This is the first in my move to create Birthday party invites for my little
boy. He was so excited to see them that as I glued he was having battles and
making them walk around like cartoon characters with interesting voices.
Haha. Twas fun.
Hope your Monday went well!
Enjoy!
Chris
These are added to the QMC at 4shared and the forum today. So stop by and pick them up.
The card I made with my Dad in mind. His birthday is in July so I am way ahead woohoo.
The cupcake wrappers I designed for Super Bowl. And well I am behind on that. So between the two I am ahead and behind?
Hmm anyone?
So have you visited the forum lately? We have challenges galore running. There is a grab bag for sale for this month and a challenge to go with. And we added an official gallery to the forum for you to peruse and search and see a bunch of wonderful creations and ideas! Our goal always is to help you use those files you have collected. I am sure over the summer when things aren’t so busy we will be using the Gallery to give away some cut files and gifts! Have fun seeing everyone’s work.
On to life…
I am tired. My knees aren’t working quite right. My head is pounding. It is rodeo weekend. What is my mental problem you ask? Ahh well.. It is sleeping on the short couch so the hacking 6 year old in my life can sleep stretched out on the big couch. We watched movies all night to try to clear our mind of the coughing and gagging going on. So today we take it easy and hopefully by tomorrow night he will be ready to roll to Nanna’s house for a sleepover. I had planned on crossing my fingers all day to help expediate this, but it is what it is. J Either way I will be with my lovely hubby, but dancing sounds like oh so much more fun!!
My studio has been a work in progress lately. I have been cleaning items up and moving things and donating and just trying to focus it on more useability then what it seems to become and that is storage. However, right now there is a large keyboard in the middle of it on one of my counters. My son has been pounding on it every day after school. He is loving it! Without a doubt. This makes me happy. I love music and all types of music. However, I do wish I could find the little converter plug for my big headphones. Only so much electronic piano play one can listen to. wew.
Well I am off to watch the wars of PS2 Star Wars with the kiddo. He proclaimed today as the day He could not do anything without his favorite pajamas. This is when I know he is sick. So I shall visit the library another day and see Pam next time she heads to Arizona (big bummer) and enjoy the little bit of time the kiddo can still snuggle on my lap.. even if there is a puke bucket next to me. “just in case Mom. I don’t want to puke on your shirt” “well thank you my love. Thank you!”
Have a great day!
Enjoy!
Chris
For me.. the picture couldn’t get better then that!
What a week it has been and it isn’t over yet. So this should show some of what we are doing. Yesterday was Blue and Gold banquet for Scouts, my kiddo lost his tooth, today is Lego Robotics, tomorrow is School Pride Day. Grandma and Papa are coming. Aunt Nannees and Uncle JB with cousins came to the B&G. My kiddo feels like a rock star. And the Tooth Fairy dropped off 4 shiny quarters! Next week, I’ll have some pics fo the banner I have been working on for the Lego Robotics Club. All in all it is good. But my hands are itching to create. So tonight when Dad and Son head to town to get hair cuts. I am going to creating node by node. I love to look at nodes. It is definitely a sickness I have.
Luckily, we aren’t sick anymore. We went to see a friend’s son play his last high school basketball game. My kiddo loved it. My hubby and I were grinning as we watched him bounce up and down and yell defense. He loved it. “So much drama” he told me with a big-ol-grin. It was fun. After we went to leave, and he got into a fit of coughs (He had been really sick and was at the end of it. ) and he is coughing and he is bending and I thought uh-oh. Yep he threw up. He coughed to hard. He did it a few times and he whispered. “sorry mr. janitor”. I so love my kid. We are finally on our way out and he says. “Damn, the ballet made me puke and now basketball. Oops bad word. Sorry Mom.” He smiled sheepishly. I had to explain to him it wasn’t basketball it was his cough. And it wasn’t ballet. The whole family got the flu. He said. “well maybe basketball didn’t make me sick, but Ballet definitely made me puke.” Haha. I had to laugh. My hubby took us to dinner that night. It was just so nice to hang out together and do stuff together. It really is a highlight of my life.
Well I must run and finish a few things so I can create create this afternoon!!!1
Have a wonderful weekend! If you have nothing to do there is so much to do at VDBC….
BINGO – always fun to watch and get ready for next time
Sketch Challenge with die cutter files for February
Grab Bag Challenge for February Grab Bag. Get entered in the drawing for March’s grab bag by participating
Read the newsletter that went out from VDBC on the 15th. Cute Freebies.
And Sharon’s Monthly Challenge.
Wow you definitely can find something to do! And thank you to everyone participating in the forum!!
So as always….
Enjoy!
Chris
I am one of those practical annoying Valentine’s. My favorite Valentine day we spent at a horse auction just hanging out together and being. I love that. This year I got my guys these cups. My sister got me one for Christmas. I am always with water. My throat tends to catch lots so I have to constantly drink water. I love this cup. I have tried many. It doesn’t taste like plastic. It is a good amount of water and ice and I have been taking it everywhere with me. Between this copco cup and the tervis tumbler (which holds ice forever!) my hubby gave me, I am set. I love them. Oh and they don’t spill in the truck when I drive down the bumpy road. Woohoo! Nothing like a lid.
Well I digress. I bought my guys each a cup and they were a gonga deal compared to what I found online and filled them with Peanut M&Ms for him and regular m&ms for the little one. And kisses/hugs mixture on top. Also, for my kiddo I got him a small Lego set. Thank you to those who participated in the tag swap last year at the forum. I used two tags. One by Heidi and the other by Pam. I took off the sales tag which was on a nice elastic cord and replaced it with ones I had and wrote my love notes on the back. Just wonderful. A perfect small gift for the affection of my two favorite guys in the world.
Practical gift that we can use all summer long when it is 110 outside.
And yes for those members of the forum. Somewhere in my studio the original Valentine card I made the hubby is lurking. I cannot find it and I have given up hope. I even told my hubby it had disappeared in my studio. He laughed and he laughed loud. There is a reason I have St. Jude on the wall in my studio. The patron saint of Lost Causes. And the studio I craft and work in.. is always a lost cause. Haha. There is always something on a counter.
Off I go… And if my hubby reads this early. You sneak! I love you! Every Valentine I remember how you asked me to marry you on Valentine’s Day and it still makes my heart pitter patter!
Hope you have a great Valentine’s!
Enjoy!
Chris
So Cupcake officianados might be offended, but recently our cupcake tree has taken a decidedly healthy twist.haha. Had to share. Hope you have a healthy and wonderful day!
Enjoy!
Chris
http://visualdesignsbychris.blogspot.com/
www.visualdesignsbychris.com
Meals meals. . I never know how the week is gonna go or what I want to cook each day. So I try to come up with some sembleance of a menu to use up our bountiful basket. So this is my idea list of meals for a few days this week as we are busy almost every night, but I’d like to have something to possibly make. And most of these foods are already at my house! Yeah! And extras I will do or have done to get the healthy food eaten.
Chicken Divan – use up the broccoli in a meal AllRecipes I will use fresh broccoli, and gluten free cream of mushroom soup and probably a replacement of some kind for the chicken soup. But this quick recipe from allrecipes was an easy base to work from. I am going to add some desert to this. Maybe baked apples. I have never done them and we have quite a few in the basket. This recipe has cinnamon cheesecake center. Sounds yum.
Fish and Asparagus and Red potatoes – need to find something to not make asparagus taste like well asparagus for my little one. Here is a recipe from Allrecipes. But really I am going to try it because it says it will turn ANYONE on to asparagus. Huh. They must not have a 6 year old in their house. And the fish I have some mahi mahi so I will wrap them in parchment paper with garlic and green onion and bake it in the over to keep the place warm.
Crockpot – (probably Scouts Night. So we can come home and eat or eat before we go. )This week is the firestation visit. So I think I am going to try Tex-Mex-Pork from all recipes. It doesn’t use up bountiful baskets produce, but I have most of the seasonings and if we don’t eat it after scouts we can eat it as a left over. We have tortillas from bountiful baskets still in the freezer. And we have some burger buns that hubby needs to eat up. So this would work for either.
And for using up.. I cut up the cantaloupe and put it at eye level. The kiddo will see it and scarf it down. He doesn’t when it is still whole. I saw a recipe for grilled cantaloupe. Hmm I tagged this in my mind for summer grilling.
The spinach hubby will take to work with some lettuce from last week for lunch.
Red Peppers I will chop up in strips and put in baggies. If we don’t use it I will freeze it and save it for chicken chili later in the month.
The apples will get eaten.
I am going to juice the remaining oranges and tangelos and they will get swallowed during the week in liquid form.
I cut up cauliflower so I am going to make some veggie dip so it makes the cauliflower more enticing. We are dippers in this family for sure.
I also saw this on a blog today when I was looking for something to do with the strawberries, but then I realized my kiddo had already eaten half of the container that came in the basket. Maybe next time, but wow this recipe for Stuffed strawberries looked yum from blahtota-daa. And don’t spend to much time on that blog. You will need a napkin to wipe the salivating drool. Or at least I did. They even had a rhubarb and apple crisp. I haven’t had one of those since my summer visits with Grandma in Wisconsin. Yum.
*** HELP ***** Any ideas.. I have quite a few pears from last week, a pineapple that has probably bit the dust and bananas that will be overripe by Monday. Any ideas are welcome. I’d love to use them up. I was thinking maybe pearsauce for the pears.
And this I thought was cute from Twig and Thistle.. I thought it was cute because my kiddos classroom is having a healthy heart party for Valentine’s day. I know I would get the eye roll if I suggested these stickers with fruit for Valentine’s day. But well ya know. I still think it is a cute and great idea! And this lady had a lot of other inspiring items.
Well I have rambled enough for you on a Saturday. Really I am typing like mad to keep my fingers warm. Any ideas on those pears yet? Let me know I’d be interested in your ideas.
I can’t wait for blueberries from Bountiful Baskets! I have recipes at the ready to can! Woohoo!
Have a happy super bowl! I haven’t decided yet what to make for the super bowl party. But I am sure something will come to me. More on that later!
Valentine’s Day is about a week away or so… what are you working on!
Oh woohoo! My sick kiddo has put transformers in. I love these movies. Why I don’t but I do and can’t wait for transformers 3 to come out. Woohoo
Off I go to hang out with the kiddo.
Have a great rest of the weekend!
Enjoy!
Chris
It has been an adventurous morning for sure in the heat of the desert. Scrowl back. The freezing of the desert. Today the temperature according to the truck was 12 degrees and the wind according to the news was 20 miles an hour. Putting us somewhere at… to darn cold for me (some may say that’s nothing. I say I live in Arizona. I deal with 110 degrees heat. Why I am I dealing with the other end of the spectrum? Hmm.. well Mother Nature’s joke) … So hubby left for school with the kiddo and I went on to sledge the water troughs for the horses. Oh but wait our well froze. So we had a flat of bottled water in the fridge in the tack room. So those came into the house. So now I am outside in my sweater with sweater with shirt with carhart with green bay packer stocking cap, gloves, pajama pants and old shoes. I have earned that Packers hat after living in Wisconsin. So I head out ready to go. At first I didn’t have the sledge hammer. So I was out in the arena letting the 4 horses out I know will play well together so they can stand next to each other and retain some heat. Which they did immediately. So I have the end of the rake and I am using the handle to crack the ice. I got the first few done. And I had a horse almost topple me into the water trying to get to it because they had eaten and needed to drink. So I shooshed her off with the rake. A bath out in the water trough not on my list of possibilities for today wow. So I get to almost the last one. A horse inside their stall. I am to short to maneuver a rake through the slots of the fence. So well I stick my foot through and slam it down on the ice.. and right then… I saw that light bulb above my head… ting… and that oh man… yep foot in water. Pant leg soaked. In the house I go. So now that I have changed my pants. Found different shoes. Thrown the blanket again over my Nala (the old curmudgeon that rules the roost at our home) she hasn’t stopped vibrating with chill since yesterday and has earned a blanket and one for over top over her little four legged body. Anyways I am out back again in the arena. My fingers are just froze I close the gate. The wind is howling. I am ready to go. I have the sledge hammer this time this means business. Oh it took me an hour to change and try to warm up a little so no the waters are frozen over again and I break them all. As I am working on this the wind whips and something makes a noise. I look up and my nemesis… hubby’s beautiful mare.. has decided to push on the gate out of fear and because my fingers were freezing and gloved I must have not clipped it right. Because now as I stand there with a sledgehammer… 4 horses are running out into the yard. Lovely. I walk out put the dogs up so they don’t chase them. I change my gloves. Head back out. Grab the lead rope and hit the hay barn. Grab a flake of hay and walk back towards the arena. My paint horse Fleet sees me… he knickers. He runs around the arena towards the open gate. Full blast with my sons two little ponies right on his tail. He is going going… he hits the hay and is happy. He is chomping. The gate is closed. 3 out of 4 isn’t bad. So now my 1200 lb competition in life is staring at me. I show her the hay she walks toward me and I stand there. Call her name and talk to her she looks at me and bounces off the ground and takes off running tail in the air opposite direction. Prancing pain in the butt quarter horse. Does she not remember when I helped bring her back from pigeon fever hell this past summer. Whatever. I throw the hay on the ground by the gate. If she gets that way at least she’ll stop. I watch her run around and then bolt down towards the wash. (dry river bed… where water travels when freak water storms happen during the monsoons and the water doesn’t soak into the hard ground.) Anyways. She bolts. I just stand and watch. I decide I have had enough. The property is fenced in as a whole. So she can run around with her tail in prissy mode. Really she can get a cactus stuck in it. Oh wait I don’t want that I will have to get it out. Well back to the house I go. Call my hubby to catch my breath and calm down and change my mood. I really don’t want her to “feel” me ready to strangle her neck.. because then she definitely won’t come. As usual my phenomenal hubby is good to calm me down. Talk me through it. I am good. I put on my jacket again and head back out. She has walked up close the arena. Looks at me like. Hey oh your back! Wanna play. I walked wide around her. She doesn’t realize this but effectively as I come at her I have pinned her against a mesquite tree with huge thorns and no leaves. So I walk towards her with the lead. Talking the whole way. She backs up, hits the tree, bounces forward.. .she isn’t gonna run me over. Truly we have a love like relationship. I love to watch her run. I love to see her ridden. I love to just watch her every move. She is beautiful. But sometimes I like to strangle her neck. But she also knows, I think, that when Dad is away. Mom does the feeding. And oh you don’t want to run over the lady who is handing out hay like she bought a hay field because it is cold and she wants everyone to keep warm. So I walk up to her throw her lead of her neck, pet her neck, and whisper… “YOU ARE A PAIN IN THE A**. Let’s go.” She prances back into the arena and runs the other horses around for good measures. Throws her head and snorts at me. And no whisper this time I say.” Yeah Whatever”. So now we are back to organized chaos as we wait for a well to thaw. My hubby is on the way home and we will be loading up and heading to the neighbors who has to work all day and breaking all their animals waterers free of ice and working on the well. And splitting some wood in case my sister needs it because the natural gas has come up short and is home with her kiddos because the day care ran out of gas/heat. So what is this all about… well all in all. I love it. I wish I could have gotten a few more other things done today, but there is always tonight when I can’t sleep because of the wind. But going to help neighbors and help family and keeping it all together. That is the awesome part. My son will get to see that you help others when they need it and it makes the world spin to be a better place. Oh and really it’ll be all right.. Supposed to be 60 degrees on Saturday and 73 on Tuesday. So our two days of winter for the year will be over. The well will be thawed, we can shower and ride horse and enjoy life…. I so do…. Love my life.
Have a great warm day!
Enjoy!
Chris
