Hatflields and McCoys

I just started watching part one of the 3 part mini-series tonight on the History Channel.  They have all three of the episodes on line, so if you've missed any of them just head on over. I've always wondered what the feud was all about - it's pretty interesting.

The weather has cooled off somewhat since the storms passed through the other day and I am loving the low humidity. Hopefully it will stay this way for awhile. I don't know about you but I have much more energy with cooler temps. Remember the trimming of hedge along our driveway on Monday? Well I have 5 dots of poison ivy on my arm from it. Not too bad considering that there was a ton of it. Well back to the show...

Anyone out there watching it?

Roses at Dusk

Can I just say again how much I LOVE picmonkey?! I used the dusk feature on these shots and love how they turned out. It is so easy to use...perfect for me! Mr OP and I did some major yard work on Monday. We trimmed the hedges along our driveway (took 2 hours) and the he decided to trim my antique rose bush while I was in getting us something cold to drink.

He did some major pruning and cut off a lot of blooms. I do give him credit though, he knew enough to save them for me - I have them all over the house in so many different containers. I love how they look in my Mother's cup - sooo old fashioned.

I came up here about an hour ago to do a quick post and got side tracked by Pinterest. If you're a pinner, then you know how easy that is to do (get sidetracked). I will slowly but surely get around to visit all of you and see what you've been up to.


How are your gardens growing this year? Linking to Pink Saturday

I'm baaack

Wow my little break for Mr OP's birthday took a little longer than I expected. . We had a wonderful long weekend at the beach - the weather was perfect. He loved his 50 days to 50 years gifts and the "Remember When" tag book that I made for him.

 

It seems that everyone knows someone who is turning 50. Tom asked me to make a 50th birthday card for his sister. She turns 50 next month. I wanted to give him 2 options to choose from. This glittered number card was the fist one that I made and my favorite.

 

It's also the one that Tom picked. The nifty fifty card was neat too, but I should know by now that if I like a card, that's usually the card that someone picks. It's funny how that works out. 

Hope that you all had a wonderful holiday weekend. I'll pop back in later this week to share how we spent our weekend. We're getting really bad storms right now, so I'm going to sign off before I lose this post.

How do you Stay Creative?

You may have seen this list before, but I thought that I'd share it with everyone, it has some great ideas. I'll be taking a few days off to celebrate Mr. OP's big 50, so I'll catch up with you on Monday!

Enjoy your weekend sweet friends!

Memory Boxes for Mother's Day

I saw a fab idea on Cathe Holden's blog Just Something I Made and decided to make it for my Mum and MIL for Mother's Day - Memory Boxes. Cathe used recipe boxes, however I found these cute paper mache boxes at AC Moore that had a snap closure and decided to use them.

 

The boxes are approximately 6.5 x 4 .5 and worked perfectly with Cathe's down-loadable templates. She said to use some corrugated card stock on the inside bottom so that the cards don't slip - loved this tip!

 

I made three boxes and kept one for myself. I figured that my kids or my some day grand kids might like to know some fun things about me too. Cathe even provided a list of prompts and ideas to write about.

 

These would make a great gift for Father's Day too, just change up the look. I added a few other little gifties too, some chocolates, sample hand creams and shower gels, as well as pretty pen. I had a wonderful weekend and we got to spend time with both of our Mums.

So what did you all do for Mother's Day weekend?

Handmade Scrapbook

Thanks so much for all your prayers and well wishes for Frank. Cathy called to tell me that the surgery went well. He'll be in ICU for several days and then in a regular room for about a week. So continued prayers would be appreciated.

 I used Heidi Swapp's color magic file folders to create this handmade scrapbook as part of Sabrina's birthday gifts. Heidi did a great tutorial on how to use them for all kinds of things on My Craft Channel on line. She also has some great tutorials on YouTube.

The folders are made from a heavy stock and have a resist (a background that doesn't absorb ink, paint, glimmer mist, etc.). So when you add your color the resist is a white pattern. I used a lime green color for all of the file folders and then embellished with all kinds of greens and pinks. Perfect colors for a 14 year old girl.

 Did I tell you that I get to watch little Miss Audrey Rose on Saturday? Her Mummy has to work till noon and her Mimi and GG are going to her Uncle Brian's graduation. So I get to watch her! She asked me if I would mind...mind, I can't wait. She is soo sweet. She'll be a year in July - it's hard to believe.

My Mum and I are going shopping Saturday afternoon - I can't wait to do that either. It's been awhile since we've done that and what better time than the day before Mother's Day. Sunday's plans are up in the air, but I know that it'll be a day to count my blessings.

What are your plans for this Mother's Day weekend?

Sabrina Fair

My darling niece Sabrina is turning 14 on Sunday. i love her name. Have you ever seen the re-make of Sabrina with Harrison Ford and Julia Ormond? The line where he quotes Sabrina Fair is soo romantic.Our Sabrina is at such a fun and exciting age. She plays water polo and is a wonderful budding artist - I'm amazed at her confidence.

I wanted to do a card that was a little more on the fun side this year. Just as I was finishing up the card her Mum, Heidi called me. She wanted to know if I would sell some note cards. Apparently Sabrina told her teacher about my cards and scrap booking, and her teacher is interested. It warmed my heart that Sabrina liked my cards enough to tell her teacher about them

She also wanted to let me know that the traveling bear that Sydney sent to our Texans came back home again. Apparently Sydney's class is doing a project with the students each getting a bear that goes on adventures. She sent hers to Jade and our Fireman. They blinged it out with a necklace that had a pendant in the shape of TX and a pin from Houston and wrote about the adventure of going to the mall and floating in their swimming pool in the hot Texas sun. Sydney was so proud to put a pin in TX on the class map.

The Dates are Set

  Sorry that I haven't been around much this past week. Not sure what I've been doing...but, I haven't been blogging. I do have a few craft projects in the works and promise to share them with you later this week.

We knew that next year was going to be a busy one with both sets of engaged couples wanting to get married in 2013. We just didn't know that there would only be 2 months in between the weddings.

 We are so excited for the kids.  April 7 and June 15th will be here before we know it. It's so much fun to be in on the planning. You know me and planning and although it's not Christmas (wink) I'm just as excited! Because you know what comes after love and marriage?!!! Just kidding - well sort of:)

  

 Tomorrow, my BIL, Frank is undergoing surgery (all day) for esophagus cancer. All the chemo and radiation have really taken a toll on his body - it's pretty bad. We are praying for him and the doctors and staff that will  be doing the surgery and taking care of him.

Hope that all is well in your little corner of the world.

Matryoshka or Nesting Dolls

I have several sets of matryoshka or nesting dolls. But this set is my favorite. It is very light weight and intricately decorated.

From Wikipedia:
A set of matryoshkas consists of a wooden figure which separates, top from bottom, to reveal a smaller figure of the same sort inside, which has, in turn, another figure inside of it, and so on. The number of nested figures is traditionally at least five, but can be much more, up to several dozen with sufficiently fine craftsmanship. 


Do you have any matryoshka?