Sassy & Sweet Notes

The Beast.

Sunday morning at about 10am, Alan and I were sitting at the table enjoying a late breakfast. Farm fresh eggs sunny side up and toast, mmm! That was when Alan saw something odd looking through the trees, walking along the fence IN one of our pastures. As it passed by an open area in the trees, Alan could see it was something brown. And white. And HUGE....

I will never forget the look on Alan's face when he realized that what he was seeing in our pasture was our neighbor's longhorn bull. (From now on I will refer to the longhorn bull as The Beast, although I'm sure he has a real name ... and I think it's something like Khann. But I like The Beast much better.)

Alan was out of his chair and out the door faster than FAST! I am pretty sure he had several things in mind immediately... where are OUR cattle if our fence is now down, did something happen to our bull Beavis (bulls don't like other bulls in their territory), are our girls OK, and how on EARTH are we going to get The Beast out of our pasture!?

Knowing we would need to get the neighbor over to our place ASAP, my first thought was, 'oh dear, I need to find a bra!'

I can't recall the entire sequence of events, but I do know this.... we moved quickly. Alan drove up to the neighbors place only to find them not at home. Although he was greeted by about 23 friendly chickens looking for handouts.

Alan found where The Beast walked his way right over our fence into our pasture, laying the fence down in the process (thankfully it sprung back up enough to keep our cattle IN. I left several messages for the neighbors, hoping they would get back to us quickly. Thankfully, they did! They were on their way home, about 20 minutes away.

Meanwhile, Alan prepared an area for the neighbor's truck and trailer. They thought they might just load him up and drive him home. That plan was quickly discarded when the neighbor realized that loading his bull from our pasture without any loading chutes might be more of a challenge than he needed. New plan: get The Beast OUT of our pasture and chase him home either on foot, or with the truck. After lots of chasing and herding and whistling and arm waving, we got The Beast separated from our herd, and on his way towards home where he is spending several days (hopefully more) in barnyard "lockdown".

Not a super quality photo, but I have to show you the size difference and give you an idea as to why we call him The Beast. In the front is Chick, an adult Dexter cow (she's almost 3 years old). (She is Houdini's mama.) Look at the SIZE of The Beast next to her... I didn't take time to measure, but if I were to guess, I would say that the width of his horns from tip to tip is between 4'-5'. Maybe more.

It's no wonder Houdini looked at The Beast with eyes as big as saucers ... "you're the biggest thing I have ever seen..."

Unfortunately, Beavis was injured by The Beast prior to us evening knowing The Beast was in the pasture. We're guessing Beavis didn't really like that The Beast had crossed into his territory, they had a lock-horn moment and since The Beast weighs at least 2x (probably more) than what Beavis weighs, Beavis lost. Beavis can walk, though he really favors his left hind quarter. Not good.

None of the other animals that were in the same pasture were injured - just Beavis. But we are concerned about Chick, who was clearly in cycle when this all happened. It is probably unlikely because of her size that The Beast could have done anything with her, but we can't take chances on her possibly carrying one of his babies to term. We won't risk it because the size of the baby would likely be too big for her, and that would be disasterous. Thankfully, there's a shot we can give her to avoid development.

So... just another adventure on the farm.

Didn't I just say last week that farm life is not always rosy...?

A Halloween Vintage Postcard Challenge

The designers for Crafty Secrets decided to share today, a project made using one of the new Crafty Secrets Vintage Postcard kits.

I chose the Halloween kit, because I adore vintage Halloween images! I chose to make a hanging ornament with this kit.

I adhered the image to the chipboard postcard, and sanded around the edges with an emery board to smooth and even out the edges.

I inked the edges with several colors of brown Distress Ink, and added spritzes of Glimmer Mist AND silver craft glitter spray for lots of sparkle. I used rusty wire for the hanger and a few rusty stars for extra decor.

The back of the card is inked with brown Distress Ink (I love how this chipboard takes the ink colors!) and is stamped with the mini stamp set that comes in the kit.

You will want to check out the rest of the designer's projects as well -- they always amaze me with their projects! Here's a list to help you out:

Crafty Secrets Heartwarming Vintage Blog
Vicki Christman
Pam Hooten
Heidi Blankenship
Vivian Peters
Michele Kovack
Linda Duke
Michelle van Etten

sweet, wonderful you...

I recently used the last of a jar of jelly and decided to re-purpose the jar - it's a cute shape! I filled the jar to the rim with some of my favorite jelly bean flavors and got busy on the decor. I had intended on using the Singing Cowboy fella, but the colors of the beans looked more girly (lots of pinks, yellows and greens), so I chose to use my Cowgirl Up gal instead.

For the tag I used a piece of light weight cardboard (probably from a paper pack insert), Cosmo Cricket paper and twill, a couple of Rusty Pickle buttons, and hemp twine. My cowgirl is stamped on watercolor paper, painted, cut out, and adhered to the tag with foam adhesive. I added lots of faux stitching using one of my vintage tracing wheels.

The sentiment is from my Sweet Expressions set, from Whipper Snapper. When the tag was all assembled, I lightly spritzed it with Glimmer Mist (in Coffee Shop and Autumn Leaves colors).

Instead of using fabric to cover the lid of the jar, I chose to use a coordinating Cosmo Cricket paper. I cut a large square of paper, inked the edges, pressed it carefully around the lid of the jar, inked the creases and edges some more, and added some faux stitching around the outside edge. Finally, I tied it to the jar with hemp twine.

The most difficult part of this project was resisting all of those delicious jelly beans! I didn't sneak a single one!

Bzzzzzzzzz

Thank you for all of your kind comments and notes regarding Maggie. Betty is healing up, but still has a lot more healing to do. The swelling has gone down on her neck, but she still has some swelling on one side of her jaw, and on her tummy. She's getting her voice back too, so at least now she can make goat noises at us, quiet though they are. Callio-Pea thinks everything's a party, so she seems to be back to her usual self.

I thought it was time that I did something crafty, so I put together this thank you card for a sweet friend. I hope she loves it! The image is from an old Stampin' Up set called Honey Bear which I recently bought on eBay for a few bucks.

I stamped the image in black StazOn ink and painted it with re-inkers. I added some ultra fine glitter to the wings and antenna and added a quick little tag using a sentiment from my Sweet Expressions set from Whipper Snapper.

Bzzz.

Three cheers for Friday!

Sweet Maggie.

Monday was a sad, sad day on the farm. I haven't posted since, because I couldn't think of anything happy to say and I really hate sharing sad news. Monday morning we woke up to disaster in the barn yard. Early in the morning before we woke a coyote killed sweet Maggie, our black Nigerian Dwarf goat, and seriously injured Boxcar Betty. There was nothing we could do for poor Maggie, but Betty was rushed to the vet where she was given several shots to help fight infection, and reduce the swelling on her neck, jaw, and belly. Betty is very lucky to have survived. She still has a lot of healing to do, and we are giving her as much care as possible. She stands still for her shots. She's on a diet of small grains and chicken food right now, because they require little chewing. Her jaw doesn't seem to be broken, but is clearly very very sore.

Thankfully, Callio-Pea was unharmed in the events of the morning, though was noticeably distressed on Monday. We are keeping her away from Betty for a few days, while Betty heals up a bit. She tells us regularly that she misses her friends (Lollie the rabbit and the special-needs hens aren't very good company, it would seem), so this evening we will let Callio-Pea spend some time with Betty.

Life on the farm isn't always rosy.

Introducing Turkey Time, Singing Cowboy & Farm Fresh!

It's that time again! Time again for this month's cling set release with Whipper Snapper!

I have been having so much fun with the sets for this month, and I cannot WAIT to see what the Featured Designers have been creating! This month there are three sets being released, and I really can't choose a favorite. I made this card using images from Turkey Time. The set is packed with Thanksgiving goodness.

The other sets being released today are Farm Fresh and Singing Cowboy.

Click on the images for a larger view...

 

I shared a sneak peek card using this set, here.

I shared a sneak peek using this set, here.

Be sure to check out the galleries and blogs of the July/August Featured Designers as they showcase these sets! You're sure to be impressed!

The Who's Who of July/August Featured Designers:
Heather Pulvirenti
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/inglishrea
Blog: http://heatherpulvirenti.blogspot.com

Kimberly O'Rosky
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/kauai17
Blog: http://sunshinydayswithkim.blogspot.com

Leigh O'Brien
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/leigh_obrien
Blog: http://sunflowerstudio.typepad.com

Lisa Kind
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/lakind
Blog: http://kindcreations.blogspot.com

Susan Liles
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/susiestampalot
Blog: http://susiestampalot.blogspot.com

and Me! Anna Wight
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/sweetmissdaisy
Blog: http://sweetmissdaisy.typepad.com

Just a reminder, you can see all of the projects current and past Featured Designers have uploaded to their SplitCoast galleries by viewing the Whipper Snapper Featured Designer Gallery. Have a look -- it's a great place to find all KINDS of great inspiration!

Have fun!

Vacation Photos

First of all, thank you for all of the super nice comments you all left on the blog and in emails for Alan while he stayed home last week and took care of the farm. Being home on the farm alone is a lot of hard work, and I know he appreciated all of your notes. While he was here tending to the farm, I was enjoying a fantastic camping trip with my parents! I took about 350 photos, and here are a few of my favorites... (You can click on the photos to see them a bit larger.)

On Monday, we drove from my parents house (in northeastern Washington) through the Idaho panhandle into northwestern Montana. Mom and I drove together in the Suburban towing the river boat, while Dad drove in front of us towing their little vintage camper trailer with the pontoon boat strapped to the back. Amazingly enough, it's not a very long drive - just a couple of hours (if that).

We camped on the shore of the Kootenai River. Here is the view just a few feet from the back of our camper when we arrived at camp.

Just a couple of miles up-river from the campground we stayed in is the Libby dam.

I really enjoyed taking photos at the dam -- the colors were super, and the lighting was just as nice!

I kept kicking myself for not taking my "real" camera on the trip, instead of just my pocket-sized point-and-shoot.

Dad and his friend Jeff planned a short float down the river that evening, so they launched the boat and headed out with their fishing poles. It was a perfect evening for a float down river.

The next day, Dad and Jeff took Jeff's wife Paula along for the daily float. I put the pontoon boat in and followed along. Mom stayed back at the camper and did a bit of quilting. We had a bit of wind to deal with, which made floating down-river a challenge at times. But at the end of the day, we made it down river just fine!

Paula did a bit of reading along the way.

I took some photos of my toes, and the amazingly clear river.

Jeff caught some fish, and Dad caught some fish! Every fish caught during the trip was safely released back into the river.

Fishing from the boat.

More fishing from the boat.

Dad, fishing from a rock.

Jeff, making some changes to his set-up.

The two guys, fishing.

Love this shot of Dad through the grass on the riverbank.

A real whopper!

What a wonderful afternoon!

We saw at least two bald eagles during the day, and several osprey nests as well. This osprey nest was a fair distance from the river, but I took photos anyway! There are three birds on the edge of the nest, and one other bird from the nest was flying along the river. I really had to zoom in and hold steady to get this shot (not easy to do while you swirl around in the river's current!)

Here is another view of the same nest, pretty far back from the river.

We floated the river until the sun set behind the mountains.

The next day we decided to move down river to the west side of Troy, Montana. We found a great site at a riverside campground and planned an afternoon river float down the Kootenai River to where the Yaak River meets the Kootneai. On this day, Dad and Jeff took Mom in the river boat with them, and I tagged along behind in the pontoon boat again taking more photos.

Here is Jeff fishing the river on one of our many stops along the way.

Here Dad is fishing a narrow channel of the river, off of a long rock bar in the middle of the river.

The sun was sparkling off of one of the many treasures on Dad's hat.

The afternoon sun created dreamy light on the slower parts of the river.

I like dreamy light!

Can you see the water coming off of Jeff's line? That's cooooool!

The following morning, we started our way home. We stopped in at Ross Cedars for a short hike through the old growth forest.

The old cedars are quite amazing. Dad placed his hat on this one for a photo op.

The scenic views were beautiful...

...at every turn!

And when we finally pulled into the driveway, the resident wild turkeys came running to say hello!

What's this... a cowboy!?

 
Hi ya'll! I'm still up north visiting Mom and Dad, but wanted to drop you a quick note. We had a great time camping and floating (and flyfishing) the Kootenai River. I have lots of photos and even a few stories to share (but not tonight). I was planning on posting a few photos here during the trip, but we didn't even have cell phone service, nevermind remote wireless internet access!

Anyway, we returned home to Mom and Dad's house this evening so I thought I would share a little something crafty before I turn in for the night.

Before I left for my trip up north I was busy getting things ready to go. I got this cowboy image painted, but not made into a card. I thought I would share the painted image to give you another little SNEAKY PEEKY at one of my new stamp sets that will be releasing with Whipper Snapper on Monday! Yeehaw! You know my standard routine... the image was stamped in black StazOn and painted with Stampin' Up re-inkers.

Hope you've all had a good week... I talked to Alan earlier this evening and he said the weather in central Texas has been typical all week... sunny and 100+. Yippeeeee. What a *dreadful* thing to return home to... =)

Until next time, sweet dreams!

One Last Peek...

 

Whooo-hoo! Only one more week until this set is available! I can't wait!

Tomorrow we're headed to western Montana to do a little camping and fishing. I'm looking forward to the trip! Be back by Thursday!

Tractors & Chickens, oh my!

Now do you see why I'm so thrilled about this month's release?! Here's another peek for you!

Another Peek!

How about another peek at one of my upcoming new sets for Whipper Snapper... can't you just hear the engine rollin'! Be still my tractor lovin' heart!

About the time that this post gets published (scheduled blog posting is a Typepad feature that I love) I should be somewhere around 32,000' elevation, midway between Denver and Spokane on my way to spend the week with my parents. And in all honesty, I'm probably sound asleep on the plane. Zzzzz...

Oh! And speaking of flying! Alan and I picked up the new Wii Resort game a few weeks ago. One of the games included is called Island Flyover, and oooooh I love it! What a fun, stress free way to pass some time. We recommend the game!

Till next time!
Zzzzz...

This and That

Way too early in the morning on Saturday I'm flying up to northeastern Washington to spend a week with my family. I'm looking forward to the time with Mom and Dad, and I'm looking forward to not having to work! I took the entire week off, which is pretty unusual for me. We'll spend some time around the house, maybe attend the local county fair, and we've also planned a few nights camping in Montana where Dad will spend lots of time fishing and Mom and I will maybe do a little sewing on her hand-crank Singer. Sounds like loads of fun to me!

Alan is staying home to tend to the farm, and he will be missed. I wish he could go too -- I know he would enjoy this trip. But it's just too much time away from the farm in the heat of summer for us both to jet up north. He always reads my blog, so maybe you can post lots of nice comments for him to read while I'm away!

The August Whipper Snapper release will be Monday, August 24th. I'm over-the-top excited for this month's release! There will be three sets, and I can tell you right now, I *LOVE* every single one of them!! I have a couple of posts drafted up to share with you next week while I'm up north, but how about a wee little sneak peek now!?

What do you think the theme might be?!

Witchy Woman

Fall has always been my favorite season, and fall colors are my favorite colors to use. Everything about this project makes me happy. As I was digging through my drawer of patterned paper remnants looking for a piece of that Bo Bunny rust colored polka dot paper, I also came across this plaid die cut sheet from Pink Paislee! I think the combination of the two prints is fun, so I pulled them out for this project.

The images on the card are from my recently released Halloween Fun set, from Whipper Snapper. I stamped little Witchy Woo and her accessories in black StasOn ink and painted them with a water brush and Stampin' Up! re-inkers. Once the card was all assembled, I added some spritzes of Glimmer Mist in colors of Iridescent Gold and Autumn Leaves.

I have used Glimmer Mist on some of my recent projects, and have had a few people ask for more info about it. Glimmer Mist, a product from Tattered Angels, comes in a wide range of colors. It's a water-based product sold in small spritzing bottles. There are itty bitty little shimmery particles that suspend in the liquid solution and when spritzed on your project, you get a nice shimmer of color. I like the lightest colors (like pearl and iridescent gold) for adding more over-all shimmer to a project, and the darker colors (like Coffee Shop and Autumn Leaves) for adding just a bit of country/rustic character. ...and now I'm seeing that they have a new range of fall colors available! Ooooh, I might have to pick up some Caramel Apple, Indian Corn, and Pinecone!

To get the really fine misting of spray like you see on this project, it's best to spray the mist into the AIR in front of you and then lift your project up through the fine mist, rather than spraying directly onto your project. You will avoid the larger "blobs" that can happen if you spray directly onto the project. Blobs aren't a bad thing if you're expecting them, but when you don't want them on your painted project, they're not so fun. A word of advice... since the product is water-based, be careful when applying it to projects finished with other water-based mediums (like watercolor paints, or even re-ininkers). Adding too much can cause your watercolored work to bleed, or cause the color to lift. But you can see on this witch card that it is possible to combine Glimmer Mist with watercolored images -- just be careful.

Friendship Gardens

Here's another "oldie but goodie" for ya! This sweet image is from the long-time retired Stampin' Up! set called Friendship Gardens. I stamped her in black StazOn ink and loosely (and I mean loosely!) painted her with a water brush and re-inkers.

After the painted image was dry and the card was assembled, I gave it a few spritzes of Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist and Coffee Shop Glimmer Mist. That made her even cuter!

Stampers' Sampler Take Ten

What a fun mail day!

I received my comp copy of the latest Stampers' Sampler Take Ten magazine from Stampington.

Whooo!

They did a three-page "doodling" special feature article using my cards. Thanks to the Stampington folks for the fun publication opportunity!

Star Clip

Just a quick post tonight to wrap up the weekend. I thought I'd share this little star paperclip I made. Making chipboard flower paperclip toppers is fun and easy, and I thought it would be fun to do one made with stars. I kept it real simple. The clip is made with two chipboard stars with a jumbo paperclip sandwiched in between, held in place with E6000 glue. The button and hemp cord are also held in place with just a dab of glue. Allowed to dry overnight, E6000 works perfectly to hold this clip together!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend! We've been busy -- time for a good night's rest.

Playing Favorites!

My friend Shellie and I decided to have a little stampin' challenge. Shellie has great ideas for challenges, so we used one of hers: Playing Favorites - Create your piece using one of your favorite stamps or stamp sets, your favorite coloring technique, with your favorite piece of designer paper.

I chose my Sunflower Vase stamp -- it was one of the first stamps I released with Whipper Snapper and is still one of my favorites! I stamped the image in black StazOn (of course), and watercolored the image with re-inkers since that IS my favorite way to color an image...

And what's not to love about all the fabulous colors of Bo Bunny polka dot basics paper!? On this card, I chose to use Rust. Fall is my favorite season, and this color just screams autumn to me.

I also chose to use some chocolate colored twine, and a chocolate colored button. And more favorites, faux sewing and inked edges!

That's a lot of favorites!

You must check out Shellie's Playing Favorites card, posted in her SplitCoast gallery! And take a long look through her gallery while you're there -- you're sure to see why Shellie is one my favorites, too!

Dun dun dun dunnnnn!

Big news on the farm today!
At lunchtime, I thought I'd pop into town and drop some things off at the post office. As I was walking to my car, I noticed Queenie was laying down in the barnyard and it looked like she was in labor. Sure enough! I ran in the house to put down my things for the post office, grabbed my camera and zipped out to the barnyard. Unlike our other cows who give us lots of ooey gooey warning before they deliver, Queenie doesn't bother with the warning signs. Nope, she just delivers.

And deliver she DID! A CUTIE of a dun... bull calf ... *groan -- that makes 4/4 for the year*. But at least she managed to cook up a dun! Driskoll (aka Beavis), our herd sire, is a black Dexter but has dun in his pedigree. Queenie, the calf's mama, is also a black Dexter, and also has dun in her pedigree. Finally...third time's a charm... the two of them managed to produce a dun colored baby! Here he is napping in the shade of the barn in the heat of the evening. Nevermind his little newborn booger.

I was lucky to get an entire series of photos of his birth. I'll share just a few of them here. Sorry for the slime!

Fresh outta the chute!  (Sparing you the chute photos...)

Queenie chose to deliver out in the barnyard under the shade of the tree instead of in the barn where there was straw put down for her. Silly cow... the calf was covered in dirt and dried grass from the barnyard!

Only minutes old, you can see the babies are VERY slimy. Mama cows do a good job of cleaning their babies up quickly.

Looking a little less than sure about me and my ONE BIG EYE as I clicked photos.

Not exactly "cute" at this stage, is he?

Princess and Stewie stood only a few feet from Queenie and watched very quietly while she delivered her baby.

Runner: "Duuuuude, look at the new guy... whoaaaaa, far out....."

 
Stewie: "I'm just excited to have a new friend to play with! I will teach him how to run, and how to jump, and how to twist his tail in circles when he pees!"

Betty: "What!? Another COW!? Do I EVER get to go back in the barnyard? The goat yard is a drag!"

Welcome to the farm, little fella!

Charlie, sweet Charlie...

I was poking around in some of my stamp storage drawers the other night to see what I could find. I came across my Charlie stamp, and thought he would work perfect in a scene with this "old" (1998) stamp called Garden Fence from Stampington & Co that I recently purchased for a couple of bucks on eBay. I stamped the garden fence in black StazOn ink and painted it with re-inkers and a water brush. I added ultra fine glitter with a 2-Way Glue pen for LOTS of sparkle.

I stamped Charlie on a separate piece of paper, painted him the same way, added some glitter to his flower and neck tie, then cut him out. I adhered him to the card using dimensional foam adhesive, so he's popped up a bit from the garden fence. I think he turned out pretty cute, standing in the garden having picked the prettiest flower for a friend.

Here's hoping you have a happy Monday... let the countdown to the weekend begin!

Nutcracker Tag

This week's High Hopes blog challenge, hosted by Jeanne, is Go for the Gold. I don't use gold that often, so it was a stretch for me to find something that was actually gold colored and not just yellow! (I don't even where gold jewelry!) But I did find a sheet of heavy gold paper that hasn't seen daylight in at least a year or more. I adhered the heavy paper to a Bazzill chipboard tag and sanded around the edges of the tag. I used a sponge to apply brown ink around the edge of the chipboard. I added some faux stitching and I think it actually looks like gold painted leather!

I chose to use the cute Nutcracker image from High Hopes for the tag, along with a sentiment from my Snowman for Peace set, from Whipper Snapper. I added some twine to tone down the glam of the gold, and some vintage shell buttons. This little number will go in my Christmas wrap box, and I'll use it on a package this winter.