More updates and a card

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th. We had a relaxing evening. The morning was spent painting again. Hopefully that job will be done this week before we head up to Wyoming for some fun.

In the evening we had a cook out with my parents and went to watch the fireworks. It was freezing, but we tried to enjoy it anyway.

Earlier in the day Duane noticed one of our cats acting strangly. He had discovered this mouse. Instead of killing it, he was playing with it. They both kept waving paws at each other and jumping around. It was funny. I'm impressed by this great picture that Duane got.

Now for the card. I have been watching the "Thinking Inking" videos being posted on the Two Peas in a Bucket website. I purchased some of the Tim Holtz masks from work and thought that I would give Jennifer's technique a try. They are small and self adhesive, perfect for a card. You stick the mask down, ink or paint on top of it and then peel it up again when you are done. It doesn't shift around on you so you get a really crisp image.

First I stamped the image that looks like wrought iron squares in brown. Then I laid down my mask in the corner. I then took my inking tool and inked on top of the whole thing with 3 colors of distress inks. I love the depth that all the inking gives. I really love the mask. It peeled right up and left a great crisp image.

Here is a close up of the portion that had the mask on it. I added the gems and layered the papers to the green piece. I stamped the sentiment and tied a piece of fiber on. I layered all of it onto the front of the card.

I am going to try the other two masks soon. They were a great deal for only $1.99, because they re-stick over and over. It was really easy to clean it off too.

One of the pics I took of the card won't load up for some reason. It showed that I decorated the envelope to match with some of the left over inked up paper. I hope you will all watch some of the classes on www.twopeasinabucket.com I'm getting a ton of great ideas on ways to use my stamps that I either forgot about, or haven't thought of before.

It's been another month?

What the heck people? Time is flying this summer allready. We have been having fun and keeping busy around here. The picture below is Sarah at a local park. We love going there to burn off the energy.
There has been a little bit of crafting going on too. Here is one of the father's day cards I made. I kept them simple, because I made them in a hurry. I did use some new stamps and a new ink pad that I got. I love the Tim Holtz distress inks. They soak into the paper and create a smooth look thta is hard to see here.

The cards were made in a hurry because we were getting ready to go to Montana when I made time to make them. We spent 5 days and 4 nights in Montana. We went to celebrate Duane's granmother's 90th birthday. We all enjoyed having time together away from work. The picture below is all the great grandkids singing happy birthday to Grandma GG. It was SO cute and she really enjoyed it.

Here is a pic of Duane and his cousin Trent standing with the cakes and Grandma.

The first weekend after we got back we started to paint our house. It was looking pretty faded and shabby. You can see below an "in progress" photo. The peak above the kids' bedroom windows is unfinished. The body of the house used to be more of an ivory color. I know it's hard to see in the pictures, but it's becomming a frappachino/pale mocha color. We can't wait for it to be done. It's tons of hard work, but worth it.

We are excited for the 4th and Duane having Friday off of work. We hope you all have a wonderful and safe Independence Day.

What have we been up to?

Hello everyone out there in cyberspace. It looks like it's been about a month since I have blogged. I really do want to do this more often. It's just been so busy.

The kids had their last day of school last month. It was a great school year for them. They learned tons of new things. They grew a lot. They also made lots of new friends. They throughly enjoyed every day. They can't wait to be first graders in the fall.
This is a picture of them with their Kindergarten teacher Mrs. Robinson. They loved her. She made the year so special for them.

Here they are with the teacher's aide Mrs. Luko. She was sweet and wonderful too. If I had 25 5 year olds to take care of all day I would need an aide just like her.

Our big project this summer is to paint the outside of our house. We have begun to prep the house and repair what needs to be fixed before the paint goes on. Here I am above pressure washing the house. We did this the first weekend of June. It was a quick and easy way to get the house clean and, skip the scraping process.

The front porch post needed to be replaced. Here are the kids at Home Depot the next day. Daddy was looking for a new p 4X4 to use as the post. Sarah and Theresa were dancing. (In case you were wondering, Theresa is being Cinderella and Sarah is being the prince.)

We will be taking a trip to Montana this week. We will be leaving Thursday to attend a birthday party for Duane's grandma Hess. Grandma GG is turning 90 on Saturday. Hooray! We hope to visit with everyone up there and have a fun time.

I will try to do more updates soon. I hope everyone is having a nice summer. In spite of the hail and tornados here, we are.

Hello friends!

Hello everyone. I had a little free time today, so I made a card of course. I used a stamp that I have been dying to try for awhile. I also have had this cloud paper for a few weeks. I just knew when I saw this bird brad that I had to put it with the other two supplies. It turned out pretty cute.
What you can't see in my horrible pictures is that the cloud paper has a sparkly sheen to it. I just love it. It makes the sky look like it's full of sunshine.

The blue and brown cardstock have a vertical, wood grain, kind of texture. I love how it turned out.

It's spring around here. The weather is finally warm. This past weekend we got some plants going in the pots arond the yard.

A lot has been going on so far this month. Grandpa had a birthday. We gave him a tic tac toe game that has the kid's pics on each square. When he opened it they all promptly started to play.

Sabrina and Marie both graduated from college. Congrats ladies!! Mother's day was lovely. I got a rose which is pictured below. Mom celebrated her 60th birthday. We had a fun evening with everyone celebrating that. The kids get out of school next week. They are very excited.

There are no definite plans for every day activities around here yet. I am looking into swimming lessons for the kids. The rest is still up in the air. We hope to have more time for blogging and crafting.

I like to makke stuff

I bought a new stamp set. I had to try it out. It is a new clear set by Hero Arts.

I made this one for Marie. She seems stressed with the end of school and Dustin's lay off looming over her head. I think she needs a pick me up.

I love you Marie. It always works out OK in the end.

Spring Snow

Hello! I hope everyone out there is doing well. We are having some beautiful spring snow today. I won't be including any pictures in this post today. Duane took the camera with him and I didn't download any of the photos first.

Speaking of Duane....he and some other Lego empoloyees are having fun in the community this weekend. They will be building an 8 foot R2D2 at the Colorado Mills mall. It will all be happening just outside the Lego store. The kids get to come and help build. If you are interested in comming its Friday, Saturday and Sunday. After the grand finale on Sunday evening there will be some give aways too. It's from about 9 am till 6 pm each day. Duane estimates that they will be done a little earlier than that on Sunday. (Maybe 5 pm ish) Stop by and see him.

I have been feeling a little better. The strep throat and the ear infection are healed. I am still having serious problems with my left ear. I saw an ear, nose throat doctor yesterday. She said that the pollup in my nose is gone. That is good! I do have significant hearing loss in my left ear though. She thinks I might have some nerve damage. I'm doing another course of steroids to see if that will help. If it doesn't we will have an MRI and try to see into my inner ear and nerve. For now I'm just trying to be posative. I'm not completly deaf on that side, I can still go to work, I am healthy otherwise. I just say "huh?" and "Please say that again." all day.

Sarah and Theresa are doing very well in school. We are starting to make plans for fun things we will do this summer. We will be taking two small trips for sure. One to Montana and one to Wyoming. I'm going to put them in swimming lessons for sure. They love it! I'm allready hearing a couple of times a week,"Can we go swimming today?" I've been putting it off because of the cold, and my freaky ear. I soon won't have any more excuses.

Easter was a nice day. I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday. We took Sarah and Theresa to the Easter Vigil mass again this year. While it's hard on them to stay up so late, they really like it. They really enjoy seeing the adults getting Baptized in our church's, hot tub like, Baptizmal font. They also enjoyed the egg hunt and the candy the next morning. They were of course visited by the Easter bunny who broght them a ton of new books. They have been devouring them all week. They each got a chapter book too. I have seen them both reading them also. It's slow going, but they love reading so much they don't seem to notice.

For everyone in Colorado, enjoy the snow. It might be the last one. Drive safely if you go to see Duane at the Lego event. Have a great weekend.

So sick

Hello everyone. I've been so sick since last Wednesday. I just wanted to let everyone know that I seem to be on my way to all better. I had an ear infection and strep throat. Along with those came a VERY high fever, vomiting, diarreah, and a ruptured ear drum. So needless to say I'm tired of the couch and the house is a disgusting wreck. It is going to get cleaned a little today.

Last Thursday when Duane drove me to the doctor's office we had a little car accident. We were rear ended by a man who thought we wouldn't yeild to a giant RTD bus. The damage is minor and Duane is taking the van to have an estimate done today. The other driver's insurance is paying for everything including our deductible and a rental vehicle. So that was annoying, but is turning out really well.

Sarah and Theresa are looking forward to Easter. I am looking forward to Duane having a 4 day weekend. I love how generous Lego is with days off for holidays. European companies are definetly more generous with vacation time. It's awesome.

I hope all of you have a blessed Easter. Enjoy your families and good health. Oh, and enjoy some Reeses peanut butter easter eggs. And some Dove chocolate truffle easter eggs. And some mashed potatoes with real butter. Oh and a big old dinner roll with lots of margarine.