Feb 28, 2010 | family, Wildlife |
I couldn’t decide what title to use for my post today. I finally decided to call it “Birds & Tuxedos” because that was what most of Saturday was about. So this isn’t a stamping related post – I’ll try to add one later today so you might want to check back. But if you want to see some nice photos keep going.
So this little story actually starts late on Friday when I went down to the kitchen and to my big picture window and noticed new mess on my window. I thought “Oh no, the bluebird finally knocked himself out”. Remember me telling you about the bluebird that sits on the fountain and taps my window. So I looked for him on the ground – only it wasn’t the bluebird. It was a Cedar Waxwing and he was lying down on the ground at the base of the fountain.
I went outside to check on him and he was still alive and breathing but not moving around. This was late in the day and the sun was setting and it was getting cold. I called the local bird store and asked my friend that owns it what I should do. She said to watch him for another 30 minutes or so and hopefully he would fly away. Usually they are just stunned and after they recover they are ok.
He finally moved and sat up and turned his head – good I thought – he hadn’t broken his neck.
The Cedar Waxwing normally travel in a flock but there weren’t any others around. About 30 minutes later they came back – maybe it wasn’t the same flock but I’d like to think it was. I hoped maybe since they came back he would try to fly with them. He did try but didn’t go anywhere – he wasn’t going “up” – just across the yard. Eventually I decided I needed to bring him in for the night (that is what Willi told me to do). So I got a shoebox and went outside to get him and bring him in for the night. He spent the night in the shoebox in my laundry room.
So Saturday morning I took him back outside to see if after a night’s rest he could fly. Here he is in the morning when I took the lid off the box. He was walking around. But I could really see where he looks like he injured his shoulder – can you see the feathers on his right side near his head. They are pulled up a bit.
He was able to get out of the box and sit in the yard and fluttered up to the step. I took some more photos of him – he is such a pretty bird. The red tips on his wings are almost fluorescent and really do look like wax. The tips of the tail are yellow. And he has a mask on his face.
He looked so much better in the morning after he rested all night but he still couldn’t fly. I left him out there for about an hour watching to see if he would go, but he only fluttered along the ground a little.
So I put him back in the shoebox and took him to the wildlife vet. The vet examined him and I checked on him later in the day. Apparently the spot on what I thought was his shoulder was actually a puncture wound in his neck. And it was getting infected – they thought it was maybe from a cat. But there were no cats that got near him after I found him and I don’t have any in my yard. So perhaps something got him first and that was why he flew into the window – I don’t really know. Anyway I’m sad to report that they had to euthanize him.
Ryan was with me and told me he wished he hadn’t learned what “euthanize” meant. He just thought it meant they returned them to their “youth”. So I have been sad today, I wish I could have done more and had him survive.
And now for the tuxedo part – that was Saturday afternoon. I took Tyler to get measured for his tuxedo for the Prom! Yes our first Prom is approaching and it is Tyler that is going with his girlfriend. He tried on shoes, jacket, shirt, picked out the tux, the vest, and the rest. So on the path to the prom – the tickets have been purchase, the tux has been rented, next are flowers, pictures plans, dinner plans, and transportation plans. I’m excited that Tyler is going to the prom and that he is going with a girlfriend so he is sure to have a great time. Prom is early – March 13th – and at the FOX Theater in Downtown Atlanta which will be exciting all by itself!
Say a prayer for my bird – may he rest in peace.
Feb 16, 2010 | Big Shot, Birthday, Build-a-Bear, Designer Series Paper, family |
Yesterday I went to visit my parents and my brother and his family. We were trying to get together to celebrate 4 birthdays. My sister-in-law, Tammy’s was in late January, my nephew’s was last week, my mom’s is tomorrow and my niece’s is next week. Tyler and Ryan are out of school this week for winter break so they came with me and we took Haley. Kyle had to go to school and Greg went to work. As it turned out my brother was going out of town for business so I only got to say hi for a minute and I briefly saw Tammy because she was sick.
So for the 4 birthday’s I decided to make them each a cupcake box to go along with their gifts. I got my niece and nephew Build-a-Bear gift cards so their boxes were decorated with the Stampin’ Up! Build-a-Bear die cuts.
Ally’s has the girl bears and a pink lid. Noah has the boy bears and a blue lid.
I changed the boxes slightly from how I made them last year. The other design seemed to be hard to get the cupcake out because you had to reach down into the box. So I made these like an exploding box – so when you lift up the lid the sides fall down and you are left with the cupcake in the center sitting in the little stand. For these Build-A-Bear boxes the bottom of the bears are attached to the outside of the box with Stampin’ Dimensionals. That left room for the lid to tuck behind their heads and arms.
For Tammy I made one using the Pink Flamingo Designer Series Paper. The colors actually matched the sweater and top I bought her – they were Cameo Coral and Summer Sun.
Cupcake box when it is open
I decided to wrap the cupcake in baggies and tie them with ribbon. It was good that I did that since 3 year olds don’t really understand the concept of keeping the box upright. Yummy, Yummy cupcakes!
All Supplies were Stampin’ Up! – the Build-A-Bear boxes used the Pawsitiviely Prints Designer Series Paper and the colors come from it – Pretty in Pink, Brocade Blue, Old Olive, So Saffron. The base of the boxes are Sahara Sand. The bears are Chocolate Chip and Close to Cocoa and they are cut the with Big Shot and the dies along with the clothes.
Tammy’s box is Real Red and Summer Sun and I used the Whimsical Words stamp set for the tag. Punch with the Wide Oval and then layered with two Tempting Turquoise Wide ovals.
I had one more for my mom – it was actually one I made last year and hadn’t given away – it used the Tall Tales DSP with the colors Old Olive, So Saffron and Chocolate Chip. 
It has the owl on the tag and birds on the sides.
It wasn’t a big celebration but we had it.
Late in the afternoon we had a real life version of Police Chases right in front of my parents house and we watched from the porch. There house is almost at the end of a dead end street – it ends at a camp ground that is gated shut right now for the winter and then there is the lake. Apparently the police were chasing a couple that made a bad decision when they picked this road to come down – when they got to the gate they got out of the car and ran into the park on foot. A police car was chasing them and somehow at the same instant he came in this big truck was trying to turn out of the road before the house and to do that they had to swing wide across both lanes blocking the police car – who pulled into the ditch jumped out of the car and ran down the street after these people. Apparently the girl wasn’t fast as he quickly caught her, cuffed her and brought her back up to his car. After yelling a lot at the tucker he told them to “get out of here”. Then more police came and eventually a K-9 unit came and they went on a search for the missing guy. They finally found him, cuffed him and took him away. By the time it was done I think we had 7 or 8 police/sheriff cars, an ambulance, an emergency truck from the fire station and a tow truck all lineup on the small road in front of my parents house. It made for an exciting afternoon – and I’m just glad they caught who ever it was. We were calling all the neighbors to tell them to lock their doors and stay inside – many of the people walk in the park including my parents – luckily we were there so they didn’t go for their afternoon walk. Now I wonder what those people did wrong…
Anyway…..enough rambling from me. Have a nice day!
Feb 16, 2010 | family, Valentine's Day |
So sorry I missed you yesterday – I went to visit my parents for the day – I was busy in the morning making a few things to take up there and then we didn’t get back until late. I’ll post a separate post of the projects I made in a few minutes. But first I thought I would share some pictures from Valentine’s Day and stuff about yesterday – if you only want the stamping stuff wait for my next post.
Here are some pictures from our Valentine’s Day Dinner and Scavenger hunt –
Big table decorated with the mailboxes
small table for Tyler and Haley
Haley and Tyler
Tyler and Haley sat at their own table but I got to take pictures. And they had to come join us for the scavenger hut and dessert.
Tyler and Haley
Kyle and Ryan
I created secret codes with clues for each of the boys and things hidden around the house. This year they found stuff to create ice cream sundaes for dessert.
Ice Cream Sunday bar
It was fun and we all enjoyed the evening. I got a Pandora bracelet and a Heart bead – Greg said he spent a lot of time trying to find the perfect Valentine Bead and that all the stores were sold out. And I got a pot of red roses – that I can plant and they’ll last for years to come. 
That was our Valentine’s Day.
Oh here is a picture of our food – the lobster tails turned out good and so did the twice baked potatoes – it’s nice to know I can cook something that tastes as good as the professionals in the restaurant (at least to all of us it did!).
My next post will have the projects I made Monday morning….
be back in a minute….
Feb 14, 2010 | family, Wildlife |
Happy Valentine’s Day! At my house we do Valentine’s Day a little different – I cook a surf & turf dinner for my boys and Greg and then the boys go on a scavenger hunt to find treats around the house. We have been doing this for years probably since Kyle was in first grade or so (he is a senior now). So I set up the scavenger hunt this morning and I’m working on dinner – I bought lobster tails on sale earlier in the week, got steaks and also crab legs. Yum, Yum! We figured it would cost about the same to feed all of us a nice meal at home as it would for Greg and I to go out by ourselves. I have potatoes in the oven – for twice baked potatoes. And I’m decorating the table – I’ll take pictures tonight at dinner and show you later.
Now I was going to share some of our snow pictures – we got 2-1/2″ on Friday – that is a lot for us.
Look how pretty my house looks with snow on it and on all the trees and bushes. 
After a few hours it finally started to stick to the streets. The kids did not get out of school early on Friday it was after the end of school before the roads started getting affected.
The picture with the bird is early Saturday morning – everything was quiet but the birds were very active getting food from the feeders.
And the dogs went out a little later on Saturday when the sun was shining. They played for a long time outside. As much as they don’t like the rain and being wet they didn’t seem to mind the snow. I do wonder what we would do if we lived in Virginia or other places where they had over 2 feet of snow – the dogs would just disappear!
We have another nice sunny day today but that might change tonight. I need to get back to working on my Valentine’s stuff. See you tomorrow!
Jan 27, 2010 | Designer Series Paper, family, Great Friend, In Colors, Stamper's Club |
The stamp club orders came on Monday and look at the new Stampin’ Up! Boxes –
Not only do they have the Sale-A-Bration logo on them, but look at this new Caution statement.
I’m ready for some extreme excitement!
I’m always happy to open up Stampin’ Up! boxes because there is always something fun inside. I think I heard it is only this particular size box that has this label on it because it is the most common size for orders during Sale-A-Bration.
So anyway the club orders were in that box and if you are a part of my Stamp Club then I have all of your stuff ready for you. Our last club meeting for this session is in February and I’ll start new groups in March. If you are not already in my Stamp Club and want to be a part of the fun please contact me – I’ll be sending out more information later this week.
Here is one of the projects we made at our last Stamper’s Club meeting – it is a skinny tin that has been altered to be a picture frame. My friend Wendy shared this with us at our STARZ group meeting and I decided to use it as our club project.
This is the front of the tin. And when you open it up you can stand it on your desk and it shows two photos on the inside.
I added a couple of photos of Tyler and Haley when they went to the Homecoming Dance last fall.
This is a great little gift idea – perfect for a Mother’s Day or Father’s day gift – just adjust the colors and accents to what you need.
Have a great day! I’ll post later with some bird photos – they were busy today.
Jan 22, 2010 | Big Shot, Designer Series Paper, family, Scrapbook Pages |
On Thursday morning I finished my next scrapbook page for the 52 weeks of stress-free scrapbooking. So that means there are 50 more to go….I hope I can keep up. I meant to get this one done earlier this week but the week got away from me. The third one should be out on the blog today – so I’ll have to go check for it.
Kyle is my oldest son and he turned 18 this past November. I can’t believe the time has passed so quickly. He is camera shy or at least he tries to hide every time I have my camera out. Maybe it is the age because Tyler has started to do the same thing. Ryan on the other hand still likes to have his picture taken.
So the point is I don’t often get pictures of Kyle and even fewer of him looking at the camera. These were some I took on his birthday. If you can read the words on his t-shirt it says “I’d like to change the world – but I can’t find the source code…”
I figure one day Kyle will change the world – we’ll just have to wait and see what it will be that he does.
Here are the Stampin’ Up! Suppplies that I used:
- Kraft card stock
- Write Stuff Specialty Designer Series Paper
- Chocolate Chip card stock
- Whisper White card stock
- Extreme Elements stamp set
- Sense of Time stamp set
- Chocolate Chip craft and classic ink
- 1-3/8″ circle punch
- 1-3/4″ circle punch
- Big Shot Die Cut machine
- Go Go Boots Sizzlit Alphabet dies
- Matchbox XL Die (for the label)
- 1-1/4″ square punch
I think the page is pretty straight forward. I used the square punch to cut the notch out of one strip of the designer paper – but you could do that with scissors too. The Matchbox die has three labels on it and I used one to go behind my circle that has the quote on it. I also inked the edges of that circle by pulling it through my Chocolate Chip ink pad.
A nice masculine looking page. 2 down and 50 more to go…..
Thanks for visiting! Have a great weekend.
He finally moved and sat up and turned his head – good I thought – he hadn’t broken his neck.
So Saturday morning I took him back outside to see if after a night’s rest he could fly. Here he is in the morning when I took the lid off the box. He was walking around. But I could really see where he looks like he injured his shoulder – can you see the feathers on his right side near his head. They are pulled up a bit.
So I put him back in the shoebox and took him to the wildlife vet. The vet examined him and I checked on him later in the day. Apparently the spot on what I thought was his shoulder was actually a puncture wound in his neck. And it was getting infected – they thought it was maybe from a cat. But there were no cats that got near him after I found him and I don’t have any in my yard. So perhaps something got him first and that was why he flew into the window – I don’t really know. Anyway I’m sad to report that they had to euthanize him.
