I did it!!!

Can you believe it? I did it! I finished my project. Just like I said I would!! :) Yes, it was an apron. It took me a little longer then I thought it would but I still did it. It was a simple project and I am satisfied with the results. I was about to post that I couldnt get a picture done until later but MOM knocked on my door. I, of course, made her try it on and let me take some pictures. :) She is going to be making herself one as well. No doubt a lot more....ummm.....country. lol




The Inspired By Art chat is tonight!! Whoot whoot!! At the Guild!! Check it out here, at 10PM EST. I have a great group of regular ladies and we LOVE to see new faces. Well, new names I guess. ;) Last week we challenged everyone to make a block inspired layout. Here are a few from our team.
Stacey Jewel Stahl

Maggie (aka sandersmr)

I suppose I should go finish my laundry and get some other work done. May be I will look through some galleries first. ;) Dont forget to stop by tonight though for laughs and learning!

Happy Sunday!

Believe it or not, I have plans of being productive today. :) I currently have a project underway that I refuse to tell anyone about. Why? Because its pretty bad when even my online friends are asking when I am going to finish craft projects. Seems I procrastinate and sometimes just dont finish anything. Well, I am excited about this new project and I believe I should be done today. I will upload a photo tomorrow. Its a sewing/embroidery project that I started last night. Its pretty easy, I think, so far. Heres hoping I finish it alright. Then I will get to work on the camera bag and the curtains I still havent completed. ;)

This morning I created a goodie for everyone! We are supposedly going to have Spring arrive this coming week. I will believe it when I see it. Until then though I created an April Showers inspired desktop wallpaper for you all. It has both the regular 1024x768 and wide screen 1280x800 sizes for you. It was created with my new kit Puddle Jumper, available at NDISB.
Here is a preview for you and you can download it here.


AND I was tagged by Kristine!! Here it goes!
ALL are invited to join in the Links fun!
PLEASE just follow the rules! Just copy & paste THIS and everything below up until my Five links:

I thought it would be cool to have a meme where we post links. We can post up to five. Then we tell five more people to share their links. If we all share who tagged us, our links are sure to be seen!They can be business links, favorite sites, affiliate links, whatever you want…

There are Five Rules:

1. MUST be clean. No R rated sites.
2. Only FIVE links.
3. MUST tell 5 people.
4. A link back to the person who tagged you
5. Lara’s Place is the meme originator. (an active link is appreciated)

Here are my links for you!

1. The first place I head in the morning, afternoon and evening. Oh and when I cant sleep, have a few spare moments or am just bored.

DSA Guild.

2. I could spend DAYS looking through photos. There are so many UBER talented people out there!

Flickr

3. This site helped me lose 20lbs! Cant get much better then that! Lots of wonderful ideas, people and inspiration. Track your weight loss, your calories, get recipes, track fitness, etc.

Spark People

4. What can I say? Its your place to buy all things handmade. ;)

Etsy

5. I found this one yesterday to help my newest addiction, embroidery. TONS of free patterns. Happy me.

Needle Crafter


OK…Now I’m tagging….. Maggie, Christine, Holley, Stacey and Melany.

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend.

What to share first?

So many thing going on these days!! Ok first, I have some new products in the store today! I am especially excited about my new mini kit!! I LOVE IT! (Again, I am biased.) lol Its called Puddle Jumpers and you can grab it over at NDISB! Connor bought the coolest little pair of rubber boots yesterday and they inspired me. I didnt get much sleep last night. ;) Check it out!

Also created a layout with it this morning. Connor was more then willing to throw on the boots and let me take a photo. Unfortunately it was gross out this morning and the photos were pretty bad. He had some really odd faces in most of them. lol Seriously, my kid is the cutest in the world but even he looks weird jumping in the air. ;)

I also used a frame by Katie Pertiet and CK Alis Writing font.

Cant forget my new alpha either!! Also new in the store today! Krafty Notes! Thats my actual handwriting. Messy huh? Its cute though, I think.

I am hoping to get some more things in the store later this week so dont forget to check back! :)

In my REAL life. Wow. Things are happening. Yesterday I was called into the school after classes were over. I automatically assumed that Connor had gotten in trouble. You are not going to believe what happened to my poor son yesterday. I was LIVID but everything has been dealt with. At the end of the day the teacher left the children with the teacher's aid while she ran to do something. While she was gone Connor asked (not real name) Joe if he could go to the bathroom. Joe said no, it wasnt his turn. Connor got very upset and said again that he needed to go pee. No, not your turn. Connor then started 'pitching a fit and yelling' that he needed to go to the bathroom. Was he allowed to go? NOPE! He was sent to his seat for causing problems. CAN YA IMAGINE! SO then the teacher comes back and Joe is all like, Connor was pitching a fit and yelling at me while you were gone.' She immediately knew something up because Connor NEVER fights with the adults. She asked him if he was okay and he said he needed to pee really badly. She grabbed him and raced him to the bathroom. He could not get his belt undone fast enough and ended up peeing in his pants. He was so embarrassed he would not come out of the stall. She went in to get him. She had him put his ski pants on so that the other kids wouldnt know what happened and then it was time to go home. Joe was dealt with. Connor was so sad. It was unreal. No five year old should have to go through that, especially at school in front of the other kids. He knows now that if he has to go, he is to go. I wont stand for that.
In other news, Nan is doing GREAT! She has been transfered back into town. I went over to visit her last night and she held me hostage. I didnt leave until 40 after visiting hours were over but we had permission from the nurses. While I was out in the hall getting something for her, I ran into a friend of mine and we started talking. When I was walking back into the room I could hear Nan telling her new roommate how special I was to her. She said I was Sean's FIANACE! She has NEVER used that word before. She said I was like a granddaughter to her and that she loved me dearly. How sweet is that! Melted me just a little, it did. Next week we have to visit with a home therapist at the house. We have to make a lot of changes so that Nan is able to get around once she can walk again. It makes me happy that things are going so well for her.
Thanks for stopping by!

Getting down with my Crafty Self

Thats what I have been doing. :) One day last week, when we went to the hospital to visit Nan, I picked up a copy of the latest Paper Crafts magazine. This is odd because I have never purchased it before. While skipping through it, I saw an add for a Donna Downey scrapbook book. Just a day or so before I had stumbled upon her blog and thought 'fabric scrapbooking?' how cool. THEN! I see the ad for the exact project I had noticed on her blog. In one of her videos, behind her family, there were these adorable hoop pieces. It was the same that was in the magazine. :) However, there was something that had disturbed me. How does one print on fabric? Thanks to the Instructables website, I NOW KNOW! EAZY PEAZY! All you have to do is buy some Reynolds Freezer Wrap. Iron it on to the back of your chosen fabric. Cut to fit your printer. Hit print. Watch in amazement. Wait a few minutes, peel off the paper and VOILA, you have just printed on fabric.

Now I just have to wait until Michaels opens to finish my project. There are no craft stores around here. Walmart has nothing and FabricVille has very little. BTW totally upset with FabricVille right now. Holy false advertising, but I digress.

Another little crafty hobby I have recently picked up is embroidery. By recently, I mean yesterday. ;) I was flipping through my fave channels the other day, TLC, Slice, HGTV, etc., when I saw an episode of She's Crafty. I have never actually managed to catch this show so I was rather excited. However, turned out it was going to be about embroidery. *yawn* This aint your grandmother's embroidery, they said. Uh huh! I was about to change the channel until I saw her. Who is her? Jenny Hart is her. She looked like a rockstar, cuz she was one I guess. lol Anyway, she is totally adorable and totally convinced me to try it. I did last night and I am loving it. I know that I am FAR from perfect but its only my first try.

So far I have tried the Satin Stitch, the Slip Stitch, whats the regular one called?, oh and the Devil's Knot. What? French Knot? Are you sure? Ok, fine, the French Knot. Oh and Jenny? Well she is sweet. I added her as a Contact on Flickr. I sent her an email thanking her for inspiring me. I didnt expect a response but I got one. She emailed me back the next day. How sweet is that! Check out her site Sublime Stitching for some very cool designs!
Check back tomorrow for some new product releases. :) Thanks for stopping by.

Things I Have Learned Today

It is amazing what you can learn in such a short period of time. Here is what I learned this morning:
If you have always spoiled someone they will continue to want to be spoiled. (Not talking about Connor)
You cannot feel guilty because someone else made a mistake. (Not talking about me)
A five year CAN not like something that is sugar, sugar and more sugar. Would anyone like some toaster strudels? They have blue icing. :)
If you are in a rush, do not give a child learning to read Alphabits for breakfast. You can only imagine the things that will come out of him.
No matter what tune you use, if you sing the song with only the word EAT and quickly, laughter will ensue. Not good if you are already late.
When the alarm goes off, do not turn it off and go back to sleep. You set it for a reason.

There are millions of things to learn everyday. Sometimes we think we havent learned anything new but I can guarantee that at some point during the day, you have learned something you never knew before. It happens. Trust me. Have you ever thought to yourself, wow, wish I had learned that earlier on in life? I know I have. I suppose we all do what we do to get where we are though. I know that if I had made all the 'right' decisions in my life, I would most definitely not be where I am today. I would therefore be missing out on some stupendous events and people. For instance, I would not be a mother. I would not have my beautiful, precious child. I would never have met Sean. Well, I would have met him but I would not have dated him. It would not have been the right thing to do. Those are the two biggest things really. The only ones that I truly am grateful for. My two biggest mistakes in life lead me to my two biggest loves. So were they really mistakes after all? Hmmmm.... There are a few things though, that I wish I had known. I probably wouldnt have changed my life any but I still wish I had known.

Dear 16yr old self,

It has now been 10 years since I was your age. Ok FINE, eleven years but whose counting? Over the years a great deal has happened. Some of the events were wonderful, some were not but you learned from all of them. I do not have to tell you to enjoy the freedom you have now. I do not have to tell you what a lucky person you are. I do not have to tell you to slow down. You already know all this. I am very proud of you. You listened to your heart, not your peers, for most things. You know how privileged you are to be a normal teenager. Enjoy it while you can because it is gone before you know it. If there was one thing I could mention to you, it would be something that seems so simple. Take Science and Art! I know that teachers and guidance counselors have told you that it doesnt matter right now, but it does! What if they are wrong? What if you arent meant to be an early childhood teacher? Just because the adults and all those silly "What should I be when I grow up' tests point one way, does not mean that you have to go that route. There are many things that I could teach you, warn you about but if I did, then you wouldnt be the person you are today. But seriously, the one thing I do know is this, You should really consider Science and Art. I know you dont like Science but it opens a lot of doors and you are good at it. I know you dont like Grimace but seriously, does that matter? You are a creative person. I know you dont believe it but you are. Art will do you so much better then Drama in a few years. Sure, you make a mean fake piano bench but you make an even meaner craft project. CHECK THEM OUT! Seriously, do not let the man who wears short red and white running shorts from the 80s choose your future for you! (Sorry Mr. White)

I love you. I always will, even when you think I dont. Smile. Be proud of yourself. Stand tall. Seriously, like we arent short enough. Stand up! ;)
Hugs,
Your 27yr old self.

I really wanted to say TAKE TYPING but I did that, so that advice was no good for me. My favorite part in the movie Anchorman was when Steve Carrel said I Love Lamp. lol That seems completely off subject but this is going to be a moment like that.

I Love Maggie. :)

Thanks dear Maggie for the brilliant journaling prompt. Check it out at the Guild under Creative Team Challenges.

9:30am. Should I work or should I play? I played a lot yesterday. I seemed to have been on a Shabby Princess kick. My two layouts from yesterday. The block layout is my challenge for the week. Check out the details at the Guild under Designer Team Challenges.


Kits by SP, alpha is Swirlicious by me, font is DSAG Simple Print by Christie Frachioni.

Thanks for reading.

Someone is SERIOUSLY messing with Me!

Remember the other day the whole baby brother story? Well, it continues today. Connor and I had Sean drop us off at the Dollarama as he left for work. We then were going to walk home. Connor had forgotten his mitts and I could not find any in the nearest stores. I gave him mine and decided to stop as much as possible on the way home so that my hands didnt freeze. It was -5C outside and I was carrying bags. The first stop was Tim Hortons.

Connor had said to me that his baby brother would be arriving in nine weeks. Nine weeks? There you go, babies take nine months to get here. Oh, yeah, nine months, sorry Mommy, got those words mixed up. Then you know what happened? The lady at the next table starting yelling, BROGAN, his name is BROGAN! Pardon my language but WTF??? I was truly FREAKED OUT! Things like this cannot happen to me. It just gets my hopes up only to be dashed in another week or so. Wouldnt it be really cool if it was all really happening though? It might just be the push we need to get the wedding going and everything else we have been putting off. :)
Another cute thing that happened at Tim's today. For those of you who are familiar with the coffee shop, you know about Roll Up the Rim. For those that dont, well every Spring they have a wonderful contest. Whenever you buy a coffee (tea, hot chocolate, etc.), med-ex-lg, you can roll up the rim of the cup and have a chance to win something. Connor and I were talking about the different prizes and he wants the boat. I told him that if we win the boat we will sell our cup. lol Where are we going to put a boat? We had finished our drinks and rolled up the rims. I had had Please Play Again but Connor said he was feeling lucky. Rolled up his rim and he was a winner! He started jumping up and down and screaming I'M A WINNER! I'M THE BIGGEST WINNER! OH YEAH! lol He won a coffee. Boy, did we get a lot of attention. Everyone in the whole building turned to look at us. I smiled politely and announced that he had won but would be getting a hot chocolate, not coffee. ;) He even took a picture of his cup before his win so now he has something to show people.


Its MONDAY! That means my chat at the Guild is tonight! 10PM EST for those of you wishing to join us. We love seeing new faces. Tonight I am going to be providing some inspiration involving a popular new scrapbooking trend. I have been wanting to try this technique for awhile and am excited to see what everyone else will create.

The Easter Bunny Came Early

to our house! Last night the infamous bunny hopped across our living room hiding eggs and treats everywhere! Connor woke up every other hour asking if Easter had arrived yet. He decided it would be easy if he just slept in the chair next to my bed. We finally climbed out of bed and headed right to the fun. He had so much fun searching for the eggs and opening his gifts. He was truly amazed at how well the Easter Bunny knew him. She knew all his favorite colors, cars and even knew that he preferred a white bunny. She bought him all of his favorite games and treats. We also bought him the bowling set which he just LOVES! We set it up and away he went. IT was a terrific morning. Connor was truly appreciative of everything and did not whine for more. He has been doing that a lot lately and was pleasantly surprised that things went so well.

For us Easter celebrations started yesterday. My parents came over with treats for Connor. My Dad bought him a Foose model car and let me tell you, its a real chick magnet. ;) I know, I have a crazy sense of humor. lol I thought it was SUPER DUPER FUNNY THOUGH!

After we opened presents today, we decided to head out to breakfast at McDonald's with Sean's sister. It was a fun time! Except I later found out that Connor had eaten 3 hash browns by himself. Amazingly, he didnt get sick. He ate his own, then he ate most of mine AND when I wasnt looking he took Sean's. Now I know to watch him more carefully when we are there. McDonald's is bad enough.

When we had finished eating we headed to Connor's Dad's house to drop him off for the remainder of the weekend. We stayed to visit for awhile and Connor was extremely happy to find out that the Easter Bunny would visit again tonight. There are advantages of having two set of parents you know. ;)

Heading out later to my parent's house for supper was the most relaxing part of our day. So much so that I began to feel sleepy and laid on the couch. I put my camera down on the table next to my father and he immediately started playing. I must say he has really improved over the last few months. He actually can turn the camera on and take pictures all by himself now. He only needed help getting the flash up. He took some photos of mye laying on the couch and complained that my eyes were closed. Well, I was resting! lol Oh and the dog, he took pictures of the dog. Shalako doesnt enjoy having his photo taken these days. Doesnt he look so happy??


On the way home it started to snow. It is super cold out and I hope that we dont get any more!!! I have had enough snow. I want spring to hop on over to the East coast! You would think that my sweet friends down south would share some of the wealth!! ;) You know who you are!!! Greedy heat keepers! ;)
I sure do hope that everyone else is having a splendid Easter holiday as well!! Best wishes to you and yours.

(card made with The Essence of Spring kit and Talk To Me Tags all by me)

Good Friday!

This is a GREAT Friday. My brother Earl is on his way home for Easter weekend. I am always excited to see him. Out of my whole family I get along best with the two Earls. My Dad and my brother. Love them. We have the most in common and are able to have flowing conversations. This weekend we have a HUGE Scrabble game set up. By huge I mean myself, Earl and my Jenny MacD. Its exciting for me because I had ever get to play. I am going to create a layout of it. 'Word Up' sound like a good title? lol ANYWAY back to EASTER! Again I have a sale going on in my store. Scroll down to yesterday's post for details on that one! 30% off KITS until Monday. Oh and I said I had a little surprise didnt I? I did. First though, check out these adorable little new products that I have in the store. Hand painted acrylic frames and alpha. I really did have so much fun with these ones. I hope you all adore them as much I do.


You can find them in the store here and here.

Now for your Easter gift. A set of three Ready Made tm Easter Cards just for you! Hope you like them! They were created with my kit The Essence of Spring which is on sale for 30% this weekend. :) Perfect for all your Spring and Easter celebration pages!

Download them here.

Most of my day will be spent at my folks house waiting the arrival of Uncle Earl. I promised Connor that he will get to spend a few hours with him. Saturday we are having Easter. Yes, the bunny comes early this year because Connor will be with his Dad. Last year it was the same deal and I did not like having to wait until Monday afternoon to celebrate. It left Connor with no time to play. This year we will have a blast! Dont tell him but the Easter bunny bought him a Diego bowling alley. SO EXCITING! He loves bowling and now he can do it at home. We also got him his WHITE bunny. Seriously think the kid was switched at birth. He likes WHITE chocolate people. Mr. Fluffy is hoping into town tomorrow. FUN FUN FUN! He might come by and leave you another treat as well....hmmmmmm.... Have to wait and see. *wink wink*

Whew! I made it through the day!

What a very long day it was today!! I had so much trouble sleeping last night. Then when I thought I would be able to sleep in I couldn't. The phone started to ring and it did not stop. I finally checked to see who was calling and two of my brothers had called. I immediately thought the worst. I called back one of them and he said that school was canceled. What? It looks fine outside. I call my other brother back and he says school is canceled. What? I call the school. School has been canceled. Then five minutes later the school calls me. Come get Connor. WHY IS SCHOOL CANCELED!?! They are forecasting the possibility of freezing rain. Huh? Ok, so I call my 2nd brother back and tell him that I will pick up his daughter as well. THEN I come to find out that Sean has loaned his sister the car and I have to walk.

I get to the school and Connor isn't ready to go. His pizza has arrived and they expected me to walk home with a slice of pizza on a plate. Grumble. Found a bag to put it in, get back to the classroom and Connor is still not ready. I get upset. I have to tell him FOUR times to get ready. The teacher's aide really did nothing to help me which really irked me. Then I walk over the other school to pick up my niece. My brother had called ahead to tell them I was coming. I get there and she is waiting for me in the office but she had no jacket or book bag. Huh? She has to go back to her class and get it. I start walking with her and this blond lady stops me. I am not allowed to go into the classroom area to avoid any unwanted 'incidents.' No parents/guardians/visitors are allowed until signed in at the office and approved. I am sent back out front to wait. I wait, I wait, I wait some more and no niece. I finally go in search of the principle, I use to sleep at his house when I was a kid, was friends with his daughter. I find him and ask if I can PLEASE go find my niece and he says of course. I get to her class and she is just sitting and talking! NOT READY AT ALL! I am livid. Please, get ready. She heads into the classroom and her teacher's aide blocks the door on me. Ok. I wait. The teacher's aide says, I wonder what is taking her. OH I DONT KNOW, I have an idea why dont you LOOK? Grumble. SO anyway, she finally comes out. What REALLY bothered me was that there were about 20 other parents in that area picking up their kids. Was I not allowed in because I looked annoyed? lolWe walk home with neither of them listening. I get back home and think that its all over. ITS NOT THOUGH! The craziness continues all day.

We drop Connor off at my Mom's and head to the hospital. Connor wasnt allowed in that ward. Nan is doing great! She is in a lot of pain but she is already causing trouble. Thats a good sign. :) We stay and chat. Then head out. Buy Easter treats for the nieces and nephews. Buy groceries. Clean Nan's house. Head home to finish some work on the computer. I am so tired! I know, I ranted like a crazy person but the day was never-ending! It was 12 hours of non-stop on the go, on my feet. I am now going to relax! Watch the movie Silk and hit the hay.

TOMORROW I will have a surprise for you all and some previews of new products in the store. They are stinkin' cute and you have to see them. I am totally biased, but thats ok. SMILE! OH! I bought 'Eat, Love, Pray' tonight, anyone read it?

Mommy, will you promise?

This morning when I awoke to a five year old boy snuggling into my cheek. I expected a "Good morning Mommy" or even a "Can I play my video game?" but I was NOT expecting "Mommy, when you are having my baby brother, could you please not squish him when he comes out of your vagina?" WHAT?!?! At first I thought, I am dreaming. For sure, I am still asleep. "Mommy? DO you promise?" Ummmm... I love how the kid always manages to catch me off guard with the 'touchy' subjects. "Mommy, do babies come from vaginas?" It gets worse and worse and worse! "What do YOU think Connor?" Honestly folks, that is the best defense strategy available for parents. Most of the time the kid will just come up with a suitable answer themselves and you are let out of the hot seat. ;) So at the end of the conversation we had discussed where babies come from, both ways. I do believe in telling children the truth, don't shoot me for that. He smiled and said again, did I promise not to squish his baby brother. OK! Did I squish you beyond repair? No? Ok good then. No squishing babies. Got it. WAIT A MINUTE! I am not pregnant. This is when it gets scary. The last time Connor started talking about this was with his step mom. He was hugging her saying he was playing with his baby sister. This was BEFORE she knew she was pregnant. Then he said that he wasn't going to have a baby sister and she miscarried. Completely freaky. When my future SIL was pregnant, before she knew, Connor announced to her that she was having a baby as well. She did. Now, I am not saying that my kid has special powers or anything of the sort. However, due to prior events, one has to be a little curious. I honestly do not think I am but it would not be horrible. :) Timing is bad mind you. Connor then asked if we could name his brother. Ok I said, playing along. What shall we name him? How about Joshua? We already have a Joshie running around though. How about Connor? I cannot have two kids with the same name. Do I look like a Foreman? How about Brogan? *gasp* that is the name Sean and I had already picked out for a baby. No one knew. Ok, Brogan it is. Brogan Joshua, Mommy. Ok. So without Sean's approval, I have named our 'baby' Brogan Joshua with Connor's help. How cute is that? I wonder if that is legally binding if I am indeed with child? lol

On to sadder news. Sean's grandmother, Nan, fell two days ago and fractured her hip. She is 91yrs old and is heading into surgery for the first time in her life, as I type this. She has to have a pin put in. This is all very scary and I really hope that everything goes smoothly. Sean and his sister are at the hospital with her now. All prayers are greatly appreciated at this time. We need all the help we can get. Please think of Nan, Sean, Shelley and all their other family members who live too far away to be here.

With everything that is going on, I am trying to keep myself busy. I did a lot of scrapping so far today and it is only noon. I thought I would try out the Digi Dare this week and decided to take part. Not long ago I saw a layout by Annie Manning at the Guild called Laugh. I loved how she so creatively decorated the photo with papers and elements from the kit. I vowed right then and there to try it out. So today the dare was to create a layout inspired by their Darers, how perfect. My layout that was inspired by Annie. (All credits can be found with the original upload in my gallery at DST)
When My Thoughts

That was actually the second layout I created today. The first one was my Poppy and my mother. Every Sunday our family goes for coffee together and my Poppy usually ends up there for a few minutes. He really loves it when I took his picture. Ok, I lie. He hates it but I do it anyway because I want too. lol I am a horrible granddaughter, I know this but its ok. He loves me.
(Again, all credits can be found with the original upload at DST)
You Brighten My Day


I know that this will be a very long day. I am hoping to get much accomplished. :) Hope you all have a wonderful day as well!

Happy St. Paddy' Day!!

To all of the Irish out there and the Irish at heart, HAPPY DAY TO YOU! Connor came home from school today rambling nonstop about the little green men! Now say it with me, Lep-rah-con! lol Too funny. I learned all about leprechauns today from the eyes of a five year old and let me say, it was extremely entertaining. In order with today's celebrations I have created some fantastic, glittered Irish wordart! Kiss Me Wordart, now available at NDISB!

I also created some for the upcoming Easter parties! I know my family will be headfirst into the chocolate this weekend and so I made some fun chocolate inspired wordart! Check out Sweet Delights, now available in the store too!

Sean and I headed to the mall for a little while this weekend. We had to get some new business cards printed up for Sean. While we were there I wanted to head over to Winner's, like I always do! I find the clothes in this one arent too fabulous but the home decor section just makes me drool! While browsing through the artwork I discovered one print that I absolutely ADORED and would have loved to take home with me. Unfortunately I could not afford it right now. Sean told me that I could probably create something even better for myself. SO I did create something myself. I came home last night and jumped on the computer. Threw open Photoshop and went to work. In the end I was able to create my own version of the print and fell in love with it! At Winner's I had purchased two matching frames, I printed out two copies of my artwork and will hang them together. I also bought two wrought iron candle holders that I will hang on either side. I cannot wait to paint my room and hang them. Here is my work!
All credits can be found with my original upload at the Guild.

Here it is framed. Love the frame, it is wood, painted black with worn patches and tin art inlay, only 10 dollars!

So I went to my parent's house yesterday to help my father paint. My mother was cleaning out the cupboard and she was cleaning this beautiful platter when I walked in the room. I just fell in love with it! It was so beautiful! I remarked how much I liked it and how perfectly it would go in my bedroom. The color scheme was perfect. My mother told me I could have it as long as I promised not to use it with food. I checked out the porcelain mark on the bottom and was only able to discover that the plate is at least 105yrs old. It was created by a company called W&E Corn, in England and the style is called Rosa. Here it is! If anyone knows where I could find more information on it, please drop me a line!

I am having a chat tonight at the Guild as well! I am very excited. I havent been able to have a chat in THREE weeks and am dying to talk with all the ladies. Join us at the Guild, 10PM EST tonight!!

I Survived the Mammomat!

Yesterday I went for my first ever mammogram. My mother had breast cancer when she was only 36 so I have to start screening early. Here is my story. :) I created this two pager with my newest combo pack, The Essence of Spring. It is in the store now!



The element pack and paper pack are also available separately.
This morning my mother was over visiting. Her and Connor were playing on the floor and I decided to make up a quick freebie! So here you go! Four stamped frames just for stopping by! The link is good for 7 days or 100 downloads. Hope you enjoy it!

Download it here!

What A Month!

All and all, this month has been very challenging for me. There have been a lot of changes, losses, illness and general anxiety for me. I was born with the grumpy gene and really try my best to hide it from the world. Ok, in the last few years I have anyway. Since I started dating Sean, I really have become a better person. Our relationship almost ended once a long time ago. After an extremely rough night, we worked through things. He would do this, I would do that, it works. We are both better people. More considerate of others. Sean says that I am 'harsh.' By this he means that I can be brutally honest and frank with people. I cannot help it! If you constantly poke yourself in the eye with a fork and cannot figure out why your eye is sore, I WILL say something. Sorry. Its just the way I am. I do TRY to be nice. I get the grumpy gene from Mom, the harsh gene from Dad. That's my story but I am not sure where I was going with that.

So lately, with everything that has been going on, I have been doing my best to stay cheerful. There is a reason for everything. Things will work out. Make lemonade. All those good things but by gosh, its getting REALLY hard to smile. In the last few weeks, two things have happened that have really bothered me. I do not feel comfortable discussing this in public but let's just say that I will have to be even more frugal then I already am. However, my life is still fantastic. My list of blessings far outweigh anything else. I am just not perfect. Close mind you. ;) Anyway, that was my rant. I am having a rough go of things. I am cranky. Oh and I cut my leg shaving. The cherry on the cake. lol

On the brighter side of things. Today was a lovely day for us. My friend Courtney, and her family are home from away this week. So our friend Ellen decided to have her daughter's birthday party a week early so they could attend. Well, really, they were the party!! They have five kids between the two of them, one wasn't there. Connor had a BLAST hanging out with the boys since he has not seen them since November. Also, I think they birthday girl may have a thing for older boys, she was all over Connor. He loved it! And of course, everyone just was drooling over the newest member of the gang, two month old Riley. It was a great party! Good friends. Lots of food, prizes and laughs.
Emma, the birthday girl.


The whole gang, Joey, Josh, Emma, Jamie, Connor and Nick.

Riley.

We had lots of fun and Connor is now more eager then ever to have his birthday party in May. I sure do hope that everyone has a great day. :) I am going to try and get some sleep.
New product in the store tomorrow!!!

School is canceled? For what?

I received a phone call early this morning from Connor's step-mom. She was hoping to catch me before the alarm went off. She did. There is no school today, she said, why, I asked. Because we MIGHT get freezing rain at some point today. I know that I am starting to sound old when I say things like this BUT when we were kids, we had to walk to school in THREE FEET OF SNOW! I literally remember walking in snowstorms because it was too bad out to drive!! Now they are canceling if they THINK the weather MIGHT get bad. Connor is NEVER in school. In the last month he has had one party at school, one skating party, one PJ and movie day, two inservices, Parent/Teacher, he was off sick for two days, he has today off because of the 'weather', he goes tomorrow, then Friday is National Hook-off Day, then next week he is off for March break, then he has a week of class and is off for Easter holidays!!! He goes to school for like 2 weeks a month! There, my rant is over. :) I rather enjoy having him home though. Even if I am forced to watch Scooby Doo over and over and over and over and over again. ;)

Sickness is good for my creativity! On Friday Connor became horribly ill. Seriously the sickest kid I have ever seen! Then he was nice enough to share and gave it to me, Sean, my Dad and his step-mom. So we are all sick! Getting much better now though. However, through my fog I have become rather creative! Being that I am unable to move much right now, sitting at the computer is the least draining activity for me, besides TV which is boring. So I have been scrapping up a STORM! I have been doing some other things behind the scenes as well that wont reveal themselves for a few more weeks but know that I DID THEM! :)

Some of my newest creations!



All credits can be found with the original layouts posted at the Guild.

And one more quick note, before I started my new diet of Popsicles and crackers, wink wink, I put a new product in the store! The Bad Boyz Mini Kit is in the store now! Perfect for all those teen layouts where the girly colors and flowers will just not do!


I certainly hope everyone has a fantastic Wednesday!! OH OH OH and my friend Maggie is having a journaling chat tonight at the Guild! CHECK IT OUT! That woman has some good ideas! If you scrap or blog, it will be great inspiration for you!