Wednesday, January 27, 2010

This one's for you Eggers

I was reminded yesterday that I neglected to post photos of our annual Popcorn Ball making party last month. I did post photos on Facebook, but forgot to put them on the blog. So this is not a very timely post, but it's very necessary to some (Tom, I'm talking to you.)!

December 19, 2009 was the 38th Annual Evensen Popcorn Ball making event. For those that don't know what this is all about, we gather (the last few years have been at our house) to make a fairly large quantity of popcorn balls. We each have our little tasks we perform and then we split up the booty and go on our merry way. My parents started doing this when I was 1 1/2. I guess you know how old I am now, or will be in 6 months - yikes!!

Most of the regulars were in attendance (minus Bev & Barb) and some new bodies joined us. I finally remembered to take photos this time, so this post is a little picture heavy.

Here we are in the prep stage. Tom's on standby with the giant Reynolds wrap box. Rose is cutting the ribbons to tie on each ball after they're wrapped in plastic wrap. Aunt Lena's checking things out, she's a first-timer.



Dad, saying something funny, as usual.


Hi Tom.


Janet's working the stove, melting the butter, jello and marshmallows.


Ed's listening to a game on his radio.


Here's the first batch.

Dad's job is to put his hands into the boiling, sticky goo that is poured all over the popcorn. We all wish he'd let us have a turn, but he insists on doing that job every year, heh heh heh.


Alicia! Don't eat all the marshmallows, we only have enough for 187 popcorn balls!!


Mmmm, lime's my favorite.


Jaxon's turning Uncle Gaylon into his own personal jungle gym.


This photo captures perfectly just how hot that mixture is. Sorry Dad!



















Cousin Drue, don't look at the camera!


Here we are curling the ribbon and making the popcorn balls look all pretty.

Another batch. I think it was strawberry, but could be cherry or raspberry. Does it really matter? They're all good.
























What kind of face is that Alicia?


Rose, smiling on cue for the camera.


Aunt Lena seemed to enjoy the event.


Ed's having a good time too.


Don't try to hide from me Alicia, I'll find you. muahhahhaaa



















Look at us all being so helpful, just watching Dad work.


I'm glad you think it's funny having that hot, sticky goo stuck all over your hands Dad, because I don't think I'd be smiling.



















Hi again Tom.


Caught Gaylon with his mouth full.


Anna & Conner taking a cookie break.


Let's see what's going on down in the basement while the work party continues upstairs.

Looks like Abigail's trying a little Guitar Hero on the Wii. What kind of face is that Jaxon?


Mateo must have been taking a break from Farmville.






Not sure what Drue's doing. Maybe she thinks if she gets up real close to the couch I won't be able to see her. :)



















Hi Jax.


Hi Conner.

Look, there was even a game of Frisbee going on while I was down there.



Oh, it looks like the work party has ended. Time for more snacking and moving watching!






Another successful popcorn ball event. We ended up with 187 this year, not a record, but a good amount. I forgot to take a photo of all of the booty! Oh well, there's always year 39 in 2010!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Game Board Storage & Decor
















What a cool idea! I want to do this and I want to remember that I want to do this, so I'm posting this link right here where I won't lose track of it.

Check it out HERE!

Monday, January 18, 2010

Elephants and Accidents

So I made another little Baby Blanket / Stuffed Elephant gift set for a friend of mine last week. Her boss is due with a little girl very soon. Apparently her nursery colors are pink and brown, so how fitting is this?



Love this little guy!



I like the contrasting zig-zag decorative stitch on the blanket.



I just love Minky fabric! It's one of my favorite fabrics to buy, but unfortunately it's a little spendy, so I can't hoard as much of it as I'd like to. You may remember I made a couple of these for our Crafty Ladies sale this fall, but I'd never used this particular color combo before. I love it and I think I should have one of my own, at least the blanket in adult size. Being the only girl in the house, I just don't get to have my pink fix fulfilled!

Well, I have orders for 3 more boy sets (revised: as of last night, 4 more boy sets - woo hoo!), so I guess I'd better get off of this computer and get busy sewing!! Maybe one of these days I'll even get some into my sad little Etsy shop, lol.

*** Oh P.S., I forgot about this little tidbit. While I was down in my craft room sewing this set on Thursday night, Chico came down and said there had been a little accident upstairs. What? He said the Christmas tree fell over! Yes, it's the middle of January and we still have all of our Christmas decorations up! I don't think we've ever had our stuff up this late into the new year. So while downloading some photos off the camera, I found these pictures. Chico must have known I'd want to see the aftermath, lol.









Amazingly no ornaments were hurt in the accident. Maybe this was the universe's way of saying Christmas is over. Or maybe it was foul play? I WAS downstairs at the time, perhaps this was staged by Chico to get me to finally put away all of the Christmas decor? Notice the the tree missed the TV on the wall? Very suspicious...lol.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Latest Close to My Heart Swap

It's that time again, the newest Close to My Heart Idea Book went live on January 1st. I love the Spring edition of the catalog, I'm ready for the winter to be over and all the newness of spring to begin!

So for the last two years I've been participating in a New Idea Book Swap hosted by Julie Reynolds. This is my 7th time doing this swap with 40 other Close to My Heart consultants. Each time we're each assigned one of the new paper packs, a new accessory and a particular size of card or layout. The end goal is to be able to create 5 different display boards of artwork, using 40 different people's projects, to show off the newest paper packs. It's fun to see what all of the other participants come up with! It's kind of like Christmas when you get your box of swaps back in the mail, lol.

So this time around I got all of my first choice options. I was assigned a small 4x4 card using the new Veranda Creative Basics paper pack and my accessory was the new Spring Blossom Just Blooms paper flowers.

Here is one of the cards close up.



I stamped a quote from the "Aspiration" stamp set and then embossed it using Clear Embossing Powder.



I had 5 different flower/button combos. I also used Basic Craft Buttons and Colonial White Waxy Flax (Z1081) to help embellish the flowers.



I always like to take a shot of all 42 of them together before I mail them off, gives me a sense of accomplishment. :)



I've received all of my swap items back, so once I create my display boards I'll post a photo of all of the other artwork.

If anyone reading this would like a copy of the SPRING 2010 IDEA BOOK please send me a note at kandi@myctmh.com. I'd love to get a copy to you. I've also added links to each of the products I used this time around, just click on the item name and it will take you to my website. You can also view a Virtual copy of the Idea Book here. Let me know if you have any questions, would like to attend one of my workshops or would like to host a gathering of your own and earn free product. Thanks for looking!