Snakes And Icecream Sandwiches

My friend Stacey absolutely HATES snakes and is scared to death of them so I hope she doesn't check out my blog today! LOL I was talking on the phone to my sister this morning and I glanced out the window and saw this rat snake by the porch. (Its ok, don't freak, they're not venomous!)He was about three feet long and rather ....slithery...ok, how else do you describe a snake? LOL You gotta check out his tongue in that first picture...

Something else interesting happened to me today to cheer me. I went grocery shopping and as I was putting my bags in the truck, my daughter and I were approached by an elderly man with icecream on his face holding out a bag to me. He explained that he had bought a box of icecream sandwiches and thought there were only six of them in there but after eating seven, realized that it was actually a pack of ten! LOL He wondered if we might want to finish them as they would melt before he got home. Now, in that situation would YOU eat the icecream sandwiches? He looked harmless enough. Somehow I couldn't picture this man syringing poison into the icecream so.......don't think me desperate, but it was hot...
We ate them.

My Grown Ducks

Yes, can you believe how big they've gotten? All grown up now...boo hoo. No, its nice to see them enjoying themselves as only bigger ducks can; swimming freely and foraging etc . Yesterday I spent a couple hours in the afternoon waist-deep in the pond clearing duckweed. It was rather backbreaking but I did clear quite a large section for the ducks to swim in. You can see the large pile of weeds there in the last picture. (that's one of TWO piles). They were getting hemmed in by it and its so strong I was afraid they'd get tangled. Tomorrow I will try to clear some more. (If my back is up to it. LOL

A Duck Pressie

As you know from my last post, I have lost my favorite duck, a blue Indian runner named Ping. Well, I was (am) pretty miserable about it so my husband has decided to give me my anniversary present early. Can you guess?
New ducklings! I ordered them today and they will arrive next Thursday. We have five coming (they need company. :-) A black Runner, A blue runner, a chocolate runner and a fawn/white runner. Also there's a buff-colored "normal" duckling "thown in" cos there's a minimum shipping charge and it is a VERY sweet duck!! So I have something to look forward to now. I thought my surrogate duck mummy business was over but it is to begin again! I will be sure to take pics and post them. It has cheered me up some and soothed the aching just a bit.
I hope that whatever it was that ate my duck for lunch was very hungry or needed food for babies. Otherwise, I hope it choked! Bye for now.

Mojo Monday 2

I was making a card for Mojo Monday's sketch challenge and came up with two. I dont know if they will allow two entries but I will try and if not it doesn't really matter as I will find someone to give it to anyway to.. I used papers from K&Co (Amy Butler) and my MS paper punch. Thats about it. Thanks for looking.
I am a bit mopey today. Dang it, I'm really SAD!! IN fact, I can't stop bawling. My little Ping is gone and I know he's "only a duck" but he was my favorite duck (a charcoal Indian Runner) and the runt. I raised all four of them from only a couple days old in my bathtub. And now they are nearly full grown and stay outside and have full run of the pond.
The worst of it is, I don't know what happened. He's just gone. There's no dog pawprints near the water. Nothing. It could have been a bird of prey or maybe a Cottonmouth or a really big snapping turtle....I don't know...and it really bothers me. We got the kayak out and searched the pond and looked under bushes etc but no sign of him.
At one point I thought I saw him. I saw a dark duck happily playing in the pond quite a ways off and thought just MAYBE he got adventurous! But then this duck (merely a visitor) flew off. (something that Ping can't do yet as his feathers aren't fully grown.
I'll get over it eventually...but today I'm sad.

Tree Frog

My daughter discovered this little tree frog out exploring in the yard the other day. I have to say he's a very sweet little amphibian! :-) Look at those fingers! He should learn the piano!

Clear Stamp Storage

I did not come up with this idea. I found it blog-hopping one day when I was looking for a storage solution for my clear and unmounted stamps. I swear, once you've tried it you'll be desecrating all your CD cases. LOL. Not me, though. I'm asking around my friends!
ANyway, the one thing you must get right is this: Dont buy CDROM cases thinking they're the same thing as CD cases. They're not. They're thinner and they dont have a removable disc inset. And you need that cos you need to be able to remove that part.
Keep your acetate picture of your stamps and lay it on the inside of your CD case. Then you'll know where your stamps go when you return them and you'll see what you've got much quicker.
Thanks for looking. Hope this helps someone else. :-)

Still Talking Storage

These are some assorted cans that I covered with pretty paper and lined with cork to store my pencils in. I love them cos they're personal. I had hunted around trying to find the "perfect pencil cups" and they didn't exist! So I made them myself and they really are perfect for what I need. :-)
Some were macaroon containers or cocoa powder containers or even baking powder cans. You can use anything. I adhere the paper (in these cases K&Co or DCWV) with Scortape, a wonderfully strong product that you can just rip with your fingers, no need for scissors. Oilla.

Storage Idea for Spellbinder's Nestabilities

Hi!
Everyone needs storage. And if they're crafty they need lots of storage! :-) I am passing along a tip I have borrowed from others and found it works really well.
 Spellbinders Nestabilities. Aren't they great? When I first started buying them I kept them in their original packs, but found that the packaging scratched my fingers everytime I wanted to slide the dies out. Then I put them in CD cases but found that the sticky tape loses its stickiness and the dies all fall out as you open the case. What to do?
 I saw some really neat magnetic binders online but wanted something more immediate.
 Result: Clasp rings.
You can find them in the embroidery section of the large craft stores like Michaels. (apparently people use them to organize embroidery floss squares.) They cost about a buck apiece and I use one ring for two nestability sets. You could fit loads more on a ring but its easier finding what you want if you don't overload them, right? Here's a closer look:

I hope this comes in useful for someone out there.It definately works for me!

I have no idea what this shelf thingamajig was originally used for but I saw it in an antique shop and decided it was perfect for my Distress Inks. You can probably fit about 30 inkpads on it comfortably. Pretty Cool find! They had old matchbox cars sitting on it (rather awkwardly, if Im being honest, as the shelves slant downwards) I got it for 10 bucks which I think is pretty decent. :-)