Card Making...

Spent last night making a few "last-minute" Christmas cards. These are a bit "sweeter" than my previous version posted below. I bought a few new Christmas stamps this year and had to make a few cards to justify their purchase, heh heh..... I am not known for being a person who "likes" syrupy sweet images, not a big fan of "cutesy", so it comes as a surprise to many of my crafty friends that I really like the House Mouse stamps, from Stampabilities. They are so sweet, they are hard to resist, especially ones like the two huddled below waiting for Santa. Then I found the, dare I say, a cute little elf from Stampendous. Complete with sentiment for the inside. I also played with my Gypsy for the first time and cut the Santa out from Winter Frolic. I have to say it would have used more paper and time if I had not had the Gypsy to help separate the many pieces...... The background paper for the Santa cards and the Elf cards, courtesy of my daughter Kim. She is a "Free-gan" so reuse and recycle are her goals in life. She found a stack of scrapbooking papers thrown out and collected them for me. Some Imaginess, Basic Grey that would have cost quite a bit. She gave me them back in July. Now going to good use this year on my cards. (thanks hon). See below the sentiment for the Elf card "Have your Elf a Merry Little Christmas"! I used one of my dies to cut the cards and the envelopes for these sweet little cards.

Here is my Santa i cut using my Cricut Gypsy! I have found that the cheaper paper packs from Joanns and Michaels cut so much nicer on my Cricut! I used my embossing folder on the snow, more paper from my "Kim" stash, a punch from Fiskars, and the sentiment is from My Pink Stamper............ For all my friends out there, yes, of course I glittered and stickled, but I did show amazing restraint. Everyone knows the answer when they ask "What does this card need?" my answer is "Bling"! I do love the sparkle.

Holiday tinkering....

Okay not your average Christmas card, but a lot of fun. I love humorous card, and adore these stamps by Stampotique artists Daniel Torrente and Jill Penney. One flaw is that they are "long" which does not lend them to the smaller cards easily. this image (Noelle) is one I am using for my cards this year. They also had the phrase stamp. The problem was making it fit. I decided to make the words look like ornaments by punching each out with a circle punch and adding a stickles top to them. Now I am going to "tame" them down by changing the "d" word to "darn" for most of the ones I will send out. However those that truly know me, and can tolerate my dry, sometimes sarcastic humor will laugh and know right away who sent the card before they even open it. I told my friend Linda, I was in a "cranky" state of mind when I decided to make these cards, but that isn't really true. I think they are funny, and to be honest who doesn't occasionally feel a bit "Scrooge-like" running around for the holidays. I played with my sewing machine and added some stitching, they are distressed and made to look a bit battered. It matches the rough and gritty feel of these images. They are so neat, I have a wish list for more of them!

Inside I used a sentiment from Stampotique (bla bla) and one from Archivers ($1.99 stamp Merry Christmas). I love it, I think I will make some birthday and other cards like this. It made me chuckle, I am notorious for "skimming" sentiments when I get a card. They can be a bit syrupy for me at times. Being a "get to the point" kinda gal, I think this reflects that feeling as well as my sometime off-beat humor.

What else have i been doing? Well, I am still soldering away here. Have been lucky enough to have a few orders for some vintage Santa charms. Also playing with some ideas of my own. Feeling in a festive mood I sent a few out to some of my fellow "Bloggers" (you know who you are) who still visit my blog. I should have taken some pics of them to share with you here, but hopefully they will like them and perhaps share them with you. the truth is it doesn't matter as long as it brings a smile to their face. After all who doesn't like getting a nice surprise in the mail?

I will share the one charm I made for Suzi blu. She has been trying her hand at soldering. (I had also made her a bracelet a few years ago when her beloved cat "Pooh" past away). I decided I would include her in my list of people to surprise. Using a couple images(and for her charm only) of her work, I decided to make a shadowbox. I added some little glitter stars and dots that float around inside. Although I know I posted that these are a pain (and they are). I think I am starting to get the hang of them. It was fun, and I hope she likes it.

On the back I placed another of Suzi's artwork. I added a bit of "bling" with glitter and a beaded accent in pink and pearl.

After a rough Thanksgiving (our daughters car broke down the day before, in Kalamazoo. My husband and son had to drive up and tow the car home that night. then my husbands truck broke down while towing, and well from there it doesn't get better.... we are fine now, broke, but okay. I am ready for an "uneventful" Christmas.

Banner Day!

Yesterday my friend Terri (terrisbloomingideas.blogspot.com) came over for some creative fun. She had cut out these cute banner shapes for us. She wanted to do them last week, but obligations and time did not allow us to make them. So we were going to work on them here at my house.

We started the day cutting some shapes from some dies I had, for future projects Terri is working on. While I decided to cut a set of the little pennants (Terri had brought along her die) for Vicky, who was going to stop in to pick up an order from Terri. She had been feeling a little frazzled lately and I thought she could have a set at home to work on when she felt up to it. When Vicky arrived she pulled up a chair to visit for a couple minutes, after seeing the little kit we had prepared for her, decided to play along. What fun! We bought out the glimmer mists, beads, glitter, and ribbon.

Soon we were all laughing and having fun. My sweet husband was home (plant shut down for the week), and he surprised us with pizza for lunch, and kept hot coffee ready. I love when things seem to come together, I could not have planned a better day.

Huge Tag Die!

Okay, while perusing Ebay one night, I came across a die for tags. I put a bid on it on an impulse , then fretted because I should have read the dimensions. The tags are 10" x 4", I immediately panicked, what was I thinking?

A couple of days ago I was on Skype with my friend Sarah, from Scotland, we joked as I showed her the die that had just arrived. She said she would be checking my blog to see what I would do with it. Well I cut a couple of them out. As I worked with them a few ideas came to mind, they would make a great mini album if I stacked them and edged them with a die, or maybe make a door-hanger (like the do not disturb kind). For now though I thought I would just make a "large" tag, and play with my new edge dies from Sizzix and Tim Holtz.

I have to share with you there is something about Tim Holtz dies that do not like me. I have had issues with his flourish die, and now these. They stick something fierce on chipboard. So after many disparaging remarks made under my breath, I managed to get the snowflake die to cut and not shred my paper.

Using the Ella Blue paper collection, and some Sizzix snowflake dies (which worked very well), They are still not complete, I think I want to add a couple more things before considering them finished. I just couldn't wait to post them though.

Shadow box Charms

Okay these are officially a pain the butt! First getting them to stay together to foil, (yeah those little hearts are stuffed and stitched!) then of course the paper shifts, and to top it off the glitter on the back does a weird funky thing (on one of them). I was asked by my daughter to make one. I did two, just in case. I am glad I did, since I don't think there will be a third! LOL!

Charms

I have not been very active on my blog. Well it all started with a soldered charm I made for my friend Linda. She celebrates Halloween and decks out her home every year. I am always invited to the "open house" held by the people on her block, they go all out for this holiday. so as a token of appreciation I try to make or bring a little something as a thank you. This year it was a coffin shaped charm with her initial "L" in drippy red glitter, and some scary little clown children on the back (I should have asked, it seems Linda has a real aversion to clowns, who knew?)

From there it has snowballed to making them for friends of Linda's and mine. I have to tell you working with the lead-free solder is a pain, but I am having a lot of fun. I have been fortunate enough to sell a few of them, and have had interest from a local store. I just wanted to share what I have been up to. I feel so neglectful but with work I do not get much time to get online it seems.

Well I hope you like them!

****Check out my blog shoppe (upper right hand corner button) for charms and prices.

PeTiTe GhOuL Pt. 2

Finished!!! Just applied the beeswax and buffed the finish out. It is dark in my room but any brighter and the shine causes glare. I will take a photo during the day!

A "blurry" close up of her face. I really need to take photos in the "daylight".

One more of her, again please excuse the lighting, wanted to grab a photo before bed. Below her another painting waiting for the finishing touches....

PeTiTe "GhOuL"

I have taken Ms Suzi-blu's Mermaid class. I took her first class a couple years ago, as well as others, and really enjoy them. I have not posted my Mermaid drawings, but I have a couple ready to start. However, soon it will be Halloween and I have been inspired to create a "PeTiTe GhOuL" for the occasion. My other Halloween Kitte Girl sold and I was asked to create another painting for the Holiday. I am also a big fan of Tim Burton, and found myself creating what looks like a hybrid of Suzi/Tim type character. I love her. Here you see the beginnings. She has been transferred to the wood and her face has been started.....

A couple layers done....and some black glitter and she is off to a great start. Yes several more layers to go, and then to paint the trim. I gave her pale skin a greenish/gray hue, and she has "pumpkin" orange eyes. Little skull earrings and some spiderweb (complete with spiders) trim.

I will be working on her tomorrow, so much more to do yet. Things to add, and painting the trim. It is hard to get a good photo because the trim at the top does not allow the piece to lay flat so scanning it is difficult. I will take better photos when she is done. Then you can see the sparkly glitter on her dress!

Cold and Wet Days...

It was cold and damp out today. Steve went to our son's to work on his truck, which left me to putter around the house on my own. Stephanie was off to a baby shower with her in-laws, and Kim away at school in Kalamazoo. My friends busy with their family, so I was on my own. So I made these cards. I have to make some for our Art Group meeting this month, and with all the baby showers I have coming up, I decided to make cards that could be used for showers or baby birthdays. I cut, punched, colored and glittered. They are almost finished. I had a chance to play with my copic markers. I have been buying a few here and there. They are a lot of fun.

My son received these wonderful copics from a friend. He gave them to me today since I have started buying a few myself, and well, don't have that many. He is a wonderful artist and can draw, but prefers his music (for now). So he decided to let me play with them a while....lucky me.

So although the weather was dreary Saturday and overcast today, I did manage to accomplish few things here at home. Time is slipping away. It seems to speed up the end of summer, and gather steam thru the Holiday season. Too fast, too fast. Although I look forward to getting together with family, the thought of snow and winter makes me wish for it all to slow down.

Flea Market Finds.

Yes we have a "bonanza" today!!! Scored these lovely vintage flowers. Bought the whole lot. She had saved these from hats. She wanted to find someone who will put them to good use, enter me....

Lovely old velvets and organza flowers......

Love the soft colors and the fine stamens on these flowers.

Sweet fabric lily-of-the-valley...

More sweet flowers...

A big bag of bits.........

Found two cute suitcases.....

Steve found this cute bank for me. He liked that it had the lock. It was sweet that he saw this and bought it for me.....

Found the plastic Infant of Prague. The vendor and I had a laugh over the fact that the bottom said $2.00 but she told me $1.00.

Aren't these sweet? The fellow selling them did not want to take them back home, so he made an offer I could not refuse......

Found three cute tiny "yorkie" china figures to add to my shelf...

I found this second pair of tiny "yorkie" china figures also!

Those who know me, well they know I collect birds. Not just any, I prefer the shiny Japanese ones. However today I found this cool Chicken pitcher for next to nothing so he had to come home with me.

This is why my chicken pitcher is on the table...no room! I need a new cabinet?

Found these chenille spreads for $2.00. They are for crafting (have a couple small rips). I want to make a couple of cute pillows, or some baby things?

This adorable chair for just a couple dollars will look cute at my desk...

Of Course I found this "fabulous" Bling Ring and well, who could resist this......

(It was in the bags of Jewelry) All in all a fun morning, and I wasn't really looking. It was fun seeing all the people selling stuff, and then we stopped for some fresh produce. The air was crisp but refreshing and what fun we had looking over all these fun finds.

Tako-Tsubo

Tako-Tsubo Syndrome

About 70-80% of cases of Tako-tsubo Syndrome (TTS) occur in post-menopausal women under some form of extreme, exceptional and prolonged mental stress,... with no good way out, no relief and often feeling deep resentment (such as the loss of a dear one...)

(Note: a word of caution... , in a minority of patients, less than 20% the stress is physical such as massive trauma, surgery or severe pain, or other type of stress. In very rare cases, no "cause" can be found.

a diagnosis of tako-tsubo syndrome can only be made after excluding:

• coronary artery disease (especially proximal left main or left anterior coronary artery stenosis),
• acute coronary syndrome,
• acute myocardial infarction,
• myocarditis, pericarditis, aortic dissections and so forth...

And that leads to the good news, Folks! If this syndrome is recognized, over 95% of patients pull through that fairly easily (with most of the time complete recovery of the electrocardiographic changes and recovery of the cardiac shape and function. This may take a few weeks)

On Sunday I experienced this syndrome first hand. I can honestly say I did not feel stressed at the time. In fact I was quite happy having sold a few of my stamps I no longer used or wanted (there are still a few available in my blog shop). At first I thought I was having on of my stomach flare ups, but it got a bit worse so we were off to urgent care. They gave me something for the stomach pain and I actually felt better. The doctor seemed a bit concerned and ran some blood-work for my heart, but sent me home saying he would call if it was anything serious.

Well next morning I still had not heard anything so off to work I went. When I got home I was greeted by phone calls telling me to go to emergency. Thats when they told me that my heart enzymes were elevated. Well several tests, and a heart cath later they pronounce I had "tako-tsubo" or as they called it "broken heart syndrome".

Since this condition is totally recoverable they are treating me with drug therapy and monitoring my heart. I was relieved to know I do not have coronary artery disease or any blockages. It was fascinating to see the heart. During the cath you are totally awake and you get to see exactly what they are doing (it was completely pain-FREE, trust me I would tell you if it hurt). It actually made me feel good to know I would recover and that for the most part I was heart healthy.

So what triggered it? They feel stress was the trigger, I don't know because I truly did not feel I was stressed at the time, until my stomach acted up. The more I rad up on this condition they do mention something about possible pathogens that can trigger an episode. Who knows. I am just happy to be home and recovering.

These flowers arrived Thursday from Vicky and Mike, I feel very blessed to have such good friends.....

Here are the lovely roses that my good friend Terri and her husband Chip brought by when I came home from the hospital. I am very lucky to have such dear friends.

I am feeling much better, and recovering nicely. My puppies missed me. They even managed to share Bailey's bed.

Fun Friday......

Spent the day with Terri Friday. Played with my "new" stamps, copic markers, colored pencils, glitter, ribbon, punches, and paper. These cards were simple and sweet. It was a nice day out, and Terri and I even managed to go out for "ice cream"!

Fun Fabric Binder for Kim

I have been neglectful of my blog, again. It's summer and I have been busy about the house. We painted the porch steps, had garage sales, cleaned off porches, and various yard work projects.

I have also been busy trying some new things. I was looking for a project to work on while sitting on the front porch, or watching the new series Pillars of the Earth. I had seen the video by Teesha Moore where she had made these wonderful fabric journals, and fell in love with the idea.

Gathering up some fabric, I started making the little "pillows" as Teesha calls them. They were each stuffed and sewn, then carefully edged with cotton thread. Making the stitches small, varying thread colors and patterns to make each one different. Like Teesha said, I was not all "matchy poo". It did not matter that some were a bit smaller, not quite straight, or that the tread colors changed randomly. The result is a fun and funky folder.

I made this for our youngest daughter Kim. She is a bit of a free spirit and I know she will love the bright colors. She loves Teeshas' work and I thought it would be a nice surprise for her as she starts college in Kalamazoo next week.

It's finished and ready for her, decorated with some vintage buttons and colorful fibers.

Here is the inside. I found these bright colored rings for the binder. You can see all the "quilting". I tried to vary and make patterns for each piece. It was all bound with a pretty blue thread.

She can use it for a journal by adding sketch paper to it, or some watercolor paper. She can use it for school, either way she will have something from me with her and remind her that we are thinking of her while she is away at school.

Tempting Tags

I am a member of a small group of ladies who gather every now and then to exchange our Artwork, share information, and enjoy a meal together. We will discuss what's new in our lives and some new project we would like to try.

Last month we did pages for a Glamorous "Star" book. We each picked a Movie Star form the vintage movies who for us portrayed true Glamour and Style. We had a lot of fun and the pages were outstanding. Then we decided this month to do a tag exchange. We did not designate a subject, just one challenge. We had to use the newspaper put out by Donna Salazar somewhere on the tag. Donna Salazar is known for making flowers with this particular paper. So she put out a "Artist's newsletter" on the paper she uses to make her paper flowers. We each bought one and had two months to figure out where or how to use it on our tags.

Kim used it on the lovely flowers she made for her Ginger Rogers tag, as did Vicki on her vintage lady tag. Nancy used it on the background of her masculine tag, and Terri her butterfly wings. I used it for the leaves on my tag (The bottom tag, but you cannot see them in the picture)which was the simplest one of the group this time. It was a lot of fun, and these ladies are just so creative and talented.

Having been in a few exchange groups and clubs in the past, I had been left a bit discouraged. People did not follow thru, or applied very little time or effort to their projects. I almost gave up, but then decided to find "like minded" people to start our own group. It has been fun and never a disappointment. I feel so lucky to be a part of this and know these talented ladies.

We are going to take a small break for summer, as vacations, graduations, and the nice weather make us all long to be outside. Our next meeting we will be exchanging cards, for now though I have these lovely tags to admire and inspire me. Thanks ladies!

Where Bloggers Create

Here is my post showing my "new" and improved Craft Studio. I now have much more room, and my dear Husband made me a table where I and my friends can gather and create! I hope you enjoy the little video. Hope you enjoyed seeing my creative space, please leave a comment and be sure to visit all the other (I think there are over 500!) creative people listed at "My Desert Cottage". Thank You Karen for hostess-ing this event again, and for letting me participate!

Scraps of My Life Mini Swap

Finished this mini for Scraps of My Life swap. The theme was "Butterflies, Buttons, and Bows". Joyce, the lady I was chosen to make it for likes "purple, or red and black" and gave me shabby chic, or grunge as the style she liked. I had a lot of fun. finding that I had a beautiful black velvet butterfly I went with the grunge, black and red. She also shared that she really (like myself) does not scrapbook but prefers to journal in them.

It's on it's way to her, and I hope she likes it. Now off to finish another for my Friend overseas (it's almost ready to send Sarah!)

Where Bloggers Create II

Yeah! It's that time again. I participated in this last year after I had just re-decorated and re-organized my small craft room. This year I have just moved to a larger room (to accommodate my ever-increasing "stuff"). I cannot wait to share where I create, and to visit other Blogs to see theirs! Please join me on Saturday June 19th for a tour of some very creative and inspirational places where very talented people create their art. It is a feast for the eyes, and will inspire you with ideas for your own personal creative area. You can find the list of participants "here" at the site of our Hostess for the event. Have fun, hope to "see" you there, and hopefully here where I will have pictures of my new space!

A Giveaway to Enter!

A Sweet lady is having her first giveaway! Check out http://bochscreations.blogspot.com/ for a chance to win a gift certificate.

Still moving....

I am still "moving" the craft room. Taking this time to sort and put together things that I am ready to part with. So much I will never have the time to use. I have decided to make up little gatherings of items to sell off. Perhaps there are some bits you have been looking for? Like old photo frames, bits of fabric, jewelry or lace? I have a small, but steadily growing pile to sort and move along. I am also participating in a mini - album swap. I will be making a mini scrapbook/journal for someone. This swap, hosted by Julie (scraps of my life), has a ning group too. She wanted some things for a giveaway for her first swap. I decided to donate two small "mini-bit kit" as I called them. They have some nice chipboard shapes for the cover/pages, some shapes, one of my handmade flowers, some fibers, coin envies, bling, chipboard flourishes, and a tag. Not a complete mini kit but a good start.

This move is taking a while, and these stops to cut chipboard, working, and such are making it seem longer. I am almost there though. Most of the large pieces have been moved. Steve is making me a work table this weekend, it's coming together, just seems to be taking a lot longer than the time it took last February when I did the other room.

Still I am excited because I will now not only have room to create, but one that will also allow me to have friends over too. My other room was nice but too small for more than one person to comfortably work in. Hopefully I won't outgrow this new room as quickly (or at all!) as I did the other. I cannot wait to take photos and show it to all of you.

Well back to work, I have a mess to clean up, a room to finish, and a mini to work on. I had better get busy.

Thanks Terri

So today I went to my friend and fellow "enabler" Terri's to pick up some more Sizzix items we had ordered. We got these great big shot rolling cases for a great price, and a few other items, cartridges, stamps and such. I got to see Terri's new Cricut Expressions, very nice (I En-Abel-ed here). She is such a great friend and it is funny how we almost always like the same things.

I could not stay for our usual creative Friday this week. I had to rush home and prepare for a dinner tomorrow. We are celebrating my husbands, and my son-in-laws birthdays! We are also going to Flint to see our son John's band Season's of Eden. Pat's (my son-in-law) birthday is tomorrow and he wanted to go, and heck I enjoy seeing my son do what he loves. The music is good, and I love that we all go together. Even though we are the oldest "groupies" he has, ha ha.

So when I got home I went back to the moving and re-organizing of my craft room. I was supposed to go to my daughters house today, but after a hard, hot day of work my daughter asked if we could just go out to see the new "Sex in the City 2" movie. It was so nice, we had the theater all to ourselves! and the movie was great. I loved the series, and the movie did not disappoint. Steph and I have been die hard Sex in the City fans from the start. We left the theater feeling good and finalizing plans for tomorrows bar-b-que.

So after having dinner with Steve I went back to work on the craft room project. Steve helped me move the big Expidit shelves to the new room, but first I had to empty them. Well anyone who has ever moved anything knows that the mess will get worse before it gets better, right? Oh, and I have managed to make quite the mess. Tired and hot I decided to shower and go to bed. As usual I could not fall asleep so I decided to check my email. There was one from Terri. Did I check the bag with the brown paper in it? Terri had given me some brown packing paper from the orders ( I use them for glimmer misting liners) in a bag that I carefully taken upstairs and set in the mess that I made.

No, I hadn't. So I went to check and what I found made me laugh. See the stamp in the picture below? Look familiar? Ha! I love it. It's the name of my blog, yeah! How cool. I don't know where she found this but it was so nice of her to get this for me. What a great surprise ending to a nice day. Thanks Terri!

Yeah and see all the "stuff" its resting on? Well that's just some of the stuff off that shelf unit.

This moving could take a while.....

Moving... to a new Room!

In my previous post I mentioned that our daughter is going to be attending college in Kalamazoo this year. They were lucky enough to get a place to rent early so they (her and the roommate) had time to find work for the fall. She has a babysitting position for now, but has been scrambling to fill out applications for part-time work while she lives out there. With her blessing I have decided to make her room, which is considerably larger my new craft room. It did not take long for my little 8x10 room to get packed with things. I added a Cricut, an Accucut, and plethora of Sizzix dies and have no where to turn. This move will give me room to have a guest or two over to visit and create! I wanted to paint the room a soft beige, but to my surprise my husband said he thought it would be too boring and liked this light pink when I showed him my second choice.

I have been keeping busy while Steve was painting the bedroom. Even my desk gets a coat or two. I have the floor yet to scrub down and windows to wash. It will be a job. Then I will restore the room I use now, for Kim when she returns. While I wait, I make flowers and finish swap projects. The other batch of flowers went so fast it was like I had been standing still. Time to make more......

Here is another photo of finished flowers. To the left upper corner are the smaller ones and the "new" lollypop flowers!

I hope to have these packaged up and ready for the shop this weekend. I have already sold and sent a few on their way. Spent the last couple days getting them all ready. I even had fun with the paper from the "glimmer" misting and used that to make some metallic looking flowers that are too cool. You can spot them because they look like they have been made from old metal.

These above are the larger flowers. I did mostly spring/summer colors.

I need to get cracking though, if I am going to be in that "new" craft room. It will be a time to purge and reorganize as well. With me luck!

Empty Nest?

Our youngest has just moved to Kalamazoo to attend college there. She left early to find a job and get settled for the summer/fall season. It wasn't like she was home much, whether it was out at a friends, work, or at school. I won't miss telling her "constantly" to pick up her things, or clean her pet rabbits cage, but I guess we were not entirely ready for her to go so far from home. I wanted her to be more prepared, save more, get the job first, and then move, but that's a cautious parent talking. Not her, she wanted to go now. I know it sounded exciting and seeing her friends go off to college has made the last two years going to college from home seem rather dull. I hope it goes as well as she "plans" it will. As for Steven and I, it 's hard. Silly really, since it wasn't like we were that involved in her daily life. I guess it was passing by her room, sort of empty, and well "clean" for once. We plan to paint it this weekend. I will be moving her things to the slightly smaller room across the hall. I had always planned to make that room she had my craft/sewing room when she left. We had been talking about it for some time, but it feels bittersweet now. She wanted me to switch the rooms before but I wanted to wait, again maybe because a part of me associated this with her leaving home. It has been over 30 years since Steve and I have lived "alone" and the house seems way too large, and a bit too empty right now. This year has been so busy everything changing, some good, some not-so-good, but it seems it is all happening too fast sometimes. I barely recuperate from Steph's wedding, losing my uncle, finding out my youngest brother and his family is moving to Indiana in June, to this. I know life is all about change, but lately it feels like I cannot catch my breath it has been happening so much, so fast.... For now I just want it to slow for a bit, and the only change I want to deal with for a while is what color to paint her old bedroom, but that may take me a little time.

Where is the time going?

I have been away, busy. Not always with things I enjoy but the tedious stuff of life. Spring cleaning, work, and some commitments I made and am trying to wrap up. I don't know about you but time seems to slip away so fast and the weekends fly by. I feel as though I am not accomplishing much these days, I am moving slower? I don't know. I have been making these paper flowers. It is relaxing and fun, and even decided to enter a paper flower swap. I had to package them up and get them off this week. So here is a picture of them ready to go: I even decorated the card stock holder so that they can reuse them for a tag. I only needed to make 18, but got a little carried away so I have a few extra. Perhaps I will use them for a RAK? Perhaps offer them in my shop? I have to finish the smaller ones I have started. Looking at these should make me feel productive, yet there is so much more I want to get done. Summer is almost here and my spring cleaning isn't done:( Heck most of it hasn't started as I need it to warm up here in Michigan so I can power wash the house and the get to the windows. It has been quiet on the blog front. I expect it has to do with the nice weather (elsewhere), or perhaps the bad weather but I wanted to check in and share.