…… for tomorrow’s backgrounder release?
Morning folks!
Our Lisa Strahl has been one busy lady this week. If you have not been to her blog then head there right now. What you will see will inspire you BIG time. Oh my, her creations with the new backgrounders are absolutely incredible so don’t stay here, go on over there & have a wonderful feast for your eyes:)
Liz from a rather cold but sunny Montana this morning at -11F
Hey, just me again. We now have gift certificates available to purchase on the store. They come in $5, $10, $15, $25, $50 or $100 & we can either email or mail them to you upon completion of your purchase. SO if you are looking for those last minute Christmas presents & not sure what to get come on over - we have just the thing.
Yes Miss Lilly is in disgrace 
When I went down to the cow barn on Monday afternoon to give the cows hay & clean them out I noticed that poor Hazel had three gashes on her side. Thankfully the weather was so cold that she hadn’t bled alot but we all knew the culprit.
Normally the cows are happy to be outside but now that it is colder they like to be in so we think that is how it happened. Lilly came in the barn with the other two & they got in her way.
Winter is officially here in Montana - we have seen snow for the last three days. Only light flakes & a dusting on the ground but enough for Daniel to get exciting & keep telling us it’s “owing”. We had a reprieve today as temps reached 28F but they are supposed to go down again tomorrow.
SO, what to do with Miss Lilly. Well one option was to put her in a different pasture but there isn’t really enough shelter there PLUS it would make alot of extra work for us in watering her & feeding her SO we have put her in the boys pen in the barn. (The boys are quite happy sleeping by the stack of hay bales - good shelter & good food. The goats are looking REALLY fat right now.) Hopefully Lilly will tame down because when she is shut in she doesn’t run away & lets you stroke her so we’ll see. She doesn’t like her head being stroked. At least this way she can’t hurt the other girls.
What else is going on here? Well… Richard has gone out tonight to teach an EMT class. One of his buddies on the ambulance is doing a training course for folks that want to become an EMT so Richard said he would help out & teach the section on the nervous, muscular & digestive systems. So as I came in from milking Hazel, he went out.
The new Thomas Kinkade images have now been sent to the engravers. Richard & I are really pleased with how they have come out so are anxious to get them back here & made into rubber. The release date is set for December 29th & I think we might actually be on time
Michelle is all excited as Saturday is the day for putting up Christmas decorations. I know some of you probably already have yours up & sometimes we do put ours up after Thanksgiving but with Thanksgiving being so early this year it didn’t quite feel like Christmas yet.
So on that note let me leave you with another card by Asela. The Christmas Reindeer seems to be one of our customers most favorite stamps this year. He sure is cute so hope you enjoy this card.
Have a fun evening.
Liz
Howdy folks!
Trust your day was a good one. I spent the majority of it eating pixels! Yes it’s a new kind of computer food - totally calorie free but once you have been sat for a while it makes your body & shoulders ache
OK I’ve been working on the new TK images (set to release late December) & have made great progress so I can go to bed & relax. A day off is on its way.
But before that I wanted to share with you Keri’s Magic Floating Ornaments. These are adorable:
A great gift for someone.
If you want to see the complete tutorial head on over to the forum.
PLUS if you have the Nestabilities then you can be even more adventurous & create something like this:
Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend - put your feet up & RELAX!
Liz
Michael has headed out to friends for the night so I had to go milk Hazel this evening. After I had milked her, I figured I should pick up some poop! So I loaded up the wheelbarrow, opened the door & pushed it out. Lilly decided she was coming in. Now Lilly, the dexter, is still not very friendly which is unfortunate. We can give her a treat but cannot touch her. SO in she barges to the barn pushing Hazel & Bossy out of the way. Then T-Bone decides he wants to come in after running away earlier so in he comes. Bossy goes outside so Chuck who has just drank half a bucket of Hazel’s milk decides that he is still hungry & goes for Bossy’s milk. Bossy still lets him drink after all this time - she really is a sweetie. So then I have to get a halter to pull him off as pushing doesn’t work. I then shoo Lilly out of the barn & Bossy comes back in.
Lilly can’t be shut in the barn at night because she pushes the girls around with her horns. I know we could take her horns off but we did that with Bossy & it was a really bloody mess. We had to keep putting blood stop on them & then washing the caked blood off which Bossy would let us do but I think Lilly would never come near us again if we did that to her so for now they can stay but she has to stay out. We have tried shutting her in a different part of the barn but then she breaks things.
Anyway after all this pallava I fork the cow manure etc over to the pigs & realize for the first time what a gorgeous night it is. (Yes pigs LOVE cow manure - they get very excited when they see me.) The moon is up & all the stars are out. So as I am walking back to the house I start thinking whether I have any card samples suitable for this cold but beautiful evening. Lo & behold I go to my new stash that Asela sent me this week (Thank you Asela) & what do I find - this fabulous Skating Penguin card. “Have a Chillin’ Holiday” is just right for tonight here in Montana. So on that note, I leave you with this great card & wish you all a very blessed Thanksgiving.
Liz
P.S. If you don’t have the Skating Penguin & would like him he is on special for the next 24 hours. 20% off so head on over & grab him quick!
Well let me explain that cryptic title. This morning it was 7F here so I guess we can say winter has finally arrived. Absolutely gorgeous sunshine though & the snow missed us. 120 miles south of here got dumped with 8 inches! Of course at those temps it means that all the waterers are solid ice. The girls (cows) do have a heated waterer as they drink gallons in a day to keep them in milk. The goats have been provided with new heated waterers every year & every year they have chewed the cords & broken them, so guess what? This year they will have to drink cold water & drink it when we pour it fresh for them before it freezes. They are in “heaven” right now anyway as this huge truck load of hay came last week:
This is only a third of what we need. Another two loads will be here soon. (Approx. 25 tons in all) Of course goats can climb & are very destructive so they are tucking into this hay as fast as they can. Michael’s job tomorrow is go get some of it put away in the barn out of their way. If he knew the mess they were making down there he would do his nut & would have moved it when it first arrived When the other two loads arrive we will put some temporary fencing up to keep them out.
Another cold night tonight. When I was milking Hazel the milk that splashed on the metal handle froze instantly. I need to make some gloves that only have a thumb & first finger hole so that the rest of my hand can stay warm.
I know you’re wanting to know where “hot” comes into the title. WELLLLL… another present arrived here last week but it was only last night that Richard got it all in place & working. Want a clue? It came on a big truck & needed to be unloaded with a forklift!
Any ideas? It weighs 1000lbs so not something you can lift & move with two hands.
It’s our new vulcanizer!
Yes we are getting busier, thanks to all of you & so need to up production. Today found Michelle working all three for the first time.
That is a busy task. It takes 8 minutes to press the rubber so you have to keep a good rotation up as it takes a couple minutes to peel the rubber off the pressed boards & reload etc. The tops of the vulcanizers are always full of warm boards & rubber waiting to be pressed. Cold rubber doesn’t press well.
As you can see these are are all the same type, just the newest one is a little shinier & has some updated features on it but is basically the same. These machines are large & expensive but are VERY hard wearing & will go for years as our other two have so well worth the investment.
Now you’ve caught up on all our news. Hope you’re having a great week so far & getting ready for a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Liz
Well I didn’t get to this last night as I hoped but here we go - better late than never!
Sunday was an absolutely gorgeous day here. The sun was out, the wind was calm & the temps, although only in the high 40’s, felt good.
Last year we purchased two children’s bike trailers so that we could go on bike rides together as a family. Needless to say they have been hanging in the garage ever since. SO Sunday afternoon we finally got around to using them for the first time. We took a ride up to the bridge, then back into town to the park. The whole family came along which was nice. The last time we used a bike trailer was when M&M were little & we were living in England & used to go down to Sherwood Forest. That was a LONG time ago.
At the park us four older “kids” decided to go on the hanging bars. Enjoy the following pics:
Michael showing off his Abs:
Richard before
and after:
Michelle:
Moi (Liz) & no I didn’t let go!
Have a great rest of the week,
Liz
Now you may already know this but Julia Stainton, our new Design Team Coordinator, started work on Monday! Talk about being thrown in at the deep end! We are SO busy Julia is having to do some very quick learning but she is doing a great job and today joined in her first conference call with us all.
Today was our first real CHA chat between Richard, myself, Lisa, Keri & Julia. February is looming faster than most of us want, I think. And can you believe it… when we were discussing what to wear (bear in mind that we have never done a show together, in fact it will be the first time we meet each other) Lisa informed me that I couldn’t wear the boots I wear to clean out the cows! I was SO upset. I thought everyone at CHA would love to smell the country. Maybe we should create a new “cow barn” scented embossing powder?
LOL! Just in case you are taking me seriously let me assure I was not at all upset, just playing with you. And I certainly had no intention of wearing my muck boots to the show.
If you get a chance go check out Julia’s blog & make sure you go on the forum & give her a big welcome.
I hope to be back later with some family antic pics but it may be tomorrow.
Take care,
Liz
Yes Bonfire Night/Guy Fawkes Night went really well. We had a whole crowd of folks turn up. i didn’t do a head count but it was pretty crowded in here when we were all eating - I’m thinking there were at least 30 people here. The weather was beautiful although cold enough that the fire was most welcome. Of course, the guys took charge of the fireworks & did a really great job. Here are some pics:
Well the answer was 970! Yes alot of labels & I finally got the rubber put on them last night. Labeling blocks is not that hard once you get in the swing of things but it is monotonous.
And as for Shelley’s little story which I am copying here for you all to read, this was one conversation I will never forget. I quote:
(For those wondering, I wrote Liz once telling her about my Hen and Chicks that we were keeping in the flower box…and how the raccoon had gotten them. Well, poor Liz thought they were real birds…not the garden variety. We’ve had a few good laughs over that one!!)…(Sorry Liz…the secret is out.)
I laughed for days & days over this conversation. I was SO concerned about Shelley’s chickens & the fact that she wasn’t shutting them in at night but sticking them back in her flower garden. Then she sent me a picture once she realized I had no clue what she was talking about! Laughter sure is good for the soul & my good friend Shelley has given me several.
Let me share another of her quirks that made me roar with laughter. When we were doing the “guess who” advertising for the first release of Thomas Kinkade & the Yahoo group was still in existence Shelley called me up so excited because she had guessed who it was. SO then she proceeded to give us a morning of entertainment on the group getting everyone guessing. Needless to say I didn’t get any work done that morning but it was SO much fun. Folks were just not getting her clues & in the end she came up with “It rhymes with Llamas Parade!” Well that just tickled me. I would never have thought of that clue in a million years.
BUT you folks are all waiting to see who is going to have two new chickens. 9 of you got it correct & the winner is:
#16 - Janet
Oh gosh this is SO funny! Janet was in on the “Llamas Parade” conversation & if I remember rightly was clueless to the last minute which had us all in fits of laughter. Congratulations Janet.
Have a great day! I have lots more to tell you so hopefully I’ll be back later.
Liz
