Sassy & Sweet Notes

Lefty Sleeps.

Lefty is the third baby chick we've had to rescue from the hens in the chicken coup. This chick hatched and had kind of a rough start to life. One of the turkin hens picked him up right out of the egg by his right wing and was carrying him across the chicken yard (and not in a lovingly-motherly way.)

It is pure luck that I happened to see the hen with the chick in her beak just seconds after she pulled it from the egg. Thankfully, I could get it from her before she did any more damage. Since the chick was still wet and "egg-shaped" when I found it and had hatched from an egg that hadn't been sat on by a hen in a few days, I wasn't sure it would live. But, I brought him in the house and set it up in the warm tub with the other two chicks (Black-Eyed Pea and Turkey), and protected him from their curious beaks with a cardboard barrier.

A few days under the warm light, some food and lots of fresh water, and now Lefty is doing just fine -- other than his wing is damaged where then hen picked him up from the egg (I guess you could call it his shoulder?). He rarely moves his right wing, but goes all kinds of crazy with his left so it seemed only obvious to name him Lefty. Teeny tiny little bugger... Here he is sleeping under a bright desk lamp in an empty Stampin' Up box that I had handy. It took him a few days to get his legs working like legs are supposed to work, so the box is keeping him from staggering too far from the warmth. Today, his legs are good and strong, but his right wing is still not healed. The wing isn't growing as well as the other, so... I guess he'll always fly in clock-wise circles.

Haa!!

He's a goofy little chick. I have found him more than once under the heat lamp laying on his back, all stretched out under the light. The first time I saw him like this I thought he had died! But no!! It was like he'd slathered himself up with oil and was set to get the tan of his life! He was just enjoying the warmth of the light on his belly. What a crazy chick!

He woke up after I took this photo and had to eat. I guess sunbathing gives ya the munchies!

He looks soooo goofy!!  Haaa!!

Birthday Blowout

This retired Penguin set had been on my stamp wishlist for ages. Then one day, my friend Laura told me about someone who wanted to sell their used set. HOOK ME UP, BABY! A few days later and I had the set crossed off my wishlist, and in my hot little hands!

The penguin is stamped in black Stazon ink, and colored in with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. The edges are sponged with Walnut ink (Ranger).

If I didn't have so many chores to do today, I'd make more cards using the penguins - they're so stinkin' CUTE!

But, the dishwasher needs emptied and filled, the bathroom needs cleaned, and the floors need to be mopped and vacuumed. Oh, and I have to go to the grocery store. We're fresh outta the basics!

Maybe I should have made a Cinderella card for the day.

Edited to add: This penguin is from a retired Stampin' Up! set called Penguin Paradise. Good luck shopping for it to everyone who has asked about the image!

Something pretty...

After the creepiness earlier this evening (see previous post), I needed to get my mind off "gross" and think about something pretty.
I pulled out a couple of my new Whipper Snapper Designs stamps and did some stamping. Lazy stamping. Why lazy? See where the flower petals aren't completely stamped on the images stamped on the yellow layer? Ya... that's lazy. I "could" have fixed it, but I was just in the mood for something pretty, not necessarily perfect.

It is so fun, stamping with my own designs! *grin!*

Patterned paper by Chatterbox.
Ribbon by May Arts.
Flower punches by Uchida.
Brown pearl brad by SEI.
Whipper Snapper stamps, by me! :)

NOT for the Squeamish!

OMG, SEND MORE BOOZE!!
Normally, I wouldn't be such a lush. But, I've had cause for indulging heavily in the sauce lately. First the arm, then the tetanus shot, and now THIS!

Alright... so, my blog was supposed to be all about nice, pretty stamped projects. But lately, I'm finding it more like assorted Animal Planet programming. Sorry girls... it will get back to stamping - I PROMISE!

But first!

Rabid Wolf Spider. Ever heard of one? No? Consider yourself LUCKY! I've seen one. Minutes ago. Too close for my liking. It was on the back porch - where the carcass of a large dead spider HAD been...which is now GONE! Alan said he thinks she ATE IT!! *GASP!* When you consider the size of this RABID spider, you'll wonder why it bothered with the dead spider when by the size of her, she could have eaten a cow!

Alan did caution me about these spiders when I first moved here. (Notice he waited until AFTER I got here...hmmm) He said they carry their babies on their back, so if you (EW!) step on them, the babies likely won't get squished, but instead will flee from the mother. Where you ask? Good question! Anywhere they can go! Which, is usually onto your SHOE! 

*I feel faint* 

After seeing the size of this RABID spider, no way, nuh uh, no sirrrreeeee would you EVER get me to squish it with my shoe! GROSS!

*ew, I've got the willies!*
So, wanna see it? You'll have to click on this itty bitty picture for a bigger view ...

Keep in mind, if you don't like spiders (and I DON'T like spiders) you should view this with extreme CAUTION! It's SCARY!! When you look at the picture, you'll see a lot of reflective dots on its back. Those are the EYES of her babies! See the lighter colored spots? Those are the butts of the babies! EW! She must have at least 50 of them on her! AGH!!! CREEEEEEEPING ME OUT!!!

Oh ya, and I should mention...the white thing in the bottom right corner, is a packing peanut. It's at least 1" long... (but I didn't take time to measure it)

I told you, she's so big she could eat a cow!!

I'm so creeped out...
Alan said I better not have nightmares tonight.
Who's he kidding!? 

I have to go take a shower.
I have the willies.

Hoppy Birthday!

I love combining stamps from different sets to create a single design. This was a particularly fun card to make.

The unfrogettable frog is posed just right for the Birthday Beauty flowers and crown. I also pulled the musical notes stamp from the Penguins in Paradise set, to add to the musical birthday fun. The Hip Hip Hooray sentiment is my A Muse, another great stamp company. I particularly love their sentiments.

I would tell you why I made this birhtday card tonight, but it's a SECRET! Inside the card reads Hoppy Birthday!

Feels good to be stampin' again!

Cheers!

Meet Turkey

Here's Black-Eyed Pea and the new chick that Alan brought in last night. I'm calling the new chick Turkey, since it might be the only egg that turkey hen hatches that we're able to keep alive!

They're getting along well, now that they've figured out that their toes are not something to eat.

Daisy loves helping me with the babies. She's got to make sure I'm doing a good job, I think!

Farley, on the other hand, is content laying on the floor in the bedroom squeaking his hedgehog toy. When I show him the chicks, he sniffs them, and then looks at me like "what am I supposed to do with that?"

...it's no wonder I can't get any stamping done! :)

Meet Black-Eyed Pea

Yesterday evening, Alan went out to check on the chickens. After my "incident" earlier this past weekend with the hen house, I opted to stay inside. A few mintues after going outside, Alan came back in the house with a little peeping fuzzball tucked up in his shirt. A little chick had hatched, but had a bum leg. So, rather than let it suffer in the hen house all night (and more than likely die) we decided to nurse it and see if it perked up. This little chick is so stinkin' CUTE! Of course I have no idea she or he yet, but she has a little white tip on her beak, white throat, and white tips on her wings. The rest of her is jet black - oh, except for the tip of her middle toes is white too. Ha! I call her Black-Eyed Pea. She's just as tiny as can be. She spent the night in the bathroom in a metal tub under a warm light, peeping and napping.

Today, after a night of warm light and plenty of food and water, you'd have to think twice about having seen her earlier with a bum leg. She gets around just great. She's too tiny to be put in with the rest of the hens and babies, so she'll be kept inside until we get a place for her in the barn this weekend.

Daisy (my lab) has taken quite a liking to the little chick. Daisy leads me into the bathroom (where the chick is) and sits and waits for me to show her the chick. She sniffs her all over, makes sure she's Ok, and then watches me put her back in the metal tub. Good girl, Daisy.

Tonight, Alan came in the house again after checking on the chicks. He found that today the turkey hen had hatched a little tiny black and yellow chicken (they're not picky on what kinds of eggs they sit on). The chick wouldn't have survived the night without water, so it's a good thing Alan found it when he did. So now, Black-Eyed Pea has a little friend to grow up with, and great that they're only a day apart in age.

Today I had an appointment at a medical clinic to get a tetanus shot. OUCHIE-WAWA! I don't like shots! *POUT*

I also have to take ginormous antibiotic pills twice a day to fight infection. Groovy. They always make me sick. What more could I ask for...a sore arm (in TWO places now!) and an upset belly.

Please send MORE booze!

To quote one of my favorite *new* SU stamps:
"Wishing you a day filled with beauty & world peace."

Feathered Hope

I bought the "Feathered Hope" Stampin' Up set used from a gal right before I moved to Texas, and am so excited to get to use it finally! From the 2003 catalog, this set has great wild birds in the images along with a nice branch, nest, and pine bough. I did a bit of organizing today and can now find at least a few things (like my eyelet setters), so I decided to do just a little stamping.

I dug out my scalloped punch and added a decorative cut to the end of the tab. There is an eyelet set towards the end of the tab to allow the brown ribbon to come through and be tied.

I really like this color combination. Earthy and warm, but not quite autumn colors.

Hmm... 10:20pm. Is it bed time, or is there time for more stamping?

Love my Shelves!

I wrote earlier about some new shelves I put up in my room, and finally got enough stuff put away that I felt it was OK to share a photo of them. This is three closet shelf units that I bought at Target and assembled for more storage in my room. I have other shelves and drawers in other parts of the room that provide even more storage for supplies, stamps, ink, etc. These shelves I wanted not only for a place to put my books, but also a place to display some of my fun things like ribbon jars, photos, trinkets, and even some cards I've recieved from friends. So far, these shelves have worked out great! I'm sure they'll get rearranged several more times until I figure out what works best, but for now, they're just fine!

Now, the next area to tackle is the workspace. Wow...what a mess. There's got to be a better way! :)

My dear friend Manetta, help me! Now that I've unpacked it, I don't know where to put it! :)

I got an owweeeee...

Last night, Alan and I went out to put up the baby chickens. The baby chickens were sleeping in the chicken pen instead of in the house with the hens, so Alan went in the pen to hand the babies up to me through a little door near the hen house.

As I reach through the door and around the corner, I felt a sharp poke on my arm. Since it was around a corner and I couldn't see what poked me, I freaked out, thought something scary had bit or stung me. I pulled my arm back really fast (and screamed)...and then CRIED!! Owweeeee!! What poked me was a screw sticking out of the side of the door. When I pulled my arm back, it was still poked in my arm so I got a big ol' torn hole on my arm. I bled. A lot. Owweeee!!

I went to the house and Alan helped me nurse my arm. It hurt soooo bad!! I took a pain killer from when I had surgery last summer (thanks doc, for the good drugs!). Owweeee!!! My arm hurts! Maybe it's time for a tetanus shot... *pout*.

Please send booze.

Warning...icky picture - view with caution.

Whipper Snapper Stamps!

I've had a great response to the stamps I designed for Whipper Snapper Designs. Thank you all! I've learned that currently there isn't a way to know which designs on the Whipper Snapper site are mine, so I've collected the item numbers and linked to the images for you. You can also search the Whipper Snapper site for these item numbers, and you'll find all of my stamps! Have fun!

CW460, DW456, GW457, NW462, HW463, IW458, CW455, HW459, DW461

Seeing Spots...

My new Stampin' Up stamps arrived yesterday, and I mounted all of them last night. This morning I took a moment to play, if even just a short moment.

I need to catch up on my list of people to send cards to. I thought by starting off making the cards that I need to send, it would get me back into the inky swing of things. Then, I can get back into making all the cards that I can stash in my drawers for a while!

Maybe I need to jump back into the SCS daily challenges to get my inky juices flowing again. I've got to figure out what to do with all my stuff again! (well, first I have to figure out where I put everything!) HA!

5 baby chickens and 1 baby turkin are running around the chicken pen... pics coming again soon! The mama hens are still sitting too, so I'm sure we haven't seen the end of the hatchings!

Birthday Beauty

Tonight I had some time to stamp. I can tell it has been a while since I really got to play...it's hard to find creativity after so much time. Seems like it becomes harder and harder for things to come naturally.

But then I saw my favorite Art Impressions stamp peering out of a drawer at me. Taking total inspiration from Julie Ebersole, I created this simple birthday card. By the way, if you've never seen Julie Ebersole's gallery, you should! She's a wicked stamper!

I pulled out my new Birthday Beauty set to finish off the card. Oh! And I used the sparkle/speckle stamp from the Hip Hip Hooray set to do the turquoise bling around her. What a fun combination, I think! Anyway, this card is going out to a dear friend of mine... late, of course. Whoops!

Which came first...

It's time to dig out my chicken stamps again! The hens are hatching chicks! Since Wednesday, we've had 6 chicks hatched on the farm.

The most recent one was this morning, still crawling it's way out of the shell. This pic was taken at about 7:45 this morning.

When I went to check on them at 1:00, this chick was tucked under the mother hen. How fun is that! In this pic the chick is all squished up, but you can see its wing, shoulder and back of its head.

I think this one is a rooster. It's laying in that egg shell like he's plopped down in his Lazy Boy recliner! Of course, one could argue that it's a girl too -- with wild bed-head like that! (Which reminds me, I should find a hair salon sometime soon...)

Serenading the Moon

Since moving to Texas there has been no time at all for being crafty in the past couple of weeks. I even have new SU sets, stamps from friends, and even my own Whipper Snapper Designs stamps that have yet to be inked! Most of them arrived in Oregon just in time to go in a box to be moved to Texas. Gasp!

A dear friend of mine is in need of a little TLC so I took a late night opportunity to create her a very simple, yet from-the-heart card using the TAC set called Serenading the Moon. There's gold PearlEx on her wings and in her hair, and lightly brushed over the moon. There's silver PearlEx over the entire card, giving the purple layer a nice sheen to match the shimmery white paper. Simple, but I love it. Hope my friend does too.

It felt good to be stampin' again! I MUST DO MORE!

Surrounded by Boxes...

...and more boxes, and more boxes, in every room box after box after box. I'm not sure I'll ever see the end of the boxes. Ever.

I've got to work during the day, and it's nice to be working out of a home office. I get all kinds of help. This is Junior, and he is my biggest helper.

Daisy helps too, by laying right at the base of my chair so it can't roll too far away from my desk. Daisy also helps herself to the cat food. Boy, is she going to be FAT if she keeps that up!

This morning I unpacked some of my cardstock, and my rotary cutter. YAY! Last night Alan brought home a couple of shelves for me that I've been filling up quickly. I might have to put in a request for another one! All put together, it's almost an entire wall of shelving, 7 feet high! The shelves are closet shelving units that are 2' wide, 7' high and they're great! Pics later, when I get more organized.

In other news, Twinkle Toes (my little grey cockatiel) laid an egg yesterday. She tends to lay eggs after she's had an environment change. I guess she considers spending days and days in the car and now living in Texas a considerable environment change! She'll be a very busy bird for the next few days as she shreads her paper towels and brews up another egg to lay.

Enjoy your Friday!