Chicken crazy

Well girls I have finally lost my mind....lol I have decided to raise chickens. Ten of them. So far it has been a very fun learning experience. The chicks are about 7 weeks old now and are in the coop we just finished building.( Pictures to follow)
 A few things I have learned:  1.  Never I mean NEVER have your chicks in the house, we had them in the basement and they are SO VERY dusty. It will take me a week to get the dusting done down there, and they stink! lol  I enjoyed watching them grow and change and fight over a treat! :) 2.  I learned they are messy eaters and they love to knock over their feeders a lot. 3. They scratch the pine shavings into their water so I bought poultry nipples and made them the kind that hang,( much better) 4.I learned you can kind of train a chicken by feeding them out of your hand and talking to them......It was so sweet the first time I took them outside they stuck to me like glue they sat in my lap or on my shoe and didn't get to far away from me. Now they love it outside and don't need momma to sit on...lol. 5. They are kind of like your kids you hate for them to leave the nest but you know they have to, so we put them in their new home (inside the coop as soon as it was finished). I think they are doing really well. 6. Our dog Samson doesn't like them,,,,yet... I am hoping he will adjust soon. We had to put up a secondary fence to keep him from charging the fence. 7. I learned that Pintrest is a treasure trove of information on raising chickens. LOVE IT. 

 

May 3rd 2013, it snowed all day, but the chicks were nice and warm with the heat lamp inside the coop.

This is the girls trying to decide if they want to come out or not, it was a little chilly outside. I need to build them a better ramp. Yes I am handy with the power tools. While my husband was at work, I worked on the coop by myself. I built the nesting boxes, the roost, the chicken door, the windows and the vents. We did the rest of it together. I still need to paint it! :)

 My Granddaughter Rachel loves the chickens and they love her too!

 The nesting boxes, there are 5 of them, just couldn't get them all in the pic.

 The roosting poles(they are 2x4s).

 The water bottles I made with the poultry nipples, they work great! I need to get a bigger feeder too!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my chicken adventures... More to come so stay tuned! :)

Ok, so I got a little scrapping done this evening...lol... I know its about time huh?  I hope you like it! I used some 50s paper I got from SCRAPJACKs Place on E-bay. (Thanks Donna)

Jimmy's 60th Surprise Birthday Party

 This is the cake I made for him, it looks just like his real car. 53 Chevy Bel-Aire

 Our 4 lovely Granddaughters. I made them each a poodle skirt!

 I made these for the table center pieces. I used SVGCuts.com Rockin and Rollin pattern for the dice, car and record. I bought a roll of wrapping paper for the checkered paper!

 I made the box for the spoons and forks using SVGCuts.com football party pattern but I used a napkin that I purchased for the party as the side panels.

 The cookies took me 2 days to make and decorate because I had to hide them for him...lol

 Papa and 3 of his G-babies......His brother made the car for me so we could take pics. I love the license plate, its  Jim's initials...JHR_60 and it looks just like his real car.... 

I made the background on the wall for a place  to take more pictures! We really had a blast and he was really surprised!

TUBES NOELS   (clipped to polyvore.com)

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

Ribbon Storage

Ok, I have been frustrated with my ribbon storage for awhile now. So I started looking around the internet for solutions to my problem. I have no wall space and no table space but I did have a couple of drawers that I could rearrange to accommodate my ribbon, but the ribbon was too tall so I had to make a wedge so they could lay down a little.

Needles to say that wasn't really working because they would still get stuck when I pulled out the drawer. So I did some more searching on the internet and found this cool blog http://www.amazingpapergrace.com/amazing-ribbon-storage/ I love this idea, but just one problem, it was late and I didn't have any mat board to use or any hairbands. So being the frugal crafter (or you could say cheap...lol) that I am, I improvised.....I have been saving toilet paper rolls for crafts to do with my granddaughters, so I had a bunch of them.They were perfect for this project. I only had to do a few minor adjustments and viola it works. I smashed them and used a bone folder to get a good flat piece.

Then I measured 2 inch on center and cut them with a craft knife.

Then I took tape and put it on the edge and wrapped it, to close off the ends and make it flat.

This is my granddaughters favorite part, she likes to let the ribbon out on the floor.

Then you just start wrapping them. I used tape to hold them in place.

Now they fit perfectly in my drawer with a ton more room!

That is 9 spools to 23 cards of ribbon and plenty of room for more......yay! It may not be as pretty as hers, but hey its free.... :)

 Update: I still have about a dozen left to do and still have enough room! :)

Yummy Apple Crisp

This turned out just yummy so I thought I would share it with you. We got a 10lb bag of apples on sale the other day for $6.89. They were soooooo big. My husband loves Apple pie so I'm sure I'll be making him that also. But this was a quick dessert. (ssshhhhh I really don't like making the pie crust anyway) :) Any way here is the recipe: I used a glass cake pan sprayed with Pam. My apples were large so I only used 5. Of course you peel, core and slice them. :) 3/4 cup sugar (my apples were not very sweet so I added 1 cup of sugar, but just make sure you add a tiny bit more flour, 1 tablespoon would do!) 1/4 cup flour 1/2 teaspoon Apple pie spice 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon Mix the apples with the dry stuff, pour in the dish and dot with 2 tablespoons of butter. In a bowl add 1 cup flour 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder Stir Then add 1 egg and stir well ( I use my hands) makes a crumble. Pour over apples and bake for 30 mins or until golden brown. At 350* Please leave a comment and let me know what you think!

I love 3D paper crafts! One of my favorite holidays is Halloween. I love to make all kinds of things for this spooky time of the year! I love to decorate my house with spiders and webs, pumpkins and ghost. And you know my favorite thing is paper crafting, so I have lots of fun making stuff to decorate with! I made this Halloween ferris wheel (from paper of course) using SVGCUTS.com file, street carnival. I used a few other files of theirs too like the Gimmie candy file for the pumpkin and tombstone and the Elmhurst Hallow file for the bat and fence. I used the Jeepers Creepers paper pack by The Paper Studio and the stickers are from Authentique Enchanted, and Chillingsworth Manor by Cassandra Cooper.