I Can Feel It!

Spring time is coming!  Time for spring cleaning!  whaa whaa.....

I've been piddling around lately and trying to work on arrangement of things.  We cleaned out the pantry, but I wanted to do some things to liven up the kitchen counters.  Since I'm not working, my budget is a big fat zero!  haha  but that shouldn't decide how I arrange things, right?

Here's my coffee pot spot - before ...and after.




What do you think?  I used the plate to cover the electrical outlet.  The little duck basket is cute so I filled it with the sweet-n-low. And finally, my daughter, Brooke, sold me this cute cheese board from her Pampered Chef business. 

Now for the other side of the stove.

I found another basket, this time with a metal base.  It didn't have the legs though, but I searched and found this riser under my cabinet.  I only use the riser once or twice a year, so now I've got it pulling more hours in the kitchen!  Clorox wipes aren't too attractive, so I moved a pitcher from the other side of the room.  You may not be able to see it, but it has a little bit of the blue like the knife block.

Sometimes it just takes a little extra care with what we have.  I may add a sign for the nail above the stove and I'm also considering a tiny lamp for the corner.  We recently repainted the entire house white (Mr. Amazing's favorite color), however, I really think I need a background stencil, tile or something for the background.  I'll think on it!


Well, I got that out of my system.  Now on to more scrubbing!  Happy spring, everyone! Wishing you a clean and very attractive home this year!  

Ornaments!

My all-time favorite thing to make is Christmas ornaments!  My love for making them started in the 1990's when I began exhibiting at craft shows.  My start was slow, but I shared a booth with friends so I could go at my own pace and still have plenty in the booth.  Slowly I found a niche with hand painted wood ornaments.  I quit showing around 1998, but never forgot how I loved making ornaments!  Later, I made them for the grand babies.  

Lately, I've been exploring all kinds of ornaments and actually began making and storing them for future craft shows and Etsy.  Here's my latest efforts. 

These can be used as Christmas ornaments or a valentine adornments. Of course, I found this one on Pinterest made by Virginia with Fynesdesigns.com.  She used her pastel colored hearts to go on a beautiful Valentine wreath. Go check her out!  She has some really cute DIY projects too!  

Hope you like these!  Happy Monday and have a fabulous week!

Having trouble getting motivated today. Did the dishes though...does that count for being creative?

Feather Creation

I saw one of these online, so I though I’d try it. I wonder where these would look good? This one is meant to be attached to a purse handle.

This is denim. I stitched the spine and then pulled threads. I used markers to paint the marks.

Here’s my second interpretation.  I messed one up and got a twisted mess, so I thought I’d ease up on the thread pulling.  I really think it was the spine and fabric grain that caused the issue.

I then found an old bracelet and the most Native American looking beads I could find.

Finished product! I hope I get faster and it becomes easier! What do you think? Do you think this would make a cute purse charm? 

Quick Five! Spring Fever

Well, looks like six more weeks of winter! But that's not gonna stop me from thinking about my favorite season, Spring!  

Here's what I found online today!

1.  Maureen Macioci with "Be Light" by Moe, creates these beautiful pinecone ornaments that can be found on Etsy. I love the colors and her eye for the details!

2.  Dulce Algeria, posted this lovely heart with pink flowers on Tumblr. So simple but charming.

3.  Rebecca Flott Arts, displays her beautiful painting skills on screens and can also be found on Etsy. At first I thought it was on chalk boards! You must go look at all of her creations!

4.  Lariat Matoshi from New York City sells her fabulous stocking and sock designs on Etsy! I love this fresh look!

5.  And finally, what would Spring be without some cleaning and organizing.  Nina Hendricks at NinaHendrick.com gives great organizing ideas or all of us!

I'm ready, are you?

 

A Look Back at 2017

"Always be humble and kind" by Lori McKenna is a concept easier to uphold when we remember our past. In taking a look back at 2017, I'm humbled by the events. Here's a look.

• Watched Mr. Mattox (age 3) until he started Pre-K.
• Started aiding my Mother with her baths.
• The little hooptie car broke down, luckily at the school parking lot. Found out later it had over five gallons of water in the tank...😔
• Bought my daughters car and helped her buy herself a new one!
• Lost my Brother, Andy Smith, to a pulmonary embolism on June 26. 😔
• Located a dreamy house on the Blue River.
• Struck a deal on the house and ten acres on the Blue River, four months after we located it.
• Went back to full-time at work.
• Moved out of the small rent house into the bigger rent house.😬
• Wrote a grant for work in two weeks. 😬
• Moved out of the country house into the bigger rent house, selecting items to sell along the way. 
• Coordinated a Feed-the-Children event in Tishomingo in two weeks, for work. 😬
• Began mortgage paperwork for the new place.😬
• Sold our house and almost everything in it, auction style!😬
• Took a smallish vacation with the Grandkids to Great Wolf Lodge.
• Celebrated Christmas with the family on Mr. Amazing's birthday.

When I started the list I thought at first there wasn't much to list. I was wrong...  it was a big year. Of course, there was a lot of sadness and stress and Mr. Amazing was there every step of the way. I'm truly grateful.

2018 Flu Epidemic

Hello Peeps,

I just want to take a moment to express a word of caution about the flu this year. If you have even one symptom of the flu, please go to the doctor. It's different this year...and deadly.

Last night my dear friend called me to pick her and her mother up because her grandmother just passed away after three days of the flu. Neither one can drive and no nearby relatives. We are all in shock. 

After hearing about it, I realized this sounded like what my brother went through last week, but caught it in time. They thought it was a heart attack, but turns out his heart is fine.  It was the lining around the heart that was extremely inflamed and squeezing his heart thus creating a heart attack.  They gave him great anti-inflammatory meds and said to take it easy for up to three months. 

I care about you, so take care and look after one another.

Best Time to Create

When is your best time to create?

For me, it's any time of day or night!  I'm moody, though. I mean... I have to be in the mood to create. Sometimes it hits in the middle of the night, but due to the sleeping people in my house I try to hold back at that time.  Morning is great, but I have things that have to be done at that time. Afternoon works fine, but I'm not my sharpest. Evening gets messy because of cooking and eating with family.

There's never really a perfect time to work on crafts, so right now I'm going with the flow!  Jennifer Allwod, at Themagicbrushinc.com, says "if you treat your creative like a hobbie, it will pay like a hobbie, but if you treat it like a business, it will pay you like a business."  For now, I'm in hobbie mode...slow.  I think I've just had too many adjustments in my life that I just want a little down time. Jennifer has an "inner circle" that people can join to learn about selling and marketing.  It sounds great, but I'm so not ready for that! Maybe later. 🙂

For now, I'm happy to follow my moods. What says you?

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Getting Organized

I ran across Bullet Journals on Pinterest this week.  I have to say, I'm attracted to the thought of it! 

Of course, organizing on paper is not a new idea.  I actually joined the “Flylady” movement in 2007.  She is super effective at getting people to establish habits and routines.  Her program comes with code words, acronyms, clever quotes, songs and a Control Center, to name a few!  You should look her up at flylady.com.   I created the Control Center book for my own and referred to it regularly...until life got going too fast again! I simply ran out of time once I went to work and it fizzled out around 2012. 

So, fast forward to 2018 and here we go again! I've decided to keep my old binder and cleaned the outside cover last night. I noticed the new Bullet Journals are done in journaling books, but I love having the ability to move my pages. 

Here are a few pages I made today--kind of crude, I know, but I hope the new pages help me to develop the structure I need here at home!

Quick Five! Sewing

Saweet! Love a great sewing project!  During the winter months, there's nothing better than putting a pot of soup on and start some super cute projects! 

1.  Find the PeacockEmporiumLady on Etsy To find some adorable makeup bags or large purses with option to personalise.  You can choose the of appliqué and color! 

2. Check out thestitchingscientist.com and see Remona's goodies!  Here's a little sample of her beautiful sewing skill!


3. Now this is a great gift idea! Who couldn't use a cute iPad stand! Robyn from dognamedbanjo on Etsy makes them. 

4. Oh, I have a new obsession! These needle books are so cute and a great purse item for emergencies. Designsbyterrigordon.blogspot.com has a tutorial.

5. Jessica Bark posted this one on Pinterest and it's a perfect accessory for all your cords! 

We'll, that's it for today. So glad to be back!

New Day

Here we go again! New year, new ideas! Well, not really any new ideas...so far. 

In 2014, I was struggling with the idea that I really wanted to do something to satisfy my creativity.  I reduced my hours for '16 and '17 for personal reasons (my Mom) and to try to open the door for something to happen to pursue my dreams. By September, the hubby and I went into negotiations for a house out on the Blue River.  It's a beautiful home with an open concept, lovely swimming pool and direct access to the river.  It wasn't in my "Dream Plan" (if there is such a thing), but it looked like a great idea.

We weighed it all out and went for it! The owner reduced the price by $100,000, so it must have been what God was leading us toward. We rushed and worked (hard) to sell our home and all our unnecessary junk. 

~It's all gone~

Then, after piles of paperwork, we were down to the last week...the week the appraisal came through...and it was $70,000 below the asking price. Wha wha....how could we live with ourselves knowing we paid that much over market price. The last nail in the coffin was the bank saying they couldn't loan us the money unless we sold a few body parts (not really),  but it was the equivalent!!!

We are now living in one of our rent houses. It was Jims house before we got married and is very nice. And without the "junk" cluttering it up, it's very comfortable. 

So what did God want? Hmmm, now we have the money to pay off all our debts. Freedom! It's a glorious gift from above.  He actually gave us the choice to break our necks for an expensive place that wasn't worth the money OR pay our debts giving us both immense relief from the stress!   Jim's Father has 40 acres in this county that has never had a house on it. We asked his Dad about it and he's ready to sign it over to us. 83 year young Dad, by the way, is relieved we will be near by. 

Oh....and I quit my job. I'm free to take care of my Mother with no worries and now I can go for the goals I laid out last year!!!

Here they are....again.

• Post 30 items to the local online auction each week.  My husband and I have created a little income this year from this little auction and it's easy peasy and it will provide an extra income to be applied in different areas - hopefully my business!
• Refurbish and post one piece of furniture each month. I am way new to this, but I think I can do it.  I want to start small and then challenge myself with bigger or better things each month.  Maybe I'll eventually post them to Craigslist or an online site in the city.
• Post 7 items per week to the Etsy store.  I just think it would be nice to have an item to represent each day of the year.  I probably won't work on it every day though.  Maybe on one day, and then post on another day.
• Post 10 items per week to bigger online sites.  If I can group those posts to a particular time and place, I can make one trip out to meet my customers and possibly , because it will be larger communities, get a better price for them.
• Repair the building we own in town.  My husband and I have a building in town that we used for a pawn shop before I started working.  We hope to repair it enough to store all our items.  It has a bad roof leak and old items from the pawn shop.  No plans on opening the doors, just want to use for a warehouse of sorts.
• Quit my part-time job.  Scary, right?  Yeah.  I've been thinking about it for at least two years!  I think this is the year though.  I make good money, but went from full-time to part-time to take care of my mother.  Well, it's really hard to leave town now to go to work, so I need to do things so I can stay close to her.  So this should explain the the other goals above.  I hope I make enough to be able to quit my job... 

Cancer Sucks

 

My friend is having a double mastectomy tomorrow morning. I'm so saddened.

I went through it in 2004 and it was not fun. It was scary. So much runs through your mind and there is absolutely no control over your own life. 

Reflecting on my experience with it, I wanted to do something meaningful for her and I remembered a little lady visiting me in my hospital room. It was her ministry to visit and deliver tiny pillows to anyone who might like one. I took two! They were perfect under my arms to relieve the pressure from the arms on the sides of my chest - especially where they took out the lymph nodes.

More importantly, the pillows gave me comfort to know there are thoughtful and caring people in the world. So....as a way of paying it forward, here's my version of the tiny pillows given to my friend today. I added the little book full of prayers and scripture on healing. I hope they comfort this beautiful child of God. And, maybe it will be a good idea for someone else that doesn't know what to do for their friend.