Hey Everybody!!! Did ya miss me?!!!

I have not written, as you are well aware of.  Considering my last post was in May.  So the question I have to you and mainly to me is:  WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SUMMER???!!!!!

I wanted to take a couple of weeks off to get done with all of the projects I had going and one day lead into the next and there ya go.

"Wanting to" and the "Reality" reasons for not blogging:

I have been wanting to "spice" up my blog with more great recipes and instructions.
Real:  I am finding a lot of blogs with recipes and after awhile I get the "blah blah whatever is going on.  I don't want my blog to turn into that.

I wanted to write more about my chickens and their adventures.
Reality:  I sold them.
I decided that I have not been home enough to
#1 give them the attention that they needed and
#2 I couldn't eat all the eggs they were producing.
#3 Couldn't get rid of the eggs to friends, for the fear that they would suddenly stop producing and here I have 7 no laying chickens.
#4 They were going through chickens feed and that got very expensive.  Do you know how many eggs I can get at the farmers market for $40.00 a month?  I do, 10 Dozen and lastly,
#5 I got tired trying to find someone to watch them, even though they were pets with benefits.

Family issues, not that I want to get into it, but in having young adult children and the choices they make.... well, enough said.  That took the largest part of my summer as well. 
Reality: not wanting to focus on them and take away the important things in my life, i.e. my blog.

 I have been sewing.
Reality:  I like hanging out at the quilt store and visiting while I have my sewing machine all set up, those girls bring in the best food to share, I swear!  But honestly, I did finish a quilt that I had no business in doing.  Then did a cute panel quilt that all I had to do was to cut straight lines and sew in straight lines, it came out super cute.  Pictures to follow. 

I've been traveling, a lot!
Reality:  I have been traveling a lot!  Not that I am complaining but when you are gone for two weeks at a time, you start forgetting certain things about where you live, like what does your husband look like.  And also, you forget about the clothes you have in your closet.

Wanting to start a new little business
Reality:  Still wanting to start a new little business.  I have been thinking of different party ideas and have posted the challenges on my past post.  Well, Yahoo, I have figured them out, at a dear cost.  The cost has been hundreds of hours, asking, pleading, and begging for anyone to help me.  With me living in such a small town it's not like I can pick up a phone book and call someone who is a graphic artist and say "I NEED HELP!" But what you do is you start seeking and asking anyone and everyone who even knows how to turn on a computer.  I did get help and the instruction was invaluable.  I can't wait to start showing you my "Artesstist Work"  Don't ask me what that first word was I made it up, after all I am an Artist or an Artessitist! Viola!  Here is a sneak peak:

This is just ONE of sooooo many, this is just perfect to run through your printer and add to your bottles for your Halloween get together.  See, I have been artisting.  Who knew?

I haven't been taking time to do my photography.
Reality:  Nope, I haven't.  I haven't pulled out my Nikon since the Mother's Day Brunch.  I have been taking my small Cannon Elf and even worse, dare I say it....taking my phone and taking pictures.  The blasphemy!

I haven't seen my friends and spending any time with them.
Reality:  Too busy to make time and therefore time keeps going and before you know it, you've lost a summer. 

But, I have to tell you all of these confessions have been good for my soul and now I feel cleansed, deep breath!  Whew!

So with all that being said and more stuff that I didn't even put in, I am wanting to change things up a bit.  I want to have a section on my blog reserved for someone who is very very dear to my heart.  After a lot of thought and contemplating I decided that he is worth it.

Uh hum, without further ado let me introduce to you:

GEORGIE:

 This little guy has become such an important part of our lives.  He goes everywhere we go and unlike kids, I can stuff him in a suit case and there is no complaining!  Even my girlfriends bring presents to him when they visit and other ones hide them in our house and here we go looking for over an hour to find him (many times).  He is a good hider,and he never makes any noise.

So, now I will be giving him his space that is due to him and I hope you enjoy his adventures as much as we do.

Also, I want to take a moment to thank all of my followers that contacted me while I was on hiatus asking if everything was ok, you all brought me back,  so a BIG THANK YOU AND I LOVE ALL OF YOU!

I am going to close for now, thank you for being my friend and hanging in there.  I am taking you very seriously and pay attention to what is important to me and to you!

That is, if you will still have me, (as I bow.... )

Happy Mother's Day!

I am sooo sorry that I haven't written in such a long time.  Busy would be an understatement.  In the past three weeks I have put on a baby shower, pancake breakfast for 125 people on Easter Sunday and then did a Mother's Day Brunch after church for 65 people!  Whew! 

Now with that being over I can start playing again.  I miss my blog and taking time to write.  It centers me in my crazy world.

I have something I would like to share with you. 

The following is a book that was read to me years ago in church.  The pastor got up and read the child's book. I thought "Ugg"! in the beginning, but with the continued reading of this story it melted my heart.  I cried and cried and to tell you the truth I don't remember what the rest of the service was about. But for over 15 years this story is one of my favorites.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

Love You Forever

by Robert Munsch

A mother held her new baby and very slowly rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while she held him, she sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
The baby grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was two years old, and he ran all around the house. He pulled all the books off the shelves. He pulled all the food out of the refrigerator and he took his mother's watch and flushed it down the toilet. Sometimes his mother would say, "this kid is driving me CRAZY!"
But at night time, when that two-year-old was quiet, she opened the door to his room, crawled across the floor, looked up over the side of his bed; and if he was really asleep she picked him up and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. While she rocked him she sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
The little boy grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was nine years old. And he never wanted to come in for dinner, he never wanted to take a bath, and when grandma visited he always said bad words. Sometimes his mother wanted to sell him to the zoo!
But at night time, when he was asleep, the mother quietly opened the door to his room, crawled across the floor and looked up over the side of the bed. If he was really asleep, she picked up that nine-year-old boy and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while she rocked him she sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
The boy grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was a teenager. He had strange friends and he wore strange clothes and he listened to strange music. Sometimes the mother felt like she was in a zoo!
But at night time, when that teenager was asleep, the mother opened the door to his room, crawled across the floor and looked up over the side of the bed. If he was really asleep she picked up that great big boy and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. While she rocked him she sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
That teenager grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was a grown-up man. He left home and got a house across town. But sometimes on dark nights the mother got into her car and drove across town.  If all the lights in her son's house were out, she opened his bedroom window, crawled across the floor, and looked up over the side of his bed. If that great big man was really asleep she picked him up and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while she rocked him she sang:

'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be. Well, that mother, she got older. She got older and older and older. One day she called up her son and said, "You'd better come see me because I'm very old and sick." So her son came to see her. When he came in the door she tried to sing the song. She sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always...
But she couldn't finish because she was too old and sick. The son went to his mother. He picked her up and rocked her back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And he sang this song:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my Mommy you'll be.
When the son came home that night, he stood for a long time at the top of the stairs. Then he went into the room where his very new baby daughter was sleeping. He picked her up in his arms and very slowly rocked her back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while he rocked her he sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.


Happy Mother's Day.  Mom I miss you.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound.....

Those words just stop you in your steps, don't they?

I love this song, I love the words so much that I have this in a frame in my bedroom. I look at it every day and feel the love that these beautiful words say.

As I have said in my prior post, I am doing a Mother's Day Brunch for my church.  I decided to do the Brunch decorations with butterflies and the theme to be "Amazing Grace".  Now, how to tie them both in, hummm?  Well, I was walking past the picture and studied it and actually saw the butterfly on this page, it almost knocked me to my knees! I have decided to put the song, rolled up and have a lovely ribbon on it and place it  at the plate of every mother attending the brunch as one of her gifts.

So as a small gift to you, I have put Here the picture so you may print it for your Mother or even for yourself to put into a frame. 

I can't wait to post the pictures of the brunch with all the ideas that I have.  So until then, enjoy and if you would, send pictures of what you did I would love to see the projects.

Have a great day and keep the ideas going!  Now off to work on the baby shower.

Let there be light....

I just found out that the time change is this weekend!  My thoughts on it, Yippee!!!  I love daylight, in fact when I was in my twenties I honestly thought I would move to Alaska during the summer for the sunlight.  That is probably why I never moved to Washington or Oregon.  Now don't get me wrong, I love the green, the rain, but the dreary weather, not so much.

When I lived in Vegas there was soooo much sunshine, yes the heat was a pain during the day, but there is something to be said about sunlight.  Big Bear is just incredible for sunlight.  Did you know that it has almost 300 days of sunlight?  We even have a solar observatory here! 

My house has windows everywhere!  I do not have drapes on any windows in my house.  Blinds are good enough.  Walking into a house that is dark and closed up gives me the willies.  Lovely Brightness!

Same thing with lamps.  I LOVE TABLE LAMPS!  They say you are to have three lights in a room.  I think that works if you have a nightlight plugged in, Tiffany of course....But if you think about it, you have an overhead light, two table lamps  for the ends of your couch.  In fac,t that is what I am on the hunt for.  I have a small side lamp for my living room and the bulb burned out and I put in a night light in it.  Ummmm it doesn't give off any light, but give it a beautiful little glow just enough to bang your foot into the table, note to self:  Get new light bulb! 

Anyway, here are some thoughts I have for a new light in my living room, what are your thoughts?

Isn't she gorgeous!!!!  (SQUEAL!!!)  That would be perfect for my living room sitting right on top of my piano.  (Warm feeling flows through my body imagining it).  I may have to have it on even during the day!  The beauty of Tiffany!

Sunshine on my shoulder.....

Cute little purse

Here is something I decided to try on my Silhouette Machine.  Didn't this come out just adorable?

I printed it out on Christmas scrapbook paper, but I think any other kind for what holiday you want to celebrate would be CUTE!!!  This only took just a couple of minutes to put together and thank God for common sense, because it didn't come with any directions. 

I loved it for so many reasons, I was going to make a bunch of these for gifts for a girlfriends luncheon on Saturday.  Mother's Day Brunch?  Best Friends Birthday?  Little girl's birthday party?  Endless possibilities and what a unique little gift.  Oh how about using it as place cards at your dinner party with a little chocolate in it for desert to take home?

Have a great week! 

PS.  Guess what?  I figured out how to make those party circles.  I bought them on Etsy and can design whatever I want on them!  Wow!  I am amazed every time I go on that site, hours just fly by!

I'll post when I get some done!

Blurb, blurb, coming up for air....

Splash!  Hear me gasping for air!  Wow!  I have been drowning in my own craziness!  There has been so much I have wanted to post, but that is just one more thing to do without finishing anything.

So the next question you have is, did I finish anything and what are you talking about?

The answer is nope not one thing has been finished and listed below are the crazy things I have been doing:


My trusty beloved computer has really really been sick.  She just didn't wake up one morning.  The HORROR!!!!  I panicked and started running through the house like I was on fire trying to call my trusty computer guy, pleading to the phone "please answer, please answer, fix her quickly!"  Well I was calming down when I had to leave him a message, figures....

I took her over to his office, waiting for him to arrive and make her and I all better.  Please make her ok.....
Miracle worker I say.  He did fix her and she is all better, now.  She had a really BAD bug in her and now I have like four safeguards to make sure my little girl doesn't get sick like that again.  It was like having a child sick.  I panicked hard!  But with her check up I learned that I have to get more space for her, I guess having over 4 thousand gazillion pictures on here isn't the best place to put them.  But you never know when you just have to pull up the perfect picture to go on your post.  Am I right?

So, with that being done, the month of February is marching on.  Ha ha, get it "marching on".  Uh hum, anyway, I decided to try some different things and not necessarily in order. I am listing my projects that I have been currently taking on.  I am going to post the con then the pro, but it is not in order, due to the fact that everything I have been tackling is bringing with it difficulties, to say the least.  But there is always a bright side and we will call it them "Pro".  OK?

• Taking a class to make my first quilt.  

Con:  WOW I had no idea that sewing would be so hard.
Cut my instructor on the first day learning to use my new rotary cutter.
I sliced her good.

Pro:  I learned how to thread my sewing machine.
Pictures to follow.

• Planning  a baby shower. 

Con:  Wow, had no idea what I was getting myself into.  I have never thrown a baby shower before, When I had my twins they were four.

Pro:  I love to throw a party, just add some baby stuff in it, how hard can this be?
Pictures to follow

•  Learning to use the Silhouette Machine:

 Con:  Holy Mother of God, I had NO idea that this machine is as complicated as it is!

Pro:  Can't wait to see the finished product.
Pictures to follow

• Learning PrintShop 22

Con: Whoa!  Several hours later I am still at "Now how do I save this in jpg". 

Pro:  Print Shop is sooo much easier to use then Photoshop.

• Learning Photoshop

Con:  Oh crap this is difficult.
Pro:  Let me get back to you on that one!

• Our church has asked Andy and I to be the Greeter Coordinators.

Con:  Now I have to get up early.
Pro:  I am getting to be the first person who greets people when they walk in the door.  It's like inviting them into my home.

• Planning a Mother's Day Brunch for the ladies at Church.

Con:  Have never planned a Mother's Day brunch other than my mom's brunch.  Heck anyone can make reservations at the Queen Mary.  I am a genius at that.
Pro:  I love to throw a party, just add moms, how hard can this be?
Pictures to follow

• Doing little sewing projects to get used to my machine

Con:  Back the bus up! Do you think I should have done that BEFORE I decided to make a quilt.  Are you kidding me?
Pro:  Learning to thread my machine.

• Making pillow cases:  

This sounds silly, but I have to admit even though these pillow cases are over $30.00 for two and took me five hours to make them, they are definitely worth it.  But....

Con:  Make sure when you sew you need to make certain your pattern is set up correctly.  So when you put your pillows in them and put them on your bed one is not upside down.  Crap.  There is a right and left part of a pillow, who knew?
Pro:  I love making this little gems and I want to make 100 of them.  Guess what people are getting as gifts?
Pictures to follow.

So, that is what I have been up to in the last 24 hours.  Just kidding, Ok this past couple of weeks.

But it is now my goal to finish some of the projects I am working on.  I have talked to myself and realize that if I keep spinning I won't get anything accomplished.

I realize that all of you can relate and sympathize with what I am doing to myself.   If you can, raise your hand!

Ok off to cut my squares for my quilt,  now where did I put the rotary cutter?

UPDATE::
I have a challenge:  This is the main reason I am going crazy.  Below is a picture that I got during Halloween.  I am trying desperately to find out how to do this.  Not necessarily for Halloween, but to make these labels for the Baby Shower I am doing.  Does anyone out there know how to do this and can help me...PLEASE!!!  Argh!  This is why I am not getting anything done.
Take a look at what I am talking about Here and Here.  I want to try the same labels and do the background in a different style.  If all else fails, ask for help.  Help!!
Have a great week and I promise to show some of the projects I am working on when they start taking form.

Valentine's Day Subway Art Part I.

Click here for my valentine's artwork

Well hello everybody!  It is a Monday afternoon and I just designed the cutest subway art project:

 

I have a new program (well it's new to me) and is so much easier to work with than the other programs.  So for the easy to reach for program which is The Print Shop 22  Deluxe Version.  I am really pleased with this, easy is the way for me.  I just don't have time to sit down and rack my brains trying to get photoshop down.  Call me lazy, it works for me.  Now....

I had so much fun creating it but not so much fun trying to figure out how to put a pdf on my blog.  I have way too much going on. 
I have worked on this project for a loooong time and finally have it set it up so you can download it for FREE.  That's right FREE. 

Click here 

 

 

Let me know what you think.  This was a lot of fun, maybe too much fun.....

What a way to start the year. Sick, Sick, Had an Accident and more Sick.

I know I will look back at my blog and barely remember being ill.  But there is a nasty bug going around.  In fact a lot of people are not getting to the doctor and it is turning into pneumonia.  I have to raise my hand on that one.  I have been sick since December 18th and just went to the doctor last week.  Got a shot, horse pills and scolded.  I'm use to it, I am very heard headed and don't do things like they should be done.

My computer got sick, WAY SICK, so it had to go to the doctor's as well.  That is why I haven't been posting.  Got it back, hooked it up, sat down to type a quick note to my girlfriend.  While I was typing Andy came in and said that he was going out to the chicken coop and I jumped up and told him I wanted to go and see the girls.

We fed them, took the eggs and decided to clean up the coop a little bit.  That is where it became dangerous.  I was at the front and when Andy came out of the coop with some bedding, I backed up and off I went BACKWARDS!!  Four foot drop!  I landed on my right side and don't ask me how.  But shredded my hand, scratched half of my face, bloodied my nose and had A LOT of dirt in my mouth!  Thank God I didn't knock my teeth out of my mouth!

So, with motrin, pain killers and a lot of sympathy, I am recovering.  There is just too much to do to have everything stop me.

My thoght:  It could have been a lot worse.  Even more worse:  Having someone else do that drop instead of me.  Now I know I have to fix it so it doesn't hurt anyone that goes up there.  Nasty.

Well, have a great weekend.  Even with everything that has happened, I have a weekend packed full and don't have time to stop.  Now, where are those pain pills?????  Talk to you next week!

New placemat project...

I found the cutest blog, this happens to be my favorite pastime is to look at other people's blogs, that is one of my guilty pleasures in my world.

I saw that this particular blog called The Haverford House had put her artwork on The Graphic Fairy.  Every Monday Karen has "Brag Monday" and  I can't wait to get on and see what incredible work people will do with her graphics. 

So, I took The Havorford House idea and went one up. Here is my picture:

How cool is this!!!!

I redesigned the center and put this great rooster on it.  It translate in English from French:  I sing loud and clear!  I should rename my blog that.  Boy, I can sing loud in my car, bathroom and anywhere no one else is in the area!  I used a drop cloth Canvas as the place-mat.  It looks really neat and natural too.  Love the natural element.

It was extremely easy to do and I have to say, I am quite pleased with my work, and to think, I created something from nothing.  Thank you The Havorford House for the inspiration and The Graphic Fairy for your unselfish love everyday.

I am linking this post to the Monday party over at the Graphic Fairy, take a moment and check it out, I promise it will inspire you!