Weekly Steal: Tangerine Tango Headband

Do I have a treat for you!

This week I am partnering with the online daily deals boutique-Groopdealz to provide the Tangerine Tango Trio headband at a heavy discount!

So what are you waiting for?!

Head on over there and check.it.out.

26/40

I assumed, my bad.

A reader asked me if it is ever difficult living with a man that hunts and fishes all the time.

Here's a post I wrote on our family blog circa October 2010.....

It will explain everything.

Promise.

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So I am trying to find words for the experience I had this morning.

I still can't even begin to describe what went through my head at the exact moment it happened-- panic, embarrassment and complete madness all occurring at one time.

Last night Brecken and I attended the annual pumpkin carving party at the Barnwell abode. Like always, it was delightful and fun. John, however, didn't show up. As usual he was hunting. But much to my relief he did finally kill an elk.  

When he got home he decided rather than taking his elk to a butcher he would quarter it himself in our garage.

Whatever.

Once he finished, however, he came the realization that he needed to do something with the elk carcass. His plan--put it in the garbage can.

Let it be known that I was not fine with this idea.  

For those of you that have never been with a 10 yard radius of an elk let me explain.

They are big, like a cow/horse big.

Our garbage can is not big enough to fit a cow/horse creature in it.

I thought his idea was bad--really, really bad.

John kept barkin' at me because I wasn't being that helpful (because I didn't think his idea was great) so I huffed into the house and as I slammed the door I yelled, "Fine you try to put a square peg in a round hole."

Ten minutes later.

Tap, tap, tap on the front door.

I opened.

John replied, "I put it in the garbage can."

I being a good wife believed him and decided that after all the grief I could forgive him and we could finally go to bed at 2:30 in the freaking a.m.

NO. No. the story is not over.

The next morning when I was getting ready to leave the house this is what I saw as I pulled out of the garage. 

BAHHHHHH!

I almost died.

Obviously, I assumed that we both understood what it meant to put something "in" the garbage.

my bad.

I called him right away, trying to remain calm.

"There will be no negotiation. The elk head that has taken up residency in our FRONT yard has to go." 

Furthermore, I tried to explain that there was more than a handful of reasons on why this was soo wrong.

 First, our garbage pickup would not happen until Tuesday and that meant that the head would be sticking out saying "Hi" to everyone for FIVE days. 

 Secondly, Halloween  would be occurring within the five day time frame so of course anyone and their dog that walked up to our house would see the head.

After prodding him for hours on the issue he finally came home and covered the head with a garbage bag, and yes, it still sat out like that for five days.

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So an answer to your question, is it difficult living with a hunter?

Need I say more?

Sponsor Spotlight

Happy Weekend!

We have some big plans in store for the next few days--ice fishing, girls day out, shopping, basketball.

Okay, so maybe we don't have big plans, but I do have high hopes of getting out of bed and putting on jeans--so that is kind of a big deal these days. Emphasis on "big".... 

I also have some big ole' projects that are still in the finishing phrase--the light is at the end of the tunnel. I see it, I know I do. I know I do!

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Did you notice there is now a new sponsor crashing it at Spunky Junky. Meet Mandy. She's real. She's fun. She's a Mom/Wife/Chauffeur/Doctor/Coach/Line-Item Cook/Interior Decorator--the usual for most moms, right?

She is also from Montana, ahhh girl of my heart. But she traded in her western ways for a new fab life back east--can't blame her, when the hippest news in town involves the Wheat and Barley Committee Annual Meeting a change of scenery is necessary.

;)

She just started a fab blog called Cre8ive Motives where she shares her ins/out of home projects, provides great tutorials and tips, and also shows us what's new and hip in the world of interior design.

Fun, right?

Check her out, give her some love--because that's what we do around here!

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Keep it real.

Writing a picture letter using Picnik

 A few of you have asked how I make my love letters to our baby girl.

Many of my projects require me to use Photoshop, but this one can simply be made using Picnik.

And with Picnik closing down in April (sad day) right now is the perfect time to advantage of their site to have full-access to all their premium features.

wow. I sounded like a radio commercial...

 So to begin I first open up Picnik.

To make a collage you will go to the top of the page and click on "Library," a new page will appear and you will want to click on "make a collage."

The arrow points to the specific collage format I use to make my love letters, be my guest though and play around with the different collage options.

They are kind of cool.

 Once I have my collage template uploaded I then go to the bottom of the page and click on the arrows to the right of the words "Picnik Basket," there I have multiple options on how to upload my photos.

I then click on "upload photo" and I can then skim though the pictures on my computer for the picture I desire.

The photo will then upload on the bottom of the page. Once loaded grab the picture and drag it up onto the collage.

Once it is on the collage you can then move it around, if you don't like the photo simple click the "undo" button in the top right corner.

Also, while in the collage section feel free to change the background color, add additional columns, and change the angle of the pictures.

When finished click "done."

 Now, comes the tricky part.

The text isn't very difficult to add, it is just more time consuming. And did I mention tricky? 

In the left corner you will see a dialogue box where you can write. Begin writing you letter. I usually only write one or two sentences at a time. Once you are finished press "enter."

You will now notice that the text is huge and it is strung out across the page. You have two options for adjusting the font size. Play with the text box arrows, or drag the cursor over to the font box (the box with the rainbow colors) and adjust it there.

The text for my letters is usually between 32-34 and I always use the font Geosanslight.

 Once my font size has been adjusted I then grab the far left size of the text box and drag it so the words line up with the left side of the right box (like in the picture above).

I then find the last word, which in this case is Daddy, and after that word I press enter.

I keep on doing this for every line until all the words show up in the box.

Once my first two or three sentences have been adjusted to fit the page. I then go back up to the text box and write my next paragraph.

I keep doing this until the page has been filled.

Once I have finished writing. I then go up to the top of the page and click on "stickers" I then go down to the basic shapes and find the circle.

This is a fun little add on so I know what week I am at in my pregnancy. Here I adjust the color and the fade of the circle.

Once the circle has been made I then click on "text" again and type the week. I then drag the numbers into the circle where I can re-size them to fit the shape.

Finally, click save.

Now, you have a fun card that you could easily have printed at Costco to send to friends and family.

card can be adjusted to a 4'x5' which can then be sent in the mail as a postcard.

Good luck picniking!