Happy 8th Bday!

Jewelry Tree

While browsing One Pretty Thing one day, I ran across a link to this jewelry tree from Centsational Girl. Ever since, I've been wanting to make one. Now that I have uber-pretty jewerly to PUT on it, I wanted it even more. Some sweet friends of mine let me trim some branches off their tree that worked perfectly.

Here is my finished product:

Still trying to decide if it's professional enough to take to shows or not. If not, I'll put it by my bed....

More Digital Pages

THe only paper I used on that was from Becky Young Designs- though I altered it a little to fit my needs

This was using Always Be Neighbors Designs (I heart USA)- I did alter it a TINY bit to get the yellow and slate colored ricrac

This used another one of Becky Young Designs- a kit called Celebrate- with a little of my own paper mixed in

This one, I used some brushes that were called Eternal by Coby- I made a kit to go with it, but haven't decided if I like it enough to offer it. What do you think?

Vaughns Birthday Page

I know his birthday was back in June, but I finally got around to scrapping his birthday. Pictures are courtesy of Abby Palmer. The kit I used (and altered) was MissMint Party Pants (available at www.Peppermintcreative.com . The brown paper is from http://LetMeScrapbook.blogspot.com
as part of a kit called MS Summer Camp

I'm very happy with it! Thanks to the designers who put hard work into making these beautiful kits!!

Quick!!!

Ok, so I have GOT to finish my Halloween Afghan ASAP!!!

The second I"m done with that afghan, I have to learn how to make Granny Squares. I have to, have to, have to!!!!

Why? you ask..... THIS is why

http://www.craftycrafty.tv/2008/02/geek_craft_giant_tetris_afghan.html

Scratching the itch

I've been wanting to digi-scrap for a while. It's definitely not something I'm NEW to, I used to do it all the time. As a matter of fact, I used to design some (to get those for free, visit www.imafishtank.blogspot.com - if it says it costs money and you want it, just let me know so I can send it to you). Anyway, I didn't want to start a three hour long project, but I just couldn't  stay away. Luckily, I had just downloaded a bunch of kits, namely from Two Peas In a Bucket. They have a designer named Rhonna Farrer who has some amazing stuff. My entire page here, is one piece of her paper! Isn't that lovely?

Here you go!

Planning a Book Nook

So, after the book share yesterday, I decided my kids need a cool place to read. We have this fairly large area between a couch and a wall that serves as dumping grounds for all things Halloween and for last minute hiding things when guests come over. What a waste!! So we decided to make it into a book nook- bringing all the kids soft chairs and a little rug, putting shelves similar to THESE (but mine will look a little fancier because I have some leftover crown molding that will be perfect!)

Now I have to decide what to do with the wall. DH is going to build a cardboard playhouse (think ginormous box big!) and I want to put those shelves up, but underneath- do I paint stuff on the wall? Muralesque like THIS or THIS or do I do something easy peasy that even I can't screw up like THIS?

Fluffy Head

So, I went to a "book share" tonight. You bring your favorite books (I took one I hadn't read before because I'm lame like that and didn't know any better). I did write down my favorite books and thought it would be so fun to share- until I realized that my books.... were  fluff. They're funny, light, easy to read. Sad that I had to institute a "Heavy Scale" because I'm lame and can't handle any big language or gut wrenching stuff. I did, however, come home with two books to read and a good-sized list. I even brought a book home for Roger.

The books I brought home (and can't wait to start):
James and the Giant Peach by Ronald Dahl (for Roger to read- INCREDIBLE illustrations)
Star Girl by Jerry Spinelli
The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat

My list? So glad you asked! I don't have authors for all of them, though

Evermore
Mormonville (I've heard it is SO funny!!)
Farenheit 451- Ray Bradbury
1776
Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands- Dr. Laura
Anthem- Ayn Rand
The Bell Jar- Sylvia Plath
Memoirs of a Geisha
Secret Life of Bees
Hope for the Flowers- Trina Paulus (that's a kids book)

Anybody read any of those?

So spoiled!!!

That's what I have been this birthday!!

You saw the gorgeous cake that I got, plus my husband and my kids picked out the perfect gifts for me (Ped Egg, glittery pens, paintbrushes, tackle box for my jewelry). THEN to top it off, he took me on an awesome date- Red Robin (thank you, Birthday club!) and Harry Potter- which I LOOOOVED!

Then today I got two MORE birthday gifts!! Lori (aka Goody Goody Gumdrops) sent me two, count them TWO prints of her buffet paintings that are SO gorgeous and getting frames ASAP! They're beautiful, thank you Lori!!!

And, my sweet friend Tricia posted THIS blog post- Yup! Paisley notes! Especially for me!!!

Thank you all my friends!!! You've made me feel on top of the world!!

Tummy Ache

My tummy hurts today. Xander threw up on Saturday and Vaughn threw up today. I'm hoping it's nothing much, but if my stomach is goin to hurt, I'd rather just puke it up and feel better.  I've gotten a lot done so far- gobs of laundry, dishes, and half of my bedroom clean. I just wish I could trust my kids to behave downstairs w/out having the tv on all day. They need to go play with friends, but I feel stupid calling people and asking if my kids can play. I guess we'll figure something out.

Crafty news: I finished a few more sets of Story Blocks (need to make some more). I also made a bunch of plarn Saturday. This time I did it the easy way. I'm hoping to do some plarn crocheting today.

Murray Park- M family

He's Just Not That Into You

We watched this movie last night and I have to tell you, I have very mixed emotions about it. On the one hand, I liked the Gigi character's storyline. It was cute. But then the rest of it pretty much ticked me off. The premise of the movie is adorable, but considering it was a movie or "rules and exceptions" I'd like to know where the general "rule" of marriage was portrayed anywhere in the movie!! Every time they showed a marriage, it was something to be trapped in, something to weigh you down, something that " no man wants to be in." Where was my marriage portrayed? Or my parents? Or billions of other people's marriage? The one where the husband and the wife respect each other? Where they help each other out? Where there's nothing more proud than showing the ring on your finger and knowing that it represents a mutual love and adoration between you and the person you cherish the most in your life? And I don't get why the mistress got all mad when she was in the closet. She knew the whole time he was married! What made her suddenly irritated?

I was just frustrated at the movie. It had a few redeeming qualities, but not enough for me to ever watch it again. Just proves (again) that you can't use Hollywood as a reference for hardly anything realistic.

Cake!!

So- my husband is being a sweetheart and letting me get a cake for my birthday (for trade, of course!). I didn't want to pick out my OWN cake, that would be silly. So I searched Flickr and I'm posting this mosiac here and on TooeleMommies to see if anybody is interested! Then they will e-mail Roger and say which kind they are interested in making. Cool, huh? So, if you think you're up to the challenge (and you're in the area). I don't necessarily want an exact replica, I want something creative. These are just cakes that made me go "oooh!" ROger's email is stinkyfishtank at yahoo dot com

(click for the big one!)

To give credit, I also have this:

1. Tam's 60's cake, 2. Shells Cake, 3. high heel cake, 4. Nicola's Christening, 5. Snapshot in Time Cake, 6. Funky pink & orange flowers cake, 7. Jewelry box cake , 8. Daisies, 9. moderne Hochzeitstorte grün braun creme, 10. Gerber Daisy Cake, 11. Madhatter - PC Course, 12. colourful paisley cake, 13. Tangerine paisley-ish cake, 14. Paisley, 15. paisley and striped cake, 16. Paisley Dream Birthday Cake, 17. Green Paisley, 18. HB apryl, 19. Paisley Cake, 20. Paisley Birthday Cake, 21. Paisley, 22. Orange Paisley Cake, 23. Paisley K Cake, 24. Patterned minicakes

Thanks for looking and I hope we get some interest!

Paying it forward, a.k.a. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

So, my birthday is a week from today and there is something just lovely about opening my inbox and seeing all my free birthday stuff from ColdStone, Buca De Beppo, Red Robin, and every other birthday club I've signed up for. Also, Miss Goody Goody Gumdrops gave me an idea the other day. I want to start my OWN birthday club!!!! Here's how it works! E-mail me with the subject line: BIRTHDAY CLUB SIGN UP and in it, include your name and birthdate- plus if you want to add your kids or hubby or whatever, their name and birthday- and age so that I make it appropriate. Plus, include your home mailing address (PO boxes are fine by me!) And I will send something for your birthday!! :D I can't promise anything big, but still, you'll ge a little piece of handmade goodness as a birthday gift. I firmly believe that birthdays should be celebrated to the MAX!!!

In my pretty garden...

Wedding

This is the only picture I can post because I forgot to get permission from the bride to use her photos. oopsie!

Family Reunion

Just a note

I have an awesome friend trying to adopt, give her blog a look!! www.familyjourneyintoeternity.weebly.com 

Sweet Sneak Peak

Here's how far I've gotten on the cupcakes. The frosting is made from bookpages(10 points if you can name the book!). The orange and black bottoms are scrapbook paper, but the purple bottoms are made from DUCT TAPE!!!! :D The ink around the edges are from a few different companies, CTMH for the green and orange. Worry not, dear friends, they are still not complete. I have a few things to add once they are on their stand (two varieties of which I may use, thanks for that awesome idea Tricia!) Anyway, without any further ado, I give you.... HALLOWEEN CUPCAKES (phase 1)

Moral Crafting Dillema

OK, so remember the Halloween cupcake picture I have been talking about the last few days? Yeah, I asked DH if I could get it for my birthday. He said we have to pay bills instead *sniff*. So, I decided to do a different version of it. Here is my dillema- I don't want to be ripping her off, that's rude. I'm changing the design, the way the mediums are used, not the same mediums completely, either. Also, the shape of the cupcake is inspired more by Tricia-Rennea.  I'm worried 1) because I don't want to be a jerk and 2) I KNOW mine won't look as good. Hers is STUNNING!!

So my big dillema is this- I'm doing the cupcake tops at the moment (you'll see soon!) and I'm trying to decide if it would be completely wrong of me to put the cupcakes on a stand, just like hers, or if I should have the cupcakes each separately, making a bunch of mini pieces of art instead of one big one. I may be doing that ANYway solely because using an actual canvas sizes scares the crap out of me. The smaller, the more confident I am. Less to mess up, I suppose.

What would you do? WAIT! I know! You should all buy Goody Goody Gumdrop's work of art!  You should also buy Tricia-Rennea's awesome stuff at her Zazzle store!! :D I'll be insanely jealous, but happy to support someone who's inspired me so much.

And digital!

So, remember the paintings I did yesterday? I decided to play with the rough draft a little today on PSE. I still think I like the original better, but this is fun, too.

Vanity

Ok, so two artists have VERY much inspired me lately. One is Tricia, from Tricia-Rennea Art, specifically  THIS piece and THIS piece.  Also extremely inspiring is Goody Goody Gumdrops. Specifically (for the moment) THIS painting (which also matchis THIS painting)  Now, I want all of you to know that if I could, I'd SO be buying all those pieces!! Also, since I have been doing lia sophia, I have dreamt in jewelry. The combination of those three things?

First, the sketch (this one is polorized so you can actually see the lines)

Next, the rough draft, a painting it on a bookpage

It's actually my favorite of the three, but then, I decided to paint on cardboard:

Now, the white lines are pen.....

I like the rough draft best, but oh well.

Something crafty

Maybe. It's supposed to be a craft blog, but I've sucked pretty bad at actually putting crafty stuff on here. I know! Maybe I'll feature some things from my Flickr Group that I love and that have inspired me. Yes, be prepared for Halloween Goodness!!!

Now- before you see it, I want you to know that I did NOT just stalk the same people's stuff. I went through my flickr group and grabbed things that popped out to me. Half of them just *happen* to be the same person. I promise!


1. Orange Pumpkin Feltie, 2. Halloween Surprise Slide Box - Inside, 3. Skeleton Gent, 4. fright night, 5. Halloween plaque 3 - bat, 6. Cabinet door - Halloween, 7. elephant night light, 8. Handpainted Softballs - set2, side4, 9. Horror Manor left Side, 10. Group of Trick-or-Treaters, 11. Halloween Crochet Scrubbers, 12. Halloween Gift Tags, 13. Set 3 - Double Sided Halloween & Christmas Necklaces, 14. Pumpkin treat bag of candy, 15. Emma and Maud with jack-o-lantern fabrics, 16. Spooky!, 17. halloween banner - craft 365 - day 304, 18. Halloween Sign handpainted, 19. Smiley Pumpkin Door - Wall Decor, 20. halloween clothespins

Alright, now I picked these for lots of reasons, let's explore them one by one.
1. How adorable is he?! He scares me a little bit though, because I've never actually SEWN anything felted before.
2. I don't know where I'd put something like that, but I LOVE the idea of scenes in the matchbox.
3. He's just too cute. Plus she's got a tut on her blog!
4. Fantastic piece of embroidery- cross-stitch, I believe. I'm working on an embroidery piece right now. Just have to figure out how to put it on something to make it into a pillow or mini quilt or something.
5. I swoon for this! I think it is so adorable! I actually asked my freecycle group if anybody had any cabinet doors just so I can paint Halloween stuff on them. Nowhere near this talent, mind you, but definitely inspired by it.
6. Same as #5
7. Ok, so I know this picture isn't Halloweeny, but think of how cool it would be to have Halloween lamp shades! I saw some on Martha or somewhere last year. You just cut out stuff from black paper and secure it to your existing lampshade and voila! shadows!
8. These are painted baseballs, which I probably won't use because i don't have any baseballs, but i'm thinking..... I may have more pumpkins from my garden that I know what to do with! We can carve a couple and paint the rest!
9. I think this is supposed to be a TP roll. I'm thinking of having it be a little playhouse w/ little goasties and bats and other Halloween personalities inside. Like finger puppets or something! Hmm... mixed media? Felt + Crochet?
10. I have nothing else to say about these. They're cute!
11. Scrubbies! I did make myself ONE Halloween dishcloth last year, but this year, I want more MORE MORE!!!
12. Bookmarks- I did these last year (not THOSE ones, but bookmarks) and put them on cards. It was so fun to send them out!
13.  These are necklaces, but I love the idea of holiday jewelry. I am thinking more along the lines of using scrapbook paper to do some scrabble tile pendants....
14.  All I can say about this lady is that there should be a limit on the amount of crochet talent a person can have. She has INCREDIBLE patterns and I want them all! I have two of them and I'm afriad to try them. I want my stuff to look as great as hers!
15. Again, adorable, but they scare me to pieces since they require sewing....
16. Banners- so cute, huh? I made one already, but I love these!
17. Another banner- I'm thinking of doing a mini one (or mini ones) for a few of the doorways in our house.
18. Remember what I said about craftyanna having all the crochet talent in the world? Yeah, I feel the same way about painting talent with Goody Goody Gumdrops- INCREDIBLE!!! This made me think of tile. I may do some vinyl....
19. I'm not sure how she made this, but I think it's adorable!
20. Everyday items- Halloweenized. Love it, love it, love it!!!!

Now that all of this is done, I went to Goody Goody Gumdrops blog again and she added..... wait for it, wait for it.... HALLOWEEN CUPCAKE PAINTINGS!!!! So stinkin cute. That's something I"m tempted to purchase.... wonder if DH loves me that much ;)

Rainbows, peppers, and protection

Last night there was a beautiful rainbow outside, so I decided to get my camera. By the time I got it, it had faded and this was all that was left of it.

What was I doing outside anyway? We weeded the garden, rebuilt a mini irrigation system, and covered our peppers with cheesecloth. They were getting sunburt, so we researched on how to protect peppers from sunburn. We found a website that said you should make a cheesecloth tent for them. Since everything on the internet is true, we went out and got cheesecloth and stakes. Here's how it looks:

What am I protecting? you ask..... My peppers! Two of our pepper plants are Horizon's, which I guess are orange, but we had to pick them green because the sunburn was getting mushy. So, after picking those (and cutting off the mushy part) we turned them into super yummy fajitas!! Now here is my biggest pepper.

We also have some interesting developments- our yellow pepper plant looks like it might actually be producing banana peppers. Now, if yellow peppers always start like that, I'd like to know. But we may have to just wait it out and see. Not that we'd complain TOO much, we have a banana pepper plant also, but it doesn't have any fruit yet, just blossoms.

Also, since we're looking at my pretty garden, look how pretty my pumpkin blossoms are!!!

Look! Pictures!

Here's a video of my oldest being crazy

It's official!

I am now a lia sophia advisor!!

AND I've been doing crafting lately. I don't have pics yet, but I will. I've been working on Story Blocks. We played with our first set the other day and had so much fun. 4 adults and 3 kids rolling these cute die!! :D

A New Adventure

So, I've been thinking for some time that I'd like to help my family out financially. I knew getting a job wasn't an option. I didn't want to pay for daycare, didn't have a 9-5 stamina, didn't graduate college, very little previous job experience. SO- I had kinda looked into direct sales, but I was pretty leery of most of them. Then, however, I found it!!! I found something I love that doesn't put pressure on everyone at the party, that is fun to be around, that helps me feel good about myself. I hadn't even thought of selling it at first, but after my party, someone off-handledly said that I'd be good at it, then when the party was over, I found that 3 people at the party had written my name in a form asking "Who do you think would be good at this?". It was just the boost I needed. I've done my research, talked to a LOT of people, weighed the pros and cons (and to be honest, there were only 2 cons on my list) and decided that I am going to become a Lia Sophia advisor.

Lia Sophia is jewelry. One of my favorite things about it (besides the fact that is drool-worthy) is that it has a lifetime guarantee, so if my kids break it, I can get it replaced. I also like all the hostess benefits and the way that they help their consultants (earning free jewelry so you don't have to pour your entire paycheck right back into it). I also like the stress-free feel of the parties, they really are just plain fun!

Well, I buy my kit on Monday. I'm so excited. If any of you feel like ordering and contributing to my starter kit, there is an awesome sale going on right now. Buy one item at full price and get two at half price. The best part? The full price item gets to be your least expensive item and the half priced ones are the more expensive ones. Isn't that cool? And it all helps me get my business started. It doesn't matter what state you're in, the jewelry can be shipped. Shipping is $3.80 regardless of where you are.

Curious, now? Here is a peek at the catalog  If you find you're interested in some, just leave a little not here on my comments and I'll e-mail you directly. My show closes at 10AM on Monday, so act fast. You don't know how much I'd appreciate your orders!!!

So tired of this discussion!!!!

So, when Xander went to have his kindergarten assessment, they gave him a workbook and told him that if he finishes it, that he'll be invited to a pizza party at the beginning of school. He was so excited for it! He came home and did the first page and then was bored with it. Every day since, we have had a variation of the following conversation:

Xander: Mom, can I watch TV?
Me: You need to do your homework
X: I don't want to do my homework
M: Why not?
X: It's boring
M: You don't get to go to your pizza party if you don't do your homework
X: I'll just go to my pizza party. I don't want to do my homework.
M: You say that now, but you'll be sad on the day of. They won't let you go if your book isn't done.

about 15 minutes pass and then I hear this

X: Mom, can I watch TV?
M: Is your homework done?
X: No! I don't want to do my homework! I want to watch TV!
M: You can watch TV when your homework is done.
X: I'm gonna watch TV anyway and not do homework
M: Then you'll go to your room and be grounded from the TV for the rest of the day

Then he goes and does something else and we start 100% over an hour later. This happens. Every. Day. Of. The. Week.

Happy Birthday Vaughn

My youngest turned one yesterday! I can't believe how fast the time has flown! We didn't do a big party- I didn't do invites or anything, I just posted a couple places and told a couple friends. So people came to support my big boy. My friend, Abby, took pics so I could focus on the event at hand. She took some ADORABLE pics!!

First, we opened gifts (because they were just from Mommy, Daddy, Xander, Juliana, and Rachel)It's not my best picture, but showed him with most of the gifts.

Here is him seeing his cake

Then we let him at it!

Yeah, when he was done, this was the cake:

Brothers

These boys were so much fun. They had me laughing the whole time!