Poppy in the winter

 

I love this stamp from Penny Black, the image was colored with copics. The butterflies are from Memory box, and the ribbon is from PTI.

I can hardly believe it is the last day of January, I am just finishing up year-end reports, and getting all all our stuff together for tax time. It amazes me how quickly time goes by. We have been experiencing unusually mild weather here, tomorrow it is suppose to be in the 70’s. I am looking forward to taking the two little ones outside and enjoying the weather. Pixie love being outside and wants to be let free to explore.  She still is learning her balance so she mostly has to view the outside from our arms or her stroller.  February will be a fun month, I love Valentines Day, then my Oldest will turn 9 on the 16th.  My in-laws are buying a vacation home here and we will be helping them set up the new place the week of Owen’s birthday. Owen and Wyatt are super excited since the place is by the river and the best thing about it is it has concrete! This is very exciting to the boys since, where we live there is only dirt roads, so skateboards, scooters, and all kinds of other fun (dangerous) toys. So first on my list is to outfit my boys with some safety equipment!

Have a wonderful day and thank you for stopping by! 

A step toward my resolution…

At the beginning of the year I decided I wanted to work on my art. I love making cards and different papercrafts but I would love to become more confident with my work. This is a difficult thing as I spent a lot of my time entering challenge after challenge with not much success. There are so many talented crafters out there, so the competition is steep. I would love one day to be on a design team and recognized in publications for my work. It becomes discouraging week after week come up empty on these challenges and for me has really thrown my creative side off.  For those who enter and say they don’t care about winning, I find that hard to believe. If that were the case then why would you bother entering? Do you buy a lottery ticket because you felt like throwing a dollar away? No, even though you know the chances are slim, you wanted to win. Beyond winning, it’s so wonderful to be recognized for your work, and I want to get there!

I found a wonderful online class opportunity by Joanne Sharpe here and decided this would be fun! I love her style and am looking forward to learning some new techniques. I have always disliked my handwriting, and am hoping this changes how I look at it.  Can’t wait to start and post my progress here!

Card uses all Hero art stamps, colored with copics, distressed edges.

Looking forward to a wonderful weekend, Pixie is better, slept all night last night! Can’t wait to start seeing all the peeks of the new products at CHA! So far I am very excited about the Ranger distressed markers, I can’t wait to have these! I love the distress inks and these will open up some much possibility! Have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by.

Sick day :(

Card uses the new floral background from Hero Arts. The Floral pot is from Outlines, used distressed stains to color the images.

Yesterday poor Pixie came down with a cold, Owen had one on Sunday, and now it has moved on to it’s next victim.  We were up all last night, the only times she was able to sleep where when I was holding her.  She has a fever and a very stuffy head, this morning she did eat some, and seems to feel a little better since she is no longer clinging to me. I feel terrible when they are sick, they don’t understand why they feel bad. The bright side is Owen blew through it very quickly and was better by Tuesday, so I am hoping Pixie springs back just as quick. Now I am off to pump up my vitamins intake, I do not want to be sick! Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

Lovely flower

 

I stamped the background a Impression Obsession stamp with lime pastel chalk ink. The edges were distressed and rubbed with tea dye. The Flower stamp is from Hero Arts, and colored with copics the edges also distressed with ink.

I am still experiencing terrible problems uploading on my blog and flickr as well. My computer is not even two years old, and besides this issue everything else works perfectly. I can only conclude that it is my internet service. One of the down sides of living out in the woods for sure. I usually can at least function with it, but now am finding it necessary to find wi-fi spot to update my programs.  I was hit with a $200 overage a few months back and still have not figured out what could have happened. The cell phone company who I use as my internet only credited me $50, not real helpful, so I have been extremely careful to not do much on the internet. It may help me get out of my creative rut though! I will be spending more time working on stuff. So I will post as I can, thanks so much for listening to my rant! Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Floral Panel

 

I love all of the beautiful cards I have seen using this background stamp. I was totally inspired when I saw Debbie's card, I love how soft the colors are all the beautiful details: the pearls, ribbon and butterflies. I stamped my card with white ink and embossed it on watercolor paper. I then used my very lonely distressed inks to add color to the stamped panel. I added dimension by stamping the larger flower again and using dimensional tape. I added extra color with a nib to certain areas after the first application dried. 

This week my little pixie is entering the new world of toddlerhood. She started taking steps the week after Christmas, but since then has really come a long way. I love watching her wide legged wobble with her whole body working toward the direction she is going. She is a determined little thing, and will try quite a few time to successfully make her way to where she was going. She even carries things with her, I caught her Saturday carrying a stool. She is a smart little one, taking her stool over to the dining room chairs. From there she was able to climb on the chair to get something she wanted from the table. I am sure you can imagine how busy she is keeping me now! LOL! It is truly a incredible thing to watch them figure out things. Have a wonderful beginning of the week, thank you for stopping by!

Monday’s Poppy Poem

 

Happy Monday everyone! This is one of my favorite stamps from Penny Black, Poppy Poem. It was stamped and colored with copics, the background paper is from Memory box, as well as the die cut on the side.

 

Hope everyone had a great weekend, Owen finally got to do some fishing with his Daddy and use his new fishing gear he got from Santa. He would stay out in the boat all day if we would let him. While Pixie napped this weekend, Wyatt and I spent some time in the office crafting and playing. It felt good to spend some time working on cards again. Pixie is starting to walk, she just turned 14 months which is when Owen started walking too! I wish I could keep them small forever, I love these milestones but they are bittersweet to me. We took the kids to eat at a favorite restaurant yesterday, and the owner is from China. He is so sweet to the kids there and he was telling us how in China they were allowed one child. They had a girl, and even though they would have loved more that was it for them. It really makes me appreciate that we live in a place where we are free to make our own choices. I can only pray that in the future our children have the same freedom we have enjoyed.

Have a wonderful day, thank you for visiting!

Happy New Year!

If anyone is checking I am still alive! It has been a crazy last few months with birthdays, holidays and family. I love the holidays, but I think I put such high expectations on what I want them to be that I stress myself out. I am relieved that now things can get back to somewhat normal (if that is possible) routine. Owen returned to school today and Wyatt, Pixie and I are trying to catch up on some chores we have been slacking on. The kids had a wonderful Christmas, we had my Mom visiting for Christmas and then my in-laws came down for a few days after that. The kids enjoyed having them all and it was nice to have some time to get last minute things done.

I have been thinking of a lot about goals I want to accomplish in 2012, and have decided to share them in hopes that I may meet some of them if I put them out there! So here is my list in no particular order:

1. To become better organized in my life, parenting, household and crafting.  I find things are so much easier when things are as they should be.

2. To eat healthier and cook more healthy meals for my family. We do a pretty good job of eating homecooked meals, but I want to do better.

3. To live more in the moments, treasure the time I have with my husband and children, as it slips by so quickly.

4. To make more time to create art, I have been dabbling in zentangles, and other forms of art journaling, and I want to do more of this. It is something I can do anywhere with very limited supplies.

5. To step up my card making, I want to become a better artist. I need to dedicate more time working on my cards, and other papercrafts.

6. For my blog: I want to post more projects, cards and increase my traffic. 

7. To do something with the thousands of photo I have stored on my computer. Realistically I know I will never scrapbook them, but putting them into an album online and printing just may be the best solution.

I have also seen where others chose one word for the new year: my is going to be patience, I am a high speed person, but I need to realize many are not and that has to be okay. Mostly because it doesn't bother them only me! LOL!

So these are my goals, if I can do even a few I will consider it a success! Now if I can get my blog to work with Internet explorer I will be a happy girl! It works fine in Mozilla, but posting photo's takes forever.  Wish me luck!