This is a wonderful giveaway

I've followed Where Women Create for some time now.  I thank my cousin for this addiction!  This is one addiction I don't wish a cure for.   They are having a great giveaway this week and it's a BIG one!  I'm glad I ran across this today before it was too late!  http://www.wherewomencreate.com/2011/09/fabulous-friday-with-sterling-publishing/

I've only just discovered this blog and I can't wait to explore it more!
http://www.thecreativeconnectionevent.com/blog/

Thank you to the creators for such a wonderful opportunity for Creative Women!

LOVE family treasures

GARAGE SALE SATURDAYS

They are either fast paced and crazily insane or slow and steady. Regardless of the course it is exhausting. In a good way.

It always begins with the spirit of purging and downsizing but quickly turns into a curvy path of memories.

In the end you may not think the time spent preparing was worth it but if you are lucky when it's done you are well paid by the memories that no price can be attached.




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I am...Changing

CHANGING

http://iammorethanjust.blogspot.com/

Happy Birthday Candie and a Homemade Exchange

Happy Birthday Candie! 

I participated in Craftaholics Anonymous handmade craft exchange in June 2011.  I had participated in December 2010 and really enjoyed the challenge as well as meeting someone on the other side of the States.  This time I was fortunate to be matched with Candie.  We had so much in common!  Candie shared her passion for travel and the beach.  Our favorite beaches are just about as far apart as possible in the US but the focus is the peace and serenity that is found at the beach and all the memories that are retained.  Candie also loves Britain and she had the opportunity to stay there for a period of time several years ago.  I wanted to make her something Britain inspired but nothing felt right.  I opted to make her a recycled journal designed around her home and her favorite beach spot.  (I'll post about what I made her later.)

I was so excited the day the package arrived.  I had been anxiously awaiting and looking at the mailbox or porch for a couple of days.  It's amazing how the days drug along waiting to find out if my package had arrived.  There is always so much anticipation involved in receiving something from someone you have never met and only exchanged a couple of emails with.  Let me tell you the wait was well worth it!  I was so happy to see a nautical themed gift.  I think it is just the cutest ever!  AND I love that Candie put in a picture of the sunset of the Pacific.  I've added two pictures; one of the water of the back of a ship (my favorite view on a cruise) and one of the sunset off the Emerald Coast.

Today is Candie's birthday so I thought it was appropriate to save this blog post for her day!  Thanks for the wonderful gift and memory!  I hope you have enjoyed your birthday and your wishes come true!

The weekend...and it's a long one too!

My view today as I start the long holiday weekend......warmth and partial sun.

The checklist for the weekend?

Relaxing

Dozing

Reviewing a friends vacation pictures

A little Words with Friends

Getting ready for a short week of work (including a fun CANstruction project for a local food bank)

Packing for a fun family weekend away which also includes finish some fun projects to take

And the biggest task on the list is.....catching up on 3000+ blog posts from my favorite iFriends.


Everyone enjoy your weekend!


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My day trip creativity

Today was a road trip day and it was a great one. Since, I wasn't driving I took advantage of the time and created envelope packages to house $2 bills for some of my favorite people. It wasn't complex but it was fun. I started with scrapbook paper, 2 different edging scissors and a glue stick. I picked paper according to personalities and the started cutting and folding. When I was done they needed a little something extra so I added curling ribbon to the ends. I think they liked them and it made my trip fly by!




Girls finished envelopes




Boys finished envelopes

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Positively Splendid: Elmer's Craft & Tell Party Showcase

My very first participation in another blog CRAFT & TELL. This was so much fun! (~and who knows maybe this will make me post more often on my own blog!)

Positively Splendid: Elmer's Craft & Tell Party Showcase

It's Sunday....and the start of some things new

I'm not making an announcement.  I'm not making major changes....at least not yet.  I am however, going to concentrate on the things that are important to me.  What's important to me should be given the focus and the priority in my days - right?  RIGHT!  I will no longer be trying to squeeze them in when I get the chance.  The things that are not important to me will be the things I try to squeeze in - if at all.

And on another note...very excited about these possibilities!
positivelysplendid 
craftaholicsanonymous
You should check them out!

ENJOY THE SUN!

Reaching

As I've mentioned before I haven't really noticed nature. I'm not an outdoors kind of girl. Unless of course we are talking about sailing or spending time on the beach. That is the only time that I get excited about being outside and look around to see what is offered. I've had people try and make me enjoy the great outdoors and I think they would agree that it just made themselves miserable; more so than the misery that I was feeling.

I have noticed in the last year the trees and how they connect with the sky. I'm not sure what this signifies but I'm sure that this awareness is a message.

It appears to me that trees serve many purposes. They protect, they provide shelter, they can be beautiful, they grow, they die, they fall, they are useful in the modern world, they can be less than beautiful and they can be the source of too much attention. A tree is a gift. As with any gift it is our choice to recognize, appreciate, cherish, sometimes re-gift and keep them in the proper perspective.

The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground - trees that were pleasing to they eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:9

This is a tree that I discovered about a year ago and I finally took a picture. It's quite intriguing.

Happy Birthday Linda

I am excited to follow Linda's birthday bash all this week! I have enjoyed following Linda online for almost a year now. I thoroughly enjoyed participating in her handmade gift exchange. That was a great way to blindly create and make a new online friend! (Looking forward to the next one!)

Happy Birthday Linda!

If you would like to follow Linda just click on her birthday bash link!

www.craftaholicsanonymous.net

Changing Years

We may already be 43ish days into 2011 but it is still a new year. Thinking about the purpose and possibilities of 2011 has me thinking of past years. I've had tremendously exciting years as well as terribly disappointing years. I've had years of newness and years that were so void they just passed by without even waking up enough to know what year it was. I think I prefer not to ever have another void year.

2011 - several online friends have been discussing what their word for the year is. I don't know my word yet. What I do know about this particular year is this: It's a year that will not be void. It will not be a disappointing year. It will be a year of purpose, which in of itself is exciting. I don't know how 2011 will end and I may not have a concrete goal on this date for the year but I know that no matter what 2011 will be one of the best years I've had in the last decade.

2010 - this was the year of change. I didn't recognize it at the beginning of the year or even in the middle of the year but I definitely embraced it the last part of the year. Some of the best things come when unplanned life happens! 2010 was the return of several things for me. Thanks to my cousin Shannon http://www.blu-bambu.com/ I was able to return to a more artistic way of thinking and looking at life everyday. She introduced me to Shona http://www.shonastudio.blogspot.com/ . I really enjoyed working through her book. I may not have finished all the projects or published all my work as requested but I thoroughly enjoyed every moment and it opened my eyes to things that I had missed in my prior void years. I found many muses through this process and to this day I enjoy following each of them and see how they are inspired. Seeing others inspiration creates inspiration. It's kind of like smiling - it's contagious and it spreads to places unknown.

My cousin also implanted a phrase in my mind and it has meant far more to me than the words. "No naughty negative self talk!" That was used in an email conversation regarding a project for The Artistic Mother. (and no I'm not a mother so no one has missed any monumental news) However, as I look back at 2010 and all the changes that occurred I realize that that phrase has been life changing. I think that when you have so many void years that you yourself become void. You lose your sense of self worth. That self worth has been regained.

The picture above on this entry was a great day. It was a day driving home from a new job and my eyes were wide open. I couldn't take my eyes off the sky. And in the FB world most of my friends were posting pictures and comments regarding the sky. It was remarkable so I had to take advantage of the moment and snag several pictures (while driving because I didn't want to miss it).

Straight and Narrow

It matters not how twisted a man's life is,

there is hope for him in establishing a right attitude toward God.

Words sometimes are not sufficient.


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