Happy New Year!

Please stay warm and safe on this New Year!

These are our two barn kittens staying warm on the decoration boxes on the front porch. Montelious and Pennzoil.

Enjoy!
Chris

Goal 1: pressure cooker

As is my norm about this time I start talking about goals. I am not hard and fast to the word “resolution”. And I also set goals that are slightly smaller then some might think are worth setting.

It also helps if I put them out there so here is the first one.

 

Goal 1: Use my pressure cooker. I have one here and for some reason it scares me. I am worried about what it will do, not do, function. The pressure cooker for me is something I remember listening to at my Grandma’s house as it slowly “tick tick ticked” while it was cooking some piece of meat and/or vegetables. I also want to get over my fear of it because I want to can some vegetables this year and/or meat. I start this out today. I have pulled out the pressure cooker and a roast to thaw and hopefully tonight will be my first use of the pressure cooker. Of which I have TWO. I picked one up at a yard sale and need to replace the gasket on it. The lady was definitely a canner because I also got a ton of jars. So hopefully this will come to fruition pretty quickly so I can write it off my list. I come from a family of awesome cooks. My mom and I were just talking about how she prefers to not cook the same meal at the Christmas dinner and mixes it up regularly. I kinda am the same way. This is hard for my traditionalist hubby, but I don’t cook all the time either so it works. J

 

So Goal #1. Use my pressure cooker more up to and including canning in it.

Any tips? Thoughts? Recipes?

 

Enjoy!

Chris

 

 

Angels we have heard - sign

My Mother in Law has a collection of angels she asked me to make a sign. This is the finished sign. I modge podged the sheet music behind the letters and added some rhinestones randomly. To hang it there is silver hanging wire. Personally I don't like the ribbon on this picture but hung up next to her angels it looked good. Here at the house I would take off the ribbon. All in all I think she liked it. It was hung within an hour of us getting there. I hope she takes the ribbon off if she'd rather.

So some details.  Plank of wood which is 1x 5ish by 24 inches. I painted.it and let it sit for a while to release fumes. Printed out some sheet.music, ripped the edges and modge podged. Then let it dry. Cut vinyl and used blue painters tape to apply the vinyl. Then spray painted with some krylon matte spray. ( still like the modge podge brand better. But I ran out. ) let it dry and then heat fixed some random rhinestones. Pretty fun.



Enjoy!
Chris

Washcloth Toothbrush holder

A gift for my nieces and nephews. I made these out of washcloths by folding up the side of one and sewing little pockets.  First I placed a ribbon across the back and sewed it in place leaving the ends free for a bow to hold it all together. I cut little pieces of fabric and used Heat Transfer Vinyl to cut each child's initial and iron it on the little swatch of pink and blue material. I think they came out fun and great for travel and overnight visits. 

Enjoy!
Chris

PS I saw this idea on Pinterest in numerous places. I didn't use a pattern of course because I hate patterns I have to follow and potentially mess up. So I winged it. :-)

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My files in the store can be located here. Thank you for stopping by!

The " Experience" Gift.... thoughts?

We are winding down the month of December. It is a crazy month for our family. Crazy Fun! We take a trip to the National Finals Rodeo in Vegas. My Dad comes to visit from Wisconsin. My Hubby's Birthday. Let's not forget Christmas. Sometimes I find the Christmas part quite overwhelming. I try to be in the spirit. But it just wraps me up in this parcel of crazy. I have been watching those things that folks do to volunteer at this time of year. Next year I am going to look at some of these things and see what we can do in the spirit of "giving" as well as receiving. We have so much in life. But this list I saw on How Does She really appealed to me. A list of items one can give that are not permanent toys in the room. It is the "experience" type gift. I like this idea greatly.

This is the article I am talking about. 10 Fun Non-Toy Gift Ideas.

We are getting my son a gaming system. My son loves his own choice. So much that if he aces the week he gets Friday Freebie. 3-4 hours after school on Friday where he can just "HAVE AT IT" play any games, watch tv. do what he wants. Surprisingly he has just come home and read a new book. (I might happen to purchase these books close to freebie friday, but I cannot confirm or deny this action. haha.) So one of my gifts this year will be that "redbox" choice. They are little rental passes from Redbox. I have included the pdf here for you to download. Good for a year and will go great with his name "game" system Santa may drop off which I, also, cannot confirm or deny.

**Disclaimer.. I am not related to redbox and/or affiliated with redbox. This is not a coupon for redemption with them, but a printable for your to gift to a family member and pay for their redbox "wishes". thought I better say that.

However, if I were to make a list of more local things for the "experience gift" I would do some of the following and I still may... have to chat with the hubby.

1) A trip to the Planetarium for the day
2) A trip to the Lego Store in Phoenix
3) A pass for Gym lessons. (After the Olympics he subtly mentions the parallel bar competition.)
4) A family pass for Pima Air Space (my son could go here every year)
5)  A trip to Tombstone or Old Tucson (on his list of desires)
6) a trip to play in the snow (desert kids have to put this on their wishlists every year)
7) Movie passes
8) ....

Have any extra thoughts or ideas? I could go on and on, but my cutter is calling my name. :) Need to get some test cuts done... But I'd love to hear your ideas.

Enjoy!
Chris

Things I need to say about freebies. 

When you enter the password it says I agree TOU. it means that you agree to my terms of use that this is a personal use. In order for me to keep creating freebies. Please send folks here to my blog. Another good place to find me is on my facebook page for quick updates. 

Answers to Questions..

Folks ask my why am I loading to the forum and why the password. Well my other option is a site perhaps like 4shared etc. So you would follow the same steps only instead you go to the forum on the VDBC site and download. I am trying to centralize my work and time on the net so I can create create create. (I am having success with this goal as I have been creating like crazy.) So once you have registered at the forum you can continue to download the freebies by using the passwords. They change once a month rather then every time. So sometimes the forum may not even ask you for a password if you already entered it that month. :-) And that is the blah blah blah of today's post. 

To get quick fun updates of things going on, you can join my facebook page.

My files in the store can be located here. Thank you for stopping by!

Jason Aldean & King George

I like this man's music. So this made me happy. I got to take this picture.....

This is a picture of a picture so the flash in the photo. 

A photo of me and Jason Aldean from the NFR. Sadly it was computer generated, but hey lots of fun anyways. And this is a photo of my two guys with "King George"

We head lots of fun and will share some photos over the next few weeks. 

Enjoy!
Chris

To get quick fun updates of things going on, you can join my facebook page.

My files in the store can be located here. Thank you for stopping by!

Headband Holders made out of Ribbon

I made these Ribbon Headband Holders for the craft fair and also for my nieces. 

Above is the top view and below is the side view and the bottom is my display at the craft fair. was kinda fun to make. I am not a great "sewing with a pattern" person. So this was easy for me. Two complimentary ribbons and pins, thread and sewing machine. Mine are about 2 feet long with 5 or 6 "bubbles of thread to hold the headbands. Fun stuff. :) Might be an easy gift if you need something for the top of a package. 

Enjoy!

Chris

To get quick fun updates of things going on, you can join my facebook page.

My files in the store can be located here. Thank you for stopping by!

Stable Few Signs

I made these project from one of the QMC files. 

I cut 4in x 7ft x 1in wood down into a few almost 2 foot pieces. Sprayed and let them sit for a week to remove the fumes before putting on vinyl. I actually used blue painters tape for the application of the vinyl on these. Then I seal coated with the Modge Podge Matte Clear Acrylic Spray.

My transfer tape is super sticky. It drives me nutz. What do you use? I can make it stick to my shirt and make it less sticky. just annoying. Unfortunately I have so much roll left who knows how long before I go through it. So I shall keep "de-linting" my shirts with it before I use it. :-) Always a positive outcome. less lint. woohoo!!

I have two more qmc files to load. when the last one is loaded I will take it out of the store. you can still join here if you would like this file and the others included.

Enjoy!

Chris

To get quick fun updates of things going on, you can join my facebook page.

My files in the store can be located here. Thank you for stopping by!

New Year's Party Card

It's my day on Card A Day. So here is part of my post from there and more info... And it is a great way for me to showcase those hidden gems in the gallery. Thank you Esther for this one!


Alot of the time, my Mother In Law has a New Year's Party, it is a lot of fun. This card would be the perfect invite for her New Year's Party. My husband's family is the dancing-est group of people. I have never heard the song "we are family" so many times at family functions. My MIL wanted to clean out the dining room at Thanksgiving so the kids would have room to dance. It didn't happen this year, but it is an indicator that next year it might be on the list of ideas.

This card was created by Esther and as always she does it with style. She used two of my files to create it. For me... this is a New Year's Party. :-) so fun!

Here is what Esther wrote about the card in our gallery... 

I made this RAK card for a teenager using Chris’ files: Never Let Age Tame You (CD00805)

 and Out With the Girls (CD00722).

Thank you Esther as always love to see your inspiration! Thank you!

This year I think we are having a Bonfire and marshmallows at our house. Low Key and fun. Have any plans?

Enjoy!

Chris

Those files from the store... 

Out with the Girls above

and Out with the Girls Cupcake Wrappers Below

in case you need it!

Never Let Age Tame You Border

To get quick fun updates of things going on, you can join my facebook page.

My files in the store can be located here. Thank you for stopping by!