Baby Chicks

For years I have thought about having a few backyard chickens and now that we are settled in our home in Wilmington, I convinced my husband that it was a good idea.  :0)  Last week, with my DH's (dear husband's) permission, the kids and I went to the True Value Hardware store up in Castle Hayne - about a 30 minute drive north - to pick out six chickens - one each for the kids, plus one for me.  Since then, we have been busy cleaning up the enormus amounts of poop (recent FB status reads:  "6 chicks = TONS of poop"), socializing our baby birds, teaching them how to drink water and making plans for a chicken coop.

This is my baby bird, Sunshine or Sunny for short.  I didn't name her, the kids did because she kept trying to climb into the heat lamp.  Yes, INTO it!  She really likes the sunshine - whether its the real rays, or the fake heat lamp rays.  :0)

All six of our babies are Ameraucanas, also known as Easter eggers because they lay colored eggs.  Their eggs will probably be a light shade of green or blue, but some can lay light pink or light lavendar eggs!  I picked this breed because everything I read online agreed that they were great birds to have around children.  Apparentlly they are mild tempered, docile, smart and playful.  So far, they are living up to their reputation.  Click HERE for a cool article that shows an Ameraucana from one week to full grown so you can see what my girl will look like when she's older.

Here is Sunshine on her way to the park...

And here she is at the family campfire...

Can you tell I'm having fun with her?  :0)

Here are the kid's babies:

Kip named his chick Fluffy.

Brady named his Color.

Katie named hers Zoey.

Jake named his Victoria.  (I call her Tori.) :0)

Carrie named her Bellatrix.  (I call her Trixie.)  :0)

Many of my friends think I've jumped off the deep one on this one.  I guess they could say I've "flown the coop".  :0)  Hopefully these girls will turn out to be a blessing with farm fresh eggs and friendly company for my "unsocialized homeschoolers".  :0)  According to what I've read we should have eggs near the end of September.  This breed can lay up to one a day!  {Although I'd love to have eggs now and could have purchased "point of lay" or "POL" pullets (birds about 16 weeks old, near to when they would start laying) I have read that when you have children it is better to hand raise babies so they are not afraid of the kids and vice versa.}

No Roosters Allowed!!

The store was *almost* certain that we received all females, however there is a chance that one or even more could be a male/rooster.  We should know within the next month to six weeks.  All of the children understand that if we do have a rooster among us, that he will be given to a friend's farm.  I definitely don't want a rooster around!  Many people don't know that hens can and will lay eggs whether a rooster is around or not.  If there is no rooster, they just won't be fertilized eggs - meaning no baby chicks.  :0)  Pretty cool, hun?  I think so!  God's plan and His creation is just amazing to me!

Be sure to check back for updates on our chicken adventure!  I am hoping to take pictures every week so we can document their growth.  I've heard they grow very fast.  Better get to building that coop!  :0)

My Pink Stamper Color Challenge

I spent most of the day (after church that is) out in the back yard.  I got some gardening tasks completed, watched Aaron tinker with his new boat, and even soaked up a few sun rays.  My back is a bit pink....hopefully it won't hurt too bad tomorrow.  :0)

Robyn, aka My Pink Stamper, posted a challenge yesterday.  The challenge was to create a project using pink, green & black.  Here is my submission.  Those of us posting projects have the opportunity to win a Creat-A-Critter Cricut Cartridge (my new fav!) and also to be featured in Robyn's pink gallery.  Yeah!  Wish me luck!  :0)

My new cartridge!

Recently, Provo Craft launched four new Cricut cartridges.  (You can view them HERE.)  Three of the four cartridges will be available at all major craft stores, online scrapbook stores, and even soon enough on eBay.  One cartridge, however, is exculsive to HSN (Home Shopping Network).  Well, of course, the one cartridge of the four that I absolutely LOVED was the one exclusive to HSN.  I had never ordered anything from HSN, but last week I ordered the "Straight From the Nest" cartridge.  It was an easy purchase and arrived very quickly.  I got it yesterday and made a couple of cards with it.  Here they are....let me know what you think!  :0)

I heart girly things!

I don't know if I've mentioned my love of second hand shopping.  It was inbred in me.  For as long as I can remember, my parents have shopped at thrift stores - Goodwill, Salvation Army, St. Vincent Depaul, Value Village, etc.  At some point in our family history, these second hand stores were given the name "holes".  Yesterday I took my children to the local Goodwill "hole" and here is what I found.  It was 99 cents and super cute & girly.  The second I saw it, I imagined it sitting on my craft table full of ribbon.  Isn't it cute?

It has an Estee Lauder stamp on the bottom inside, so I'm guessing it was a gift with purchase at some point for their makeup or perfume line.  I just love it!  I thought about spray painting it, but I think with all of the pretty ribbon inside, I will leave it just as it is.  :0)

Odd Inspiration

Okay, so I was looking through my pantry the other day and saw a couple things that caught my eye.  I'm always on the lookout for cool design ideas, but I never thought to open my pantry doors for inspiration!  I first saw a cake mix and thought that it would make a cute card.  Here's the cake mix box:

Notice the red spoon on the top of the box....I thought that would be a great place for a ribbon.  Also notice the "White" word on a small strip of blue....I thought that would be a good place for a small sentiment.  Now, here is the card I made.  I replaced the yummy cake for a pretty flower cut from my Cricut.  I know it's not an exact match, but can you see the similarities?  I hope so!

Next up, I saw the label on my bread flour bag.  Here's a snapshot of it:

I liked the big medallion-looking part at the top of the bag and decided to transfer the idea to a card.  In the following card, I used embossed paper, aqua ribbon and another flower style cut from my Cricut for the centerpiece.

Be sure to always keep your eyes open for ideas - you never know where your next inspiration may come from.  :0)  I hope you enjoyed this post!  Please leave a comment if you'd like - I love to read them!  :0)

Sweet Treats

Yesterday I bought my very first Cricut cartridge.  It was so hard to decide which one to get!  I had shopped on Cricut.com before I went to the store so I had a good idea of what I wanted to get.  (Did you know that you can view the whole handbook of each cartridge so you can see exactly what it will cut?  You can view them if you click here!  It's awesome!) 

Anyway, they only had two of the ones on my list:  Sweet Treats and From My Kitchen.  The cartridges were advertised in JoAnn's flyer for $34.99 but our local Michael's store will honor competetor's ads and take 10% off, so I bought mine from Michaels.  I want to go back this week and get the "From My Kitchen" cartridge, but I don't know if I have the extra cash.  :0)

Here are the first few cards I made with the Sweet Treats cartridge.  I hope you enjoy them!  If so, please leave me a comment!  I love to get them!  :0)

Baby Bug

I have been bitten by a bug!  A baby bug, that is!  This is my new friend, the Cricut Create.

I bought it yesterday at Wal-Mart for $99.  (They matched an ad from Big Lots....thank you Wal-Mart!)  I have been playing with it today and wanted to post my first Cricut creations.  I hope you like them!  If so, please leave me a comment!  I'd really appreciate it!