Early New Year's Resolutions

So, I started knocking off my 2007 Resolutions a bit early this year. My bestest friend Deb reminded me of a sale at a crafty shop we both love, and with $20 I got for Christmas, I bought myself a soldering gun and have already tried it out! I'll admit, my work is rather rough and ugly, but I really don't care! I love the fact that I tried it - soldering is something I've always wanted to try. (I don't care much for the smell of it though!)

Here's a necklace I did here. I was so proud of myself creating a loop for hanging! Then I used a chain that I got from my mother from this year's Yankee Swap. (I got some of her old jewelry!) So this piece represents a lot to me and I will wear it with pride! :)

Week before Christmas

Here's some pictures of my week. I finally feel more at ease, with all my gifts bought and wrapped - I feel like my kitty pictured here - finally able to take a small break. Unfortunately - I think I've caught the cold that everyone around me has and will spend Christmas as a sickie. My body always does that - waits until a major event is over to get sick. Oh well.

This is a picture of one of my final swap gifts from my SA Secret Pal - isn't it total cuteness? It's a "AMM Mini" - about 1/4 the size of my large one and I just love it. Thank you Niki!

Here's a picture of my three charges. We went to the park yesterday and came home to hot cocoa. Kids are so funny. It took them about a half hour to drink it - we talked about the fact that it was much too hot to drink for about 10 minutes (it wasn't!) and the size of the marshmellows, and on, and on!.....

I made this tonight for the tree. I made a more colorful version of it for friends. I end up taking lots of family photos for friends every year. They make great ornament gifts!

And here's a book I'm working on - but you can tell I'm sleepy - because I obviously forgot how to spell the word "thoughts!" Oh well.... time for bed!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

This is what came for me in the mail today! Yippeee! It doesn't get much better than that - does it??
But my biggest news this week is that some of my Trinkets merchandise is now being sold in a storefront! Last month we met the nicest girl - Julie - from "Chloe's Closet!" She took some of our work in and is going to hang it all over the walls of her store. "Chloe's Closet" is a clothing resale shop and is located in Jaffrey, NH. You should definitely get in to see our stuff and hers as well - when I was there I bought a beautiful raspberry sherbet colored sweater! The best thing was that Julie herself was the most positive, upbeat person I've met in a long time! It's worth a trip to her shop just to meet her!


Chloe's Closet - 105 Peterborough St., Rt. 202, Jaffrey, NH 603-532-6211

My favorite time of year

So this weekend was an early Christmas for me. We got our tree and I put white lights in it - we'll decorate it this week with the kids. Then tonight was the annual tree lighting ceremony. After the choir sings (Noah sang this year for the first time and was so proud!) they light the tree and then Santa arrives via fire engine! The kids love it and even the adults get excited! Then we all walk to Town Hall and the kids get to sit on Santa's knee and tell him what they want for Christmas. I especially loved seeing the kids look upward - thinking about what they really wanted to tell Santa.

The part I enjoy the best is walking home after and seeing our lit tree in the window. It really looks beautiful - all twinkly and pretty in the glass. Our neighbors this year have also really outdone themselves and many houses on the street are lit up. It always gives me a cozy feeling. And to top it off - we may even get snow tomorrow!

Time to wrap more presents! But before I do, I want to send out a big thank you to all the people who wished me a happy birthday last week - it was much appreciated! And thanks, most of all, to my best friend, Deb, who always remembers and always makes it special. You're the best, Deb!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Fun Weekend!

What a nice time I had this weekend! Not only did I get to spend lots of quality time with my cute kids, but I also got to meet some of the people I talk with over at Scrapbooker Online. SBO

We had the best time at Maryfrances' house, cropping and laughing and shopping! I'm so glad I made the drive down! Thanks for everything, MF!

Thanks for a wonderful show!

What a terrific weekend we had at the Trinkets show! So many of our good friends came to visit - we cannot thank you enough for always supporting us! We saw many fellow crafters and made new friends, too. It was so great to see all our merchandise together in one place and to spend the day together in a relaxed atmosphere. Thank you all for making it so special!

Crafting!

I did some more projects last night just for fun. Got some new stamps and paper last night from my new good friend Julia and started a layout. What fun!

Our show Trinkets is tomorrow! Don't miss it!

Colorful Cards

I just made a bunch of these cute notecards this week for the Trinkets show. They're ultra colorful and come in cute zippered bags with a pen. I'm having fun mixing and matching the colors!

Kooky Kalendar

So, I finally tried my hand at making one of these fun cookie sheet calendars. I was inspired to do it after seeing Teresa McFayden's and Pam Garrison's version - although I think mine pales in comparison. I tried to make it usable for many months - and I'm hoping I can pop the title off to switch it in November and December.

Nesting

So, this is what I made tonight. I have always had a thing for birds and I just love these two colors mixed together - robin's egg blue and brown. I found a blue-ish green that I was happy with and just started painting everything that color! I don't know if I've gotten it out of my system - yet!

Signs!

I am fast becoming the queen of signs! I can't stop making signs for our show! Here's some recent ones for fall and Christmas.
Don't forget to check out our new weblog - just in time for our Holiday Open House at Trinkets!

TRINKETS

Setting Up Shop

So, today I moved a lot of my products downstairs to the dining room to take inventory and price things - assess what I have. It's all for our holiday sale at Trinkets, and I'm so, so excited to get it going! I keep coming up with new ideas and I need to get organized so I'm ready - this year we plan on having our sale a little earlier for those early-bird shoppers. So excited!

Pretty Little Cards

I just got my monthly kit this week from my scrap club and made these cute little cards in about an hour. It's so much fun to sit down with everything you need and make something quick and easy. All the paper coordinates beautifully and I love the little embellishments. Coming soon to a mailbox near you!

Perfect Day!

So, I met my scrapbooking idol today - Elsie Flannigan! I took a class at my LSS and got to see her, chat with her and do a super cool mini album. She's totally easy going - fun and friendly. I really had an awesome time and it didn't hurt that I got to go shopping after the class, too!

It was so good to get out and do something I enjoy - today was a great day! :)

Blown Away!

Just look what came in my mailbox today! I am doing a "Secret Pal Swap" through one of my scrap sites, and each month we are creating a new project for our "pal." This one was a "freestyle" project that could be anything we wanted to send, and this is what I got!
It's a beautiful green album filled with 12 pages of pre-designed pages, just waiting for my pictures and journaling. Whoever made this spent an awful lot of time on it. She included a sweet little note and even put more embellishments in the end pages so that I could add on to it if I wished.
It was so thoughtful - I cried when I opened it! Wow. I guess the way to my heart is through a scrapbook these days! Thank you whoever you are! !!!!!

I won something!!!

So - after such a long time of entering contests and finally taking a break after all the rejection - lo and behold I finally won a challenge! I did this layout a while ago. Luckily, someone nice emailed me to tell me I had won or else I may not have known!

I don't even know what the prize is, but that doesn't seem to matter so much! It's good to feel special once in a while!

Painting

So I've been going off in another direction - painting again on wood items. I just love to paint! It's all for our holiday sale in December and my friends and I are gearing up for it. I'm not sure still the exact products I'll be making, but it's fun trying different things on for size.

I have so much to get done! And what a great way to extend my favorite holiday - Christmas - by starting in July! :)

Check me out!

http://www.scrapbookeronline.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=89

I am a featured scrapbooker this month on "Scrapbooker Online." Whoo hoo!

Relax

Here's a layout I did of the party on Saturday. Isn't this a nice picture of Lisa? I thought so. Joey too, of course! :)

Glad she's settling in.

Summer is Here!

School's out for summer!

Need I say more? I have two very happy kids. And one fearful Mother am I! :)

Will I survive it? It's only day one tomorrow and I am dreading the fights, the demands, the imminent boredom. Ah well... I am going to try to combat that - but alas, I am only one woman! Wish me luck!

Swap-O-Rama!

So here's some pictures of swap stuff - finally! I have been a very bad blogger lately - but so much stuff has been going on, so I do have valid excuses!

The first pic is a lovely bunch of goodies that I received from a trim swap I did, and these came from Abby Powell Thompson of "Abbytrysagin" (abbytrysagain.etsy.com). They were fabulous and I haven't used them yet but I will! Thank you Abby! I especially love the little tags she made which were extra goodies she sent that she didn't have to! Love it when people throw in extras.
The other picture is a bunch of swap items I sent for a "Pretty Bird" swap, which I had so much fun gathering and sending - but alas, the package I should have received from my swap partner never came. Oh well.... My rolodex card swap also got lost in the mail. Whaaaa! If I cry like a baby will the postman bring them??? HA.
I get enough in the mail, I don't know what I'm complaining about!

Projects

Trying to get back into the swing of things - and using swaps and other goals to get me creating again after a brief lull. Here's my "Americana themed tag book" that I'm doing for one swap - it's blank without pics or journaling so that I can give it to someone else to fill, and then the other thing is my June calendar. I can't believe it's June already and so hot! I'm already wiping the condensation off of my drinks as I sit at the computer and using the fan. It seems that summer has come so quickly.

Joy!

So this is one of the things I did today while the little Queen of Sheba was napping. We bought these and I planted them. Just looking at them makes me happy! This is my first year trying Dahlias - I hope I don't kill them. They just looked so perky and cute at our local farm - I couldn't resist. Then I mowed the lawn again. Supposed to rain so I had to get it in. Here's hoping the Memorial Day weekend is not a wash. We could really use more of this sunshine since all the flooding.

Just checking in

I have been feeling a bit down lately with all the things going on. Feeling like drudgery is and will always be my life. Even though it's beautiful out - there is not much that feels fun to me right now.

I found this today though, in one of my favorite blogs, and it's uplifting.

It's from Posy - (http://rosylittlethings.typepad.com/) I hope you don't mind me borrowing it!

The chasm between thinking about doing it and doing it is huge. And small. Writing is just like making things, and making things -- making dinner, a dress, a garden, a letter, a sock, a fun afternoon -- is magic. Unmysterious magic -- you just do it. Crank the flywheel. If you want to paint, get a paintbrush. If you want to make a stuffie, get some wool felt (or, hell, some acrylic -- just get some). If you want to write, get a pen. Do something, anything new that you've always wanted to do -- even something that you don't even know you want to do yet. Who knows what you will discover? Play tennis. Get a dog. Learn to surf. Crochet one granny square. Do another one. Start a blog. When that gets boring, pick something else. Leap. No one will care if you don't.

There you go! A toe touched down on the other side. Get ready to take off again; you're flying now.

Freestyle Challenge

Here's a page I did tonight that I really like - I love this Kimberly Hodges paper and love using it anywhere I can. I'd love to paper a bedroom with it but I wouldn't want to scare anyone off!

Spring is in the air!

Spring came early this year for us and I am so glad. It's not even warm enough outside to plant these petunias but that didn't stop me from buying them today! What a beautiful sight it is to go out driving and see all the forsythia and trees in bloom! Every day I check the progress of my peonies and hydrangeas. Who knows, this year they may even flower again? I love spring and I love flowers!

Finished!

So I finally finished the inside of my little paper purse this weekend. Even though I cut the papers all wrong initially, I still like the colorful way it came out. Happy Spring!

New stuff

I just can't stop making little books and things! Lovin' using some of my new papers!

Spring Garland

So, I finally finished my Paper Bella project tonight. It was actually kinda fun - reminded me of being in college and doing crazy art projects that my professor cooked up using found materials and power tools. Ha. Okay - this project was minus the power tools, but it still brought me back to that time and I couldn't stop until I finished - even though it's midnight now. Oh well.

Not like I'll catch up on my sleep tomorrow or anything! I'm taking the kids to the arcade tomorrow just for fun. It'll do them good to get out of the house for a while.

If I weren't so tired I would work more on my card swap, the family album I'm supposed to be making for my Mom and Dad, and I'd also be trying out my new awesome papers that arrived in the mail today. But I guess that'll be tomorrow's midnight project. Goodnight!

Great book!

I got the most lovely book in the mail today - it's called: "Designer Scrapbooks with Dena." It's by Dena Fishbein who is a designer of many things. Her look is very romantic and feminine - I already own a few of her things but this book is perfect for me! It's about scrapbooking, designing and hosting parties with pretty invitations and table decorations. Every page is pure eye candy! I love it. You should rush out and get it! Very "Victoria" meets Posie. Ha.

In other news, I cut my own hair again today. I have been so sick of it - it has grown so long. So I bit the bullet and cut about 3 or 4 inches off. Funny thing is you can't even tell! But it just feels so much better! Looks bouncier and healthier. I'm sure my husband won't notice!

Maybe one of these days I'll get back into a salon if I ever have the time. HA!