Stamping with Kim

The most wonderful time of the year!!

Thanksgiving Day already seems so far away!  I think that's a good thing, actually, because I felt like a stuffed turkey with all the food I ate!!  How about you?  Did you have a good day?  I'd love to hear about what you did & your family traditions!!

Yesterday Steve & I kicked off the shopping season by NOT participating in Black Friday :)  We started a new tradition a few months ago by going on a date one Friday afternoon each month.  It's actually quite nice!!  Friday afternoons in the movie theatres are pretty deserted - so we can cuddle & kiss and not be disturbed.  Well, I mean we COULD do that if we wanted to....but after all, we're married & don't need to do that stuff anymore!  bwahaha!!  Yesterday we saw "HUGO" in 3-D.  It was fabulous!!  I recommend it to children of all ages!!

Black Friday is my traditional day to start decorating for Christmas.  The first thing I did this year was decorate the mantle in the family room - and then tackle the family room itself.  I started another new tradition last year of NOT "un-decorating" all of my trees!!  This little 4-ft. pre-lit tree got picked up just as it is and put in the closet.  This year I just picked it up & put it in the family room.  What joy!!

All of my favorite little snowmen were waiting patiently all summer to be brought back out to play.

I couldn't believe ALL of the ornaments were still in place, nothing broken, nothing bent.  Love it!!

After placing the tree up on a box to make it just a wee bit taller, I used a tablecloth to cover the stand.  Then I added 4 of these little "dangly-legged" fellas to help anchor the tree in place.

Most of the ornaments on this tree are snowmen & snowflakes....red, white & green.  Snow & snowmen are my favorite decorations of all!!  I've found several at Cracker Barrel - like this one on the right.

In fact, now that I'm looking at these pictures & thinking back - I think SEVERAL of these came from Cracker Barrel at one time or another!  Sounds like I'm spending waaay too much time at Cracker Barrel LOL!!

I do love my snowmen, though, no matter what shape or size!

I even have the coffee table in the family room decorated with snowmen....well, at least I have STARTED decorating the coffee table.  It seems that I have misplaced my cute little felt tablecloth circle, and several teeny little snowman that go with it.  That means I have more moving boxes to dig through this weekend!  uugghh!!

Oh well, as my husband would say... "progress, not perfection!!"

I just wanted to share a few holiday pics with you because I haven't had much time for blogging lately.  Staying with my mom kept me occupied for several days, and then I went on a quick business trip with hubby to South Carolina on Monday & Tuesday of this week.  That was a lot of fun because I did Christmas shopping the whole time he was in his meeting!!  I even found his birthday present (Dec 16th) and he is no doubt the hardest person in the world to buy gifts for!!

I hope you are enjoying this long holiday weekend :)  I will post more pics soon with more of my holiday decorations.  Thanks for visiting!!!

 

Handyman Love!!

This warm & cozy picture is due entirely to my hubby  :)  My very own handyman!!

We noticed last winter that our new fireplace wasn't "drawing" properly.  More often than not, smoke was coming out into the room.  Not a happy thing.

Sooooo....after much research, hubby found that the problem was two-fold.  First, this is a two-way fireplace.  Our kitchen breakfast area is on the backside of this fireplace.  In other words, there is no back to the fireplace, it is open to both rooms.  That, apparently, makes drawing a little more difficult.  The second problem was that the opening was too tall.  Originally, there was no hearth.

So, being the handyman that he is, he tackled this project with glee.  He did.  He loves a challenge!

There was no hearth.  None.  The opening went all the way to the floor.  So the first thing he did was build up the bottom of the fireplace with fire brick.  Then he built the entire hearth!!  I LOVE HAVING A HEARTH TO SIT ON (ummm....and to decorate!!  LOL!)

Next, the mantle.  Not only is the man a very talented handyman - he is smart, too!!  He found this hearth at a YARD SALE!!!!  And it's perfect!!  Ya gotta love that!!!

So after trying 3 different colors of paint on it, I finally settled on this one that matches the stone AND the furniture in our room.  Beautiful!!!

So that's what he's been up to lately - along with a whole string of other handyman projects that he ALWAYS has going on!!  Be sure to leave him a post!!

Have a great weekend!!

 

Are we done yet??

"OK, listen carefully while I explain this one more time ... I'm a cat, not a gardener.  Go find someone else to do your dirty work!!"  I think that's what this look means after Cousin followed me back & forth a few times this week!  I've been taking it easy on him - I think he's lost an ounce or two & is down to about 21 lbs :)

I bet my husband would like to say the same thing, come to think about it!  OK, I'm about to let them both off the hook.  PHASE II of the Greenhouse Garden is 98% complete, so I'm back with that picture I promised!!

This little area to front & right side of the greenhouse used to be a great big mess.  After digging out all kinds of things, we filled it with some good soil & planted just a few Sedums, and some kind of Sage-y plant that my cousin gave me.  Gotta love those recycled plants!!  Everything else shown here, the trees & yuccas, were already in place.  I added the border to match "Phase I", and filled in with mulch.  It looks soooo much better!

The reason I said it's "98%" complete is because if you look closely in the upper left-hand-side of the picture you can see a Hummingbird feeder.  The part that is missing is another bird feeder stand that we have, that holds 3 feeders.  It has not been set up yet.  But it will be before winter!!

Several of you have asked "so where are these sheds & greenhouses around your house - front?  back?  where??"

I'm standing in front of Steve's garage (not be confused with MY GARAGE!!) which is detached and at a 90 degree angle beside the house.  We call HIS garage the "Carriage House".  My garage is called....the garage! 

You can see the very corner of our house here on the right.  The sidewalk goes into the front door.  The Shed & Greenhouse are on the left-hand-side if you're standing on the street looking at the front of our house.  I'm glad there were still some roses for this picture!  It's been so hot & dry that everything is dying... see the grass?  Or what's left of it!!

OK, gotta run for now!  I have Friendship Bread baking in the oven - it's going to serve as a b'day gift tonite, along with a jar of my homemade Strawberry Preserves.   That b'day also requires a card....a "GUY" card.... so I need time to prepare!!  LOL!!

Have a great day!  And thanks for visiting :)

 

New Addition to the family!!

 Oh yeah, right!!  LOL!!  After the last year & a half - about the only thing I can handle is dirt & flowers!!

A few weeks back we added a greenhouse to our family.  :)  I am so excited about this - it's something I have wanted my whole life.  But we have moved so many times, that I just never wanted to invest the emotion into one.  Now that we're back home, it was definitely a priority for me!!

Over the past few days I have been busy as a bee - more on that later!! - getting the border laid around the flower garden & choosing a few plants.  As for the bees....well, I had basically TWO criteria for the plants.  Number 1 was they had to be perinnials.  Number 2 was that they had to be loved by....BEES!! 

You see, another one of my priorities is to one day have a bee hive - or two!!  I have the perfect spot for a bee hive - just to the left of my greenhouse (several feet away!!).  So I definitely want my bees happy & well fed :)

 Two of my very favorite parts of the new greenhouse & flower garden are #1 the handmade shutters that match the ones my hubby made for my Potting Shed and #2 is this sign.... also, hand made by my hubby!!  We came up with this saying "In the Beginning..." because we envision lots of new growth going on in & around my new greenhouse!  I  ADORE my new sign!!

The garden is very simple - I have 3 pink Coneflower plants, 2 purple Hyssop flowers, and 1 bright pink Crape Myrtle.  I can't wait 'till next spring when they're all settled in & blooming like crazy.  The bees will be so happy - and so will I!!

Now...my next priority is stamping!  I already have a card half-finished upstairs.  So off I go!!

Thanks for stopping by to visit!!

Sweet Inspiration!!!

I have truly been inspired by everyone that joined my IN COLOR CLUB - most of you for the 2nd, 3rd or 4th time!!  You have single-handledly kicked me into getting my craft room into some kind of organization :)  Here's what has happened over the past few days....

Steve had to work in Atlanta for a few hours last week, so I decided to tag along with him, just for fun.  THEN I remembered there is an IKEA in Atlanta!  Boy, that will make your heart smile!!

While he was at work, I did a little shopping.  Well, OK, I did A LOT OF SHOPPING!!  When I picked him up the first words out of my mouth were...."don't be a hater!!"  That made him laugh out loud & immediately ask "what did you get?!!"  By then he opened up the back of my SUV and saw this HUGE BOX sitting there & he really laughed!!

Well, to make a long story short - I started out with the smaller version of what is pictured here - an 8 X 2 cube EXPEDIT organizer.   But I ended up with BOTH that one, and the one you see pictured above.  You see, once he saw how cool they were - he wanted the smaller one for himself & offered to go back & get me the one I really wanted.  Now just how cool is that?!!

You know how organizing goes...you bring one thing in & have to re-do the whole room!  The only wall that big organizer would fit on was where I had originally set up all my "Big Shot" stuff. 

Since it had to be moved anyway, I decided to make that big workstation my own work desk, and move the Big Shot Station onto the smaller workstation.  yep!  That meant the ENTIRE ROOM had to be taken apart and re-organized....not that it was truly organized in the first place!  LOL!

So now this smaller workstation is home to my Big Shot & all the dies.  I actually think this is a better use of space anyway. 

Oh, all of the organizing meant trips to Michaels, Target, etc. for baskets & bins that would fit :)  The green boxes in the EXPEDIT system are all from Ikea, including the green and black & white striped magazine holders.  I love them!!  The smaller green & black crates shown here at the workstation were all from Target ($3 each!!!!).  Love them!

Oh, and before I forget to admit this.....this is nowhere near ALL of my stamping supplies!!!  These are only the things I felt would be needed in the immediate future.  There are 2-3 times more than this stored outside in our Carriage House!!  I seriously need to be in one of those 12-step-stamping programs!!

Anyway, I'm saying aaaallllllllllll of that to say that....yes, you girls have soooooooo inspired me!!!  I actually broke open my last couple of boxes of supplies and did THIS this morning.....

...tease, tease!!  LOL!!  You have to come back tomorrow to see the whole project!!  As rare as my posts have been lately - you didn't really think I would spill all the beans in one post did you?!!  Surely you know me better by now!!

Thank you everyone that joined the IN COLOR CLUB this time!!  I appreciate you more than you know!!!

Have a great stamping day,