Finally....some Crafty time

I was finally able to get to my scrap table today & make a few cards for some of the challenges over at Cookin' Up Creations.

These first two cards were done for a challenge to create our own mists out of water & food coloring. What a clever idea! I mixed some blue & green together to make my mist & used a doiley as my mask. I LOVE how it turned out! I must find some more little spritzy type bottles so I can make some different colored mists.

The cards above were created for a 'Leftovers' challenge......we were to use scraps & little bits & bobs leftover from other projects. That top card base had originally been planned for another project & didn't get used, so I used it as a card. Everything on there was just tiny little scraps that I put together & Alli said it was one of her favorites. The bottom card was an old book page which I painted & stamped during an art journaling work session. I then cut & pleated the paper strip, added the flowers from a leftover DT kit & finally I punched a few butterflies from my trusty paint chip stash. ;-)

Now, on to a little hookiness. I finished up a Christmas gift this afternoon. This adorable little scarf is for my niece, Anna. And the best part is...it only took two days to do. I'm sure it could've been completed quicker if I had had the time......you know, if I hadn't been grinding up 44 pounds of meat yesterday. LOL!

Basically this is Lucy's Hexagon pattern......the first two rounds then the chain 3 round as a border & where I joined them as I went along. It made a cute little flower pattern, don't you think?! You can find her pattern HERE.

So, share me with me....what kinds of hand-made Christmas gifts are you making this year?

Going with the Flow.........

I told Maw this morning that's what I was going to do today.............just go with the flow. It's about all I can do when Clay is off work & hunting season is in full swing. you just never know quite what a day might hold. Jon was the only one to get up & go hunting this morning. Clay was tired & Michael kind of had a headache. So, I enjoyed my nice quiet cup of coffee until Jon got back. By that time, Clay was up & the others followed very shortly. Of course Jon was ready for 'second breakfast' by then so Clay threw some deer meat in the frying pan along with some eggs & they were all Happy Campers. Their BIG project of the day was going to be a major meat production. They HAD to get some of the hams & shoulders out of the fridge & ground up just to have room before they could possibly bring anymore deer home. So.........I did my kitchen chores, put the laundry in & told them I'd be outside crocheting, working on some Christmas gifts. My plan was just to stay out of their way until they were done. Yeah right!

This is what it looked like when I headed outside. At least Clay had the brilliant idea of using some plastic drop-cloth stuff to cover the floor & the table. That way, when they were all done it could just be wadded up & thrown away.  I came in about 1pm to get a drink & found myself recruited. Clay had other chores for Jon to do like fix the tire on the lawn mower & change the oil in the 4-wheeler. So I was chosen to be the 'Grinder'. I ground, weighed & bagged up FORTY-FOUR........yep, 44 pounds of burger this afternoon! We worked hard for a good 3 hours. They had a little head start on me, but I also got left with all the washing up afterwards too. So, I guess it all evened out. Clay told them this was their 'Homework' for today. LOL! I love homeschooling!

I have very limited counter space to begin with & with the table taken over, I ended up stacking the packaged meat on top of the microwave until it could be taken out to the freezer.

The crock pot usually sits on top of the microwave, but I had set it on the floor while I worked. It was full of packaged deer meat too!

After all our hard work, Clay rewarded us with Vitos pizza for supper so I wouldn't have to cook. That was a super nice treat in my opinion! I'm pooped now, but oh so thankful to have all that burger in our freezer!! And that we spent the whole afternoon working together as a family.....what a blessing!!

Clay's 8pt.

It's that time of year.........Deer Hunting! It seems that's all I have on my camera here recently....deer pictures. And you have to make sure you get a ton of shots....from all the right angles. Oh well....I love it, I really do. It's all part of our 'Country Life' & I wouldn't have it any other way. The boys learn SO much.....from bow/gun safety to the skinning/butchering/grinding/packaging/freezing. They do it all too & they work HARD & they're tired at the end of the day, but it's a good kind of tired! Jon's out here right now skinning Clay's deer for him.....because he can do it so much better & faster than Clay now. He's learned from the best.......another plus for homeschooling & mentoring......learning these things from Mason & Skippy. Like the Bible says...the older ones teaching the younger ones. Anyway....enough of my Happy Fall babbling. Check out some pictures.......

Hope everyone has a Blessed Day!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

As usual these days, my weekends have been super busy! Friday, Alli & I met Ashley & went to see 'Little Shop of Horrors' at the LU Tower Theater. This was Alli's first ever theater experience & I think that we just might possibly be able to convince her to go with us again. ;-)

Saturday, was the last LU football game against VMI & Jon was having a tizzy to go. Of course, I had put off getting groceries on Friday since we were going to the play & I had planned on getting up early Saturday morning & going, but then I realized just how badly Jon wanted to go to the football game. So......I told him I'd take him, but he had to go with me to get groceries too. We headed out about noon, got our groceries & packed the refrigerated stuff into the cooler......grabbed a bite to eat at Wendy's & then headed on in to town for the game.

The Riddler, Joker & Two Face were in the crowd just behind us.

During half-time they honored all the branches of our military.

LU's marching band....The Spirit of the Mountain...playing the Spiderman theme.

 

 

 

While yesterday was the last football game of the season at LU, it was also Opening Day of muzzle load season. Jon went hunting in the morning, but chose the football game over hunting that afternoon. Clay & Michael jokingly said they were each going to shoot a buck & give Jon a hard time about going to the game. Well, wouldn't you know that just about the time the band started to play at the end of the game that I got a call from Clay telling me that he & Michael had BOTH shot a buck. LOL!

So, thankful that we got that extra hour of sleep last night. After getting home from the game about 8pm....having to put all the groceries away.....fix a quick supper of tacos....all while the boys are dragging deer out of the woods & skinning/cleaning & whatnot. It was quite a long day. But a fun day full of memories to tuck away. I love days like that!!

PLAY

I was all set this morning to head upstairs & grab a quick shower as soon as the boys came back from hunting, but Jon had other ideas. He said they were awfully hungry & in need of 'second breakfasts'. He said that sweet meat from his deer sure would be good. What's a mama to do? I pulled out the frying pan & started tossing cubed up sweet meat in. Then he mentioned that some scrambled eggs would go really well with the meat. ;-)

A true country breakfast! And that kiss on the cheek that I got afterwards, made it all worthwhile!

Jon, Alli & Rocky watching a Taylor Swift video. Is that dog spoiled or what?

A little scrappy 'PLAY' time this afternoon. Our challenges this month at Cookin' Up Creations are to do with Food & so today we were challenged to BLEND together two colors of acrylic paint on some chipboard letters. I'm letting mine dry for now & will finish putting things together tomorrow.

These two cards that I made were inspired by the one shown below....

 Yesterday's challenge was brought to us by Jo, & is inspired by a recipe and a new technique!

I have noticed a lot of blocking with shapes lately in scrapbooking...taking a shape and repeating it over and over again, usually using scraps of paper to make a new design for a layout.
When I saw this post, the shape of the pieces reminded my of a recipe my mom used to make...Toffee Diamonds...

Here is a link to the recipe...or at least one as close to it as I remember!! 

http://projects.eveningedge.com/recipes/toffee-squares/

Thanks for sharing such a fun challenge, Jo!

No-Bake Energy Bites

I have just recently discovered Pinterest. It's so much fun.....you should check it out when you have a few spare minutes (or more...LOL!) It really can be addicting. But anyway, I was checking out some of the cool ideas that Ashley had 'pinned' & I thought I'd share this nifty little recipe with y'all. Sounds so easy & yummy! If I have all the ingredients, I just might give it a try this afternoon. ;-)

1 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)

1/3 cup honey

1 cup coconut flakes

1/2 cup ground flaxseed

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla

Mix everything above in a medium bowl until thoroughly incorporated. Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour. Once chilled, roll into balls and enjoy! Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 1 week.

*****************

Let me know if you make these & tell me what you think!

Happy Snacking!!

 

A Little Everyday

I've just been reading Lucy's blog... Attic24 ...I really love how she revels in the simple little everyday moments. She loves her family & loves life. I come away from her blog feeling like I would love to spend time with her in her little corner of the world. It makes me want to be more aware....take more notice of the simple little pleasures/blessings that God gives us each & every day. So, with that in mind I want to share with you a little bit of my ordinary day today.

I enjoyed a nice quiet morning.....a cup of coffee (with yummy peppermint mocha creamer. Did you know they make it in the LARGE sized container this year? YES!!) & some cheese toast for breakfast....thanks to my friend, Jan who planted the idea of cheese toast in my brain.

The boys didn't get up to go hunting this morning....they chose to stay in their warm, cozy beds & snooze.  Can't say as I blame them there.

School lessons were assigned & Chris gathered his stuff together. He worked from 2-8pm today & then headed straight to Lynchburg to spend the night with his old room-mate, Damian. His other roomie, Matt was bringing his younger brother down for College-for-a-Weekend at Liberty & so all the old roomies were going to spend some time together just hanging out & catching up on their post-college lives. So thankful for good friends & that they are still able to get together!

After I got Chris on his way, I headed outside with my crochet bag to enjoy this lovely 60 degree weather & the awesome fall sunshine. Ashley had found a picture of the cutest little mug cozy online & wanted to know if I could try & make her one. So, within just about an hour, this is what I had come up with.

Michael decided he needed to be in the picture too. He's such an awesome model!

I'll take orders if anybody wants one. ;-)

And a few scrappy creations from yesterday to round out my craftiness for the day. Chris & Sarah were making cupcakes.

Here, Chris was watching something on TV at Maw's house. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it had been some sort of Kirk Talley video. ;-)

*******************************

After my afternoon craftiness, I came inside & tidied up the kitchen while I set about making a pot of home-made potato soup for supper....per Jon's request.  And in between all this, I washed & folded several loads of laundry. Now, I think I might just settle down with my book & read for a while before I head off to dreamland.

Love these Everyday Moments...........

What a way to start a new month.......Jon came home with a 7pt. buck yesterday morning! His first one of the season. Way to go, Jon-boy!!

Just a couple of fun pictures from Halloween night...........

The simple things that amuse my kids.......Michael cut this Batman mask off the back of the Honey Nut Cheerios box & decided he needed to wear it that evening since it was Halloween.

 

 

 

Some more Critter Cuteness from the Bunner Home......last night I looked over & here they were snoozing on the love seat together. Charlie on the quilt....kind of spilling down....he's so big & fat. LOL! And then there's Rocky.........Alli laid him on the couch & he just stayed the way she left him........legs all sprawled, front paws up like he's begging for a belly rub.........

....funny thing is, the camera didn't even wake him like it usually does. He must've been super tired!