Happy Belated New Year!

Well, it's been a crazy, busy past couple of months! Once again, I found myself putting my blog on the backburner for football games, Boy Scouts, Christmas concerts, cookie baking, etc. But hopefully, I can get back on track and do a better job!

I haven't really pushed myself to create a whole lot lately. There has been so much stuff going on that there are times that I come home from work and just want to pass out on the couch. I am sure you know what I am talking about, right? But in any case, that doesn't mean that I don't have ideas and haven't thought of stuff that I DO want to create!

A friend of mine recently asked me to design some belated Christmas cards. It's really a great idea as so many of us have been so crazy busy that getting those holiday cards out in time seemed to be low on the list of priorities this last year. And it's not because we didn't want to get them out, just that Christmas snuck up on us way too fast! So, a night of playing, I came up with a fun, punchy design.

I am working on getting a few more seasonal designs done for Valentine's Day and also St. Patty's Day. I'll post when I have more to share! Hope you all are having the start of a wonderful day, a wonderful week!

Baby Devin

Here are a few birth announcements that I have been working on for this adorable little guy named Devin Dean. I got to meet him last week and what a little sweety! I had a lot of fun working on these announcements but I honestly don't know which one I like best. His mom gets to have the fun of deciding! But I thought I would post on here to share!

Michelle Romo: Crowded Teeth

Okay- so I saw this posted by HOW magazine on twitter but I couldn't resist to share on my blog! I am in love with these bags and accessories by Michelle Romo of Crowded Teeth blog (and check out her 1 project a day 1 year....very cool stuff!) They will be available, along with many other goodies, at Loungefly in Spring 2010. I know I am not alone when I say "I want one!" (or many!!!) Mark your calendars, people!!!

My Bedroom of Dreams...

It is by happy chance that I stumbled accidentally upon Shawn Lovell's site this morning and totally fell in love with her work. She works with metal creating functional pieces of art that are just absolutely gorgeous! So for the time wandering her site, looking at her portfolio, I escaped reality for a moment and imagined my bedroom at home being finished and furnished by some of her fine work. Taking a nap right now sounds absolutely blissful. After a late night working on a project, I definitely could use a few more hours of rest. But how sweet my dreams would be to sleep on that whimsical tree bed...I want it so badly.


Paired with the bed, I think that the bird chandelier would also look awesome.


And I know that it's a wine room door, but I was thinking how beautiful this would look if it could be designed as french doors that enter into my bedroom. It just completes the picture in my head.


Natural colors with jewel-colored accents...I'd be in heaven! If I am sleeping, please don't wake me. I'm loving this dream I am in.....

Sending HOPE In The Cards

(cardstore.com)

I don't know what I was doing, why today is the first day I have heard of this but I think it's too cool not to share with others! This is the Week of Hope, from Sept. 1st-7th. I heard about this awesome site that is all about sending HOPE called Hope Is In The Cards. It's about encouraging people to send out handwritten letters or cards, offering messages of HOPE. And actually, there are a lot of retailers out there (find one near you!) that are supporting this cause, offering free postage. And if that isn't awesome enough, Cardstore.com is also offering a special promotion until Sept. 8th that allows you to send a personalized card to someone FREE. How can you beat that?!

And you know, in these dark times that so many have had to face, it's hard to have hope and see that light at the end of the tunnel. And when you are faced with things like trying to figure out where to come up with the money to pay the mortgage payment, buy food so that your family can eat, have utilities so that you can have things like a running fridge, showers, lights and heat...it can be tough to find optimism and keep faith. When I have on my own worry hat, it's hard to think about anything else. So I think it's so important to share with others how much they mean to you, how important they are, share with them the things that you see in them that make them shine!

For more inspirational ideas for doing NICE everyday, please check out OperationNICE! Give some HOPE everyday!

home, paper, scissors

Yesterday, I received a copy of home, paper, scissors by designer friend, Patricia Zapata, and I am telling you...I am blown away! I was on my lunch break from work and could not put the book down. I was hypnotized from front to back, amazed at all the great, fun projects that are tucked within. It actually made me think how fun it would be to play hookie from work for the rest of the day so that I could have a secret love affair with a paper craft project!

Patricia not only provides a lot of great paper craft ideas but gives good instruction on how to complete them, including supplies needed and approximate time it takes to complete them. Another thing that Patricia included, that I really do appreciate, is a description of different papers. It's very informative to those that are not only a novice to paper crafting but even a helpful guide to those who aren't.

And if you are budget conscious, these are actually really affordable crafts to make for gifts. I know of a couple of events coming up where some of these ideas could really be fun and cost effective to make. And Christmas will be here before we know it!

Please check out Patricia's blogs: A Little Hut and Crafty Synergy. She offers more fun and inspirational projects. You can also find out more about her and home, paper, scissors there as well.

You can also purchase home, paper, scissors at Random House, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Borders.

An Invitation a 15 year old Might Approve of...

My oldest son is turning 15 in a few weeks. It doesn't seem possible at all. Where did that time go? Seriously. He's now at the age where looking cool and impressing people seems like an important aspect of his life. He's now officially in high school and a football player. So he's automatically grandfathered into a cool club he thinks. LOL Oh if only it were that easy...

Anyhow- I have been horrible about keeping up on this blog, posting consistently. I have also been a slacker of the creative realm. Doesn't mean my creative brain isn't going non-stop. Just that I haven't made time for myself to develop some of those cool ideas into something more tangible. Such a shame. Such a waste. However, I am wanting to improve upon that. I need to.

I was feeling as though I needed to work on something just to jumpstart things again. Or try. Other than some doodle-cards I need to work on for an exchange I signed up for, I really didn't have anything else to work on. Well, let me rephrase that...I had stuff to work on, but just haven't. That's sort of a long story that I'll work out for later. But anyhow- I was thinking about any birthdays or holidays coming up very very soon that would call for a quick and fun invite or greeting and realized that my son's birthday is coming up....We're not doing anything major this year. Just going to get some pizzas, have cake and ice cream and that sort of thing. Really laid back. But still, I figured that it would be a good excuse to come up with something, right?! Why not? So I had fun playing with type and whipped up something that a 15 year old would approve of. (And believe me, if he didn't like them, he'd let me know! LOL)