Dredge Season

Here is the long ago promised photo of our gold dredge in the river. It is like a giant vacuum that sucks up the (hopefully) gold from the river and forces it on a sluice box. Since gold is heavy it stays on the carpet in the sluice box and is then panned out.

We have only been able to go once so far this season because of me being sick for the past two weeks & then our partner's wife got sick and company visiting, etc. Fair is next week and both Rod & I will be working during the fair. Today was my last day to get up at 6:15am!!!! Friday & Saturday we take in entries for the Exhibit building. I am in charge of crafts & Rod is taking in Food Preservation entries. Sunday everything is judged. Monday it's over to the Floral building where I am also in charge & we take in entries for cut flowers, potted plants & arrangements. Afterwards we have 4 judges coming in.

What is so funny is I know nothing about flowers or plants. I told them at the fairgrounds when they hired me. I can do a lot with flowers AFTER they have blossomed, but if I touch a plant or flower it will probably die. Good thing Rod has such a green thumb. He plants a stick and it grows into a tree. Really!

FINISHED!

Twinchies are completed & will be sent off tomorrow. I am please with how they turned out & I can't wait to use them on cards. I made 100 of 5 designs. There are 50 people in my Group and each person receives 10. With my Twinchies they receive 2 of each design.

Here is the final product:

MIA, I know!

Yes, I have been MIA - Missing in Action. Who knew that working 4 - 5 hours a day at the county fairgrounds would be, well, so much work? It's fun work, but work. I have also been Cricut-ing lots & lots of stuff to decorate the Exhibit building & I still have to cut things for the floral building.

I have also been working like mad to finish 500 Twinchies for a Swap due Aug. 1. What was I thinking?

Anyway enough, boo hoo, I thrive on this much chaos! Rod has started designing his scrapbook pages he will enter in the County Fair this year. I am not looking because I want to be surprised. He is also going to enter his plants, produce & our canned tomatoes, tuna, pickles, apple pie filling, apple butter & pickled jalapenos. Did I mention he loves to can with me & this year he planted an even bigger garden. Usually we give a lot to the assisted living residence where his Mom lives, but they just informed him that they can't take anything that isn't USDA approved. So, he is looking in to donating stuff from the garden to UCAN which is our local food distribution outlet for people who are in need.

What's really sad is he can't bring to the residents at the assisted living facility tomatoes from the garden either. At least once or twice a week he would make up several small bags of tomatoes for his "girlfriends" & his Mom. They are going to be so disappointed.

Off to twinchie!

Fun Weekend

DH & I went to the coast this weekend for a fun, relaxing 2 days. Great seafood buffet at Three Rivers Casino. Did a little "Ka-ching" and came out just about even. Rod went crabbing & caught a lot, BUT they were too small. He had to throw them all back. Boo Hoo.

This working thing at the fairgrounds getting ready for the County Fair is fun, but cuts into personal playtime. Haven't been able to do too much. I do have my Twinchie Swap due at the end of the month.

The theme I chose is Fall since I love that time of year. I used Krista's Stampin' Up Fall stamps and stamped 5 different designs. I hand-painted 5 x 5 stamped images plus a few extra. Since I have to do 500 Twinchies, I then made color copies of the hand-painted images. Now I have to cut out the mats for each image on the Cricut, mount them, & embellish. They will be cute when finished.

Another Swap I signed up for are two autograph pages for a Disney Book. I am doing pages for Chip and Dale. When I went to Disneyland years ago & went for the autograph, they insisted that they each get their own page. Too cute!

Photos soon. We just bought a new camera & I have to download the photos I've been trying to take.

Lime-Lighters

I have been given the extreme honor to be named to the Lime Light Charitable Design Team for 2009 - 2010. I will also be the Publicity Director. Is this the coolest thing in the world? Here is a little bit about this great team from the blog...

"We are a design team with a unique purpose. We use our crafting skills to help and bring light to others. We invite you to visit the site often to find out whom we are crafting for and what we are planning in the months to come. We have exciting plans that include making cards and bookmarks for our men and women in uniform, making journals for families whose children are in the hospital, making cards for baskets that help raise money for playground equipment....and that's just the beginning. Come back soon for pictures and blog entries giving you even deeper insight in to how the team is bringing light to those in need."

To be chosen, I had to submit 4 projects and a little ditty about myself. They do so much good for very worthy organizations. To be a part of this organization with incredibly talented ladies is AMAZING! I have been following a lot of their blogs for a long time & now my little old name is listed along with them! Thank you so much for this new adventure!

Happy Fourth of July

Well, July 1 was the first day of the Dredging season. Dredging as in Gold dredging. Let me explain. My DH & a friend bought a 3" gold dredge to use on our gold claim. Yes, you read correctly. We have a 20 acre gold claim on the river near here. From July 1 - Sept. 15 you can use this mechanized machine to help find gold. I will post photos next week of the dredge working on the river.



I am off to finish packing the trailer. We are going to camp right by the river. I am chief cook & bottle washer. I am not a go in the river and shovel and pan, etc. kind of gal. I am a sit by the river in the shade and read my books and nap and relax.



Hope you all have a great 4th of July!

The Prom Dress Story

Thank You Card Box & my Thank You Card





The story started a couple months ago when my brother called to tell me Planet Hope, a charity that works with homeless Mom's & kids in the LA area, wanted to donate designer dresses for girls at a high school of my choice. Planet Hope is the brain-child of Sharon Stone & her amazing sister, Kelly Stone.

I volunteered at 3 - 4 Camp Planet Hope sessions doing scrapbook projects with the Moms & kids. Planet Hope has been donating brand new prom dresses to high school since Hurricane Katrina and this year they expanded to more states. Since I have volunteered, Kelly wanted a high school from my area to also benefit. The county where I live in Oregon, Douglas County, is 2nd in the country for unemployment.

Since I live in Roseburg, I choose Roseburg High School and the game was on. I had the privilege of going to the high school and helping the girls pick out their prom dresses from the 80 gorgeous designer dresses (all brand new) snet to them.

What really impressed me is the high school is known for having kids that benefit from anything done for them in the community to write Thank You Notes. Prom dresses were no exception. I made a card holder for Planet Hope from the same template I made my Mom's Mother Day present. It is the template Lauren Meador designed and sells at Paper Trey Ink.

Since the theme was a "Starry Night" or something like that, I designed a cut file with the Design Studio with different shaped stars and made a card using the Wild Card cartridge to match. I used Versamark, my favorite ink to use, to stamp stars on the box & card. Silver vellum backed up the cut stars. Add silver ink, Stickles and shimmery ribbon &... well, the results are in the photos up top. I loved the way it turned out.