Because I Said

Welcome to my Neighborhood!

It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood,
A beautiful day for a neighbor,
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?

 

I'm so excited to share this with you!  I am heading to Cali again next week!  My home away from home!  I'm thinking I need to invest in a beach house!  Hmmm wonder what hubby would think of that???

So with my trip there I am very excited that I will be teaching at Scrapbook Oasis.  I can't wait to see all my Cali friends and hopefully meet more of you!  I will be bringing my little neighborhood with me to share.  It's been a very fun project to put together!  We will be creating 3 houses, a tree, and a sweet petite pedestal for your neighborhood to live on!  I had a blast creating these pieces out of wood and am so excited to be adding these to my line of wood shapes!

For my local gals I don't have anything on the calendar yet here for this class, but I am making sure to have extra kits.  I will post more details about them or a class after I'm back from Cali. 

So I hope to see some of you there so we can play and create your sweet petite neighborhoods!

 So let's make the most of this beautiful day,
Since we're together, we might as well say,
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
Won't you be my neighbor ?

For Today...July 7, 2009

 

Find out more here.

Outside my window... The rooftops and slightly breezy.  Although I know it's hot out there!

I am thinking... I am attacking this to do list with full force!

I am thankful for... the a/c unit that is working downstairs! Our upstairs unit went out over the weekend. :(

From the kitchen... bbq last night and i have clean and shiny sink!

I am wearing... workout clothes and my jag hat.

I am creating... a fun project that i can't wait to have finished!

I am praying... that my nephew will be okay!

I am going... put packages together for the post office!

I am reading...nothing other then a few scriptures here and there and my emails :)

I am hoping...Kam gets his boot off tomorrow and can return to football!

I am hearing...rock music from the playstation, the fan, and the boys chatting.

Around the house...Aliya's new toys from her bday clean living room and chaos upstairs in the craft area!

One of my favorite things...My morning walks and gab session.

A few plans for the rest of the week...pick up supplies for a class, blog again, finish a few projects, eat lots of fruit, drink lots of water, taxi, taxi, and more taxi-ing!

A picture to share...Aliya's bday was on Sunday so we had family over last night for a party.

 

Check back as I'm hoping to post news about an upcoming class on my blog later on! So excited about this and the class!  It was so much fun to create!  I can't wait to share it!

Bumps in the Road

 

Now wouldn't it be nice if once in awhile in life we were warned about the bumps we were going to approach?

Well this past several weeks I have encountered a few of those darn bumps.  Not huge ones or major ones, but speed bumps none the less.  Bumps that make you slow down a bit.  Of course sometimes these are needed so we take a look at what is really important to us!  I am grateful for the things that have helped me to slow down a bit and enjoy the things that have been right in front of me. 

So the other side of that coin means that it has slowed down my production with anything business related.  I suppose that might be what summer is for???  I've been busy trying to get caught up a bit and working on some fun projects!  Just wanted to say thanks to all of you that have been so patient with me thru these slower roads!  I know my Etsy shop has taken a back seat and so have my classes.  Well those are the things that I have been working on in between the little bumps.

 

So I thought I would share a peek at what I have been working on this week.  This is for a class that is coming up very soon!  So this is a photo taken midway thru the project.  I will have new photos up Friday to share with you!  I am so loving this project and it's been so much fun to create!  It's been worth the wait as I've been slowly traveling down this bumpy, windy road of mine!

Thanks again for stopping by and all the sweet emails about the wood shapes!  Hoping to have some stuff in the shop soon!  Including these cute little pedestals and the whole class project. 

 

For Today...June 29, 2009

 

Find out more here!

 

Outside my window... darkness!

I am thinking... i am so tired...i really should be in bed!

I am thankful for... a wonderful hubby that supports my insanity!

From the kitchen... really wasn't in it today...subway for dinner.

I am wearing... p.j.'s

I am creating... a long list of things to do. of course right now it's only in my mind.

I am praying...i will have the motivation tomorrow to get lots done.

I am going... to bed when i'm done!

I am reading...not much past the computer screen this week.

I am hoping...it is a nice cool day tomorrow!  well one can hope right!

I am hearing...hubby in and out of the garage and the backyard with both tv's on.

Around the house...lots of unfinished projects.

One of my favorite things...The hug and I love you that I got from my son!

A few plans for the rest of the week...finish up classes, laundry, grocery shopping, call the a/c guy, nephew's bday party, lots of fun with family, and visiting with my sis that will be here from out of town!

A picture to share...random shot of the sky earlier.

H-2-O

Now this stuff we call water is a pretty important thing!  Especially to these little guys!

 

Just about a week ago Aliya and I planted some seeds.  I was pretty diligent about making sure they were getting water several times a day.  Then I got home late today and realized that I had completely forgotten about them yesterday and today!  Oh no!

 

I quickly went outside hoping that the ground wasn't too dry!  I was so surprised when I found several little sprouts.  I of course went and got Aliya to come and see what we had growing!

 

These middle 2 photos are of some purple beans that we thought we should try!

 

Oh I guess this photo is also the purple beans.  If you look you can see another just coming through the ground to the left of this one.  I didn't notice it until I was editing the photos.  The first photo is the start of some sunflowers.  We have a few other things that haven't sprouted yet, including the pumpkins!  Yep I did say pumpkins!  I found somewhere that if you plant them by June 15th they will be ready for Halloween.  We were a tad late, but I think it will still work!

Lots of fun and shopping today, however I forgot my camera, but will photograph some of my finds and share them soon!

Quickly!

Yep I'm just going to post this one quickly!  I'm trying to be better at posting on a regular basis so I thought I would just share a few photos of what we have been up to.

 

This past weekend I was able to teach a class for a church project.  There were 120 8-10 yr. old girls! Of course we rotated it 4 times. It was so much fun to hang out and see all the creative things they came up with.  The base of it is one of my wood shapes.  The idea behind it was every time they did something kind for someone at home they could add a heart to the nail.  The next day they would start over.  The girls really seemed to enjoy the project and all did so well with it!

 

So yesterday Aliya played outside in the water and had so much fun that we stopped at Target and picked up a Slip-n-Slide.  Of course Kels thought Aliya needed lessons.

 

 

 

 

They had so much fun playing on this today.  Our neighbors have triplets and they even came over and joined in on the fun!  As I look at these photos it makes me sad since this is the first year we've let our grass die out for the summer! :(  Of course it makes it easier to say yes to the slip-n-slide!

For Today...June 23, 2009

So I know I'm a day late on this as I have been reading a few of them out there in blog-land, but I wanted to post it today anyways rather then waiting until next week to start.

 

You can find out more info here.

Outside my window... slight breeze in the air and lots of clouds. Hoping for a storm!

I am thinking... how do I get everything done that I need to???

I am thankful for... no fighting among the girls today.  Absolutely wonderful!

From the kitchen... well it's fairly clean and no clue what we are having for dinner and it's 7:15. I know crazy and maybe lazy!

I am wearing... sweats, t-shirt, no shoes

I am creating... a mess

I am praying...for Kels as she isn't feeling her best again. :(

I am going... to clean up my mess by the end of the evening!

I am reading...just started "Shelter from the Storm" last one in a series of 4.

I am hoping...I can get a few more things crossed off my to do list tonight!

I am hearing...tv from downstairs, and radio from the teens room

Around the house...lots of piles of things going on.  Loving the boxcar that is being worked on today!

One of my favorite things...The random hugs and kisses throughout the day from Aliya just because!

A few plans for the rest of the week...creating 2 upcoming classes, mail out orders, go to the library with the girls, dr's appts, down time with the family, and probably some competitive games of boggle!

A picture to share...Aliya and her box car!

 

If all goes well I will share some creative projects and more tomorrow! Have a good one!

 

Fun Filled Weekend

It's been a super busy but fun weekend over here!  We've been finishing up the dance year for both of the girls and they had dress rehearsal and the performance on Saturday.  Of course I had a class that I was doing for church on Saturday morning so dad was able to take the girls to rehearsal.  I will show you a photo of the project I did later.  Of course there were costume issues with Kels and it just wasn't looking right.  So before the performance I was busy doing a bit of altering for her.  Then we had fun with the hair and makeup!

 

Of course since it was a busy day on the way to the performance miss eea-beea fell asleep in the car!

 

We ran into some traffic from an accident on the way so I didn't have time to take the photos ahead of time.  I was able to snap this photo of Kels while she was doing last minute touch ups on her hair.

 

The girls were both happy with their performances and did such a wonderful job!  We found out that the place they had the show holds 1600 people and was sold out.  Aliya said her favorite thing about dance is being up on dance!

 

We are so proud of both of these girls and what a wonderful job they did in dance!  They both love doing it and it really shows!  Plus Kels got some good news.  She tried out for Company dance was so excited to find out that she made it.  Of course I think she was even more excited to find out that they are going to Hawaii this next year!  Love you girls and am so proud of you and all that you do!

 

So with Fathers Day yesterday the girls both wanted to make breakfast.  One of his favorite snacks is bananas and peanut butter.  So Aliya came up with her own little concoction for him.

 

Kels was in charge of the oj and a few other things.

 

So this is Aliya's tower of doughnuts surrounded with the sliced bananas, peanut butter, and choc. chips!

 

The girls posed really quick before they headed up with the breakfast.  I love this photo and Aliya's smile just puts one on my face!

It was a wonderful day spent with hubby and then later on with my dad.  I'm grateful for the time we had to hang out as a family and enjoy ourselves it was a perfect ending to a busy and fun weekend!

Sharing Creative Projects

 

Come join us on Friday night at Mystic Paper for some altering and creative fun!

Bring any projects that you want to work on or come and play with some of our goodies.  I will be bringing some things to share for a small collage project.  I will have these little houses to use as a base for your collage.

 

I will also be bringing some vintage fabric.

 

lots of fun buttons from my stash

 

and some odds and ends of trims and lace.  I will be showing you a few basic embroidery stitches.  We can piece together some fun little collages that will make fun little gifts for a thank you, a get well, a happy birthday or a just because!  Mike will also be bringing goodies to share from his stash.  The word is there will be some beeswax.  Wondering if we can blend our two styles into something fun!?  Do you think we can get Mike to use a needle and thread?  Maybe we should challenge him???

So come and join us on Friday from 6-9 for some creative fun.  Bring your unfinished projects, some fun odds and ends of fabric, trims, misc goodies that you don't know what to do with and you can work them into your mini collage or trade them with someone else there.  Give Mystic a call and add your name to the list!  Another fun addition to this Friday evening Fun is that it will be at no charge to you.  Come join us in this fun and work on some projects and meet others that have the same interests.  I know it will be a lot of fun!

Another creative project I wanted to share with you can be found on Amy Powers blog.  She attended Kim's last event as a teacher with a wonderful class.  She was also joined in on one of the fun swaps for the event.  She was paired up with Jenny Morgan (still no blog :( )  The swap was to alter a supply box and fill it up with fun goodies.  Jenny emailed me and had me cut some wood pieces for her to use on the top of the box that she was making for Amy.  She also used one of the wood trees that I had cut.  She altered them in a cute and fun style for Amy's box.

 

I wanted to share them with you some ideas on how to use some of my wood cut outs.  The box turned out super cute and was so much fun to see Amy's surprise!  Amy did a super cute shabby chic box for Jenny in beautiful shabby colors!  For some more creative fun check out Amy's new Etsy shop with her wonderful world of minis. 

 I always love to see how the wood pieces are used in projects and it's always so fun and exciting to see fun new twists on them.  There have been a few other ladies that have recently used some of my wood shapes with some super cute projects!  I will be posting about those as well.  I think it's fun to see what others do with them.

Hoping you all have a creative and fun day!

Catching Up...In List Form

Well I have been around a small amount on my facebook, but haven't posted for awhile on my blog.  So I thought I would post it in list form to just simplify it.  I'm hoping this will get me back on track and posting on a regular basis again!  I miss being around here!

So here is a list of several of the things that have kept us busy.  Some happy, some sad, some hard and some exciting.  I guess that is how life runs it's course though.  It's just a lot harder when the sad and hard stuff comes along!

*Kelsey was extremely sick for a week before the end of school

*Appointment with the ENT

*Kameron injured his foot in his football class playing basketball - severely torn ligaments

*A sweet friend of mine (wonderful mom, sister, and wife) passed away

*Spring football - partial since foot was injured on the day of the game

*Finals, Finals, and more Finals!

*School finished up for the older kids

  *Jr. High promotion for Kels

*Jr. High promotion for my brother who was also salutatorian

*Holiday and a few more days of school for Aliya

*Cat-scan for Kelsey

*Physical therapy for Kam 3x a week

*Summer school

*One of our dogs got out and was gone for 6 days :(

*Aliya was extremely happy when JoJo came back home.  She was in tears

*Revamped patterns for my wood pieces

*Lots of paperwork

*Prepping for going out of town

*Spent a long weekend in Cali at a wonderful event!

These have been just some of the comings and going around here.  I'm so grateful to such wonderful friends and family for always being there!  I'm also grateful that it's a new month and we are on our way to making it a great one!  So much planned and things are going well.

I had some time this weekend to be in Cali at Kim's wonderful event! Sadly I have not 1 photo to show for it! :(  However I do have many, many wonderful memories from the weekend that will last me a lifetime.  This is one of the reasons I love these events!  The ladies there are so wonderful and Kim is the hostess with the mostess! :)  She goes above and beyond what you would imagine.  It's just wonderful to be apart of it.  I know if you hop around in blogland you will find some of the wonderful photos of the weekend!  It's sad to be gone from all the beauty and creativity, but good to be home to get a jump on the next set of things!  Hopefully I will have more for you very soon!