Make it Monday

I have a feeling this is going to be another crazy week, however I'm also hoping that I will get lots of crafting/creating time in since it's looking like we will be stuck inside for a while. Currently under a blizzard warning until Wednesday sometime. Yipee!


Hoping to get done this week:

• More digital cards
• A few "generic" banners. Non-holiday themed. 
• A set of stuff for a local school auction
• Scrapbook pages(didn't get my 4 for January done, will get them done this week. It will count right?!
• Some mini books. For some reason I have an itch to make mini books.
• Sewing. Don't know what, other than a curtain, just know I want to sew.

These are going to be Audrey's Valentines for school. 2 fit on a print, will cut them out and add them to another handmade card. She is very excited about these. Now if I could get her brother to figure out his.

7 on Sunday

So this week could get interesting. Calling for snow/sleet tomorrow evening and then 12"-18" of snow through Wednesday morning. UGH! Wind Chills the rest of the week could be nasty!

1. We have 2 neighbors in the process of moving. One set I'm sad to see go, very quiet and very rarely do they cause any problems. The other, not so much them causing problems as their extended family. So glad to see their drama go.

2. Got lucky and hit the store before the masses were out to stock up for what many are calling a potentially historic and life-threatening storm. Remember to check in on your loved ones, especially the older loved ones. Don't forget the furry critters as well.

3. Will be doing a check in on my 34 before 35 list this week. Hard to believe we are a month into the year. How's your new years resolutions going?

4. Looking forward to the Super Bowl. Love the game, but it also means we are that much closer to baseball season.

5. Crossing my fingers that the kids get to go to school a full day tomorrow. Early release days are no fun for anyone and last time they did get out early the normal 15 minute drive home took 45. UGH!

6. My brother is doing great. Went back to school last week. Can't go back to work yet because he can't lift anything over 10 pounds, which might be difficult being a bus boy. He said he has a scar about a foot long on his chest and as he put it "The chics will totally dig it!"

7. With Valentine's Day just around the corner don't forget to check Etsy for gift ideas. So many great ideas and in the process you can support handmade small businesses.

Thank you card set.

Creative Juices flowing

Another week another 7 pictures. Shuttercal  So proud of myself for staying up on this so far. However, I have told myself that it's okay if I miss a day or 2.

I am really excited about all the things I've created this weekend. Lots of digital cards and can I just say I'm HOOKED. Seriously hooked. I am even dreaming about them. Love that feeling. Also did some paper cards. I love getting my fingers all inked up and making a mess. 4 sets of paper cards made so far and more to come.

Mixed greetings.

Will share the other paper cards later. You can always check my facebook page or my etsy page to see the latest creations. Working to get at least 50 things in there. Listing stuff daily so make sure you check out the etsy store.

I'm a HUGE Audrey Hepburn fan, and this quote is awesome. Can be printed just like a regular picture.

Another that can be printed as a picture and then framed.

Will be back to share more tomorrow. They are calling for a SIGNIFICANT snow storm for us this week. I really hope the weather men are wrong.

Off to watch "You've Got Mail". I want a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils.

Follow Up Friday

I can't believe it is Friday already. I really would love for the kids to have a full week of school(off today for Teacher Collaboration day). I'm all off again with them home today. At least the temps have been warmer so I've been able to kick them outside to run the stink off some. And there's rumor of another major snowstorm coming our way next week. I hope not because next week is the only week we have school everyday for the next 4 weeks.


I'm almost afraid to check and see how I did on Make It Monday this week. I feel like I've done nothing, but honestly I've done a ton of decluttering, especially of the digital kind.

Here we go:

• Digital card designs. Made a couple and I'm really enjoying making them. Had a light bulb moment over the weekend and it's really made it so much more fun. Made a total of 5 so far and have a few more sketched out to do later.
• Thank you cards. I have an order I need to get out. Got 10 of the set done and another 5 all cut out, just need to get put together.
• Cards, banner, and stationary set for a school fundraiser. Might not get all of those done, I have a couple of weeks, but want to get started at least.  Didn't make anything yet, but I have paper cut for the desk set and the banner planned out.
• Curtain for a friend's room. Very simple valance really. Will probably take me longer to find where I put the fabric then to actually put it together.  Fabric is found.
• Scrapbook pages. I set a goal to do 4 a month and so far this month I've done a big fat 0. Only have a few days left in the month. Although yesterday when I was looking for a picture of something in my actual printed stuff I was really inspired and excited to scrapbook again. I haven't done an actual page in probably a year. Have done 0 pages, but I'm hoping to this evening while we chill out and watch a movie.

Guess I didn't do as bad as I thought.


I did make some head way on some other things as well, so that makes me happy. Trying out a new to-do list set up for me. I've decided that I need to see more than one day at a time and I'm so not a planner kind of girl. I'm also not a digital calendar girl. I'm a simple paper and sharpie kind of girl.

The cover to my OLW album. I have the inside pages done and all ready to be filled.

A little this and a little that

I have been working on digital cards and after spending an hour today trying to find several things I downloaded over the weekend to use on them and having to go back and re-download them because I never found them I managed to get 3 done.

Great for open house announcements. 1 big picture goes in the big black spot. 

Cool way to thank those who sent gifts for graduation. 4 small pictures

.

Another open house announcement. 3 pictures

I have graduation on the brain because 1. it will be here before we know it and 2. my brother graduates this year. I can't believe it. I need to find some pictures to put in the spots. I also want to get some made for baby announcements and Valentine's Day. I have a cute idea for Audrey's Valentine's doing this.

I'm really hoping to make an actual scrapbook page tonight. It's been so long since I've done one I'm not sure I even remember how.

I've decided not having heat on one side of my car is not fun anymore. For some odd reason the heat is out on just the drivers side of the car. Which means the defrost is slow to work as well. Of course! Oh Monday when I went to brush the snow off my windshield with the windshield wipers the one on the drivers side flew off. Thankfully I was still home and it snapped right back on, but it was pretty strange. Thank goodness for seat warmers though.

Looks like the kids will actually go to school all days they are scheduled to this week. THANK YOU!!! Friday they don't have school for a teacher work day.

I'd love to know how you read my blog. Do you use a reader such as google reader, do you actually come to the blog itself, do you get reminders in your email and then come to it or what? Just wondering. I'm a huge fan of google reader! All my 250 blogs in one spot and I can decide what I want to read or what I want to mark as read. And there is no way I could keep up with 250 blogs without it.

Make it Monday....

on Tuesday! Yesterday was a crazy day. By the time I got home at 10:00 from a meeting all I wanted to do was crawl in bed. And yet it was midnight before that happened.

I don't even remember what was on my list for last week and I would imagine I didn't get much of it done because we had 2 snow days. UGH!! This week is a short week for the kids as well. I'm ready for them to be in school a full week,  but I don't think it will happen for a while. Seems like in February we never go a full week.

This week's Make it list is:

• Digital card designs. Made a couple and I'm really enjoying making them. Had a light bulb moment over the weekend and it's really made it so much more fun.
• Thank you cards. I have an order I need to get out.
• Cards, banner, and stationary set for a school fundraiser. Might not get all of those done, I have a couple of weeks, but want to get started at least.
• Curtain for a friend's room. Very simple valance really. Will probably take me longer to find where I put the fabric then to actually put it together.
• Scrapbook pages. I set a goal to do 4 a month and so far this month I've done a big fat 0. Only have a few days left in the month. Although yesterday when I was looking for a picture of something in my actual printed stuff I was really inspired and excited to scrapbook again. I haven't done an actual page in probably a year. 

I think that's a good list for this week, especially since I lost a day yesterday.

 If you scroll down you will see a picture of a digital card I did. I am telling you this because it does contain a picture that might make some people a bit uneasy. It's a picture of my brother's heart, the picture is very small, but I thought I'd put the warning here anyway.

Pic of my brother and the surgeon. The other pic is of his actual heart. He went back to school today!!

7 on Sunday

1. Decided instead of reposting all my pictures for the week I'm just going to post a link. I think it will be easier on me. Shuttercal

2. The kids go back to school tomorrow! THANK GOD! I love them, but we are all ready for them to go back to school.

3. This weekend I made a new background for my twitter page, new banner heading for my Etsy shop and a new avatar for facebook and etsy shop. I really like them all. Very simple and clean.

4. My brother gets to go back to school this week. Was supposed to go tomorrow, but they have a snow day, so Tuesday will be his day! He goes for a stress test on the 22nd of Feb and hopefully all will go well and he will be cleared to run.

5. Did some major decluttering of some papers today. Now if I could just get the rest of my family on board with decluttering.

6. Looking forward to the Super Bowl in 2 weeks. Excited that Mizzou has a former player playing. Will be cheering for Ziggy Hood to have a good game.

7. Worked hard on one of my 34 before 35 goals this weekend. Did lots of playing in photoshop and I am loving every second of it. Will be working on lots of digital card designs to add to my etsy shop this week. So much fun!

I like the clean and simple design. Can't wait to make lots more. Great for birthday invites, cards to family and more.

AAAHHH!!

I will get my pictures for the week uploaded in the morning. Seriously having 2 snow days each week for the last 2 weeks has me all out of sorts. I did get out of the house today for a booster meeting for Dart's baseball team. Also got to see Kansas lose while at said meeting. That made the day wonderful and then when my Tigers beat Iowa State the day was perfect. Felt like I was gone forever though.

We are expecting more snow this evening, calling for 4-6 inches. WE NEED TO GO TO SCHOOL MONDAY!! Sorry for yelling, but holy cow, they need to be back in school. Audrey even asked me today when she could go to school again.

I have a few posts writing in my head. I also have been spending some time playing with some digital stuff. Never realized how much I loved it.

Not at all happy that I have not been able to get Twitter to load on my computer all evening. Yes, I have an addiction to twitter. But also I created a new twitter background for myself this evening and I want to see how it looks and can't. Boo!!

Back tomorrow with more.

Okay, I know it looks pixelated here but that's because I increased the size to make it easier to see. My new avatar for Etsy and facebook. I kind of like the new look. A little less "cutesy" than my old one.

Snow Day 2

Nothing like spending more days off school in a week then in school. With MLK Day Monday and the kids being out and Thursday and Friday being snow days this week we had school 2 days. All of this means a CRAZY mommy.

I did manage to get a few things done. Got a banner listed in etsy and have 2 card sets to get listed sometime today. I was also featured in another treasury. Talk about a boost to the confidence when someone likes your stuff, especially enough to feature it in their treasury.

Will be back later to post some pictures of our latest snow storm. They are saying we could get a little more today and then another good storm possibly Sunday/Monday. We only have school 4 days next week so more snow days might send people over the edge.

Thank You cards. 5 cards in the set, 5 different colors. Simple and Sweet.

Words can be hard when life is hard

Yesterday was the 6th anniversary of Dakota becoming an angel. I'm not going to lie, it was a LOT harder than I thought it would be. I figured with the 5th out of the way, the 6th would be rough, but I wasn't ready for it to be as hard on me as it was. I really don't know why it was so rough. I had good intentions of blogging yesterday, but just couldn't find anything I wanted to say and then I had a PTA meeting to attend last night as well.

I did have a good Etsy day yesterday. I dropped an order off in the morning to a repeat customer(Thanks Amy!!!) and then later in the day I got an email saying 3 things had sold. YAY!! That did make my day a little better. I am also realizing that all the suggestions of having more items for sale means more sales. Gotta get busy getting more stuff made. It is such a high to get that email that pops up saying "Etsy Order Confirmation". Some days it's those 3 words that can be a huge boost to the self-esteem.

We are supposed to get 5-7 inches of snow starting this evening. Wonder if tomorrow will be another snow day?

Made this for one of the secretaries at the kids school, whose father passed away last week.

Make it Monday

Okay, so a busy Saturday and then a 3 day weekend I am totally thrown off as far as blog posts go. Totally forgot today was Monday.

This week I am going to make:

• finish Un-Valentine cards. 
• Sew Audrey's dress. 
• Birthday cards
• some more banners
• general cards
• possibly some more valentine's cards

Kiss Me Banner that will be in Etsy shop on Tuesday.

7 on Sunday...

1. Am a pretty happy football fan. Would have liked the Falcons to win, but am okay with Green Bay winning, especially since the Patriots are out!!! So glad Tom Brady is done for the season! And because the Jets won, Mizzou will have a former player in the Super Bowl. Brad Smith plays for the Jets and Ziggy Hood plays for the Steelers, so regardless of who wins the AFC, one of them will be in the Super Bowl.

2. So glad we have another day to this weekend. I need it!

3. My brother is doing amazing and my mom sent me a picture of his heart. So gross, yet so COOL!! I can't wait to see the video.

4. Working on "Un"Valentine's Day cards. LOVE them and can't wait to finish them.

5. Really wanting to watch lots of Audrey Hepburn movies and You've Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle. No idea why, just am.

6. Pitchers and catchers for the Royals report Feb. 14th!!!!! I know, I know, the Royals are not the greatest team in baseball, but I don't care. It's almost baseball season and I still love my boys in blue.

7. Spent some time today looking at different shops in Etsy. There are so many amazing things there. I highly recommend anytime you need a gift, take a look there first. Not only are you supporting an artist, but you know the item will be made with love, not in a factory. I really believe in supporting handmade!!

Another shot from our recent snow storm. The bike he rides now is tucked away in the shed.

Quick Post

Just a quick post because I am so excited to share that I am featured in my first etsy treasury. More exposure!!!

Click here to check out the other wonderful "green" items being featured with me.

kiss me banner. need to take another picture.

Shutter Saturday

We have had a busy day and I'm worn out!!! Baseball practice this morning, quick bite to eat before we went to the MU gymnastics/wrestling event The Beauty and the Beast. Both teams are excellent and finished the days with wins. Audrey loved the gymnastics. After that we ran a few errands and then home for food and football. Not real happy with how the Falcons/Packers game is going.

A wrap up of my weekly pictures.

Sunday: New York City according to Dart with Audrey's new Lite Brite.

Monday: The view out our back door. Kids out of school early. 

Tuesday: Digital card I made so I could use both their pictures. First snow day.

Wednesday: A little peak at a Valentine's Banner I made for the Etsy shop.

Thursday: Audrey doing what she spends most of her time doing. Being an "artist". 

Friday: Audrey giving me a mean face. She wanted to snuggle the puppy next door longer.

Saturday: One of the gymnast during the meet. Audrey had so much fun.

Because today was so busy I'm really glad we have a 3 day weekend! If you have a 3 day weekend what are you doing with your extra day?

Follow Up Friday

• Valentine's cards for etsy shop. I have some really simple and basic designs and some more detailed ideas as well   Got one set done. Want to make a couple more.
• Valentine's banners. I really need to find a box of conversation hearts to get some other ideas for wording.  Made 3 this week.
• Card for the secretary at the kids school who's father passed away over the weekend.
• General greeting cards for a friend
• Thank you cards for a friend
• General greeting cards for my etsy shop. 
• Finish Audrey's snowman dress. 
• Make some doll clothes??? 
• Embroidered bookmarks for etsy shop???

So my week got a little thrown off with the kids being released early Monday due to snow and then not being in school on Tuesday and Wednesday because of snow. I will get busy this weekend to finish some other things. I also have some ideas brewing in my head for some "UnValentine" Cards. I want them to be humorous and fun!

One of the 3 banners I made this week. Will post pics of the others later.

Books I'm reading...

I usually have more than one book going at a time. Usually a "fun" read, something light and easy and then something either more "serious" or a creative type book.

Right now my fun book is from the Hannah Swensen series Candy Cane Murder . These are fairly light hearted murder mysteries. Hannah owns a cookie shop and always seems to come up on a murder scene. I always end up hungry for cookies when I read her books. So far I'm liking this one.

My other book is Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques (2nd Edition) . So far I really love this book. It has really forced me to think differently. It gives all sorts of creative ways to think and come up with ideas. It also helps you to realize how creative you really can be.

I've been busy updating my Goodreads lately. If you are on Goodreads let me know.

What are you reading, any recommendations? 

Snow Day!!

Got the call about 8:00 last night that there was no school today. Already have the notice for tomorrow that we are home again. I'm sure the temps played a HUGE factor in that. Since we stand a chance of wind chill at -10. That is crazy!

Kicked the kids out to play in the snow for a while. They have way too much energy and it's driving me crazy.

Icicles on the side of the house! That just seems unreal to me. 

Love the rosy red cheeks. 

Love this picture of her. It is my new wallpaper. 

Despite how it looks he is not shoving the icicle up his nose. 

Simply Sweet Valentine's

Spent some time today working on some simple and sweet Valentine cards. I think they'd be great for so many other occasions as well.

 

If you are interested in seeing the set please visit my etsy shop

Working on some other things for my shop as well. I have 2 banners that need to be put together and another that I need to figure out what I want it to say.  

Make it Monday

I had plans to post this earlier, but then got thrown for a loop when our school district announced they were letting out early. I still had to finish my grocery list and hit the store. So glad I went before I got the kids, because what is normally about a 15 minute drive home became a 45 minute drive home. UGH!!

This week I will make:

• Valentine's cards for etsy shop. I have some really simple and basic designs and some more detailed ideas as well
• Valentine's banners. I really need to find a box of conversation hearts to get some other ideas for wording. 
• Card for the secretary at the kids school who's father passed away over the weekend.
• General greeting cards for a friend
• Thank you cards for a friend
• General greeting cards for my etsy shop. 
• Finish Audrey's snowman dress. 
• Make some doll clothes??? 
• Embroidered bookmarks for etsy shop???

I really want to do some sewing and so those last 3 would make me really happy. I don't know that I will get to the doll clothes and bookmarks, but we'll see.

So pretty outside. Only because I'm inside and don't have to go out. It was HORRIBLE out there.

7 on Sunday

1. My brother is doing awesome after his surgery. Was on facebook today, watching and I'm sure screaming at the Chiefs game, was back to texting, and also being his ornery self. So thankful for all the prayers and the skill of his doctors.

2. Expecting 4-6 inches of snow. I really hope it's the higher side of those 2 numbers. For one I would love a snow day, Christmas break was way to short this year. Also I want a good snow. I love snow! Although I'm not looking forward to the artic temps that are coming with it. Although if it's going to be that cold it should be pretty outside.

3. I have spent a little bit of time everyday lately decluttering. Man does it feel so good. I spent most of the morning today cleaning up all of Audrey's art stuff. Went through all her markers to make sure they all worked, went through all the crayons and pulled out the broken pieces and went through all her coloring books and got rid of those that were completely colored in. Then I spent a lot of time going through old magazines and articles I had torn out. Tossed most of them. I do have a huge stack of recipes to go through still. I love the way things are looking, still have a long way to go, but love how it's looking which is keeping me motivated.

4. I really hope to get some time with my sewing machine this week. I made my grandma a case for her kindle last week and I really want to get some more time with my machine. Have a few ideas of things I want to make and a few things that need to be made.

5. Audrey is sporting a very nice black eye right now. She got it Friday at school. Still not real clear on how it happened. She says she slid on the concrete. It was during first recess. I thought at first she had make-up on, and was wondering where she found that at school. Then as I looked closer I realized it was not make-up. She never cried or went to the office. Crazy!

6. Decided a week late that I'm going to give Project 365 another shot. I plan on doing something more with my photos than just posting them and adding a caption. I'm still working on my idea, but have started posting my pictures on shuttercal. As soon as I get my idea worked out I will put up the new pictures, they will be the same images, just with a spin. I wanted to get them posted though.

7. My thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by the horrific events that took place in Tucson, AZ Saturday.

You can kind of see her black eye here. This was taken Friday. It's really bad now. Although, thankfully not too swollen.

3/365

Watching something on Animal Planet on the internet.

I think starting next week I will do all my pics just one day a week instead of daily. Most likely make it a Saturday evening post.

Words that mean something...

I had grand plans to get a lot of crafting done and it wasn't happening. It was one of those days where everything I was trying was not working. Trying to hard to do things that just weren't me. Even got in a discussion with my husband about expanding lines to appeal to everyone. I was trying to explain to him that I have a hard time with anything other than simple. I like the clean lines and less junk. He on the other hand loves all the other stuff. It just doesn't work for me. I can appreciate it and love looking at it and even would love to have some things with more stuff on them(at a minimum of course), but for me I struggle to create that. Because art is so personal I came away from the discussion feeling defeated(nothing my sweet husband said or did, just my feelings). I sat at my table for a long time trying to talk myself back up. Trying to understand his side, but also trying to figure out how to get my side across to him. I decided to just walk away from it all for a few minutes and checked my twitter. In it was a tweet from iheartquotes that read "I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is to try to please everyone." Bill Cosby.  WOW!! That was just the thing I needed at that moment. I can't please everyone. Yes, I could make some simple changes to expand who I might appeal to, but I don't have to try and appeal to everyone. Thus the reason we have Coke and Pepsi, Skinny jeans vs baggy jeans. Those brands don't appeal to everyone. I am one person, I don't need to make everyone like my stuff, there are plenty out there who will like it, possibly even love it. I just need to make sure that it is still something I love and am proud of.

A reminder to myself to always go with what my heart says!!

Just a little something I made to remind me of my one little word! 

Put this together in Wordle. I could waste spend all sorts of time playing on that site.  

At the Moment:

Listening: Itunes is playing on my computer. Current song is the Cha Cha Slide!

Eating: Nothing, just had leftover Tuna Casserole for lunch.

Drinking: Cherry Coke. It was a long night and I need the caffiene

Wearing: jeans, MU sweatshirt, socks. Need to find my slippers, my feet are FREEZING!

Feeling: RELIEF! My brother's surgery went perfect! Cried major tears when I got the phone call.

Weather: Cold, windy and icky. Gonna be this way for awhile.

Wanting: Major creative time. So much I want to do.

Needing: New blades for my trimmer and groceries.

Thinking: about how after I get the kids from school I am putting on my jammie pants and may not change until Sunday.

Enjoying: The fact that my brother's surgery was successful and all the posts of facebook from people letting him know they are thinking about him.

Wondering: How much snow we will get next week? I hope it's enough for a snow day.

So I feel like this is New Year's Day. I know that sounds crazy, but for the last week I've been thinking/worrying about my brother's surgery. Now that it's over I feel like the New Year can begin. I didn't realize until a little bit ago how much it was consuming me. I can't imagine being my mom or my brother. I have so many things I want to make and now I'm excited to get busy. Won't feel like I'm just going through the motions now.

Bad blogger

How is it that we are already 6 days into the New Year?? I can't believe it's been a week since I last updated. Things got crazy and I'm still trying to settle back into a routine.

Had a great New Year's Eve. Hung out and helped my mom prepare for a "Heart Warming" Party for my brother on New Year's Day. Watched the ball drop and banged pots and pans with the kids.

New Year's Day was spent in last minute preparations for the party and celebrating my birthday. I'm 34 and according to my wonderful son, now OLD! 33 wasn't old, but man 34 sure is according to him! My mom threw a "Heart Warming" Party for my brother so his friends and family could wish him well before his surgery on Friday. There were roughly 55 people there, mostly friends of his. It was great to see so many people there. He will be having open heart surgery on Friday to widen his single coronary artery. You can read more about it on his Caring Bridge site. We spent that evening playing Wii and Apples to Apples with my cousins Brent and Charles. All in all it was a perfect birthday.

My goofy brother on the right who would not look at the camera.

The kiddos went back to school Monday and let me tell you Christmas break was WAY TO SHORT this year. I'm really hoping for a longer one next year. We are slowly getting back into the swing of things. I've been busy doing a major declutter of the house. Slowly though. Just spending a little bit of time each day in different areas. I LOVE looking at the areas that have been cleaned though. Such a calming feeling. I have a few blog posts going on in my head. One about the handmade industry and small business industry as a whole and the others about various projects I want to tackle and a fun photo project I'm trying to work the details out on. I promise to be a better blogger.

I will update here on Friday after I hear from my mom that my brother is out of surgery.