Saturday, March 28, 2015

Animal Crackers - Mirta and Lydia say Goodbye

Howdy -

This week we had a couple call to come see the donkeys. Just to see if they were interested. 30 minutes later they wanted Mirta and Lydia to go home with them. They didn't bring their trailer so they had to come back to get them. I think that is almost harder. You know the slow band aid pull. But we were able to harness them up and get them ready and say our goodbye - Mirta was really having a hard time with her split from her family and BFFs -


 Once we got her harnessed and out of the pen - she wanted really bad to go back in. Not a happy girl.
Mirta was on our NO SALE list. But this lady really fell for her and I know she will be spoiled rotten.  And honestly... Hubby says no more babies until we thin the herd a bit. So we decided to let her be sold.

And how could you not fall in love with this face and want to take her home? 


When it came time to pick a second as Mirta's buddy... she wanted brown or grey.  And at that moment.. Lydia pushed up against the lady and forcing some petting. Sold... Lydia has since day one been a sweet slow loving girl. Mirta.. not so much on the sweet slow. More like pushy insistance. 


I think the pair of them will make two great pets for this new family. So very sad myself. But happy that this lady and her grandchildren will be spoiling my girls for years to come.


After they were loaded up and drove away to cheer myself up I went to do some loving on a few other kids. Found these three looking right at me and they seemed to be interested in some attention.


Three good looking guys don't you think? LOL Handsome and adored. We ended up moving around their pens and letting them into a new area for a while after the love fest. Why mow down the grass when they are happy to take care of it for us?

Just before dark we walked to the back of the barn to see  a family of Turkey's we were hearing. Missed the photo sorry... But WOW take a look at our back pond and all the gorgeous Indian Paintbrushes growing!!


 This pond hasn't had much water at all if any the past few years. Drought and all. But now it is totally full! Frogs are loud in the evening. Hoping maybe some ducks might drop by. Front pond is still not holding water. Must have cracked in the drought so now it will need some work before it will hold any water. It will just go on the long list of things to work on.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend planned. Should be nice weather here - so hopefully some outdoor plans around here.

Have a great one! HUGS and

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

High Hopes Stamps - Buddy Bear Camping

Howdy -

This week I had some fun with Buddy Bear Camping - Great Guy image don't you think?


I used papers from Simple Stories - coloring with my copics with to match the colors of the papers.  Love the rich colors of these - I doodled the edge of the image and then used the sentiment "It's your day!" And for an embellishment I found a chipboard piece that I colored with a Copic.

Inside more of the same papers and another High Hopes Sentiment Large Fancy "Happy Birthday!"


Copic Colors Used -


 There are so many wonderful images in this new release - You can see all the new release images HERE. Enjoy -

HUGS and -

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Animal Crackers - Goat Close Ups and Learning to Jump!!

Howdy -
This week has been an up and down with the weather - gorgeous, then cloudy and wet. Good and then nasty. Sigh... but today is the first full day of Spring. Things have to be leveling out... right? Started seeing wild flowers - and the trees are starting to leaf out. The animal love the nice sunny days and I love getting shots of them totally relaxed and content.

Scarlett is getting pretty wide... wonder how many kids she will have? But right here she was just enjoying laying on top of one of the huts enjoying the sun.


Such a beautiful girl - love her coloring -



Speaking of up on top of the huts!!! Lizzy has it all figured out!


She now can follow Mom up when ever she wants... and she is so so proud! ok, now she is still having trouble laying down and understanding what it takes to stay in place and not slide down. But she is getting it. Now her little sister Jackie... she is still on the ground just a bit smaller so it take a little longer to get the jumping and making it. She will get too though!

Another close up - Love Miss Sandy -


She always looks like she is smiling to me. Is that long eye lashes or what? Pretty gal!

 Vera was enjoying chewing  here... slow and from side to side. Pretty coloring on this girl, but didn't get any babies from her after being in with Frank. Hopefully next time she will "take".


 We were standing out the other afternoon, cloudy and drizzling. We heard a noise - off in the distance. And getting closer.


We think they were Sand Hill Cranes - They were amazing to sit and watch. They flew around our property for over and hour. They would disappear and then here they would come again. There were so many of them. And they were so high.. it was pretty hard to zoom in and focus on them.

They were so graceful -


Love to watch birds - don't you? And I did forget to up date our birds - The little Chicks - They have moved into the larger hut out on the back porch. They are growing like crazy. Thinking in just a couple of weeks more and then they will move into a cage in the chicken coop. Looking forward to that as they are driving Miss Libbie insane watching them so much. LOL

Hope you have a wonderful weekend. Rain again today so no much needed outside work. Darn... I am thinking a great day for movies and coloring! How about you? What you up to today?

HUGS and - 



Wednesday, March 18, 2015

High Hopes Stamps - New Release Peek

Howdy -

This week at High Hopes Stamps there is a sneak peek of the new images being released! I had some fun coloring up Foxy Knitter -


Cute little fox huh? I colored with my Copics - (colors below) I love how the background came out. Total honesty now ok? I actually colored with a light yellow orange... but it was too harsh and didn't like how it looked with the pattern papers. So I went back and recolored the back with a sage green color. Love how it marbled the background - will have to try that with other combinations.

My pattern papers are from Prima Marketing Sun Kiss collection - I sewed all the layers down, and used a jumbo Martha Stewart Wild Flowers punch. The High Hopes "Thank You" Sentiment is one of my favorite fonts - Then I added three white buttons for a simple embellishment.

Inside are more of the same papers -


Copic colors used -


If you haven't checked out the new release sneak peeks at the High Hopes Blog you need to click on over and see all the cute stamps that are being released!


Hope you enjoyed - have a great day!
HUGS and-

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Animal Crackers - Cat in the Hats

Howdy

Found some great vintage hats at an estate sale a while back... asked Hubby to bring in the box so I could go through them and see about pricing and selling them at a future show. Came around the corner and found that someone had claimed the box as a nice cushy bed... Cat in the Hats .. or should I say "Gato" in the Hats -


She was so cute how could I get upset with her - did run and get my camera before I made her get out... 

This week has been all about Moxie - making sure she isn't roaming off looking for Nally. Man we are really missing Nally. And we don't want Moxie to head off somewhere looking for her. She has been doing just as I hoped, and staying close to home. Hubby has been mowing A LOT due to all the rains the clover, grass and weeds have gone insane, so he has been out mowing... Moxie has been following him from pasture to pasture and then back home. Thrilled with that.

Here I caught a little bit of her funny grin when I called her name. 


She has been receiving lots of belly rubs too... only one of the three siblings that did enjoy that.

Now that she is the only one here now she is taking lots of advantage to getting even more of them.

Hank was really enjoying the mowing yesterday afternoon - all that cut grass was just flying into his pen... no biting off required all the guys were just eating away - not too much though as that might give them upset bellies... LOL 
 





Here is a shot of Black Jack --- longing for the girls in the pasture just a bit away from him. We make sure there is a good space between them. Other wise I think Jack might figure out a way to get through. This is far enough to watch and call out to but not touch!


Man you can really see how lush and green things are!

Chicks are probably going to move outside onto the porch today. They have gotten SO BIG this week.


Will keep a heat lamp on them at night but the weather is so nice and warming up so they need to move out to the fresh air... they got in their tail feathers this week, and now their body feathers are coming in. Looked like little porcupines one morning then by afternoon they were better looking.  I have been calling them my little giraffe chicks. Kills me how far they can stretch those little necks.. LOL

Here one of them is giving me a look... I think it is "Get that camera out of my face please!"


 Hope you enjoyed this week - Feels like Spring is about here. Trees are budding out and things are green. I am so ready for winter be over. Animals are too -

Have a great weekend - HUGS and

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

High Hopes - Have I TOAD you...



Howdy,

This week I went for one of my first ever High Hopes Stamps - I have used this image many many times over the years, and always get a grin while using it -

This "Froggy Gift" paired up with a great sentiment - "Have I toad you?"


 Really loved doing this one - the paper colors the image and flowers! To create a background I stamped The boy then masked him off so I could stamp the stamp "Cattails" on either side of him. I colored with my Copics and then found bold color papers with Simple Stories. I sewed down all the layers - I created a band across the middle with paper and Martha Stewart Emroidery Doily Border punch. My favorite punch. I also pulled out some red mulberry roses with MS leaf punch -

Inside more of the same pattern papers. Had some great sentiment blocks with the collection - love how the lace border matches it.


Here are my Copic colors used -


If you haven't been to High Hopes recently - YOU MUST!! New site - New images - LOTS of DT post on the blog! Click on over and see for yourself!


Monday, March 9, 2015

Sarah Kay Girlie Happy Birthday

Howdy -

Had some fun digging into my older Sarah Kay images again this week. I adore them... I used one to create a Girlie Birthday Card  - You see my "OLDEST" BFF is having a birthday today. She just loves when I refer to her that way.. don't ya Deana?  We were partners in crime in high school. Oh not that we EVER did anything bad... never! This girl and I have had some laughs in the past. Some of those laughs were at my expense at times, a lot of the time, she seems to remember me being accident prone. I have NO idea why she thinks that.  Deana helped teach me to drive and for some reason she still finds that humorous. Why I was ok with her teaching me when I had experienced her launching driving I will never know. But I can say I learned to drive and wasn't a timid newbie driver! We also were master Tetris gamers! At least we thought we were... sure put enough quarters in that year. Wow that dated us didn't it?

So back to the card - Deana has all "men" in her house! So I decided she needed a real Girlie card this year.


I think the Sarah Kay.. the lace punch, chipboard corner flourishes, pearls and birdie have some girlie feel don't you? I sewed all the layers down. Most of the papers are Websters I believe. I hate that once out of those clear envelopes I loose what collection they are... sorry.  The Happy Birthday is a Stampin Up stamp - love to color in the roses on this one. I colored with my Copics (colors below)

The inside is the same papers matched up - with an Alota Rubber stamps Happy Birthday stamp. 

 Copic colors used -


Hope she got it on time... and hope she liked it. I had fun making it - so many stamps I love so little time to use them all.

Happy Birthday Deana! And I hope you all enjoyed my Girlie Sarah Kay Card -
HUGS and-

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Animal Crackers - ups and downs

Howdy -

Well another roller coaster week here on the farm. Highs and Lows - Ups and Downs as that is normal for us I guess. Started off on a up - we got new chicks this week... Hubby and I stopped at the feed store earlier in the week. Normally if it is just a pick up bags of feed  (BORING)  I stay in the truck and catch up on my reading... facebook usually... As Hubby got out of the truck I looked up and saw a giant sign "New Chicks Here Now" - I looked at Hubby and he shook his head. I jumped out and said I am just looking....


 We got inside to the chicks and they had some gorgeous breeds... mainly they had Australorps... one of the breeds we knew we wanted to get more of. You see we have come to the conclusion that the chicks we got last year from a private seller... well I don't think they were the best chickens. Of all the chickens we bought... we only have 5 left. And now yesterday we found the Lavendar is sick and I don't think she is going to make it. All my other chickens the Reds and Wyandottes are healthy and fine. I have been so depressed about all of the Heritages...  But I have learned a lot about buying chicks and know what to look for. Mainly... active and clean. Well these new chicks are active and clean. And before I could start the look and the pout... Hubby was asking for a box and telling me we should get at least 6 for now. I have such a wonderful Hubby....

These little ones are so amazing. Most active and responsive that we have had. I can't believe how much they have grown in just a few days.

Cute - Cute - Cute!


I guess I need to before I go much further let you know the down this week. As I am sure you are wondering. It is a real low. We lost one of our outside doggies... A true happy spirit. Nally died this week. We really don't why -


We just found her in her bed on the porch. No wounds - No injuries. We did notice that she didn't eat her dinner the night she died. Not totally out of the normal for her as some evenings a large rabbit does fill her up. We think she got into something poisonous. But don't know. I miss her so much. That dog was always happy - always. Now we are paying real close attention to her sister Moxie to make sure she is ok, and other than looking and barking for her sister she seems ok. But she has never been with out Nally... So She has been getting lots of love this week. Not that they didn't before - WE will Miss Nally horribly -

Ok before I start bawling again... lets talk about something cute and happy -

A few of the baby goats. Or as Hubby has been calling them "Knot Heads" -

LOL Doc, Man oh Man he is going to be one stunning Buck. Handsome and Sweet what could be better?


I called out to one of my bottle babies ... Jackie. Love that this girl always comes running to me when I call her name. :0) She was screaming out and running full pace to me. Love that!


You can see that she is a little Knot Head can't you? Those little horns are coming in on her. Adorable.

Her Sister Lizzy is just as adorable. And love to come running as well. But she has really put on a little gut this last couple of weeks... not sure why as there had been no bottle feeding for the past two weeks. I guess she is filling out on grass and Mom more than normal. If she don't stop chowing down may have to put her on Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers or something...


 I was kind and didn't show her belly from the back - she has really pooched out! But with that grin and those little Knots - she is precious!

Hope you have a nice weekend planned. And that the weather is nice where you are. Here today is suppose to be gorgeous... but tomorrow will be an indoor day. So we will enjoy today! :0)

Hugs and -

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

High Hopes Stamps - Pawsing to Say HI!

Howdy -

This week I dug deep into my box of High Hopes Stamps to find another old favorite. Love the "Cat Trio" -


Aren't they cute? I colored with my Copics and then matched up some older papers from First Edition Boho Chic collection. Great Warm Country feel don't you think? I sewed down all the layers added some buttons and lace to complete the country look. Then paired it all with the High Hopes Sentiment "Pawsing To Say"

Inside - 


Copic colors used -


Make sure to pop over to the High Hopes Stamps Blog - every day there is new DT projects being shown off!

Have a great day!
HUGS and