Design Team:  Scrapping Your Heart Out
Theme:  Trimming the Tree
Designer:  The Rush Ranch

My father worked for Bell when I was little – The aviation company, not the telephone company.  When I was 6 years old, we relocated to a small town outside of Los Angeles, so that he could fly helicopters for them out of LAX.  Every so often I would get to visit the hanger, and I would sit in the chopper and pretend to fly. And I DISTINCTLY remember him hovering above the house one day and dropping a pineapple to me, directly from his work visit to Hawaii.  I also remember him dropping big buckets of water from that helicopter, on forest fires.

I remember one time that a friend of my father came to visit us.  He was on furlough from the Navy, and had arrived in his very handsome sailor whites.  Oh my goodness, what a sight for a 6 year old.   I immediately went to work.  I knocked on every door of the surrounding neighborhood asking if they had a daughter that would like to meet “Chris”.  Awesomely enough, at the very end of our street lived not one but TWO young ladies that were willing to meet Chris. My parents were somewhat surprised when I walked through the door with two young ladies.  After that first meeting, he and the eldest daughter hit it off.  We had back-yard BBQ’s, popcorn nights with the TV, lots of innocent family-type stuff.  Chris and Donna dated for more than a year and a half, and then his Navy assignments became too distant and long for them to continue. I was sad about that, because she was pretty cool.  She and her sister had played their violins on the “Mickey Mouse Club”,  and for a 6 year old, that was pretty much the MOST exciting thing that could EVER happen in a person’s life.
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The Scrapping Your Heart Out Blog Train theme is “Trimming the Tree”, and will provide you some awesome designs to scrap your holidays!  I know that I am downloading the kits from our other designers, because they are really special.  Check out the blog train participant list at the bottom of this post.  

I really enjoyed making the polar bear, and that goofy gnome.
By the way, this gnome to the left isn’t in the preview,
but it is included in the download. 

Download Elements
Download Solid Papers
Download Patterned Papers

Have a wonderful Holiday Season!

Design Team:  We Believe
Theme:  Guiding Star
Designer:  The Rush Ranch

I have been working on handmade projects for Christmas.  ALMOST done with a shawl.  My cat, Princess Daisy, insists on sitting in my arms as I crochet, so I don’t make progress as fast as I would like.  I told my husband that I need a kangaroo pocket on my shirt, to put her in.  She seems to need extra loving and touching these past few weeks.

Download Links:
ELEMENTS
PATTERNED PAPERS
SOLID PAPERS

Blog Train Designers:
A-M Designs
Dreamn4ever Designs
Songbird Scraps Designs
Nellie Bell
Crystal’z Colorz
Moore Blessings Digital Designs
The Preacher’s Gal
Lori Imel Designs

Merry Christmas and have a wonderful holiday with friends and family.  Remember, during this special season, to do something kind for a stranger – Money in a parking meter, spare change in the Salvation Army can, pushing grocery cart baskets back to the store – you get it.  Thank you.

Sunny

Design Team:  Scrap Designers
Theme:  Touch of Frost
Designer:  Rush Ranch

Years ago, before I started my career with the Federal Government, I worked for a school District as their Finance Director.  It was in a small town in Alaska, and we operated out of a 2-story building that (I think) might have been a department store in its day.  My prestigious office looked out over the local tavern’s parking lot, where a big green dumpster was a popular place for the ravens to gather.  Oh yes. 

With such a prestigious view, I could either gripe about it to everyone and no one in particular – or, I could make it interesting to myself.  I began to observe the obvious, that a larger number of ravens gathered there in the summer.  The number reduced greatly in the wintertime.  The summer was filled with the usual raven arguments over a piece of pizza or half-eaten burger.  The winters were a smorgasbord for the hearty ravens that braved the cold.  An occasional squirrel would drop in for a tidbit or two.

Over the years, I starting linking the number of ravens I counted, to the temperature.  For example, a temperature of  negative 34F degrees was measured by approximately 1 raven an hour.  A temp of +34F degrees was measured by approx. 6 ravens an hour.  I had an entire gamut of temperatures linked to the number of ravens at the tavern dumpster.  Most of the co-workers were amused by my silly temperature conversion.  The Superintendent would pass by my office and say “It looks like it’s going to be a six-raven day”, meaning it was going to be a cold 30 degrees or more.  Eventually the whole office was doing temperature comments with the raven equivalency.  I left the School District after a period of seven years.  My husband was taking a job in Washington DC, so I was relocating from one dumpster view, to another – so to speak.   Oh, I’m so sorry!  I should NOT say bad things.  I apologize.  About two years later, I received a call and the person calling says “It’s a 12 raven day here!” It was the Superintendent!  Bless his heart, it was good to hear his voice on the other end of the phone.  He was retiring, and saying goodbye to current and former co-workers.

Today, in Oregon, we don’t have ravens – but I have lots of quail.  Today is a six quail day.

The Scrap Designer’s Blog Train rolls out on the 10th of each month.  Our theme this month is “Touch of Frost”, a lovely winter theme.  Please visit the blog train roll at the end of my downloads, to pick up all of the lovely kits!

DOWNLOAD ELEMENTS
DOWNLOAD PATTERNED PAPERS
DOWNLOAD SOLID PAPERS
DOWNLOAD WATERCOLOR PAPERS

BLOG ROLL:

Promethean Concepts
KJD  Designs
Skinni’z Statz, Scrapz and Stuff
Songbird Scrap Designs
AnnieC Digitals
Joy’s Creations
Made by Angelhaze
Lady DG Scrap
DigiJen Scraps
Moore Blessings Digital Design

Please note that there are blizzard conditions in some parts of southeastern USA, that may have an impact upon the designer’s ability to update their website.  Songbird Scraps is one of those designers, at this time.  No electricity or internet service.  If her site is not updated as of 12/10, please return for her update.  Thank you!  

Merry Christmas, dear friends!

Sunny
therushranch@gmail.com

Design Group:  Pixelscrapper & Scraptwist
Themes:  Retro Holly, and Thinking of You
Designer:  The Rush Ranch

Reset.  Renew.  Restore.  Revive.  Refresh. Reenergize.  Refill.  All of those things, I am gifting to myself in January.

The days and weeks seem to pass at an incredible speed, especially when we transition into the Holidays.  I don’t participate in “Black Fridays” and “Cyber Mondays”, because – to me – the holidays aren’t about shopping and gifting “things”.  They are about giving and gifting of myself, my time, and most importantly, using and sharing the gifts that the Lord has blessed me with.  Volunteering, crocheting baby blankets for the Women’s Shelter, chemo hats for the hospital’s cancer unit, etc……….I have a desire to fulfill these needs as a part of my own personal “ministry” during the holiday season.

I have opted to take a break from several blogs in January of the new year.  Those blog trains are:
– Pixelscrapper
– Scrapping Your Heart Out
– We Believe

I will pick those back up in February.  I will continue to participate in the January Scraptwist Blog Train, and the Scrap Designer’s Blog Train.

The Pixelscrapper Blog Train theme for this month is “Retro Holly Jolly”.  It would have been a perfect opportunity to put together some 50’s and 60’s papers and elements for you, but – I put together what I could.  If you visit the Pixelscrapper Blog Train Forum, you’ll find a wealth of creative kits that reflect this month’s great theme.

ELEMENTS
SOLID PAPERS
PATTERNED PAPERS
JOURNAL CARDS

We have a lot of fun in the Scraptwist Forum every month.  It’s a great place for learning and sharing – and getting free stuff!  This month’s theme is “Thinking of You”, and I had to try my hand at drawing a bear with my shape and warp tools.  I have a lot to learn about forming animals in my photoshop program, but I hope with practice I will improve.  I also tried my hand at designing “flat” elements, like flowers.  Normally I stick with more realistic items, but I liked the creativity that went into designing what my own world of flowers might look like, in the flat style.  Hey, please visit the blog train role for the Scraptwist Designers, at the end of my download links.

ELEMENTS
PATTERNED PAPERS
SOLID PAPERS
WATERCOLOR PAPERS

BLOG ROLE:

Marniejo’s House of Scraps
KJDdesigns
Nellie Bell
Songbird Scraps Designs
The Brown Owl
Moore Blessings Digital Designs
LEA Art Designs
The Preacher’s Gal
Lady Digiscrap

If you participate in my December challenges over at the Scraptwist Forum, you will receive these free corresponding mini-kits:

And finally, I ask if you have any opinion about writing or receiving Christmas Letters.  Do you write a letter to distant friends and relatives, summarizing the happenings of the year?