A Strange Combination

Last weekend DH went to Idaho to check on our land and our trees...since they are in a government program so many of them must live each year and that takes constant care...plus we got a really nasty letter this year about maintaining 80% in each row. I could go on but why...

So here is Kudzo out with Daddy in Idaho, she needs a hair cut like there is no tomorrow but we are getting ready to go home for a quick vacation and I am hoping my father will take care of it...so dad, please get out those scissors...

It was such a clear day that you could see for miles and miles and miles so I took advantage of that when taking pictures...kinda wish i had taken this one more close up...pretty sure they are both squinting but hey they so rarely take a photo together it is a shame to waist it. The Mountains in the background are the Grand Tetons...Our land has a fabulous view...can't wait to actually get out there and take advantage of it.

Who would have guessed that DH had such an eye. He took this incredible picture of our Choke Cherry row...the trees had just started to fruit and turn when we got there. I just love the fence in the background, one day we will actually finish fencing in the land...one day, those fences are gawd awful expensive!

Okay this one is just for fun...way down there in that horrible Desert Flight suit is a friend of ours. He is about my height so this is suppose to give you an idea of how big the trees have gotten over the past six years. I know to some of you they look itty bitty but trust me they are huge in comparison to when we planted them. Some of the Blue Spruce were no bigger than my pinkie...it is amazing they lived at all in my opinion especially since we are not out there to get rid of the deer and vols...

All in all the trip was a success...the water has been turned off for the winter and the lines flushed...We have our ski trip all planned out for February so the next photos will be a vast spans of white...that is until around July when we go back out to turn the water back on and see what made it through the winter. Keep your fingers crossed that we maintain the required 80% to stay in the program...

Okay now onto a totally different type of pretty picture...like the title of this post says, a strange combination.

So I have been spending most of my time working on some custom orders that I can not post due to the fact that they are Christmas presents and birthday presents and just because presents. But have no fear I have taken pictures and even have a post or two scheduled...








So here is what I have done that I can post. I finally finished up the second Design Team Assignment from Repeat Impressions. The Christmas portion. I of course have a billion more ideas floating around in my head for the stamps I have received but I have to finish up more of these custom orders before I start playing with fun stuff.

The stamped words are the lyrics to O Christmas tree...all the lyrics...LOL I only knew the O Christmas Tree part...I know the image is hard to see...it is a little better in the photo below...

the background paper is one of my Twinkling H2O creations made with green, gold, and red paints. The brighter green is a stamped image of a balsam fir twig that I embossed randomly all over the card.

The pocket the tag/wall hanging slides into is done in the same fashion. I used the same Twinkling background paper and Balsam Fur stamp. I deconstructed the song after stamping it onto coordinating green card stock and attached it by sewing it on with red DMC floss highlighting each stitch with a red seed bead. I really like the way this turned out. When I originally wrote the plan down I was concerned that it would be boring...

Once I finished the pocket I went back to the tag/wall hanging and decided to add the gold seed bead strung hanging device. On top of that I highlighted the small star at the top of the O Christmas Tree stamped image with gold Glitter.

This project was a lot of fun and very simple even if it was a bit time consuming with the bead stringing and the making of the background paper.

















My second Christmas Card for Repeat Impressions is totally different. I went with the silver and blue combination that has become so popular.

I stamped the stars randomly all over a dark blue heavy weight card stock and silver embossed them. On a separate sheet of paper I stamped the Angel and the Joy images. I painted the angel with the Twinkeling H2O's of course, highlighting her wings with Grey Flocking...The Earth in Joy is painted with Sparkeling H2O's.

I cut Joy out in an oval and dusted the remainder of the image with blue and silver inks. Before attaching them to the card I wrapped Joy in silver DMC floss that I ran through the angels hands and tied into a bow. To finish of the card I wrapped it all with the Silver DMC floss...

And to finish it all off...I must now venture into the realm of the "It was eventually bound to happen"

Last night DH came home with his #19 Tweet Retirement Limited Edition Print that he has been talking about for months. He even had me go and check my framing materials to see what I would need to get it behind glass and up in the office right away.

Well, this one will never grace our walls, DH put it on the kitchen table last night so that I could take it to the frame shop tomorrow...a whopping 24 hours, that is all...it didn't make it. I was working and who knows where DH was, I think he was washing my car (yippie!) Well, Kudzo located a working pen and decided that it was time to color...where did she color??? You guessed it, all over Kevin's prised Print.

I have never seen DH look so upset as when he brought the destroyed print to show me our child's perfect rendering. I told him to see if he could order another one, that I would even buy it for him this time...so far we have not heard back if we will be able to get another one. He has all the planes he has ever flown in model and print form...it will be such a shame if we can't get one...

Well, that is all for now...I know it is a lot...