silliness and horseplay

I was so excited when my aunt and uncle decided to let my cousins, Joseph (8) and Joshua (6) stay with us by themselves for 2 extra days. After washing their socks and underwear, we were set for the 2-day extravaganza of fun....
Yesterday, we went to ride horses. Some friends of ours from church, Bob and Donna Husted, have 2 horses out in the country and were happy for us to come exercise them a bit. Joshua had never ridden before, and was a little apprehensive, but all it took was me telling him that the Husted's 4 and 6 yr-old granddaughters ride the horses all the time, and he was ready to buck up!
First, we fed Cinnamon (the horse) carrots. All I had was left-over baby carrots and I wasn't sure if we'd be able to hand feed those since they're so small, but Bob showed us how (open palm) and the boys fed him the whole bag. I helped too, of course.
Then, Bob helped Joshua onto Cinnamon and away they went.

Except for Joshua complaining about his boney bottom hurting, he had a blast. Then it was Joseph's turn.
Joseph had a good time too, but Joshua was raring to get back up and ride some more, so he got the experience of riding bare-back behind the saddle.
And a little gallop up the hill made them laugh :)
The courteous horse, Cinnamon. He was so nice and even let me ride him a bit.
All in all, we had a good time, and the boys came back home and made Bob cards to thank him for taking them for a ride. Joshua especially went all out on his card, so I'll have to take a photo and post it later.

While they were busy making cards (Greg was watching the UK game he had recorded), I worked on this:

Supplies: Patterned Paper (Studio Calico, October Afternoon); Stickers (Cosmo Cricket); Stamps (Studio Calico, Catslife Press); Rub-ons (Cosmo Cricket); Ink (Staz-on Black); Pen (AC Precision Pen); Paint (Claudine Hellmuth Yellow Pastel, Maya Mist Orange); Other (Dictionary page)

I just wasn't ready to put away my January Studio Calico kit. It's so bright and colorful and I needed a chance to play with a photo I've been wanting to scrap for some time. I loved Maggie's idea of drawing around the stars, so I borrowed that from her layouts.
This is the Catslife Stamp I got from Joanne in one of the swaps we did early on at Studio Calico...now I'm wondering when we'll do another.

I also used an old dictionary page from the Times Square kit last January, then painted over it using the Claudine Hellmuth Yellow Pastel Paint. This color complements the January kit and add-ons very well, so if you haven't purchased it yet, there's still time to add it to your cart. (buy it here) I love how it is transparent enough to see the words underneath. Word to the wise, though...first adhere the thin dictionary page to cardstock, then paint. It will make it easier to work with. When I first painted it, the page buckled a little, but as the paint dried, it returned to normal. Then, I sprayed some of the orange Maya Mist for a more funky look (you can see the splatter in the second photo down). The orange, red and green match the January kit the best, and my guess is the red and orange would match the February kit as well. They're still available for purchase here just scroll down to the bottom.
The Cosmo Cricket rub-ons were first applied to the striped Studio Calico exclusive paper, then cut out and glued to the page. There's also glossy accents on the green patterned paper by October Afternoon.

Hope you enjoyed our horseplay today....more fun activities to post about tomorrow.