Make it Monday

This week is going to be a lot of organizing at home as we cleaned out a storage unit to get rid of most of the junk that was in it, however we brought some home that we will be keeping so I have to get it all taken care of. However, I do have some creative stuff I want to make as well.

This weeks projects:

• 2 custom banner orders
• more banners(want to get a birthday one made, some spring type ones and also get started on some for graduation)
• doll blankets
• doll clothes
• cards(have one get well card I need to make for a friend)

So how many of you participated in my send a card or letter just to say hi? Leave me a comment. And if you did and heard from the person you sent it to, what was their reaction? Have you sent any others?

I can't believe tomorrow is March! Spring is coming! Although I was told on Saturday that according to the Farmers Almanac we still have a major snow storm coming at the end of March. The person who told me this said it would be worse than the last blizzard we got. I really hope it is wrong. Usually the Farmer's Almanac is pretty close to correct and she said so far it's been pretty accurate. NO MORE SNOW!!!

Recently made a Mizzou Rag Quilt Burp Cloth. I think when I make them to sell I will make some minor changes, but I really like these. Great for the dads to use!

It's a Beeeeeyou-tiful Day in Heaven

As a life long Chiefs fan today is a sad day. The long time broadcaster Bill Grigsby made heaven a brighter place today with his passing. I can still hear his voice in my head. He had that kind of voice, one that just sticks with you. Even something simple said by him stuck with you because of his voice. He just had one of those voices. His phrase "It's a beeeautiful day at Arrowhead!" regardless of whether or not it really was a beautiful day made you believe it was just that. His voice was also behind the Price Chopper ads in the Kansas City area, which I would imagine is going through many peoples heads today as they hear about the passing of Bill. I think it's a safe bet that  Tony DiPardo, long time bandleader for the Chiefs who passed away less than a month ago was the first to greet Bill at the pearly gates. Bill, you will be missed by Chiefs fans all over. I know it's a beautiful day in heaven with you there. Give Derrick a hug for all of us fans.

Image found via Google Images search.

Back later....

A trip down memory lane

So as I was doing some stuff on Etsy today I noticed that one of my favorite shops had favorited some things from my childhood. Things like Smurf drinking glasses. Remember those? Well it got me started on looking for other things. Things like Strawberry Shortcake, Holly Hobbie, Betsy Clark and Fisher Price toys. Oh the memories that are flooding me now.

Do any of the following items bring back memories for you?

Found in this Etsy Shop. I remember fondly playing with a stove top just like this one.

This record player found in Toysofthepast on Etsy.

 I LOVED this toy when I was little. Found here

Not sure this was the exact desk I had, but I know I had one very similar. Found in Smilehood

 To this day I remember this camera well. I remember having to put the flash in the top and flip it over when one side was full. Found in rustEgold

This doctor kit. I remember it always being lots of fun to try and get the pieces all back where they belong. Found this here.

And then there was this tape player. Which is actually what started my search for the Fisher Price toys. I remember this like it was yesterday. Listening to my tapes that came with books. My favorite was a Strawberry Shortcake book and tape. My aunt says I drove her crazy with the tape. Found this here.

And of course there were things like the Little People that I could do another whole post about.

Any memories coming back to you looking at these pictures? I would love to hear from anyone who had these toys also. 

I'm Working On....

I'm working on getting things caught up at home. Things like cleaning and getting stuff put away.

I'm working on a couple of custom banner orders. Love making banners.

I'm working on pricing new things for the shop. Things like doll clothes, rag quilts, digital cards, can't wait to get them in the shop.

I'm working on clearing out our storage unit. UGH! So much junk that I should have gotten rid of  a  long time ago.

I'm working on being a better blogger, mom, wife, PTA Vice President, PTA Regional Director, artist, creative person, friend....

I'm working on pricing for photo editing services.

I'm working on finishing projects so I can start all the new ones I want to do.

I'm working on being healthier. Eating breakfast and drinking more water. Doing good this week so far and cheering myself on everyday I do good.

I'm working on a million other things.

Rag quilt that will be making it's way to the shop today or tomorrow. Love how soft it is.

At the Moment

Listening: Seinfeld. Hard to believe Uncle Leo passed away today

Eating: nothing. It is 11:11 at night

Drinking: Dr. Pepper. I still have a lot of work to do, so I need the caffeine.

Wearing: Jammie pants and a t-shirt and socks

Feeling: Overwhelmed, stressed, happy the temps are supposed to be nice.

Weather: See above. So glad it's supposed to be nice tomorrow. Kids got to play outside today in shorts.

Wanting: A few more hours in the day.

Needing: A few more hours in the day.

Thinking: Of the custom banner orders I need to finish and a few other ideas I have for things rolling in my head.

Enjoying: The peace and quiet of everyone being in bed.

Wondering: How I'm going to get everything done tomorrow that I need to.

Still trying to catch up on life and everything. Busy week at school with the book fair going on and Parent Teacher Conferences this week as well. Not to worried about the kids conferences, they have always had great reports. I actually look forward to them.

Got to love MO weather; playing in the snow in shorts. And the mud, holy cow is there a ton of mud.

Story of my life lately

I feel like I'm always playing catch up lately. UGH! Last week got away from me as far as posting here goes and then Friday morning I woke up to no internet at home. Finally got it fixed today. Will be back to post more later, but this week is looking to be crazy as well so wish me luck. I do have a few things to post so I will be back.

If you sent a card to someone last week please leave me a comment. There just might be something in it for someone. hint hint!!

Make it Monday

Spent most of the day working on my resume. Looking for an administrative asst job. Still going to be doing the Pink Owl thing, just need some more steady income. Also I find myself wasting a lot of time. I am the type of person who has to have structure. This is something I've been thinking about and stressing over for a while.

As for the Make it Monday:

• Donations for a school event. Have to get them done this week. They are pretty much ready to put together, just need to do it.
• Valentines boxes and cards for the kids. Both are excited about making them. Gave them the option of buying valentines and no candy to add or making them and getting candy to add. Making them was voted on with no problems. Something about candy!!
• More digital cards and editing images for Etsy.
• Working out details for adding editing services to the business.

I'm keeping it simple this week as it's going to be a busy week. Setting up for book fair after school on Thursday and the kids have no school on Friday.

I have a blog suggestion for all of you. My friend Justin from way back in high school has this amazing mind and outlook on life. He started a blog a little while back called Take Two and Smile He's determined to find at least 2 things to really smile about each day. A good reminder that even in the craziest of days something simple as cleaning up after a baby should make us smile. Recently he started a new one called Thinking Thoughts for the Thinker On this one he poses a question or questions or offers a quote to get you thinking. Now we all know one of the best ways to stay young is to constantly be learning. I suggest you check them both out. One to make you stop and smile and one to keep you young and thinking.

I'm beginning to feel like I live in a zoo. This little birdie came looking for seeds a few days after the massive snow storm. He was so fluffy and sweet.

7 on Super Bowl Sunday

Don't worry it won't all be about football and other than this comment will not mention the halftime "show".

1. Congrats to the Green Bay Packers! And thanks to the Steelers for making it a great game. It was so awesome to hear former Tiger Ziggy Hood's mentioned, even if it was for sacking Aaron Rodgers.

2. WE GO BACK TO SCHOOL TOMORROW!!! Sorry for shouting, but man I'm so glad. We only go 4 days for the next 3 weeks, so we need to go every day we are supposed to.

3. If you are the praying kind will say a few for me? Just going through some things, nothing crazy or major, just some decisions to make and looking for some answers.

4. I have a website I want to share with all of you. OhLife is a great site for capturing your days story. It's a free site that you simply go sign up on and then every evening they send you an email asking you how your day was. The great thing is after a few entries they include a previous entry in your email so you can look back and see what was happening. It's also private so you can vent, celebrate or just get things out. I've been using it for a few weeks and love it.

5. Did you read about my challenge? Have you decided who you are sending a card to? Don't forget to let me know if you are joining. I will tell you this week who my card went to. I plan to send one or give one, may not always send it, may give one to someone at the kids school every week.

6. I had an item featured in 2 treasuries this weekend at Etsy. Both included the same item, but still great for exposure. The are here and here.

7. Tomorrow would be the perfect time for the Mizzou Men's Tiger Basketball team to break their losing streak on the road. Oh and it would mean we would beat the bird team from Kansas.

This little guy showed up on our front porch last night. This picture is unedited. Working hard on getting better night shots with crummy lighting.

A Challenge

 Close your eyes and imagine this for a minute: you came home after a long day, open the mailbox, dig through the pizza coupons, phone bill, car dealership giving away a car if you have the right key ad and at the bottom of the pile, there sat an envelope hand addressed from someone you may or may not have talked to in a while. Suddenly the stress from the crazy day at work is starting to get a bit better. You open the card and inside it simply says "Just thinking of you." Now you are feeling all warm and fuzzy. It makes your entire evening better. You are less cranky with your family. You might even start thinking of who you could send a card to, letting them know you care about them.

Who couldn't use a little something fun and happy mixed in with the bills and junk? I know I wouldn't mind something a little personal and fun in there. So my challenge to you is this: Send someone a card letting them know you are thinking of them. They don't have to be sick or going through anything major, just something that says, "Hey, Just thought I'd let you know I think of you." Doesn't have to be fancy, even better if it's handmade, but I won't hold that against you.

It won't take you but 10 minutes and cost you the price of a card(if you have some on hand, even better) and a stamp. Remember those things we used to need for everything, before the days of automatic bill pay and email. However, that 10 minutes and few dollars if that could really change someones day.

If you take on this challenge leave me a comment letting me know you are, there just might be something in it for one of you. "Wink Wink"!

An oldie, but still one of my favs.

February already?!?

Here we are a week into the 2nd month of the year. Another week in photos is available here. I will warn you, if you are sick of the snow, like me, you might not want to look as most of the pics are of the wonderful weather we've had here.

In Pink Owl news, I listed 5 new things this week. 2 card sets and 3 photo images. You can find them here. Also working on some branding and other things to help grow the business. Still pondering the ideas I mentioned yesterday. Really considering doing something with the photo editing later this week. Still working the plan out. I will let you know when all has been worked out and I'm ready to go. In the meantime if you are interested please contact me.

I hope your February is off to a good start. Super Bowl is tomorrow and I can't wait. Junk food and football, sounds like the perfect Sunday to me.

Check back Sunday for a challenge!! 

Another picture from the Blizzard. This is out our front door.

A few thoughts and Follow Up Friday

First up, Follow Up Friday:

• More digital cards Not yet, seriously 4 snow days makes it hard to get anything done.
• A few "generic" banners. Non-holiday themed. All letters are traced and some cut!
• A set of stuff for a local school auction Ideas thought out, just need to get them done.
• Scrapbook pages(didn't get my 4 for January done, will get them done this week. It will count right?! Still working on them.
• Some mini books. For some reason I have an itch to make mini books. Big fat NO!
• Sewing. Don't know what, other than a curtain, just know I want to sew. I did make the curtain. Just made the itch to sew worse. Hope to get something else done.  

Yes, we have been out of school for 4 days this week. This means Mom=CRAZY!! And they are calling for more snow next week. We do not go a full week in February for various reasons, so anymore snow days will just make it worse. This past week was supposed to be our one full week.


I'm mulling some ideas in my head of additions to Pink Owl Designs/Crafts. I'd love to offer photo editing services. Seriously it's a sickness I think, I LOVE to edit photos. I know there are lots of people out there who take photos and wish they could be just a touch better, but don't have the knowledge or the software to make those changes. I'm also wanting to do some design work for small businesses. Things like help with marketing, business cards, brochures, etc. Still playing around with both ideas, but wanting to get the info out there. If interested in either things, please feel free to contact me, I'd love to work something out!

Remember the tire swing picture from Tuesday? This is what it looked like Wednesday. So pretty.

New Thank You Card Sets

Just a couple of new thank you card sets I've got listed in the Etsy Shop.

Each body of the butterflies have stickles(glitter glue) down them.

Opens from the bottom.

Flower set. Each flower is colored with marker and cut by hand.

You can see the flower and the "thanks" banner are raised with pop dots.

34 before 35 Update

I meant to get this posted yesterday, but totally forgot. Just going to update the ones I've actually done something on.

Here is my list of 34 Things I want to do before I turn 35!
1. Knit 3 scarves. My grandma taught me to knit and while I still am working on getting it all together I will make at least 3 scarves this year. Might do more, but that is my goal. I had taken a long time off from knitting and was worried I would forget how to, but I remembered. Nothing really going yet, still just trying to get my stitches down.
3. Learn more about book binding. I would love to do some different binding with mini books and stuff.
I found a really cool book at the library and can't wait to dig deeper into it.
4. Have 100 sales in my Etsy shop. I've got 2 so far!
Had another 2 sales this month.
5. Have 75 followers on my blog. Working on some fun things for the blog this year.
Up to 12 so far.
6. Maintain 50 items in my Etsy shop. I have so many things I want to make and hopefully it will be hard to have 50 items in my shop all the time because hopefully things will be selling!
So far have 15 up and have several to list. Just a few minor things to do and they will be listed.
9. Create digital cards. Think the cards you get at Christmas. Great for birth announcements, birthday invitations, Graduation open houses, wedding save the dates and more.
Have made I think 12 so far and loving it. Will be listing some on etsy very soon.
10. Declutter. I am tired of all the junk we have. I have started with my scrapbook stuff and actually look forward to creating because I don't get caught up in the stuff.
Cleaned out my magazine idea file, Christmas stuff(got rid of stuff didn't use and don't love), kids papers from school(got rid of a ton), and my computer, holy cow was that a mess.
11. Be proud of me. I have always had a hard time when someone tells me I create beautiful things and I'm talented. Need to learn to accept it.
I struggle around certain people, but am learning to embrace certain things about myself that make me happy.
12. Do more reading of creative/business books. I have a massive list of them to read.
Haven't read any books, but have done a lot of reading online that have been very interesting and helpful.
13. Learn to design elements in Photoshop Elements. I really want to learn to make digital elements for digital cards and stuff.
Had an aha moment one weekend and discovered all the things brushes can do. I thought they were only to add or remove or touch up photos.
15. Do more with photo editing. One thing is I want to go back and do some things with my older pics and also there is so much more fun stuff I can do with pictures.
Had some fun with some of the blizzard pictures.
18. Procrastinate less. I have been working hard on this. I am horrible at procrastinating and then doing everything at the last minute.
Figured out a new to-do list system and it seems to be helping with that. Also my timer has become my best friend. 
20. Menu Plan. I HATE going to the store constantly to get stuff for dinner. I also would love to see us eat a little better and know that will help us with that as well.
3 out of 4 weeks!!
24. Stay better caught up on pictures, editing and uploading. Upload to Shutterfly, Flickr and other spots. Also be better about backing up.
Haven't stayed on top of editing really, but have been great about downloading and deleting bad. January is on the external hard drive also. 
26. Cross Stitch 3 projects. I have so many I want to do and also a few projects I need to finish.
Worked some on a project already started.
27. Read 1 fun book a month. I love to read, just have a hard time making time for it. Hopefully this will force me to read more.
Candy Cane Murder by Joanne Fluke!!
32. Participate more at Flickr, Etsy groups and Etsyprenuer.
Have everything loaded on flickr. Now to just get a little more active on Etsy groups.
34. Do more to encourage Handmade Items!! I don't care if it's jewelry or cards or what, I just really want to do more to encourage buying handmade.
Have encouraged several people looking for gifts and ideas to check out etsy!


For the first month into the year, I'm pretty happy with my progress.

Blizzard 2011

WOW! For the first time in University history MU will be shut down for 2 days in a row. It has never been done. So does this give you non-Columbia/Missouri residents an idea of what kind of snow we got today? No, we'll maybe the following pictures will help.

First pic taken of this area today. It was taken around 11:30 this morning.

Same area, around 2:30.

5:30. No way to really measure how much because of the blowing.

My favorite picture of the day. Out the backyard, Audrey's tire swing, the bottom is now buried.

On the news they said we got somewhere around 20+ inches. It is unreal out there. I-70 is shut down throughout the entire state. As one of my friends on twitter said "The SNOW-Me State is closed." I have never seen anything like this. On the news they were doing a behind the scenes look at all of them getting ready, eating, sleeping, just hanging out as the majority of the crew spent the night at the station. It effects pretty much the entire state in some way shape or form. The MU basketball team is stranded in KC trying to get to OK to play. Businesses that never close are closed, including like I said above MU.

The worst part of all of this, tomorrow is supposed to be worse in terms of the winds and the wind chill. The wind blowing is going to cause major drifting, making it really bad for the plows trying to clear the streets.

It has definitely been an event to remember.