My Whimsy Life

WELCOME FALL...

2011-09-22T14:21:00.005-04:00

I know the official first day of Autumn isn't until Friday but...I'm so ready. It's been a hot, crazy Summer! I *love* everything about Fall; the cooler weather, the gorgeous colors, the hayrides and pumpkin picking, farm visits, sweaters, jeans, Uggs.....{HEAVEN}. I love hosting Thanksgiving dinner, too. I'm already thinking of my menu. Is that weird? :) Oh, and the decorations! I'm just giddy with anticipation. I've got a few pumpkins out on the porch already. And now I'm on the hunt for a little wagon like this:

Source: countrysamplermagazine.com via Melissa on Pinterest

How beautiful is that vignette? And I might even try my hand at painting some of the pumpkins like this:

Source: gritsglamour.blogspot.com via Melissa on Pinterest

Can you stand it? Can you stand how cute these are? I tell ya, I can barely contain myself. So stinking pretty. Tomorrow I'm going to buy some mums, I decided. And maybe some hay bales at the craft store. I can't wait any longer! Yay Fall!!

Let me show you a couple of mini paper bag albums I've made for Halloween. You know I adore My Mind's Eye paper and this new Halloween line is adorable! I'm itching to get the Christmas one too, but my local Archiver's doesn't have it yet. I was trying to avoid buying it online but...I don't know how much longer I can wait!! I saw it more than a month ago online and I probably should've bought it then! Anyway, here are the two little albums I've made: (I should probably move on to Christmas stuff but I want to use up ALL the Halloween stuff before I move on ;) )

As always you can find both in my Etsy store :)

Oh! PS Did I tell you I won the Play Date Cafe challenge that time I entered?? Oh yeah, baby! can't wait to play with my new stamps! :)

I'm off to sit in carpool while I wait for my son to get out of school. Have a wonderful day!!

EARTHQUAKES, HURRICANES, AND A CHALLENGE PDCC96

2011-08-29T09:36:00.005-04:00

Yesterday I got a friend request on facebook from someone I didn't recognize. So, after I figured out she must be a fellow creative ('cause we had alot of creative friends in common), I accepted. And boy am I glad I did! Julie Ranae is the Senior Design Team member on The Play Date Cafe; a blog dedicated to weekly creative challenges. I've only just discovered the site and haven't really read through yet but I decided to participate in this week's challenge - to create something using the color scheme above (yum!). I don't have the exact colors but I hope this is close enough :)

Ever since the Life Preserver's Club closed in January, I feel so out of touch. I'd been on the design team since 2006 and I loved being challenged to have to create with a theme or guideline every month. I feel lost without it! I've started posting some of my work in other galleries and hopefully, I'll find more creative friends to be inspired by :)

The eastern seaboard has seen alot of action this week! An earthquake and a hurricane all in one week - scary. I'm near Raleigh and while I didn't feel any shakes from the earthquake in Virginia last week, my son and some of my friends did! I was grocery shopping with my little one but my big boy stayed home with Daddy. When he felt the earthquake he ran downstairs to ask daddy why the sofa in the playroom was shaking! LOL My husband hadn't felt anything downstairs so he wasn't sure what Ethan meant until my sister called seconds later to see if we had felt it. She was working in Raleigh and felt it!

Thankfully, we didn't get any damage from the hurricane either. Lots of rain and wind here on Saturday but that's it. My prayers are with everyone affected by the hurricane this weekend. My family & friends in NY experienced lots of flooded basements and power outages and I'm thankful because it could've been much worse.

Hope this week is completely uneventful here on the east coast and wherever YOU are! Happy new week, everyone :)

TINY TREAUSURES

2011-08-17T09:34:00.007-04:00

I {love} making ACEOs. Love. They're the perfect way to use those tiny pieces of gorgeous paper that you can't bear to throw out, tiny embellishments that might get lost on a 12x12 page, and just the right size so they're not overwhelming to make or look at. I love them.

These tiny easels make them easy to display as proper works of art :)

It seems I have a 'style' or 'theme' - and it's all girly. I can't help it; I'm a girl. :) I love {old} {loved} {shabby chic} and {femme}. I wonder if everything I make looks the same. But then, that's ok if it does. It's what I love and what inspires me. Hopefully, someone else will love it, too. Here are two more I've made this week.

Hope Carries Us ACEO

Live Your Life With Grace ACEO

I'm off to try my hand at banana bread for the first time ever. I don't like bananas but my kids do. There are some older ones that are turning and I can't bear to throw them out. Wish me luck.

THE LAZY DAYS OF SUMMER

2011-08-08T18:51:00.007-04:00

...yeah right! It seems I've been busier this Summer than I have all year. School ended on June 10th and since then it's been a series of out of town guests, museum visits, visits to the park, swim lessons, blowing bubbles, more out of town guests, bike riding, Bible school camp, playing, making s'mores, movies, library time, and plays. Exhausting but so fun!

I haven't had any time to create anything new and I thought I would shrivel up and die (think Wicked Witch of the West) but, thankfully, I got a little creative time in this week and boy am I stoked! :) I know it's only the beginning of August, but my thoughts are already on pumpkins, hayrides, candy corn, and mistletoe, Christmas trees, and candy canes! But first I have to get back in the game and get all this pent up creativity out on stuff I've had on the back burner for a while. Hopefully, that won't take until December!

Here's what I worked on this week:

HAPPINESS IS HOMEMADE ACEO

SPREAD YOUR WINGS ACEO

FAMILY ALTERED PRINTER'S TRAY

Thanks for sticking with me! I'm hoping the creative streak continues and that I'll post again soon :)

Happy Monday!!

SPRING CLEANING

2011-05-24T09:06:00.003-04:00

Since the last time I wrote, I've had a few out of town guests and done very little crafting. And yet, somehow, my craft room is a disaster! Maybe 'cause I've just been putting it off for so long. I like to clean up after every project and start fresh but that hasn't happened in a while so...yeah, it's bad.

So, I'm cleaning up and going through everything. Hard-core cleaning and purging and consolidation and reorganizing. It helps me think more clearly and hopefully be more creative!
I've already sold some packs of Basic Grey paper and have some others listed on my Facebook page and I'm still going through lots more. If you're interested in purchasing any of the lots listed, write me and let me know. I'm hoping to get through everything this week but...who knows!

There are some things in my space that I absolutely love and are so useful, essential even!

Summer Garden Pin Cushion by Chet and Dot

Another sweet pin cushion by Sea Pinks

My tiny metal buckets from the dollar section at Target

And my must-have stamp keeper by Tim Holtz

I've gotta get back to my cleaning now. Don't forget to check my facebook page to see what I'm getting rid of! I'll also be listing things in my destash shop on Etsy.

If you don't hear from me soon, send someone to dig me out of this mess!

xoxo

TODAY'S THE DAY

2011-04-10T09:36:00.003-04:00

I can feel it. Today's the day I'll get a bunch of sales at the show :) Yesterday was the first day of the Durham Art Walk and while I got lots of 'ooohs' and 'aaahs' I didn't sell a thing! Everyone who stopped by would say wonderful things, so very sweet, and then move on. When I did the Art Walk in November, it was a huge hit for me so, I guess I was hoping for the same success this time around.

I know my prices are high to some people. I get that. For a long time I've sold items for so much less than they cost me time-wise. I can't do that anymore; give away my time. So, I guess it follows that not everyone will buy. I remember one lady who purchased 3 of my mini albums in November's show saying 'I feel like I'm stealing from you'. I love that lady. I hope she's there today and steals from me again :)

The silver lining? I've met some great people, put my name out there to potential new customers, and had another one of life's learning experiences. That's never a bad thing.

So, friends, I'm gonna get ready for my last day at the Durham Art Walk. Wish me luck!

I'll leave you with a few of my new mini albums. These little paper bags are so awesome! I've only got a few left so I might try to hang on to them for a while. :) I made these with Mother's day in mind...

The Good Life

Domestic Goddess

Simple Pleasures

SHOW TIME

2011-04-01T20:06:00.004-04:00

Spring has Sprung Tag

Happy April! Hope this new month is bringing you some sunshine and warm weather :) Can't wait to open up the windows and let some fresh air in! We had some wonderful summery weather a couple of weeks back but this week has been so COLD. Can't wait for Spring to come in again...

Next weekend, April 9th & 10th, I'll be at the Durham Art Walk in downtown Durham, NC, selling my wares. If you're in the area, I'd LOVE for you to stop by and say hi! I've been working frantically all week to create lots of fun stuff for the show and trying to keep up with sales in my Etsy shop. I had a sale this week - bad timing on my part 'cause now I have nothing to take to the show! LOL I guess that's a good problem to have.

I did manage to create a mini paper bag album. It's been FOREVER since I'd done one and I was just itching to do another! I really loved the way it turned out and was just a tiny bit sad to see her go to her new home where I'm sure she'll be loved, too :)

I've gotta get back to work now but, I'll leave you with a few of my latest creations...including the pretty little girl who's no longer mine...

Altered Jar

Spring Tag

Beautiful Girl Scrapbook

Garden Girl Scrapbook

Miracles ACEO

Happy Friday, friends. And a happy April to you :)

WELCOME, SPRING!

2011-03-21T18:18:00.004-04:00

It's finally arrived! The weather has been just gorgeous here lately. I even got a bout of Spring cleaning done a couple of weeks ago. Ah, Spring.... :) How I love to declutter and reorganize!

I don't know if it's the weather but I've been on a butterfly kick lately. Seems everything I'm making has a butterfly on it. Maybe it's just that my butterfly punches allow me to use even teeny-tiniest piece of paper. And, heaven knows I can't bear to throw away even the tiniest piece. Whatever the reason, here are some of my butterfly creations :)

An ACEO

Wedding Sampler Set

Gift Tags

More Gift Tags

I also made another one of those altered printer's tray - SO FUN!!

I'm doing the Durham Art Walk Spring Market on April 9th and 10th. I'm so excited but I've got LOTS of work to do! So, wish me luck. I hope to see you there!!

GOODBYE FEBRUARY

2011-02-28T13:25:00.005-05:00

Man, this month flew right by! I've been busy entertaining a steady stream of out-of-town guests and loving every minute of it :) Which is great because there are more on the way!

In the meantime, I've been trying to squeeze in an occasional project here and there; like this wall art:

Don't you just ADORE that little hanger?? I bought a few of them about 3 years ago and I'm having a bear of a time finding them again.

Here's one of those mixed media tags I love to make:

And then some simple little place cards:

I've gotten a few custom inquiries from brides lately. Wedding season must be upon us! I've already completed a custom order for wishing tree tags, too. Now...I'm not up on all the trends. I just make what I like and hope for the best. But, I'm thinking there might be something to this 'wishing tree' thing. So....I'll be designing some of those too! :)

And, of course, craft show season has begun. I've signed up for the Durham Art Walk again. It's being help on April 9th & 10th in downtown Durham. I hope to see some of you there! I also applied for my very first juried show. I won't know till the end of the month but I'll keep you posted if I hear back. Wish me luck!

That's all for now, friends. Hope your Monday is spectacular and your March is fabulous!

HELPING HEARTS

2011-02-13T11:01:00.005-05:00

I learned this week of the terrible loss suffered by a fellow Etsian, DesignedByLucinda, a talented jewelery artist. On Thursday, February 3rd, 2011 an accidental fire took her home, pets, and claimed the life of her 11-year-old son, Kevin. My heart is broken for her - there are no words to express how deeply sorry I am for her loss.

The Etsy community has come together in support of our fellow creative. A shop has been set-up with donations from other artists and artisans - all proceeds will be donated to the Boardman family. Each item is shipped from the artist directly. Stop by and have a look at all the wonderful things available. It's a win-win :)

Helping Hearts Shop - for Lucinda Boardman and family.

So, take a minute and hold them tight. Let them know how much you love them.

Please keep the Boardman family in your prayers.

OOOOH LA LA

2011-01-25T12:11:00.005-05:00

Just a quick post to show you some more of the tiny treasures I've made using the My Mind's Eye Lost & Found papers I love so much. I used them on that altered file folder I showed you a few posts ago and these projects:

Altered Altoids Tin w/Calendar

Mini Album w/Coin Envelopes & Tags

And these 3 fashion inspired ACEOs. (each listed separately) I really love how they turned out - I hope you do too!

I still have tiny bits of the paper left and I'm thinking I may alter a glass jar. Because, Heaven forbid I throw ANY of it out!

Have a wonderful week! Until next time.... :)

INSPIRATION

2011-01-16T18:55:00.004-05:00

I can't get enough of these 7gypsies printer's trays! I love them. I loved them the first time I saw them. But it's taken me a few months to figure out just what I wanted to do. And to have the time to play with them.

It turns out I love for them to be inspirational. Both times I had no idea what I would have them be. Both times they turned out to be frilly, girlie, shabby, cottage-y sources of inspirational quotes and saying. Sure, they take many hours to make. But, I love how they turned out. I hope you do, too.

I'm going to see what other shabby treasures I can create using these perfectly gorgeous paper from Webster's Pages. You can find this tray and (whatever else this paper decides to be) in my Etsy shop.

Have a wonderful night!

ON THE HUNT

2011-01-13T09:40:00.003-05:00

Remember that table I found on craigslist a couple of years ago? You can see it here. LOVE, right?? I used it as my work table forever. It is just...perfect. Well, for Ethan's birthday last year I decided my little round kitchen table wasn't gonna accommodate all his friends so, I asked my husband to bring my gorgeous big table downstairs and I'd take the little round one. It turns out the big table is perfect for downstairs, too.

So, we sanded the big table down (it was pretty scratched up) so that I could stain or paint it (hadn't decided which) and bring it back to my work space. Except it's still downstairs a year later. With as many guests as we have, it only makes sense to keep it in the kitchen. But I REALLY miss my huge table. This tiny round thing ain't cutting it. I can't spread out. It's always a mess. I need a huge table again.

Here's the thing. I can't find one I love. Of course, it must be used or on clearance because the budget doesn't allow for much :). I've been searching for the better part of this past year and have come up empty. SO FRUSTRATING. I'm not TOO picky but...it can't be ugly. I mean, it can be ugly as long as I can clean it up and it has good lines. See the pretty curvy legs on my big table? I want that. And that huge surface? I want that, too. Oh, and it can't cost too much, either.

So, I'm on the hunt again. Or still. I need the perfect table.

CREATIVE STREAK

2011-01-07T14:25:00.003-05:00

It seems 2011 has started out with a creative bang! And I couldn't be happier :) Since October. it feels like I've been on autopilot crafting - making multiples of things to build up my inventory for craft shows and Holiday sales. I love to do it; don't get me wrong. But it's just not the same as creating just for the sake of creating; creating on a whim.

I haven't done any personal scrapbook pages yet, but that's coming too. So far it's been shabby collage style tags & altered things. I was DYING to get my hands on the gorgeous paper that had been sitting on my desk for a couple of months. And boy was I glad I did! Two different lines, two different inspirations and interpretations and a crafty girl who's as happy as a pig in mud. <---Probably more a reference to the current state my home (ie. a sty). So, here they are; my newest. I hope you enjoy them. And I hope you're enjoying a creative streak, too :)

PS You can see more detailed photos of all these project in my Etsy shop & my flickr gallery.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2011-01-02T19:17:00.006-05:00

It's a brand new year, a clean slate, a time to start over :) I hope the last few months have been wonderful for you! It's been a while so, here's a brief rundown of what's been going on around here:

August: Visited NY for a few days to see my Grandma for her birthday. The kids had a great time at Playland in Rye, NY. It was so fun for me to take them there and see how much it's changed since I was a little girl! My mom had brain surgery later that month and an out-patient procedure turned into a week long ordeal in the hospital and side effects that she is still dealing with. I'm just thankful that she is on the road to recovery. My big boy started First grade.

September: Not a whole lot! LOL Getting into the swing of things with school in session, preparing for local craft shows and generally keeping up with my home, shop and life :)

October: My favorite time of year. We visited a corn maize/farm, got some pumpkins, put out our Halloween decor, and of course, the NC State fair! Ah, Fall.... how I love you. My mom was well enough to travel so she and my dad came down for a visit.

November: Prepped for and participated in a few craft shows; one of which was the Durham Art Walk Holiday Market. It was FABULOUS! Looking forward to participating in the Spring again. I met so very many wonderful artists/artisans. Fun times. Hosted Thanksgiving again, with some tried and true recipes and some newer ones. No misses this time, I think they were all hits :) And Ethan lost his first tooth!

December: The most wonderful time of the year! So busy with Christmas, cookies, crafting and company! Had a visit from my dear, dear friend from home whom I hadn't seen in more than four years. It was absolute heaven. Had a surprise visit from my parents - best Christmas gift ever. Ethan lost another tooth. We went to the town Christmas parade. Celebrated my 7th anniversary to the best husband a girl could ever ask for. Also celebrated the birthdays of my brother, my nephew, my niece and my sister. And we had the BIGGEST snow storm I've seen since we lived in NY! It started Christmas night and blasted us all day on the 26th. The kids were in heaven. How perfect is that?

All in all 2010 was a good year, albeit the most difficult for my family and me. But, God saw us through and we ended the year in a better position than when we started. I am eternally grateful for His providence and His faithfulness. Now I'm looking forward to an even better 2011!!

Happy New Year, dear friends. I wish for you every good and perfect thing!! Thank you for sticking with me :)

I HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN ABOUT YOU

2010-10-11T20:08:00.002-04:00

Ah, it's been a crazy summer :) But, I haven't forgotten about you, my friends! I'll be back soon to chat with you - promise. Remember you can always catch up with me on Facebook, too! :) Kisses and hugs.....

HOLY SCRAPS!

2010-07-15T13:48:00.004-04:00

I've been a busy little bee this week. Remember those stickers I won from SRM Stickers? I'm finally using them!

I decided last weekend that I have to pare down my supplies. It's ridiculous now and it takes more time to find anything than it does to make something. I had really good intentions of going through my stash and organizing and purging. Except I started by going through scraps of my old Life Preservers kits and I decided I should just use them up and then I could move on. Awesome idea, in theory. Here's the thing: now I have a bigger mess. :)

But that's ok. I'm going to keep going through my kits and killing them, using my fabulous new SRM stickers, and cleaning up as I go.

I'm thinking I should give these away :) Watch for details!

HAPPY JULY!

2010-07-08T11:08:00.005-04:00

I've neglected you again. You should be used to it. Like Taio Cruz, I'm only gonna break break your, break break your heart. :)

Did I tell you about all the stuff I've won from some fabulous people on Facebook?? OMGosh, are you as addicted to FB as me? Well, you should be :P

I won some AWESOME stickers from SRM Stickers. They are fabulous! So easy to use, thin and sheer so they don't bulk up and they kinda look like rub-ons or stamps (without the mess). There's a sticker (or 10) for every occasion. Kinda falling in love with these!

Y'all remember Rusty Pickle?? I thought they were defunct but, no! they are alive and well :) I won a 3 different paper packs from them - wedding, boy and Halloween themed. I haven't even opened them yet but I'm dying to!

This week I won a handmade, original crown from Two Little Bluebirds!! I am so psyched to receive it! She makes the sweetest crowns and capes for your little ones; and she uses eco-friendly felt. You MUST visit her Etsy shop and see the awesome yumminess for yourself :)

I won a sweet little zebra striped pink bow for Ava from Gia's Bowtique. It is so stinkin' cute! Check out her fan page - she is ALWAYS giving away all sorts of discounts to her Etsy shop.

I also have a surprise coming from the super sweet girls at Hancox Homstead and Beans Things! I can't wait to see what beautiful, handmade things I'll get :)

Yes, I'm very blessed every day. Please check out every one of these sweet, giving ladies' pages and shops. It'll be worth your while!

I've been working on some custom orders lately, small and large. I'll leave you with some of the things I've been working on since we last spoke...........

APRIL, MAY & OTHER STUFF

2010-05-25T19:12:00.004-04:00

Can it be? Is June REALLY just a few days away? It's almost time to start the Christmas count-down! Really.

Quick rundown of all the exciting things that have happened this month: Henry had an interview for a job, then didn't get it; Ava cut her hair with a safety scissors; Ethan got accepted into a magnet school for next year; I participated in another crafts fair; a friend offered her house for me to do a home show; and today I got offered another opportunity for consignment in a sweet shop here in Wake Forest. FUN!

Meanwhile, the school year is wrapping up and I'm just now realizing that I have to find things for Ethan to do while he's home with me. And they pretty much all have to be FREE because that's about all that fits in the budget right now :)

I got my Life Preservers Club May kits yesterday - the happiest time of the month for me. I've already started with the card kit.

It's almost crop time again on the Life Preservers Club message board! June 11th-13th, be sure to stop by for lots of fun challenges and games!

Before I let you go, I've got to share this sweet story with you. A few days ago we were all on the couch watching TV and I hear Ava whispering to herself next to me. I look over and lean in for a listen and this is what I heard, 'God, thank you for life. God, thank you for cookies." Melted my heart. I can't believe my little girl will be 3 soon! She's all 'growed' up *sniff sniff*

Have a wonderful week everyone!

NSD BLOG HOP!

2010-04-30T22:03:00.005-04:00

Today we celebrate National Scrapbooking Day! For the novice and the seasoned expert alike, scrapbooking is a fun, creative outlet with a greater purpose - to record our stories. So, whether you're a simple scrapper pasting pictures with a glue stick on a blank paper or an elaborate artist using multiple mediums, today is your day :)

For National Scrabooking Day the design team at Life Preservers Scrapbook Club want to bring a little extra excitement! The 8 person design team have partnered up in teams to create 4 challenges; each challenge has two parts. You must comment on each DT member's blog with a link to your completed page (members may link to the LP gallery). For each challenge you complete, you will be entered into a random drawing to win a prize from the Life Preservers Club!

My DT partner, Andrea, and I have your first challenge. Here is the first part of our challenge: You must complete a page with the theme 'Why I Scrap'. Before you start on your assignment, don't forget to visit Andrea's blog to find out what the second part of this challenge is.

Thanks so much for participating in the Life Preservers Club National Scrapbook Day Blog Hop!! Don't forget to visit Andrea's blog next to find out more! She'll let you know where to go for your next assignment. Have fun!

MUSEUM, MARKET AND A MARVELOUS SUNDAY

2010-04-19T08:38:00.004-04:00

Hello again, friends! Well, Spring has sprung...and so have the allergies! This year has been the worst for allergies for me. Usually, I just grin and bear it and wait for it to pass but this year I finally broke down and bought some Zyrtec. It seemed to work the first day I took it. Not so much today. Oh well....grin & bear it, I guess :)

On Friday I chaperoned Ethan's class trip to Marbles Kids Museum - FUN! I had charge of three kids (including my own) and they all survived! It was a madhouse. Apparently every elementary school in the district had their field trip that day. I'm glad it's over!

The GC5 Spring Market in downtown Wake Forest was this Saturday. I had a table set up there and did pretty well - certainly better than I expected! It was a GORGEOUS day (albeit a little windy) and there were some fabulous artists and artisans there. I met some wonderful people. I love how supportive of the arts and local commerce the Wake Forest community is. I'm considering applying for the local Farmers Market - though it may be too late because the season started earlier this month. I'll let you know ;)

Amanda from GC5 Vintage & Gifts is thinking of setting up another craft fair on May 1st. It's a little soon (don't know how much new product I can have ready) but I'm thinking of doing it. Yup, I had that much fun! If I do it, I hope to see some of you there!

Yesterday after church, I napped, played outside with the kids and had an overall fabulous day. I'm ready for a new week :)

I got some custom inquiries so I've got some work to do. Hope you all have a productive week!

HAPPY EASTER! AND MARCH KITS

2010-04-05T13:37:00.007-04:00

I hope your Easter was wonderful! My weekend was super busy but so very blessed. There were some Easter egg hunts, a church 'block party', church service on Sunday and of course, Easter dinner.

My Life Preserver's Club March kits also arrived last week - always a favorite time for me! I got three kits this month - the Featured, Alternate and Card kit. I also got the LP Exclusive Stamp set. If you're tempted to get a kit, go for it! There is NEVER any commitment - you can buy once or every month. And there is so much inspiration on the board gallery. Can you tell I just love them? :)

I've got to prepare some inventory for a show I'm doing on the 17th of April. I can't believe it's less than 2 weeks away and I haven't begun to prepare! If you're in the Wake Forest, NC area, stop by and say hello. It's the first (or second?) day of Herbfest 2010 in historic downtown WF. I'd love to see you there!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

2010-03-17T12:15:00.004-04:00

Feeling lucky? Enter my giveaway below! :) You could win the scrapbook album of your choice from my shop!

Nothing exciting going on today. Ethan is home sick from school for the third straight day. He caught a cold for his birthday :( He turned 6 on Monday - I still can't get over how fast the time goes! I'm so blessed.

GIVEAWAY

2010-03-01T16:38:00.003-05:00

Remember back in January when I said I was thinking of doing a giveaway? Yeah, well, I'm done thinking :) Here's your chance to win any one album of your choice from my Etsy shop. It's super easy to enter, too!

All you have to do is follow my blog and leave a comment. Yep, that's it! Once I reach 200 followers (that's 154 to go), EVERY ONE of the 200 followers will be entered into a drawing. The grand prize winner will receive the scrapbook album of their choice from my Etsy shop. And since I'm cool like that, there will be two runners-up who will win a little prize, too. 'Cuz that's how I roll. :)

So, tweet away, update your status, blog and yell it from the mountaintops: WhimsyPics wants YOU to be a blog follower!

Wanna chat (or read) more often than I post? F0llow me on twitter or fan me of facebook. Or both.

Have a super week!

READY FOR SPRING

2010-02-23T12:32:00.006-05:00

This Winter brought the most snow I've ever seen since I moved here to the South and too cold weather. I am so ready for Spring! This weekend we got a wonderful teaser but yesterday and today it's been cold and rainy. Maybe this is the beginning of the end? Dear Spring, please hurry....

Spring = Spring cleaning. I saw this article (I believe it was in BHG magazine) where it suggested hosting a swap party for your unwanted things. I thought it was brilliant! Essentially, you take all the things you want out of your house (things that you'd normally sell, maybe) and put them out on a table and have all of your friends do the same. Then, instead of buying things or throwing things out, everyone has a turn taking something they want from the table. The article showed household things but I thought that it might be fun to do with all the scrappy stuff I want to get rid of! Or maybe a combination of household stuff and scrappy stuff. I've been thinking about it recently because I'm sure I can't be the only one Spring cleaning already. Gonna have to run it by my local girls and see who's in. I'll let you know how it goes, if we do it. Perhaps some of you VA girls can stop by :)

I got my February LP kits in the mail on Saturday and ripped into the card kit right away. The SEI paper are gorgeous! I haven't quite killed the kit yet but I am working on it. I want to get into the featured kit too...but I have to clean up this mess first.

I'll leave you with my February kit creations so far. As always, you can find them in my Etsy shop. Oh and ps...all of my scrapbook albums in my shop are on sale! Check it out :)

GOOD CITIZEN

2010-02-09T19:49:00.006-05:00

We received a note in Ethan's folder last Friday that he'd be receiving an award at a ceremony this morning. I asked him what it was all about and, of course, he had no idea. I was so proud when they called his name for the 'Good Citizen' Award! He was one of three students in his class to receive it (have I mentioned there are almost 30 students in his class ???) and we were supposed to hold our applause till the end. I was good. I didn't applaud. But I sure did scream like a banshee - 'EEEEEEEETHAAAAAAAN!!' Yeah. I'm THAT mom. My camera sucks. The pictures came out dark. Thankfully, DH got the ceremony on film.

The Life Preservers Club crop was this past weekend. It was so fun! I was able to complete three challenges between all the chatting and playing :) If you haven't joined us for one of our crops - you've got to visit for the next one!

I'll leave you with some of my latest stuff :)

HELLO AGAIN

2010-01-22T09:18:00.005-05:00

January has been filled with out of town guests, reorganizing, more guests and scrapping. I love love love having company stay with me. It feels like the holidays aren't over quite yet :) So, this weekend my cousin and his family are coming to stay the weekend and the day they leave, my parents arrive!

Thankfully, I found some time for personal scrapping this week. It feels like forever since I scrapped some pages for myself! I got a bunch done using my LPSC December kits and a bunch more using older kits. If feels SO GOOD to open up those kits and start using them!

I'm thinking of doing another show in March. I haven't really decided. I'm not sure how big it is so I don't know that it'll be worth the effort - shows are ALOT of work!

Anyway, I'll leave you with the projects I've done this month. Brace yourself - there's a bunch :) Have a great weekend, everyone! Hopefully, it won't be another 3 weeks before I visit again :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2010-01-02T09:55:00.002-05:00

2010. I thought for sure we'd be traveling in flying cars and living in the moon by now. Too much 'Twilight Zone'? Perhaps. But, I'm glad my feet are still planted here on Earth. I'm not much for flying :)

November and December are always a little crazy around here. A flurry of birthdays (7), anniversaries (2), school plays and activites, Thanksgiving and Christmas preparations and, of course, WhimsyPics stuff! Every year I say I'm going to start Christmas planning and creating early. Failed again this year. Maybe next year? I need to get organized!

I don't have any resolutions, per se. There are lots of things I'd like to accomplish, personal goals, if you will. I need more devotional time, I need to take better care of myself and I want to create more. I will make a concerted effort to focus on what's really important and take it from there.

I've got 3 months of new creations that I haven't posted - but I won't bore you with the photos! LOL You know you can always find me on FACEBOOK and FLICKR and, of course, LIFE PRESERVERS CLUB.

I'll leave you with some of my December Card Kit creations. Many blessings to you in this New Year! Thank you for being my blog friend :)

MY PURCHASE

2009-11-08T09:47:00.004-05:00

So, I didn't make any money at the show yesterday. But somehow I managed to spend money I didn't have! :) I LOVE books. LOVE.

As fate would have it, the table next to me was occupied by a bookbinder! Michael Greer of Leatherbound Book Works makes the most fabulous leatherbound book & journals. I held out till the very end of the show - then I just couldn't take it anymore!

He had a tiny Christmas tree on his table adorned with tiny book ornaments. I loved them and hoped they weren't for sale because I knew I just couldnt resist. Well, it turns out they were for sale so I bought two; one for each of my kids :P These tiny leatherbound books hold the story 'Twas the night before Christmas' complete with illustrations! They will definately be the keepsake ornament of 2009.

IT'S OVER

2009-11-07T18:50:00.005-05:00

I'm too tired to write but I just wanted to share some pictures of my table at the show today. I had lots of fun, met some great people, saw some cool stuff, heard some great music but I didn't make alot of (or almost any!) money. That's ok 'cause it was my first show ever and it was a great learning experience. I just want to give a big thank you to the Etsy community for making me look like a pro. I took all of the advice I found on the forums, made a list, checked it twice and it made me look like a million bucks. I love you, Etsians :)

So, here's my booth and stuff. I didn't buy anything for the display at all. I had the table, tablecloth, cake plates, display trees, easels & tray around the house. I had Henry go through the garage and find all unused pieces of scrap wood and used them as pedestals and a makeshift display for hanging my cards. I used a box that came with one of Ethan's toys to hang some dowels to display my ACEOs - I painted everything white. :) Having NO MONEY didn't stop me! Enjoy.

I think I'm going to bed now. Yes, I know it's only 7pm but I'm pooped! G'nite all!

BUSY BUSY BUSY

2009-11-05T21:26:00.002-05:00

Mom has come and gone. We had an intimate little dinner party at my sister's house for Mom's birthday while she was here. Loads of fun and laughter and silliness. I can't wait for my Mom and Dad to move here. I wish they would hurry!

I'm so nervous about the ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS event this Saturday! I'm so afraid of not having enough stuff and that I'll forget something. I have my list of must haves that I've gathered from my seasoned etsy craft show sellers. Wish me luck :) I'll be sure to post photos and report back when it's all done!

If you're in the Durham, NC area this Saturday check us out - it'll be fun! And be sure to stop by the WhimsyPics table and say hi :)

FRONT PAGE AGAIN!

2009-10-27T15:15:00.002-04:00

Thanks to MeliMelon who curated this treasury :) It was on etsy's front page this morning at 3am. I'll take it!

WE HAVE A WINNER!

2009-10-25T10:25:00.002-04:00

It took just over a month and got me lots of new followers and now we have a winner! The rules were simple: re-tweet my contest as often as you want; the 777th RT wins any one album of their choice from my etsy shop.

So, here we are. We've arrived. First I want to thank everyone who participated! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for playing along. Besides the grand prize winner, I've chosen 2 random posters for a small prize :)

Ready for the winners? I guess I should tell you now. Ok, I've got sick kids to take care of and an online crop to get back to so without further ado.....drumroll please.......

GRAND PRIZE WINNER: APrkAvePrincess
RUNNERS UP: ScrapbookJournl, ThatTweetThing

*applause* Runners up, please send me your mailing address so I can get your prizes out to you. :) Grand Prize Winner, contact me for details! WhimsyPics@yahoo.com

K...got lots to do...have a great Sunday!

I GOT ACCEPTED!

2009-10-18T19:32:00.004-04:00

I got accepted to my first crafts show! The Rock, Paper, Scissors Show is part of the Troika Music Festival, held in Durham, NC. The show will be on November 7th from 12p-4p so I have a little bit of time to prepare. I've never sold my stuff in person before and I'm so nervous! Thankfully, I've gotten LOTS of great tips from veteran craft show sellers in the Etsy Forums. I've printed a checklist based on the info I got from various threads and it is LONG! LOL I even have a banner - it's so pretty :) I got it for free from VistaPrint a few weeks back (gotta love the free stuff!) and I'm excited to put it to use. Ack! I'm so nervous!

Ok, moving on...

We went to a Fall Festival at one of the local churches yesterday. The kids had so much fun! Ethan & Ava got their first pony ride, their faces painted, made spin art, went on a hay ride - FUN FUN FUN!

I got one other layout done with my October LP Featured Kit and a little diorama. I got some other layouts done too but they're for my Crop Challenges so I can't show them yet :) I hope to see you at the LP Online Crop this FRIDAY - SUNDAY!! They're really so much fun. The members there are the sweetest, most supportive ever. Love them. So, stop by and join the fun!

I think that's all the excitement I have to share for now. Have a wonderful Sunday night! See ya soon :)

OCTOBER

2009-10-12T11:10:00.006-04:00

I went with Ethan's class to the local firehouse last Thursday. We had so much fun! I made sure to bring my camera with me, of course. Except I left it in the car :( BAD MOMMY! BAD SCRAPPER! I did take some pics with my cell phone. I know, that doesn't make it ok. :P

I got my LPSC October kits on Friday - OH. MY. GA. They are so beautiful!! Thank you, Von, for putting together the best kits EVER. xoxoxoxo So after sniffing them and fondling them a little, I got to working. I've used my card kit and some of the featured kit so far. So much more to do yet!

All of the cards shown here can be found in my etsy shop!

Don't forget to enter my twitter give away! You can enter to win ANY ALBUM from my shop - there's still time: www.twitter.com/WhimsyPics

Have a super duper week, everyone!

JUST A QUICK POST

2009-10-06T15:16:00.006-04:00

Just wanted to say HI! I've been a busy little bee this last week. I agreed to consign with a shop in California, met with a local shop whose owner also wants to carry my cards and sent out a bunch of postcards to local businesses letting them know I'm willing to consign/wholesale. I'm so happy with the way things are going for WhimsyPics right now. I've been approached by so many people lately and sales are starting to pick up. I'm so thankful.

I wanted to show you what I did with my kits and some random things I've been working on. Also, don't forget the LP CROP is October 23-25! It's always so much fun!!

You can see more in my etsy shop!

Etsy Front Page 9/29/09 Admin

2009-09-30T14:45:00.001-04:00

Etsy Front Page 9/29/09 Admin, originally uploaded by Etsy Front Pagers.

I made the front page again! It's so exciting -I wondered where those 30 new hearts came from! Thanks Etsy Admin for choosing my work again :) WOOHOO

ANOTHER GIVEAWAY!

2009-09-27T10:59:00.002-04:00

OK, peoples. One of my NC Triangle Teammates, LuckyGirlTrading is hosting a giveaway! You could win a FABULOUS pair of earrings from her shop. All you need to do to enter is leave a comment on her blog (see detailed instructions here: LuckyGirl Blog). You can earn extra entries by tweeting and blogging about her giveaway! Check out her blog for all the details :)

Don't forget to tweet my promo for your chance to win any album in my shop! Type this as your twitter status to enter:

@WhimsyPics #win any album in my etsy shop www.WhimsyPics.com. 777th RT wins!

Happy Sunday, everyone!

LAZY SATURDAY

2009-09-26T10:30:00.002-04:00

I got through two of my LPSC Kits! Yay me :) The vintage inspired graphic45 papers are TO DIE FOR. I have not a shred of paper left of that kit. It broke my heart to cut into it but I'm really happy with the way my projects turned out. I made 3 altered jars and filled them with vintagey gift tags. I'll be listing them this week - so keep an eye out!

Not too much going on otherwise. I'm going to clean clean clean today - especially my work space. Just so I can mess it up again :)

I've got a contest going on twitter right now! You could win a FREE album of your choice from my shop. All you have to do is re-tweet my promo. The 777th person to re-tweet will win! Sure, it might take a while...but won't it be worth the wait?? :) It's super simple to enter.

If you're already a tweeter on twitter, simply follow me (WhimsyPics). If you're not a tweeter, sign up at www.twitter.com, then follow WhimsyPics. All you have to do to play is type the following into your status box:

@WhimsyPics: RT to #win a #free album of your choice from my #etsy shop! 777th RT wins!

Even if you're not the grand prize winner, you have a chance to win a smaller prize. Every re-tweet will be entered into the drawing! So, sign up and play - it's FREE and super easy!

I'm off to finish cleaning. Have a super duper weekend, everyone!

SEPTEMBER

2009-09-21T10:17:00.003-04:00

I can't believe Fall is here already! It's my absolute favorite time of year. I'm just itching to get into my Fall decorations but I'm determined to have everything on my 'to do list' done first. And I've got alot of 'to do's :) . So let me start knocking them out by updating my blog :)

I've gotten through 2 of my September Kits; the card kit and the featured kit. Still have 2 more to open PLUS a couple of the August ones! I have no control when it comes to these Life Preservers Club Kits - none. In another few weeks I'll have my October kits and I'll be even more backed up! Oh well, I must feed my addiction. Here's what I made with my September kits:

You can see more cards on my Flickr page. I made a ton and I still have some of the paper left! It's endless :)

I participated in a couple of ATC swaps recently and I received them in the mail last week. OH MY WORD, I LOVE THEM!!! I've got to get pictures of them up. Right now I'm working on ATCs for a Halloween Swap (2 of them actually) and I'm having so much fun! ATCs are such a great way to be creative on a tiny scale :)

I'm thinking a giveaway is in order. I'll be announcing on twitter this week what the prize will be. If you're not a twitter-er - go sign up! Follow me at www.twitter.com/WhimsyPics to find out how to win.

I'm off to finish killing some kits. Wish me luck!

PS. Did I mention we're having another crop over at LPSC?? It'll be October 23-25, so be sure to sign up ASAP and become a member of THE BEST message board online. Bar none. Truly. Hope to see you there!

I MADE IT TO THE FRONT PAGE!!!

2009-09-05T21:57:00.001-04:00

Etsy Front Page 9/4/09 Admin, originally uploaded by Etsy Front Pagers.

Etsy Front Page 9/4/09 (chosen by Admin) I never ever ever thought I'd be one of the lucky ones - but I was! Last night I wondered how I got so many new hearts. This morning I found out :) I'm so excited!

I DID IT!

2009-08-27T15:58:00.002-04:00

I'm computer challenged. I admit that. I don't know how I've been able to sell my creations on-line exclusively for more than five years. It's a miracle. So, for the longest time I've wanted to make my blog have three columns - how hard could it be, right? Uh, have you met me? REALLY hard. But, I DID IT! All thanks to BloggerBuster.com. It was actually really easy, after all. What do you think?

My big boy started kindergarten yesterday. Well, it was staggered entry so he doesn't actually start till Tuesday. I made it through the day and so did he! He loved it, actually. Of course, I'm thrilled. I was so worried. I knew he would be fine, but still....you know how it is :)

I'm hitting the Autumn/Halloween designs hard this week. I've yet to open my other LP kits, but it's been a crazy/stressful month. I'm hoping I get used to my Little Man being away from me all day so that I can concentrate on creating.

I've opened up an Artfire shop because they have this super cool kiosk you can add to your facebook page so people can buy directly from there! How cool is that? It'll be a while before mine is set up but....I'm working on it. And that's progress :)

I think that's all for now. Thanks for checking in with me!

BUSY SUMMER

2009-08-17T10:53:00.004-04:00

The summer is winding down and boy, it's been a busy one! Lots of visits from family, fun days at the pool, library and beach, and life in general have kept me away so much. Thank you for coming back to visit me and check on what's going on in my life :)

August is the first month that LifePreserversClub has offered an exclusive CARD KIT! And guess who's making the sketches and designing with it....go ahead, guess! MOI!, that's right. I has tons of fun making these cards. You have got to check out Von's kits...they are so awesome!! Here are some of the cards I made - and believe it or not, I still have so much paper AND envelopes left over:

I still have 3 other kits to open and play with...but I have to finish a custom order first. One of my customers will be celebrating her first year anniversary later this year and has asked me to create a little love journal for her to write sweet nothings in. The first anniversary is paper so I am totally going to run with this and make some more for my shop - AFTER I finish everything else I have planned. So many ideas, so little time.......

My baby boy starts kindergarten next week and I'm a LITTLE (read: so very) freaked out. I'm looking forward to having some time with just me & Ava but I'm so sad that he will be without me all day :(

In other news, I've reached 100 fans on facebook! YAY ME! Thank you so much to all my lovely fans. Follow me on: www.facebook.com/WhimsyPicsFans and www.twitter.com/WhimsyPics for exclusive discounts and updates!

I think that's all for now. I have sooooo much to do today!

HAPPY MONDAY, everyone!

OOOPS...I DID IT AGAIN

2009-07-26T13:47:00.006-04:00

I haven't visited with you in forever! AGAIN! Will you forgive me? How do I always let life get in the way of chatting with you? There just aren't enough hours.....

The LP Crop was last weekend - FUN FUN FUN! I didn't get to participate as much as I like because my parents were here for Ava's birthday. I have lots of challenges to catch up on. I've received all of my July kits and as usual, they all rock. Here are some photos of the pages I've done using 2 of the LP July Kits:

My baby girl turned 2 last week. I can't believe how time flies.... I didn't do a big party this year - just a little celebration with my sister & parents at the house. Here are some photos of my little princess' celebration:

Finally, I've joined an ATC swap over on the LP board. I've never really though about making ATCs before but I think it's a natural progression...cards, gift tags, ATCs, right? I had so much fun making these that I'm considering making some ACEOs to sell in my shop :)

Well, I think that's all for now. I'll try not to leave you for too long this time. I hope to see you again soon! Have a wonderful week, friends :)

CHRISTMAS IN JULY

2009-07-07T13:11:00.002-04:00

There's an etsy-wide sale going on starting tomorrow - YAY! I love sales :) Not all stores are participating but the ones that are will be offering their own discount. There's no standard discount across the board. So, I've decided to do FREE US SHIPPING/DISCOUNTED WORLDWIDE SHIPPING for both shops (some heavier items have discounted shipping within the US). The sale will run from July 8th (yes, I'm starting early for y'all) through July 22nd.

Do you follow me on twitter? Are you a fan of WhimsyPics on facebook? If not, sign up and get EXCLUSIVE discounts!!

THANK YOU to all my faithful follwer, friends, fans & family :)

OH MY WORD!

2009-07-02T17:07:00.011-04:00

It's been more than 2 weeks since I last posted! I've thought about you alot though :) Every night as I'm drifting off to sleep I write a little blog post in my head. Problem is, in the morning when I wake up, I've no time. And it's not till I'm falling asleep again that I update in my mind. I'm sorry I've been so bad bad bad!

I know I've been very busy lately...I just can't seem to remember what I've been doing! My in-laws were here for a while and that was just so much fun. The kids love their Grandma & Papa so much. Papa, of course, is completely enamoured with Ava and she adores him. So sweet <3>So, here are the mini albums I've made since the last time I wrote - all of them can be found in my etsy shop, of course:

THIS IS ME Mini Album

QUIRKY Mini Album

BOY Mini Album

SUMMER FUN Mini Album

LIFE IS GOOD Mini Album

UNFORGETTABLE Mini Album

I forgot to tell you! The LPS Crop is gonna be JULY 17-19th!! You have got to be there. It's so much fun!! Sign up to the message board (you do NOT have to be a kit subscriber) and you'll have access to ALL the DT challenges, make & takes, games and PRIZES! I hope to 'see' you there!

LIVE YOUR LIFE WITH GRACE

2009-06-13T14:22:00.003-04:00

It's another HOT HOT HOT Saturday here in the South! The kids went out for a drive through in Ethan's Jeep this morning and we stopped at a neighbor's who was having a moving sale. Scored 2 end tables; nice though not perfect. But hey, whatdya want for $30! LOL Dh hates that I buy used stuff but I love it. He deals with it. Quietly. He's the best.

I finally got to my LP Project Kit yesterday. Such gorgeous papers!! I love the vintagey feel they have. So I made a mini album that you can find in my etsy shop. I thought the sentiment on the paper was so perfect, I used it on the cover. What do you think?

Have a happy weekend! :)

JUNE & GRADUATIONS

2009-06-10T16:43:00.006-04:00

My baby boy graduated on Sunday. It was the cutest thing ever. *sigh* Where does the time go? Here are some photos of the last day of school and the graduation:

I'm so proud :D He's a little worried about starting kindergarten this fall but I have a couple of months to ease him in to the idea.

I got my LP Kits on Friday but I had such a mess on my desk that I've only just now gotten to open them up! I ripped into my first kit this morning - the June Featured kit. Gorgeous, as always. Here's what I've done so far:

I have 2 more kits for this month and a slew of past kits I've yet to open. I am determined to get through every single one. Somehow.

Have a happy week everybody!

BIRD, BIRTHDAYS & BRAND NEW SHOPS

2009-06-01T10:46:00.004-04:00

I can't get enough of these birds! I just love these stamps and I've made a bunch of mini cards and tags with them. You can find them all in my etsy shop (of course) and they're probably not going away any time soon. I love them.

So, today is my birthday. Happy Birthday to me. :) It's not exciting and I probably wouldn't have remembered if my husband hadn't been counting down. It's funny how different birthdays are when you're older...have different priorities. I don't want a party or gifts. I have everything I want; my beautiful, happy, healthy family. And apparently, I'm getting sappier and sappier in my old age.

I've opened a brand new shop, Little Bird Scraps, on etsy. It's mostly for destashing my supplies right now. I'm considering maybe making my own embellishments to sell later. But I'll think about that some other time. Right now I just need to clean this space! So, if you're a crafter, scrapbooker, card maker or other artist, check out my shop for something you might 'need'.

Have a great June, everybody!!

VINTAGE LOVE & TREASURIES

2009-05-27T19:50:00.005-04:00

I'm really trying to use up my stash before it gets outta control. Ok, well maybe before it gets MORE outta control :). I found an OLD LP kit that I ADORE with Daisy D's papers and I just had to use it up! I'm so glad I never got rid of some of my vintagey stuff 'cause, sure enough, I'm back into it. I miss Daisy D's so much :( Here's a peek at the 'School Days' album I made with it (you can find it in my etsy shop):

I also made these very simple mini notecards that I am completely in love with! These vintage inspired stamps are to DIE for - I just love love love them. Can't wait to open the other sets I just 'had to have'! These cards are also in my etsy shop.

I had the 2nd set listed for maybe an hour on etsy before I was notified that they were in TWO treasuries!! YAY ME! Thank you to the lovely etsians who curated these treasuries and included my sweet little birds :)

Happy Hump Day!

ALTERNATES & MINIS

2009-05-23T09:59:00.003-04:00

It's been a busy week but I did manage to get my other kits opened and used! I decided to make some more 'tags in tins' sets - hope you like 'em!

Don't forget to pray for our men and women in uniform and their families - we owe our FREEDOM to them! Happy Memorial Day weekend, everybody!

MAY KIT

2009-05-19T14:35:00.004-04:00

I got my Life Preservers Club May kits last week and I'm in love. Like always. *sigh* Von does not disappoint! The exclusive stamp set is fabulous too. I got three of the kits this month - that's showing some constraint (junkie much??) - but I was assigned the featured kit to design with. Here's what I did with it:

I still have a long way to go before I kill the kit but I'm determined to use it ALL up before moving on to the next one. The others are just scrumptious too. I've gotta hurry cuz I'm dying to open 'em!

I got some great news this weekend too. I've been invited to sell my wares on another indie site! YAY ME!! Once I have the details ironed out, I'll let you know where else I'll be. It's so exciting!

Have an awesome week, everybody!

CHALLENGE

2009-05-15T10:56:00.003-04:00

It's my turn to do the weekly challenge over at Life Preservers Club today, so, here's my challenge - find something and alter it! I altered an altoids tin (yeah, I know it's been a while) and some mini gift tags. You'll find these on etsy soon.

HEY THERE

2009-05-05T09:05:00.003-04:00

It's been a couple of weeks since we last spoke (surprise!). We've been busy with the usual Spring things; garage sales, consignment sales, birthday parties and dates. Yup, Ethan had his first date last week - he took his 'best friend' to see Monsters Vs Aliens. How sweet is that? It's kinda sad that after Pre-School, they won't be in the same elementary school :( We'll have to make a concerted effort to get some playdates going.

We had a mini crop this weekend over at Life Preservers Club to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day. The DT came up with some awesome challenges, so be sure to stop by and check them out! My challenge was to 'kill a kit', ie: use your teeniest scraps to finish off some used up papers. I used my LP April Project Kit (cosmo cricket) to make these tags and card. So, take my challenge this week and kill off some of those scraps you're collecting!

Have a great week, everybody! :D

APRIL & PHOTOS

2009-04-13T14:22:00.004-04:00

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! I had a wonderful day yesterday. The weather was beautiful and we all went to church together (quite a feat if you know my husband) :). The service was wonderful. Afterwards we came home and had a great lunch with my sister and her family, an Easter egg hunt for the kids and then some much needed rest!

Here are some photos of the Easter egg hunt we went to at the church on Saturday and some random photos of our Easter Sunday AND some pages I've done with my April LP Kit so far.

IT'S OVER

2009-03-30T08:24:00.004-04:00

The LP Spring Fling Crop is over....and I'm exhausted!! We had tons of fun and I ended up gettting a few pages done. I'm impressed with myself. :) I went digging thru my stash for each layout and I can't believe how much of my past kits I still have left! Some of them are even unopened. I have got to put a dent in these. I haven't purchased any supplies outside of my kits in months. I'm determined that I'm gonna have to use up what I have before I get anything new!

I'll share some of the pages I got done this weekend with you. If you haven't made it over yet, you should go check it out. There are so many challenges and fun make & takes - you can do them all year long!

Danielle's Sketch Recipe Challenge:

Sandra's Mix It Up Challenge:

Laura-Lee's Please Include Challenge:

Sandra's Crazy, Quirky, Cool Challenge:

Gabrielle's Achy Breaky Heart Challenge:

There are a ton of challenges that I still have to do. I'll have inspiration for a long time yet! I want to say a big THANK YOU to the Fabulous LP Design Team for doing such a bang-up job on the crop and an especially BIG THANK YOU to all who participated!! Thanks for making it all worth while!

It's back to reality for me today. I've got to register my big boy for Kindergarten (*gasp!) and run a million little errands that I've just been letting slide.

Have a great week, everybody!!

BLOG HOP

2009-03-28T07:42:00.003-04:00

The crop is in full swing over at LP and we're having so much fun! Of course, I'm doing more chatting than scrapping but I did manage to get the Early Bird Sketch Challenge (by guest designer Debra) done and the Floral Arrangement Make & Take (by DT member Danielle).

Early Bird Sketch Challenge:

Floral Arrangement Make & Take:

Sorry for the crappy photos - it was the middle of the night! Don't you love that DISASTER on my desk?? I am THE MESSIEST scrapper ever. EVER.

If you're here for the blog hop :D, your word is FRIENDS. Now hop along to your next blog destination, Rebekah's blog!

If you haven't joined us yet, there's still time!!

I'm off to get something done.... no more chatting for today (yeah right).

IT'S HERE!

2009-03-27T17:15:00.002-04:00

It's almost crop time!! YAY!!! If you haven't signed up yet, what're you waiting for?? Go to http://www.lifepreserversclub.com/ now. I'm telling ya, it'll be loads of fun! So, I can't post anything that I made for my challenges, cuz they haven't been posted yet but here's a little something I made with the LP March Project Kit:

I hope to see you over at LP this weekend. There are prizes to be won and lots of fun to be had. You'll have till Monday afternoon to complete all the challenges and enter for your chance to win a Life Preservers MEGA Kit!!!!

IT'S COMING!

2009-03-24T20:54:00.002-04:00

The Life Preservers Club SPRING FLING CROP is almost here!! YAY!! I've been working hard this week getting some challenges together and trying to come up with a make & take. There have been LOTS of rejects that I was going to post here...then I realized I deleted the photos!! They sucked (pardon). Really really sucked. I haven't really done any creative thing since last month's kit so I'm outta practice. Just haven't been feeling very crafty...or scrapbooky for that matter. But, now that I have a few new pages under my belt with the new kit, I'm starting to think there is hope again!!

So, join us this weekend (Fri 27th in the pm - Sun 29th) for some FUN FUN FUN challenges, games, make & takes and even a super cool BLOG HOP :D You could even win some prizes......

SPRING BONNET PARADE

2009-03-21T13:01:00.004-04:00

Ethan's school hosted a Spring Bonnet Parade and egg hunt yesterday. When I first heard about it, I figured the girls would be wearing bonnets and the boys would...well, they'd just be there. Unfortunately, I was wrong. The boys wore bonnets too. I thought that was especially cruel. Thankfully, my kid is so cute, it doesn't matter what he wears :) Maybe the sunglasses man-ed it up a bit.

Here are some more projects using my LP March Alternate Kit. Now I think I can move on. I've got some planning to do - the LP Spring Crop is next week!!

MARCH

2009-03-18T17:28:00.011-04:00

We celebrated Ethan's FIFTH birthday on Sunday. I can't believe my 2lb preemie is FIVE! It seems like only yesterday that I 'kangaroo' held him. Grandma and Papa were here to help us celebrate. Soon after they arrived Ethan said to me 'It's fun have them around'. I love that kid.

We had a Star Wars themed party. I blame the DS Lego StarWars game for his addiction. My brother (29 years old) is a HUGE Star Wars junkie and has bought Ethan SW stuff since he was born. I guess I can't escape it.......my kid is a Star Wars junkie too. The party was at Pump It Up and the kids had a blast! It was fun to watch.

So, we decided to have dinner at home with the family that night. As I'm preparing dinner, I hear a loud bang and see Ethan's head pop up from in front of the sofa. He looked terrified - I knew something was very wrong. He'd banged his face into the coffee table! I go running to him and his mouth is full of blood. I thought for sure he'd lost a tooth or three. After cleaning him up, I could see it was just a busted (very busted) lip that had caused all the bleeding and that his teeth were (thankfully) in tact. I almost breathed a sigh of relief till I looked at his face!! *sigh* Lemme show you.

Here he is on Tuesday:

Here he is yesterday:

Its definately getting better. Just breaks my heart. I'm thankful, though, that it wasn't much worse! He didn't want to go to school today because he was afraid his girlfriend would be scared of him. Too funny.

On to scrappier things.......

I received my LP March Kits this week - YUM!!! I have only opened one but I can't wait to get to the rest! Here's what I've done so far

I think that's all for now. Have a super Thursday, everyone! Until next time....... :)

BILLY

2009-03-11T15:19:00.002-04:00

I can't believe you're gone. I can't believe I let four years go by without visiting. I thought I had forever. I'm sorry you never met my kids; they would've loved their Grandpa Billy. I'm sorry I didn't keep in touch like I should have. I'm sorry I took it for granted that we'd have plenty of time later.

I have so many great memories to hold on to. Summer was always the best! Your corny 50s music while we tanned by the pool. Tequila shots into the wee hours of the morning - me, Ginger, Ana, Linda & you - in your always stocked bar, singing the corny 50s music. Everytime you turned the stereo on, we all rolled our eyes; we knew what was coming! It made me crazy that you chewed with your mouth open! Linda & I would look at each other and laugh. I love the way you said 'tree' for the number three - that cracked me up.

I'm gonna miss you Billy. I love you. And I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to tell you. I'm so happy I got to call you 'friend' - I am better for having known you.

I promise to stay in touch with Linda.

See ya in heaven.

NEW STAMPS

2009-02-23T17:25:00.002-05:00

I'm so excited! I got my new stamps last week - they're all in Spanish! A few years ago a fellow DT member (old ebay DT) had put up a challenge for us native speakers to get some Spanish language pages and cards done. I mean to....but I mean to do alot of things. Anyway, better late than never :D.

So, here are a few cards I've made. I've got some tags too but the sun is going down and I'll have to wait till tomorrow to get some good shots.

CUPCAKES AND CRUISES AND SUNDAY DRIVES

2009-02-15T20:40:00.004-05:00

Can you believe it? I'm posting for the third day in a row!! Let's hope this is a continuing trend :D.

Here's a picture of the cupcakes my little loves and I made yesterday:

We spent a pretty quiet day at home today. The weather was chilly again (47ish); hard to take after 70s temperatures last week. Ethan took Ava for a ride in his Jeep for the first time today and I got tons of pictures. They're so stinking cute! Henry took them for their drive and when I got outside I noticed neither of them had their shades on. I got Ethan his but I couldn't find Ava's 'eyes' (that's what she calls them). I know they're in here somewhere! Oh, and Ethan's hat? Yeah, that's from when he was 2. *sigh* Never send a man....... :)

I was also able to do my Cruise - Week 2 Layout today! YAY ME! The challenge was to use some of the colors in a beach picture that was posted. Here's my take (look hard to find the beachy colors :) ):

Have a great week, everybody! :D

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

2009-02-14T20:18:00.002-05:00

My all time favorite Valentine candy is chocolate from a little joint where I grew up called Lucas Candy. I remember it as being really expensive so I was only able to get it on special occasions. I don't know if it's the nostalgia or if it really is the best chocolate ever, but it's just not Valentine's day (or Easter) if there's no Lucas'.

Imagine my suprise when I recieved in the mail this week a box of Lucas chocolates from my Mom & Dad!! :D Thanks so much Mom & Dad. I'd show you a picture but I ate most of it. Henry & I & the kids each got our own little (huge) chocolate figure. Mine were white chocolate angels (yes, I got 2), Henry got an enormous milk chocolate bar, Ava got a white chocolate teddy bear (I'll be eating hers in a minute) and Ethan got a big ole milk chocolate dog (so cute!). The ones that haven't been eaten are headless or limbless so....you'll have to trust me that they were all really cute :)

On a sad note, I found out today that my in-laws aren't able to come next week :( Ethan was so looking forward to seeing his cousins (we all were!). I'm praying they get better quick and we'll have to reschedule for sometime soon.

I have yet to complete my layout for the Cruise challenge on LP and we leave for our next port tomorrow!!! YIKES! I'll have to work on something tonight.

Happy Valentine's Day, y'all!! (Did I just say 'y'all'??)

FEBRUARY

2009-02-12T16:40:00.006-05:00

Yes, I know it's been almost a whole month since I visited with you. I've had this blog for just over a year now and this will be my 91st post. So much for keeping up with a daily record of my life's happenings! It just seems I don't have the time to write a post when I have something to say and then, when I finally get a minute, I've nothing to say.

So, what's happened since I last spoke to you? Well, let's see...I had some friends over for dinner and made my first paella (my MIL's recipe). It wasn't horrible :) It wasn't fabulous either. I guess I'll just have to practice some more. I'm excited to have tried it though and to have broken in the paella pan my MIL brought me from Spain last summer.

My parents were here for a week too. That was fun. I wish they'd just move here already. Thankfully, they're retired so they can come as often as they want. But it's not the same. I really miss my family (on both sides) in NY. My BIL and the family are scheduled to come next week. I'm so excited for that! The kids are gonna have such fun. I have to find out how long they're gonna be here so I can see what days to plan activities for. They'll probably be just happy hanging out here after such a long drive, though.

I got my Life Preservers Club kit this week! I got the alternate kit for February and it is YUMMY!! I also got the project kit but I haven't opened it yet....maybe tomorrow :D . My creations were super simple this month. I think I'm a pretty simple scrapper most of the time, but these pages are especially simple. I've been trying to use just what's in the kits for the DT submissions - nothing from my stash. It ain't easy, lemme tell ya. But it's not impossible either. I've commited to not buying anything except my kits this year, unless I need something for a custom order. Really, my stash is outta control (again) and I don't need so much!

So, here are my February LP DT submissions:

The fabulously creative duo that is the Life Preservers Club has come up with a fabulous new contest - they're taking us on an 8 week cruise around the world!! Ok, not for real...LOL - here's how it works: Every week they'll post a clue about some fabulous destination. You figure out the clue, send them a message and they'll send you back the challenge that you must complete before the next challenge is posted! Super fun and such a great way to get that scrap mojo flowing. We're at our second port now :) and I'm proud to say, I completed the challenge for week 1 and hope to work on week 2 this weekend. Won't you join us on our FABULOUS cruise??

That's it for now. Hopefully, I'll speak to you again soon!

SNOW

2009-01-20T14:38:00.005-05:00

We woke up to several inches of snow this morning - can you believe it? I heard this is the coldest winter in 10 years here in Raleigh. Figures...I move to the South to get warm and it gets colder. I wrapped the kids in several layers of clothing b/c till now I've refused to get heavy coats - we're in the South for Pete's sake! So, Ethan had to use socks as gloves!! LOL Well, at least the kids had fun!

AWARDS, THE CROP & LIFE

2009-01-06T09:37:00.007-05:00

I received an email the other day about a comment on my blog. Turns out I won an award! THANK YOU to DevosMommy for the 'I heart your blog' award! Now I have to award it to 7 others and here they are:

1. Danielle

2. Sandra

3. Nathalie

4. Joyce

5. Kelly

6. LesTroisGrenouilles

7. Gabrielle

A few days before I got that award, I'd gotten another award from Sandra & Danielle - the Kreativ Blogger Award! What a way to start off the new year, huh? Thank you, ladies, for being so sweet and choosing me :D. So, now I have to chose 5 bloggers to give the award to.

Here are the rules:"Pay It Forward":1. The winner may put the logo on their blog.2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award.3. Nominate 5 blogs.4. Provide links to their blogs.5. Leave a message for your nominees.

1. Shellye

2. TheLittleThings

3. Tam

4. misseskwitty

5. Rebekah

Well, the LifePreserversClub crop was this weekend and it was a BLAST!! Even if you missed it, you can check out all of the challenges any time. I even won a prize! Thanks to LisaJ for the opportunity :D

Here are some of the pages & projects I did this weekend:

So, that's what I did this weekend - lots of crafting and scrapping and making a mess of the room I just cleaned. It's a vicious cycle. I'm off to clean again so I can scrap and mess it up again.

Happy week everyone!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2009-01-02T09:24:00.005-05:00

2009. Can you believe it? I remember when I was little I would calculate that in 2003 I would be 30 and think 'that's a million years away!'. Not so much anymore :) I've been watching The Twilight Zone marathon (for the fourth New Years in a row) on SCIFI for two days. It's so funny to see what they thought the future would be like back in 1959 - not even close. No jetbacks or telepathy here! I'm looking forward to whatever this new year brings. 2008 was great for me - no complaints. My family is healthy, clothed, housed and fed - beyond that, I don't need anything. I am blessed. So, here's to 2009 *raises glass*!! Blessings to you and yours!

I don't have any resolutions, per se. The big thing I'd like to do this year is submit my work for publication. I always thought it would be cool to see something of mine in a magazine :) but I've never actually sent anything! So, maybe I'll try and see what happens.

I've cranked out more pages in the last 3 days than I have in all of 2008! I'm getting ready for a weekend of cropping, chatting and playing with my friends at the Life Preservers Club. You should stop by (starting tonight at 7p est)! You don't have to join or even chat (though we'd love you to!) - just be inspired and challenged. There are prizes to be won too. Drop by if you get a chance!

TAKING IT EASY

2008-12-29T16:59:00.004-05:00

I've been taking it easy this past month where my shop is concerned. December is crazy for us here; 5 birthdays, 2 anniversaries and all things Christmas & New Years. CRAZY.

So, I was so excited to open the first of two old LPSC Kits and get scrapping! I made some pages of our farm trips this Fall and I made a mini book for sale. I even got my example done for LPSC Crop Challenge!

The Life Preservers Club is hosting our first crop of the year on January 2-4, 2009. There will be fun challenges and games and even a prize or two! The crop will be hosted by both the outgoing and incoming DTs, so, be sure to stop on by and check it out. Chat with us while you're there. You'll find lots of inspiration and the sweetest bunch of ladies anywhere.

I'm off to open a third kit (can you believe it??), so I'll leave you with some of my most recent creations :)

I MADE IT!

2008-12-16T10:44:00.002-05:00

My current term on the Life Preservers Club Design Team is up on December 31st and I'd decided that I wouldn't try out again. I've been overwhelmed with trying to keep up my shop and life here at home. But then as the submission deadline approached, I changed my mind! Hey, I'm a girl & that's what we do ;). I submitted my entries on November 30th - the very last day - and I'm so PROUD to announce that I was chosen to be on the Design Team for a third year!!!! I am ECSTATIC!

There were so many determining factors in deciding to try out one last time - not the least of which was my personal scrapbooks. Being on the altered arts side of the DT this year, I wasn't required to produce any layouts with my kits so I found myself making stuff I could sell and NO pages for my own books. I figured, the best way for me to get my own stuff done is to be held accountable :) How will I manage when my 9 month term is up?? I don't know. Hopefully, I'll be disciplined enough to keep it going. I've decided that my scrapbooks will take priority over making stuff for sale. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not trying to build an empire here - just trying to do what I LOVE and share it.

So, here's to the FABULOUS LPSC DT 2009! I look forward to working with everyone - truly a talented bunch. CONGRATULATIONS ladies!

If you are not yet a member of the LP community, sign up already! There is NO COMMITMENT to buy any kits. Just join to chat and get some inspiration.

13 DAYS

2008-12-12T10:25:00.004-05:00

That's all that's left before Christmas arrives. Can you believe it? It'll be a quiet Christmas at home (hopefully) as all the out of town relatives have come and gone and come again (but will leave soon). I'm just about done with all of my shopping. I've got little things and stocking stuffers to get but the big stuff is done. I didn't think I'd make it!

I have to start thinking about my New Years resolutions. I've been meaning to go back and see what my goals were for 2008 and see how much of them I actually accomplished. I'll have to do that soon - the year is almost over!

Today's my & dh anniversary. Five years. I can hardly believe it. I have to say - I couldn't have asked for a better husband. Yeah, he makes me crazy sometimes (ok, most of the time) but he is perfect for me. He's so supportive (emotionally & financially :) ) of WhimsyPics and anything else I want to do, he ALWAYS has my back - even if I'm wrong, he's an awesome father and just an all around awesome guy. I'm blessed.

Here's some stuff I've been working on lately; not too much of anything - just miscellaneous stuff: the little baskets are for Ethan's class for Christmas

I'M THANKFUL

2008-11-30T21:44:00.002-05:00

Thanksgiving day has come and gone. I had my parents and brothers here from NY and it was great. Maybe next year the in-laws (all of them) will be here too. A girl can dream :)

I'm thankful for

God's mercy and unfailing love

my beautiful, healthy, perfect children

my supportive, loving, husband - my rock

my beautiful home

my family

my freedom

seasons

sunshine

rain

living in the United States of America

my perfect life (perfect for me, that is) :)

I hope your Thanksgiving was blessed and beautiful.

TIME IS NOT ON MY SIDE

2008-11-14T08:10:00.004-05:00

How is it that I can start making Halloween themed items for my shop in July and still not have candy in the house on October 31st? Or that I can make Thanksgiving items starting in August and 2 weeks before still not have my menu down? Before I know it Christmas will be here and I'll be shopping on the 24th. Again. Every year I say I'll start Christmas shopping early. I'll be done by September, for sure. You'll see. And then it's the week before and I'm freaking out. Well, not this time. I will be done by December 15th or there will be no gifts. Period. (yeah, right.)

My biggest problem is that I need to send gifts in the mail now that I live down here in the south. I know that, in myhead, but I never realize how little time I really have when I factor in transit time. My poor sister in law got her birthday gift about 2 weeks late because it got lost on my desk for a week. *sigh* I need help. I will mail my niece's birthday gift today. I will. You'll see.

It's been a while since I posted (surprise!) so here are some pictures of what's been going on:

NC STATE FAIR 2008

HALLOWEEN 2008

HILL RIDGE FARM 2008

CHRISTMAS MINI ALBUM

CHRISTMAS GIFT TAGS
SCHOOL MEMORIES MINI ALBUM

I'm off to figure out what I need for Thanksgiving. Wish me luck.

TAGGED, DINOSAURS & STUFF

2008-10-26T10:06:00.004-04:00

TAGGED

I was tagged by PinkPatrice of PinkPatrice.etsy.com. Check out her adorable cards!

So here are the rules of being tagged:
Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blog. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here are 7 facts about me:
1. I hate talking on the phone - hence, I never answer it.
2. I once flew to Jamaica for a day to attend a party (I was a travel agent then).
3. I bite my cuticles. Alot. It's really gross. I need a manicure.
4. It hurts my heart to pay full price for anything - unless it's a gift. If it's for someone else, I go all out.
5. My eyebrows are tatooed. Well, they're faded now, but they were tatooed. If I had money for it, I'd do it again - my real eyebrows are TINY.
6. I thought about piercing my nose once. For a minute. But still, I thought about it.
7. I love airplanes but I hate to fly.

So now I'm tagging:
Andrea
Joyce
Christina
The Paper Elephant
Sandra
Mark My Words
Krazy Kate Designs

DINOSAURS
My parents were here this week and on Friday, my mom took the grandkids (and me) to see Walking With Dinosaurs! It totally ROCKED!! If the show is coming to a city near you, go see it - I think it's worthwhile! It's like a documentary in that it's narrated and they discuss each era. But the dinosaurs are so huge and so life-like that it's fun (and a little scary!). Of course, my favorite was the T-Rex :)

Here are some pictures:

STUFF

I'm hoping we'll get to the State Fair today. If we do, I'll post some pictures. Have I ever told you how much I love the Fall? :)

Happy Sunday everyone!

Autumn

2008-10-20T11:48:00.002-04:00

This is my favorite time of year. Summer's over, winter's still months away. The air is cool & crisp - just cool enough for a sweater and my beat up Uggs - I love it!

I thought I'd have lots of Christmas things done by now - albums, cards, tags. I've got nothing. I'm still working on Thanksgiving things. Have I mentioned I love fall? :)

Here's some of the things I've been working on:

Altered Pail w/Tags - maybe use them as place cards? Or have your guests write on the back all the things that they're thankful for....or perhaps, write them a note of thanks for coming....or keep them for yourself, fill out what you're thankful for and bring them out next year to see what's changed!

Mini Notecards/Place Cards - they're blank inside so you can leave a note for your guests on each one.

Happy Monday everyone!

MY WEEKEND

2008-09-30T05:53:00.005-04:00

I finally got some time to scrap this weekend - thanks to the LifePreserversClub.com crop! I had SOO much fun. THANK YOU Sandra & Rebecca for putting it all together and coming up with some awesome challenges. And Deb - toilet paper rolls? Really? Who woulda thunk it? :) That little book rocked. So ladies (& gents?) if you want to be challenged to make some great stuff - check it out. The crop is over but the challenges are all still up.

I got 3 personal pages done, 1 album and some mini cards for etsy. I hope I can stay focused and create lots this week.

LifePreserversClub.com Kit Challenge:

Numbers Challenge:

Word Cloud Challenge:

Halloween Mini Album:

All Occasion Mini Cards:

Halloween Mini Cards:

FRESH START

2008-09-21T10:20:00.002-04:00

I decided to reorganize my work space; figured it would take a day or two. Yeah, not so much. Eight days later I just want to cry! OMGosh where did I get all this stuff? When did I think I would have time to do all this?? So, I have a 'giveaway' pile and a 'sell' pile. I'll be inviting some of the local gals over to rummage through my stuff and take what they can haul. Of course, the really good or expensive or brand spanking new stuff will be sold :). I so don't want to go back in there right now. I'm using my laptop in Ava's room :)

It's a GORGEOUS day in Raleigh today. I have all the windows open and though it's chilly (FINALLY!!), it feels so good! Can't be more than 70 degrees right now - I love it!

Guess I'd better buckle down and get to it. Into the abyss I go............

9.11

2008-09-11T09:27:00.002-04:00

We will never forget. GOD BLESS AMERICA.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

2008-09-06T16:21:00.003-04:00

Ethan started Pre-K this past Thursday (wahhhh!). He's only going 2 half days a week because the 3 day program was full and I wanted to ease him into it. If he loves it (so far, so good) I might do 5 half days. My heart was racing (read: broken) but I didn't cry. Not once. So what if I made my husband drive there right after I dropped Ethan off to check on him. I didn't cry. I'm a trouper :)

So, here are some pictures of my big boy on his very first day of school:

He's such a big boy and I'm SO proud!

BUSY BUSY BUSY

2008-08-28T10:55:00.002-04:00

Another 11 days has gone by since I last posted. I thought I could do better with keeping this blog up to day!

Well, since I last wrote, my parents came down for a visit, I applied and got accepted into two juried selling sites and I have a meeting with a brick & mortar store for consignment. I've been busy trying to create things of each of these new venues - I only hope they go over well! My meeting with the brick & mortar is this afternoon. I've heard so many horror stories about consignment from other sellers so I've prepared my list of questions, printed a sample contract and am keeping an open mind. This may not be the venue for me but it's worth a shot. I may learn something new. And, best case, it could be a very lucrative step in the right direction for WhimsyPics. Wish me luck/pray for me!

Ethan is still obsessed with 'The Girl in the Pink Shirt' (we'll call her TGPS for short) except last practice she was wearing a white shirt :). So we're on the couch after practice the other day and here's our conversation:

Ethan: I wonder if TGPS has a washing machine.
Me: Probably, yes.
Ethan: Well, maybe she doesn't have a dryer.
Me: I'm pretty sure she does.
Ethan: Maybe we should wash her clothes.

OBSESSED. He slays me.

At that same practice, he follows her around and when they're in line, shoulder to shoulder, he puts his hand on her shoulder and just leaves it there! LOL So I'm trying to whisper to him to get his hand off (I don't want her to deck him!) but he is all the way across the field. *sigh* What's a mom to do. At one point, he was so close behind her while they were playing that they tripped and fell over each other!!

I'm sure I'll have a million more stories of Ethan and TGPS next time. Hopefully, I'll also have some good news about WhimsyPics and brick & mortars :)

BENDING IT LIKE BECKHAM

2008-08-17T08:44:00.003-04:00

Well, not really...but still :) Ethan had his very first ever soccer practice yesterday. The kids are so little! It's so cute to watch them taking it so seriously and concentrating. So, we get home after practice and Ethan can't stop talking about the 'girl in the pink shirt' that he was standing next to. He's decided that 'she's gonna be my best friend when she's a little older'. All day he would find not so subtle ways to bring her up. He doesn't know her name, mind you, so that's what he has to talk to her about next week, he's decided. I am SO not ready for this!

THE FOOD FAIRY

2008-08-11T15:57:00.003-04:00

My in-laws came for a SHORT visit last week. It was so nice to see them and the kids were so excited!! While they were here, my mother-in-law made me my very favorite dish of all time - paella. YUM. She's made it for me lots of times before and I've even watched her do it, but I've yet to try it on my own. It's SCARY! She wrote down the recipe for me this time AND even she brought me a paella pan from Spain. No pressure. I'm going to try. I promise. Here's the paella in progress:

They also brought so many goodies from the garden back home; tomatoes, green bell peppers, Spanish peppers, cucumbers and zuchini!! I forgot how good 'real' tomatoes are - so different from store bought ones. I have GOT to hit my local farmer's market!

Have a great week y'all! :)

QUIET SUNDAY

2008-07-27T13:28:00.004-04:00

I just dropped the kids off at my sister's. I just needed some quiet time for me. I took an uninterrupted shower - can you imagine? THAT is the highlight of my day!! LOL I'm going to Archiver's in just a bit to take a class on these cool clear cards I saw there. Until then, I'll be cleaning up this scraproom; it looks like a tornado hit it.

Here are my LPSC DT submissions for the month. I know, I know - completely unimaginative and boring. My mojo has disappeared and I can't find it anywhere :( Oh Mojo....where are you???

I also started a Facebook account (why???). My sister talked me into it. I have yet to figure it out but if you're on there, look me up! I'm WhimsyPics on there too :)

Have a great Sunday, everyone!

THE PARTY'S OVER

2008-07-25T09:11:00.003-04:00

and it was great! It was an awful lot of work but I'm so relieved now that it's done. I can back to real life (ie creating for etsy) again. Here are some of the pictures I got - I'm still waiting to see what other people send me because I didn't get nearly as many as I'd hoped! The sign is one of 3 that I painted for the different areas of the party. I had pink, white and green paper lantern circles hanging from the gazebo and cupcakes with pink icing on 3 tiers of cake pedestals in green and white. The pink/green toile tablecloth was a STEAL from Williams-Sonoma that I happened to find about a week before the party. It all just came together so nicely!

And here are some pictures of Ava on her actual birthday and the day after:

PARTY FAVORS

2008-07-06T12:32:00.004-04:00

I just finished these party favor boxes (thank you Cricut). How cute are they? I can't wait to try all of the boxes on the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More cartride! These are pink for the girls and I'm making green ones without the flower closure for the boys. For inside the girls' boxes I've made these little matchbook notepads and I'm waiting for the flower shaped crayons to come in (from etsy, of course). The boys' boxes will have notepads too but in army fatique paper and their crayons are spiderman shaped!! I got the spiderman crayons from AurorasThings. I also wrapped the Hershey's chocolate bars in the same patterned paper that I used for the invites, boxes, etc. It's all coming together!

We went to a friend's house for dinner on Friday (July 4th) and were having such a great time when one of their little boys had an accident and got a cut on his forehead! Oh my word - you would not believe the amount of blood that was POURING down his face!!! I thought I was going to be sick. Thankfully, they were able to use derma-bond to seal the gap in the ER. Oh, but it was a horrible sight. I felt so bad for his mom! We (Henry & I) kept big brother while Mom & Dad took little brother to the ER. They ended up getting back just as the town fireworks were starting so we watched them from the deck out back. Of course, I didn't get any pictures! Every year I say I'm going to get some pictures to make a nice page and it never works out.

Remember how I said 'no more custom orders'? Guess what. I said yes to a custom request. Remind me later when I'm yanking my hair out that I could've said no!

Have a great week, everybody!!

INVITATIONS

2008-07-01T06:59:00.004-04:00

Here's what I've been working on:

These are the invitations for Ava's party. They're slide out cards - you pull the top and both the top and bottom slide out with the info. I got those custom labels from etsy (of course). Nella Designs made me these, the matching address labels and matching 'Ava's First Birthday/July 20, 2008' labels for the party favors. They came out so cute! Thanks, Nella Designs! I got the tutu in the mail on Saturday. I 'd purchased that from Nathalie (a doll!) from Kennedy & Co. I can't wait for her to wear it! I've got the fabric to make the table runner. I just ordered the fabric to make the ballet slippers. Got the tent, table and paper lanterns in pink and green. It's all coming together! YAY!

Gotta go - TTYL!!

FALLING OFF

2008-06-26T07:56:00.004-04:00

So sometimes, if you have a contest/promotion going on in your blog, you want to tell people about it, n'est pas? LOL. Yeah, I've been a little busy and failed to mention my super exciting contest (see below). Obviously nobody won. *sigh* Have I mentioned I need a nanny?

Nothing too exciting going on over here. I went to the Archiver's crop last week with some other MOMS club moms and had tons of fun. I made these little note cards with my new Stampin' Up set:

I'm in the planning stages of Ava's first birthday party! With Ethan, we had it at a restaurant and invited SOOOOO many people - it was a whole 'thing'. For Ava, it's going to be a little affair but fabulous nonetheless. I've custom ordered labels, pendants for the little girls and spiderman crayons for the boys - all from etsy. I'll be using cotton napkins, real dishes, cutlery & cups and empty baby food jars in an effort to not make unnecessary waste (and save some money!). Hopefully it'll turn out ok.

Ava's screeching - gotta run! Have a great week everybody!

MONDAY, MONDAY

2008-06-16T09:32:00.005-04:00

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful dads out there!! We spent a quiet day at home yesterday. It was actually kind of nice not to have too much to do. My dad and father in law live in NY so we didn't really have anyone to visit.

The crop on LifePreserversClub.com was a success - lots of fun challenges, games and I actually got some pages done! Of course, they were the pages I needed for the challenges I had set up so I didn't have much choice LOL. Still, 3 pages in one day is no small feat for me. Did you complete any of my challenges???? I'm giving away a prize if you do. You will have until Friday, June 20th, 10pm EST to complete any one of my 2 challenges. If you complete both, you get two entries. A winner will be selected (randon drawing) from all eligible entries. Simply leave a comment on my blog linking back to your layout. For those of you who are not members of the message board, here are the challenges:

ALL MIXED UP Challenge: All right ladies, you know our alphabet packs (be it chipboard, stickers, thickers - whatever) never come with enough of the letters we need most. So, my challenge to you is to make a layout using a mix of letters from whatever you've got lying around! Here's my example: (how do you like my 'high school' handwriting? LOL)

FATHER KNOWS BEST Challenge: In honor of Father's Day, I want you do make a page honoring a special dad in your life. It could be your dad, your kid's dad, your dad-in-law, a mom who is both mom and dad - anyone! Here's mine:

And this is the page that I did just for myself:

So, get to scrapping ladies & gents. I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Have a wonderful week everyone!

SUCCESS!

2008-06-12T22:56:00.005-04:00

Ava is sleeping on her own in her crib from 8p - 6a! WOOHOO! Now if I could get to bed at 8p we'd be golden :) A girl can dream......

Well, I'm trying to get through my backlog of LP Kits and use some of the cool stuff I have lying around in here. I finally tried my hand at an acrylic album. Yeah, so NOT a fan! Ay ay ay, these are hard to do! I listed it yesterday and it sold today (by convo - gotta tell her to 'take' it from my store). I may have to try my hand at another (or two because that's what I still have here) but then I think I'm done with acrylic. Here's a picture of it:

Now I have to put this kit away because I have to work on a make and take for the LP Crop this weekend (more about that later). But before I put it away I made this:

It used to hold my black peppercorn :) You all know how I hate to throw anything out! I don't know what I'll use it for but at least it's not in the garbage! I have empty baby food jars and peanut cans (cardboard ones) and all kinds of stuff I can't get rid of but don't have time to do anything with. Gosh, have I always been this frugal??

So, this weekend Life Preservers Club is hosting an online crop to celebrate it's sixth year!! Happy Birthday, LPC!! There will be lots of challenges and PRIZES and a few make and takes (one hosted by yours truly). Please join us! The crop starts tomorrow, Friday, at 7p and runs through Sunday. All you have to do is sign up to the message board (that does NOT sign you up for any kits) and get to know the most beautiful bunch of ladies ever! They have become like family to me so I know you'll love them too. And how's this for an incentive: If you complete my make and take project and post a link here, I will put your name in a drawing for a PRIZE!! WOOHOOO! You'll have to sign up to see what my make and take will be :)

In etsy news: I snagged another treasury!! This one I dedicated to my uber-talented teammates on Etsy In Spanish. Check it out:

I think that's all for now. I hope to 'see' you this weekend at LP!!

AWESOME FIND

2008-06-06T21:01:00.003-04:00

I've listed a few things on craigslist lately - mostly things that Ava's outgrown and I've become a little bit of a junkie for it! I lost out on this gorgeous formal living room set with wingback chairs and matching loveseat and tables and everything because dh was skeeved about getting used furniture. I cried. It was so perfect and soooooo cheap! Grrr, I get so mad thinking about it!

Anyway, so I keep browsing in hopes of finding treasures to fill my emtpy home. Well, I came across this yesterday and decided I was going to go for it. It was my birthday money and I'm using it for MY scrap space so dh can be as skeeved as he wants but I AM GETTING IT! So I did. Isn't is just GORGEOUS?

Right now it's in the empty formal living room. The cardboard on the legs was for transporting it. I can't wait to get it in my scraproom! It's a huge surface and I'm gonna use it all up :)

My birthday was awesome. On Saturday dh, the kids and I went down to Glenwood Ave. in search of furniture. We did lots of window shopping, no buying, but it was fun - well, as fun as it can be with two cranky kids. Then Sunday (my actual birthday) I left the kids with my sister and dh and I went out. He got me the table set I wanted for the kitchen - I LOVE IT - and we had Japanese food. It was GREAT to be without the kids!

I've decided that I spend more time putting Ava to sleep than doing anything else even though I swore I wouldn't do it again after Ethan. She's always been a good sleeper but the last month or so she's started waking up at night and rather than listening to her cry, I would get up and rock her. Well, on Wednesday nite when she got up at 2am I just couldn't take it anymore. I put her down in her crib and she screamed for what seemed like forever! But, I was good. And she fell asleep. Last night, I did it again and when I put her down she didn't cry but for a minute, sat up in her crib for about 10 minutes and went right down. Tonight, I just put her down a little bit ago and she just stopped crying and is now asleep. I guess it does work! Oh, it just breaks my heart to hear her cry and not comfort her. *sigh* You know what though? I noticed she took a long nap today too. Hmmm.... maybe the experts are right! :)

On etsy news: I'm in a treasury today and I also snagged one! If I could get the screen image I'd post it here but thumbalizr isn't working for me right now. Maybe I'll try again later. Ok here's the one I'm in: NC TREASURY and here's the one I made: A Tribute to Puerto Rico. Come check them out!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DH!

2008-05-27T20:35:00.003-04:00

We celebrated dh's birthday yesterday - 41! Wowzers! I remember when I thought 35 was old. And here I am not 5 days away from it myself. *sigh* Time flies.

We had my sister and family over to 'celebrate' - no biggie. I made dinner but we had a Carvel ice cream cake YUMMY! My sweet sweet neighbors dropped by with a bottle of champagne for our birthday gift. Otherwise, nothing too exciting happened.

Actually, that's not true! OMGosh so I'm out running some errands, trying to get the bday cake and there are cops everywhere! So, I'm super cautious, right? Speed limit 35 - I'm doing 36 and a ^@#!&* cop pulls me over!!!!!!!! Says I'm in a school zone. It was a girl cop. I'm like, dude, are you serious?? It's MEMORIAL DAY there are no classes today. 'Doesn't matter' says she, '25 all the time' - on that ONE friggin road! OMGosh, I just wanna grrrrrr thinking about it. Ms. Officer gave me a ticket for $170!! I wanna throw up just thinking about it. Happy freakin birthday to me. God, please forgive me for the horrible, horrible thoughts I'm having towards that..........woman.

So, I'm off to create. Gotta sell lots and lots and lots of stuff to pay for this &*(#^ ticket by July 11th.

OK, I'M BACK.

2008-05-23T14:34:00.004-04:00

For real. LOL. I can't believe it's been 15 days since I told you how busy I was and that I'd be back soon! Sheesh, time flies. I've just been so consumed by these custom orders. I'm trying to finish up my last one and then I'm taking a break. I need to slow down a little and pace myself - Summer's coming!

Let's see...what's happened since we chatted last....

I've got a garden! Well, my father in law gave us a few Spanish pepper plants and then dh went and got me cilantro and tomatoes. I'm so excited to see if they make it! If we don't kill these off, next year I want a full fledged garden - lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers - the works! Cross your fingers ;)

We also got 2 trees from my dad and 2 from my father in law. DH has been busy planting them. Who knew tree placement was such a chore? It's so funny how many little things I never really paid attention to until I got this house. Now I know what a crape myrtle and a red maple are and that petunias need full sun. I've got ferns hanging on the porch and my two palm trees that my dear neighbors gave me last summer are on either end of the porch. My first house is starting to feel like home!

I've been trying so desperately to find a round table in black for my kitchen. It has to be at least 48" (preferably bigger) but all I keep finding is glass top tables. I'm so sad :( I mean, I know Pottery Barn has the one I want but there is NO WAY I would pay Pottery Barn money even if I had it! I'm going to try the stores on Glenwood Ave. as a last resort. I keep checking craigslist but I've had no luck yet.

I joined the Etsy in Spanish Street Team! Check out our blog EtsyinSpanish.blogspot.com. They even featured one of my items: Princess at Work featured!

Oh, I went to Scrapmania at Archiver's on May 10th with some ladies from the MOMS club. I had SOOOOOOO much fun!! That was the best Mother's Day gift (except for my first Mother's day when Ethan came home from the hospital after two months) ever! I left just after 9p (I had been out all day in the HOT sun shopping) but some of the ladies stayed till 11p! I can't wait to do it again. I even got THREE pages done!! WAHOO!

So, that's all I've got for now. Pray that I am able to finish this album in the next couple of days so that I can move on. My customers have been wonderful, giving me carte blanche and relying solely on my vision for their projects and for that I'm grateful. Now, I need to take a little scrapping break and do something with the four kits I haven't yet opened!

Oh! Shout out to SANDRA CURRY - the newest member of the LifePreserversClub.com Design Team!! Marcene, I'm so sorry to see you go and I wish you well in your new job!

OH MY GOSH!!!

2008-05-08T17:50:00.003-04:00

What a busy month April was! Sheesh! I feel like I'm just now taking a deep cleansing breath and getting ready to start something new.

I've got some new custom orders to fill and I'll be going back to NY for a few days this month. You all know how behind I get when I go away! I'm excited to see my friends and family but I know I'm gonna have so much to do before and after. Stressing doesn't help, I know.

My parents are arriving tomorrow for a visit. I don't think we have anything planned for Mother's Day - maybe church and brunch? I guess we'll play it by ear.

I'm gonna go get to work on more orders. TTYL!