Soooooo thankful... I'm DONE!

WITH ALL THAT COOKING!

Wasn't exactly planning on doing the WHOLE shebang here at Rancho Durenberger. Sadly, my sweet mama was feeling poorly and pulled the plug on her {"I'm a veteran of Thanksgiving cooking... can do this with my eyes closed...."} Thanksgiving meal... SOOOOOOO, I did it. I just did it. Nothing too special.. Well, actually, the pies were screamin'! But I was already planning to make THOSE.... *sigh... DID you know, that when your turkey doesn't cook evenly and you keep putting it back in the oven... THAT'S a terrific way to make turkey jerky... Mmm!

Yeah, it's fine. My kids LOVE stuffing! And I replicated some fabulous "harvest potatoes" I had at a retreat once upon a time ~ just a medley of super diverse potato choices, including yams {!} all diced into fabulous lil' cubes, with some sweet onion, tossed in a mixture of maple syrup, soy sauce and garlic olive oil.... THEN broiled! Ooooowwweee! {Oh, no! Don't tell me I'm getting hungry AGAIN! Sheesh!} Okay, so I guess it was a successful meal, overall. Hey! What about you? Gosh, I sure hope ALL-O-YOU had a glorious day! There was MUCH to be thankful for, no doubt.. And some special prayers, to be sure! On a love-filled, terribly concerned, but quietly optimistic and determined note, we said prayers for dear Kelley Eubanks, who just recently learned that she is facing some daunting medical news. She's become a very dear friend of mine, and if you haven't been to her blog in a while, I just want to encourage you to stop buy and give her a little love and encouragement.... She's already feeling the collective love of blogland, but when it comes to positive energy and prayer ~ there's never enough...

SO. {How do I transition back to perkey CARD making talk, NOW!?! } Well, I'll just do this ~



After my 3rd kitchen clean-up session... (*sob) I decided to treat myself with some play time in Scrapland.... Guess what I did? I cleaned. Oh, yeah. It was pretty sad in here. BUT THEN, I sat down and stirred up some CARD CASSEROLE! Lot's of leftovers in Scrapland... and THIS, gorgeous Turkey stamp I've had for many years now.... Well, it gobbled at me!



My husband comes through Scrapland every now and then... I guess it's safe to say that my shelves are beginning to overflow with cards... He noticed that I had nothing on display that represented Thanksgiving... Hmmmm. Alrighty then!



I thought a nice TURKEY celebration was in order... Especially after the disrespect I showed one, earlier... THIS is one seriously well rendered Turkey image, but I wanted him to shine a bit brighter... AND I remembered that CAARDVARKS is looking for colored images... So here's a shot of "naked" turkey...


And then another shot to show how lively Mr. Gobbles became with some watercolor work! Just adding some shadow and highlight really turned him up a notch... And now, maybe I won't feel so guilty about my mangled Turkey Jerky... tee hee No, seriously though... leftovers of any kind can always make a girl feel a lil' more high achieving... THAT Crushed Curry Card Stock has been sitting out for weeks! Not to mention that pumpkin button that I've tried to use about 40 times before and never made the right fit... {doh!}



So, sweet friends of blogland... It's quite late {or EARLY} once again, and I've rambled... I TRULY hope you have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving! Having the chance to play with you all is, still, one of my favorite and MOST thankful parts of my world right now... Blessings to you all!

Supplies -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - Stampin' Up! & PSX
Die Cut Circle - Sizzix & Stampin' Up!
Embossing folder - Sizzix
Ink - Stampin' Up! & Staz On
Pumpkin Button - Dress It Up
Ribbon - Michael's
Tiny Leaf Punch - Family Treasures

Fish ON!

You must have thought I'd left ya'll and gone fishin'!

I can't believe I disappeared ~ again! I so wish I was a better multi-tasker! Ahhhhhhhhh! No, I wasn't fishin', but I needed a smooth transition for this:




Yes, friends, I found the PERFECT place to have some fun with this here, BROWN trout! Please check out this fab new sketch from those CRAZY Kitchen Sink Gals!



They are ORGANIZING and GROWING their lovely challenge, and now will feature TWO challenges per month! Check out the new blog! I know it will be a smashing success and I just couldn't WAIT to play with the "glamor girls" of Everything But the Kitchen Sink! I kinda just ... tried to make a splash! tee hee



I was ALL inspired for "fishin' art!" This week held quite the unexpected pleasure for lil' old me! My most DARLING and dear friend from college came into town! We spent three glorious days together ~ ALMOST as if... {ha ha!} it was back in the day! THIS is Michele! And Mr. PEE WEE... and ME!




We were able to steal a little time away some of the rigors of my daily existence... A little riding, dining, visiting with friends, LOTS of laughter, nostalgia and FUN! Just a lil' slice of heaven with a friend, who means so much to me ~ and now to my family, as well! Amazing to unite two such important pieces of my life: my pre-family world + REALITY! {tee hee} Michele is a WORLD traveler, writer, and Navy gal and SHE IS A PART of my soul! We met, while in college at UC Davis { .... a .... *cough-cough!* ... while ago!} and while I ran off into a future with marriage and family, Michele ran towards ADVENTURE! Yet, even after all of that, we are still united by our common love of life and sensibility... Oh, crackers! I just had to share her with you all!

Here's a close-up of the sentiment and ... ROYAL WOLF{?} I can't believe I don't remember the name of this fly! Just another illustration that it HAS been a while since college! I was known to "wet a line" or TWO back in the day. That is why a fishing card seemed like the right way to celebrate nostalgia AND the kitchen sink! Actually, the WHOLE enchilada! (But that's ANOTHER story! ~ Doh!)




All right, lovelies! I'm literally, BACK in the saddle THIS WEEK! THANK you sooooooooo much for visiting! Now, I get to catch up with YOU! YEEE HAW!

Supplies -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
D/P - Stampin' Up!
Fish and Background stamp - PSX
Fly stamp - Stampin' Up!
Sentiment - Creative Imaginations
Chipboard Circle and C/S cut with Sizzix
Ribbon - Michael's
Fishing line - Stren

Support from an Oldy but a GOODY!

PSX: Personal Stamp Exchange, c. 1994... Where have you gone? *sob* Remember them? Remember their stamps? I can't forget them... ever. My first! BEFORE Hero Arts, STAMP-A-ROSA...Stampin' Up! and all of you newer, up and coming companies.., Personal Stamp Exchange was a locally grown stamp company, that for me, had the most marvelous artwork in many of their images, but in particular, ANIMALS! I'm a huge "animal companion"/ lover of all things fluffy, protector of the furry, feathery... four legged... two... YOU NAME IT! I just loves me animals! That might explain why I just "redirected" my mortgage payment towards 100 bales of hay..... ANYWHOO! I've been struggling to get a contribution for the latest CPS sketch (114), so I turned to.... (see post title):

Presenting this week's Card Positioning Sketch Challenge, #114!

Aren't those ducks breathtaking!?! Would you believe that I found this stamp in a bag of "Goodwill" bound art supplies that my dear friend was donating! Seriously, not to deny some savvy Goodwill-shopping stamp babe from her windfall... but c'mon! THIS BABY WAS BORN TO BE MINE! Poor little stamp was nearly buried in *GASP!* acrylic paint! I didn't even know if it would ever stamp a clean image AGAIN! But I took it home to my workshop... gave it a bath and massaged the gunk from it's rubber peaks and valleys.... Talked nice and encouraging to it, and then shined with with a clean cloth until it gleamed... THEN, tap, tap, tap... its first inking, in my care......

SO THERE! You can see for yourself that it made a full recovery! Thank GOODNESS! Of course I had to stamp it about thirty times, color in the images, cut them out with my best detail scissors and x-acto blade... And now I have a little pile, just waiting for "homes!" I sleep so much better knowing that I have ..... (here she goes, AGAIN!....) my ducks in a row... MY DUCKS IN A ROW! (Bump, bump, bump {go the drums..})

Sorry, the afternoon "trough" of coffee kicked in and I'm getting rammy... I surely hope you enjoy my offering today and that you'll look after YOUR coveted stamps and keep always keep an eye out for the "oldies and goodies" from your crafting past... You NEVER know where they might be hiding!

C/S - Stampin Up!
D/P - "
All stamps by - Stampin' Up! except for, of course.... the DUCKS which are by... PSX (of yester-year...)
Jumbo Grommets & Bookplate - S/U!
Scallop punch - S/U!
Scallop circle - Sizzix & S/U!
Teeny-tiny flower punch - ?
Ribbon - S/U!
Orange Stickles - Ranger

Sketchy Greetings! CPS 110

My FIRST attempt at a sketch challenge! OMG! I'm in the blogosphere now, baby! Here is my first, ever challenge entry! Thanks to my dear and highly creative, card making, blog savvy and wonderful friends who've directed me towards this lovely gathering-o-talented paper crafters... I'm throwing in my hat... ur, COWBOY HAT, via greeting card, into the mix! Here is my answer to the Sketch 110 from Card Positioning Systems:







I had a lot of fun letting my imagination go WILD and come up with a design based solely on the sketch and how it inspired me: you'll see by my wild, WILD list of stamps, that I really let the "horses run", so to speak, and just used images that worked to fit the mood of my composition....

Stamps: sentiment - Taylored Artwork; running horses - S/U!; vintage cowgirl - (c) Dawn Houser for INKADINKADO; mountains - PSX

Card stock - Stampin' Up!; patterned paper - Foofala

INK - Staz-On, & Stampin' Up!

Other - Tim Holtz FRAGMENTS - plastic oval; rub ons & bling - Imaginise

Acrylic paint - Liquitex

So, now I'll attempt to link myself to CPS and go visit all of the lovely, crafty folks there! Wheeehooooo!

Thanks for visiting me! I SO appreciate your support and sharing!