Catching Up

Hello everyone! Sorry for the lack of posts lately. You know how life gets - busy! Anyway, I thought I'd share a few things that have been going on in my neck of the woods. It's going to be a hodge-podge of pictures, so grab a cup of joe and enjoy!

A good part of the reason I haven't been blogging is because I've been busy making birthday and holiday gifts. This was the scene in my craft room about a week ago.

I can't revel too much of what I made since some of the recipients frequent my blog, but I will share this card I made for my uncle. It was a just-because type of thing :)

I used a Stamper's Anonymous background stamp to create the worn look on the kraft paper, and then I tore strips of scrap paper to make the focal image. I used Tim Holtz's film strip roll to add a personal touch since my uncle is a photographer.

For the inside of the card, I repeated the theme by adding more strips of scrap paper which I made pop by inking the edges with some Distress Ink.

Another reason I've been absent is because I've been spending a lot of time with my critter family most especially this little man.

Isn't he just a doll?! He's growing up so fast it's hard to remember he's still just a baby. He'll be six months old at the end of this month, and I have no doubt that he'll reach 100 lbs by then.

One of things that we like to do together is kick around the basketball in the backyard. He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES playing with the ball. All I need to do is ask him, "Owen, where's your ball?" and goes running to it! He then puts his paw on the ball and waits for me to come over and kick it. He cracks me up.

He also tries to balance himself on the ball with both legs. I think he's trying to tell me, "No mom! MINE!" LOL!

His biggest challenge with the ball is trying to pick it up in his mouth. He tries and tries, but alas his mouth is still too small. It's pretty funny when Sedona runs in and just scoops the ball up in her mouth and trots around with it. I think she's saying, "Ha-ha!"

Speaking of Sedona and Owen, they're both getting along so well. Early on, Sedona would get up and walk away whenever Owen entered the room, but now she's really quite tolerant of him. They even play together which is quite comical (and a bit scary) at times given their gigantic sizes. Owen is really catching up to Sedona in terms of height, but it's going to be a good year or so before he gets as bulky as she is.

Of course, Pebbles is always in on the action around here. Her and Owen are best buds! They even sleep in the crate together during the evening hours, but when the sun is out, you can find her right next to her BFF, Sedona. One afternoon I peeked outside to check on all of them, and I couldn't spot Pebbles! I should have known where she was, though...

That's all I have for you at the moment! I've been making a number of Christmas cards, so I'll be sharing those with you sometime soon. In the mean time, enjoy the rest of your week and thanks for stopping by

My NEW Craft Room!

Hello everyone and welcome to my NEW craft room! This space has been in the making for months now, and it's finally at a point where I can share it with everyone. As I explain in my video, we recently moved and the house that we moved into has a very large bonus room. With a lot of hard work and sweat and tears (literally) we transformed this space from a dark, peach-colored cave into the light and bright room that you see here. I could have never completed this room without the help of my wonderful hubby, so here's a shout out to you hon! Love you!

Enjoy the videos, and if you have any questions please feel free to ask!





Here are some still photos of the room:







Thanks for stopping by today! Have a wonderful weekend, and I'll be back next week with some fun Christmas cards :)

Change is good

Wow - it's hard to believe it's been nine months since my last blog post. I apologize to my faithful readers, but I'm back now to share my crafty life with everyone!

So much has changed for the better that it's hard to figure out where to begin. Travis and I have had many adventures together since my last post, and I will be catching up on those in the days and weeks to follow. I think our biggest news is that we moved into a lovely home and have been making it our own for the past six weeks. We've been busy painting and doing random home repairs, but it's all been so worth it. I finally have the craft room of my dreams, and I couldn't be happier! It's still a work in progress, so for now I'll just give you a few sneak-peaks. I'll be doing a video of my room in the months to come as I get it more and more organized. This first picture is a quick sampling of some of my favorite things.


Over the summer, my good friend gave me a big box full of vintage buttons that belonged to her grandmother and mother. Keep in mind that she herself is 80 years old, so these buttons are truly antique. I actually have the really old metal buttons stored away in a mason jar, but I'll get to that later. The buttons you see here are housed in a divided unit I picked up at a shabby-chic outdoor fair. It's the perfect organizational button solution!


I'm hoping to get in my craft room soon and do something other than organize and put things away. I certainly have quite the spread of beads and findings to make a fun chic piece! Lucky for me, there's a bead store no more than five minutes away :)


Before I sign off, I'd like to take a quick moment to share some of the updates I've made to the blog. First of all, I have restructured my blog lists by breaking them down into three categories: Jewelry Blogs I Love; Scrappy Blogs that Inspire Me; and, Shabby Chic/Vintage Blogs. I have single-handedly checked every link on my site, and they all lead to the appropriate place. If you happen to click on a link that doesn't work or is for some reason woefully out of date, please let me know. I want to keep my blog as up-to-date as possible. You'll also notice that I've expanded my blog to include more of my jewelry making and my new found love for all things vintage. I have new links to some seriously cool sites that offer handmade beads, jewelry kits and unique jewelry pieces. If you have the time and are so inclined, I urge you to check them all out!

I'll be back soon to share more exciting new stuff. Thanks for stopping by!

Please excuse my lack of posts!

I've been working like a mad woman to complete projects for an upcoming craft fair. I have lots of fun items to share after the madness of the event is over which will be sometime after November 13th. My craft room is a MESS! Just look at my table:

I think I'm down to a 10" square working surface!

Hope you're all having a wonderful week :) I'll be back to share my crafty wares soon!

Bead Storage Station

Thank you all for your kind words about Poker. Since his passing, I have removed all weasel-related items from my house most notably their large luxurious cage that used to stand proud in one corner of my craft room. They always used to keep me company when I crafted, and I enjoyed having them with me. After moving the cage to storage, I wondered what I would do with the empty space. It seemed so sad and barren, and I knew I needed to spruce it up and make it more joyful.

After a few days of pondering, the idea to consolidate my beads into one centralized location hit me! I was bound and determined to find some sort of shelving system that would fit nicely in that little niche of my room. I searched high and low for days combing through thrift stores, antique stores and big box stores until I realized that my good friend had a bookcase that she wasn't using. I called her up and asked if I could borrow it, and she said yes! After bringing it back to the house, the last thing left to do was to fill it up. I ended up buying a bunch more plastic storage containers (lucky for me JoAnn's was running a 40% off sale on their bead organizers at the time), and I spent a week moving beads around and sorting through little caches here and there. In the end, I'm super happy with how my new corner looks. It's both stylish and functional, but best of all it makes me smile.

I also filmed a very short video giving you a more up-close look. Hope you all enjoy it!

I'll be back soon to introduce a new member of the family! Stay tuned :)

My Craft Room and CHA 2010

Hello bloggers! I am so excited to share with you all the fun things I've been up to these past couple of weeks. I think the most fun thing I did was go to the CHA (Craft and Hobby Association) consumer Super Show in Anaheim last Friday. What a crazy day! I had to drive through snow, fog and rain to get to the show, but just like the post man, nothing was going to stop me from getting to my destination! After all, this was the very first winter consumer show that CHA has sponsered, and I wasn't about to miss it.

I met alot of great people at the show, and I even bumped into a few friends as well. My first stop was at the Split Coast Stampers (SCS) booth. I made a cute button and had a chance to chat with Lori Craig ("stamp_mama") from SCS. She's such a sweetie!

I roamed the first few aisles just admiring all the crafty goodness that sparkled before my eyes. It wasn't long before I ran into a couple of very familiar faces. Anyone recognize these two ladies?

That's crafting queen Carol Duvall (L) and Hot Potato Fabric and Wall Stamps owner Mary O'Neil! I've been watching Carol Duvall ever since I was a little girl when she first started appearing on the Home Show regularly in the late 80s. I was tickled pink when she got her own show on HGTV, and even to this day, I enjoy watching re-runs of the show. Mary O'Neil was one of Carol's regular guests, and she offered unique ideas on using potatoes in your crafts while dishing up some good old fashioned southern humor. They were both a delight to talk to!

After meeting my crafting hero, I stumbled upon my friend Taylor at her booth, Taylored Expressions. I was so happy so see her again, and I was thrilled that her booth was busier than ever. Way to go, Taylor!

On my way down one of the last aisles, I spotted a very familiar face. Any guesses?

That's Robyn from My Pink Stamper, and she's just as cute in person as she is on her blog! She's full of energy and spunk and it was a pleasure talking with her about her crafts as well as her running journey (she ran a marathon last year!).

Honest to goodness, I thought I was going to CHA to do some major shopping, but it turns out I had way more fun meeting people than anything else! After finishing one lap around the show room floor and thinking that my day couldn't possibly get any better, I was wrong! I found the insanely talented Lisa Pavelka doing a demo at the Bezel Blanks booth. She is such a sweet, sweet person, and I've admired her work with polymer clay for many years. She, too, was a regular guest on the Carol Duvall Show.

I picked up her new book, The Complete Book of Polymer Clay, at the Barnes and Noble booth. She signed it for me, and we had a lovely conversation.

After that, I wandered around the show picking up things that I had seen earlier and wanted to get. I passed by the Hancock Fabric booth for the third time and decided to put my name in the drawing for a serger. I set my cell phone alarm to five minutes before the drawing and continued on my way. I was about to sit down and do a felting make-and-take when the alarm went off. I walked back to the Hancock Fabric booth and waited until the drawing. The representative came out, took the box, and had the lady next to me pick the winning entry. When he called out my name, I was in total shock! I started jumping up and down like a little kid. You would have thought I won the lottery! I couldn't believe I had just won a Juno by Janome serger. Woo-hoo!

That night, my friend and I went to the Cheesecake Factory to have dinner, and while waiting for our table, I saw Tim Holtz leave the building! He debuted some pretty nifty things at the CHA trade show this past week. I can't wait to watch his YouTube videos, but it seems there's a bit of a delay in getting them uploaded on to YouTube. Guess I'll just have to be patient.

On a random note, before going to CHA, I won a vintage typewriter off Ebay. I've been wanting one for a while, and I wanted it to be a small, portable and baby blue. It arrived yesterday, and I'm very happy with it so far! I think it needs new ribbon, though, but that's easily doable.

Lastly, I made a short video showing my current craft space. Because I'm always bringing new stuff into the room and because I'm an organizational nut, my room is always in a state of evolution. For now, I'm happy with how I have it, but I'm sure it will undergo some type of face lift in the future.



Tomorrow I'll share with you a video I made showing my how I organize my stamp collection, so stay tuned for that!