Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

For Don, my soul mate & the love of my life. 

We'll be married seventeen wonderful years in April.

He treats me like everyday is Valentine's Day.

A handmade bottle bib & our favorite wine, 'Hoodsport Rhubarb Wine.'

 I love this bottle bib.  The idea & instructions came from Helen Croft at the 'Scrap a Little' blog.

A fan folded flower & leaves.  A totally fun project.

Wishing everyone a Happy Valentine's Day.

I entered this card in the following challenges:

4 Crafty Chicks-- 'Love is in the Air' Challenge

DYSU Blog -- Challenge #58  -- 'Love"

Fussy & Fancy Friday Challenge -- 'With All my Heart.......'

Lexi's Creations -- Challenge #58

PaperPlay -- Challenge #12  -- 'Love Letters'

Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturdays -- Red, White & Pink Challenge

Totally Gorjuss -- Lurve Challenge

A Pirates Life for Us, 2012

We recently did something that was unbelievably fun.  We were invited to & attended the 'Pirates Life for Us' Ball in Ocean Shores, Wa.   We've enjoyed other activities while masquerading as pirates, including Renaissance Faires & Halloween parties, but this was our first ball.

We arrived Friday afternoon, January 27th.  Our beautiful ocean view suite was waiting for us at the Best Western Lighthouse Suites Inn.  After unpacking, we wandered upstairs to the Waves Restaurant & Bar. There we met up with many of our fellow pirates. We were warmly welcomed by everyone.  There was lots of dancing, laughter, hugs & rum. We spent two incredible evenings with our new friends. What a fantastic group of people.  We are looking forward to getting to know them better.

Saturday, from 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM, was the 'Pirates Gear & Garb' Swapmeet. That was really fun.  There were some really great outfits offered.   I love the clothes. I bought a pirate hat & handmade bag.

At 2:00 was the group picture.  This photo was taken by Stuart May of Ocean Shores, Wa.  He's the owner of Fusions Art Gallery.  He's a wonderful photographer.  He took lots of beautiful & fun pictures at the ball.  Click HERE if you'd like to visit his, 'It's a Pirate's Life' gallery.

From 2:30-5:30, we traveled to local pubs, including: First Port of Call, Pirate's Cove, Porthole Pub & Galway Bay.  Dinner at 6:00.

8:00 -- The Pirate's Life for Us Ball at Waves, featuring Tugboat Bromberg & Ted Vigil.  Everyone arrived in their fanciest garb.  I wore a new corset & skirt for the occasion. The music alternated between classic rock & pirate music. We met lots of new friends and were introduced to a new drink, Kraken Spiced Run & Root Beer.  Sounds strange, but it was pretty darned good. The music, dancing & laughter went on for hours.  We were introduced to the local pirate groups & encouraged to learn more.  Everything about the evening was lots of fun.  After midnight Nachos, we climbed into bed. 

We were so sorry to leave Sunday morning.  We met our dear friends, Mark, Debbie & Scott for breakfast and then after a couple of geocaches, we hit the road for home.

Within two daya of arriving home, we had approximately twenty Facebook friend requests from pirates we had met over the weekend.  They are truly a warm & welcoming family of pirates.
 

We're already making our plans for the Pirate's Life for Us' Ball coming in January, 2013.  We can't wait.  There will be other pirate events between now & then, but none will be better than the ball.

2100 Geocaches

Don & I reached #2100 while taking a day trip to Mt. Rainier on January 14th., 2012.  We spent most of the day driving in the snow.  It was beautiful. We found 27 caches that day, including one earth cache.  We turned loose four travel bugs and picked up another one.  It was totally a fun & relaxing day.

Winter Robins

This afternoon the coolest thing happened.  I was sitting at my desk which sits if front of a large window that looks out into our front yard..  A Robin flew across the yard and into a large Holly tree beside our window.  Along came a couple more Robins......and more .....and more.  Within a minute or two every tree in our yard and our neighbors was filled with Robins. 

They seem to especially like the holly.  Most of the trees around our yard are bare in the winter.  The holly is evergreen giving them thick stiff leaves to hide in.

In sure there was over one hundred birds in our yard. Some of the birds were flying back & forth between these trees and the holly.

The holly alone was loaded.

I've never seen so many Robins at one time

I haven't ventured outside for two full days because it was snowing & then turned icy & cold.  When there flock sholwed up, I couldn't resist grabbing the camera to get a few shots. 

They're so beautiful.

.

Cache, Willie, Muggle & Abigail

My cats were completely mesmerized by all the birds.

I'm anxious to see if they're still here in the morning or if they just stopped for the night and will moved on.

Update:

This morning all the Robins were still here. I started seeing them as soon as there was daylight. They hung around all morning entertaining our cats. About 11:00 am, they evidently decided they had somewhere else to be & left. Now there is not one Robin to be seen. They were fun little visitors.

Thanks for stopping by.

Uncle Allen's Exploding box.........



My sweet, dear Uncle Allen passed away on Oct, 22nd. 2011 at 96 years old.  He was the sweetest man that ever lived.

I wanted to send something special to my wonderful aunt.  I wanted to send something that would truly be a keepsake.  It had to be something that would not be sad, but more of a celebration of life.. It had to show his wonderfully funny personality. After much thought, I decided on this exploding box.  This box is like a scrapbook in a box.

This box is for my dearest Uncle Allen:

God bless you, Uncle Allen.

I love you, Auntie Judy.

The top of my box. The sunflower is cut with a Nestibilities die.

The box measures 6" x 8".  Each outer side has a pocket.

This handmade card contains a note from my mother. 
She and Aunt Judy have been best friends for over 50 year.

The box before it explodes.

The box after it explodes.

Allen W. Wood

Sept. 15th., 1915 - Oct. 22, 2011

I love you, Uncle Allen.

You're our hero.

 

He is soooo much to so many people.

Every flap has a pocket with family pictures hidden inside. 

Each picture has a ribbon attached.

Some pull townward.........

and others pull out to the side.

His beautiful & adored family.

My sweet, wonderful Aunt Judy & Uncle Allen. 

I love you both.

A Clown Doll using the Kusudama folding method..........

I made this origami sitting clown doll for my sister's birthday in place of a card. 

It was really a fun project.  I think it turned out cute.

He's made using the Kududama method of folding. 

I used two complimentary pattered papers for the arms, legs, hat & body. I used solid red paper for the collar & a small piece of solid yellow for the hair.  There are little pom poms for the hat, hands & feet.  The only other needed supplies are glue, a needle & thread, a couple of toothpicks and a pipecleaner.

 The head is a wooden bead.

At the bottom of this page is a link to a wonderful tutorial for making this doll.

I submitted my clown doll to the following challenges:

Pile It On -- CHALLENGE #19 -- Funny Bone

Charisma Cardz Challenge -- No cards allowed.

PaperPlay Challenges -- Show us your Style

Scrappy Frogs Challenge Blog -- Anything goes

The Shabby Tea Room -- 'Ruffled Up'

Divas by design -- Our first challenge Anything goes!

One Stop Craft Challenge -- Birthdays

Here is a link to a YouTube video that is a great tutorial for making this clown doll.  I made a couple of minor changes when I made my doll but for the most part followed the tutorial.

Thanks so much for stopping by.