Looking 4 Inspiration...

BLOG-HOP: Getting Ready for another LOAD...

2011-09-17T19:12:00.000-07:00

Hi!
If you have arrived here via the LOAD Blog -hop ---WELCOME!!!

If you have arrived here because you are lost in the web of the internet---WELCOME!!!

I know that reading down the side bar of my blog you can probably tell
I have been a participant of every Lay Out A Day Challenge that
Lain Ehmann has held since the very first one she held at Big Picture
Scrapbooking as a month long free challenge.

I don't know what it is about making a lay out a day for a set number of
days but for some reason I just manage to scrap more if I set myself the
goal to finish '28 layouts in 28 days' or '31 layouts in 31 days'. The
challenge of dropping everything for 15 to 20 minutes a day to quickly
put together a layout that I might never have put together is big. Every
day is busy, every evening is full of taking the twins to extra curricular activities
and getting dinner ready/cleaned up. Nothing really changes from day to day,
except for that certain number of days I actually remind myself to stop and
play in the scrapbook materials for a few minutes and require myself to actually
post the results to prove to others that I did, indeed, take a few minutes for me.

Just about every layout I have done for the LOAD challenges have been super
fast (for me) projects. They were almost all put together within 15 to 20 minutes
and are probably not my best creative work but I'm happy with 99% of them.
(There is one I wasn't happy with and re-made later but on the whole I'm
pleased with most of them!)

My best piece of advice for LOAD? Leave perfection behind!
Scrapbooking becomes super easy!
Grab a photo, some paper, a few embellishments (or not)
and slap it all together and viola! It's a layout!

I have a pile of photos that I have printed out over the last
couple of years (I just keep adding to the pile) and I flip
through a few and choose one (or a few) and that is the
focus for my layout of the day. I grab paper and embellies
and go to town making a quick but cute layout. Now, I'm not
the most creative scrapbooker in the bunch but I do like to
get artistic every now and then. Those pages do take a little
longer but not much. I have also learned to quit fretting over
the 'perfect paper' or the 'perfect embellishment' or the 'perfect
ribbon', etc. You get the idea. I glue and go.

Also- when I'm not home during LOAD, and there have been
several different challenges where I have been on the road, I
use freebie digital scrapbooking supplies that I have downloaded
over the last several months. As I get emails of sales from digi-scrapping
companies that have freebies or free w/purchase kits I squirrel them
away for LOAD. I have learned how to change a background in Photoshop
and add the layer or cluster or whatever to my photo. It's quick and easy
and already on the computer so no photographing required before uploading
to the Flickr account. Pretty handy in a hotel room! I have learned to let go
and just put that photo on a page. Then, when I get home, I print it out as
a 12x12 layout, maybe add a little handwritten journaling, slid it into a
page protector, and add it to one of my albums. Easy- peasy- lemon-squeezy
as my kids would say!

The biggest thing to remember is - LOAD is FUN not stressful. Don't make it
work and don't stress over it. It is supposed to be a fun 'you time' activity
and a chance for you to be creative for a little while each day. Don't over think
it and you will enjoy it a whole lot more.

Here are a few posts I have done in the past showcasing my
LOAD layouts...

October 2010

February 2010

October 2009

Obviously, there are lots more posts on my blog regarding LOAD
but I didn't want to fill up a whole page just listing old posts. Feel
free to check the archives and take a look.

Now that you've visited me you need to go here and visit Tambur .

And if you are just starting on this Pre-LOAD hop check
Lisa's blog and then continue on through the rest of us!

Here's the list of all the participants! Enjoy!

Lisa: http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com

Katherine: (me) http://www.csmoferret.blogspot.com

Tambur: http://myhearties.blogspot.com

Pam: http://dailypamage.blogspot.com

Katrina: http://k84mansramblings.blogspot.com

Christie: http://mrsingie.com

Lisa: http://lisamzepponi.blogspot.com

See you soon in the next LOAD Challenge!!

xoxox

Csmoferret

Happy Independence Day!!!!

2011-07-04T09:56:00.000-07:00

We have been really patriotic around here
and usually go see the fireworks displays
in a nearby city but since we are in an
extreme drought we thought we would
decorate with non-fire-fireworks!

What do you think?
With the flags outside and the flag painting inside

and the flag quilt I am sewing

(yep-that's my FIRST quilt Ever!!!)
I'm feeling pretty patriotic!!!

Enjoy!
xoxox

Csmoferret

Tipsy Canvas....

2011-07-04T09:45:00.000-07:00

has me hooked on acrylic painting!!! That's part of the reason
I haven't been online in a while. The other part is I just don't
have the time I thought I would even though it is Summer!!
: )

Here are the canvases I have painted in order from the
very first one that got me hooked to my most recent
painting...

1) Bluebonnets (now on the wall in my dining room):

2) Reflections of the City (now on the wall in the guest room):

3) Fruits of the Spirit

4) Cherry Blossoms (Punkin has claimed this for her room):

5) Palms on the Beach (on the wall in the family room):

6) American Flag (above the fireplace in the family room):
The flag is my favorite but I really have had a blast painting all of these
pictures! I am going to have to start mailing these out for Christmas gifts
if I keep this up! LOL! This is just so much fun!!!

Enjoy!
xoxox
Csmoferret

LOAD days 3,4,5,6...

2011-05-06T18:41:00.001-07:00

Day 3: Buddy's class at school. I just couldn't resist adding the ogre ears to the
circle that shows where he is.

Day 4: Punkin's class photo. I didn't dare add the Shrek ears to her circle. LOL.

Day 5: Digital layout using our New Year's Day 2009 photo.

Day 6: Punkin in front of her artwork (upper left corner) hanging in the
CC Art Museum during a young artist contest.

More soon!
xoxox
Csmoferret

LOAD 511 is rolling...

2011-05-02T20:52:00.000-07:00

Here are the first two layouts of May...

I'll be making lots of digital layouts this month since I'll
be traveling from the 4th through the 21st but I love the
paper layouts best so I'll be scrambling to get another
done tomorrow and early Wednesday and then all of the
layouts from the 21st on to the end of the month.

Just 2 more 'wake-up's before I head out on the first
leg of my Inspired Artist Week trip! Yahoooo!!

xoxox
Csmoferret

Happy Happy...

2011-04-24T13:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter 2011
to your family

from ours!

xoxox
Csmoferret

Yep, We Painted Bluebonnets!!!

2011-04-22T17:12:00.000-07:00

Well, last night Tipsy Canvas set up a class at the local Country Club and then
walked 41 women through the basics of painting Bluebonnets. It was a total
blast! There was wine and appetizers provided and the canvases and paint
brushes were also provided. We showed up, picked a spot to sit down, and
were off and painting! I had such a great time and the ladies in charge were
really very nice and extremely encouraging. My friend Amy Jo went with
me (because I didn't want to keep all that painty goodness to myself!)

Here is a photo of the finished canvases we both painted!

Oh, and I know you can't really tell in this photo but we were both
wearing the SAME SHOES! Same color, same style! Too funny!

More later about more!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Check out this Awesome Giveaway!!!

2011-04-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

http://jeanneoliverdesigns.com/blog/2011/04/15/amazing-art-supply-giveaway-helping-you-show-up/#comment-12806

LOAD 211 => Day 1

2011-02-01T21:21:00.001-08:00

Yep, I'm doing it again! This one used the first photos taken
with my 'new Polaroid' camera. I love the little 2x3 size photos!
See you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

View from our window...

2011-01-16T14:15:00.000-08:00

we are on our family reunion ski trip and this view from
a window in the living room of our condo really inspired
me to get out the paints, water color crayons and
colored pencils to create this...

I had fun doing it and it has already inspired me to sketch out
a couple more ideas. Love how that works!

I'll post my sketchbook pages in order over the next few days
because I can't seem to get them small enough to be
accepted by email.

Enjoy.
xoxox
Csmoferret

From my family to yours...

2010-12-31T17:40:00.000-08:00

Wishing you a
Very Happy, Healthy
& Safe New Year!

Good-Bye 2010!
Hello 2011!
Happy New Year!

xoxox

Csmoferret

Merry Christmas...

2010-12-30T08:54:00.001-08:00

and A very Happy, Healthy, Safe New Year !!!!

Love & Hugs

Csmoferret, Hubby, Buddy, Santa & Punkin!

I completely missed this announcement but...

2010-12-23T17:56:00.000-08:00

oh what a surprise when I got the box today!!!

Check out this link to the Cocoa Daisy Blog! LOVE me
some Cocoa Daisy kits!

xoxox
Csmoferret

Last Day of LOAD 10/10

2010-10-31T19:10:00.001-07:00

I'm behind on posting my completed layouts for LOAD here but
I've kept up with creating them and getting them posted to the
group on the correct days. I feel like I accomplished something
this month just getting those 31 layouts done.

This is just a list of the photos. I will edit this post with the
details later - I don't have access to them right this minute.

Day 23 (digital -Lindsay Jane Designs cluster frames)
Day 24(digital template from Shabby Princess Designs)

Day 25 (digital -will post info later)

Day 26 (digital- will post info later)

Day 27 (digital -will post info later)

Day 28 (digital - will post info later)

Day 29 (digital template/ cluster -will post info later)

Day 30 (digital quick page- will post info later)

Day 31 (digital quick page -DSS designs- will post more info later)

Thanks for visiting my blog during the October Lay Out A Day
Challenge. I enjoyed posting my layouts and sharing the little
details.

xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 22 of LOAD 10/10

2010-10-22T12:05:00.001-07:00

The challenge for today was to draw attention to your
photo or story in some way other than a size difference.
So I decided to use this digital quick page.

This is the Apple Hill Quick Page by Ella of
Gingerscaps.net and I used spring school photos of
the kids because they actually are dressed more for
Fall than the Fall photos (where they are dressed
for 100 F temps.) I'll be adding journaling around
the edge of the green paper once it is printed out.
I liked this quick page for today's challenge because
the stack of stuff in the middle of the page draws
your eye to it and then down the column. Not
something I usually notice but it's very cool!

I'll be back with another LOAD layout
tomorrow! See you then!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 20 & 21...

2010-10-21T20:48:00.000-07:00

Day 20 => Challenge? Make a layout in 30 minutes or less -
grab and go, people, grab and go.

So, I used this digital quick page by Ali Edwards (AE Shutterfly
Quick Page) and added photos of Daddy and the Twins taking
down the play set in the backyard. They decided that the
swings were too small and the slide was too low and they
couldn't play on it anymore. So, we decided to just take
it down and also take down the old rickety trampoline and
get rid of it all. We got $9.00 for all the metal in the
trampoline and the wood from the play set went to the
farm. Now, the kids can run and play with the dogs in the
backyard because we can actually walk back there now. The
dogs are simply beside themselves and don't want to come
indoors! It is just too funny. This layout took longer to
print out than it did to make and I added journaling
around some of the flower shapes.

Day 21 = > Use a very large embellishment or element to
help tell your story and draw the reader in.

Is this embellishment/element big enough? LOL! I drew
this tree trunk on a 12x12 piece of chipboard (from the
back of a pad of scrapbook paper), cut it out while
waiting for the kids to get out of school, base coated it
with a soft brown paint, then used Crackle Medium and
top coated it with a dark brown paint. Then I covered the
back with pop dots and stuck it down to a piece of
Summery patterned paper. I cut out leaves too but
didn’t want to haul out all of my different paints so
I used a package of Prima leaves and added them with
some more pop dots. Basically, I just played and I’m
thrilled with the way it turned out. I think this
may be my favorite photo-free layout ever!

Well, off to bed. See you tomorrow for Day 22.
Only 10 more days of LOAD 10/10 left!

xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 19 - It feels like it took all day!

2010-10-19T21:33:00.001-07:00

I read through the prompt this morning and printed out the
sketch we were supposed to use and then headed back to get
ready for the day. As I passed the backdoor I saw Wiley sitting
on the leftover sand from the playset that we removed a few
weeks ago. He was looking so pleased and content that I ran
back to the kitchen for the camera and took some zoom
photos of him. He really reminded me of the Sphinx (I've
been reading several novels thattake place in Egypt lately)
and so I decided that my accent on the sketch would be a photo
of the Sphinx and then I would use 2 photos of Wiley in that
same position. I love the picture of him yawning - that
one really makes me smile!

Of course, after uploading the photo of the layout to the
Flickr group I realized the mini-alphas of the title are hard
to read. SO I am going to dig out some of my alpha stamps
and use brown ink to stamp "Our Little" on the tag where
the alpha stickers are and change that just a tad. That way the
title will be more visible.

Using the sketch made parts of this layout easier than
others but I still had a hard time adapting my usual
12x12 format to the 8.5x11 format. It's hard to believe
but in 17 years (1993-present) of scrapbooking and
memory keeping I have never used just a plain ol'
8.5 x 11 inch sheet of cardstock as my foundation!
I have always either cut it down or used 12 x 11.5
(the old CM measurements) or 12 x 12 in layouts.
It was fun to try something new. I will be doing
that again soon, too!

See you tomorrow for Day 20!
x0x0x
Csmoferret

Day 18 - Got it done Early today!!

2010-10-18T08:31:00.000-07:00

Well, the challenge today was to 'go hybrid' and I have been holding on
to this quick page by Marshmella Designs for a while now so I thought
I would go ahead and use it. Now the hybrid part kicks in once this
beauty finishes printing on the HP wide format printer and I can use
a Sharpie pen to journal around the edges on the line! So, all done
for today! Hip Hip Hooray!! Now I'm off to clean the house and
finish some laundry -can't have anyone going to school or work
in their birthday suits. : )

See you later!
xoxox
Csmoferret

LOAD Day 17 & 16 revisited...

2010-10-17T21:05:00.000-07:00

Okay, I said yesterday that I didn't really like the layout I put together
and I knew I would be rearranging it before too long. I just didn't expect
it to happen at 3 am! LOL! I moved the photos around and then this
afternoon I found a journal box sticker that worked better than some
of the other things I tried. I also added some more crystals to the top
of the page and now it feels done.

Then I spent part of the day helping both twins finalize their diorama
designs and stuck around to make sure I was available for help if they
got stuck (they didn't need my help after all!) and by the time I realized
I needed to make a layout for today I was kind of crafted out. So I just
grabbed the extra photos from the group I printed out yesterday and
the extra branches I fussy cut from the flower paper yesterday and
created this layout...

It could use some more of the yellow crystals across the top like the
layout from yesterday but I don't have anymore...maybe one of these
days I'll find some and add them. I also don't have any journaling on
this page because I am going to create a pocket on the back and have
a tab that pulls up from the top so the journaling is hidden but still
available. But it's done and that's really all that matters.

See you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

LOAD Day 16...

2010-10-16T21:43:00.001-07:00

Today's challenge was to put everything we done so far to good use.
I don't think I managed that but here is my layout for today.

This is part of an old Scrap Jammies layout kit but I modified it and
added some stuff, etc. I am not real thrilled with the photo layout
and I had a journal tag above the small photos but I didn't like it
there and ripped it off before uploading my layout to the Flickr
group for LOAD. I know I'll figure something out that will work
better but I'm going to bed -maybe I'll come up with a better
design tomorrow.

Good Night!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 15

2010-10-15T20:44:00.001-07:00

The challenge today was to mix up your theme papers and use them for
photos/stories that are not related to the themes. I wound up creating
a July 4th themed layout because the photo I chose was taken on July 4th
when the twins were 10 months old. I think I would have been more
likely to use other papers if I had changed the photo to black and white
but I don't mind that I didn't meet this challenge -maybe next time.

I do know that all of the papers and embellishments on this layout
are OLD. I just finished going through my patriotic themed stash
and weeded out the stuff I didn't want or wouldn't be using any
time soon and these were some of the things I kept. So glad to
finally be using them.

See you tomorrow for Day 16!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Days 13 and 14...

2010-10-14T20:45:00.000-07:00

LOAD marches on...

Day 13=> Challenge -chose some colors that make you feel good and
help to tell the story. Well, I don't know how much they help to tell the
story but I really love the colors I chose. I used pan pastels to create the
background and the flowers, added the photo of the family doing something
outside and the quote and done!
This layout is actually in one of my art journals- it is, in fact, the first
page of that particular journal. It makes me smile every time I open
the cover.

Day 14 => Challenge- use old supplies from your stash to create a layout.

Stash diving led me to the huge chipboard flower, the pinked ledger paper, and the purple-ish acrylic letter pebbles ('me'). I used my new pan pastels on the chipboard and sprayed it with fixatif and then glued it down. The list is just random things that came to mind as I was putting this together- I really had no idea where I was going to go with this huge flower and this patterned paper! LOL! No photo but a revelation - I write too much! (see?)

Okay, more tomorrow.
Good night!
x0x0x
Csmoferret

LOAD 10/10 Day 12...

2010-10-12T21:06:00.001-07:00

Okay, the challenge today was to use something from our stash
that we really loved. Well, there are tons of things in my stash
that I really love but I had to narrow it down a bit...

I looked through my photos and found the picture of Punkin
after a very active nap and then went hunting for the perfect
materials from my stash. Since I am in the middle of a huge
purge of stuff I knew exactly where to look for little girl
themed materials and immediately found this
overlay/background set, I also had this flower stem
from Prima that I really love and everything just fell into
place. I did write out the story about how she took her
clothes off and didn't get them back on right (both
legs are through one inside-out pant leg) and she
looks completely worn out trying to get redressed.
It was just too cute to pass up with a camera.
The gel pen I used just hasn't dried enough for me
to add it to the layout so I went ahead and uploaded
the picture without it to the Flickr group.
Here, see for yourself! LOL!

Off to bed. See you tomorrow for Day 13.
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 11...

2010-10-11T20:57:00.000-07:00

The challenge for today was to really think about all of the
embellishments we are using on our layout today and make
sure they really enhance the story rather than just making
the page pretty.

I had a hard time with this challenge because I kept removing stuff
and changing the photos around and fixing this and fixing that until
I fixed everything but the cardstock and the title right off the page! LOL!
I think the photos are the most important part of the page and anything
I added to this layout just drew the viewer's attention away from them.
I do need to add the date somewhere on the page but that's no big
deal.

See you tomorrow for Day 12!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Days 7, 8, 9 and 10....

2010-10-10T20:40:00.001-07:00

Day 7 => Challenge: use a photo and title but no other journaling...
This is actually one of my favorite photos and I took it at sunset looking
at the shrimp boats tied up at the People's Street L-Head. I did not
touch up this photo in any way- that is exactly the way the boats looked
in the soft pink orange light of the sunset.

Day 8 => Challenge: Create a layout without any photos. Concentrate
on the story.

Okay, well, I didn't use a photo but I did use chalk pastels to draw the
fish and some sea grass on the patterned paper. So I kind of feel like I
cheated but I'm very happy with the result -wish I could write a bit
straighter but Oh Well. Totally LOVE the white paint pens by Sharpie.
I have not had any luck with any other white pen - they just don't want
to work for me (any brand and I've tried them all!)- but the Sharpie
white paint pen/marker is awesome. I love the results I get with it.

Day 9 => Challenge: Use all of the story telling techniques we have
learned about this past week and create a layout that concentrates
on the story.

Punkin taught herself how to draw a lamb by looking at a stuffed animal
and copying what she saw. Then after creating a few she challenged us
to try our hand at drawing sheep too. This layout doesn't have a photo
but it does include the original drawings. I thought about putting mini
frames around them but, truthfully, I was running out of time to get it
posted due to a lengthy Weblos Pack meeting activity session last night.
I do wish I had made the word "draw" larger than the word "you" in the
title but Oh Well. : )

I had a couple of LOADers ask to see a closer view of the sheep so I also
posted that.
Silly, huh?

Day 10 => Challenge: Use only cardstock, photo, title and journaling to
create a layout today.

I enlarged a photo Hubby took using his iPhone after our celebration
dinner in San Antonio 2 Saturdays ago. Punkin won several different
awards at the Judge's Cup Meet and we were so thrilled that she has
shown so much improvement since just starting to compete in late July.
She wasn't sure even how the events would work and has really gotten
the hang of how the meets run and what is expected. She is super
excited about next year. I'm glad she enjoys it and I'm super proud of
her.

Well, we're 33.3% through the month! See you tomorrow for Day 11!
xoxox
-Csmoferret

LOAD Days 5 & 6 ....

2010-10-06T20:22:00.001-07:00

Day 5 Challenge => use a black and white photo.

And I did. I have had this photo in my favorites file for quite
a while but I don't think I ever scrapped it. I love the way he
is looking over her head and she is beaming at the camera.
Just love this!!

Day 6 Challenge => Use a film strip or line up photos in a line like a
film strip.

I used a pre-printed zoo animal filmstrip transparency and stapled
it to the background, added my photo of the twins at Gladys Porter
Zoo and then stapled the 'Day at the Zoo' transparency to the top.
I only attached it to the top corners so I can flip it up and add my
journaling on the giraffe paper. This was fun, but looking at the
zoo filmstrip it should probably have some white paper behind it
so you can see the different animals better. Maybe when I fill in the
journaling I will fix that- or maybe not...

Off to bed. See you tomorrow for Day 7!
xoxox
Csmoferret

And the LOAD goes on...

2010-10-04T20:11:00.000-07:00

Day 2=> Challenge -use a photo that shows where you are right now.

I made this layout using my iPhone and Coolibah (a free app for
scrapbooking photos on your iPhone) while we were in San
Antonio for Punkin's Gymnastics meet. I had to download some free
kits and found it very difficult to get the elements and items in the
correct places without having to constantly start over. It was pretty
frustrating but I am hoping it will be easier with practice.

The photo is of the twins painting on the 'free paint' wall at the Art
Walk downtown last Friday night. I think this was their favorite part!

Oh- I couldn't get rid of the Coolibah logo on the bottom right corner
there either. Probably have to pay for the 'Extended' app to do that.
Who knows.

Day 3 => Challenge -use a photo and just a title. No journaling. The
photo needs to tell the story.

I took this photo of Punkin showing me how fast she could cross the
bars on the playset at the Texas State Aquarium playground. She
moved back and forth, swinging her legs, zipping across those
bars without stopping or dropping. It was amazing. The look
of pure joy on her face was even more amazing! She has such
strong arms and really loves those bars!

Day 4 => Challenge - close crop your photos to spotlight your story.

I used photos from Flickr to showcase bits of the places I would love
to see. I never really realized I had a Travel Bucket List but apparently
I do! LOL! I look forward to the day when I can replace the Flickr photos
in this layout with photos I took with my own camera. Credits for the
different photos are listed below the layout.

1) Eiffel Tower -Stavros Markopoulos
2 )Kells Priory, Kilkenny, Ireland - Eward Dullard Photography
3) Sawyer Glacier, Alaska -TerryMcT
4) Rainbow Falls, Hawaii - TerryMcT
5) The Great Sphinx & King Khafra's Pyramid on the Giza Plateau- Medhatiblu
6) Venice - Vjekoslav Karadza
7) Kilchurn Castle, Scotland Highlands -Jackfre2
8) Isola di Capri - Alfred Tetzlaff

I just searched Flickr for the different places I wanted to go and
chose a photo that could be close cropped and still be recognizable.
This was a fun challenge.

See you tomorrow with Day 5!
xoxox
Csmoferret

LOAD has started AGAIN!!...

2010-10-01T13:32:00.000-07:00

Yippeee!

Our first challenge was to create a layout with "Once Upon A Time"
on it. Here is my finished layout...

I've had a layout like this in mind for a while but never actually got
anywhere with it. This prompt was just what I needed to get'r done!

Off to get the kids and head to the CC Art Walk.
See you tomorrow!

xoxox
Csmoferret

Back to the 70s!!!! Photo Intensive Post Alert

2010-09-06T16:15:00.001-07:00

Did the Summer fly by too fast for you? Well it sure did here and there
were lots of things we were going to do this Summer that just didn't
get scrunched into our busy time or laziness, it depends on which
day we're talking about! One of those things I had planned
was to go through the boxes of old clothing I have in the attic and
see if any of it fit the kids (and if they wanted it.)

Today, since it was raining and messy out, we found a box and did
just that. Of course, most of it was 'girly' clothes so Buddy didn't
get to try stuff on (not that he wanted to, but still...) but Punkin
was beside herself with glee- she couldn't try stuff on to model
for photos fast enough! LOL! Everything not labeled otherwise
was made either by my Mother or my Grandmother and now
my daughter is wearing it.
Here are the photos of that session...

My favorite homemade Sundress

My favorite homemade Nightgown
My Junior Girl Scout Uniform (store bought, of course)
Various homemade t-shirts

My Senior Baby Day outfit Mom made for me... (sans the teddy
bear slippers-they didn't survive the attic heat.)

My first Fan Tee (store bought)
(yep, it's Shawn Cassidy!)

My flower girl dress (store bought) from my Grandmother's second wedding in
the late 70s...
Check out those ruffles! I thought I was wearing a modern day
Princess dress! LOL!

Now, I leave you with photos of the twins and their Saturday backyard
campout extraordinaire!

Daytime photos were taken by Punkin and I took the bedtime photo.
They wanted to stay out there on Sunday night too but couldn't get
comfy and were talking too loudly so I suggested they just bag it and
come in....okay, it wasn't quite that sweetly said...but about 30 minutes
after they came in and were in their own comfy beds the skies opened
up and poured rain! All of us were so glad they were already inside
by then! Still, they had a great time on Saturday night.

Hope this wasn't too crazy-long a post and that you enjoyed my
clothing flashback! LOL!

xoxox
Csmoferret

Whaaaattt????

2010-08-16T20:38:00.001-07:00

One of the assistant Cub Scout Leaders for my son's
Pack called tonight and shared this website...

Click here.

I am stunned. This man was our Cub Master for the last
year and though he seemed a bit frazzled he never seemed
like the kind of person this news article makes him out to
be. So strange. So sad if it is indeed true.

Sigh.

xoxox
Csmoferret

The epitome of a bad day...

2010-07-29T11:33:00.000-07:00

this is the current view from my dining room window.
Poor guy. Of course, it speaks to the leaps and bound
of technology today that 5 guys can't fix a Mercedes.
So glad he's not stuck by himself though.
Truly a rotten way to spend the afternoon.
I hope they figure it out soon...

More later (hopefully more positive stuff! ; p )
xoxo
Csmoferret

What the rest of my family is doing...

2010-06-27T08:13:00.000-07:00

...these days!

Hubby and the kids have been out on the Aransas River
with Grandpa waterskiing and wake boarding. They went
early yesterday with Hubby's best friend (visiting
from Boston) and had a total blast.

In this photo Punkin is demonstrating how to knee board.

Me? I was scrapbooking with my 2 closest friends!
It was a glorious day!!!

xoxox
Csmoferret

I know, I dropped off the radar!

2010-06-06T08:30:00.000-07:00

So sorry I've been missing in action for a very long time.
Don't you hate it when bloggers don't keep up with their
blogs? Me too! Unfortunately, life has gotten in the way
of my blogging time and I've dropped off the blogging
radar...

Well, I'm back! I've got lots of things to share and I'll
start with photos of last month's LOAD (Lay Out A
Day) Challenge. I LOVE participating in LOAD and
truly look forward to it. It does make a crazy busy
month even more so but I get to look through all
of the layouts I made on the fly that month and
it reminds me that I really can carve a few minutes
out of each day and make something...

Here are the layouts I made for the last part
of the month... (I'll put the rest in a separate
blog post to cut down on length.)

Day 30

Day 29

Day 28

Day 27

Day 26

Day 25

Day 24

Day 23

Day 22

Day 21

Day 20

Day 19

These were all digital pages: days 30,29,28,27,26,25,21,
20 and 19 are all from Lindsay Jane Designs; days 24,23,
and 22 are from Larisa Hicken of Garden Girls Designs.
I'll have another post with the rest of the photos.
I have to download them from my laptop.

See you later!
xoxo
Csmoferret

Wings 2 ATC swap

2010-03-10T16:15:00.000-08:00

I participated in an ATC (artist trading card) swap online and
the theme was Wings. These are the cards I created today to
send in. I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out but I
am a bit worried that they may be a bit too chunky for the
others. Ah well, I like them-I hope they do too....

Here is a photo of cards #3,4,7 and 8...

and here is the whole set. You can see that they are not all exactly the
same but they are pretty close. The one with the gold butterfly is the
one I'm keeping from the set. I will get 8 different cards in return from
the swap group after April 1st. I'll post them when I get them.

Thanks for stoppin' by!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Here are my final 6 layouts for LOAD Feb 2010!!

2010-02-28T22:42:00.000-08:00

Day 23
I found this and the next photo in a stack of things that hadn't been put
away yet and felt like I had hit gold. I love these two portraits and dug
out some school stuff to create this layout for the Buddy. It is so hard
to believe they are in 3rd grade already!

Day 24
I had a hard time with this layout because I just couldn't get over how
grown up Punkin looks. I guess it kind of freaked me out a bit. I love
her color coordination (teal brace bands and aqua & brown top) and
had to use those colors for her. The challenge was also to use scraps
and bits from our stash - the flowered patterned paper and the letter
stickers are all leftovers. I am thinking I may add a few crocheted
flowers but it's good the way it is.

Day 25
Every time I think of our trip to Wimberley, I think of this life-size chess
set in the garden at the EmilyAnn Theater. It was just so cool to play a
game of chess like this. The kids loved it too. I think I will move a few of
the chess pieces from over the title to the top of the photo like photo
corners. That just sounded like a cool idea when I was uploading this
photo.
Day 26
The background in this layout is made using Donna Downey's new
stamp set 'Where you are' and I didn't check to be sure I uploaded
the correct layout with the title over the lower birdcage. It should
read 'PLAY'. The one I uploaded to the LOAD gallery was missing it
so I just used the same photo here. This new stamp set just really
tickles my fancy!

Day 27
Buddy's experiment was carving soap with 4 different tools to see which
worked the fastest. It was pretty cool to watch him set everything up and
then hit the timer and start carving! Soap pieces were flying all over the
dining room! He really enjoyed his project, though and got his display
board all put together and finalized right after school on Friday. It is
due on Monday - so he was completely free and footloose all weekend.
He was quite possibly the happiest guy I know this weekend because
he finished his project before his sister did. That is why I completed
his layout first (even though it will wind up on the right side of the
2 page layout.)

Day 28

The last two layouts are halves of a 2 page set. The 'Popcorn &' should
be on the left and the 'Soap' should be on the right. These are photos
of the twins with their completed Science Project Display Boards. It
really made everyone here happy when they both finished their
projects with several days to spare. So glad they don't know about
procrastination yet.

Well, LOAD is done for this month. I feel pretty good about the
layouts I made this month and I also rearranged my albums and
determined I am sick of postbound albums and will most likely
be purchasing ring bound albums to move everything to very
soon. I am so tired of tiny metal post extensions that don't
tighten down correctly, spine covers that just look stupid
and page protectors that don't get included on the post
even though the 20 before and after do. Ring binder style
albums would eliminate all those hassles. I know they
come with their own set of hassles but at least I would
be able to move things around more easily. So, look
for a change on that front before too long.

Have a great week! See you back here soon!
x0x0x
Csmoferret

PS - Yep! I'll be LOAD'n again in May! Can't wait to
get started again!

Day 22 - Our 2009 Christmas Card

2010-02-22T20:09:00.000-08:00

I usually forget to include a copy of the Christmas
photo that we send to family and friends and I
was lucky that Hubby printed out an extra large
copy by mistake. I snagged it and set it aside just
for this purpose. Then, yesterday, after looking
through the LOAD gallery I was inspired by one
of the layouts that had a picture with Santa and
a large nutcracker.

Well, I rummaged through my stash and found
a layered nutcracker, Happy Holidays transparency,
glittered snowflake lace and Christmas patterned
paper and a layout was born! Thanks to
SmileyGurl80 of LOAD! She was the source
of my inspiration!

Well, LOAD is done and uploaded!
Good Night!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 16- 21 - Still LOAD'n along...

2010-02-21T21:38:00.000-08:00

Well, this is a photo heavy post...
I've been remiss in posting my layouts to my blog and
I thought I would do that before I go to bed tonight.

Day 16
I am looking for some larger sticker letters to fix this title -it's just too
small for the photo and it didn't really show up until after I was looking
at the posted layout in the LOAD gallery. Funny how you don't notice
flaws until you see the layout in a different light.

Day 17
The button in the center of the felt flower says "Joy" on it and
makes the title "Pure Joy". It's the first thing that came to mind
when I saw this photo of Punkin at Gymnastics. The photo
doesn't do this layout justice.

Day 18
The pink flowers are My Minds Eye Vinyl decals and I had a hard
time getting them to lay where I wanted them to without sticking
to everything and I ended up with the smaller one stuck to the
photo in the wrong place. I had planned for it to be a bit further
over on the green dot paper. But, it turned out okay.

Day 19
This layout uses a photo collage that Hubby created in Picasa with our
ski trip photos. He was just playing around with the collage creator and
let me have the practice print he made. It made for a very quick layout.

Day 20
Okay, this layout has problems and it is mostly because the Hambly
Rub-ons did not, in fact, rub on. It did not matter what I used or how I
positioned the ship, skull or title - they simply would not rub on to the
patterned paper. I ended up using a tape runner to adhere them but
it really didn't work all that well either and I have marks on the ship
where I tried to get the rub-on to work.

Anyway-the photo is not of a skull on a pirate ship or
anything like that but it was the start of my
kids singing "Yo Ho Yo Ho A Pirate's Life For Me" throughout
the Moody Gardens Aquarium and Theaters. It was a fun thing
for the kids to find just before heading into the iMax film
about dinosaurs.

Day 21
This is one of my all-time favorite photos and it took me a couple of
hours to put this layout together for today. It is also the first time
I have sewn ruffled ribbon on a layout. Too fun!

This was a visit to Pensacola Beach in 2006 and it is the first
time the kids were old enough to play in the sand at the
beach. It was too cold to get into the water but it was a
gorgeous day for shelling. They couldn't stay dry, though
(Duh! They're kids!) and wanted me to take a picture
of them in their wet pants. They had so much fun
running all around and finding shells -just grinning
from ear to ear the whole time. It just makes my heart
swell everytime I look at it. I think this will be going
into my "Photos I Love" album instead of the
"Places We Go" album.

Well, that is all for tonight. I have to get up early
for work tomorrow so look for more later in the week.
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 15 - Wiley's in the Dog House

2010-02-15T20:26:00.000-08:00

He had an accident and then knocked a pile of my newest scrapbook
supplies into the mess. Definitely explains the whole 'Dog House' thing.

More tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Happy Valentine's Day!!

2010-02-14T20:28:00.001-08:00

We celebrated as a family at a local restaurant which offered a
gourmet dining experience Saturday night and truly enjoyed it.
Then today we spent lunch with the In-laws and friends and
had a good time too.

This afternoon, however, was devoted to Science Experiments.
Buddy carved soap with different implements and timed himself
while he carved with each tool. Soap flakes were flying.
Punkin decided to pop corn using 3 different methods and
counted unpopped corn to determine which popped the corn
the best. That meant counting out kernals of corn for all of the
experiments and prepping before she ever turned on the hot-air
popper, stove or microwave. The results were very interesting
and I can't wait for them both to weed through the data and
decide whether the outcomes match their hypotheses or not.
I'll keep you posted! LOL!

So, after all that was concluded and a good portion of the
popcorn was consumed during a screening of G-Force, they
finally called it a night.

I hustled in and finished my LOAD for today and now I'm
heading off to bed too.

See you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

More LOAD layouts!

2010-02-13T20:54:00.001-08:00

I've been so busy at home and at my new job that I haven't had the
energy to do anything more than create my layout for the day and
get it posted. That means I'm way behind on posting them to my
blog and I'm going to fix that with this post! Hold onto your
adhesive 'cause there's lots of layouts to share!

Day 4: It's All Fun & Games Until Someone Loses a Toenail.

Day 5: The Duke

Day 6: My 21st

Day 7: BFF, at least until 2nd grade was over.

Day 8

Day 9: Kinder '06

Day 10: Kinder '06

Day 11: I'm Buzz Lightyear!

Day 12: Grandpa's Favorites

and Day 13: Baby Love
Of course, there will be another layout tomorrow because we
are still LOADing! See you then!
x0x0x
Csmoferret

LOAD-ing again!

2010-02-03T21:29:00.001-08:00

Here are my Lay Out A Day February 2010 layouts so far...

Day 1

Day 2 (minus a journal block and tiny photo =gotta get those reattached...)

Day 3.

The main goal on these 3 layouts was using up scrapbook stash and it
was pretty easy.

More tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Family Ski Trip 2010

2010-02-01T08:53:00.000-08:00

(Punkin and Buddy snowboarding!)

(Punkin, Buddy & Snowboard instructor Michelle. This photo makes me think of Astronauts
walking in slow motion... : ) They were heading in for some well deserved & needed hot chocolate. )

(This is Grandpa following the twins skiing and meeting up with the two 4 yr
old cousins as the little ones' ski instructor looks on from the side.)

was a complete success! The twins tried snowboarding for the first time
and did great (read that "Loved it!") and were able to play with the
cousins for hours at a time. The skiing and snowboarding were
awesome and the kids (and adults) were out on the slopes most
of the day but the evening sledding was the big hit of the trip...
check out these awesome photos!

Buddy and AB sledding down the hill near the condo. Actually, Buddy
was stopping the sled so they didn't run over me as I took the photo!

MC after he and Punkin came to a sudden stop. She was laughing
so hard she flopped back in the snow just as I was taking the picture.

The only thing we didn't do this year was get a photo of all of the
kids together like we have in the past. Ah well, these pictures show
how much fun they all had playing together and that is the best
part of the whole trip!!

(Buddy, Daddy & Punkin getting ready to go out skiing some more.)

And I saw a Moose! She walked across the slopes and into this group
of trees just as we were heading over to dinner with the family in one
of the other condos on the last night of our trip. She was so graceful
and beautiful even though she looked 10 feet tall!
Seeing her kept my "Saw a Moose every time we were in Jackson Hole"
record going. It has been a thrill to see the wildlife so close every time
we visit! I think that would make a good layout...hmmm...gotta
hunt all those Moose photos down... and, OH!,

I start LOAD again today and will start posting my layouts soon.
See you later!
xoxox
Csmoferret

I DID IT!

2010-01-13T18:13:00.000-08:00

After much help from Mom while she was here
and even more help from Hubby and the twins....

TERRA is IN the GARAGE!!!

no, really, she is! See for yourself!!

Oh- and all the Christmas decorations are put away! Yeppers! I know
it's hard to believe but it's all true! Those boxes? Oh, they go out in
the recycling pickup tomorrow. So, the only thing on the other side
of the garage will be the bicycles & tricycles! You know I'm happy!

Just had to share!
xoxox
Csmoferret

You just have to see this card!

2010-01-10T06:43:00.000-08:00

http://confessionsofaribbonaddict.blogspot.com/2010/01/swinging-from-tree-whee-full-tutorial.html

I love the tree on this card! Click on the link above and go check it out!

xoxox
Csmoferret

Baby, it's cold outside...

2010-01-09T13:59:00.000-08:00

( Front and left side of house - 2 tarps along each side.)

Since the temperatures have been hovering around freezing
the past few days I decided to cover the plants in the backyard
(specifically the potted plants and the fruit trees) with dog
towels and picnic blankets.

Then it rained. The towels were so heavy, once they
got wet, that my plants were being broken up. So, I removed
the towels and figured they would just have to brave the cold
until the rain stopped. Meanwhile, I hit the local box store
and bought the last two painter's drop clothes and tried
to protect the potted plants with the dry covers.

My wonderful Cotton Farmer Hubby decided I was not
getting anywhere with my tiny towels and drop clothes and
picnic blankets and brought home several Cotton Module
Tarps. He and a couple of guys from the farm spread the
tarps out over ALL of my plants, not just the select
few I had tried to save.

I felt much better about the fruit trees and roses and
bird of paradise and hibiscus, etc...as I watched the
temperature drop past freezing yesterday evening. It
finally rose above 32F this morning around 11am and will,
hopefully, not be below freezing for very long tonight.

The tarps stopped traffic. Of course we live on
a corner with a stop sign so traffic stops on 2 sides
anyway but ALL of the traffic was stopping after the
tarps were up! LOL! It kind of looks like we have
buses parked along the walls of the house
and certainly makes you look twice.

They made me laugh out loud as I walked around
the front of the house. Talk about 'over protected'! : )
Well, you can see for yourself...

Note: Having the clean tarps in the front and the dirty one in the back was
pure chance. The guys just unrolled and covered and never even noticed
the condition of the tarps. The orange fence under the trampoline is to
keep the puppy out of the mud that the rain has generated for us. One
of these days (hopefully very soon) the trampoline will go away and a
nice rock creek bed (of my own design and creation) will take care of
our mud problem once and for all. The blue tarp on the edges of the
trampoline did not make it through the freeze last night- they totally
cracked up and blew around in the breeze this morning. Anyone know
where to get another edge cover?

So, I'm off to light another fire log in the fireplace and
get some laundry done... Stay Warm, where ever you are!

xoxox
Csmoferret

Happy delayed new year from the Pensacola airport

2010-01-03T07:21:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

2009-12-25T20:12:00.000-08:00

The last month since Thanksgiving has been so incredibly busy
at our house. Instead of heading out to stand in line in front of
stores for early Black Friday Sales I flew to Florida to help my
Mom drive out to Texas to spend the month with us. I got there,
helped her pack up the car, get the house ready for Dad to
hunker down for the month and then we took 2 days to drive
back home.

The next few days were busy painting ornaments, making jewelry and
keepsakes for the Christmas Craft Fair in a local church on the 12th.
The fair was busy but nothing sold. It was a very disappointing
experience that has made me realize there is NO market in my area for
handmade goods. Therefore, I have given up the desire
to make stuff to sell. At least for now. I know my friends are pretty
tired of getting handmade stuff so I don't know what I'm going to do
with all of it but I'll figure it out eventually.

We have straightened the garage (a bit) so we could pull out
the Christmas stuff, cleaned up my studio (a bit) so we could do
some work, finished my shopping, wrapping, cooking, cleaning, etc.
It has been so much fun having her here that I am having a difficult
time accepting the fact we are going to have to pack up the car and
drive back in the next couple of days. I already have my plane ticket for
my return on the 3rd so visiting time is growing short. Again, time
just moves too fast sometimes.

The Tuesday before Christmas the Twins participated in a piano
recital/ Christmas Party and each student played a carol for the
audience. Punkin even played a duet with the Instructor.
Unfortunately, we were seated on the wrong side for photos and
were only able to get clear pictures of the kids from the back while
they were at the piano. Ah well, next time we will pay
more attention to which side we sit on. : ) It was very nice and Punkin
and Buddy really enjoyed dressing up and performing for everyone.

Our day today was wonderful - a laid back present exchange this
morning followed by the baking of the rolls and then the trek to
visit family for a late lunch. A very enjoyable day.

I hope you and your family enjoyed a peaceful Christmas Day...

XOXO
Csmoferret

Happy Thanksgiving to You and Yours!!!

2009-11-26T05:59:00.000-08:00

Although we are not having everyone over here for Thanksgiving I
still set up our table centerpiece as if we were... here are some
pictures....

The wood bowl is from an antique store I visited a few weeks ago. I
was thrilled to find it. I'm sure it is from Pottery Barn or something
like that but I really wanted one and was super happy to find it and
I couldn't wait to fill it up with harvest stuff...
A close up of the left end...

Here is the right end...

Turkey Lurkey keeps moving around the house, trying to 'blend in' ...

I hope you have a wonderful day reconnecting with family and friends!

See you soon!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Gratitude Day 7

2009-11-20T07:40:00.000-08:00

Day 7 (Friday)
1) Rain
2) Rain barrels to harvest the rain water for the veggies & friut trees.
3) chili starter
4) Mom being able to visit for a couple of weeks
5) Dad for letting Mom be here to visit without him
6) The rest of the family for promising to check on Dad on a regular basis
7) An email from a very good friend
8) online classes to stretch my creative ability
9) 9 years of being the mother of a pair of awesome kids
10) 10 amazing years with the love of my life
11) weather radar online so my Farmer Hubby can keep up with what is going to happen with the weather every day
12) the ability to pick up and go at the drop of a hat
13) letting more and more of the past go
14) better sleep
15) parent’s night out at the local gymnastics gym for the kids tonight so the kids have a great time with friends and coaches while we celebrate our anniversary with a fancy dinner date
16) great timing
17) the ability to learn something new everyday
18) non-squeaky dog toys for keeping the pups busy on a rainy day
19) big windows to watch the rain from
20) crafty friends who share ideas

Well, that was fun! I thought I would really have to stretch to find
140 different things I was grateful for but it wasn't very difficult
to do after all.

More stuff coming (including a new look for my blog)
soon...
xoxox
Csmoferret

Gratitude Day 6

2009-11-19T06:13:00.000-08:00

Day 6 (Thursday)

1) A husband who I adore
2) Mo & Lasses - the Slow Poke Twins (even though it sometimes takes 20 minutes to get from the kitchen to the car)
3) patience (see above)
4) my terrific chiropractor
5) guard puppies
6) snuggle kitty curling up with me while I’m asleep on the sofa
7) a vacuum that works - finally!!
8) the ability to stay home and take care of the kids, pets & house
9) more ‘good’ days than ‘bad’ days physically
10) patience from others when I go a bit silly
11) generous inlaws
12) community wide curb-side recycling so I don’t have to drive to a recycling center to drop off all our saved up stuff like I did in a previous town.
13) living only a mile from the kids school so they can bike or walk if they get up early enough.
14) alarm clocks
15) kids who wake up to an alarm clock with a SMILE! (I swear sometimes we think they must be aliens!)
16) double double mega chocolate cookies with extra chocolate and a bit of chocolate on the top - my Husband’s own super chocolate cookie recipe that is just absolutely incredible! (that is his name for the recipe!)
17) a working stove/oven
18) freezer space
19) enough art supplies in my stash to start a store -or help a kid create a masterpiece for a local competition without having to make a trip into town for supplies
20) tennis lessons with a great group of ladies and a very patient coach

More later!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Gratitude Day 5

2009-11-18T07:29:00.000-08:00

Day 5 ( Wednesday)

1) low temperatures in the 40's make it really feel like Fall
2) Wonder & Spike - the goldfish twins
3) playing fetch with Wiley & a paper towel roll
4) new books to read
5) kids who love to share new books
6) a clean reliable car
7) the super nice guys who pick up the trash and leave the cans
on the sidewalk instead of out in the street
8) email pals
9) the ability to learn a new trick
10) validation from an unexpected source
11) only 2 more days until the weekend
12) my crock pot
13) a sit down dinner with the family every night
14) A tolerant/loving husband who puts up with me and all of my crazy ideas
15) friends to stitch with
16) Starbucks -so glad the one in our town didn't close
17) a second pair of super yellow glasses- so I can drive at night even though almost every car out there has those stupid blue headlights that cause me massive debilitating migraine episodes if I look at them without the intense yellow filter and I don't have to worry about losing my only pair.
18) Sam from Eyemart Express who was able to fabricate a second pair of yellow glasses even though it took hours of dipping and redipping them in yellow & pink tints! Such a great guy!
19) cool sleeping weather after a really long day
20) awesome dreams

More tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Gratitude Day 4

2009-11-18T07:26:00.000-08:00

Day 4 (Tuesday)
1) A finished ‘work in progress’ landscape solution diagram
2) computer problems that Hubby can fix for others
3) digital camera
4) Brownie scouts in charge of the Flag Ceremony
5) Volunteers
6) our babysitter
7) short board meetings
8) great books
9) a full evening of pass-the-pig with the kids
10) hearty soup & fresh homemade bread
11) sheets fresh from the dryer -love that smell!
12) a clean kitchen
13) COFFEE (after an incredibly late night)
14) money to pay the bills
15) friendly strangers in line at the grocery store
16) Good Morning hugs/kisses
17) 1 week until the kids are home for Thanksgiving
18) inspiration to work on some canvases
19) clean/fresh smelling dogs
20) a purring cat in my lap during the late news

More later,
xoxox
Csmoferret

Gratitude Day 3

2009-11-18T07:23:00.000-08:00

I wrote this out but it didn't get posted for some reason so here it is...

Day 3 (Monday)
1) a wonderful Husband who is up todate on the latest technology
2) a family that loves to play tennis
3) a place to play tennis close by
4) rain(even if it postpones tennis! : ))
5) cooler temperatures
6) a constant breeze
7) good friends
8) the lemon tree w/only 2 lemons
9) eggs benedict for dinner
10) hot showers
11) clean clothes
12) sweet smelling clean kids
13) the farm
14) Hubby home for lunch every day
15) My EarthKind Classmates & Teachers
16) the patience of the family as I continue to run ideas past them
17) flexible curve rulers
18) erasers
19) the information available on the Ag. Extension office sites
20) leftovers

More to come!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Gratitude Day 2

2009-11-15T07:07:00.000-08:00

Day 2
(in no particular order)

1) air condition zones so the bedroom is cooler than the rest of the house
2) good books
3) kids who love to read good books
4) legos -specifically Star Wars Legos because they make my son so happy
5) computers
6) working “UPS”s (uninterrupted power source) for the computers
7) washer and dryer inside the house
8) google search -so I can find just about anything I need or want in just seconds
9) internet shopping - so I can purchase the item from #8 if necessary
10) talking to Mom just about every day on the phone
11) good friends moving into the neighborhood this week
12) a very reliable baby sitter
13) the opportunity to take classes in different subjects nearby
14) peaceful family together day at home
15) the huge laughs that the misspelling of my last name generated
when I read it out loud during breakfast! (Thanks Jilliene!)
16) the Bill of Rights
17) the right to disagree with the government without fear of retaliation
18) the slow cooker
19) inspiration every where I look
20) the time and ability to act on that inspiration

Check out other lists by other bloggers beginning here.
See you later!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Attitude of Gratitude Day 1

2009-11-14T14:19:00.000-08:00

Several of my online friends are participating in this year's list of gratitude.
The basic idea is this - create a list of 20 things you are grateful for every day
for 7 days. I know I have said many times how grateful I am for this or that but
I have never actually tried to make a list. So, this is a first for me and I am
looking forward to it. So, here is Day 1...

Attitude of Gratitude
Day 1

1) my incredibly smart and loving husband

2) my 2 bright bubbly kids

3) 2 playful pups

4) a soft sweet kitty cat

5) our dry (and almost clean) house

6) my soft comfy bed

7) friends from the internet who inspire and challenge me

8) my iMac and large format printer

9) a beautiful sunny Saturday

10) a nice visit with family

11) kids able to spend the day with Daddy & Grandpa
water-skiing in NOVEMBER!

12) quiet time

13) loud giggling

14) card games with the family

15) a safe place to create

16) seeing the trees from my kitchen window

17) green grass

18) the trampoline

19) happy fish

20) feeling healthier after a week of illness.

See you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Double the Trouble...

2009-11-10T07:42:00.000-08:00

Double the Fun!

I was flipping through my iPhoto files and found this great picture
of Wiley and Whimsy -actually getting along- and thought I would
share it! I took it on the front walk in September. That was just
before the new law saying dogs had to be restrained by a leash or
fenced in the back yard. No more playing in the front yard with the
kids for these two. Oh well, at least that is 2 family members I don't
have to worry about running into the street.

I will have some more pictures of layouts I've been putting together
in the next few days or so. I have been fighting this horrible cold since
Thursday night (I started feeling yucky at our STMUG* meeting)
and it just got worse from there. At least I can sit up and almost
function today. Hopefully the healing trend will continue and I'll be
much better by Tomorrow. Fortunately, the rest of the family has
already had this cold and seems to be immune to it. I hope that's
the case, anyway.

Enjoy the pic & See you soon!
Csmoferret

*South Texas Macintosh User Group

Do you have a way to store Rain?

2009-11-03T09:06:00.000-08:00

This mish mash of buckets and bins were, until today, my rain catchers and
since we haven't had much rain in the past couple of years (aka extreme
drought) I never really thought much about catching and storing rainwater
to use on the plants.

Say 'Hello' to my new Rain Barrels! Yep - I got 2 of these lovely blue barrels!
A few weeks ago I started a class with our County Master Gardeners and
County Agriculture Extension office and have been learning how to
redesign our yard to take advantage of EarthKind Landscape principals
(formerly, at least partially, xeriscape -no cactus, though.). One of the
main ideas is that harvesting rain water is the best way to provide water
for the plants in your yard and rain barrels are perfect for that.

Well, I had heard of rain barrels, certainly, but it never occurred to me
to use them in Sunny South Texas - I mean, it almost never rains. Well,
it did last week and it rained so much I filled all my 'rain buckets' and
a full sized trash can lined with a 55 gallon plastic trash bag twice- it
collapsed from the full weight of the water and then I set it up, leaned it
against a post and it refilled almost to the top! I have been using the
water I collected to water my potted plants, citrus trees and tomato plants.

So, after having lost a whole trash can full of water I decided that
was not the way to go and started researching rain barrels. The
Master Gardener presenters in my class showed pictures of their
lovely set-ups and they shared the benefits and how-tos and as a
result I started to pay more attention to the drainage in our yard
in order to find the perfect place for my rain barrels.The barrels
I found online at Home Depot and Lowes were only available
online in our area and they were much more expensive than I
wanted to invest. So, my incredibly smart Husband suggested I
check on CraigsList.com for them.

I was amazed to find someone listing them almost immediately.
He was a few towns over but not too far away and his price was
perfect (less than half of the fancy online barrels that I would
have to pay extra for shipping on) and he seemed very pleasant
on the phone.

That was Thursday of last week. I asked him for 2 barrels and
he said "I'll have them made for you by Tuesday morning." Well,
it is Tuesday morning and I am very pleased to show my 2 new
rain barrels!

They have faucets at the bottom that are threaded for a hose coupling and
the tops have a plastic flower pot with mesh and rocks to act as a filter. I
can make a flexible downspout to connect right into the flower pot on top
and the water will be filtered before draining into my lovely blue barrels.
The dark color will keep algae from forming inside and they are pretty
lightweight until filled with water. These barrels held soy sauce so they
are food grade plastics.

Cool, huh? Now, I just have to get the rain gutters around our patio up so I
can take full advantage of the next rain and have less of a flooding
problem in our back yard. Oh, if the blue color is not to your liking, just
plant a couple of plants around the barrel site to cover up the color or use
a plastic spray paint (like Krylon's Fusion for Plastic) to spray it a color
you prefer.

Warning:
Of course, just because I am putting in rain barrels to cut down on our
need for heavily chlorinated City water for our landscaping and to cut
back our expenses by using 'Free' Rain Water does not in any way mean
or indicate that I believe there is such a thing as Global Warming nor
do I want to be involved in any sort of discussion about it.
Because I don't. Seriously. Period.
********

On a lighter note, since you made it through such a super long post and
just in case you didn't get enough Halloween cuteness from my last 3 posts...
I give you...

SPOOKY PUPS!
Frightening aren't they? LOL! Yep, they would probably lick you to death
or run your arms off playing 'throw the squeeky toy'!
Whimsy (l) is 7.5 yrs old and Wiley (r)is only 7 months old but his feet
are so tiny that we are pretty sure he won't be getting much bigger.

Thanks for stopping by today!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Halloween Night!!!

2009-11-01T17:30:00.000-08:00

Daddy & the Twins went Trick-or-Treating while I
finished up decorating the porch and handing out
candy to the 'lil Ghouls who rang our doorbell.
Punkin's Jane o'lantern was a white pumpkin with huge seeds and it's
insides smelled like cinnamon! Weird! That is a tiny squash sitting on
top like a hat.
The stacked pumpkins sat on the edge of the porch on each side of
the walkway.

Buddy's Jack o'lantern was a traditional orange pumpkin.
This was the stack of pumpkins on the right side of the walkway.
Last year we had kids come up to the glass door and try to
get into see the rest of the room and all of Daddy's electronics.
Then they went back to their groups saying "They have this and
they have that!" and that really bothered me. Especially since
so many of the kids that visit us on Halloween are not from our
area. So, in order to keep everything fun and to avoid that
sort of unwanted attention I added a couple of things to our
door decor that made it much more enjoyable for all of us.
An upclose shot of the indoor decorations...
Our house was very well lit!
That black stringy stuff on the right is our huge sparkly spider web and
Stanley the Ginormous Spider is sitting on the bush right behind the Boo
sign. I was disappointed he didn't show up in my late night (9pm) photos.
Oh well, he sits there every year so I'm sure we have a photo of him somewhere.

Notice the tired Trick-or-Treaters? They stayed up to help hand out candy
for another 45 min or so and then disappeared upstairs and into bed. If you
know Buddy, you know that is highly unusual. He is usually up until after
midnight playing legos or star wars or something quietly in his room. Not
after all of their Halloween fun! They were absolutely worn out.

Another close-up of my candy set up. The candles are glittery and are
battery powered. I LOVE them and will be keeping them out for the
Fall too. I love the look of tapers without the mess. (Yep, I'm lazy and
I know it- totally hate to clean up melted wax or burned down
candles!)

Our neighborhood is usually very decorated and the houses
are well lit but this year there were only 4 lit houses on our
street and we were the only ones who decorated. It was busy
but only because the kids were moving through the neighborhood
pretty quickly. We had kids at the door starting at 6:15 pretty steadily
until 9pm. We took all our decorations in at 9:15 and turned out our
lights. I think it was a 'light' year even though it was busy.

As much as I love Halloween, I was very glad it was over.
So much fun in a short amount of time!
See you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Halloween Fall Festival at the Elementary School

2009-11-01T17:11:00.000-08:00

Our Elementary school hosted their annual Fall Festival
today, held old fashioned games, cake walks, dance offs,
hoola-hoop contests and the first grade wing was turned
into a Haunted House. It was an amazing day with a high
in the mid 70's and a light breeze. Just a perfect Fall day!

The Tennis Shop from the local Country Club set up
the QuickStart Tennis for kids 'booth' and it was very
popular!

Punkin heard Buddy had won a real Goldfish so she had to try her hand
at that game too...

They BOTH brought home gold fish! Just what we needed to add to
our current zoo...
Punkin tied 2 other girls in the Hoola-hoop contest. After hearing a couple
of the girls talk about hoola-hooping for a couple of hours the judges just
called it a tie (it had already been about 20 minutes!)

This Halloween Lady Bug landed on my orange shirt and then spent
the next 10 minutes walking up and down my hand...

All 4 of us in a lull between Color Wheel games...
This is the Color Wheel game that was very popular (you got two prizes
from the Cauldron of Fun if you won and only one if you didn't) for 2
tickets. (Tickets were 25 cents each.)

Since the beginning of the month, the classes have been collecting items
to go into the Themed Raffle Baskets and the kids were all given raffle
tickets to sell for $2 each. The PTO made up gorgeous baskets for the
raffle - P & B were disappointed they didn't win the Legos or Webkinz
baskets.

There was also a silent auction going on and it ended the same time the
raffle basket winners were called out. It turned out to be a big money
maker for the school again this year. Hopefully, that means there won't be
a need for anymore fundraising again until next year.
By the time we got home, finished getting decorated, got some dinner
and the kids freshened up their costumes it was getting dark and they
were ready to head out Trick-or-Treating with Daddy. I manned the
door and photos of that are in my next post!
See you in a few minutes!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Happy Halloween - Pumpkin Patch Photos!

2009-11-01T16:52:00.000-08:00

Here are the photos I took of the twins at a local
Pumpkin Patch Friday after school...

Buddy decided to go as Commander Cody of Star Wars Clone Wars
fame and Punkin wanted to be Wonder Woman. This is my favorite
picture of the afternoon.

The Lady running the Pumpkin Patch was very gracious to allow us
to have our photo shoot there and, of course, we bought 8 pumpkins
to take home with us. So I think she felt like it was worth the few minutes
of us tromping around in the empty patch.

What's the point of having a magic lasso if you don't actually use
it to lasso anything? We just had to try it out! : )

Punkin was looking on as Buddy posed as a very serious Commander
Cody!

I think she was having fun!

Being a Clone Trooper is very serious work.

By the end of our little photo shoot the pumpkin patch was full
of people and several of the younger boys were following Buddy
around and asking about his uniform and a couple of girls were
following Punkin around with questions about hers. It was just
too cute! I had a hard time getting these guys in the car to leave
because they were caught up in the fun.

We had a fun afternoon!
Enjoy!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 31 -final LOAD & Happy Halloween!!!!

2009-10-31T09:06:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning with this layout in my head. I
already had to quick page but the photos I used were
part of the Botanical Gardens trip I used yesterday.
Since I used pictures of Daddy & Punkin yesterday I
thought I would use pictures of Punkin & Mommy today.

I can't wait to print it out and put it together with
the layout from yesterday.

The quick page is by the same person who designed the
quick page I used yesterday and I really like her designs.

With this layout I finish up a Lay Out A Day for the whole
month - that is 31 layouts for October. It went really fast
and I learned several new techniques and how to drop photos
into digital quick pages. I also decided that, while I like
the look of the digital pages I prefer to add paper and 3-d
embellishments to them -which makes them all hybrid layouts.

Of course, I had to print each one out and then add the extras
so that hasn't happened for todays layout yet but it will after
all the Halloween Trick-or-Treaters are done in our neighborhood.

The twins and I have been hard at work decorating our
house this morning and in a few minutes we will be
heading over to their elementary school to set up the
Fall Festival that will be going on from noon until
6pm today. They are beyond thrilled and I am beyond tired...
ah well, it will be fun.

Have a wonderfully spookalicious Halloween!
See you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 30 - some Botanical Gardens photos...

2009-10-30T17:27:00.000-07:00

These photos were taken in April of 2005
on a trip to the local Botanical Gardens.
Buddy was with Grandpa that day visiting
GreatGranny and Daddy & I took Punkin to
see the flowers.

I used a quick page called The Earth
Laughs in Flowers Quick Page by ValerieN Designs and
Daydreamer Designworks.

Well, back to getting ready for Halloween!
See you tomorrow for the last day of LOAD!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 29 - Hangin' Out in the Pumpkin Patch...

2009-10-29T20:54:00.000-07:00

I took these photos last year at a pumpkin patch near
Wimberley during our 'Get Out of Town Weekend' in the
Hill Country. Buddy posed as a Scarecrow while Punkin
chose a pumpkin. They laughed so hard at this photo
that I was tempted to title it LAUGH -and I might still
do that if I can ever find the letter stickers I plan to
use on it.

Now, this is a photo I took last night as I was cleaning
up from our impromptu
'Fancy Dancy Fou Fou Chocolate Fondue Dessert'

Buddy was 'helping' to clean up the mess! We don't
call him SugarMan for nothing! (Oh- he had the
'Yep! Go for it!' from Daddy to do this!-Figures!)

Of course, now he is convinced that is the BEST way to
enjoy chocolate fondue! Well-he may be on to something
there but he won't be repeating this stunt anytime soon.: )

Only 2 more days of LOAD!
See you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 28 - Train ride...

2009-10-28T09:46:00.001-07:00

This is a quick page by LLIELLA
and I added photos of the twins with
Amma on a miniature train during a
younger cousin's train-themed birthday
party in 2005!

I can't believe I've never scrapped
these pictures before but, thanks to
LOAD, here they are!

Enjoy!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 27 - Neighboring Beauty

2009-10-27T21:32:00.001-07:00

I took a couple of these photos of a tree just a couple
of blocks away this past Spring and a couple of them
today. I was making up the grid and realized I didn't
have enough photos to fill it the way I wanted to. I also
needed a sample for my landscape class tonight and, after
asking permission last week, Daddy & I stopped and snipped
the leaf and seedpod this afternoon.

The County Extension Agents think it is a Red Royal Poinciana
but they're not 100% positive. I think the foot long seedpod
really threw them and they are looking it up in the plant books
and will let me know for sure next Tuesday night.

Of course, I couldn't let the photo grid go to waste so I used
it for my LOAD challenge layout today. The prompt was to make a
layout without using any patterned papers and I was very surprised
to discover how difficult that can be.

I shopped my scrap drawers and had to keep putting the patterned
scraps back in the drawer after pulling them out and laying them
across the photos.

So here is my resulting page...

Enjoy!
See you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 26 -Together Today...

2009-10-27T09:13:00.001-07:00

This is the "Falling for Her Quick Page" by Scrapping Rainbow Designs

I cropped photos of each of us from this week and dropped them
into the hearts and then added the title "Together Today". I have
a couple of journal spots that I am going to add once I get this
page printed out. That, of course, makes this digital page a hybrid
page!

Only 5 more days of LOAD! Yipee!
See you later with today's layout!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 25

2009-10-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

Last October we spent a weekend in Wimberley,Texas
just enjoying Fall in the Texas Hill Country. We
spent time in town and also visited a couple of
local vineyards and tourist attractions in the area.
I have stuff to make a mini album about it but
I just haven't done it yet.

This is a picture that Punkin took of Daddy & I
just after he bought me the necklace I'm wearing.
It was a very early Birthday present! We had our
hats on because it was so sunny and hot while we
were walking around town.

The Quick page is by Project B Designs.
I will be adding more info to it when I get it printed out. I have several
pieces of ephemera from the trip I want to include on the layout.

Only 6 days of LOAD left. Maybe I'll get my studio cleaned up and
be able to actually make some paper layouts so I don't go through
LOAD withdrawal! LOL!

Enjoy the rest of the day!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Days 23 & 24

2009-10-24T12:09:00.000-07:00

Well, I have to admit this digital scrapbooking
thing is pretty cool. Of course, I have yet to
do anything other than add the photo and text
but I am sure I will be trying that out before
too long.

Anyway, here are my layouts for the last 2 days
of LOAD.

This is the Buddy @ 8 months on 5/2001 not too sure about sitting in Daddy's chair and being in charge of the remote. I will add my journaling with a pen once I print the page out.This is a quick page from the Seaside Kit by Thaliris

I have scrapped a few of the photos we took during our White Christmas in 2004
but these 3 got missed. When I found this quick page on Scrapping with IkeaGoddess's blog I had to try it out. This is the Candy Christmas Quick Page by Kimb's designs.

Only 7 more days of LOAD!
Enjoy!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Days 21 & 22 ...still plugging away & Blog Candy Winner

2009-10-22T17:33:00.000-07:00

This is a photo of Wiley sleeping in his favorite position upside down
on top of all 3 pet pillows. He had been playing so hard and training
with me and the K9 Coach so he was completely tuckered out. I used a
quick page from Lindsay Sparkes of Spinky Dink Scraps

I used photos of Halloween 2008 for today's layout. This is Punkin as
Sacajawea and Buddy as Capt. Jack Sparrow. They have to dress up as
a character from a book in order to be able to wear their costumes
to school and we had a very difficult time finding a children's book
about Sacajawea. She was a character from the movie Night at the Museum
but the book didn't include her as a major character so we couldn't use
it. I had to hunt down a historical junior novel for Punkin to carry
with her to school.

Buddy's was much easier. We discovered there is a whole series of kids
books about Young Captain Jack Sparrow. They are pretty good too. At
least he loves them.

This is a quick page by Roseytoes Designs& JennCk Designs

I printed both of these pages out and was very disappointed with
the background of the Halloween layout - it is distressed and folded
on screen but solid black in the printed page. I am not sure how to
fix this for future printings but it really used up a lot of black ink.

I added all the names of anyone who has ever commented on my blog since
the very beginning to big bowl and had the Buddy reach in a pull out a
name... sooooo ....

And now, the Belated Blog-iversary Blog Candy goes to....

(drum roll)....

***Anonymous said...

WOW, 1 year!!! Glad to see you are back in the swing of things. I have missed visiting you on your blog. Laura

September 14, 2009 7:03 AM***

Laura!!

Email me with your snail mail address and I will get your
prize in the mail to you asap.

Thanks to everyone who has left comments on my blog since
August 2008! It's so hard to believe it has been around
for over a year!

Have a great night & see you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

See you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 20

2009-10-20T21:28:00.000-07:00

I used a quick page by Iseree for JM Designs
and scrapped this photo of Punkin in her
Brownie vest in 2007. I printed it out
and added the journaling and title but
I didn't get a photo of that part -only
the digitally scrapped layout.

It has been a very long day so see you
tomorrow!

XoXoX
Csmoferret

PS- I'll be posting the winner of my Blog Candy
from the comments since September 1 very soon.
Thanks to all of the visitors!

Day 19 -still going digital

2009-10-19T19:48:00.000-07:00

I don't know what it is but the paper
layouts I've added to the LOAD Flickr
account just don't garner the comments
that a digital quick page someone else
created and I just added photos to. It
is kind of frustrating, actually. I mean,
it is wonderful that these beautiful quick
pages are recognized -that is why I chose to
use them after all. I just wish my own
creations were as well received.

Ah well, the challenge marches on
and I got it done between taking the
twins to Gymnastics this evening.

This page is a combination of a digital
quick page freebie by cardamome
and scanned photos of Punkin & Buddy
at 9 months of age in 2001. The only thing
I added to the title was the 'x2'.

It feels good to get some of these
older photos scrapped for the first time.

See you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 18 - back to digital

2009-10-18T20:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I spent this afternoon and
evening trying to get a bit of the
garage straightened out and didn't
get the paper layout put together
that I had in my head so it will have
to wait until tomorrow after the kids
get to school.

So, I used another digital quick page
for my LOAD today. This photo is of
the twins after they celebrated Thanksgiving
at school in 1st grade, 11/2006.

This quick page is by Jaye from Monica's CT on
Mglscraps CT. and the Autumn
word art is by Kathy Winters Designs

I have been finding these quick pages using links from
Scrapping with IkeaGoddess' blog. She does a fabulous job of
listing all the freebies she finds on the web. She is an
awesome resource! Definitely check out her blog and then
the links she posts - but beware- you will lose lots of
time to the fun pages and kits you find listed on her
site. (Remember-the key word is "Freebie".)

It's interesting how many photos from 2006 I've scrapped
this month because of the quick digital pages. I haven't had
to print a photo, find stuff to go with it, come up with a
page layout, write and rewrite the journaling, etc. I've just
picked a digital page, picked a photo and mooshed them together.
(So technical, I know.)

Well, it has been a long day of cleaning and reorganizing
the garage and I'm only 1/4 done. So it's off to bed to
rest up for more cleaning tomorrow.

Goodnight!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 17 - finishing up the TKD 2pg layout...

2009-10-17T16:28:00.000-07:00

Okay, on Day 11 I started making a 2 page layout
about Buddy's Tae Kwon Do experience and got the
first page of the 2 done. Then I couldn't find
the rest of my photos and it got put on the back
burner for a while as I tried out digi-scrappin'
and taking the easy way out of getting my layouts
done each night.

Well, last night while digging in the iPhoto
library I found the TKD photos I took. So, I
created a photo grid in Photoshop CS4 and
printed it out on regular letter sized photo
paper.

Then this afternoon I dug out the second
half of the TKD page kit stuff and rearranged
some of the elements that I had already stuck
down and added the photo grid. Wrote some
quick note journaling on the photos themselves,
took a photo of it and uploaded to Flickr.

Done and done! It feels good to cross off two
items on the 'To Do' list simultaneously!

We attended an Archery Class this morning
hosted by the American Heritage Girls troop in
town today with Buddy's Bear Cub Scout den
and I will have some photos of that up later.

Enjoy!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 16-Gettin' Digi' with it!

2009-10-16T11:58:00.000-07:00

The prompt today was to make a digi-scrapped page
and I hunted around in my downloads until I found a
quick page I liked, scrolled through the baby photos
on iPhoto for a picture that would fit it and viola...

This is a quick page by Véro for Choubinette Designs

This is a photo of Punkin one morning in July of 2001 as Daddy entered
the room saying "Good Morning Sunshine!" she waved to him sitting in
her pile of rearranged sheets and smiling. She was enjoying the extra
space in the round crib since Buddy had moved to his own rectangular
crib.

I printed this out and will be adding the journaling to it before I add
the page to my album. In fact, I have printed out every digital page I
have made this month. I love to have them in my albums so they can be
flipped through and enjoyed.

Well, off to do something else for a while!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 15...

2009-10-15T18:16:00.000-07:00

This is a quick page by GM Designs. I added a photo of
the Punkin in her favorite hat from July 2001 and called
it good.

See you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 13 & 14

2009-10-14T20:20:00.000-07:00

Time got away from me last night and I forgot to post my
LOAD layout to my blog so I am posting both yesterday's
and today's layouts ...

Here is Day 13...
I printed out the photos as 2x2 squares and didn't realize that my
readjusting of print info caused the order of the photos to change
but one of the small photos of the kids should be in the center of the
top row -I just noticed that it didn't print the way I had it planned.
This is photos of the twins in August 2006 when we had tall cotton
and many of our neighbors had none. It was a strange year. Almost
as strange as this one.

Now Day 14 is a hybrid layout...
I used this 'JennCk Spinky Dink Future Star Quick Page' by JennCk Designs
added a photo of The Buddy from August 2004 and printed it out on my
wide format printer. (Man is that printer getting used a lot this month!)
Then I added the title with letter stickers and hand wrote the journaling
under the bottom edge of the circle. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!
The journaling says "8/2004 My one and only favoritest Buddy in the
whole world! I 'golden hugs' love you! Love Mommy!"

Golden hugs are his way of saying he's giving you the best hug in the
world and it is more powerful than magic hugs -better protection from
nightmares, stronger healing powers, etc. Golden Hugs are a Buddy
Specialty!

Well, it's late so I'll see you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 12, just a bit early tonight...

2009-10-12T14:14:00.001-07:00

I have a confession to make...

but first, here is my LOAD for today...

it is a hybrid layout that I added letter stickers and pen journaling to
after printing it out. The photos are from 2006 and the layout itself
is a quick page from Verena Karolyi's Autumnal Taste digital design
set. I don't have a link back to her gorgeous designs (it wasn't in the
terms of use file) but I think you could Google her name and find
all sorts of beautiful things she has designed.

I did get frustrated with Photoshop CS3 while making this page because
it decided to get finicky and refuse to save my finished project. It does
that sometimes (especially if I open PS before I open iPhoto or if I leave
PS open too long) but it is extremely aggravating to know that I'll lose
everything I've worked on just because the silly program has a bug.
I was able to print the layout out before quitting so I just waited to
add the title and journaling. It just seemed easier at the time.

Sooo, here's my confession...
I feel like I am cheating on LOAD when I mess around with the computer
to make a page. I don't have to rummage through piles and stacks of stuff
to make a gorgeous page. I don't even have to design it. I just have to
figure out how to the get the photos into the little spaces, get the titles
and journaling onto the page (in an acceptable way) and save it to my
desktop to be uploaded to Flickr, printed out and uploaded to my blog.

It just seems like I'm taking too much of a short cut! All my stash is
giving me the evil eye and I know if I don't spend more time at least
pushing some paper and embellishments around in my studio
something untoward is going to happen... I can already hear the
cracks of a looming paper avalanche! (Hopefully that is all in my
imagination!)

Granted, I am learning a new skill but I think I really enjoy
playing with paper and glue the best. We will see. I also really
love the way my first couple of digiscrapped layouts have
looked.

Well, keep tuned in for tomorrow's post - I haven't decided
whether to scrap paper or digi.
'Til then - Enjoy!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 11 - Tae Kwon Do (or don't)...

2009-10-11T21:24:00.001-07:00

Well, here is my 11th LOAD page...

Buddy modeling his favorite 'uniform' in 2006. He hated TKD
but loved the outfit. This is part of a ScrapJammies.com kit
that has been in my stash for several years. I'm not sure I like
the journal page - I think I would prefer it typed out in a smaller
format so the entire story can be included. Also I fought with a
white pen and lost -as is evidenced in the title. I will be printing
out a strip of paper and gluing it on top of the icky white ink.
Tomorrow. LOL!

See you on Day 12!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 10 - I DID IT! I DID IT!

2009-10-10T20:00:00.000-07:00

I made a completely digital page! It is only using a Quick Page,
which means all the decorations are on the page and I just had
to add the picture and the text but I'm taking baby steps here.

Check it out...
Yep, that is the Punkin & the Buddy at 1.5 months old in the same
bouncy seat having a bottle on Daddy's midnight feeding shift... in 2000.
So hard to believe they just turned 9 two weeks ago!

The layout is by Donna Rafferty and is called Pretty Pink. I got it as a
freebie from her blog. Click here to go there. (Scroll down to the
September 18th post.) I found the poem 'Two'
on a copyright/free page on baby poems, here.

It makes me happy to have actually completed adding a photo
to a digital layout. I knew it wasn't all that complicated but for
some reason I was all thumbs. Now that I have done it I am sure
I will be making digi-scrapped layouts more often (most
especially on trips and times when I am away from my studio.)

I'm going to add the date of the photo and a bit of Motherly
journaling to this page and add it to my albums. (Yep, I
printed this bad boy out on real paper!)

Well, it's been a long day of building Raingutter Regatta
boats for a Cub Scout event tomorrow, sewing patches on
uniform shirts (for the same event due to out growing the
first shirt IN 2 MONTHS! Because it fit perfectly in August!),
visiting Rockport SeaFaire, and we just got home from a
friend's family-style Baby Shower (Super Fun!). So, we're
all exhausted and heading to bed.

See you tomorrow! I'll have pictures of the completed
boats to share!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 8 & Day 9 - Why should the kids get all the

2009-10-09T21:04:00.000-07:00

Dress-Up Fun? I love to dress up for Halloween. Nothing creepy, you
understand, but fun stuff. I have made several costumes over the years
and always dressed up when I was teaching. It's just plain fun.

Here is my Day 8 LOAD layout...
I cut around the bird at the bottom and along some of the glitter borders
to slide things in behind them. Then I just got carried away layering tags
and tickets in the space between the photos and the huge bingo card.

This was one of my favorite costumes. I even wore the wire and tinsel
crown from my first grade ballet costume! It worked perfectly!

This is today's (Day 9) layout ...
and it showcases just a couple more costumes. I thought of a 5th
costume that I need to track photos down of - I was Delenn of Babylon 5
in 1996. It was an awesome costume and I definitely will need to add it
to this page somehow. I love the way the Hambly Silver Web transparency
looks on top of the Making Memories glitter paper and the huge MM
Velvet spider makes the whole layout look even more creepy! I wish there
were more than just the one velvet spider in the package. I guess I just
need to buy another set...

There you have it! Two more days uploaded and completed on the
right days -just posted to the 'ol blog on the same day.

See you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 7 -Done & Re-done!

2009-10-07T22:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I finished my layout for Wednesday October 7th and
uploaded it to the LOAD gallery and then decided I really
didn't like the letter stickers I used to spell out the title.

Here is what I uploaded...Can you see the messed up lettering? I can. It is supposed to be a bit
more sophisticated than it turned out. I mean, I spent the better part
of 2 hours coloring the Prima Paintable background with watercolors
and then using my water brush pen to 'blend' the colors. I don't think
a bad lettering choice should ruin it forever.
So...
Here is what I will be adding to my Inspired 2009 Album...

I added larger (glittery) letters that are easier to read and a trio of
photo corners to ground the pictures and draw the eye across and
the green tapestry brad in the journal box. I really like this much
better than the original but I got my layout posted on time and that
is good enough for now.

Enjoy & See you tomorrow (or later today!LOL!)
xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 6 - Eat my Wake!

2009-10-06T22:06:00.000-07:00

I used photos from Labor Day 2009 when Daddy, Grandpa & the Twins
went water skiing and knee-boarding on the Aransas River. I used an old
ScrapJammies kit called "Eat My Wake" for them and they all fit perfectly.
Love it when that happens.

In other news -we got "Boo'ed" tonight. I had a class tonight on Landscaping
(it's a long story for another time) and when I got home at 9pm there were
tiny ghosts on sticks in the front yard! The elementary school PTO is using
this as a fundraiser. I can't wait for the kids to get up and see them in the
morning! I know what tomorrow's LOAD will be about! LOL!

See you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Would LOVE to win this...

2009-10-06T06:43:00.001-07:00

from Here. And Here. Samsung and TwitterMoms
are giving away this refrigerator to someone and
it would be really nice if it was to us! They want to know our
top 3 tips for getting dinner ready in a flash and so here goes...

1) Plan menus ahead of time. I usually spend a little time on
Sunday afternoons with my calendar for the next week and my
pantry/freezer/refrigerator lists. I can usually come up with
an easy to follow menu plan and have some easily made (or
pre-made) meals for each night. Plus, I know what I need
to pick up during my next trip to the grocery store.

2) When I make meals (like Chicken Curry or Pasta) I always
make more than we need for one meal. Then, before serving
it I put away half for the next time we need it. If I don't do that
then, there won't be any extra left...at least not in this house.
Leftovers are not a usual occurance here. I refrigerate or
freeze the extra depending on when we will be eating it again.

3) The easiest thing I do to make dinner in a flash? Fill the
Crock Pot just before I go to bed. Refrigerate the crock and then
put it in the heating element when I get up in the morning (right
after I make coffee.) so it cooks all day. Then dinner is just a tossed
salad and french bread loaf away.

I have lots of other ideas for making dinner in a flash but I'll stick
with the top 3 for now...

Besides, it's kind of difficult to type with your fingers crossed.
Thanks Samsung & TwitterMoms, for the opportunity!!

xoxox
Csmoferret

Day 5 -proof I am so lame!

2009-10-05T19:56:00.001-07:00

For my layout today I used a digital template from
Denise Tilley (DigiDesigns by Denise Tilley) but I
could not figure out how to 'drop' the photo into the
mat in the center. I tried lots of different things all
to no avail.

Finally, in a frustrated move, I printed the whole
page out onto a 13inch by 19inch piece of photo
mat paper that I bought when I got my HP large
scale printer (years ago!) I still have the first package
of the paper and I think this is only the 4th piece I
have used out of it. Like I said, lame.

Okay, the page printed out pretty nicely, the mat
in the center was measured with a ruler and then
I resized and printed out the photo from this weekend
that I wanted to use in the center.

While that was printing I fussy cut the center mat
out with an xacto knife (carefully, because we all know
what a klutz I am too.) and then trimmed the extra
paper from the edges of the page. I cut the extra
photo paper off of the picture, ran a tape runner
around the back of the mat and then arranged the
whole page over the photo and stuck it down.
Viola! A completed 'digi-look' page made with
paper, scissors and glue!

What should have taken just a few minutes
wound up taking the better part of an hour and
a half! Lame. I know. That's exactly what I've
been telling you!

Ah well, all's well that ends well, I guess.
Enjoy & see you tomorrow!
xoxox
-Csmoferret

I'm LOADin' again!!

2009-10-04T21:09:00.000-07:00

Yep, this month is the latest in the LOAD challenge and I have been
creating and uploading my layouts on time every day. I did have a
rough start on the first day because of a hic-up between Flickr and
Google but once that was straightened out everything posted as it should
and has gone smoothly ever since.

Here are the layouts I have done since October 1st...

Day 1:
this was a pre-created single page layout that was printed by the
Epson Rep at the 2007 Creative Escape and given to all of the
attendees. The photo was taken of everyone as they signed in and
headed into the make & take section. The line through the m&t
section was several hours long and the photo was another item
given to the attendees (to add to the layout). I found the layout
in a box of other stuff and the photo was with it still in the blue
envelope the Epson Rep had handed it to me in. So glad to
get something from that trip scrapped!

Day 2:
is half of a Scrap Jammies page kit that I had planned to give
away or sell. Just as I was heading to the 'away box' with it
I saw these two photos sitting next to my computer. They
had fallen out of some of the twins last year school work
and I had just stacked them next to the keyboard. Well,
they worked on this layout. I am going to hunt down the
rest of the pictures and finish the other side of the layout
so that there are 2 pages for this.

Day 3:
this is a photo of a Japanese Maple tree on the street where
we lived in North Carolina when I was very young. Back in
2008, Mom and I had a chance to visit the area/ street
where we had lived before we attended the first Inspired
Event. This tree was so striking in it's Spring colors that I
had to stop and take the photo. I think Mom got a bunch
of pictures of it too. We did a lot of that. I tried to keep
everything around the photo pretty muted but not too bland
so that tree would pop.

Day 4:
this is a photo Mom took (my picture was too blurry to use)
of a poor robin that we saw hopping and walking through
all of the landscaping as we walked around in Charlotte
taking flower pictures. He finally stopped long enough for
us both to try to take his picture. He sure didn't look happy
though. In fact, we called him Mad Robin (after the Mad
Blue Jay photo) because he didn't act like he could fly and
he was angry about having to walk everywhere. It was funny
at the time but now? The explanation seems kind of
silly. Still, he was pretty neat to watch.

Well, there you have it, so far. I used up all the photos
from my 'Fall Inspiration' stand (I've had the last two
huge photos hanging from my antique chip hanger/stand
for quite a few weeks and now they are on layouts.) so
I guess I will have to search for some replacements. Now
that the craft show I was prepping for is over that
shouldn't be a problem!

See you tomorrow!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Scenic Route is closing!!!!

2009-09-26T07:49:00.001-07:00

The owners of Scenic Route Paper Co. have
announced they are closing their company
and the official announcement was made on
their blog and through press releases. Read
about it here.

I'm so sad to see their wonderful designs go
and, if you are as sad as I am, you should know
that they have an online store on their website
with discount prices and shipping deals on all
of those luscious papers and accents! Go
check it out before it is all gone!

My favorite Scenic Route line? Sonoma!! Especially
the kraft papers - sooooooo pretty!!

xoxox
Csmoferret

Win a $250 shopping spree at Scrapping Cottage!

2009-09-26T06:17:00.000-07:00

I love Scrapping Cottage and have recently discovered their blog
is full of cool season-ready projects, which is great since they
have some amazing die cuts for sale on their website.

I especially love the Cottage Cutz dies and the new Haunted
House die is my new favorite. Although, I think the Surf Shack from a
few months ago is my all time favorite. Go check them out
here and here.

Make sure you sign up for the drawing on their blog!

Enjoy!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Donna Downey's having a GiveAway!

2009-09-24T06:35:00.000-07:00

Go check out her blog and take a look at the
incredible give away from Blue Moon
Scrapbooking.com!!

Check it all out here.

xoxox
Csmoferret

Scrap by Color Much?

2009-09-23T17:03:00.000-07:00

If you do and you have a photo that you are just stumped
on a color scheme for check out the cool new tool just
released on Scrapbook.com!!

It is called Scrap By Color and it is a free program that
allows you to upload your own picture and choose your
background color and possible sketches from the palette
it creates based on the colors in your photo.

I uploaded this picture of the twins and it chose about
24 different colors that were in the photo and then
I was able to click on the sketches buttons and see
sketch ideas using different color schemes from the
palette.

This was very easy to use and I was able to play with the
colors I chose as a background paper and run through
the sketches multiple times with different colors as the
basis for my layout. Of course, this was with only one
photo and the sketches were kind of simple but they
did provide a nice 'jump-off' point for my scrapbook
work. Now, I don't really have an excuse for dropping
everything and scrapping the photo. Hmm...

Watch the information video here.

Enjoy!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Edited to add: Stacy Julian just added the same thing to her
blog! Great minds, I guess... check it out here.

#1 Benefit to growing your own Lemons?

2009-09-20T19:06:00.000-07:00

Homemade Hollandaise Sauce for spontaneous Eggs Benedict!

Our dwarf Meyer Lemon tree has had fruit on it since we planted it earlier
in the year and the lemons have finally started to turn yellow. I can't find
the photo I took of them the other day but the photo above is from back
in June (I think). Needless to say, all of the tiny lemons that were on the
tree were blown off during our 2 weeks of 60+ mile/hour wind gusts and
all that were left were the bigger fruit.

Fortunately, those have started to ripen and when we couldn't decide what
to have for dinner tonight I was able to send Daddy out to pick a lemon to
make Hollandaise for 'quick' eggs benedict.

We used this recipe for the Hollandaise...

1/2 cup Butter
3 large egg yolks
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon salt
dash cayenne pepper
2 Tablespoons hot water
finely chopped parsley, if desired (we skipped this)

Heat butter in a heavy saucepan until hot and foamy but not browned.
In a small bowl, whisk or beat egg yolks, lemon juice, salt and cayenne
pepper. Gradually beat in butter, then water. (I goofed and added the
water first but it wasn't a problem.) Return the mixture to saucepan
and beat over very low heat until mixture is slightly thickened. Serve
immediately or let stand over warm water for up to 30 minutes. If
desired, sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving. (Like I said, we
skipped the whole parsley thing.)
Makes about 2/3 cup of (easy, luscious) Hollandaise sauce.
(Recipe by Diana Rattray, About.com w/my comments)

Okay, while Daddy was stirring the sauce, I browned the canadian
bacon, toasted the english muffins and poached the eggs. Once the
sauce was done, there was no waiting! None of that 'keep warm over
hot water' stuff for this hungry pair! (Nope- the twins would have none
of it! Big Surprise! Ha.)

Everything smelled so good and really came together fast -muffins on the
plates, bacon on top, poached eggs on top of bacon, and pour spoonfuls
of Hollandaise over each poached egg. So rich, so delicious, so pretty I had
to take a picture! LOL!

It's a good thing I took the photo before heading to the table because
this is one impromptu fancy dinner that didn't last long! There was
enough Hollandaise in the recipe to generously cover 4 poached eggs.
That was just perfect because we only had 2 english muffins and 4
pieces of canadian bacon to start with!

This was just super yummy and I just had to share...
enjoy!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Cricut releases 100th Cartridge!

2009-09-16T19:20:00.000-07:00

check out the 100th Cricut Cartridge here. The Cricut.com message
board is also giving away a Winter Woodland cartridge each week.
Check it out here.

What a great way to get a start on Holiday decorating!
Good Luck!
xoxox
Csmoferret

2 Cricut Gypsies being given away...

2009-09-15T07:26:00.001-07:00

check out the brand new blog CuttingAbove.blogspot.com to see the
requirements for putting your name in for one of two brand new Cricut
Gypsies!

They are promoting the HSN 9/24 debut of the Gypsy and celebrating
their blog debut all with the giveaway. Click on this link for details...
http://cuttingabove.blogspot.com/2009/09/cutting-above-gypsy-giveaway.html

Seriously, go check it out!!
xoxo
Csmoferret

Preserving a Spider's Web...

2009-09-14T05:45:00.000-07:00

I have received instructions for preserving a Spider's Web
a couple of times this week (most recently from the
Nordic Needle Newsletter) and they all reference the same website...

The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources Kids Krafts website.
(Click on the link to go and see it for yourself. I live in Texas but I'm
pretty impressed with the West Virginia DNR website.)

Since it will be Halloween before too long (where is this year going?)
I thought I would pass it on...

These are their instructions they give for preserving a real spider's web
(with a few modifications by me):

Things you need to get started:

sheet of black card stock or construction paper

can of hair spray or spray adhesive

can of white, silver or gold spray paint or talcum powder

can of spray varnish or fixatif

cardboard box large enough for the paper to fit in

First find a few spider webs in a meadow or bushes or in between tree branches. This should be relatively easy since spiders usually build a new one every day. The following procedure can be a bit tricky and will need a bit of practice so it’s good to find several webs. First, make sure the web is not being used by its builder. You can gently tap the web and check to see if the occupant is home or look around the edges for the spider.

Gently spray the web with gold, silver or white spray paint. Hold the box behind the web to protect and collect any spray not hitting the web. Make sure the spray does not damage the web but only covers it with paint.

Another method not using paint, is to gently sprinkle the web with talcum powder by pouring some powder on your palm and blowing it onto the web.

Place the black paper in the box and spray it with hair spray or spray adhesive. You’ll have to act quickly since the spray dries quickly. The most difficult part is next and will usually require a bit of practice so don't be disappointed if your first tries wind up a bit twisted and distorted. Practice makes perfect.

Place the sprayed tacky piece of paper behind the web and gently bring it into contact with the web evenly. Try to
get all of the web touching the paper at the same time so the web isn't pulled out of shape or folded on to itself.

Carefully cut the strands of the web supporting it from its surrounding vegetation.

Finally, to preserve the web, spray the paper with the attached web with a protective coat of varnish. Make sure all spraying is done in the cardboard box to protect the adjacent area.

Now display your lovely web where ever you choose.

Make sure you check out their website for the other cool ideas they have posted!!

Enjoy!

xoxox

Csmoferret

Looking for Inspiration for over a year!!

2009-09-12T09:22:00.000-07:00

I just can't believe I've been a member of the Blogosphere for over a year!
While I was looking for the photos for yesterday's post I discovered I had
started my blog on August 31, 2008. That means I missed my own
Blog-aversary!!

So, I will be putting together some Blog Candy to celebrate
my Belated 1 year Anniversary and 2000 visitors. Since I have only
had about 1700 visitors in a year, it may take a while but
I've got some cool stuff to give away.

Send your comments and be counted! : )
xoxox
Csmoferret

Never Forget...

2009-09-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

It is so hard to believe my children are going to celebrate
their 9th birthday in 11 days. That means that it has been
8 years since our Country was attacked.

Where has the time gone? Where has all of the Good Will amongst
Americans gone? What have we allowed to happen to our
Country? So many questions that need answers and
yet, the most important thing is - We must NEVER FORGET
what happened that day and the fact that it could happen
again if we let our guard down. I don't mean to sound paranoid
(because I am not) but I do mean to sound prepared (because
I am) and wary. I have not looked at daily life the same since
seeing those planes hit the World Trade Center Towers that
day. I am more grateful for what I have and for what our
Country means and stands for and I think that is important
to pass on to my children.

The thing is, this change will forever be linked in my mind
to the twins' first birthday. I couldn't believe we had brought
children into a relatively safe and sane world only to have
everything change before they were even a year old. So much
changed that day- our innocence, if you will, was stolen. It
wasn't all about us anymore. The universe didn't revolve
around our house or our jobs or our feelings anymore.
That hasn't changed back in our house, but I know there
are those out there who have 'put it all behind them' and
'moved on' and no longer see what all the fuss is about.

Hopefully, that isn't the prevalent feeling. I believe it
brought my family closer to our God, it brought our
relatives closer together, it brought our
neighbors closer together, it brought our communities
closer together and, it brought our Nation, as a whole,
closer together.

Well, I know this has been long but today is our
Day of Remembrance. I hope it is as meaningful to
you as it is to me.

May God Bless America and Protect the men
and women who put their lives on the
line for us everyday!

xoxox
Csmoferret

Labor Day Fun

2009-09-10T14:21:00.000-07:00

This Labor Day the Twins learned how to wake board and water ski
on the Aransas River thanks to a family friend allowing Daddy and
Grandpa to borrow his boat.

Here are some cool pictures of the day...
Buddy on the Wake Board

Punkin on the Wake Board

Daddy Water Skiing

Daddy looking back from the bow of the boat to get a picture of everyone
...and watching...

Punkin Water Ski!! This was her first time ever and she got up and skiied
over and over! The kids had such a great time that everyone is hoping
to go again next weekend. Since it has been raining all week here, that
probably won't happen but I know they won't soon forget their first
Labor Day Water Ski trip!

xoxox
Csmoferret

If I won the Lottery...

2009-09-09T19:09:00.001-07:00

the first thing I would purchase would be a large version of this.
There is absolutely no way we could afford even the small size
but if I'm going to dream I'm going to dream big!

I think Amy Butler has outdone herself with her new line of
designer hand-tufted wool rugs and I enjoyed looking through
the gallery of styles but, unfortunately, I'll never get to see one
on my living room floor unless we win the lottery. At least I can
enjoy 'window shopping'!

xoxox
Csmoferret

I wish it was winter...

2009-08-23T15:52:00.000-07:00

just so I could wear this!! With temperatures in the 99-105 F range
this weekend you would think I would be steering clear of anything
warm but I absolutely adore these scarves and wraps at
The Felted Garden. Click on the name to check out the website.

Enjoy!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Do you think I've held on to these too long?

2009-08-12T13:19:00.000-07:00

While going through my enormous stash of stuff trying to get ready to
put most of it up for sale I came across these packages of American
Traditional Designs Rub-ons.

I was shocked to see that 2 of the 6 packages I have had started to fade.
The colors looked like they were running. I know I have had these for a
while (commitment issues, I'm afraid) but I really never expected them
to fade in the unopened package.

Now, I'm not sure whether to use the ones that haven't changed or not.
I really love these brown and pink and aqua paisleys but I don't want to
put them on a project only to have them fade.

Has anyone else had these rub-ons do this? What did you do with them?
Did you use the rest of the package and just keep your fingers crossed?
I'm trying to decide whether to just toss them all out or use up the good
rub-ons. Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

More soon!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Puppy Love

2009-07-25T16:42:00.001-07:00

Welcome Puppy-Boy!

Now, it's 4 Humans & 3 Animals in our house. Whimsy & GiGi are accepting
our new family member pretty well so far. As you can see, he doesn't
stand still for very long. Doesn't make for very sharp pictures but I'm
working on it!More photos and stories to come.

xoxo
Csmoferret