Tag Swap Pictures

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Here are the photos from the swap for tags we had in the forum. There were many categories. Thank you to everyone who participated and the fantastic tags everyone sent me! I took pictures in bunches so if you see one of yours it is the group you were in. I am adding the pictures and then headed off to the post office right now.

Have a wonderful day!
Enjoy!
Chris

These guys below had multiple faces so I had to take a picture of all of them. Cute Cute!

Chris Durnan, designer at www.visualdesignsbychris.com GSD KNK WPC AI SVGfiles for your personal digital cutters for use with scrapbooking, cardmaking and other hobbies. Whatever your creative mind can come up with!


My files work on many machines. Some of them are: Klik-n-kut, Pazzle, Wishblade, Silhouette, Cricut, Craft Robo. Some of the software involved with these machines are: Funtime, Scrapbooking, WinPC/Signlab, Inkscape, Create & Cut, Illustrator, KNK Studio, Robomaster, DesignMaster and the list goes on..... Enjoy!


And our cutter file "freebies" are kept in the forum. We add to them as we can.

La Cucaracha ....

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Well my hubby picked up this little guy last time we were at the auction. Random whimsical things come in to the auction during the tack. They usually are cheap. This little cucaracha has a purpose. He is a boot jack for pulling off my hubbies boots after being outside. He is also my tormentor. I soooo want to paint him something like this below. But I am quite sure it will not be well rec'd or at least followed with a grimace maybe an eye roll. My hubby deals well with my need for color in the desert. So for now he sits on the patio boring and black while I envision different color schemes for his wings. haha. Hey I didn't say glitter or sequins just color. At least I am self controlling a little... but I do have really nice microbeads by Martha Stewart in many colors. oohhhhh... Self Control. Have a wonderful day! Enjoy! Chris

PS I did this touchup in photoshop to my hubby in case he is reading this.

Chris Durnan, designer at www.visualdesignsbychris.com GSD KNK WPC AI SCUT files for your personal digital cutters for use with scrapbooking, cardmaking and other hobbies. Whatever your creative mind can come up with!


My files work on many machines. Some of them are: Klik-n-kut, Pazzle, Wishblade, Silhouette, Cricut, Craft Robo. Some of the software involved with these machines are: Funtime, Scrapbooking, WinPC/Signlab, Inkscape, Create & Cut, Illustrator, KNK Studio, Robomaster, DesignMaster and the list goes on..... Enjoy!


And our cutter file "freebies" are kept in the forum. We add to them as we can.

Why is it?

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Why is it.. When I eat frozen bananas I am fine? When I ate barely ripe bananas I am fine?When I eat bananas that are ripe. I take a bit I chew. i think wow this is such a sweet fruit yum. I swallow and work on something and then GAG. This is the only food that does that to me. I like it. I can eat  firm bananas but the ripe ones. Well the ripe ones don't agree with me. Weird. Just weird.

Why is it ... That my fancy Copic markers in the seperate bin are not as fun as the 100 markers in the drawer that say Crayola? hmm.. they appear to color the same to me, but apparently not for my son. Well the obvious reason is the obvious reason why I have them seperated. but mostly that is because I don't think you should color the tips with each other to see which color you get. That technique is definitely for Crayola. Love Mom.

Why is it ... My son prefers fruit rollups to fruit gummies? I don't get the difference? One day I will take a rolling pin and roll a gummy flat and show him. But I know he will roll his eyes at me and walk away with it.

Why is it .. the school my child goes to had the children waiting for pickup standing outside when it had been raining, but was still lightening very visibly and very close. so close that you could feel the electric charge in the air.  There most be a better way. This was a puzzler for me.

Why is it... Well mostly probably ... JUST BECAUSE.. Have a great day! Enjoy! Chris



Chris Durnan, designer at www.visualdesignsbychris.com GSD KNK WPC AI SCUT files for your personal digital cutters for use with scrapbooking, cardmaking and other hobbies. Whatever your creative mind can come up with!


My files work on many machines. Some of them are: Klik-n-kut, Pazzle, Wishblade, Silhouette, Cricut, Craft Robo. Some of the software involved with these machines are: Funtime, Scrapbooking, WinPC/Signlab, Inkscape, Create & Cut, Illustrator, KNK Studio, Robomaster, DesignMaster and the list goes on..... Enjoy!


And our cutter file "freebies" are kept in the forum. We add to them as we can.

Sundays food blessing...

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One of my Sunday blessings I do is sit down and figure out what to eat during the week. It's a blessing for me because so many I know are struggling right now. We have these wonderful things to eat. Therefore it is a blessing.  So rather then cleaning out the fridge, trimming up the veggies, shopping for groceries, cooking up dinner, cleaning up dishes, tables, spills and thinking of it as some form of chore or tedium. I try to keep it in mind that it is a blessing. For a long time I thought planning our meals was a boring thing to do. Why not be impulsive and just go with it every day. But now I relish it and it means we eat soooo much better. It means during the week I don't have to concentrate on food. I just look at my list. take out the food that should thaw for that evening and go about my day. When dinner time comes I don't stand in front of the fridge and stare at what I should have thawed or prethrown in the crop pot and then I call the hubby and say let's do pickup. This picture below is what I try to incorporate in my week. Here is my $15.00 haul from Bountiful Baskets this week (what you don't see is the buried grapefruit bag and the romaine lettuce.) We are looking at red peppers, tomatoes, cauliflower, champagne grapes, english cucumber, peaches, cauliflower, mangos, sweet corn ( I am sure I am missing something.) Now to make a plan....

In this picture I see these things I can fit into our meals.

Corn on the cob, Grilled peaches, mango salsa or mango smoothies, cucumber and tomato salad, and cauliflower. (oh I am determined to figure something out for this veggie I generally ignore).

What do you see that I could make with my veggies and fruits?

So I think...

Monday - Burgers, Corn on the cob grilled, and peaches grilled in tin foil with brown sugar and cinnamon (my son will probably want to pour this over some vanilla ice cream)

Tuesday .. Chicken and some Cauliflower recipe (have to look something up) with mango & banana Smoothies for desert

Wednesday ...  Make your own Gluten Free Pizza Crust Pizza ( I use the personal kinnick crusts. They are square and cook the most even and we can make our own). I think the toppings offered will be cheese, chicken leftovers from the grill, red pepper slices, Tomatoes sliced, Corn (from the extra ears I will cut off and put in the fridge) My favorite is Tomato, Green onion (not in the basket bummer), pesto sauce.. no red, and chicken chunks.

Thursday .. Sandwich and leftover night. with Cucumber, Tomato, Feta Cheese and Olives tossed with EVOO and seasoning to go with.... It's cub scouts night. Minimal cooking on my part and the salad will be an excellent leftover for Friday lunch for me.

Friday night...  ??? This is the night we decide what we want right then. This last weekend we were at Grandma's. Usually we grab something out to celebrate the end of another great week. Or just have munchies while we watch a movie or enjoy a campfire. (Think Roasted hot dogs over the campfire)

So these are my thoughts for the week. Do you have any other thoughts.. Anyone have a great use for grapefruits other then using them like softballs for the border collie to chase? Huge bag of them under all that other good stuff and my hubby likes them, but I am not sure how many he can eat that quickly.

Well on to the next Sunday Mission. The Champagne Grapes are mostly missing already. My son who had never had them.. Nor had my hubby and I.. my son thought they were just sooooo cute and when he took a bite. just soooo delish. Yeah for another new try in the produce dep't.

Enjoy!

Chris

Chris Durnan, designer at www.visualdesignsbychris.com GSD KNK WPC SVG AI SCUT files for your personal digital cutters for use with scrapbooking, cardmaking and other hobbies. Whatever your creative mind can come up with!


My files work on many machines. Some of them are: Klik-n-kut, Pazzle, Wishblade, Silhouette, Cricut, Craft Robo. Some of the software involved with these machines are: Funtime, Scrapbooking, WinPC/Signlab, Inkscape, Create & Cut, Illustrator, KNK Studio, Robomaster, DesignMaster and the list goes on..... Enjoy!


And our cutter file "freebies" are kept in the forum. We add to them as we can.

Voting in the QMC

We have some voting going on in the QMC for  a couple of files. Here is a picture of some of them cut and used. If you are a qmc member, head over to the forum to vote. And if you are not a QMC member yet… Jump on in!

Enjoy!
Chris

Todays post is gonna be an update of sorts...

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Okay time to do some updating.

First off the newsletter went out on Monday. you can still see it here for a limited time.

When you are looking at the newsletter take a peak at the grab bag. Decide if you need it for your school pictures and gaming pictures especially with the holidays coming and grab it while you can. Now that you have the grab bag you can participate in the Weekly Challenge and get entered to WIN next month's grab bag. Which I have seen and is oh so so cute! Also, don't forget to check the designers blogs that where in the grab bag. I have heard rumors that there will be bonuese and perks for those who participate in the challenge. woohoo! Love those.

and next... did you see these I am offering them on sale in the store.. for 3.99 each...
The Halloween Collection and the School Collection #1

And now I must run to finish up some files!! Don't forget to read through all the awesome goodies in the newsletter. Enjoy! Chris

Chris Durnan, designer at www.visualdesignsbychris.com GSD KNK WPC AI SCUT files for your personal digital cutters for use with scrapbooking, cardmaking and other hobbies. Whatever your creative mind can come up with!


My files work on many machines. Some of them are: Klik-n-kut, Pazzle, Wishblade, Silhouette, Cricut, Craft Robo. Some of the software involved with these machines are: Funtime, Scrapbooking, WinPC/Signlab, Inkscape, Create & Cut, Illustrator, KNK Studio, Robomaster, DesignMaster and the list goes on..... Enjoy!


And our cutter file "freebies" are kept in the forum. We add to them as we can.

The Rocket Book!!!

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This is my Rocket Book I gave to my sister. I embellished some but not alot so she could fill it with her own tastes and desires. She is having her second child so I didn't want to give her something she already has so I decided to make a simple book with some items in it to get her started. I think she really liked it.
I hope you do to. Enjoy! Chris

So my son decided he needed his picture taken with the book since he helped. So here is the picture.

And this was the front page.

My son kept trying to squish the front page flat I had to show him I put some of the pieces on with op dots so it wouldn't be flat. OHHHHH is what I was told. ha!

This is kinda the title page. Originally I was going to write on the outside edge of the cut outs "Arrived" Weight" Time" Date" etc with arrows pointing to the centers of the stars and rockets, but I wasn't sure my Sister would want it that way so I left it blank. And yes this is the "waste" from cutting all those rockets for the shower and stars. I couldn't get rid of it.

This files is in the QMC already 1st snuggles. Yeah I cut it to big. So had to run it off the page. I only glued the center portion so she can slip the pictures underneath the edges.

This page above was my son contribution. I thought He balanced it quite well. Then he started digging in my bag and tada... glitter pen. So he had to add "shootings" to the stars to make them "shooting starts" very cute. He was most impressed my sister pulled it out and found his page right away. he was very excited and said he needs to do a few more for other family members. He used my Cricut to cut the Love and the rockets and stars were already cut. So it is ready for a picture.

And this page I just cut the 1st snuggles file with rockets in the window so i could get mroe pieces to create this page. It has a few spots for pictures.

And this was one of a few extra pages that I put minimal embellishment on it so my Sis could fill it with her own things.  We can't wait for the new baby chase to show. :-)

So now she has his first memory book started. Woohoo!

Chris Durnan, designer at www.visualdesignsbychris.com GSD KNK WPC AI SCUT files for your personal digital cutters for use with scrapbooking, cardmaking and other hobbies. Whatever your creative mind can come up with!


My files work on many machines. Some of them are: Klik-n-kut, Pazzle, Wishblade, Silhouette, Cricut, Craft Robo. Some of the software involved with these machines are: Funtime, Scrapbooking, WinPC/Signlab, Inkscape, Create & Cut, Illustrator, KNK Studio, Robomaster, DesignMaster and the list goes on..... Enjoy!


And our cutter file "freebies" are kept in the forum. We add to them as we can.

Baby Party Decorations

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Here they are those baby party decorations we made with the Rocket Cuts now in the QMC. This was fun to help my sister's friend plan. I cut lots of rockets to hang and the new baby's name to decorate. I cut little rockets and glued them doublesided on to toothpicks. I love it all. Came out awesome. i hope you like the pictures.

My sister's friend and I debated left and right cupcake or cake. My sister wanted cake with butter cream icing and raspberry jam in the inside. Apparently we are a small member of people who put this in the middle of their cakes. So so yum. I tried to make the butter icing once for one of my own cakes and just screwed it up, but will have to try again. Butter and Powdered Sugar how hard can it be?

And this is the top of the cake with my little Rocket Cuts file on toothpicks. first we had them on the cupcakes but then moved them. I loved it.

And this is my sister's fireplace. More rockets and stars and baby names.

We hung these on fishing line so they floated. and my Mom attached stars to the bottom of the green streamers to weigh them down. (I had the streamers in a bag from my sons 1st or 2nd birthday party. the theme was John Deere. I am a packrat for sure, but they matched perfectly. )

This is my cutey patootey niece and son under the crib. They love the new rocket room. Which i will debut when my sister sends me pictures. She emailed and said she thought it was worthy of my blog. hahah. I can't wait to share the pics with you.

And then we had to share our blue tongues from the icing. My cousin in her stylish blue tongue.

and wew I didn't get the green tongue from the lady behind you to show.

And then my hubbies blue tongue. he knows fulll well this is going on the blog.

and then Spoiled Sport Uncle Mark.. Decided to not share his blue tongue. That's all right I'll get you on the blog some other time. just you wait. You probably will wish you had shown your blue tongue! haha.

I am going to show the pics of my prego sister with her room she is so proud of! Enjoy! Chris

Chris Durnan, designer at www.visualdesignsbychris.com GSD KNK WPC AI SCUT files for your personal digital cutters for use with scrapbooking, cardmaking and other hobbies. Whatever your creative mind can come up with!


My files work on many machines. Some of them are: Klik-n-kut, Pazzle, Wishblade, Silhouette, Cricut, Craft Robo. Some of the software involved with these machines are: Funtime, Scrapbooking, WinPC/Signlab, Inkscape, Create & Cut, Illustrator, KNK Studio, Robomaster, DesignMaster and the list goes on..... Enjoy!


And our cutter file "freebies" are kept in the forum. We add to them as we can.

Just beautiful....

I just had to share these with you today. I was planning to post party
decorations from last weekend, but these flowers make me smile everytime I
walk in the house. Almost all are from my Mother's Day gift. We went to a
nursery and bought lots of flowers and my guys and I planted them. They did
all the hard heavy dirty lifting, but it was the BEST. And here in August
they still make me smile.

Enjoy!
Chris

A few things to update ...

First… A weekly challenge is posted. Your goal is to post anything you have cut from a current member of VDBC and the More Team. That’s it. It can just be a cut, a finished project. Anything that you have cut last from our wonderful designs. And you can get an extra entry by mentioning it on my fan page. HERE.

 

 

Second…  The 2011 Planner Swap  has been posted in the forum. A great swap. I participated in this last year and the recipients loved their gifts. I was bummed I didn’t sign up for more to keep one of my own. It’s a great way to get help finishing up some gifts and is due in a few months so plenty of time to work on it.  Here is last years swap thread where you can see some of the finished pieces. Love love love it.

 

Third .. I posted another QMC file 1^st Snuggles to the QMC Membership. The membership is still open for members. If you’d like to join.

 

Fourth.. the grab bag is awesome filled with school and games files. Don’t forget to grab it up. J

 

Fifth… Happy Tuesday to you!!!

Enjoy!

Chris

 

 

Green Cauliflower?

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Bountiful Baskets moment. For those who are tired of the raving idea about veggies and fruits this post is not for you. so here we go..

Have you ever had Green Cauliflower? Yeah me neither until last week. I must admit we held onto this vegetable to the end of our bbasket week. Wasn't really sure how was it gonna be. for some reason I kept thinking of died green carnations on St. Patrick's Day. So we tried it. I knew my son would not go for just cauliflower.

He is a total anti-broccoli fan. But my goal was to woo him over. So how do you do this with my kid? well you coat it with Cheese. So I thought about how my Mom used to ofen make a cheese sauce for on top of cauliflower. Now that I think about it. I am pretty sure she was wooing us. I must admit it has been a long time since I have had cauliflower, green or not.

So I found a recipe on the web that was basically butter, flour, milk and shredded cheese. So because I am an annoying cook. pinch of this, dash of that. I read the recipe on my laptop and headed to the kitchen two hours later with a plan. I melted about 2 tablespoons of butter, added about 2 tablespoons of Pamela's gluten free baking mix and mixed this together. Then I added some Bay's Seasoning (my grandma used to use this lots I saw it in the store and grabbed it up to try.) So I shook a little in. Then poured in some milk (probably cup and a half) and let it warm stirring it pretty frequently until it was pretty warm and started thickening. I have no idea how long I was putting away dishes. So it is thickened so I threw in the 2 cups of shredded cheese and stirred while it melted. My son just eyed me cautiously for any dropped pieces of cheese. Have a mentioned he is a total cheese head. And proclaimed he could eat sauce with that much cheese on ANYTHING. We poured it over the green cauliflower. It came out quite good. My son ate the cauliflower. and I did to. I am almost considering purchase some white cauliflower to see what the difference is. Maybe do it blindfold taste test. Remember those Pepsi/Coke Challenges. Over Cauliflower? something tells me I would get the eye roll from the guys if I tried it. So it was good and a new adventure. I love having things to try that are veggies that I would never have tried before. Pretty awesome. And I gotta think isn't there a diet of some kind that makes "mashed potatoes" out of cauliflower. Well folks you can do Green cauliflower instead of for St. Pat's Day. although I am not sure it would pass the muster in Ireland for potatoes. haha.



On to new adventures and new tries.I am off to dig through the basket remains and look for another new recipe to try! What's a new recipe you have tried lately?

Enjoy!

Chris
Chris Durnan, designer at www.visualdesignsbychris.com files for your personal digital cutters for use with scrapbooking, cardmaking and other hobbies. Whatever your creative mind can come up with!


My files work on many machines. Some of them are: Klik-n-kut, Pazzle, Wishblade, Silhouette, Cricut, Craft Robo. Some of the software involved with these machines are: Funtime, Scrapbooking, WinPC/Signlab, Inkscape, Create & Cut, Illustrator, KNK Studio, Robomaster, DesignMaster and the list goes on..... Enjoy!


And our cutter file "freebies" are kept in the forum. We add to them as we can.

Sundays Rambling...

Okay so it is Sunday. Clean up and get ready for the week. I feel like I need five wrist watches on Sundays. I’d like to set one for the next dryer load. One for the next washer load. One for the next dishwasher load. One for 5 oclock so my kiddo gets scrubbed up and clean before his favorite America’s Funniest Videos show.

Hmm… just not feasible as I don’t even where one water. And I don’t have a pocket to bring my blackberry with me to set the alarms. Although this is something I may have to ponder. …

So how about you? Did you get a cut posted in the forum for the weekly challenge??? My goal is to get the studio cleaned up for another week of test cuts. My lovely hubby is working on boosting my signal out in the studio for internet. Hard to upload files when things are dragging.

 

Basically we plan to spend the day at home. I love Sundays at home. My son does so much better at school on Monday when his Sunday is freeflowing and at home. He knows this to so when we have plans on Sundays he begs to stay home. Begs begs.

 

One of my tasks today is to figure out how to eat up all the bountiful basket. So we have green bell peppers about 6 of them so I plan to do stuffed bell peppers and my hubby doesn’t know this yet, but I think I will make the stuffing ahead of time, stuff the peppers and then wrap them in tinfoil and throw it on the grill to bake. Lot better then heating up the house. So past that I have… strawberries, blackberries, pears, bananas (those I am not worried about the fruit will be gone… but if you have any recipes for these. I have jalapenos, Anaheim chiles, yellow onion, celelery, romaine, tomatoes (yum I could eat those today they are big beef steaks) Mexican gray squash, cantaloupe,  oh I know I am missing something. And on Friday because I didn’t want to grocery shop this weekend. I bought chicken breast, chicken tenders (not the coated kind, just thin slices of chicken frozen, raw shrimp, canned tomatos, and a few other things. So if you have some mahvelous recipe idea with any of those send it my way. I will be planning meals at the end of the day. I wish there was some other way to eat the romaine then a salad. We get it every time. I love it. And have done all kids of different salads. But it’s probably the purpose of it since it is the main ingredient of salad.  Oh and the celery. We never eat it. I should have just offered it up at the pickup spot for someone else. And pears. I am trying to think of some fancy fun desert I could make with pears. Seems to me I saw pears with a raspberry sauce somewhere. I think it had goat cheese. Why my mind was wondering I started thinking I wonder how much of a pain it is to have a goat and milk it. Well let’s say after this last few weeks with animals we are full up to the limit so I won’t even entertain the idea. My hubbies horse has the huge “hole” in her chest for lack of a better word. I would post a picture but it makes me nauseous looking at it. And I try to be a stomach friendly site.

 

Well that’s it for my Sunday Ramblings. More tomorrow on my sister’s awesome Baby party and how much fun it was. For now I am off to check the washer and see if I can flip it.

 

 

Enjoy your Sunday!!!

Chris

New QMC Files

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I added a few files to the QMC yesterday. If you haven't joined and like these two files. You can join here.

These are uploaded to the forum and the 4shared site. Thank you to the members! You make my creating files so enjoyable.

Also running a challenge in the forum... Post your last cut from one of the "more team" designers or one of my files in the forum. for more details. head HERE.

Enjoy!
Chris

First is the Never give Up file. These file is a jumble of words with the word Never and the ribbon and the ever strong "Never Give Up" . You can use these together on a tshirt or a card. Or you can use them seperately without the ribbon and showcasing the marathon runner of your life, or the high school student who has pushed his limits. All test cut and ready for you to just use!

And then we have a set of Rocket cuts. I am working on an album for my soon to be nephew. Well it's for his Mom and his New Baby To Come Party is themed Rockets. So I have lots of pieces I have created for it and am sharing it with you. This would be great for a boys card, a boys room decor, or your favorite astronaut and space inspired enthusiast.

These files come GSD KNK WPC AI & SVG

All test cut and checked node by node. Absolutely ENJOY your Digital Cutter!
Chris

Chris Durnan, designer at www.visualdesignsbychris.com Files for your personal digital cutters for use with scrapbooking, cardmaking and other hobbies. Whatever your creative mind can come up with!


My files work on many machines. Some of them are: Klik-n-kut, Pazzle, Wishblade, Silhouette, Cricut, Craft Robo. Some of the software involved with these machines are: Funtime, Scrapbooking, WinPC/Signlab, Inkscape, Create & Cut, Illustrator, KNK Studio, Robomaster, DesignMaster and the list goes on..... Enjoy!


And our cutter file "freebies" are kept in the forum. We add to them as we can.

Hubby Bragging. Leatherwork

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Well I am gonna brag for a bit. My hubby has wowed my again. We have a friend who my husband has known for a very long time. So he decided to work on some leather for him.So he drew out some new patterns and created the leatherwork and put it in a frame for him. Just makes me happy to see him create things.

I firmly believe that handmade gifts are so much nicer. And many of our friends/family have everything they could ever possibly need. so to come up with something new and creative then can use is fun. I think our friend really liked it.

Well i thought I would share the pictures with you. I think he is getting a little better every time.

Have a fantastic weeekend!!! Enjoy! Chris

Chris Durnan, designer at www.visualdesignsbychris.com GSD KNK WPC AI SCUT files for your personal digital cutters for use with scrapbooking, cardmaking and other hobbies. Whatever your creative mind can come up with!


My files work on many machines. Some of them are: Klik-n-kut, Pazzle, Wishblade, Silhouette, Cricut, Craft Robo. Some of the software involved with these machines are: Funtime, Scrapbooking, WinPC/Signlab, Inkscape, Create & Cut, Illustrator, KNK Studio, Robomaster, DesignMaster and the list goes on..... Enjoy!


And our cutter file "freebies" are kept in the forum. We add to them as we can.

Another moment of Mom Inspiration

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Okay these two little jars have become a big hit in our house. I was getting very frustrated and found myself raising my voice and repeating myself over and over again. I needed some kind of reward system that was physically easy to see, easy to maintain, fun to do for the little one and not financial because the list below is a list of the items that I believe should be done just because you are part of a family and live in the same house. But let's face it there is a reason kids like those shiney stars on charts. It's rewards and achievements. 

  So I was thinking about this.

I have a list of items that just drive me nutz. Everyone's is different as a Mom, but here is mine.

1) capri sun, cheese stick wrappers, fun fruit wrappers laying on the counter or the side table

2) backpack in the middle of the floor where it got dropped

3) shower towel on the floor in the bathroom

4) dirty clothes on floor in bedroom so Border Collie sleeps on them

5) Dirty dishes on table after you're done eating

6) Cereal box on counter? Do we think it will float away into the pantry itself?

7) School shoes no where to be found in the mornings

So this is my list of repeats. You could hear me mention these about 5 times a day each. Or to constantly remind when we take our clothes off for pjs to put them in the laundry basket etc.

So, we decorated these two jars. Mine is full of marbles. Everytime he does one of these without being asked my kiddo gets to take one of my "marbles" (which are leftover glass stones from the mosaic table and little wooden hearts I found in my craft room from some past craft. )Well he gets one of mine. If I have to ask him to do it he doesn't get any. And if I do it.... well you guessed it I get one back. We are on day three. It is working really well. My son walked in the house after school. Hooked up his backpack (marble 1), Put his shoes on the aforementioned days of school shelf for tomorrow (marble 2) and went to get a snack and threw the wrappers away (marble 3). Oh yeah Oh yeah! So fantastic. He was pleased as punch to move those three marbles to his jar. Last night he watched me take away one marble as I cleaned up capri sun wrapper off the counter. He was not to thrilled. best part is it is an easy maintenance. We talked about respect and honors and he gets to take the marbles for in his, but if he cheats I would be very disappointed and will go back to asking asking nagging nagging.

I don't know how long it will last, but we'll try and for day we are both happy! and I have no white socks laying in the middle of the floor next to the shoes to trip over. woohoo..

And I am happy to report the shelf with the days of the week on it is working awesome. Tomorrow is library. his book is on the shelf, his shoes are on the shelf and his school pride shirt is also on the shelf. It takes me about twenty minutes to load it up on the weekend after I do laundry and I don't have to spend twenty minutes a day finding something for him to wear in a sleepy stupor. I just ask him to wake up and get up and stretch and get moving and the first thing he does is get dressed. yeah Yeah Yeah.

And you ask what does he get out of the marbles.. well we sat down together and wrote out what we thought were good rewards. And they had to be rewards at the house because it was taking care of the home that he was getting the marbles for. And not a purchase of a new toy. Most of his items were really just time spent with my husband and I. Things that he would like us to do more of. that we do anyways, but he loves to do them and wants some bargaining leverage. So we wrote down a value for the "marbles"

so some of those were

Playing Legos with Mom for 15 minutes - 40 marbles

Picking a Movie to watch on the weekend - 50 marbles

Picking the Dinner Menu on a weekend night - 40 marbles

15 minute squirtgun fight outside on the weekend - 100 marbles

one campfire with marshmallows on a weekend night - 200 marbles

one overnight stay in the tent at the house on a weekend night  - 600 marbles

There are a few more, but they are all written up and very clear and posted on the fridge.

So I am hoping this will give him some sense of responsibility, cause and effect and saving for something, and reward for doing a great job. We'll see how it goes. I will be happy to not be a nag which I hate to be. and get some help around the house so I dont feel like I've lost my "marbles" I'll keep you updated!

Enjoy!

Chris

Chris Durnan, designer at www.visualdesignsbychris.com GSD KNK WPC AI SCUT files for your personal digital cutters for use with scrapbooking, cardmaking and other hobbies. Whatever your creative mind can come up with!

My files work on many machines. Some of them are: Klik-n-kut, Pazzle, Wishblade, Silhouette, Cricut, Craft Robo. Some of the software involved with these machines are: Funtime, Scrapbooking, WinPC/Signlab, Inkscape, Create & Cut, Illustrator, KNK Studio, Robomaster, DesignMaster and the list goes on..... Enjoy!

And our cutter file "freebies" are kept in the forum. We add to them as we can.

ready for some rambling?

Well here goes. I just have lots on my mind and thought if I took a few minutes to type it all out in my journal of life I keep here. I thought maybe it would all start to make sense to me and come together. Or at least my compulsion to journal about life would have been met.

 

My first thought is my little one is reading so well it blows me away when my son reads words like responsibility. It just makes my heart beam. I found that I was tending to jump the gun when we were reading and not allowing him to fully try to get the word before I would “help”. So now our 15 minute reading time after school every day is done on Mom & Dad’s bed. I lay on the bed backwards with my feet resting on the head board (elevated because my feet are forever swollen, sore, hurting. More on that later) anyways. I lay there and he sits at about my waste next to me facing me and reading. This way I can’t see the words and he is reading to me. If he has a problem he spells the word out and I pronounce it for him and explain why in the word scent the c doesn’t make a sound. If you have ever needed to explain why the English language is as it is watch a pbs show called The Electric Company. They have fantastic rhymes about letters and why there is a hard g and a soft g. Just fantastic. I listen to it while I cook dinner and the kiddo jams to the songs which are very upbeat and happy. He has told me that in school he can explain what a sound sounds like to his classmates with his little rhymes. I am so proud of him. Yesterday we read Dogzilla and we have been discussing how when we choose a big book and I read one page and he reads the next I can make voices. How do I know when the people are talking and it is just description. So now that he is getting the idea of quotes our book reading time is quite comical. One of the main characters in the book had a British accent last night. (My mother would be oh so proud. Having been born in Liverpool) And we giggled and laughed. Dad made it in to listen with us on the bed. My hubby was giving me dreamy eyes. Oh pitter patter goes the heart. But we were listening and laughing ito the British “gentlemice” in the book.  I would recommend Electric Company to anyone with reading age kids. You can also listen to it on line at pbskids.org. As my son says, They have cool BEATBOX. (wow I am old if Beatbox is cool again.)

 

Next… am I old? Why is that I can trip and rip the whole bottom of my toe off and limp for a week and now because of the limping my ankle is so swollen it just pulses. Really annoying and ridiculous. And just frustrating!!! Luckily I have skin growing back, but the puffiness in the ankle is a killer.  “cankles” as a friend of mine called hers when she was pregnant. (And no Mom if you are reading this, I am not pregnant!) Just some weird mutated gene in our family where our ankles are large anyways. So much so that I could sit out P.E. in high school by just wearing flip flops and showing the teacher my ankles were “swollen” and I couldn’t run. Really WHO WHO wants to run a mile in 110 degrees. Not I. I would like to think I was creatively ingenious in my efforts to not kill myself prematurely with the 110 degree weather and running a mile outside. I think they called it “the scenic” hard to see when you have sweat in your eyes.

 

New adventures. There are lots of changes going on in my family. My sister is having a baby, my brother is moving to Colorado with his family, I have a cousins son who is 6 like my son and is suffering through surgeries and chemo as they battle to defeat brain cancer and the list goes on, my Dad is heavily  considering his plans after retirement, my hubbies family is working on a mini family reunion, I am trying to find a home for my son’s first horse that will take care of her in her aging years… I reflect on it and think. Yep this is life. Everything is always changing. Which is good. Many complain and commiserate about everything that is happening, but really how boring would it be if every day we were robots? I don’t know. For me very boring. I do wish not as many were hurting. I seem to have many friends who have lost someone close to them or are feeling lost because of life. At times it just seems to spin off its axis. I am ready for a little regular tilt for a while, but am glad we aren’t robots. I guess this is the time in my life when I have to assume God will take over and provide. A few of my friends probably feel I have blind faith. Yes sometimes when life is bumpy I just need to have blind faith in God. Tomorrow always comes. The sun rises and until it doesn’t I will have some blind faith.

 

One of our added duties as of late is my hubbies horse. Usually our horses live the life of relaxation and then riding and working and then relax and then ride and work. Recently my husbands horse has been very sick. She has an infection from bacteria. We are fighting it with everything we have. However, it is nasty and icky. My husband gets up early to doctor her. I check on her all day as my studio looks out over her pen and my heart breaks whenever I see her limping along. We doctor some mid day and the late at night after dark wash her off and cool her body down with water.  This routine has tired us both out quite a bit. Part of it is worry. Part of it is worry + doctoring her. I just pray that she makes it through without any residual effects.  Blind Faith again. Faith that we are doing everything we can to move forward.

 

Getting ready for school with this routine has been difficult. My kiddo wants to help us and be with us so invariably he ends up in bed a little late some nights. My little one has my temperament in the morning. Just hard to wake up and greet the day without shaking your head like a wet dog to get the sleep out of your eyes and the blood flowing. So the other morning I said to him I would be very “irritated” if he made us late for school when all he had to do was get up. This perked him up… he looked at me and said “wouldn’t you mean annnnoyed” and he gave me this little twerp grin. And then his eyes got big because I was a coming with my “tickle hands” threw him down on the floor and tickled him right there on the spot. This was a really good way to wake him up as he was giggling and giggling. And on we went with our day.

 

I think that is enough rambling for today.  I hope I haven’t bored you. For those more interested in cutter files. Today is the day I am working on cutter files woohoo!! And I am still running a sale in the store for 35% off all my files. (except the membership and the rhinestone patterns) I hope to have some up in the membership by the end of the week.

 

Have a wonderful wonderful day!

Enjoy!

Chris

 

 

Store Newsletter and Sale

So our store newsletter went out

http://p0.vresp.com/y7DSrA

… and I am having a sale…

Sounds like an awesome Sunday afternoon to me!

Enjoy!

Chris