Birthday Fun!

Not my birthday or Abby's birthday (although hers will be next in the family), but Gary Joe's 28th!!

All in all, I guess everything went well yesturday. Elmo cake finally got finished. By the way, we had Elmo for cake because Abby has an Elmo fascination right now and she chose the pan! Everyone loved the food, (sorry to Linda, SCS: Spicygingersnap that I didn't take photos of the food...it slipped my mind!) Gary Joe was more than please with his gifts!

Here's me with the ELMO cake:

Gary Joe blowing out the candles:

Now here's Abby with her peice of cake:
I figured this is good practice for her birthday!

Gary Joe was well pleased with the gifts he received, too! From me and Abby came Nike Golf shoes, a UK business card holder, John Deere t-shirt, and a little sign about being a good dad. I would post pics of those, but Abby is being SUPER needy right now and posting pics would require being able to go downstairs and take those pics...

We are so blessed to have each other and to have the chance to spend yesturday with our family! Here's one last pic...mom, Abby, and I on my stairway:

I just wish Gary would have told me that I was hiding mom's head!

*HUGS*,

Mary

PS. The random number generator chose you Elaine as the winner of the blog treat! Please send me your name and mailing address!!

I hope everyone will continue to check back in...as I am clearing out the clutter, I am finding all kinds of blog treats to share in the future!!

Adventures in Cake Making

I usually only post about once a week, but I have a few minutes free and wanted to share some things with you!

Tomorrow is Gary's birthday, so I was trying to be sweet and stay home today to make him a cake! Abby is with my mom right now so I can decorate it and I even let her pick out the pan (she chose Elmo of course!)...

Anways, as I am baking away and everything is going wonderful... Something goes awful with the red for Elmo's fur... Keep in mind the creature is almost ALL red except those big eyes, nose, and mouth....
His "fur" turned out, well.... kinda like this....

I know that the picture looks like it is red, but the color is really a PUKE color of pumice pink.... Not Elmo at all!!

Here is what Elmo looks like at this point:
Needless to say, we are going to be making a trip to Wal-Mart this evening to get some red Wilton coloring and the cake is not going to be the surprise that I wanted it to be... Then again, he is in a bad mood so as much as I want to just hand him the cake the way it is, I will finish it and present it nicely tomorrow to all the family...

Cake aside, have you ever saw the mountains in the fall? If so or if not, here they are:

This is the view from my kitchen deck... (I know, the power lines are in the way - I have asked AEP to move them, but they don't seem to want to!)

Here is a view from my family room deck:

There's still a lot of green on the trees, but it really does look nice and it is so nice and crisp outside!

Oh, and for the Sunday School class treats... Here they are:

I am rather tickled with them.... the pails have little faces on them, but I don't think they showed up well in the picture...

I haven't decided on a tag line for my blog banner yet, but I am still open for suggestions!

Have a great day!

*HUGS*,

Mary

Blog Treat, Paint Tin, and Watermarks!

Trick or Treat Paint Can

- Patterned Paper 4 6/8" x 12" - note: this will note
wrap around the entire can
- Patterned Paper 4 6/8" x 5" - to cover place on can
where other paper was too short to fit
- Quart Sized paint can
- Extra patterned paper to make circle for lid
- Ribbon for handle if a handle is desired
- Various Embellishments
- I just used a Jolee's pumpkin sticks
- Some black gingham ribbon from Wal-Mart
- Orange Paper from Hobby Lobby
- SU alphabet stamps
- SU Basic Black Classic Ink Pad
- Mod Podge

I made this when I thought that I was going to get to meet Karen (SCS:Jusgottastamp), but then we didn't get to go and I was stuck with my can :(




On a side note, if you remember me talking about wanting a watermark, I have some on order from freckledfundesigns... I am hoping to use them mostly on my photography...(I know, ANOTHER new hobby that I am gladly accepting tips on...) especially my pictures of Abby. I am also wanting to order a banner from her for each of my blogs. But, I am unsure as to what I want on them right now...

So, you have an opportunity to win a blog treat from me...

Please help me come up with a tag line to place on my blog banner for the softangelkisses blog (this one... We will work on the banner for the Picked With Love blog for another treat later!)



I know that I want SOFTANGELKISSES to be the main wording, but I would like something cute and witty at the bottom! To enter to win the blog candy - post a comment with something cute that I could use as a tag line and I will use a random number generator to chose a winner on Sunday!

The treat: the stack of coasters you see in the picture with the paint can!!




If you would like to check out Beth's wonderful work, click here: http://freckledfundesigns.blogspot.com/




A "sample" of my fall watermark was sent to me by her and I want to share the sample with you by showing you on a pic of Abby:

Please note: the white background is only there because this is a sample of the one I am going to purchase as soon as she sends me the invoice!! Her finished projects have a transparent background!

*HUGS*,
Mary

Admittedly I wrote most of this while at work on Saturday, but I did not get a chance to post it last night!

Sweet Treats

I've received some sweet treats lately and thought that I would let you see them!

#1 - From my online Granny came an envelope that looks like this:

But inside were these:

Stamps!! 17 of them to be exact and they are all Halloween designs! I am so excited! I plan to use them to make some little treats for Abby's Sunday School class as well as using them to make tags on the bags for "the girls" at "the World". (My husband is assistant manager at World Finance and works with an office of ALL WOMEN! Bless s him...) I will post pics of both projects last. I am also going to make Granny a thank you note to send back and I am going to send her a couple of stamp sets that I have and she doesn't.

#2 From Gary Joe - some bling in the form of a three stone ring!!!

I have wanted a white gold ring for a while now and have always loved the three stone ring because to us it not only symbolizes the past, present, and future, but also that marriage takes three - God, Gary, and I.

Gary Joe also got me the newest Nicholas Sparks book The Choice. Now granted I had to tell him to stop at Barnes and Noble and ask the man if it was out yet, but still...

He watched Abby one night and let me read the book so that in itself was a treat!

And let me say, it is my fave of his and I have read them all!

#3 UGGS!! I know, so expensive, but I love 'em! Gary Joe bought my first pair for my last Christmas, then I got a pair of the flip flop sandals this Spring. ext treat... from me - to me...New Ugg Clogs!!

I am just waiting on Vicky Secret to send them my way!
P.S. I got the brown ones up front! :)

I think you should always plan ahead and have things to look forward to, so a few treats I am wanting include:

~Barnes and Noble Membership

~WaterMark (I will gladly treat anyone who will make me a nice looking one!)

~LapTop (okay so this one is in the far away future....but still...)

~Any scrapbook or crafting accessory!

I don't want you to think that I am all about receiving though! I have a few treats for others up my sleeve! Some of them I can share with you now - others have to wait for later!

~Treating my family to John Deere shirts for family pics - how fun!

~Gary Joe's family to family pics - There will be a whole blog about that in the future - prolly more than one!

~Gary Joe's birthday gift...well I can't tell you, because he may read it on here and that would spoil my fun!

So, today treat someone else and remember to treat yourself, too! Hopefully the one you treat will see fit to pass on the fun!

*HUGS & LOVE*

Mary

TEST

First off, this is just a test entry to see if I can get my blog back up and running!