Top 5 for 2011

 Uncategorized  4 Responses »
Dec 312011
 
I’ve seen a whole lotta Top 10′s posted in the last few days. 
So I figured, sometimes bandwagons are fun! And jumped right on. 
I didn’t feel that I had enough posts to actually choose 10, seeing as I started this little blog in September, and only have 48 (this makes 49!) posts. So I’m linking back to five previous posts. 
This is the only non-Christmas post in the top 5! 

and the number 1 post, in both views and comments…
5 years of Crazy Christmas Cards 

probably because of this guy:

Who I swear has doubled in size since this was taken!

Just for fun, the top 3 sites sending people my way:

Savvy Southern Style

Hold it! Drop That Tree!!

 Uncategorized  23 Responses »
Dec 292011
 
This is for those of you with real trees; 
those of you with fake ones keep on eating cookies and eggnog!
Give them to your Goat! 
mmmmmmm pine
This little charmer is/was Phoebe (now shes called Ante).
This is actually about 75% Christmas Tree and 25% Snow. 
The trees serve several purposes. 
The goats and llamas will strip them pretty fast. 
The late, great Cuzco (brown) best. llama. ever.
This is actually Dorthy’s final ‘wallow’ from last years semi-dead cow adventure. When she got up they decided to move in. These trees were actually placed around her for wind/snow breaks.

Behind the chubby Miss Sophia you can see trees placed around the emu (don’t ask) barn, it keeps the snow from blowing in and adds some insulation. They also create fun pockets of joy for the chickens. The ducks and chickens peck but I’m sure sure they really eat anything.
Her… uh good side. The trees provide free forage for the goats and llamas in the winter when hay is expensive and greenery is hard to come by. In theory the wood that’s left can be shipped up and used in stall. Usually we just have a terrifying bonfire in the spring.
Last year they stopped counting around 200. Several local towns started dropping off trees by the trailor load.
Don’t have access to a goat? 
Look for ‘tree recycling signs’ or ask at a feed store, like TSC.
Most farmers I know would be glad to show you around in exchange for a tree.
Check with local zoos, I know a big cat sanctuary in Florida took a bunch and gave them to the cats to claw.
One more reason not to use tinsel!

Linked up all over, check here for the links.

Not associated in an way with the  blog below, but I like it. And you should go there and Link It Up. There I said it

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Thursay Favorite Things Blog Hop

 Uncategorized  9 Responses »
Dec 222011
 
Winding down with the Christmas Projects but I’m VERY excited to day to be co-hosting: 
Katherine is a sweetheart who really goes out of her way to help out new (and old) bloggers. Please, please, please show her some support!

Thursdays Favorite Things Hop is where you can link your favorite post to share with old and new followers or write a post about your favorite things!
Here are the rules, yes there are rules. But just a few:
  • You must follow Katherines Corner. ( through GFC, Google + or email) If you’re a new follower, please let her know and she’ll follow back . Please also follow my blog  Chicken Scratch too before you start hopping. 
  • Leave a comment when you follow so we all know you stopped by. I’ll follow back if I you leave me a comment!
  • No adult content blogs.
  • Blogs only please.
  • Follow as many other blogs in the list as you can. Just click and go.
  • Leave a sincere comment or message on each of the blogs you visit so they know you stopped by.
Now hop on and lets share our favorites. If you’d like to post this blog hop on your page please just grab the linky code . Or if you would like to be a co-host please contact Katherine
Please grab the hop button to share with others, you can copy and paste the image with a link to KatherinesCorner.com OR grab the code from Katherines Corner it’s on the right sidebar.
It’s always nice to have the hop button on the post you link up.But it IS NOT mandatory.

House Tour

 Uncategorized  9 Responses »
Dec 222011
 
So… Christmas… Sunday…
Really? REALLY!?
I haven’t wrapped a single thing past the Pancake Gift Basket. In my defense my cat likes to unwrap gifts (she eats the paper) so I’m better off waiting really. I’ve got Friday off so that seems like a good time right? I’ve reached the point where I’m calling it quits on some Christmas projects (so no new tree skirt and no new stockings for Mikey and I) while focusing on a final few (stockings for the new pets and finishing up gifts). I feel like I’ve been creating and crafting non-stop since early November and there is SO MUCH left I want to do! Guess that’s what happens when you start from scratch. 
Starting with the gift-ables. Meet the New Mr. Frog (chilling with the original of course). Strangely both have bows. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find stuffed animals anymore?  
Bears are pretty easy to find compared to other animals. 
It makes me really sad that it’s hard to find a toy that doesn’t play with itself (you know what I mean, you try to say it without being dirty). Do kids these days lack all imagination? I’m only 23! Has the world changed this much in 15 years? The toys I remember are all stuffed animals. They had personality! We had adventures! I talked about our frog/bear tradition here but I thought you might like to see who we found. 
I’ve started putting up the cards we receive in the kitchen. The garland is tacked up with thumb tacks. I hot glued ornament hooks to one side of a clothes pin and a decoration to the other. Then I clipped the card to the hook and sipped the hook over the garland.My cat likes to chew on this type of garland so I can only put it up high like this.
I posted about the Nativity here. Some of my other posted projects are featured her too. 
I’m not crazy about the wreaths here but it’s an odd space. The paper chain is on the TV, again not crazy about there but what-ev. The stockings on the bookshelf are for the chinchillas and the parrots. 
Madagascar anyone? 
We’ve got out lame stockings up (found the other bow!) on my stocking holders. I covered the ‘candles’ with some scrapbook paper. 
This is our first Santa! We didn’t have one so I picked him up a Joann’s, I think he was about $5 on clearance. He fits my ‘modern rustic’ theme pretty well. The wooden stand is from a garage sale, it’s filled with yarn balls (real balls! Not styrofoam covered in yarn! When I finish a project I wrap the leftovers into a ball like this) and some bells. I made the yo-yo garland last year, it’s not long enough to put on the tree and it hangs funny so I just snaked it over the table. The scent warmer is from Walmart, the BHG collection. 
And my tree. It’s been mocked by my family for being short and REALLY fat. It’s also been called… the blair with tree… But I love it! I handmade EVERY ornament on it, save the lights and the teal beads. The topper is a giant twig star. There are more smaller stars scattered around the tree. It’s got bells, gift tags, stuffed trees (and two snowmen!) and twisted felt garlands. The tree skirt is just green fleece I tucked around the stand. See the Pancake Breakfast Gift Basket?
All lit up! I love my lights! They have 16 different settings. I change them every day. Sometimes I really like the slow glow while sometimes I’m in the mood for crazy flashing. 
Blair Witch? I think not!

Free Christmas Word Search – Printable

 Wordsearch  5 Responses »
Dec 212011
 
So the kids are out of school and I’m sure you need some quiet time.
Or any time. Christmas is basically tomorrow (guess who hasn’t wrapped a single gift? Yeah, that’d be me) and if you’re all set feel free to stop by, I have lots of things you can do. You could guard my ‘tree skirt’ (actually just a giant piece of fleece from my stash) from The Puppy. He is absolutely certain it belongs in the kitchen.
Back to quite time! One thing I miss from being a kid? Word searches.  I love me some themed word searches. I’ve been known to do them on restaurant place mats in crayon. So I made some for you! I made two versions
A generic Christmas Version:
And a religious version:

Feel free to print as many as you want.
You can download them here (it’s a single 2 page PDF).
Or email me @ ChickenScratchNY@gmail.com and I can send you the PDF.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Let me know if you like these (in the comments) and I’ll post more!

If you want to create your own word searches I used this site

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For me!?

 Uncategorized  3 Responses »
Dec 202011
 
Is it bad to buy yourself something around Christmas? No! Especially if you do it this way:
Buy a set! 
These birds are from WUSLU, a daily deals site. They are the first thing I’ve bought from them. 
Sadly, one arrived with a chipped face. I’ll be contacting them later (just opened the box) and I’ll let you know how it goes. Moving on: three little birds! One for me, one for my mom and one for my sister.
It’s a classier version of the Wobbly Madagascar Penguin set we divided up a few years ago. This one will connect us without broadcasting the fact that we are indeed nuts. In our defense, the only other people at that matinee showing were also adults, most likely drunk but still not children!
It’s nice to have something that you see every day as a suble reminder of the bond you share with someone else. Like one of those best-friend necklaces but classier. 
This little guy is right at home on the stocking bookshelf. 
When ever I see him I’ll think about my mom and sister (as I ignore the 15th text message from my mom asking me if I bought the licorice jellybeans yet).
Ignore the missing bow on the stocking holder. I blame the puppy and so should you. 
For you faithful readers, the white pine was salvaged from the dinning room table. 
That stuff lasts forever!

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Christmas Stroll Down Memory Lane

 Uncategorized  22 Responses »
Dec 172011
 
Last post was a bit wordy. Making up for it with this recap of our Christmas cards for the last 5 years!
This is Bubbles. She was our bearded dragon. She lived in a 75 gallon fish tank next to our bed and liked to stare at us. She wasn’t against wearing fun hats either. She also liked to take long walks on the quad at school. She lived to be 10 years old (pretty good for beardies).
Here we have Matilda (in the house) and Jeeves Fluffywhumps. They were ‘rescues’ we got when we lived in Syracuse. They still live with us. 
This is Rita as a baby. She later ate all of those window clings. We still have her (obviously).
Our card from last year. This took about 500 shots. Almost broke the camera in the process. Incase you were wondering, you shouldn’t drop an SLR. We still have them at the moment… 
***If you know me in real life stop reading!!!***
Merry Christmas Everyone! 
Click to make larger for all the details
We stepped it up a bit this year, went with the 5-shot collage card. (Got them at Walmart because they do 1-hour and well… time management is not working this year). 
Starring: Alfie the Reindeer
Also Featured:
Gobbles the turkey. 
The two of us (not the most glamorous folk) with Alfie and Rita Beast.
Alfie is now an internet celebrity! Well, that’s what we told him. He just continued to chew on his ‘floppy’ (what we call his fleece toy). Thanks to The Cottage Market for featuring him!

 
Sharing at:

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Funky Junk's Sat Nite Special

New Traditions

 Uncategorized  1 Response »
Dec 172011
 
Growing up we didn’t have a whole lot of family traditions that didn’t involve decorating. 
One big thing was decorating the tree. We always had a fake tree. You see, my great aunt buys my mom, sister and I each a series of Christmas ornaments. I get Precious Moments, my sister gets Cherished Teddies and my mom gets the Frosty Friends (seriously,cutest ornaments EVER!). They tend to be on the heavy side, hence the fake tree. Decorating the tree was always a big thing for us. Now with the family scattered, I’m not sure if my mom is even putting up a tree. I finally have mine up but without the PMs. I’m afraid the cat would destroy all of them so for now they sit in a box.
Christmas is really about family and traditions for me. This is the first year Christmas in our new house and it’s bittersweet. The house I grew up in isn’t ‘my’ house anymore. I don’t get to put the antique snowmen and lights on the mantle. I don’t get to wrap the beads around the banisters and pull out the fabric Christmas books my aunt made us OR move the teddy bear on the count down to Christmas. 
But enough whining.
I’d like to introduce you to a few friends of mine. They would like to help explain one new tradition Mike and I started a few years ago.
Meet Mr. Frog and Brownie. I’ve had Mr. Frog since I was very little. He used to be lime green and make a croaky noise when he was rotated. He no longer croaks, isn’t lime (unless you look in his arm pits) but still looks dapper (check out the bow tie!). Brownie is Mikeys. His grandmother bought him for him. It may seem odd that 23 and 31 year old have these in their home… don’t judge! 
Our new tradition started a few years ago. We wanted to donate some toys for kids but I’m basically against toys. So we’ve been buying a stuffed frog and a stuffed bear and donating them through toys for tots. One year we stumbled upon a stuffed animal store that was going out of business and went a little crazy, I hope lots of little girls got stuffed frogs that will be ‘friends’ for a long time. 
It’s something a little ‘different’ that we do to bring in the holidays. 
What ‘new traditions’ have you started?

Jingle Bells Take 2

 DIY  4 Responses »
Dec 142011
 
My last set of jingle bell ornaments went on the wreaths and garland on the front of the house. But I really like the idea of a loud tree (my cat is sticky from pine resin). I wanted something to go with my other ornaments, including the gift tags and felt garlands. So I picked up a few packs of antique gold-ish bells from the the dollar tree. They come in packs of 9. 
They have really cute snow flakes on the front. The problem is getting them to hang straight so you see the front. After much planning and poking I discovered the easiest way is to take an ornament hook, poke it through one of the stars on the back half and out through the spot you would normally put the handle in. Then twist the hook back up to ‘lock’ it so it doesn’t flip around on the tree. 

Nine ornaments for a buck? Pretty good deal!

Just for fun

Did I mention my cat is a hateful creature? This is what happens when Mikes mom tries to touch her. This Christmas picture episode was a bit of a failure…

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The Finale Day! Projects from Pinterest

 DIY  1 Response »
Dec 112011
 
We’ve made it! It’s been an odd experience for me. This is the first time I’ve ever participated in an event. It was strange being forced having to post every day. To en the marathon I thought I’d share somethings I’ve made from pinterest. Since the whole point was to create, not pin, it seems like a fitting ending.

The garlands can be found here and the mini-wreaths here
 I changed up the one on the bottom to make it more fluffy. I looped the yarn around the shower curtain ring leaving the ends to the outside, then I hot glued a loop to the back and a bow to the front. To me that’s what pinterest in great for, giving you a starting point and then letting your creativity take over! We’re getting out tree tomorrow and I’ll be adding some pictures of the above ornaments and the others I’ve made, so be sure to follow me so you don’t miss a thing!

On to the party:

CREATING_CHRISTMAS_BANNER_jpgAs we wrap up Creating Christmas week I hope that you have all been inspired to stop pinning and start creating! I’m excited to see what everyone has been working on. This Christmas Linky Party is no ordinary party. This is a blog hop. And what that means is that there are 18 FABULOUS bloggers that are hosting this party at their very own blog. Whether you add your project link here or at any of the other 17 co-hosts blogs, it will show up on one huge party list! Awesome!If you haven’t already, please take the time out to visit the other co-hosts and go through their Creating Christmas posts. There is some really neat projects! The Girl Creative, Que Linda Crafts, The Cottage Market, Love Lindsey, Domestic Mischief, Chicken Scratch, Love Sweet Love, Randee’s Organized Chaos, Musings of a Glamour Puss, Anastacia Knits, Southern Scraps, Modern Yet Old Fashioned, Broken Treasures, Alyssabeth’s, Domestic Deadline, Life on Walnut Street, 52 Mantels, The Glamorous Life

The Rules are SiMpLe:
  • Add a link to a project that YOU have created!
  • Visit the 2 links ahead of you and check out what they’ve got going on. Leave some comment love. Tis the season for giving after all. {wink wink}
  • HAVE FUN AND BE INSPIRED!!

 

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