New Background

What do you think of the new background? I thought it was appropriate, pear tree, and all. Too bad you don't actually see any pear trees in Pearland.

Made in Texas

I've been making my own cards now for close to three years. This year, I attempted to sell some cards at our church's annual fall festival and a local school's bazaar. The fall festival was mostly a success but the bazaar was very disappointing, other than a special order for money holders. The first one was easy - pink/brown with a flower. Chocolate chip and pink is one of my favorite color combinations. It is for a 10-yr old girl. The card is the present...just insert cash under the brown tabs and then slide the white card into the pink envelope.

Here's the final outcome.

The next one is for a 13-yr old boy. The request was to use navy/silver and the Dallas Cowboys logo. He is a Dallas Cowboys fan. I am not. I live in Houston. But, I did it. I made a Dallas Cowboys card. I was pretty happy with the final result. The color is more accurate in the second picture.

My favorite card so far is a Houston Astros jersey card I made for a special birthday. It turned out super cute. I swear I took pictures of it but I can't find them anywhere. As soon as they turn up, I'll post pictures of that card. Maybe I can market them to the Astros. I'm getting pretty good at these team logo cards. Especially if they involve stars.

Special order, anyone?

Family, friends, and food

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope your Thanksgiving was as great as ours. Family, friends, and wonderful food. Is there any thing better??? Jim & Janie arrived on Monday and Matt & Cara arrived Wednesday evening. We kept many of our usual Thanksgiving traditions and started some new ones. Thanksgiving day was fun as always. We really have the timing down as far as the cooking schedule goes now. It used to be a struggle to get everything in the oven in time to eat but now, we are golden. I think every year we forget the cranberry sauce and this year was no different. Thankfully, we remembered in time for the meal. :) Poor cranberry sauce. Always late to the party. I was so busy in the kitchen that I forgot the silverware and had to rush around at the last minute to finish setting the tables. I did snap a few pictures but managed to miss one of the tables and the all important turkey. Next year.

Cupcakes by Cara.

I missed out on these delicious cupcakes until after the post Thanksgiving meal movie. It's Thanksgiving tradition that we fit in as many movies as possible while the family is here... This year, our time was more limited so only two movies made the final cut - The Blind Side and Fantastic Mr. Fox. The Blind Side was the winner for our Thanksgiving night movie. Janie and I each voted twice for it. I love Sandra Bullock and I especially love sports movies. Football and Sandra Bullock. What else do you need? The movie was great. Now, I will have to read the book.

Back to the cupcakes. After we returned from the movie it was time for dessert. I opted for a cupcake. Let me tell you....these cupcakes are soooo good. I actually ate one for breakfast today. Shhh. If you were at our house on Thanksgiving and passed up the cupcakes, you missed out. Just sayin'.

Dining room.

I'm still bummed I didn't take more pictures. I didn't even get a picture of all the food or the other table. Guess I was a little distracted.

Friday was reserved for family time...we visited in the morning/early afternoon and then the family (except for me) went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science to see the Spirits & Headhunters: Vanishing Worlds of the Amazon exhibit. I think they were disappointed they didn't get to see more tsantsas (ceremonial shrunken heads). For being unemployed it sure felt like I worked a lot this Thanksgiving. I definitely missed out on a lot of family time. Jim & Janie took off Friday evening for the long haul back to KC. Matt, Cara, Jeremy, and I went out for our second movie - Fantastic Mr. Fox. It is Wes Anderson's first stop motion animated film. Very clever and entertaining. We had fun after the movie trying to name all the Wes Anderson movies we've seen. My favorite is Bottle Rocket. Matt & Cara left early this morning for their long haul back to KC and then Columbia.

The house is empty. The KU game doesn't start until 2:30 pm. What to do, what to do??? Leftovers, anyone?

Cousins

When in Texas...

...you must eat steak.

Bobby & Samantha

Tracy & Jeremy

Jeremy, Tracy, Bobby, and Samantha

Bobby and Samantha stopped by for dinner Friday night on their way from KC to Galveston. They decided to take a little road trip to celebrate their anniversary. Eighteen years. Woohoo! Jeremy and I are catching up. This year is lucky number 13. We usually try to sneak away for our anniversary but it looks like we're staying home this year. September has been super busy and I don't think October will be any different. It won't be so bad to just have a weekend at home without any plans. We are going to see U2 in concert so that should be fun.

I "borrowed" the pictures from Samantha's facebook. Thanks, Samantha!

Blog extended leave of absence

Obviously, we have been on an extended leave of absence here at the onetreefam blog. Actually, come to think of it, I don't believe Jeremy has ever posted on the blog. Bad Jeremy. Since I have not been a very good blogger, I'm thinking about turning the blog into more of a craft blog. I have been doing a lot of stamping (with rubber stamps not the post office ones) over the past couple of years, making cards, wrapping paper, and small 3D items (gift bags, party favors, etc.). Basically, everything but scrapbooking although I am tempted to try my hand at that as well. First, I need to take some photography classes to learn how to use my fancy schmancy camera so I have decent photos to put in a scrapbook. I have a good eye but need to learn the technical aspect of taking good pictures, especially inside. If you know of any good photography classes in Pearland or Houston, let me know.

For now, here are a few pictures of what I've been doing in my spare time.

I'm hosting a Stampin' Up! party on Saturday, September 19th at my house. Let me know if you want to come. Carolyn will demonstrate new techniques and you'll make two or three projects to take home...plus, there will be snacks.