Monday, April 26, 2010

The Lambs are Coming, The Lambs are Coming (Blogcation info below)

We are very excited about lambs around here. Below is the tiniest little Corsican Ewe Lamb - she is about 18 hours old here. No name yet, but she stands about 9" tall.

Here she is with her twin sister. The brown colored one is a Corsican Jamaican Black Belly and the all black one called a Black Hawaiian. The Corsican breed has several variations, and their father is a purebred Corsican Black Hawaiian. This breed is raised both for the horns that the males have as well as meat and hair. The little black one was found outside the pen underneath a wheelbarrow! not quite sure how that happened, but she still had placenta on her so we are figuring her mom had her in either a strange manner or she managed to get out of the fence. Luckily, during lambing, we are checking every few hours and it has been warm, so the little girl was just fine. However, momma, Pancakes, was not happy about the situation. They are all together now.
This little guy is a purebred Jacob's Sheep. He is about 4 hours old and has a twin brother. Remember in the Bible when Jacob get all the speckled and spotted sheep from his father in law's flock - these Jacobs sheep are descendents of those as they are speckled and spotted as well. So far, all of ours are 4 horned Jacobs (they can have up to 6 horns as well).
This lamb also has the same sire as the little guy above, only he is 1/3 Dorper and 2/3 Jacobs. It appears the Dorper color gene is dominant, however, he does have four horns coming. He is 2 days old here.
Now here is little Runna. She is a crossbred - her father is Corsican and her mother is a Jacob-Dorper cross. She is a friendly little girl, but likes poop on whoever picks her up :).

Blogcation - final week before NSD Drawing!! You can find past week's information here, or go to Scrapbooking Fun to look through posts. Remember - Grand Prize is a set of Vacation/Travel themed items. Sorry for the changes, however, life things have made it difficult to have a new project each week. We will just go with the five and over NSD I will post the sketch/layout using the items created.

This week - still using monochromatics, however, I was shopping at retreat and couldn't resist picking up some core'dinations green paper to use with this challenge. I am having a lot of fun experimenting with this paper and will be teaching an on-line class using several techniques and creating a layout over at Scrapbooking Fun May 21st - I think the time is 9 pm.

Today's project is a tag. First, I start with a standard 2 1/2 x 5" mailing type tag from an office supply store. You can cut your own, but these were inexpensive and I love the size.

Next - cover the tag with your choice of paper (I will be speaking in "greens" as that is what I have selected). Remember - check scraps first!


Next, I found a tag project/challenge I really like over at Sketches 4 All that I will be altering to fit my monochromatic parameters. I don't have green mist, so will be using green paint and "flicking" instead. I had some rather large splots of paint, so I pressed the excess off. Not quite what the challenge requested, but I had fun :).

Next, I am using a piece of my core'dinations paper and doing some dry embossing with an embossing folder. Once embossed, gently sand away part of the color from the raised portion of the image. I am also ripping the sides for a multi-color look rather than the burned look used in the sample (I do like the burnt edge look, just not for the tag I am creating). Next, I added some green paper ribbon, then I adhered the embossed and ripped piece onto another piece of green, distressed the edges of the backing and adhered the entire piece to my tag. Then I added some fun green fiber to the top.

Finally, I had planned on frog eyelets, but they were too small, so back to the drawing board. I settled for a flower and a few skittles instead. I think that in the final layout, I may have to add a bird or something, but will see. Thanks for joining in the fun!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Retreat Results!!

Had a blast at the retreat - and got a lot accomplished. Blog-cation information will come by this weekend - gotta get things ready for NSD!!!

Anyway - over at Practical Scrappers their current challenge is based on floss, fibers and ribbon (oh my :)). Some of my favorite items. I finished up the following layout on Monday and so this is for that drawing.

Based on my ribbon stash, you would think I never use much ribbon, but I do like the feel it adds to my layouts. These are both very simple layouts, but sometimes simplicity really hits the spot.



The duck embellishment is from a swap over at Scrapbooking Fun I love the torn paper duck.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Blog-Cation Continues




Blog Cation
Remember - to participate, you must become a member over at Scrapbooking Fun

Weeks 2, 3, and 4
All entries submitted for the contest will receive double entries into the grand prize drawing if they are on time for the weekly contest. If entered later, you will receive single entries per item.

On with the Blog-Cation
Week 2 – Embellishment Bag – decided to keep it easy as I was so busy . What to include –
• 3 yards of ribbon – I have a yards of green plaid, 40” of green grosgrain, and 1 yard of green polka dot
• 40 green bling
• 5 green star eyelets, 10 green mini eyelets, 12 green mini brads
• Green skittles
• A few green primas and other paper flowers
Why am I putting all of this together now? It will actually save me time in the long run. I enjoy doing swaps so often, that I sometimes use things for swaps that I had intended for other projects. This way, I have the items in a baggie and at a minimum, I will have these items at assembly time in May.



Week 3 – create some deco squares

Deco squares are normally 3”x3”, layered twice and embellished at least once. For my deco squares, I again hit my scraps first! I found some pretty polka dot flocked paper along with some leftover green. I also found a shiny polka dot and some other plain green cardstock. Note: you can make yours all identical or all different – your choice.

1st – cut 3 pieces of plain cardstock 3”x3”
2nd – cut 3 pieces of pp 2.5” x 2.5”

Next – trim edges and ink, if desired. Then adhere tops to bottoms.

Then embellish. The first two are fairly straightforward – ribbon and stickles on one, stickles and a flower on the other. For the third – a paper clip and satin ribbon and then I raided my inchie swap stash! One of the best things about swaps is using them!!! Anyway the one of the inchies was created by Crop-a-holic and the other has D# as creator. I think they are from the old AMR board. I popped up one of the inchies. I know it isn’t 100% green, but I really like the way it is with the papers, plus, I know of a few pictures I would like it for.

Week 4 – Create a large Photo Mat (will hold a 4x6 photo)

I am checking my stash first – I need a base that will measure 5x7. I have a piece!

First – cut a 5x7 base
Next I usually cut a 4x6 mat to show where the photo goes.

Then decide how to embellish. I am making some edged photo corners – basic triangles. I have enough scraps left that I made two more photo corners (not swap size, just for this mat) that I will hang onto. I really like eyelets, so use some of those for embellishment.
Remember – your items are not required to be just like mine. Mine are more of a jump off point – have fun and create what is you!