Ode to the pink panther...

Do you love the pink panther? I do.

My dad has worked for Owens Corning as long as I can remember. I grew up stealing my dad's pink panther t-shirts, hats, doll okay dad didn't play with him he just sat him on a shelf. I think my dad even had a toy semi truck with the panther and a company logo on it. Anyway I digress. The pink panther is fun. he's pink, he's happy. When it came time to insulate my studio I had a major problem.....to be pink or not to be pink that was the question. This dilemma was HUGE support the company who fed me, clothed me etc. etc. or go the the competition!!!!! Oh the agony the soul searching...okay maybe that plus a lot of price checking. Finally you can see the results of Johns hard work and OCD tendancies in this beautiful ode to pink. P.S. my favorite thing about insulation is it make's my studio WARM

Jon will make fun of the fact that I forgot to rotate this photo but I promise I'm just soooo tired and I knew if I didn't just do it it wouldn't happen. So while IMing with some of my siblings I made sure to post. Enough about me check out my husbands beautiful technique...don't see it well all the the lettering is going the same way on the walls and the ceiling he has some serious skills.

My attempt at an art shot. No flash. Looks like cotton candy or clouds on a foreign planet.

See I didn't go to the dark side. I went PINK!!!!

Tomorrow I'll show you John' beautiful work on the ceiling. Think pink! ~Susan

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One stressed out Penguin

I giggled and giggled when I saw this clip. Just how my life's been going lately. Don't worry no interventions needed,Kate, Sydney, and the little tyrant named Paige...WELLLLL. ~Susan

Happy crafting.

I know how this guy feels. Just so everyone knows that New Year's Eve snowfall didn't happen. We ended up with two inches....had a couple of sad little girls.

John and our friend Rick(Charlene Schumaker's husband) have been working a lot in the garage/studio. It's hard to turn a bare space into something livable with no budget. Thank goodness the workforce likes to be paid in Cocomotion. Just so everyone can see we have lights(donated) a new wall and new door,(thanks Rick) and updated wiring, and insulation(skrappinguy). We may not have walls for a looong time but at least we'll be cozy. And if you want to know what I'm doing with the floor I have no idea working on walls first,

one panel at a time.

I've been making aprons for Christmas. Here are two out of five in the teal and brown color combination. I'll have to ask my sisters of photos of the pink and green aprons I've already gifted to them.

On Christmas Eve John was filling the girls stockings and I saw him empty and then throw away this box. I almost had a heart attack.
"John wait, STOP, back away from the garbage."

This is the beginning of a fun little gift box I am creating.
Inspired by the Sweet Candy Companies packaging.

I'll let you see this when it's completed.

Can't wait to see what I do with it myself.

Happy New Year's ~Susan

A new year....

I've been thinking of last year and how crazy it has been. I am so very grateful to have survived with a happy heart and my faith and hope still intact. I was joking with John today about our snow forecast that was .5" to 1.5" as of Monday night and then increased all of the sudden today to between 6" to 9"s. That is a lot of snow. I told Kate not to get her hopes up. I told myself not to get my hopes up. We would only end up with an inch. At 10:30p.m. this is what we discovered out our back door. These snowflakes are the hugest ever...

Oh you could hear them hitting the ground too!

Paige's new favorite comment is ooh wee.

You can see she's enjoying the snow.

(She was mad because her hand was sooo cold a minute later.)

My daughters having a dance party in the snow.


You know that it's important to be stylish when catching snowflakes.
(If only you could see her rockin yellow rain boots.)




My eye my eye there's a snowflake in my eye.
This shot will be kept for future bribery.
John already uploaded it as our background photo just to torture kate.


Proof of the biggest snowflakes ever.
Our yard has at least a half inch in the past 20 minutes.
So no matter how much snow we get at least

we got to play in the snow.
Maybe I didn't plan the most fabulous New Year's Party...

we miss the Stalling's fun family parties.
But we still get to have John's famous
Peanut Butter Pie.

Sooooo, have a happy and rockin' new year!
From all the Skrappingirls and Skrappinguy.

Lights Before Christmas

We love our Zoo! On Wednesday Laura, Jade and I took our girls plus one extra to see "The Lights Before Christmas" at the Toledo Zoo. We had fun and it wasn't too cold. But I definitely need to work on getting into shape. Here are our Highlights.

All the girls ready to roll. Hannah, Macy, Kate, Abby, and a reluctant Sydney.

Paige all bundled in and singing.

Yes, it's dark outside and yes she INSISTED

on wearing her sunglasses and carrying BlueBeary.

My favorite tree.

And the favorite of all the girls the musical lights.

Two minutes of happy, happy fun.

Sad to report that we've had a virus running through both our families since late Wednesday night. Family togetherness can be a little overrated.
Hopefully all parents and little girls are better for Christmas

Jolly Holly Christmas

My girls make me laugh! I have a friend who sends out the best letters for Christmas that include "The Best of" Qoutes from her boys. I've never remembered to write them all down. Well Miss Sydney has been on a roll.

We caught her playing dress up and took a couple of photos.

A few minutes after John and I left the room we heard.

"Can I get a little help in here?" Look at who we found!

Sometimes a girl just needs a hand.
We still don't know why she was in the box.

Then John and I were busy,(ha ha ha) finding cool things on the internet. I heard Syd in the hallway, singing over and over,"Have a Jolly Holly Christmas its the best time in the WORLD." She kept singing and became more enthusiastic with each repeat. Gotta love little people especially when they don't get the words right and get the meaning anyway.


Today I laid down for 15 minutes until Kate got off of the bus. Sydney was told to be quite since John and Paige were asleep. When you're four it's hard to be quiet, hey my girls can't even walk quiet. So I expected her to wake Paige up at any second. I saw her go into the bathroom and then for a couple of minutes I heard a lot of jumping. I opened the door to peek in and see what was going on. She was doing the potty dance! Leotard on under her t-shirt....bouncing and saying "I hope someone comes to help me...I hope someone comes to help me!" Poor kid. After we took care of the major crisis I couldn't stop giggling. At least I know she listens sometimes!

My friend, Jean sent me a funny Utube video about Mom's. You may have heard it before but every time I see it I laugh more. Kate overheard me listening and thought it was sooooo funny. "Mom that's you!" I said, "No honey that's ALL moms." Thank goodness for creative moms who can let us all know that we are normal. So have a Jolly Holly Christmas and have a good laugh today. I know I did!

Digital Designs for Christmas

I love to play. When I received a copy of the new 101 Hip, Handmade Gifts from my sweet friend Charlene after surgery.(Thyroid, two weeks ago and I'm better than Okay, I'm great!)

I was inspired to make the best Christmas gifts ever.

But alas so little time to work on my inspiration.

It was already Dec 5th!

How many cute handmade gifts can a girl

come up with in a mere 19 days.

I was wandering around 2 Peas in a Bucket and found

the BEST little CD Calendar

by Cherie Mask 2007 Ck Hall of Famer and 2Peas Garden Girl.

and Birthday Book Downloads
by Rhonna Farrer, LOVE her work.

Soooo, thought I'd share my find so everyone can go to 2Peas spend $12 TOTAL and take advantage of these fun, happy mostly pre-created, amazing gifts. Top it off with a creatively made bag topper, a few pens, Post Its, and some custom stationery and you have a ROCKIN gift. I promise that I'll show you a completed set when I have one ready. I did already give away twelve of the CD Calendars and they were a hit! Can't wait to see what I'm going to do with the birthday book...but I think I see clipboards in my future.

By the way if you're on my gifting list...sorry to ruin the surprise. On my list of other gifts to complete I have Three aprons done,

only eleven more to go!