Hello Butterfly!!

I always feel like the cards I send in the mail need to be hand made....even when I don't feel like or have the time to make them. It often makes me send out cards and gifts later than I should because I need to make the card. Remember that Dunkin Donuts ad, with the man that gets up at like 3 or 4 in the morning and stumbles around saying....time to make the donuts...lol...thats how I feel sometimes with my card making...so...I decided to make a card anytime I was crafting around....and start a stash of them so when I need one, I don't feel like the Dunkin Donuts man! Oh and don't get me wrong...I love making cards and the warm fuzzy you get from sending them...I also...love Dunkin Donuts {and it's a real good thing we don't have any around here!}
Here is the first one for my stash.....

I made it for the feature over at P K Glitz. Gotta love glitter!! You can see the supplies I used for it over there.
I'm off to go shopping...I need an art journal and some other fun items....
Hope you are having a terrific day!!

That's How I "Roll"!!!

Just a quick post...I'm being silly today...making my Kiddos an afterschool snack...Sushi anyone???? Makes me laugh...

I used banana flavored twinkies...covered in vanilla frosting. Added a Swedish Fish and tied them up with a fruit roll up. The soy sauce is maple syrup...these should get a laugh from them!! What silly things are you getting into to?
Have a Happy April Fool's Day!!!

Lil' Chocolate Bunnies!

Happy Thursday!! You know what that means!!?! Tomorrow...is Friday!! Wooohooo! I have been on a new schedule adding in Hip Hop classes and Soccer and possibly swim team, all starting this past week for the Girls! They have something everyday but Friday!!! Why is it always so hard adjusting to new schedules? Crazy I tell you!!!

I have been busy in the craft shack as well... P K Glitz asked me if they could feature me on their blog and I said...Yes, Please!! That meant making some crafty goodness with some of their yummy glitter...{Okay!} Since Easter is coming I needed to start on some treats....

Bunny Love!! I used a couple of PTI stamps to make the tags and after coloring with Copics, I glittered around the tag as well as the bunnies adorable little heart tails! These make such a fun little treat! Who doesn't love a chocolate bunny?? YUM!!!

I have a request in for cereal/marshmallow treats for Easter. So I'll be making some of those soon. I made Lucky Charm treats for St. Patricks day and honestly, I just don't think anything can top those! Have you ever made them with Lucky Charms? I'm not kidding...they are the best treats, Ever!!! I was having trouble not eating them all! Seriously....so I'm not sure I can top those!

If you want to take a peek at what else I made this week, you can hop over to the P K Glitz blog and read the feature! Too Fun!!

Thanks for stopping by today! I love that you did!

A Ray of Sunshine....

....is peeking thru my window. Its been raining here....everyday. Its cold and dreary and I haven't crafted very much...I come in here and pretend I'm going to create something really great and than its too dark and cold and well...a movie and snuggle time seem so much better...

I've been thinking about re-painting my office, looking at paint chips to decide a pretty color {I'm inclined to paint teal!}....I couldn't throw away the paint strips which did not make the cut....so I started making some fun tags out of them....when they are finished I will show you...but here's a sneek peek...

What are your plans for this weekend? Top of my list is to clean my office which has seriously been neglected this week and I rented Skyline, The Tourist and How Do you Know? for some rain cocooning. Off to make some homemade chili for tonight. Warms on the inside and out!!
Hope its sunny where you are!
Have a great weekend!

A Blessing and A Little Help, Please...

It's hard to do a post with something so light and fun as St. Patricks Day and something so tragic as the tsunami in Japan but today, is the day for both.

I didn't make any little treats to send in with the Kids today, they didn't seem to mind though and the little crazy leprechaun stopped by sometime in the night and left fun clothes to wear,{so no pinches today!}. He turned the milk green too and left a box of Lucky Charms and marshmallows to make some after school treats with. I'm making the traditional corned beef and cabbage but this year I'm also adding in some yummy Irish beef hand pies...Yum!!!! What are you doing? The traditional dinner? Pub Crawling...looking for that elusive green beer? Searching for Unicorns? Anything?

When we sit down to eat our traditional St.Patricks Day fare, we will remember how blessed and lucky we truly are. We will also say a prayer for the people affected by the tsunami in Japan.



Since my heart goes out to all those affected by this horrible tsunami, tomorrow, I will join many other bloggers in...Bloggers Day of Silence...The aim: to raise awareness and acknowledgement of the devastation going on in Japan. If you have a blog....consider joining in. You can also help by donating. You can donate here or choose any other relief organization aimed at helping those who are in need right now. I've said it before when it comes to donating...any little bit helps...donating doesn't have to hurt you....give what you can, what you are comfortable with....be it your time, money, energy....or in this case, even your silence. For more information...you can click here.

If you got thru this long post and can help in anyway...Yay and Thanks!!!

I'm off now...to the store to pick up some stuff for tonight....I hope you have some green on!!

and until next time...

May you have all the happiness...
and luck that life can hold...
and at the end of all your rainbows...
may you find a pot of gold!!

Have a Lucky kind of day!!

Hearts and Butterflies....

Oh paper scraps, you've turned into something so much better than you were before.....

I haven't crafted much lately....cleaning a bit. Laundry. Bills. Trying to get more organized is a lot harder than I thought it would ever be. I think I'm a slight hoarder. Not the kind that needs an intervention and a camera crew, kinda hoarder, but never the less, the kind that needs to stop "needing" so many craft supplies....my office is over-run, bursting with fabulous touchables and bags of happy goodness just waiting patiently to get used in the next perfect project that I just "have" to try. I'm determined to find my follow-thru. Determined to have a studio and a home that screams "Create" and not "cleanup" and so some things will turn into other things....
like a beautiful Caterpillar....

In an effort to organize, reduce, recycle and reuse...my little Hannah and I punched and punched and punched out little hearts, butterflies and circles this weekend...all from a humongous bag of scrapbook paper scraps. Scraps I save from every project ever made. Overflowing. Overtaking. Its was quite the mess but now it is much less. Just looking at this huge pile of butterflies makes me feel happy. Beautiful little butterflies. I've already used a few of them on sweet packaging for my etsy store ...

The bag of scraps is much smaller and can close now, a small feat in itself!! I'm thinking this is a perfect way to just use small scraps. If I punch them out right away...I'll always have some pretty butterflies to work with and I can throw away the punched out little scrap!!

Do you save all your scraps??? How do you store them?? What do you do with them?? Lets talk about scrap paper organization, share your great ideas!!

Pom Pom {Love}

I don't know what it is about pom poms that I love so much but I do...they are so fun to make....even the Kids have been making some...adorable little pom poms bracelets...So sweet!!! I'm working on some garlands...pom pom garlands of love....{giggle}.

Besides making the pom poms, I haven't crafted much. It was a busy week though. To Do lists really do help!! Honey and I took the Girls to a Japanese "Dollar" store near the City this weekend. I was in Bento heaven there!! I bought a bunch of super cute things to make the Girls lunches happy, happy, happy. Today, Hannah's lunch had a boiled egg molded into the shape of a heart in it!!! I'm thinking you can't be having a bad day when you open your lunch box and there is a egg in the shape of a heart in there!!!! Along with the Bento items, I also found some adorable crafting things, pretty masking tape...the package says "Let's enjoy decorating!" Okay I say!!! Button makers and more. We also bought a couple of bags of candy called Hi-Chew. Have you ever tried it? Oh my goodness, they are delish!!! I think it might be my new favorite candy!!!! I also found a little garbage can with colorful mushrooms on it!! It had to come home with me! The Girls picked out some little bags and hair accessories, along with re-usable lunch bags...loved it in there!! A lot of fun! When the Bento supplies are down we will definitely be going back there!!!
Honey played hookie from work yesterday and we lounged around all day, watching movies, a nice way for us to start the week!!
Hopefully, I'll be more productive this week....what are your big plans???
As my Brother would say.....
Until next time, Keep living the Dream.....

Yeeehaw!!!

Yeehaw! I don't really ever say that word, I just felt like it today! Lets say it again for fun....Yeeeeeeehaw!

That's how I'm feeling. Like I accomplished something, even if no one likes it or even takes notice. I set out to list something new and interesting in my etsy shop by this weekend. I did. New goals are good.

I want to make more goals. I want too because it makes me feel good when I reach them, no matter how little or big they are. So I'm going to make more goals and I hope to be able to reach them.

Since I didn't get an opportunity to even think about this years goals at the beginning of the year, I'm thinking about them now! I'm not behind though....I'm right on time.

Setting goals can sometimes be overwhelming. Reaching them can even seem even more troublesome and sometimes when I miss a goal "deadline", I just about give up. I'm just starting to realize how important goals are to succeeding at anything. Both daily and future goals, I definitely need more. I've just been sailing around....I want a more focused, happy, loving life. With less clutter and stress and more relaxation and fun.

I'm going to be using this "Smart" mnemonic, I found online, for setting my goals from now on...
•S - Specific
•M - Measurable (or Meaningful).
•A - Attainable (Action-Oriented).
•R - Relevant
•T - Timing

Who knows what will happen but I do know it will start with simple daily lists of things I want to accomplish each and every day. The inevitable TO DO list and guess what....even though today's post took a completely different direction than I had intended....I'll check "Blog Post on Etsy Update" off today's TO DO list....Yeeeehaw!!!
Did you set goals this year? How are they coming along?
I'm off now....to clean up my office....a tornado of fabric bits came thru...and its also on today's TO DO List!! =:0)
TTFN

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Weekend Wrap Up Party

Pocket Full of Posies.....

Still working on some really cute fabric flower posies....the perfect embellishment...for so many things...

as a matter of fact, its pretty much all I've been doing these last couple of days....making yo-yos, cutting out flowers, sewing and glittering up some small clothes pins too because nothing can be bad when you're making things sparkle....

A few sets of flowers are going into the shop this weekend...I hope you'll like them, they were fun to make.
The weather is suppose to be turning SuPeR cold here...even a chance of SnOw, which I seriously doubt but would LoVe to see!!!! Its 47 degrees right now, down from today so it might be getting a tad bit chilly! I stocked up on soup so the Kids could warm up after school tomorrow and over the weekend. My little doggies will probably not want to go out at all they are such little babies! Hope wherever you are, you're staying warm....
Until next time,

Dragonfly....

This card is heading off to a friend who recently lost her Brother, to let her know I'm definitely thinking of her. I've decided I just hate making sympathy cards though. Not that I hate making cards for people, I like that, I just dislike making ones that mean someone special has died. Why is death so hard? Writing this blog post made me cry. Lately, I sometimes cry out of the blue without warning. Just a burst of emotions, triggered over something simple.
{Sigh}I miss my Mum.

I had never heard of this story before but someone read it at my Mum's memorial and I thought I'd share...It's called:
Dragonfly
Once, in a little pond, in the muddy water under the lily pads, there lived a little water beetle in a community of water beetles. They lived a simple and comfortable life in the pond with few disturbances and interruptions. Once in a while, sadness would come to the community when one of their fellow beetles would climb the stem of a lily pad and would never be seen again. They knew when this happened; their friend was dead, gone forever.

Then, one day, one little water beetle felt an irresistible urge to climb up that stem. However, he was determined that he would not leave forever. He would come back and tell his friends what he had found at the top. When he reached the top and climbed out of the water onto the surface of the lily pad, he was so tired, and the sun felt so warm, that he decided he must take a nap. As he slept, his body changed and when he woke up, he had turned into a beautiful blue-tailed dragonfly with broad wings and a slender body designed for flying.

So, fly he did! And, as he soared he saw the beauty of a whole new world and a far superior way of life to what he had never known existed. Then he remembered his beetle friends and how they were thinking by now he was dead. He wanted to go back to tell them, and explain to them that he was now more alive than he had ever been before. His life had been fulfilled rather than ended. But, his new body would not go down into the water. He could not get back to tell his friends the good news. Then he understood that their time would come, when they, too, would know what he now knew. So, he raised his wings and flew off into his joyous new life!
{Author Unknown}
Beautiful huh? and yeah...I know my card has a butterfly on it and not a dragonfly...but they are kind of alike...right?!
Until next time....

Happy {Heart} Day!!!

What is the story of St. Valentine's Day? Does anybody really know? The Catholic Church recognizes three Saints with "Valentine" or "Valentinus" in their names. It was thought that Valentine was a priest who continued to perform marriages even after Roman Emperor Claudius II had banned them for he thought single men made much better soldiers. Another story suggest that either the same Valentine or another man, while imprisoned, fell in love with the jailers daughter and wrote a love letter to her signing it "Your Valentine". Some believe Valentines is something different altogether and feel it is quite literally...for the birds. A time when love birds choose their mates!
I think Valentines is a day where you give an extra hug or two to the people you love. Its a reminder to not forget to say I love you. You're special to me. That includes friends, neighbors and you too!!

{Photo: My Daughter's Valentines to her Classmates}

Whatever you believe about Valentines and however you celebrate it....I'm "Hoppy" you stopped by and I hope your day is filled with happiness and joy!!

Pocket Full of Yummies!!

Last week, I received from Peppermint Plum, these very red and see thru envelopes that just screamed "Make me into a Valentine, Please"...so tonight I did..

I sometimes find it hard to work with see thru envelopes but these ones just knew what they wanted to be, so it was easy. I placed a round doilies inside the envelopes and then added a couple of matching wrapped up Ghirardelli squares. {Which are always a fun and tasty little treat!}

I added a heart doilies on the outside with a card stock valentine from daisyd's and matching ribbon. The look gets completed with a fun button and a happy Martha Stewart felt heart {love}.

I truly love Valentines. Not the commercialization of it {I think ALL valentines should be somewhat homemade!} I just love that we are celebrating love. I like sending special valentines with the Kids to share at school and love to see what kinds of valentines they have in their bag when they come home. I like mailing off a few freshly made valentines to Friends and Family too. Its like sending a little hug to people in your life who you just care about! What do you like about Valentines? Do you have any special traditions? I would love to hear about them.

I'll be working on the Kids classroom treats next. I think I've decided on "You Make me Hoppy"! Can you tell the theme? =:o)
I'm hopping off...have a great night!

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Get Your Craft On

A Cutie Pie, Hair Yo-Yo, Valentine!!

Since it was my turn for homework help at the Church and the Girls have choir first, I grabbed some of my crafting supplies and had some quiet time to make some yo-yos before the Kids came into to work. I had been wanting to make some hair clips for a while now and while sitting here today..trying desperately to focus, only on crafting and not what is going on in my "real" life, I started thinking about Valentines and while looking at the happy finished yo-yos, I thought how fun would it be to give a hair bow as valentine! {of course with my sweet tooth, there always has to be a little sweet treat too!} I decided on these....

A yummy little stick of cinnamon red hots with a tag, attached with a glittered clip..and on the tag...a cutie pie hair yo-yo...how cute is that?! I covered the scary stitching with a cute little felt heart! {Magic!}

I think I'm getting a seasonal cold. I've started sneezing {a thousand times} and my eyes feel tired and watery. I'm sleepy too!! I think I'll go try to be horizontal for a minute or two...maybe I can talk the Girls into snuggle time and really hear about their day!!
Thank you for stopping by, I love that you did!
Hugs,

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