Cloud Gazing

Whoop two posts in one day!!!  This one is for this month's Imaginisce Blog's Monthly Challenge!  I am so excited about this one!  No red!  Tough to do in the month of love, but hey when your following the rules it's easy!

1. Create a layout/card, etc using the sketch above as your inspiration.

2. Use THREE different patterned papers.

3.  NO RED is allowed on your project.

4.  Theme: LOVE

5.  Remember you must use at least 75% Imaginisce product on your creations.

Here's the sketch!

With a 5x7 photo to scrap I dropped it down so I could build my own thunderstorm going on in the upper right hand corner!  I used papers from the Love You More Collection and Hippity Hop Collections!  I get to see so many things happen around me at the ranch and it reminds me why I love being a rancher.  One week after I graduated with my Masters (Summer 1982) I went through my first hurricane, Alicia.  I've been asked over and over from my urban friends what I would be if I wasn't ranching.  If I had to choose as I think back it would have been meteorology, the study of weather.  Yet when I analyize it the catalyst that sent me down the path to my love of  BAD weather was Hurricane Alicia.  They say you forget the true sound of the wind after seven years.  Yes, at around seven years I stopped waking up in the middle of the night when the wind picked up, but the sound I have not forgotten.  The images out our windows I do not forget.  Feeling the slab of the house vibrating I have not forgotten.  In the late 90's I remember seeing my first tornado up towards Sugarland and I was living in Rosharon at the time at the Darrington Unit.  I had been trained as a storm spotter while I worked at TDCJ.  My second tornado was a storm I chased down the road from the ranch two days before the killer tornado that hit Joplin in 2011.  The next day I had to leave our ranch because of a super cell that produced F1 tornadoes that touched down on TSTC's campus in Waco and the other in downtown Groesbeck.  When I left the ranch I stopped in Groesbeck to pick up a Doctor Pepper and headed south to Thornton where I came out from underneath the cloud deck to see one of the most amazing super cell thunderstorms I had ever seen.  I was memorized and wishing the mesocyclone on the south side of the storm would have dropped a tornado, but it didn't.  And yes our ranch was ok upon my return.

Last week a line of storms developed to the east of us and I sat on the porch after dark watching the light show occurring some 50 miles away.  I got to see my very first positive lightning bolt.  That was so cool!

This is not a picture of the storm that day.  I was so stunned by the shear power of the storm I forgot completely to pull out my camera.  This storm is to the NNW of our ranch about 30 miles in the summer of 2010.  It was popping lightning like crazy and so pretty at sunset.  To even get this photo I had to turn on the flash or the cloud was drowned out.  I added the chipboard key painted with Tattered Angels Pink Lady Glaze to get the exact effect I wanted and to portray that a farmer or rancher is very in tune to weather because we rely on rain to grow your food.  Then the bunny added is to remind me of all the great wildlife I get to see on the ranch including the cottontails and jack rabbits. 

Our ranch just off the peak of the highest hill in the county allows me to truly enjoy my passion for bad weather.  At the same time I am overly mindful of just how dangerous bad weather can be because I have had that hair raising feeling just before a lightning strike.  I head for indoors or the car quickly, but I spend the entire time running from one window to the next to watch the clouds.  Living in Cental Texas allows me to enjoy my passion for severe storms.  And some day I want to do a tornado chase vacation...bucket list!

Thank you for taking the time to look at my layout!

EZ Undercover Agent

I have been following Unscripted Sketches for the last four months!  We are so busy at the ranch this time of year I have yet to get a card posted on the blog in time.  I peeked on Monday to see the sketch for this week and oh what an awesome sketch!

Circles have been in my head all week.  I finished my Design Team work and took a look at the Challenges at ACOT!  Between the January Lift Yourself Challenge and this wonderful sketch I was off to the races and two hours later I was done!  I love this creation of EZ Undercover Agent!

When Larry purchased Agent I had a wonderful advertising logo for this bull which I never got to use or even get done before Larry sold him.  If I remember right he sired 3 or 4 calves for us.  But as my husband has a habit of doing he will sell all but a handful of the cattle on the farm if he has a chance to sell one at a profit.  Agent now resides on another Texas ranch as a senior herd sire.  As for the photos, I have no earthly idea why he didn't call me to blow him dry for him.  LOL....we don't blow dry cattle we use the term "blow" cattle.  Don't ask me why we use the terminology we do in the cattle world....LOL!  Thus agent is in the wash rack sopping wet wet when Larry asks me to bring the camera from the house.  On top of that when I arrive he has a show halter on.  Really.....Larry can be really good at adding to the work load on a rare occasion.  Now I have a wet show halter!  So the halter got oiled that evening.  It's one of those times where you just kind of laugh at yourself for getting aggrevated over something that becomes a funny memory a couple of years later when you print the photos.  It's exactly why I scrap!  It's about the memories!

Thank you so much Laurie who hosted the challenge at ACOT and Unscripted Sketches for the sketch!

Nuts About Sketches #250

I want to congratulate Shawn on reaching 250 sketches on her blog!  Totally Awesome!  Come check out Nuts About Sketches!

When I see Shawn's sketches I'm building the layout in my head with a photo(s) I have in mind.  This one totally befuddled me!!!!  Sometimes one just needs a little stress to get the creativity going when you are leaving in 48 hours for Denver to the National Western Livestock Show!  You also know you will be way to tired when returning on Saturday to get the layout done.  As I went through every photo I have printed out I had this sudden light bulb moment when I got to these photos.  Perfect!  I was clueless on what to do with wood grain papers until I thought of the cattle!  Now I'm hooked on them.  Since it was Miss Clout 390M and her 2009 calf Miss FJL Valencia I knew just the papers I wanted to use.  I pulled out my Paper Bakery Kits for October and went to work!  Two hours later I was done.

The papers in this kits are so stunning.  They come from the American Crafts Dear Lizzy 5th and Frolic as well as the American Crafts Amy Tangerine Ready Set Go!  Miss Clout is pictured in the lower right photo and Val is captured in the other four photos.  Val has since been sold to Rocking B Farms in Needville, TX. I get to see her all of the time as I'm at Rocking B monthly or Charlie, Sandy and Mr. Bill are at our farm!  Great friends and partners in raising Lowline Cattle.  We own bulls in partnership, flush cows at the same time to save costs, and in selling our meat via Farmer's Markets.  Val is now a mother herself with the birth of her first bull calf last spring.  I have to laugh as Miss Clout is one of those cows who I claim as "MY Cow"!  I make all of the decisions on who we breed her to.

The sketch is definite Eye Candy!!!!

Please come visit Nuts About Sketches for some terrific inspiration!

Scrappy Stuff for 12/2/10

One of the ladies who posts on a regular basis on the message board over at ACOT is having 12 days of Raks. How cool is that. I'm not one to go running to participate in a RAK because I have been blessed to have a huge stash. I always think someone else deserves it more. So ladies visit Shayla's great blog and leave a post for today and scroll down to see her great layouts! I'm now officially a follower!! The winner is announced tomorrow. You can find her thread at ACOT here. Even better come follow our wonderful friendly community at ACOT!

I promised to publish my layout for this week's sketch at Pencil Lines, #215! I once again used Sassafras Lass Indie Girl for this layout. The papers are just so feminine. When they arrived I thought this was just perfect for this photo. The papers just speak about my MIL, second mother. And I love this photo with my BIL, Danny! I chose the blue Bazzill cardstock to frame the layout because of Danny in the picture with his mother. I just loved loved this sketch and most likely will use it yet again. I also entered into the layout into ACOT'S Novemeber Manufacturer Challenge.



And my take:


A huge thank you to Pencil Lines for the inspiration and to the girls of ACOT's Community and Creative Team for the wonderful support I receive in my life and hobby. I just smile each time I see this layout! One of my new favs! I am blessed beyond measure to have the loving family I have!

On to that thing called legal stuff: The sketch for Pencil Lines #215 is copyrighted by Jennifer Matott!

Daisy D's Closing & Charlie

I found a blog quite by accident looking for a picture of the new specialty coverset album put out by Creative Memories. The album is called Wishes and Dreams. I must say it is beautiful. I had to order one. The joys of being a hobby consultant. Find a local consultant for the new Spring Catalog and March/April Mini Brochure. It's their semi-annual big release of new product.

Back to the blog I found. The blog is titled is Cake, Cocoa, & Gossip by Becks Fagg. Becks is from the UK as listed on her blog. She is manages "Creativity Life" a magazine I've not heard of so I assume it is only in the UK, maybe Europe, too. Yet I'm not sure of any of that. On her entry for today she annouces the closing of Daisy D's. So I went to Daisy D's website and sure enough they are closing. It was hard for me to know Daisy D's is going belly up. I've never been a big fan of theirs but I know many who are. I do have some of their border tapes and I struggle to get them to apply evenly, yet I LUV LUV the idea. It looks as if you the consumer can buy directly from Daisy D's, as this was the first time I've been to their site. Speaking of Scrapbooking Companies, Creative Memories parent company went into reorganization and has come out with a new plan to restructure which has been approved. Creative Memories was never in danger of folding though as they are very solvent, but they too have seen a down turn in number of consultants which means less income. I'm spending less and have moved to getting the much needed framing done instead of scraping supplies. I'll start buying Christmas Presents for my nieces & MIL within the month. I'm spreading it out over the year to only maintain my consultant hobby status.

Back to Beck's Blog. She had some wonderful photos up on her site of some of the new things at CHA. When I have more time this week I'll return to dive into her writings and maybe become a follower of her blog.

Onto my LO for 52 Sketches...52 Weeks. Sketch 2009 #7. My subject, Charlie. Every time I write his name I think of "Charlie Brown." He's Lynn's Santa Gertrudis Bull and she hates it that I compare him to Charlie Brown. Yet, his personality is both playful and he always wants the attention the girls get. I'll be somewhat sad to see him sold this year after spring breeding. He just has too many daughters on the ranch to justify the cost to keep him. We are moving to maintain only Lowline bulls, and use Artifical Insemination work on our Santa Gertrudis with clean up by our Lowline bulls. This picture I was able to capture of Charlie was the best shot I took of all of the cattle last spring. I was thrilled when I saw it in the camera. I thought, oh if only I'd had the Cannon Rebel at the time. I'm still drooling over that camera. I'm still wishing I had a Rebel.



As for the LO. I rotated the sketch and went to my scraps to find the perfect pieces for the LO. I had fun using my Quickutz Archiver's Exclusive Patterned Bracket's 4x4 die to make my brackets. That die was a purchase I couldn't live without! Has three different brackets that measure 3 3/4" when cut out. LOVE THEM! I also LUV the Bazzill Stitchez templates and used DMC 814 thread, a deep cherry red, as that is the color the Santa Gertrudis are known for. I really love all of the LO's that were done for this week by those who participated and their was overall great compliments on the sketch by the members of the 52 Weeks...52 Sketches community. If you've not jumped over to Julie's site, you really should!

Have a great weekend!

Kim