Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! Pa and I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2013. Let's all pray for a year where people aren't killing each other. For every one to have food to eat and a way to pay their bills. For people not to forget the real reason we have CHRISTmas.
We are so grateful for all of God's blessings this past year, for our friends and family. God Bless You!
Last time I looked out the window, it looks like we will have a white Christmas this year. It was a snowin' and a blowin' !

Belly Up To The Bar!

 The following pictures were taken in a 5 minute span of time. The bird baths were empty and the birds were patiently waiting for me to notice.

 After filling them up, the first to arrive were the Juncos. They seem to be the bravest.

 A few more......

 and more....

 The word is out!!! Do we have the only water on the entire ranch? From the looks of the gathering, you'd think so.

 They were going thru so much water, I had to use the saucer on the upside down pot as another waterer, er,er,er. Besides that, they need to work for their food so now they have to scratch it up off the ground.

 When I put the bird seed in the saucer, the blue jays would come down and scoop up whole mouth/beak fulls. What pigs. Now they have to work for their supper also.

 I really love the Bluebirds. Western and Mountain. When we first moved here, we never saw Bluebirds except on Main Street. Which is really a misnomer. It makes you think we are in the middle of town having a dirt road named Main Street.

 Now the Bluebirds have put out the word and they all meet here. "Hey, they are serving free drinks at the McMahills!"

 It's quite the gathering place. I'm actually thinking of putting up another bar....I mean bird bath.

 It's amazing how fast they drink it dry!

 "Anyone for another round? This one is on the house!"

The birds are very skittish. If they see any movement in the window, off they fly. So I lowered the blinds a bit and peeked thru with my camera. Yes, I washed the window, in the corner at least. The pictures turn out like I'm looking thru fog but with the auto contrast in Picasa, they look better. If you want a great free program to download your pictures in, Picasa is great! You can do a lot of things using Picasa.

I made a few more Christmas cards, this one with an image from Lettering Delights and just tore the paper to make snowy hills. Glue and glitter made the snowflakes.

 It rained last night and was supposed to turn to snow. It is cold and windy. A great day to stay inside and play in my craft room. I made this Scottie dog gift bag this morning. I bought the file from the Silhouette store.

Isn't it the cutest thing? I need to make a photo booth so the flash doesn't wash out my pictures. The only problem is where to store it? My craft room is full.

For those of you who couldn't see Katie's nutcracker, here it is. Can you believe it is made all of paper? Simply amazing. It is a file from SVGcuts.com and I must say they make amazing files to cut. But what makes Katie's special is that she has such a great eye for color combos. My mom paints and my dad was quite the genius in creating things so they both have an eye for colors and what goes with what. I must have missed getting that gene because I really struggle. Not to mention that I get glue everywhere! Oh well, artist or not, I still love spending time in my craft room.

Looking out my window, I see the clouds zipping by. We may just get passed by with the predicted Winter Storm. The sun peaks out every once in a while. Now that I'm retired, the weather doesn't bother me.

Wayne got rid of his horses. They were costing him a fortune to feed and water. He found a guy who has a riding stable in Snowflake who would take them. This guy has riding programs for disabled children so it was a win/win situation for all concerned.

Well, friends and family and the occasional passerby, that catches us up for now! Until next time........

I think winter has arrived!

    What makes me say that, you ask? It was 5 degrees outside at 7 this morning. Luckily our house is so well insulated that it was a whopping 62 degrees inside at the same time. Since it was so cold and windy yesterday, we had a fire in the stove most of the day and put the last log in at 8. So we don't think that's too bad to wake up to 62 in the morning.
   Since the high was only 40, today was a good day to stay inside and play in my craft room. Here it is 5 at night and I'm still in here, crafting away. I made a bunch of Christmas cards for Pa to send out and made three gift cards for some grandkids. Want to see them? Well here they are:

    Pa is in the kitchen making biscuits and gravy for dinner. I'd like a couple of scrambled eggs on the side, please. I've run out of ideas in the cooking department so it's nice to have a break. One of the downsides of living 60 miles from the nearest restaurant is that we don't go out to eat very often. We do have a fast food place or two in Saint Johns but it isn't the same as having a leisurely dinner, getting waited on and such.
   That's really it for now. I was so happy with how the cards turned out, I had to share them with you. So until next time!
    Oh, did you watch Bigfoot last night on TV? They featured people who have seen the hairy beast over near Payson. The Native Americans have seen Bigfoots for centuries. Anyway it was an interesting program. One of these days, they may actually get a picture of one.

Just a Quickie

    For those of you with your minds in the gutter, this isn't one of those kinds of posts. I just wanted to let you know that it is windy and cold and cloudy. Just the kind of day to stay inside and play in my craft room.
After wasting a 12x12 piece of white vinyl....what a mess, I finally had success decorating a charger plate. Why are they called charger plates? Because they charge you for them? Because you are going to put cookies on them and charge around giving them out? I have no idea!

But I loved how this turned out. I'm going buy more at Walmart on payday if they have any left. Too bad I can't find a cheap source of vinyl. This would be something to make for a craft sale next year. Katie and I will have to put our heads together and see what we can come up with. There isn't a big market for craft items even combining Holbrook and Saint Johns together.

 I saw this Shadow Box book on Susan Blue Robot's blog and thought it was so cute. I spent hours looking for a pattern which I never found but I did find instructions so converted the measurements into a cutting file.

After a lot of mountain/valley folds and trying various sticky tape and glues, I finally got it to go together just right. Yes, yes, I went thru lots of card stock before getting it right. Now I need to find some things to put on the front and inside. But first I have to finish up making Christmas cards. I only made 10 and then felt guilty for not making more for other loved ones.
  Be sure to check out Katie's blog to see all the goodies she's been making. http://www.ktsangels.blogspot.com/
I don't know if everyone can see her Facebook page but if you can check out the Nutcracker she just finished using cardstock. It's awesome. If you can't see it, I'll ask permission to post it on here.
http://www.facebook.com/katie.wenger?ref=ts&fref=ts

What have I been up to?

Last Sunday when I went to visit my BF Katie, I brought along this cute sled that Pa had bought me at a garage sale in Vegas. Now, it's not something that you hang on your wall all year long. I didn't want to get rid of it since he was so thoughtful to buy it for me. So Katie picked out a nice font and some snowflakes, cut them out of vinyl and I have a new Christmas decoration! We both thought it turned out soooo cute!

 I'm in such a Christmas mood, why I don't know but what the heck. I made these 3D stockings a couple of days ago and will make more for Tom and his dog, Max and Wayne and his dog Lucy. I'll fill the dogs stockings with dog treats and their owners with candy or something. Maybe I'll just fill theirs with dog treats also! Boy, won't they be surprised!

 These are so easy to put together. On some I used a tape runner and the others I used glue. I tried hot glue on one of them. The tape didn't want to stick very well and with the regular glue, I had glue all over me.

And with the hot glue, I kept burning my self! Will it never end?

 One of the many things we are blessed with out here are some beautiful sunsets.

 Of course most of the time we are camped out in front of the TV and miss most of them.

The above two are on different nights. I love the one with the full moon. One night during the full moon, I woke up and thought car lights were shining in the bedroom window. We sleep with the curtains open so I can see the stars at night before I fall asleep. I'd like that entire wall to be nothing but glass.......dream on.

Our bird bath has been quite busy lately.

 I ended up putting water in the one I put bird feed in. They seem to be as thirsty as they are hungry. Now I throw the seed on the ground so they have to work at it to find it.

 We fill each bird bath at least once a day since they go thru the water so fast.

It's really funny when one wants to take a bath and the rest want a drink. Yes, yes, I took this thru the kitchen window and it is dirty. I'll clean the window inside and out, I promise, in a day or so, really I will!
We've had as many as forty birds getting a drink at the same time. When we first moved here, there wasn't a bird in sight and it kinda gave me the creeps.....too quiet, ya know? But as the saying goes, "give them water and they will come." Ok, so I made that saying up but it's true just the same.
Better go and wash that darned window....but if I do, it will scare the birds away. Maybe I'd better put it off for a few days, right?