page punch.

I made the flower, but the

little rose in the middle and

the ribbon are from my stash.

For:

Inkspirations-a sketch this week.

Paper is DCWV.

Image is from Pattie's Creations.

The tiny little rose is Prima.

The wording is a stamp.

For:

Crafty Catz-use yellow and green.

Card Patterns-a sketch.

Paper is K&Company.

The image is from Nina.

The butterfly punch is fiskers.

The Sweet Stop.

Paper is the Paper Company.

The images is from Yolanda Derstine.

The punches are MS.

Ribbon and flowers are from my stash.

Dutch Dare-use brown and teal.

Friday Mashup!-sketch.

Paper is DCWV.

Ribbon and button are from my stash.

Punch is MS.

Crazy 4 Challenges-use a tree.

Stamping 411-sketch.

Everything in this card is from my

scrap drawer. Yeah.

Spoonful of Sugar-vintage, or shabby chic.

This is a jean pocket that I made

for a friend I'm doing a private

swap with. Inside the pocket

is a mini album.

I hope she likes it!!

Well, that's it for now!!

Thanks bunches for stopping by!!

So glad to have you visit!!

Thanks also for the sweet comments

you leave!!

Until next time................tootles!!

What a Great Weekend!!

I stayed in all weekend. Didn't go anywhere!!

LOVE it!! I got  a few challenges finished,

and even a couple projects done.

Made a yummy roast beef dinner last night

and yummy beef stew today!!

Just had an all around GREAT weekend!!

How was your weekend??

The challenges I have finished:

First up is JUGS. You know I love them!!

Have you checked them out?? You should!!

Awesome stuff, I tell you!!

We are to make a 3-d flower and use it on a project!!

Another of my favorite places

Crazy 4 Challenges

We were to do something "shabby chic"

I had to ask a friend if this was shabby chic and she said yes,

so I will be entering it in the challenge!!

This card is for two places.

1. Card Patterns I really like this place too!!

Great sketch this week!!

2. Dutch Dare had a recipe this week!!

Use 3 pattern papers, 3 flowers, 3 gems/pearls and 1 ribbon.

This one was fun!! Made me think!!

Then I have Inkspirations. Great sketch to follow.

Next I have

1. Stamping 411 We are to follow their great sketch!!

2. I Did It Use red!! How fun!! Sure have used this stamp a lot!!

And finally,

1. Cardabilities #23 Follow the sketch

2. Crafty Catz Use flowers

I made the flower on the front.

The green viney thing is a chippie from 3 Tails Craft.

And that's pretty much it!!

THANK YOU so much for stopping by,

and also for the comments that you leave!!

I do appreciate them a lot!!

I hope that each of you have a fabulous week!!

Until next time...........tootles!!

As Promised

I'm so excited about this project!!

I saw this on Split Coast Stampers,

and knew I had to make it for DH's great niece!!

It was just so wonderful!!

It took some time to find all the elements to put it together,

but at last it's finished and I can share it with you!!

Ta-Da--------

Finding the perfect hanger was the hardest part of the puzzle.

Once I had that, I could start putting it together.

I had to break out the new hot glue gun I bought

months and months ago. I'm so scared of those things!!
I have been burnt one to many times with them.

But I did very well this time, didn't burn myself not once!!

I glued the lovely brown fringe to the back of the hanger.

On the front of the hanger I glued the wide soft cream lace.

On top of that I glued the beautiful pink roses.

I painted the wooden frames brown,

then brushed on the crackle stuff.

When that was dry, I add the pink paint and wa-la, crackle!!

Added pearl swirls, more roses and a metal bow to finish it off.

My sweet DH helped me add the hardware so it would hang.

We are very pleased with how it turned out!!

He thinks maybe his mother would like one!! :)

Thanks for stopping by!!

It was fun sharing a project with you instead of a card for a change!!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Until next time............tootles!!

Here I am Again....

...with more challenge entries!!

First up is this "blue" card for the challenge over at I Did It!!

This is a new stamp. I just got it a week or so ago and I LOVE it!!

So much fun to use, and I have been using it a lot!!

Cardabilities had a nice sketch to follow!! I enjoyed using it!!

** SSSSSsshhhhhhhhhhhhh....If you are family,

PLEASE keep this card under your hat!!**

This is for my brother's birthday!!

He's the President of the Fire Department in our hometown!!

I was so excited about making this card!! This is actually the second version.

My first one didn't quite have the umph it needed, so a very good friend

gave me some pointers on how to spruce it up!!

Thanks bunches for the advice, Miss Debbie!!

I'm going to be entering it in the challenge over at Paper Pretties!!

The theme was unique folds. This is a step card. I hope this qualifies!!

Thanks bunches for stopping by!!

Thanks for the love on my projects!!

It always makes me smile!!

Until next time............tootles!!

7 Layer Bars

For Christmas I made my mom, both of my grandmothers, my mother in law and my sister an 8"x8" mini album documenting DD's yearly making of 7 Layer Bars!! All the albums used different papers but all from the Christmas DCWV stack. They are very plain, but I really liked the way they look!!

This is a bad pix of all of them before I mailed them:

This was the first page. The journaling says:

 The Story of

Vashti’s 7 Layer Bars

Every year since Vashti could stand on a chair next to me,

she has made 7 Layer Bars for Grams Christmas Party!

The past few years little has changed, except for the fact that she no longer needs to stand on a chair beside me.  She is very good cook and enjoys doing her part in making these Christmas Cookies!

Thank you, Vashti!

December 2010

Layers 1 & 2

Combine and press

2 Cups Graham Cracker Crumb

and 4 TBSP Melted Butter into a 9x13 Inch pan

Layer 3

Spread 1-16 oz Bag of Coconut

over Graham Cracker crust and press slightly.

Layer 4

Sprinkle ½ Cup of Chocolate Chips over Coconut.

Layer 5

Sprinkle ½ Cup of Butterscotch Chips

Over Coconut and Chocolate Chips.

Layer 6

Sprinkle ¾ Cup of Chopped Walnuts over other layers. Press down.

Layer 7
Drizzle one can of Sweetened Condensed Milk over entire pan.

Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Cool, cut and serve!!

I'm please how well they turned out, and pleased that I'm all done making them!! *L*

Thanks for stopping by!! I so enjoy your visits!!

Hope you have a great week!!

Until next time...............tootles!!

Our First Snow Celebration

It SNOWED!!! I am so excited!! We have a fabulous tradition that we call "Our First Snow Celebration!" Now dh isn't really into it but I am totally over the top about snow and at the first sight of it, I go all ga-ga!! DD also enjoys the first month or two of winter!! So when she was really little I started this tradition. It doesn't count to just see flakes in the air. We can only celebrate when the snow sticks to the ground. Another rule is, no Christmas movies until it snows.

Our Celebration always starts with me dancing around saying "yippee!!"

Then we make Gingerbread and Orange Fluff!! (this is the part DH likes!! *lol*)

Then we watch "Yogi's First Christmas" movie while we cut out snow flakes!!

And finally we get to eat the Gingerbread!!

All while watching it snow!!

Ah....I love the snow!! I wish it would snow more. All that was gone very quickly!!

**update 12/6 I've decided to enter this LO in the challenge over at Lollipop Crafts (http://lollipopcrafts.blogspot.com/ ) Thanks!! **

I have been wanting to make a banner after seeing all the ones in the gallery at SB. I wanted to do it with mittens, but when I saw these big flakes, I had another idea. I just love how it turned out!! I have it hanging in my studio!! I stickled the chipboard letters. The flower on the S snowflake, was just blah silver, so I inked it blue and put clear embossing powder over it and put the ole heat gun to it. For the holly leaves behind it, I inked them even more silver and used silver embossing powder on them. I was shocked it turned out so good!! Don't ya love when that happens?? Anyway... here it is:

I have been kept busy this week, working on some mini comp books for my mom. She belongs to a sewing guild and wanted to give each of the ladies a little gift at the Christmas party, so she asked me to do these for her. I ended up making her 17!! They were fun and took up my time well. When I had them done, I wanted a way for her to be able to give them without to much work. I was gonna go to the $store and get some little gift bags when I remembered that one of the free cartridges that we just got on our gypsy download was for the tags, bags, and boxes. So I pulled out my old Christmas paper and set to cutting out 17 little gift bags. Glued them together, added ribbon handles, dropped a book in each one, added tissue paper, and wha-la....ready to give as gifts!!

So that was my week!! I didn't really do challenges this week. I was busy with the other things, I suppose!! But it was a fun week and it finally snowed!! I'm sitting here today looking out the window every 3 minutes in hopes that the snow we are to get actually arrives!! So, if you have extra snow where you are, please blow it my way!!

Until next time...........TOOTLES!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Flutter By Wednesday & JUGS

This card is made with basic grey patterned paper. I really like the print and have been very sparingly using it!! It's for the Flutter By Wednesday Challenge!! http://flutterbywednesdays.blogspot.com/ Be sure to check them out!! Some really cute things over there!!

This is a little box I did. It's for the challenge over at JUGS. http://justusgirlschallenge.blogspot.com/ We were to use a 3-D holiday embellishment. I made the little hot coco cup and popped it up on pop tape and I used a string of little snowballs for an added cute touch!! The edge also has rick-rack on it!!

It has 4 packages of Hot Chocolate in decorated packs inside. I'm going to give this to a lady at the school who is always doing the little extra things that often get missed and very seldom gets a thank you!!

Thanks for stopping by!! I hope to post more tomorrow, so please come back!!

Until next time.....tootles!!

Winding Down

I really do feel like I'm winding down making things for the Arts Fair!! I'm still waiting for Candy Canes to come out so I can do a couple things with them, but then, I plan to be pretty much done!! Finally!! I have no idea what I will post when I'm done with all this!! I suppose I'll have to think up something!! :)

This box is a heavy chipboard box that I actually bought chipboard in. I did a little re-cycling with this one!! I used scraps to cover the box. I added the string of beads, I got on clearance, made a flower with some more scraps, added some bling and some wooden beads for the little feet. I'm not sure I can sell this. It started out so ugly and I totally like it now!! Maybe I can keep it and give it as a gift!!

When I saw this on Life as Lou's Blog, (http://lifeaslou.blogsome.com/2008/01/30/magic-boxes-a-life-as-lou-online-class/) I had to make it. It was so much easier than it looked!! I may make another at some point because I think they are so neat!!

My favorite thing I've made this week!! Check these out!! Aren't they cute?? These are my Gift Card Holders for the Gift Cards to the movie store or theater!! I can't believe I came up with them!! Go me!!

I finished up my mini album for the Mini Album Anonymous (http://minibookanonymous.blogspot.com/?zx=efeb1aa81d4387fa) Design Team. Be sure to come back next week to see it!! The theme for November was Sparkle and Shine. I can't wait to see what everyone on the DT has made!!

I would like to invite you all to go check out my friend, Miss Debbie's blog!! She has been cranking out some awesome PBA's this week!! You can find her here: http://bratsscrapshack.blogspot.com/

That's it for now. Thanks for stopping by!! Hope you'll leave me a note!! I love hearing from you!! Take care and have a FANTASTIC week!!

Until Next time...........Tootles!!

More Paper Crafts

Hi!! I hope everyone had a great week!! Our week was pretty good. Didn't get much done in the way of scrapping but here is what I've been working on!!

My dad had neck surgery last week. Since they went in from the front he ended up with a SORE throat. I had seen this little kit on the web and went looking for it as I thought it would be perfect for my dad. I was so happy to find it again. (Check it out here: http://barspaperpursuits.blogspot.com/search/label/Tutorial)
Inside is a Chicken Noodle Soup mix and a bag of cough drops!! I was so tickled with how cute it turned out. Everyone who's seen it think it's cute, too!!

Still finding these little baskets fun and cute!! This is a 9x9 Christmas one. It's the first one I've put feet on and find them darling!! Even DH thought it made the basket much cuter!!

Our school is sponsoring a Arts and Crafts Fair in November. I hadn't thought of ever having a table at one of these type things, but since it's for the school....I'm gonna have a table!! (more on this later) Sooooo....I need to make some things to sell. This is what I started with:

Butterfly Lip Balm (the butterflies are 3-d) I thought I could sell these for $1 each

Then I thought, "CARDS, Cards could be good!!" I have a rather hard time making cards but I'm trying to make at least one a day just using scraps...I have a TON of scraps. Here's a few I have made so far:

Cards I thought I could sell for $1.50 each What do you think?? Fair price??

A quick note...not sure how many people in my area of the map read this, but if you are/do and maybe interested in a table at the Arts and Crafts Fair, please email me or leave me a note with your email and I'll send you a few details!!

Last but certainly NOT least....
My beautiful, creative daughter made this little horse head. She drew the head and cut it out. Found an old chain and took it apart. Using tweezers and a glue bottle, she created this. Now I know I'm her mama and thinks she's amazing, but isn't this awesome?? She's interested in selling it at the A&C Fair, but we're not sure how much she could get for it. Any help with that would be great. Thanks!! (the frame is 3.5 inches by 4.5 inches)

Well, I'm thinking that's all for now. Thanks so much for following my blog!! I love comments, so if you have time, please leave me a note!! If you have any idea's about the Arts and Crafts Fair that you could share with me, or idea's of inexpensive things I could make for it, that would be wonderful!! Thanks bunches!!

Until Next Time..........TOOTLES!!