A Peaceful Place To Be

Ann-Denise's Valentine Cone Class at The Papercrown

2012-01-28T18:24:00.006-06:00

Because I love Ann-Denise and I love her classes, as soon as I found out she was teaching this beautiful Valentine Cone Class at The Papercrown in Oklahoma City, I couldn't sign up fast enough!

(This photo was taken by Ann-Denise)
She always prepares the cutest class kits and as always, tasty snacks!

Ann-Denise had tons of additional embellishments that she generously shared with our class. It's always fun to pick things from someone else's "stash".

I'm thrilled with how my cone turned out! Can you see that beautiful fuchsia flower on my cone? Ann-Denise made that and it makes all the difference on my cone. Awesome!

2012-01-22T06:30:00.003-06:00

In December at our Doll Club meeting we had a doll related gift exchange. Everyone brought one gift and we chose numbers to be able to select a wrapped gift from under the tree. One of the ladies had made a really cute, painted canvas doll and I knew immediately I wanted to try to make one.
Here is my attempt.

I didn't use a pattern and my initial vision was completely different than how she ended up. As I was painting, some of her proportions were way out of whack so I attempted to fix it with paint. I used colored pencil to do some shading and I finished her by coating her with glossy Mod Podge. She's not perfect but I think she came out pretty good for my first painted cloth doll.
I'm working feverishly on the three other swaps I'm in - Viv's Heart swap, Laurie's Valentine Ornament swap, and Jackye's Valentine Tag Swap. As it gets closer to Valentine's Day, I'll post what I've been working on - but for now, it's a secret.

Life is short so don't waste it being unhappy.

2012-01-13T19:45:00.003-06:00

As a lawyer and as a nurse, you can just imagine that I have seen people at their absolute worst.
Whether it is being sick, on the verge of death, or in some kind of personal tragedy, it is fascinating to watch the personal dynamics between people.
Today, in my role as a lawyer, I went to interview a couple who called me to have their wills drawn up. The wife is dying from Stage 4 cancer and her time here on earth is short. This particular couple has been married for many years but I could tell that they LOATHE each other. From the energy in the room I could just tell that this feeling is nothing new for them - this has been going on for a long time. The body language, the disdain in their voices, I couldn't miss the hatred.
It reminded me once again that life is just too short to spend time wasted like that.
I felt sorry for that lady - the man too, but today, mostly the lady because her time is running out. How many years have they wasted married to each other when they obviously can't stand each other? Why do people stay in that situation? It's too late now for her to find happiness. Maybe for him too. Who knows.
It just reminded me once again of how thankful I am for my life, and how important it is to me to be with someone who not only loves me but makes me happy and makes me laugh. I'm so thankful for all the fun we have and the respect we have for each other. We like each other *and* we love each other. I'm going to guard that like crazy because once the love and respect start slipping away, we are on very dangerous ground. You may never get back.

Vintage Christmas ABC Book Swap page

2012-01-07T15:07:00.005-06:00

So, in the middle of November I was invited to join a Vintage Christmas ABC Book Page swap. I was excited to be part of this swap because I had seen some other ABC book page swaps and had wanted to participate. However, I had NO IDEA how I was supposed to squeeze in making 27 pages in the midst of all the Christmas craziness. Thankfully, a few other people in the swap had fallen behind in getting their pages done and the hostess decided to extend the deadline until January 20, 2012.
I was given the letter "D", and part of the challenge was to use as many "D" elements we could come up with.Here is the front of my page:

The back of the page had to have some kind of decor on it and a list of all the "D" elements we came up with.

I was able to finish mine with a little time to spare and got them in the mail this week. Go me! Here they all are, packed up and ready to go. Whew, lots of labor and love went into these and a little bit of anxiety sending them off into the world.

Now, just to wait to see what everyone else came up with for their pages.
And just to add to my already full schedule, I've joined one more swap - a Valentine ornament swap. I'm so excited!

All signed up for Birdsong 2!

2012-01-05T20:08:00.005-06:00

Last May, I went to Karla's cottage in Kansas for Birdsong and had such a wonderful time that I couldn't even wait to sign up for this year's event! As it gets closer, I'm sure some of the ladies will start hosting swaps. Last year I participated in the Frilly Bird Swap - do you remember?
I stressed out over my bird. I couldn't come up with an idea, then when I finally did, I wasn't sure I did it "right". Turned out lots of people liked my bird and the lesson for me was to just honor my creativity and not be so critical of myself.

Speaking of swaps, I finished the 27 pages for the ABC Vintage Christmas Book Swap. I had the letter "D". I need to take some pictures then get them off in the mail. Our deadline is Jan. 20th - so I've made it with some time to spare.
I've also signed up for Viv's Heart Swap and a Valentine Tag swap *and* I got into an 8 week "Learn to Sew" class. Guess I'm going to be really busy!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T17:47:00.005-06:00

We celebrated New Year's Eve with our friends, Lori & Roy, by going to Mexicali in the Brady District for dinner and then on to the Eli Young show at the Cain's Ballroom. I had never been to the Cain's before and it was really neat to see such a historic place. The show was good and we actually made it until midnight!
Here we are on New Years Eve 2010 at the Flaming Lips New Year's Eve Freakout:

Here we are on New Years Eve 2009 at the Flaming Lips New Year's Eve Freakout:

Here we are on New Years Eve 2008 at the Flaming Lips New Year's Eve Freakout:

Our first year was in 2007 but those pictures aren't on my computer.
Happy New Year!!

Last Post of 2011 - year end wrap up

2011-12-31T16:13:00.023-06:00

When I look back on this year, I can't believe what a busy year it has actually been. At times, I wondered what I actually got accomplished and if I was just spinning my wheels. Turns out, I was more productive than I thought! Here is just some of what went on in our lives this year:
January:
Started the 12 month bag challenge, but only made it one month when this bag almost did me in!

My tags for a Valentine's Tag Swap:

February:
Back to Brave Girl's in Idaho:

Classes with Jackie:

March:
Jackie's Easter Egg Class:

April:
Las Vegas Trip - my first time!

Patio Finished:

Visit to Connecticut:

May:
New Front Door:

Birdsong at Karla's:

June:
The British Virgin Island. Oh Yeah!

July:
My big project for the month was cleaning, organizing and painting the pantry.

August:
Spent fighting the heat and garden pests, but enjoying the backyard.

September:
Kc Willis Collage Camp

Jackie's Halloween Spool Class

Handmade U!

October:
We traveled to Connecticut for my cousin's wedding,

Joao's birthday:

and to visit my family.

And of course, no trip is complete without a day in New York City!

I ended the month with a trip to Texas for "A Wicked Tea"

November:
Doug and I traveled to Omaha for Rachel's wedding.

I participated in a Fall Tag Swap - here's my tag:

December:
White Christmas Tag Swap

Lots of Christmas Parties: Cloth Doll Club, Doug's work Party, my work party, other business related Christmas parties, and our annual party for my Investment Group:

Wow! If you made it through all that, you are a trooper!
Here's to a happy, healthy and productive 2012! Can't wait to see what the new year has in store for all of us. :)

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

2011-12-29T07:45:00.005-06:00

This time of year seems to fly by, doesn't it!?!
We had a very nice Christmas - quiet and low key which is how I like it. As much as I miss family, it's kind of nice to not have any where we have to be on Christmas Eve and Christmas day and it allows us to really enjoy our time together.
This is what I got for Christmas: A Babylock sewing machine!

I can't wait to have an afternoon to sit down and test it out. I'm hoping to take a sewing class in January but the wait list is almost 50 people long. Makes me wonder why they don't offer additional classes?
I'm working on my list of goals for 2012. I have a feeling it's going to be a very good year!

Gingerbread Men

2011-12-19T20:37:00.004-06:00

So, I've wanted to make gingerbread man cookies for several years now. I went out and bought all the ingredients, looked up a recipe that had good reviews and set out to make my cookies. Let me just say that the recipe from allrecipies.com was a complete and utter disappointment. The dough was way too sticky, I had to add a ton more flour than the recipe called for and honestly, the cookies totally lack flavor. However, my cookie cutters made this flop kind of fun.

Each one is dismembered in some way in that it looks like a bite has been taken out of them.
Yeah, I'm sick - I colored some of the icing to look like blood.

If I wasn't laughing so hard at my sick humor, I'd be crying over the recipe flop. Oh well.

Investment Club Christmas Party

2011-12-13T19:05:00.003-06:00

Every year our Investment Club has a Christmas party and it is usually hosted by Suzanne. She always outdoes herself with the most amazing decorations! I think I counted nine different trees.

Every nook and cranny is decorated.

I thought I was something when I used to put up two different trees - never mind nine! She has a snowman tree, a pig tree, a black christmas tree with New Orleans decorations, and a tree filled with Radko ornaments.
I love this one for Oklahoma.

Week in review

2011-12-11T08:01:00.007-06:00

I love starting my season out with hot chocolate with Bailey's Irish Creme and a little whip cream. Warms me up and puts me in the Christmas spirit. ;)

Tuesday night I went to a Christmas party at Southern Hills Country Club for The Oklahoma Trust Company. The Club's decorations were incredible although I don't have any pictures.
I took my "little sis" out for a movie on Wednesday night. She wanted to see Twilight which I was a little apprehensive about but her mom said it was okay so we went. I haven't read any of the Twilight books but my sis has read them all. By the end of the movie I was actually in to it and was disappointed to be left hanging with that storyline. I probably won't go back and read the books and it remains to be seen if I go see the sequel when it comes out, but now we can say we've seen it.
This year for Christmas I am sponsoring a little 4 year old girl that lives on an Indian Reservation in South Dakota. If you watched the 20/20 special earlier this year you remember seeing that this is the poorest place in America with devastatingly high incidences of alcoholism, unemployment and even suicide. I had heard about these people from a friend of mine, KC Willis, who I met this year when I took her class at the Paper Crown in OKC. KC actually visited the people of the reservation and brought them a truckload of much needed supplies such as diapers, formula, blankets, clothing and food. Check out her blog and friend her on facebook if you feel like you would like to help.
Anyway, I've been collecting some toys and other fun things for this sweet little girl who KC told me loves animals, and this week I came across this precious little pink sparkly purse with a monkey inside. I hope she likes it! I like it and I think my four year old self would have loved to have one of these.

I packed up a big box of goodies and got them in the mail yesterday. I hope it makes her Christmas a little brighter, I know it did for me.
I attend a doll club here in Tulsa called the Dolling Dames. The club sponsors two artists a year to teach classes in Tulsa and is just a fun way to get together with other like minded people for sharing and accountability in creativity. I've only been a member since this fall but so far, I love it!
Yesterday, the Dolling Dames had our Christmas Party at Jean's house. Jean's house is a museum of creativity with her awesome studio and dolls and other handmade things everywhere you looked. I still don't think I saw everything! Anyway, for our party, we had a gift swap which had to be doll related. Each person brought a gift in an unmarked bag. The gifts had to be doll related and they could be a doll or any supply related to doll making such as fabric, trim, beads, etc. Each person picked a number and got to chose from a gift under the tree. I purchased a set of Micron markers since cloth doll makers use these markers on the face and for other detail. Plus, I thought markers are one of those things that are great to have but when I have money to spend on supplies, I don't like to have to spend it on things like that. Here is how I packaged them.

The gift I received was this sweet doll with a purple boa from Sherry Parks.

If you have any interest in cloth dolls, you should really check out the Dolling Dames website. There are some incredibly talented ladies in this bunch.
This sweet bottle snowman made by Shauna Henry was the door prize at our Doll Club meeting yesterday and I won!

Last night we went to an "ugly Christmas sweater" party. Can you believe that I had the hardest time finding an ugly sweater? I went to Goodwill and Salvation Army and they were all sold out! Doug ended up buying one at Walmart (I absolutely refused to pay retail for an ugly sweater and $5.00 was my maximum budget). The party was already in full swing by about 8pm and I'm imagining that there are a few people who don't feel so good today. As the designated driver, I behaved myself and am so happy that I'll get to enjoy my day and my investment club Christmas Party tonight.

My White Christmas Tag

2011-12-04T11:21:00.004-06:00

Apparently, either I can't follow directions or my creativity is stifled when I try to complete a project according to the guidelines. Or maybe, this is just my interpretation of White Christmas? Yeah, that's it...

I painted the tags a light shade of pink and then covered them with white snowflake ribbon. Then, I rubber stamped the candy canes, covered them with stickles and modpodged them for a shiny look. I added a couple of white feathers and made the Christmas sentiment on them by rubber stamping, shading and stickling (is that a word?) them. Finally I punched a hole in the top, put in a grommet and added tulle at the top.
Here are the backs of my tags:

Now, I'll drop them in the mail and await the arrival of the rest of the group's tags. Underneath this project is my 25 days of Christmas album I'm working on. As usual, I've got a million projects "in the works".
I thought I was finished with swaps until after the holiday but at the last minute I was invited to participate in a Christmas Alphabet book. My letter is "D" and I have to make 26 copies of my page. I've been thinking of ideas and hopefully, I can come up with something cute.

Fall Tags are Here!

2011-11-30T19:26:00.005-06:00

Our fall tags arrived in the mail today and it's always so exciting to finally get to see everyone's take on a theme. Where I've had links to the creator's blogs, I've added them.
Once again, here is my tag:

Robin Carr's:

Kathy Lowry's:

Dawn's:

Wendy Robrecht's:

Cindy Bellamy's:

Jonnelle's:

Terri Wilkerson's:

Jane Palmer's:

Michelle & Ashley's:

Sadly, this one didn't have a name so I could give credit. If it's your's, please claim it! It's beautiful!

This one is signed "JJ" which I believe is Jessica from Edmond.

All the tags are spectacular, aren't they!?!
I'm finishing up my White Christmas Tag. As I'm working on it, it is becoming apparent to me that my interpretation of White Christmas is pretty colorful. Oh well. ;)

I put up the Christmas Tree!

2011-11-28T19:18:00.002-06:00

We bought a new white Christmas tree this year and I decided instead of going with my usual silver and white or red and green themes I would do a colorful tree. I found a bunch of ornaments that I haven't put out for years.
Last year, I donated 13 huge bins of Christmas decorations to Animal Aid to sell at their store so things have been pared down quite a bit. However, I still have way too many decorations so I'll be donating more. Problem is, I can't find my tree skirts. I'm wondering if they got donated too? Hmmm...

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T20:04:00.004-06:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with so much to be thankful for. We started our day with "Christmas Vacation" as we were straightening up around the house and preparing our meal. Then we played "Planes, Trains, & Automobiles". Our meal was delicious and we ate so much we almost couldn't move! After dinner, Doug watched some football with his friend Pat who joined us for dinner. While they watched football, I made a quick run to Michaels. Yes, I couldn't help myself! Tonight we watched "The Bucket List" and just reminded ourselves to live this life while we are here and to enjoy it. :)
I *may* run out to do some shopping in the morning - we'll see... I'll probably put out some Christmas decorations this weekend too.

Glitter Market Finds

2011-11-22T19:22:00.006-06:00

On Saturday we took the ride over to Oklahoma City to attend the Glitter Market. I've missed attending the last few times and I wasn't going to miss it this time!
When I arrived there was already a line but I took my spot and waited anxiously. Here is some of what I purchased.
From Jackie's *amazing* booth I got a cookbook, a journal, and a christmas ornament.

She had so many amazing things in her booth and I wanted to purchase so much more but with Christmas right around the corner I had to be a little careful. Yeah, I could have purchased Christmas presents but honestly, I can't give any of these treasures away. ;)
Jemellia made this cute zipper pouch. She has such a talent with her sewing abilities.

This sweet little doll is made by Robin Thomas. She is a Christmas Tree topper but I'm pretty sure I'll keep her out all year long.

I also bought ledger paper and a cute pair of earrings that I didn't get a picture of.
My big splurge was at Charlotte Perez's booth. Don't you love the cross necklace? Her stuff is so beautiful! The leather bracelet fits perfectly and I love it.

Also, not shown is a cute ornament kit I purchased from Holly Abston, and a garden bracelet from Heather Ales. My friend Ann-Denise Anderson as well as a few other ladies had tables full of goodies. I wanted to purchase something from every single one, it just wasn't in the cards this time. I'm going to start saving just in case they have another Glitter Market in the spring.
If you live anywhere within the driving distance of Oklahoma City you won't want to miss the next one!

Fall Tag Swap

2011-11-20T18:24:00.008-06:00

Still waiting on my tags to arrive but here is a sneak peek at the tag I created for the Fall Tag Swap this year. I sent mine in over a month ago and have been anxiously awaiting the return of the other tags. Can't wait for them to arrive! That sweet little witch is a candy dispenser that I got at Walmart.
Next up is a White Christmas Tag Swap. I participated last year but somehow my brain omitted the "White Christmas" part and I came up with a rather colorful tag. It was cute, but this year I'll be sure to follow the directions more closely. Here is last year's tag:

It's been a busy week. Doug and I went to Dallas this week to see Morrisey on the SMU Campus, I met up with some of my Investment Club ladies to do a little shopping at the Chi Omega Christmas Market at the Dallas Convention Center and yesterday was Glittermarket in OKC. Wait until you see all the beautiful things I got!

2011-11-13T19:02:00.009-06:00

Doug and I traveled to Omaha this weekend to see Rachel and Jim get married. I wasn't able to get as many photos as I had wanted because there were so many people and I just couldn't get any great photos. There were several photographers and videographers there so I'm sure Rachel will post a bunch of pictures on her blog when they return from St. Lucia. As we walked up to the church there was a bagpipe player. He played both before and after the ceremony.

Inside the church:

Doug practicing ringing the "bells" for when the newly married couple came out of the church.

Mr. & Mrs. Jim McGough:

The sweet little house for the cards on the gift table.

These were the cute name tag favors:

Whirlwind weekend!

Rachel's getting married!

2011-11-10T05:29:00.008-06:00

Some of you may remember that I met Rachel at the first Brave Girl Camp we attended in February, 2010. We hit it off right away and found that we both had a love for being creative and attending creative getaways.

Over the last two years we've met several times at various creative events, Mary Englebreit, Creative Connection, Silver Bella, Birdsong, and Rachel's own event: Handmade U.

We've had so much fun over the past two years.

So, this weekend, Doug and I are headed to Omaha for Rachel's wedding! I've got to charge my camera and be sure to take lots of pictures. I'm sure it will be an event to remember.

Going to see Reba!

2011-11-04T17:51:00.007-05:00

I've been at our annual Bar Association Conference all week so I haven't had a chance to get much done. Tonight I'm headed off to see Reba perform at the BOK with some friends. Should be fun!

Lots of craft shows around this weekend so I imagine I'll be hitting some of those but then I MUST clean this house. It looks like it has been ransacked...
Have a great weekend!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

2011-10-31T18:08:00.003-05:00

I feel a little lame this year because I'm totally not prepared. I didn't put out any decorations and I'm not even dressing up to hand out candy. Bummer, I know.
Usually we go all out. We decorate, we have spooky music, red lights, fog machines. We do the Flaming Lips March of a 1000 skeletons, we dress up, I do candy treat bags. This year, not so much. Yes, I'm handing out candy but not in cute little treat bags, and I'm not dressing up.... I just haven't been able to muster up the Halloween Spirit.
Oh well ~ there is always next year. At least we are having Halloween. My family in Connecticut is not. Their Halloween has been cancelled due to snow and power outages.
So - I hope you all enjoy your evening and have a safe, fun holiday. I'll be enjoying all the little ghouls who come this way!

Back from Connecticut

2011-10-26T07:04:00.014-05:00

So, just back from A Wicked Tea in Texas and Doug and I headed off to Connecticut. We had alot to squeeze in on this trip - It was Joao's first birthday which we celebrated by going to The Rainforest Cafe.

Both of my nephews just loved it. It was so cute to see their reactions when the lightening and thunderstorms would come and the monkeys in the trees would start shaking - the boys would get all wide eyed. So cute! And how cute is it that they love each other so much?

Jess & Joao:

Doug had read in one of his Golf magazines that the Yale Golf Course was rated the number one collegiate course. We took a drive and went to see what the fuss was all about. The people we met at the golf course were so friendly and accommodating. They let us take a cart and drive around to see just how beautiful this place really is. Here is a picture of Doug standing at a hole that has a two story drop. Some friendly golfers invited him to tee off just to experience it but he declined. Maybe next time. ;)

Last Friday, Doug and I took the train into NYC. We ate pizza at the famous Lombardi's then went on to shop at our usual places: Kate's Paperie, Tinsel Trading, Fred Perry, Kid Robot, Supreme Skateboard Shop, Ben Sherman, and the various bead and trim shops around 38th street. I wanted to go to Mood (the fabric shop shown on Project Runway) but we were too tired and simply ran out of time.
Here I'm looking at ribbon at Kate's Paperie. I didn't end up buying any ribbon there just a few sheets of gorgeous paper.

We zipped around the city on the Subway - here's Doug waiting to board at the Prince Street stop.

Some people are scared of the subway but I love it. To me, it is so much a part of the NYC experience. If it is not freezing out I would rather take the subway than a cab. Cabs are so expensive - the second that meter is turned on and starts ticking it makes me anxious. I think of all the money I'm wasting and could be spending on something fun! Plus, they are so dirty - I know the subway can be dirty too but for some reason I feel that cabs are worse.
We went down to the area around Ground Zero but we couldn't get to the area where the memorial is. It was frightening to think of all that chaos there ten years ago, but amazing to see all the regrowth.

Saturday night, my cousin Nicole got married. It was a huge, beautiful affair and it was nice to see some of my family I haven't seen in years.

Bobby (my brother) & Jess; Ray & January (my sister):

Me & Jess:

Me and my sweet Gram. Today is her birthday. Happy Birthday Gram!!

My cousin Tammy, Me and Gram:

Me with my honey:

So, in addition to all that we also squeezed in Pizza at Pepe's, Pastries at Libby's, Pizza at Modern, lots of Dunkin Donuts, eating at Educated Burgher on the Yale Campus, driving around to see the beautiful foliage (which we were lucky was in full color while we were home!) and just hanging out and catching up. Another whirlwind trip.

A Wicked Tea!

2011-10-16T17:28:00.017-05:00

I made my way to Roanoke, Texas this weekend to attend A Wicked Tea at Ann-Denise Anderson's new studio: P'Arty Place. It is located in the back of an awesome creative "mall" called The Plaid Peacock.

I was so excited that I arrived an hour early for the festivities and went next door to this adorable Book Store and Coffee Shop.

Look how cute - I could have spent hours here if I didn't have an art event to attend!

Ann-Denise created such a fun and whimsical setting and there were delicious treats everywhere you looked!

View from my seat - don't you just love our clock face place mats and our customized cauldrons? The adorable tag was made by my friend Cami.

Sandra Feazel taught this fun stuffed pillow. We took a simple white bag and painted it, stamped it, glittered it and mod podged it to create a custom paper to attach to our pillow form. The ones shown are of my classmates. I need to finish embellishing mine.

Our class kits were in these hand painted buckets.

Lisa McIlvain taught this spooky Raven Assemblage.

I've always wanted to work with wax and had so much fun doing so. I've already asked Doug to buy me a heat gun for Christmas. :)
Our final class of the day was a cotton spun doll taught by Ann-Denise. This is the incredibly detailed doll that Ann-Denise made - her crepe paper outfit is adorable!

I was able to create my doll out of the spun cotton but didn't get a chance to finish dressing her because I ran out of time. Honestly, by the end of the day I was exhausted! As soon as she is complete, I will post a picture.

Ready for a Wicked Tea!

2011-10-15T08:56:00.002-05:00

So I made it to Texas and am waiting to go in to A Wicked Tea! I know it's going to be so much fun and I will try to take a bunch of pictures to share.
This is my first attempt at blogging from my iPad so hopefully this will work!
Have a great weekend!

We're Going To See Dolly!

2011-10-07T20:49:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow is our two year anniversary and Doug surprised me with tickets to see Dolly Parton at the BOK! I've always wanted to see her but when I saw the tickets were going on sale and the date of her performance was going to be October 8th, I thought I would catch her the next time. Doug is not a fan of country music but he pulled a few strings and got us awesome tickets! Thank you baby!
Can't wait!

Been Busy

2011-10-06T20:50:00.004-05:00

Sorry for the lack of posts but things have been c.r.a.z.y. around here. Here is a synopsis of all the activity:
Moved my office to a new location
Had my home office painted a new color
Had our garage doors painted (they look great!)
Went to the Tulsa State Fair (my first time ever and Doug won me a goldfish!)
Cleaned my master closet (actually, I pulled everything out and am slowly putting some back in!)
Went to The Indie Emporium Craft fair
Went to Brushy Creek Craft Fair
Took a trip to OKC for a hearing and pizza at the Wedge.
Gave the dogs a bath
Took my little sister to the Ballet (The Merry Widow)
Planted pansies around the front tree
Participated in a Halloween Mini Book Swap (waiting for my books to arrive!)

Feels like I haven't sat still in a while. But I've got some crafting to do this weekend! I'm going to do a Military Themed Fabric Collage like the one I did in KC Willis' class. The Oklahoma Bar Association is having its annual meeting and art show and I want to submit a fabric collage of my cousin who was in the Marines. Also, I am participating in a fall themed tag swap so I need to get those finished.

In addition, the next few weeks are going to be busy, busy, busy as I am headed to Texas for A Wicked Tea, then to Connecticut to see my family and a side trip to NYC. Finally, back to Nebraska for Rachel's wedding so I'll have lots to blog about. :)

FREE online Crochet Class

2011-09-27T21:17:00.004-05:00

Does any one want to join me in a month long FREE crochet class? Then head on over to Craftyminx's blog and sign up! C'mon ~ it's going to be fun. :)
I've been wanting to learn how to crochet, so what better time than now?

KC Willis Collage Camp

2011-09-24T19:44:00.006-05:00

Jackie made these delicious and adorable cookies for our class today with KC Willis. KC is teaching at the Paper Crown for the next couple of days. Today we learned how to make gorgeous mixed media collages. This class was completely sold out and she had to add an additional day to accommodate everyone wanting to take her class. After today, I wish I could take each and every one while she is here. On Monday she will be instructing on how to make amazing fabric book collages. Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it to that class but there are a couple spots left if anyone is interested! KC is awesome - her work is absolutely beautiful and she makes you feel so welcome ~ you feel like you have known her forever.
I left with a completed project and I love it. The picture below is my project not quite complete but if you jump over to Jackie's blog you can see more class pictures and many completed projects. I highly recommend you check it out!

Our friend Jemellia was also in class and I was able to get a picture of her with her project.

Lastly, I met a new blog friend in class today. Francy and I read each other's blogs and it was great to finally meet her in person!

Back from Handmade U!

2011-09-19T17:08:00.008-05:00

What a fun weekend! We arrived on Thursday night at Minglewood Cabin in Gretna, Nebraska. After settling in and seeing old friends and meeting new friends we sat down for dinner. We had a wonderful home made meal. Rachel's dad prepared smoked chicken and Rachel's mom made baked beans.
The first evening was spent getting to know each other by talking and filling out cute little notebooks with answers to a bunch of questions.

On Friday, Michelle Geller of Hold Dear taught us how to make beautiful journals. Her class kits were over the top with beautiful vintage papers. This is a picture of my crafting spot with the kit.
You wouldn't even believe how generous these kits were - the pictures do not do them justice. Not to even mention all the yummy supplies we had access to in addition to the kits!
We worked all day on Friday on our covers and creating our pages to make our journals. The time just flew by and after working all day and most of the night, this is what I came up with:

I love, love, love my journal. Below is a picture of a few of the "spines" of our journals. I embroidered my name on the spine of my journal.

On Saturday, we shifted gears and Rachel taught us to create a "quilt" panel on a canvas. She instructed us on various techniques to use and let us put our own spin on the project. It is amazing to see the different quilt panels. Here is mine:

Here is a collage of all of our panels:

Here is a picture of all of our journals:

Rachel's mom Sara made these beautiful treat bags with our names embroidered on them. Check out Sara's blog for awesome pictures of the the retreat and the cabin we stayed in.

On our final evening we took a field trip to Rachel's parent's home. Her parents cooked a wonderful meal for all of us and we got a "lesson" about Sara's long arm quilting machine. It was quite an evening!
Finally, all the treats!
Hope Ellington made beautiful Handmade U necklaces for all of us, Nora and Lindy made beautiful flower decorations for each attendee and the sponsor gifts were very generous.
Can't wait for Spring semester!

Packing for Handmade U!

2011-09-14T20:48:00.007-05:00

Packing my bags to head to Gretna, Nebraska first thing tomorrow morning to attend Rachel's event: Handmade U!
Rachel will be teaching one class and Michelle Geller will be teaching another. Can't even wait!
I'll take lots of pictures and share next week.
I'm really trying to focus but I'm exhausted from the Flaming Lips Show last night at the Historical Brady Theatre in downtown Tulsa.

Doug is at the second performance tonight and he is backstage with Wayne Coyne putting together laser pointers. :)

Book Club

2011-09-11T19:08:00.005-05:00

It was a fun month for our book club. We not only read two books for the month but we also went and saw the movie for one:

Have you read it? Have you seen the movie? I *loved* this book. I couldn't put it down. I started reading it one evening and read until almost two in the morning before I forced myself to try to get some sleep, and then, I couldn't wait to pick it up and keep reading.
From what I had heard, the movie was very good too. The movie pretty much tracks the book but there were a few significant changes that were different from the book to the movie. The movie paints a much more sympathetic character of Skeeter's mother for one. There are a few other significant changes but I don't want to ruin it if you haven't quite had a chance to read the book or seen the movie. If you haven't - I highly recommend both. Feel free to comment with your own thoughts. :)
The second book we read was Room by Emma Donoghue. At first I didn't really care for the story but once I got past the first few pages I was hooked. It's a story about a woman and her son Jack who are locked up in a room. The story is told from the perspective of Jack who is five years old and was born in that room. It really makes you think about what you would do and how you would handle that situation. The scary thing is the preparation their captor undertook and that we don't know how many "missing" people may be living in this kind of situation. I didn't love Room nearly as much as I did The Help but it was an interesting read.
Our next selection in time for Halloween is: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.
Do you have any suggestions for "must reads"?

Jackie's Halloween Crow Spool Class

2011-09-07T19:36:00.003-05:00

Last night I went to Oklahoma City to The Paper Crown to take another one of Jackie's fabulous classes.

She always makes the most adorable name tags for all of the students.

I was lucky to have my name selected for one of her door prizes. Isn't this just adorable!?

I didn't take a picture of the cookies she made but trust me ~ they were delicious! An Oreo cookie wrapped up inside a toll house cookie. Check out Jackie's blog if you are interested in the recipe.

My sweet nephew

2011-09-03T08:07:00.002-05:00

Uh Oh ~ somebody's trying to touch Daddy's stereo and he knows he's going to be in trouble!
Look at that sweet face!

This is my sister Amanda's baby Joao. Manda tells me that he is a busy social butterfly. He's pretty much happy all the time until she tells him "no" too many times then he gets frustrated. He *loves* daycare and the girls there love him too - can you blame them? I can't wait to get back to Connecticut and give this little guy such a squeeze!

Garden Mystery solved

2011-08-30T19:33:00.006-05:00

Ugh! This summer I planted tomatoes and peppers and while the plants themselves grew they weren't bearing any fruit. Even though they were watered, fertilized and gently coaxed along I got nothing... Then, about two weeks ago I noticed a few little flowers and even a couple "baby" tomatoes I was so excited - I thought better late than never.
Tonight I went out to check on my plants and to my disgust I saw this:

Then this:

Then this:

These disgusting things aren't small either - they are like FOUR INCHES LONG!!! And they have a big pointy horn at one end. Can you see it? EWWWWW!
I ran in the house to see if they were dangerous or poisonous and the answer is No. They are tomato hornworms and are sometimes confused with tobacco hornworms. They turn into huge moths after a little while. Apparently one of those things can defoliate a large plant in no time at all. And guess what they like to eat besides tomatoes? Yep - peppers. So, no homegrown tomatoes or peppers for us this year but at least the hornworms were well fed.
Doug picked off about six before I got a bucket and picked off another 13 and put them in a bucket. Who knows how many more are out there that I couldn't see.
The predators of hornworms are wasps. We had tons of wasps this summer until I mulched really well and covered up all the mud. Now the wasps are gone but we have hornworms. If you ask me, I think I'll take the hornworms. At least they don't divebomb and they don't sting.
Oh the joys of gardening.

Look what I got!

2011-08-24T09:42:00.004-05:00

I know right now she looks a little rough but I'm going to fix her up. Somewhere in blog land I saw where someone found a dress form all beat up (even worse than this) and used Rigidwrap to smooth out any imperfections. After she's looking more smooth, I may or may not cover her with either linen or burlap - I'll see how the Rigidwrap treatment turns out.
She is on a very nice, very solid pedestal that I have plans to paint to better suit my taste.
The best part is that I found her at a little thrift store for $10.00! Yep ~ $10.00! One of the employees grumbled that I should have paid alot more for her but I just smiled as I waltzed my soon to be beautiful dress form right out the door.
I've been doing some crafting and a few projects so stay tuned...

My garden needs help.

2011-08-17T20:05:00.006-05:00

I had big plans for the backyard once the patio was finished. I dug, hauled dirt, planted, watered, fertilized, weeded and overall busted my back for these beds. I dreamed of lots of juicy tomatoes, delicious herbs, beautiful flowers and lush landscaping. Well, I ended up with NO tomatoes - the plants grew big and strong but not one single tomato. I planted peppers - no peppers. I did get some basil but what good is that with no tomatoes? Even the flowers struggled to just survive in the devastating heat we have had since the end of June.

In fact, one beautiful evergreen didn't make it and I'm doing my best to keep the other two alive. Ugh.

Once the weather cools off a little bit I'll be back out there digging up what didn't survive and replacing those things with stronger varieties.

On the bright side, we've had a bunch of hummingbirds this year and the view of these feeders from the window has been spectacular! They seem to love diving through the mist when the sprinklers are on and they are very territorial of their nectar. It's been so much fun!

Golf Tourney and Cancelled Flaming Lips...

2011-08-08T19:40:00.009-05:00

(Karpy, Smo, Pate, Douglas)
Well the Golf Tourney went off without a hitch and was a great time for everyone despite the 115 degree heat that day. I stayed for the first half and took a bunch of pictures of everyone then I had to head home to ice down the beer and get the food ready.

(Chip, JT, Sherb & Royboy)

(Darrell, Frank, Defreese, Rice)

(Neil Shindler, Smokebelly, John Feary, Greg Cross, Humble's Boy, Adam)
Afterwards the guys came back to the house to eat and shower to get ready for the Brady District Block Party with the Flaming Lips. We have had these unbelievable temperatures and no rain for over 35 days now but on Saturday night we got a freak storm that passed through and collapsed the stage just prior to the show. According to the Flaming Lips camp, they had a ton of damage and their electronic light wall was destroyed. This is the electronic wall at last year's Flaming Lips New Years Eve Party:

Luckily no one was hurt but they lost almost a million dollars of equipment. We don't know yet if the concert will be rescheduled and the guys were so bummed out to miss the show but at least they had a great golf tournament.

What's Up?

2011-08-05T21:54:00.005-05:00

What funny bears!
It's rare that we can capture all of them on the back of the couch at once. If we are eating, usually at least two are at our feet hoping for crumbs to drop.
From Left to right is Phoebe, Teddy, Nestle and Niles.
It's been a crazy busy week trying to get ready for Doug's golf tournament tomorrow but we did manage to cross a few more things off the list like:

Ceiling fan bought and installed in laundry room
Ceiling fan bought and installed on back porch
Mulched all the garden beds in the back yard
Bought and hung a huge mirror in the kitchen behind the table
Bought two new lamps for the living room.
Washed the windows on the back side of the house.

*and* we've had exhausting temperatures upwards of 105 degrees for the past month or so. One day it actually hit 115. That is crazy!

Busy day tomorrow - Doug's golf tournament, friends over for a party after, a "reunion" party with the people we went to the BVI with, then the Brady District for the Flaming Lips Block Party! I'd better go get some sleep...

The Pantry is Finished!

2011-07-31T21:16:00.007-05:00

This project took me way longer than I anticipated but I'm thrilled to say that I actually finished it.
The before pictures are quite embarassing but I'm so happy with the finished product that I'm going to show just how bad the state of affairs was in there. Oh My.

We were buying multiples of things because once something got "put away" in there it was practically lost forever.Plus I'm a real stickler about using foods past their expiration date. Once it's past the date on the container - it goes. I didn't have too much I had to throw away but the winner was a can of chicken stock that expired in 2007 - eeewww! I don't know how that one survived the move to this house.

Look at those beautiful white shelves. No more builder's beige. I can't believe how much the space has been brightened.

The only things I want to see on the floor in here are the dog food containers and the trash can. No more dumping crap!

One more project crossed of my list so now, what's next?

Making Progress!

2011-07-30T20:02:00.003-05:00

I'm happy to say that by putting my list "out-there" I'm making some progress!

I've painted the laundry room, and am almost finished painting the pantry. One more coat of paint on all the shelves and I'll take care of that tomorrow. I'll show pictures of the pantry once it is finished. Can you believe it took me an hour and a half just to empty everything out of there. Now, all that stuff is on all the counters in the kitchen and in the dining room. Ugh - what a huge mess! But I will finish it.

We bought and hung a new mirror for the kitchen (yay!) and today Doug bought a new ceiling fan for the back porch. This past week I finally got all the plants in the back yard planted. I have a very bad habit of going to the garden center buying pretty stuff and then leaving it unplanted until it dies. Although there were a few casualties, mostly everything got planted and although the landscaping is no where near finished back there, it is an improvement.

I'm determined to get everything off my list so stay tuned!

Birdsong Tags Have Arrived!

2011-07-28T15:11:00.010-05:00

I'm so excited that my Birdsong Tags have arrived! I don't know how Karla packages them all up and sends them on their way. As I was looking at her blog I wanted each and every tag I saw and it would be impossible for me to pick only seven to keep. I'm thrilled with the ones she chose for my book. :) Don't forget that you can click on any image to make it larger.
Here is the beautiful cover that Karla made:

The first tag in my Birdsong Tag Book is from Lena Staggs of ahappymiscellany.typepad.com. How clever to use the sweet little buttons and the needle threader as embellishments. I never think of things like that!

Freda Butler of sewwhatsnew-fredab.blogspot.com made this beautifully layered tag with a real twig for a branch and a lovely birdnest charm.

This pink tag with the little bluebird was created by Jennifer Colvin-Allen.

Christine Nay of changeofheart56.blogspot.com made this sweet pink tag. That little bird is just precious!

This beautiful Awaken to Song tag was created by Charlotte Smothers of seahorseranch.blogspot.com.

This tag is by Kimberly Laws of artjoystuff.blogspot.com. Kimberly and I have been in a few swaps together prior to this one and her tag has incredible detail!

The last tag is made by Pam Perrella. Isn't the red just gorgeous!?!

Hope you've enjoyed these as much as I have!

Just get it done!

2011-07-22T15:49:00.005-05:00

I have a list of projects that I want to do around the house and it seems like it is a mile long. I know if I would just dive in and get to work on my list, I would feel such great accomplishment, it's just getting started that is so daunting. Plus, I keep getting sidetracked with other things.

We've been in this house almost three years and I can hardly believe it. The only room I've painted is our bedroom and it is time to freshen things up a bit. Shortly after we moved in we had a mishap in the laundry room and I have been wanting to paint in there ever since. Just a word of caution - don't place a full container of laundry soap on top of the upright washing machine. Even thought they are quiet, efficient machines, they still shake enough during the spin cycle to send the container crashing down to the floor and believe me ~ when the bottle breaks open it splashes soap *everywhere*. What a mess!
Anyway - I'm putting my list on here to remind me of what exactly it is that I want to accomplish, and hopefully either motivate me, guilt me or shame me into getting some things crossed off my list.

Paint laundry room
Paint and organize pantry
Paint and organize master closet
Paint office
Paint hallways
Finish landscaping in the back yard
Fix sinkhole around mailbox and put in plants
Paint bookcase
Sew shower curtain for upstairs bathroom
Paint back patio
Buy and install ceiling fan for back patio
Buy and install new sconces for hallways
Wash windows inside and out
Buy a mirror for the wall over the kitchen table
Do a menu plan
Order new business cards
Build my website
*finish my studio/craft room!*

I appreciate any words of encouragement. :)

Tag for Birdsong Tag Swap

2011-07-16T09:40:00.005-05:00

I finally finished my tags for Karla's Birdsong Tag Swap and I'm mailing them off today. Since there are over a hundred participants and we only had to make seven tags, chances are that the recipients of my tags won't read my blog until after the tags are received so I'm sharing my tag now.
I collaged one side of the tag with music paper and then dry brushed both sides of the tag with a pretty yellow paint. Then I wrapped the entire tag with a pretty blue mesh ribbon. The sweet bird is a download from The Graphics Fairy. I added the green gingham trim and attached the bird to the tag. Finally, I added a grommet to the top and attached a tag to the back with my information on it.
Karla will be packaging them all up this week and getting them in the mail along with a beautiful cover that she made. Can't wait!

Summer Lovin Tag Swap

2011-07-09T19:05:00.004-05:00

Okay - here they are and trust me that they are so much cuter in person! I thought I would try scanning them but the ones that have dimension on them came out blurry from the scan and I have no idea why some scanned larger than others. To see better detail, click on the picture to enlarge it.

The first tag is by Cindy Bellamy - LOVE the fourth of July theme; the second tag is from my Brave Girl Sister Sheryl Eggleston - the palm tree makes me smile and reminds me of Hawaii!

The pinwheel on the first tag actually spins and was made by this Swap's Hostess: Jonnelle! Plus, I don't think it shows in the picture but where there is a "bite" out of the ice cream, it looks like there is a drip. :) The second tag is by Dawn Tavela and I just love the way she used the paper punch for "waves". Definitely reminds me of summer!

Love the tag with the actual sand and real shells. Makes me miss the British Virgin Islands - I'm ready to go back! Thanks to Wendy Robrecht for this cute card. Next up is the Bathing Beauty tag by Jane Palmer. Jane always has such detail on her tags.

The "Summer Loves" tag with the flip flops, the watermelon, the sun and the ice cream *I think* was made by my other Brave Girl Sister Dawn Blackstead. There are only initials so if that is wrong, let me know! So cute. And the refreshing looking snow cone was made by Wanda Clark. Wanda used glitter paper for the snow part and it glistens just like a real snow cone.

The tag on the right is mine. My favorite thing is the cute little crabs that I punched out of red glitter paper. The final tag is a fun surfboard tag made by Jess. So cute!
I always love participating in these tag swaps. The next one I'm doing is a Birdsong Tag Swap hosted by Karla Nathan. Those are due pretty quickly so I have to get moving on those. You may remember that I went to Karla's Birdsong Event this spring and had an absolutely wonderful time!

Hello Bird

2011-07-07T18:35:00.004-05:00

I had some fun creating this today
.
I received my Summer Lovin' Tags in the mail - wait until you see those!

Happy Fourth of July!

2011-07-04T12:36:00.008-05:00

I have work to do and I'm doing everything I can think of to avoid it. All of a sudden I have all of these crafty ideas and I just want to be upstairs in my craft studio playing. I made a "prize ribbon" in celebration of the holiday.

We are going to watch fireworks tonight and that should be fun so I really need to buckle down and get my work done then I can relax. If I would just get started it should only take me two or three hours but I just don't want to do it! :(
Let me procrastinate just a little more and share one more thing with you:
I've mentioned before about our Shih Tzu Teddy Bear - he likes to see what the neighbor's dogs are doing by peeking through a small knothole in the fence.

Here he is trying to resist but he just can't stand it!

He can sit there all day and it's a bummer for him when they are not at home. He gets bored but keeps coming back to make sure they aren't there.

Have a great 4th!

It's a new week!

2011-06-27T11:25:00.003-05:00

And it's my Birthday Week - YAY ME!!!!
My sweet Douglas keeps asking me what I want and honestly I really can't think of much that I want. He spoils me all the time and just recently bought me the watch I wanted, a beautiful handbag, as well as giving me "scrappy bucks" all the time. I would like a new sewing machine but I haven't had time to go and investigate to see what I want. If anyone has any ideas I welcome the input!
On the day of my birthday we are both going to have side by side facials - doesn't that sound fun!?! I love facials, sometimes even more than massages and we have been talking about doing this for a long time. I'll let you know how it goes.
So, I'm looking forward to a great week.

I'm glad last week is behind me.

2011-06-26T06:20:00.004-05:00

What a week I had last week! I made two trips to Oklahoma City, one on Monday and one on Tuesday. It takes about an hour and forty minutes each way on the turnpike so you can imagine how much time was spent just driving! I had two doctors appointments (all is well!), several meetings, two luncheons, and of course work. Then, on Friday I was so looking forward to my book club but the week ended not so great.
I went to look at a piece of property with Sherry. As we were just back in Tulsa I came over the hill and surrounded by traffic and unable to go anywhere I had to run over two piles of debris in the road. Before running it over I knew it didn't look good but I couldn't go around it and I couldn't slam on my brakes to avoid it. Almost immediately my tire pressure gauge came on and let me know my back right tire was going flat. Ugh. I'm usually calm in situations but for some reason whenever something goes wrong with my car I start to panic. I think it's because my poor mom always drove the *worst* cars and we were always either breaking down somewhere or we were stuck at home and I associate car trouble with doom.
Anyway, I get my car to a service station to see if they can put on the spare. It's 4:50, Friday afternoon and these two doofuses are looking at me and looking at each other and scratching their heads like I've just asked them to change the transmission or something. It becomes painfully obvious to me that they just want to get out of there at 5:00 and I'm not going to get my tire changed out. One offers to over-inflate my tire so that I might make it to Sears which is two miles down the road - but remember it is Friday, it is rush hour, and there are about 15 lights between where I am and where I need to go.
The tire is hissing and the tire gauge lets me know I'm losing air fast. One of the men suggest I buy fix-a-flat and I really don't think that is going to matter but I buy it and ask him if he will put it in the tire for me. Because I'm convinced the tire is going to blow at any minute, I stand back about 15 feet with my sunglasses over my eyes while he not only puts in the fix-a-flat but also over-inflates my tire. Off I go to Sears, praying the whole way, watching the air quickly leak out of my tire. The fix-a-flat did nothing, but at least I make it and limp into the parking lot at Sears.
The sweet young man at Sears puts the spare on my car, charges me *nothing* for the service despite the fact that it is 107 degrees with the heat index and the garage is facing the sun. After I tip him and set off on my way, I'm a mile down the road when the tire sensor comes back on and now, another tire is going flat. Not good!
Long story but yesterday, I got four brand new tires on my car.
Last week was a long stressful week not only for me but for quite a few of my friends too. I'm sure we are all happy to leave that one behind and I'm really looking forward to a much sunnier, happier week. :)

Last of the vacation pictures - Tortola.

2011-06-19T19:59:00.005-05:00

Goodbye for now Tortola~

2011-06-18T21:04:00.009-05:00

Sandy Cay beach on Jost Van Dyke was another beautiful beach we got to visit. We hiked around the island and saw lush plant life and about a million hermit crabs. The floor of the vegetation was just crawling with crabs of all different sizes. The island also was home to turtle doves that cooed for us the entire time we were hiking. We saw a few geckos or salamanders - I'm not really sure what the difference is - and the views from the top of the island were amazing - 360 degree view of beautiful blue water.
There wasn't anything to see snorkeling at this location but the gentle waves made for great relaxation in the water.

One of the days we took a long boat ride out to this little flat island called Anegada where only 250 people live on the entire island.

All 16 of us climbed aboard an old clunker of an open air taxi truck and took a 10 minute ride to the other side of the island where there is an amazing beach.

Imagine our surprise when we ran into TWO separate groups that were visiting from Oklahoma! What is the likelihood of that? Another night when we docked both boats at Sidney's restaurant we ran into yet *another* set of people from Oklahoma! Just weird~

You see both teams represented on the back of our sister boat (OU and OSU). We all signed the OSU t-shirt and left it behind tacked to the wall at Sidney's.
One day we went to the baths - an amazing location with these huge rocks on the beach. It was kind of scary walking through them thinking that if they were to shift we would be forever flattened underneath them.

Look at this crab we found hiding on a rock. It was kind of dark and we could barely see him hiding but my flash did end up capturing him.

We snorkeled all around these rocks some of which went waaaayyyyy down into the ocean. We saw some pretty amazing fish here.

Just after we took this picture below and just before we took off from this beach to snorkel, a baby sting-ray came right up to us in the shallow water. We just observed it and it finally swam away but how cool!

I'm going to do one last post about our trip and just wait until you see the pictures we took in Tortola at Long Bay Beach!

Boarding our catamarans

2011-06-15T19:45:00.008-05:00

We took the Ferry over to Tortola and had a little dinner on the beach while the crews finished getting our catamarans ready for us to board. You can't even believe the excitement!

We had planned this trip for approximately 16 months and we couldn't believe the time was here.

Once we boarded our boats we set sail for our first destination and where we would anchor for the night.

Our chef, Fiona, prepared us a nice dinner and we spent some time getting to know the other couples on our boat. There were four couples per boat plus a Captain and a Chef. Fiona is also a Captain and is launching her own reality series called SeaAngels in which her and several of her female friends captain boats all over the world raising money for charity. Both Hal and Fiona took excellent care of us all week and I would highly recommend them for not only a fun but also a safe vacation.

We snorkeled and swam at Oceans Seven Beach and saw some amazing coral and fish. The weather was warm but overcast and we did get a bit of rain. Towards the middle of the trip when the sun started coming out in full force we could see that the earlier in the week overcast days were actually a blessing to keep us from getting burnt to a crisp.

Our week just got better and better and better! Next post I'll share some pictures of the baths - these incredible giant rock formations that we got to walk through and snorkel around.
I'm just now coming out of my fog from the trip and I've had sealegs all week. It's totally worth it though and if you *ever* have the opportunity to go on one of these trips, I would HIGHLY recommend it!

British Virgin Islands

2011-06-13T19:42:00.009-05:00

We are back from absolute paradise and had such a fun time! We took ten days and went to the British Virgin Islands with seven other couples to sail on chartered catamarans. Our first stop was St. Thomas since it is the easiest place to fly to from Tulsa. We all arrived late on Thursday night, checked into our rooms, met for a drink and then, since we were pretty exhausted, called it a night.
Friday morning we all met for breakfast and decided to head out for a day of shopping, sightseeing and just having fun! Here we are gathering the troops for our first full day of adventure.

We shopped for a while then jumped on an open air bus and headed up to Bluebeard's Castle.

The views were amazing!

That evening we had dinner at a restaurant called "Hook, Line & Sinker". The food was very good and our trip was off to a great start!
Here we are the next day waiting for the ferry to take us to Tortola where we would board our boats.

To be continued...

The calm before the storm...

2011-06-01T06:08:00.003-05:00

For the past year I've taken some time to slow down a bit, reflect on my life and what I want out of it and what is really important to me. For the past decade I have been through so many stressful things - some very exciting things but stressful nonetheless and some very sad things. Last spring it really started to catch up with me. So, I took some time and it was just what I needed to recharge my batteries. Now, I'm preparing to get ready to go full steam ahead once again and I'm extremely excited and hopeful for the future. I'm working on my plan and I promise to share with you very soon.
In the meanwhile, we are taking a few days and headed to paradise. When we get back I can't wait to share with you what I'm going to be up to!

Nature can be so cruel.

2011-05-25T18:22:00.004-05:00

I hate the storms in the springtime. My heart is aching for all of the people in Joplin and over in Oklahoma City area that have lost their homes and even more precious, their loved ones. It's so sad - heartbreaking really.

Although it can't compare what the other people are going through, we are saddened over the loss of our birds in the bird nest. We had a beautiful mama bird and four sweet little eggs. A couple of days ago the eggs hatched. We couldn't tell if there were three or four tiny little birds but we kept a close watch over what was happening and would watch the mama come and go. Last night with the storms rolling in, we weren't sure what we could do to protect the nest but Doug piled up bags of mulch to ensure that the tree that the nest was in wouldn't tip over. This morning when we went out to check there was only one little tiny bird in the nest that looked like it had been through the mill. We looked all over trying to see if we could find the other baby birds but there was no sign of them anywhere. We waited a couple of hours to see if the mama would come back but she never came. I don't even want to think about what might have happened.

We called the local vet that takes in injured birds and took the one remaining tiny bird up to them. They will feed it and turn it over to the bird rescue to take care of and eventually let it back into the wild. Nature can be so cruel.

Want to go to Handmade U?

2011-05-20T07:46:00.004-05:00

My friend Rachel is hosting her very first art event in Omaha in September. She chose an adorable cabin to hold the event and is having Michelle Geller as the star instructor! Michelle makes the most fabulous journals and has a cute online shop called Hold Dear and we are sure to have an amazing time.
Space is limited and I believe there are only two more spots available to stay at the actual cabin but there is nearby lodging and Rachel can accomodate 9 more people at the actual workshops. If you are interested *sign up now!*

I won the giveaway on Terri's blog!

2011-05-16T18:23:00.009-05:00

I met Terri in person last year when I attended Silver Bella. It's always exciting for me to meet other people from Oklahoma at Creative Events. I really believe we need our *own* event and to be able to have people from other states come here and see all that Oklahoma has to offer.
Anyway - Terri was having a giveaway on her blog and I was chosen as the lucky winner! Yay Me!
First, let me say that everything was packaged so beautifully! Terri has a creative gift. I opened the outer box to find all this and I could hardly wait to check it all out:

She included so many treasures and totally spoiled me.

Look at this precious button bracelet that was inside the beautiful floral box seen above.

I love the vintage flowers and embroidered handkerchief, don't you? And I can never have too many buttons.

Terri also included some beautiful vintage trim that I'm going to have to find a special project to use it on, a vintage buckle, cupcake liners, notecards, and Martha Stewart ink pads.
Thank you Terri! What a sweet surprise!

Nest update: Momma bird is sitting on four little eggs. I'll be sure to let you know when they hatch. :)

Fiberfest 2011

2011-05-15T16:40:00.015-05:00

When I first moved to Oklahoma I thought there was going to be tons of country festivals and farm markets. I love that kind of thing and unfortunately, they don't happen nearly as often as I like. I've been here ten years now and finally there seems to be more of a movement towards small markets and festivals. Not like the big state fair that is way too commercial - I like the "real thing" - the small town people showing and selling their stuff.
Today in Tulsa was Fiberfest in which there were a bunch of vendors selling handmade items along with lots of different "fibers" for knitting, crocheting and weaving. There were several free workshops but I didn't get there quite early enough to sign up for any. Fiberfest was held at this beautiful estate in South Tulsa that I never even knew was there! I would have liked to walk the entire grounds but I stayed pretty close to the area the festival was being held.

Some of the vendors were inside this cool barn. I didn't take pictures inside because the lighting wasn't that great. One lady had a table full of felted wool handbags that were beautiful. There were also vendors selling handmade soaps, jewelry, scarves, sweaters, and a vendor selling photographic art.

Lots of big trees and rolling hills. A beautiful location - serene and peaceful.

I purchased some wool and some alpaca fibers but the highlight of the day for me was seeing the two alpacas from JR Alpacas.

Janice Robinson is the owner of these two beautiful creatures and when I asked if I could take a few pictures she put them on a leash and brought them out of the pen so I could take some good shots. How awesome!
They made this cute little noise back and forth "talking" to each other and Janice said they are most definitely pack animals.

I loved hearing her speak about her farm, caring for the alpacas, feeding them, shearing them and the joy she gets from raising them. When she started her alpaca farm there were only about 13 other farms in Oklahoma doing the same thing. Now there are approximately 80 farms. They shear the alpacas once a year in the spring time and it takes one whole year for the coat to grow back in to the desired length for shearing again.

Did you know that alpacas don't have upper front teeth? Nope - just on the bottom and a hard palate on the top.

I'm not a farmer by any stretch of the imagination but I did find myself dreaming about having a little piece of land someday with some Alpacas on it.

Four eggs and a new door!

2011-05-13T15:31:00.006-05:00

Yesterday we woke up to find that the nest has survived the storms the last couple of days and now there are four eggs! The weather has suddenly turned cold again (in the low 60's) and today the mama is sitting on her eggs. When we go to check she just sits there very still probably hoping we won't hurt her. No mama - we're making sure everything is okay!

So, we are cruising along on our "to-do" list around the house but my question is this, "Why can't anything be easy or go smoothly?" It's always something, isn't it? Nothing major, just little annoyances along the way.

First, the patio. Now, it looks beautiful but we had to go round and round and had to ultimately go with the *most expensive option* due to an error that was made when the house was built three years ago. The patio turned out beautiful and even better than I thought it would and I am enjoying it immensely. I'm still working on the surrounding landscaping and decorating the patio itself but I just love the flagstone.
Next up was the garage project (no pictures just yet). That is actually still a work in progress in that we have to finish organizing. It took WEEKS to have the sheetrock and insulation removed and a huge dusty mess replacing the sheetrock with the bullnose edges. I couldn't wait to get to the painting phase where they would paint it a new, light color and just make the space feel so much better. In the middle of painting the guy went out for lunch and I checked his progress he had painted it the WRONG color! At first I was so upset since I had only told the project manager about 10 times I wanted a *new* color AND had called him the week before with the specific color I wanted. But, I decided to calm down and just tell the painter he would have to repaint the correct color and he did. Whew.

Finally, our custom front door. The door itself is beautiful and it lets so much light into the front hallway. I can't believe we didn't spring for this when we first moved in. Anyway -we were all excited that it was installed until we realized the company didn't put hinges on the glass panel so I can open it for easy cleaning. We paid extra for an operational glass door and we got one that is welded shut. So a call to the door guy and they have to build us a new panel for the door that will take several weeks. Also, new trim had to be put on the outside of the door so now that has to be painted along with the trim on the inside of the door that had to be removed and reinstalled for the new door.
In the scheme of things, I know these are minor annoyances - NOT major problems. I have to laugh that what seems like a simple project always involves more time and effort than what I originally think it will but the final result when all is said and done makes me wonder why it took me so long in the first place to get these things done.
Tonight we are off to see John Michael Montgomery at the Riverspirit Casino and tomorrow we have a wedding to attend so - a busy weekend for us!

Eggs in the Nest!

2011-05-11T11:48:00.000-05:00

In the front of our house we have three evergreen trees in decorative planters. It gets so windy here in Oklahoma that sometimes when we come home, the trees are on their sides and we have to stand them upright again. It gets annoying because Doug is allergic to the sap from the trees and the trees with the planters are too heavy and awkward for me to upright by myself. I was just getting ready to move the plants to an in the ground location in the backyard when I noticed a little nest in one of the trees.
I've been watching the nest and the sweet little bird and one day I came home to one tiny blue speckled egg in the sweet little nest. The next day, there were two:

Doug came in this morning while I was getting ready and informed me that there are now THREE eggs in the nest!

I wonder how many more eggs will appear?
And yes, of course we have secured the planters with a bunch of bricks surrounding the bottom. I'm sure the neighbors think we are total white trash but I can't bear the thought of the tree tipping over and losing the eggs. We are supposed to get hit with a major storm this afternoon and I'm hoping and praying the nest won't get disturbed.

Birdsong Frilly Bird Swap

2011-05-05T21:02:00.012-05:00

As promised, here are the pictures from the Frilly Bird Swap I participated in this past weekend at Karla's Birdsong Event.
True to form, I had one idea when I started and my bird came out completely different than what I originally planned on. I was stressing that my bird wasn't going to be "good enough" (why do we do that to ourselves?) but I showed Doug and he said it looked just like me so I decided to leave it just the way it was.

This beautiful bird was made by Laurie. Each of hers were a little different but for some reason this one just spoke to me - not only because of the necklace she has but also the sweet flower on her head.

Cami covered her bird with music and vintage wall paper and place her on a wire holder on top of an embellished spool. Love her bling crown!

This beautiful bird was made by Sharon Penney-Morrison. She is covered in beautiful sparkly fabric and buttons on her wings.

Just look at all the color on this bird by Gail Sell. Can you see her sparkle on her feathers and the beautiful roses around her neck?

Karla put her beautiful bird on a pedestal made from an egg in a nest. I never think of things like that!

Our sweet hostess of this swap, Sherry, made two birds for us: a male and a female -aren't they cute? I just love the sweet little roses for the girlie's feet.

Aren't they all just gorgeous? And so different!

What a wonderful Birdsong weekend!

2011-05-03T13:40:00.014-05:00

I had the most wonderful weekend attending Birdsong at Karla's cottage. Karla is such a wonderful hostess attending to every little detail and making each one of us feel right at home. It was an event that felt like a gathering of friends.
We had a great group of incredibly talented women - from the teachers right on down to the students. The classes were awesome - I learned lots of new techniques that I can't wait to try again. I just can't say enough good things about this whole weekend!
The first class was an adorable crepe paper tree taught by Carol Spinski. I need to tweak mine a little and add a few decorations but Carol was just a complete delight. Not only did she teach us the technique for the tree but also showed us how to make a wreath, a corsage and several flowers too. I can't wait to make more of these trees in different colors for upcoming holidays.

Our second class was to make two lampshade/sconce shades taught by Debbie Dusenberry. Debbie supplied us with wire frames, the linen with the vintage pictures and all kinds of embellishments to use on our projects. I only completed one shade and I *may* embellish mine a little more but I really am happy the way my shade turned out. I wish I had taken pictures of some of the more elaborate shades - each one was so different and so beautiful!

Debbie also brought along her beautiful sidekick Pearl.

Lisa McIlvain taught the third class of the weekend. She gave us a loom and supplied us with all kinds of fabrics to use to weave this adorable bag! I love, love, love mine! I still need to add a handle but I just think it turned out so beautiful. (I can say that about my project, right?)

The sample she made had a grapevine handle, and other embellishments as shown here in a picture that I'm using from Karla's blog.

The final class for the weekend was a Nest Banner taught by Karla herself. I finished all my letters but haven't quite made them into a banner just yet. These too, I just love!

I wish I had taken more photos during the event but honestly, I was just enjoying myself too much and trying to take it all in. Be sure to click on all the links and visit the other blogs - you won't be disappointed!
Next post I will show you the bird I made for the frilly bird swap and a picture of the sweet prize I won!

Getting ready for Birdsong and other crafts

2011-04-27T07:09:00.007-05:00

This weekend I'll be off to Kansas for Karla's Birdsong event. I've signed up for a "frilly birds swap" and while I've picked a bird to embellish, I'd better get busy and get her dressed for the occasion!

I'm off to Hobby Lobby today to get some additional supplies and I'll post a picture of my finished birds probably next week. I don't want to spoil the surprise for the ladies I'll be trading with at Birdsong. The other frilly birds are sure to be amazing and I can't wait to see what everyone has come up with.
I also signed up for a "Secret Garden Tag Swap". Mine will be mailed off today so I'm just making it under the deadline. It's funny how I think up an idea for a tag but somehow the finished product looks *nothing* like my original plan.

Isn't this little guy cute? He is only about two inches tall and the second one I have made. Doug has the first one that he carries around in his pocket and he says it gives him a smile. Me too!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T07:11:00.003-05:00

Finished Patio

2011-04-23T09:41:00.008-05:00

So, I've been blogging for a while now about having a few projects done around the house. One of the big projects was that we wanted to do something with the back patio. The old patio shown below was a small slab of concrete that made it difficult to really do anything with. It was too small to comfortably put our table and chairs and because the patio is on the west side of the house, the sun doesn't get to that part of the grass until afternoon which made for sparse grass and a real muddy mess.

After much back and forth we decided to pull the trigger and add the extended flagstone patio with walkway.
Here is the in progress:

And here it is complete:

Obviously we have to fill in the newly created garden and re-seed the grass up to the patio and I can hardly wait to get my planters out and filled with flowers. We love the way our patio turned out, don't you?

Easter Tag Swap

2011-04-22T09:07:00.014-05:00

As I mentioned, I partcipated in an Easter Tag Swap hosted by Sandy at 521 Lake Street.
I love participating in these swaps - they are always so much fun!

For my partner Linda I picked out a glittered bucket with a vintage bunny to put all her goodies in.

Inside the bucket I put a couple sheets of stickers, small pink flower glitter, chocolate bunnies, Reeses pieces in a carrot shaped bag, small letter rubber stamps, an ink pad and a chickie inside a paper mache egg that I decorated.

This is the tag I made for Linda. I applied book paper to the back, painted the scalloped edges, stamped and colored the Easter chick, and added a shrink plastic tag and the cheesecloth that I hand dyed.

My partner Linda sent me an awesome package of goodies with a chick theme. I just LOVE everything she included in my gift!

Don't you just love the little chickie bag that held some of my treasures? Inside the bag were the vintage Easter postcards, chickie stickers, a chickie sticky note pad, a floral notepad and floral note cards. Oh - and don't forget the candy! :)

Look at this sweet tag she made for me! The little girl on the front is just precious and how cute are these chicks! Although I couldn't capture it in the photo, the little chicks are sparkly as is the grass. The blue gingham with the buttons and the little woven bow on the front of the tag just make it feel so happy.

The back of the tag is so cute too - love the rows of chicks and the nice tag label that is tucked nicely at the bottom.

Can you believe this beautiful Easter apron she made for me!?! If you look at the top photo you will also see the matching pot holder. Perfect! And just in time for Easter this Sunday...

Linda *COMPLETELY* spoiled me!

Wonderful trip to Connecticut

2011-04-19T12:10:00.015-05:00

Our trips to Connecticut are always so much fun and filled with so much laughter and it makes it hard to leave my family
I could write pages and pages on all the things we packed in to our time there but here are the highlights.
I took Doug to the Connecticut shoreline -

his first time there and we took a few "self-shots"-

swapping glasses:

Goofballs...
We ate LOTS of Italian food - YUM! One night we went to Pepe's for pizza and one afternoon we went to Modern Pizza. Pepe's is usually my all time favorite but I have to say that this time Modern was my favorite. And of course, we went to Libby's Italian pastries and got about a dozen cannolis - the best you will EVER eat. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of the cannoli's because we ate them so fast there was no evidence they were even around...
We went out to dinner at a Japanese Hibachi restaurant one night. There were 15 of us and I didn't even take any pictures - I'll have to see if I can get my sister to send me a few. We took up two whole hibachi tables but thankfully we were all facing each other with the two chefs in the middle cooking. We had fun watching each other trying to catch flying food with our mouths and a few of us (not me!) were even brave enough to have Saki squirted into our mouths from the hibachi chefs. It was amazing to see who could hold the most saki in their mouths. It was a lot of fun and the food was really good too.
Look at the pictures below and you will have to agree that I have two of the most beautiful nephews on the planet. My sister Amanda's baby Joao has the most amazing eyes and such a charismatic little personality. Amanda calls him "Bug" and he is one of the cutest little bugs I've seen in a long time.

Here is a cute picture of Joao getting a bath - he loves the water and was kicking and splashing and having such a fun time.

My sister January's baby Garrett is so calm and so sweet. He's two months younger than Joao and not quite as "busy" as Joao but just give him a little time...

I got to see my friend Wendy. She came to Garrett's blessing and then she wanted to visit my Mom's grave since she hadn't been there since we had the headstone installed. Wendy and I have been friends for twenty-something years. We've seen lots of ups and downs together and I'm so happy we could catch up with each other this weekend.

Doug and I met my Gram for breakfast one morning and went to see her cute little "old-lady" condo. She must have had her hearing aids turned way up because she didn't have any trouble hearing me this time. :) My voice is kind of high and so many times she just can't seem to hear me - when I call her on the phone I always have to yell and even then she doesn't hear me - but she did really well this time.
I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff but I got home really late last night and didn't sleep well so as I remember stuff I'll post it.
I've got so much to blog about this week so stay tuned for some fun stuff like the Easter Tag swap I participated in, pictures of our finished patio, and a few other exciting things. :)

Enjoying time with my family

2011-04-15T07:33:00.002-05:00

I'm blogging from my phone and for some reason I can't upload any pictures. Hmmmm.
Anyway, I'm having lots of fun kissing on my two sweet nephews, eating at my favorite restaurants, laughing until my stomach and cheeks hurt, and just having a great time! It's hard to live so far away from my family.
We've been lucky with some sunny weather even if it is a little chilly - but at least we missed the big storms back home last night.
Tonight we are celebrating some birthdays and Sunday is my nephew Garrett's baptism. Oh yeah, and Saturday night Doug and I are babysitting sweet little Joao. Can't wait! :)

Back from Vegas!

2011-04-11T10:10:00.007-05:00

We got back late last night from Vegas and I've got a million things to do today but wanted to give a quick post about our trip.
We stayed at the Palazzo in a very nice room that overlooked part of the strip.

In the lobby connecting the Palazzo and the Venetian was an animated butterfly. As people walked by her wings would flutter and she would bat her eyelashes.

Butterflies were the theme and they had all these amazing sculptures covered in beautiful flowers.

These poppies were at the Bellagio and the fragrance was amazing!

We saw Barry Manilow on Friday night and I have to say that was the absolute highlight of the trip. My only complaint is that I wish he could have stayed on stage and sang about 20 more of my all time Manilow favorites. :) He told stories of when he was young and how he came to be a musician and he also sang a song from his soon to be released, brand new CD with *original* songs. The way the lighting is done in the show didn't allow for very good pictures from the audience. I'm going to try to edit a couple that I took but I'm not sure if I will post them.
After the show we ate at a restaurant called Mon Ami Gabi. The food was absolutely delicious!
We did some shopping, lots of people watching and a little gambling and over all just had a great time. It's always nice to get back home though and we picked up the dogs this morning so I've got to go love on them a little bit. :)

Beautiful Butterfly

2011-04-04T09:39:00.002-05:00

Being a Monday, I woke up a little crabby this morning. We had storms and howling winds in the middle of the night and that meant an extra dog in the bed and a little less sleep for me.
In the middle of getting myself ready for the day, the contractors for my back porch arrived. I was mad at myself for not clearing the area yesterday when it was sunny and warm and instead would have to run out back with barely dried hair and move all that furniture.
Well, as my mom always told me - Things happen for a reason...
As I was shlepping the furniture across the grass, out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw a butterfly. (hey- a rhyme!)
Sure enough, there was this beautiful Monarch and he appeared to be struggling and very tired. As I looked closer I could see that he was tangled in the grass and couldn't break free. I didn't want to pull on his wings and hurt him so I pulled out the entire clump of grass and brought him inside to untangle him and let him warm up. I went to get a container to put him in and by that time he was trying to fly but could barely lift himself up to go in a circle.
I put him in a glass container with an open lid to allow him to rest his wings and get warm and I put a tiny drop of water in with him so he could have a drink. He started to look a little bit more perky so I took him back outside to place him on my azaleas so he could drink some nectar. When I opened the container he was like a new little butterfly and I watched him test out his wings and then fly off into the distance.

Going to Vegas to see Barry Manilow!!!

2011-03-30T14:39:00.004-05:00

The only time I've ever been to Las Vegas was last year for a scrapbook convention and I stayed at the Green Valley Ranch and Spa so I didn't actually see "The Strip".
Doug has a business trip that he has to attend so we are paying for my flight and this time I get to go too. Our friends Frank and Tonya will also be there. Frank will be with Doug at the meeting and Tonya and I get to hang out while the guys are working. We are staying at the Palazzo and getting to see Barry Manilow. I'm just so looking forward to this trip!
I have loved Barry Manilow for.ever. When I was a teenager and it was oh so uncool to like Barry Manilow - I didn't even care! My friends made fun of me all the time but hey - I just love his music. How exciting to see him in a small venue in Vegas of all places. I'll be sure to share with you how it goes. :)

Jackie's Easter Egg Class at the Paper Crown

2011-03-26T09:03:00.007-05:00

Thursday night I ventured over to Oklahoma City to take Jackie's Easter Egg class at the Paper Crown. Here are everyone's eggs lined up after class.

As always, it was a fun class learning new techniques and stretching our creative talents. It amazes me how everyone's final projects all look just a little different. Stop by Jackie's blog and check out how much fun we had!
Here is my finished project:

And see my cute little doll inside:

We all had different doll faces in our class kits. I thought this one was really cute:

Have a great Saturday!

Been kinda quiet around here...

2011-03-21T19:19:00.003-05:00

I've been kind of in a blue funk recently - nothing wrong really - just not sleeping well and feeling a little anxious. I'm not sure what comes first, the anxiety then the sleeplessness or the sleeplessness causing the anxiety. Who knows. This time of year is when I am SO over winter and SO ready for spring. We get teased with a little sunshine, some warm days and then back into gray skies and chilly temperatures.

I'm looking forward to a good long stretch of sunny, warm days and hoping my mood and my sleep patterns will return to normal. I shouldn't complain and I don't like putting too much negative energy out there but anyway - that's why I've been a little quiet.

I've been taking Christy Tomlinson's She Art Class and absolutely LOVING IT! If you have the opportunity to take the class I really think you should. I'm still working on my first She Art Canvas and it's coming along so cute. Maybe instead of sitting here on the computer I should go upstairs and work on my canvas! Alright - I'm going!

2011-03-15T07:57:00.006-05:00

This past weekend the Home and Garden Show was in town and of course, with lots of thoughts of projects in my mind, we headed off to see what kind of trouble we could get into.

The plan for the back patio is still on, we've just been trying to decide exactly what we want done and how much we want to spend. I think we have got that project narrowed down and just yesterday I emailed the contractor to get us scheduled.

Our other plan is to replace our front door. We have a beautiful wood front door as seen in this picture from when we were buying the house. The problem is that it doesn't let in any light. We've been here 2 1/2 years (?already!?) and we have talked constantly about replacing the door and looks like we are finally going to do something about that - maybe. I have an email to our homeowner's association finding out what kind of approval we need to do the work. We have picked out a beautiful custom iron and glass door. Once we give the go ahead it will take between 6 and 8 weeks to get it made.
I'll be extending the gardens in the back but I'm waiting until the patio is complete because I have a feeling the back yard might get torn up during the construction of the patio and I don't want to have to do the work twice.
I haven't done much crafting in the last couple of weeks and I'm starting to feel really stressed. Maybe this coming weekend I can get up to my studio and work on a few things. I am currently taking Christy Tomlinson's She Art class and have started a canvas which I think is coming along pretty cute. I'm a week behind in watching the videos but I hope to catch up this week. Some of the canvases are so adorable!

A visit from a friend

2011-03-09T21:33:00.004-06:00

Sorry I haven't been around much the past week or so. Just not too much to talk about. And just like every one else I can hardly wait for spring to get here. I'm so tired of the cold, gray days and am so ready for warm sunshine.

One highlight last week was when Rachel came for a visit! Doug and I took her and her new man, Jim, out for sushi. I wish we had more time to hang out, maybe do some crafting, but she had other things to do while here in T-town. Maybe next time!

Already the end of February!

2011-02-28T19:10:00.006-06:00

This month has come and gone a whole lot faster than I anticipated. I mean, I knew it was a short month to begin with and that I would be gone for almost a week because of Brave Girls but add on top of that being sick for a week, being snowed in for several days and just catching up in general and the month flew by before I knew what was happening.
As fast as the month flew by I did manage to:
attend Brave Girls take Jackie's clipboard class
finish my ATC cards for my swap
Sign up for an Easter Tag Swap
take Jackie's mystery journal class (The picture below is from Jackie's blog)

One thing I fully intended to do was the tote bag for Jemellia's Sewing Challenge and I just didn't get to it this month. I'm still going to work on it but I didn't get it done in time. Bummer.

I'm planning on March being a more productive month for me and I'm totally excited that in less than two weeks we will change the clocks for daylight savings time. I love the longer days and look forward to being able to get so much more done.
On a happy note, I heard today that Silver Bella *will* be taking place again this year. I was sad to hear that it wasn't going to happen but now that word on the street is that it *will* I'm so excited! Sign ups open on April 1st (better not be an April's fools!).

So ready for Spring!

2011-02-24T10:16:00.007-06:00

Today it's raining cats and dogs here in Tulsa and I know this is a sign that *hopefully* spring is right around the corner. I'm so happy for the milder temperatures and I'm just itching to get out in the yard and do some planting. I need to see some green!

I love flowers and plants and leaves on the trees and I've got big plans for the back yard this year. I'm extending the garden and we are planning on extending our patio so I'll want to plant around that too. I'd also love to get a new bird bath. My old one got broken a couple years ago and I've yet to replace it. I'd also love a chiminea - I've heard they keep the mosquitos at bay - maybe I'll need TWO chimineas. We'll see.

I'm also awaiting the return of my friends. Why is it that I get so excited to see these guys but I run screaming when I see a bee?
Last summer it was so funny - Doug was out in the yard with a red ball cap on and one of the hummingbirds kept dive-bombing his head. The hummingbird must have thought the cap was a big delicious flower. :)
I'm going back to OKC tonight to take another class with Jackie. This one is a mystery journal class and should be lots of fun!

Creative Updates

2011-02-20T17:53:00.004-06:00

I've been a little under the weather since getting back from Brave Girls but here is a quick update on the going's on around here.
Thursday night I went to the Paper Crown in Oklahoma City and took Jackie's Clipboard class:

I just love that little dog with the crown, don't you? We used lots of techniques in this class: shrink art, gold leafing, embossing, using mica sheets and more.
Also, I mentioned in my last post that I decorated my Brave Girl Apron. Here is the top where I added decorative trim and made those fun flowers.

Here are some fun flowers and ruffles that are on the bottom.

Other than that I've been resting since I haven't felt like doing much else. This week I need to complete a couple ATC's for a swap for February and I'm going back to OKC for another fun class with Jackie. Can't wait!

Brave Girls Camp Feb 2011

2011-02-15T07:44:00.009-06:00

Let me start by saying I hope you had a nice Valentines Day! Doug spoiled me as usual - I'm one lucky girl!
Okay - on to Brave Girls Camp. This year our camp was at a different cabin and it was much larger than last years cabin. We walked into the main gathering area and this is what we saw:

Beautiful, right!?! Once again we had the greeting line with everyone hugging us and telling us they were waiting for our arrival and so happy to have us here. After our long trip up the mountain they served us a fabulous meal. Ahhhhh....
We received these beautifully decorated journals and also a beautifully sewn envelope which held our "curriculum". (When I say curriculum I mean journal prompts, exercises for self reflection and clip art that we are free to use in our art if we wanted to) Not pictured here, we also received a Brave Girls sweatshirt and apron.

One night we had a little visitor at the back door. How cute!

I tend to be kind of shy and don't always take part in all the fun. I tend to watch the fun from the sidelines - it's just more comfortable for me that way but this time I joined in on the fun and made a snow angel on the frozen lake.

We all made them - isn't that awesome!?!

This is a picture of me with my crafting table mates: Rachel, Rachel, Annie, Erin and Michelle. Michelle was also my roomie at Camp.

Here are Lori and Meghan doing the "Pageant Wave" (inside joke)

After busy days of creating and reflecting, Brave Girls get together to share and sing. Sorry the picture is so dark - it's hard to get a good picture at night.

I totally enjoyed my time returning to Camp this year. I had a feeling that it would be different for me because I am definitely in a different place this year - and it was. There wasn't anything I was purposely going to focus on, I figured I would just let it unfold as it may. And it did.
I just want to say here that Brave Girls is not the "fix" for all your problems. To me, what Brave Girls Camp is is a chance to stop all the noise and all the distractions for a few days. It's an opportunity to be around other supportive women who are looking for friendship, a chance to explore thoughts, feelings and dreams and to express all those without being judged. Oh, and of course to have some fun!
For me, not only is it fun to spend hours creating with other women but also to see what comes out in everyone's art. It's also a chance to use all kinds of embellishments (yay!) and try new techniques that otherwise I might never have tried.
Our final night we had a "gallery" and got a chance to see what everyone was making all week. Just beautiful! My favorite project was embellishing my apron. I'll see if I can get a good picture of it and post it next time.

Back from Brave Girls February 2011

2011-02-13T18:28:00.004-06:00

I'm back from Idaho, a little tired but so inspired! Another wonderful trip to replenish and revitalize.
I need a good night's sleep to gather my thoughts but you will want to check back and see some fun pictures. I'll do my best to try and explain how this year's experience was different for me than last year. Still amazing - just different!
For now, I'll leave you with a picture of Rachel and me with our goodie bags getting ready to board the bus to McCall, Idaho and Brave Girls Camp 2011.

Getting ready for Brave Girls!

2011-02-05T18:44:00.007-06:00

So last year about this time, I was really brave. I had read about Brave Girls on a couple of blogs and decided it was something I needed in my life at that time. I didn't know a soul but I signed up anyway and got on a plane for Idaho to spend almost a week with a group of complete strangers. I wasn't sure exactly what it was going to be like except the women who *had* been described it as "amazing, life changing, uplifting, a gift to yourself". It was all of that and more.
It didn't take long for this group of strangers to turn into friends. Brave Girls is a safe place where women can open their hearts and minds. It's also a place where I learned that we ALL have insecurities and we all have pain - some just hide it better than others. But we learned to open up and share our pain, share our insecurities, learned that there are people who will hold our hand, wipe our tears, listen to what we say. We all need support, love, friendship, encouragement and people who love us enough to offer that is who we need to surround ourselves with. All others need to be kicked to the curb - or the moon in some instances. That doesn't mean we don't still love some of them, it just means that we don't allow them close enough to hurt us.

When I returned from Brave Girls last year I knew there were changes I not only wanted to make in my life, but had to make. It took me a while to process what I had experienced in Idaho but slowly I began to make some changes and I still am working on some. I'm excited to see what Brave Girls has in store for me this year as I am in a totally different place than I was last year. I'm not going with any expectations of how it will be or even what I want to work on while I'm there. I'm just going to let things unfold as they may.
Below is a picture of me and Jennifer. She understood me. She cheered me on and offered me the sweetest support. She made me feel at ease, at peace. I'll miss her this year at Brave Girls but she is on bedrest. She has twins that are not due until April but she has been in preterm labor for a while. Please send up some prayers for all of them - for Jennifer to hold off as long as possible and for two healthy babies when the time comes.

I cannot wait to see Rachel and Dawn! If you have read my blog at all you already know that Rachel has been my partner in crime at several Artsy Retreats this past year. We've had so much fun meeting in Omaha, Minneapolis and St. Louis - and as I've already mentioned we are already scheming this year's retreats. Sweet, sweet Dawn. I haven't seen her since last year at camp and even though she isn't attending this year, she has offered to pick me and Rachel up at the airport and we are spending a night at her house at the end of the week. Can't wait to catch up with her too!

I'm going to be busy packing my stuff the next couple of days and praying that the weather holds out long enough for me to get my plane out of here. Until yesterday, it didn't even seem real but now the butterflies in my stomach are starting and I'm getting so excited!

Birds out and about in the snow

2011-02-03T18:05:00.008-06:00

Doug got me out of the house for a little while today but the roads were NOT good. I would not and will not be driving on these roads any time soon so I'm lucky that I don't mind too much staying home - even if I am getting a little crabby these days. We had some lunch and tried to go by Barnes and Noble for a few new magazines but they were closed.
Here is our neighborhood:

By the pond:

On one of the main roads by the mall we even saw a firetruck get stuck while turning the corner trying to respond to a call.

I'm having fun using the giant lens on my camera and taking pictures of birds. It's exciting to see all the beautiful and different birds and I'm thrilled with how good the pictures are coming out even though I'm taking them from inside the house!

We have multiple sets of these gorgeous cardinals and finally I'm seeing some bluebirds!

These birds are enjoying some tasty berries.

Look at this little guy - he looks MAD - kind of how I feel these days.

I am so thankful for heat and electricity and plenty of food to eat.
Hope you are staying warm and staying safe!

Snow, snow, snow

2011-02-02T09:41:00.006-06:00

So we got hit with Tulsa's worst storm ever. For some reason it doesn't seem as bad as the blizzard we had on Christmas Eve 2009 but I guess the roads are much worse. I wouldn't know because I plan on just staying in for the duration.
We have heat, power and food which I am so thankful for and the birds are being taken care of too.

Check out this fat little cardinal that I managed to get a picture of through the window. Actually all my snow pictures are taken through the window because I'm not brave enough or crazy enough to go out in this cold weather!

Sweet Shih Tzu loves it! At first he didn't know what to think about the snow. He would be running around the back yard and encounter these deep drifts that would slow him way down and throw snow in front of him which would make him nervous. Once he finally figured out what was going on he would zoom around and check out what was going on out there. Eventually he would get too cold and come in and warm up for a few minutes.

Here are a couple pictures of the awesome Valentine Tags that I received. I can't seem to find a good spot to take a picture in this house as the lighting never is quite right. I'm going to have to get a photo box or find another solution but for now - enjoy this eye candy!

The tag I made is in the left upper-hand corner with the girl kissing the boy.

Well, I'm going to try to get some stuff done inside this house today. Yesterday I was totally lazy and didn't get much done at all. Here's hoping I have a little more ambition today. Looks like we are going to be inside for a while...

Valentines Tags, a Snow Day and Brave Girls

2011-01-31T20:47:00.005-06:00

Oh my goodness! I received my Valentine Tags from the swap I was in and they are so beautiful. I haven't been able to get a good picture of them so I'll try again tomorrow and post then. You are going to want to see these - I promise!

Well - tomorrow is going to be a "Snow Day". I hope that I don't wake up to this in the morning! The weatherman is forecasting 8-10 inches of snow for our area, our governor has declared a state of emergency, and schools are all closed tomorrow. The storm was supposed to start around 5pm tonight but as of yet I haven't seen a single snowflake.
Like all the other nuts in our town I braved Walmart this morning to get some food in case we are stuck inside for a few days. Good thing I went when I did because the selection of bread was not very good and the people were already in a bad mood. So, as long as we don't lose power we are good!

I leave for Brave Girls next week. This will be my second trip and I'm really looking forward to going again and meeting up with some friends. This picture of me and Rachel was taken at last year's camp. We met and just hit it off from the start. We had such a great year last year traveling around the country and meeting up at various crafty venues. Of course we were on the phone just today making plans for what this year holds in store.

A Sweet Valentine

2011-01-27T07:30:00.005-06:00

I sent my sister a Valentine of my sweet nephew. He looks so serious and concerned in this picture.
These Valentines are so much fun to make!

Cosmo Bag Complete!

2011-01-23T14:36:00.006-06:00

Today I finished the Cosmo Bag for Jemellia's Sewing Challenge Month One. This bag was much more difficult than I anticipated it would be and I made a few mistakes along the way but overall, I am thrilled with how it turned out!

In doing the outside of the bag I accidentally put the handles on incorrectly and didn't discover my mistake until I had topstitched and clipped the insides of my curves. Let me tell you - I wanted to cry. It took me HOURS to undo all those stitches and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to match things up correctly - but somehow things worked out. Like I said, my bag may not be perfect, it may not even be close to as good as some of the others in the challenge but I don't care. I'm not going to compare myself or my Cosmo bag to anyone else. I'm just so happy that I have a complete bag and I will be absolutely proud to carry it around with me.
This bag is completely lined and has four pockets on the inside and two pockets on the outside side panels.

I have never sewn anything other than straight lines for blankets and dog beds - and dogs don't care if your seams aren't straight. ;)
Amy Butler lists this as an "Easy" project and while that may be true for a more experienced sewer, I don't think that it was easy for a beginner.
My suggestions for improvements in the ease of this project would more pictures along with the directions and directions that didn't have you referring back and forth for the lining part. Although with a book there is limited space, I think I would have settled for one or two less projects to have more illustrations and lengthier directions for the actual sewing.
Let me know what you think of my project!

January's stash and a snow day...

2011-01-20T10:20:00.006-06:00

So, I promised a few pictures of the Stash I received from A Gilded Life's Stash Club. So, on this snowy, January day, here they are:

I'm not sure you can appreciate how lovely these goodies are, but I can assure you, they are fabulous!

Now I just need to not be afraid and go ahead and actually *USE* my goodies to create something beautiful.

I need to just remember that there is more goodness to come. Get over that feeling that I've had since I was little that once something was gone, it's gone. Life is abundant and there are plenty of other beautiful things for me just around the corner.
I *am* going to use the day to create. We got some snow overnight - nothing compared to what my family is dealing with in Connecticut, but nonetheless, there is some snow on the ground. That means I don't travel too far from the house. I'm scared to drive on slick streets even though I have a very good 4 wheel drive vehicle. Better for everyone if I just stay home.
I'm going upstairs to work on my bag for this month's challenge. Wish me luck!

Valentine

2011-01-17T17:01:00.003-06:00

I made this little Valentine for my honey.
It's an old polaroid picture of me as a little girl that I scanned and printed on regular paper.

Beautiful doll and Valentine Tags!

2011-01-15T20:31:00.007-06:00

Remember back in December when I was the lucky winner of a beautiful doll that Jackie made? Well, I took a class back in late December and I was supposed to pick her up then at the Paper Crown. Somehow I forgot as I was leaving the store and remembered only after the store was closed. Well, Christmas came, then New Years and between the store being closed for the holidays and other things going on, I wasn't able to get her until the other night when I went for class. Isn't she just beautiful! Not only the doll but also the box she came in and the tag Jackie made. I'm so lucky! :)

I'm doing a tag swap for Valentines Day and I finished my tags today and got them sent off in the mail. All 20 of them. Can't wait to see all the beautiful tags I get back in return. The ladies in this group are so incredibly talented and each tag is it's own little piece of art.

Last night I opened the box containing all the beautiful stuff from the Gilded Stash. Amazing! I tried to take a few pictures but I couldn't quite capture how beautiful all the fabrics and embellishments are. I'll try to photograph them tomorrow but for now, you will just have to wait to see what you are missing out on if you didn't sign up. Bummer, I know!

Valentine Love Banner Class

2011-01-14T16:27:00.003-06:00

Last night I ventured over to OKC to the Paper Crown to take a class with Jackie. She designed this adorable Love Banner and I just love mine! As always, we had so much fun - how could we not? Check out Jackie's blog for more pictures.
I spent the night over in Oklahoma City so that I could get up bright and early and attend the Oklahoma City Quilt Show. I'm not really a quilter, in fact, I don't know the first thing about quilting but I thought it might be something fun to see. Plus, I like fabrics and I may be in the market for a new sewing machine before too long. Carolyn said she was going to be there with some of her friends and sure enough, we ran into each other.
I ended up purchasing a couple applique kits, some wool for felting and a few other embellishments. Lets see what I can come up with using what I bought today.
Shea and Debbie of A Gilded Life have started a monthly Stash Club. Because they both have such exquisite taste I knew I had to jump on the chance to be a part of it. My first package arrived last night while I was in Oklahoma City and I can't wait to go open it! Bye for now!

Getting things done

2011-01-10T11:57:00.004-06:00

Nestle has the right idea - staying in and bundled up. Whew - it's COLD outside! I'm having a hard time staying warm and I'm in the house with the heat cranked WAY up. I'd love to crawl in those covers right next to him but not right now.
I am getting things done and that's a good thing.
I've been working on Jemellia's sewing challenge. I prepared my fabric, cut out all the pieces, put the interfacing (is that what it's called?) on them and now it is time to actually start sewing my project together. I don't want to show you just yet so you will have to wait until it is finished. I can hardly wait!
The electrician came today to fix the lights under the cabinets in the kitchen and install two ceiling fans in our garage. Why is it that things never go as planned and things always take so much longer than you think? Well, we need a new transformer for the lights because the old one was damaged in a power failure this past summer. In addition, the ceiling fans couldn't be hung today because apparently they need to be "braced". So, hopefully tomorrow when the electrician comes back those two projects will be taken care of. I'm sure glad we didn't try to hang the ceiling fans ourselves. Sometimes it is just so much more worth it to hire someone who knows what they are doing.

This picture is of our back porch that was taken right after we closed on our home. We want to extend the patio out to the edge of the house and put a walk way on the side. So today, I also had a concrete guy come out to give us a bid. We had a couple of estimates done last summer and almost fell over from the sticker shock. Our back porch, although very cute, doesn't function very well. We should have that bid tomorrow so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Looking forward to being able to check a few things off my list.

Fabric for January's Challenge

2011-01-04T19:52:00.003-06:00

When Jemellia announced her Sewing Challenge for 2011 I was all over it. Doesn't matter that I've never really sewn anything more than a blanket or pillows for my dogs. I *want* to learn to sew so what better time than right now?
So, when Jemellia posted a picture of the fabrics she intends to use for this challenge, I started searching online for mine. The problem was that each time I found a main fabric I liked, there weren't any matching fabrics to go with them. I started to panic.
Until this afternoon when I stumbled upon this:

This fabric is so "me" - even Doug thinks so - and I just love it.
The first fabric store I tried to go to today was closed for inventory. Ugh. I checked their website prior to heading over there and there was no mention of being closed today.
Then I remembered a small fabric store here in Tulsa that I had driven by once - the Cotton Patch. What a pleasant surprise! The store is little but has some of the prettiest fabrics. I will definitely be shopping there again.
It only took me about two minutes to zero in on my absolute favorite fabric. Since Valentine's Day is right around the corner I opted to go with fabric that had pink and brown. The hardest part for me was picking the "plain" fabric. I couldn't quite find a matching solid until I found the brown that seems to go well with both the bag fabric as well as the lining.
Now I'm just waiting on my Amy Butler Style Stitches book to arrive so I can get started!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T14:31:00.004-06:00

Happy New Year Everyone!

From reading so many blogs I know that although 2010 was a good year in many ways it also brought many challenges, difficulties and heartbreak. We are all looking forward to 2011 being an even better year, aren't we!?!

Usually the week between Christmas and New Year's I take time to reflect on the year past and what I'd like to change in the new year. I remember that last year, although I wrote some goals down, I wasn't able to quiet my mind long enough to really think about what I wanted to change and how I was going to change. Somehow though, I did accomplish some things completely, made a good effort on some and some fell by the wayside.
This year however, I was really able to get quiet, and think it through. I feel much more at peace going into this new year and much more able to actually make a change. I'm so looking forward to it!
I approached it wrong last year. I was defiant and tried to "force" change like, "That's it - I'm going to make changes this year! :( " Forcing just doesn't work for me. Ask me nicely and I'll do just about anything, but demand and I'm just not going to do it. I'm not going to fight back since I don't like conflict, but I'm simply not going to do it. Being forced into something makes me angry and stubborn and want to run the opposite direction.
I need to feel encouraged, loved and guided along - just go with the flow. Life is too short and I want to be happy. So, while some of my "goals" look the same this year, I'm going to take a different approach. I'll let you know how that goes!

2010 in Review

2010-12-31T08:41:00.020-06:00

(Warning: LONG POST!)
What a year this has been! I knew it had been busy and crazy at times, but when I actually sat down and took an inventory of what happened this year even I'm surprised! Of course, I can't include everything but here is some of what went on in our world this year:
(Remember, you can click on the highlighted links to take you to the posts I've previously done or click on the pictures to make them larger)
Brave Girls:

What an experience this was. Something my soul so desperately needed - time to be still, time to think, and time to meet a group of amazing, like-minded women. I came back from Idaho with a new perspective and new friends.
At Brave Girls I met Rachel - and what a great year we've had! We signed up and traveled to multiple crafty venues this year. Looking forward to more in 2011!

Mary Englebreit Conference:

I traveled to St. Louis where I met up with Rachel and met her sweet friend Kara. We had such a fun time together on this trip! Creating, eating, sharing stories. It was great!

Craft Room Organization (Almost):

In 2010 I wanted to get my craft room in shape. At one point early in the year I literally couldn't walk around in there. I hired a personal organizer to come help me because yes, I was *that* overwhelmed with what I was facing. The organizer came and we worked for several days sorting, purging, planning - and things were coming along pretty well. However, I think I totally overwhelmed her because she had a minor accident on her bike and needed to take a break until she healed. I've tried to contact her and haven't heard another word. Guess I'm on my own to finish. I'm GOING TO COMPLETE this project in 2011. When I do, I will post before pictures (they will remind you of Hoarders) and afters. It's going to be good!
I left my consulting gig. Yep ~ unemployed. I had been feeling that it was time to move on but that is always a scary proposition especially when you don't know what is next. I took a leap of faith and decided I would take a month off and figure out what I would do after our trip. Well - a month has now turned into 7 months and I'm praying for work in the new year. No regrets though as to leaving - it was definitely time.

Our trip of a lifetime to Rome:

What a time we had!

I loved that Doug enjoyed himself so much on that trip. I did too but it made it even better for me that he loved Rome!

We ate and drank and totally absorbed the Italian culture. The food ruined us for food back home. Everything in Rome is so fresh and so flavorful and simple! We got home to tasteless garbage. What a bummer!
We took a trip back East that got cut short. While in NYC, before we could see my family in Connecticut, we got word that Doug's mom was very sick and we needed to get home right away. It wasn't good.
In September, we lost Doug's Mom. We miss you Carol...

Creative Connection:
Another *amazing* event! Rachel and I signed up for this one and could barely wait to attend! We can't wait for the announcement of the dates for 2011 because we are all over it!

What a surprise for us when we ran into our fellow Brave Girls Melody and Margie.

I went to Las Vegas for Inspiration Unlimited. It was my first trip ever to Vegas and I didn't really even get to see anything! I went straight to the hotel and attended the scrappy conference. I met some really nice ladies there and clicked with Collette (not pictured). I enjoyed the projects although, like usual I didn't get to finish them. Overall though, honestly, I didn't enjoy the event itself. The people were "different" - no where near as friendly as the women I've met at Mary Englebreit, Creative Connection and Silver Bella.

Silver Bella - This was my first year to attend and definitely NOT my last. I drove to Omaha and roomed with Rachel. Met some new friends, saw some "old" friends and took a handful of fun classes. Again - didn't get much completed but had such fun. That is what matters, right?

Just back from Omaha, Doug and I made the trip to Connecticut to meet my sweet new nephew Joao (pictured below). During our whirlwind trip we took a day trip to New York with Bobby & Jess.

We also had a baby shower for my sister January during that visit. It was a quick trip but so great to finally see my family - especially since the trip in August didn't quite work out.
We got to meet Baby Joao. I love my sweet nephew!

The day after Christmas Baby Garrett was born to my sister January. Can't wait to get to meet him!

Looking forward to a great 2011 - Happy New Year Everyone!

Fabric Giveaway!

2010-12-30T15:39:00.003-06:00

What a great giveaway! Head on over and leave a comment for a chance to win - hurry though - you only have until New Year's Eve.
I'm really hoping I win though - then I'll have some great fabrics to choose from while participating in Jemellia's Sewing Challenge. :)

Another Sweet Nephew!

2010-12-28T09:36:00.006-06:00

My sister January (pictured on the left) had my newest sweet nephew, Garrett, on December 26th. My sister Amanda had my other sweet nephew, Joao, - the one I'm holding - back in October. This photo was taken when I went to Connecticut in November for January's shower. I didn't want to put Joao down or share him with anybody - and yes - he loved his auntie Lis. I wanted to just eat him up!

This picture is of Leier holding Joao and Amanda holding our new nephew Garrett. Manda says now she can see why everyone said Joao was so big when he was born. Look at how big he is at two months when next to newborn baby Garrett! So precious!!
I'm waiting for other pictures to be sent my way. I've gotten a few via text message but I don't know how to upload them here.
This is the hard part of being so far away from my family. I want to be there with everyone. Hopefully I can plan a trip home soon! Little babies grow so fast and I'm missing it!

Jemellia's Monthly Bag Challenge 2011

2010-12-26T07:17:00.005-06:00

I've decided to do Jemellia's Monthly Bag Challenge 2011. Sounds fun so would you like to join too? Check out this link and get all the details.

Jemellia gives some great reasons for joining in and here's why I'm doing it:

1. I love bags!
2. I am a beginner sewist and would love how to do a little zipper bag. I'm always buying little cosmetic bags for my purse and can you imagine the beautiful little bags I can make once I learn how to do a zipper!?!
3. Amy Butler - need I say more? I've been to a few creative conferences where Amy Butler has spoken and I just love the energy that comes from her. So peaceful, serene - wow. Plus - her fabrics are beautiful and this gives me the perfect excuse to buy her books!
4. If I get particularly ambitious I can make gifts! I would *love* to receive a beautiful handmade bag as a gift and luckily, I have some friends who love handmade too. How great would that be to be able to make a cute bag for someone?
5. This may expose the limitations of my cute, humble sewing machine so I may discover I need to upgrade to a newer, more sophisticated machine! ;) (Put this on my wish list)

There are many more reasons I'm joining and I'm sure it's going to be so much fun! Thanks Jemellia for the awesome Challenge!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T16:23:00.001-06:00

Wishing everyone peace, health and happiness!
Enjoying our day and hoping you are too.
Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve 2010

2010-12-24T06:32:00.003-06:00

It's going to be a busy day around here! Still stuff to do, presents to wrap, house to straighten, cooking to do...
I'll do what I can and I'm not going to stress about the rest. Dee Ann (Doug's sister) is coming from Texas and my friend Wendy may be coming from Sioux Falls depending on the weather and if she thinks she can endure the 10 hour drive.
Tonight - relaxing, eating, maybe watch a movie. Just soak it all in and enjoy!
Tomorrow I'm cooking a turkey with all the fixings.
Merry Christmas!

Kerri Arista's New CD!

2010-12-22T08:56:00.004-06:00

I'm so excited! I ordered Kerri Arista's new CD last night. She's going to sign it and get it in the mail to me today. If you haven't had a chance to hear her you need to head on over to her website and take a listen. I just love her sound and look forward to seeing her perform in person one day.

White Christmas Tag Swap Tags

2010-12-19T11:21:00.005-06:00

Aren't these just beautiful?!?

Here are the creators of the tags starting at the top left and working down. If they have a blog, click their name and the link will take you right to it.
1. Wendy Robrecht
2. Cheryl Carey Bass
3. Robin Carr
4. Jane Palmer
5. Debi Martin
6. Michele Askeroth
7. Natalea Kandefer
8. Vivian Neroni

1. Mine!
2. Wanda Clark
3. Jonnelle Buhl
4. Rachel Velder
5. Marlene
6. Kathy Lowry
7. Jessica Joshi
8. Marian Ballog
9. Kimberly Laws
10. Dawn Tavela

These swaps are so much fun - so here's the next one I'm participating in: