teddy & giveaway winner

I just walked past Cami's room... I looked in to see her bed so nicely made and "Teddy" with a place of honor. She's been making her bed like this for awhile, it's just one of those moments when how special it is hit me. Special because my little girl is such a sweetheart and it warms my heart to think of how proud she is of all the little things I make for her and her big sister. Special because I made "Teddy" 20 years ago for Leila and after all these years Teddy still gets love and a warm bed to sleep in. (Although he now only has half a smile. Cami refuses to let me fix this.) Special because both of my girls are growing up so quickly. I am so proud of them and their accomplishments. I look forward to sharing in their continued growth... and I hope Teddy will continue to share their hugs and kisses too.

The winner of this month's chocolate tag giveaway is Nathan! Congratulations Nathan! I'll be sending out your set of chocolate tags soon! :)

I LOVE blue!!!! ...and chocolate tags give away...

I LOVE blue... all shades of blue! (Even my car is blue!!) I decided it was time to make a Blossom Card that had a lovely blue flower. (It helped that it was also an EtsyBlogger carnival challenge to show your favorite color in your work as well! :) ) This aqua blue floral paper just grabbed me when I saw it at a store months ago and it's been patiently waiting in my stash for the perfect time to bloom. I really love how it "pops" against the orangey pink background paper. I just listed this Blossom Card in my shop as Blue Posies Blossom Card.

Now it's time for the September drawing announcement!!! This month's give away is for a set of 3 of my chocolate tags. Drawing will take place on Monday, September 22nd. (Comments counted until Noon, PST on 9/22/08. U.S. residents only, please.) So, leave a comment so I know you’d like to be entered in the drawing and tell me, what's YOUR favorite color! :)

UPDATED 09/22/08 @ 1:30 pm: Drum roll..... The winner of this month's give away is... Nathan!!! Congratulations!!! Thanks so much for commenting on my blog!

August winner & new...

The winner of this month's fabulous August "Blossom Delight" give away is miesmama!!! Congratulations miesmama! (Please contact me via an etsy conversation and send me your mailing address.... I'll mail out your card this week!)

I have been very busy doing a S-U-P-E-R BORING job today, all for a VERY good reason. First the job is copying ALL my bookmarks and pasting them into an email to myself. Why? BECAUSE I GOT A NEW COMPUTER TODAY!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!! I'll be able to work on a project without having to step away between each "enter" because it takes too blasted long! I may have had the slowest computer on the planet... or close to it at least! Hip, hip, hoooooorrrrrayyyy! (Thanks honey!) Now I'm copying all my documents to a backup hard drive and I need to copy my fonts next. This time I am NOT going to lose all my fonts because I forget to do this step! :) This is definitely taking lots of time to get all this done... but I can't wait to have everything transferred! I'll actually be able to use photoshop without my computer shutting down on me OR working super s-l-0-w-l-y.... I guess I'm going to have to reinstall all my software too. This is definitely a time consuming, but-oh-so-worth-it, project!

Back to my job as computer geek today! :)

UPDATE: Norm just showed me how to export my favorites! Hallelujah!!! Although I wasted lots of time at least I won't have to waste the time opening all those links on the new computer! I had LOTS of them! :)

I'm not ready... & Blossom Delight Drawing

Back to School…

Oh my… those three words have so much meaning. I get excited thinking of having a schedule again with Cami at school. It means I have more time to work on my projects. The flip side is that I’ll miss my sweetie… I love having her help me run errands, do housework, keep me company, make me laugh, hang out together… and all the other wonderful summer time things we get to do. Summer has a sense of freedom: freedom from strict bed times, freedom from “it’s a school night,” and freedom from homework schedules. It’s a break that you really start to long for beginning around spring break, when you get that first taste of summer with a week of freedom!

We’ve had a packed summer. A few trips away, lots of friend sleep over nights, swimming, and relaxing. We have one more get away weekend planned, a day at Six Flags Magic Mountain, and a couple of beach days… then the summer days will be a memory and the back-to-school schedule will begin.

Summer time’s running out and school’s just around the corner. I sense the anxious excitement in my soon-to-be middle school student. It’s time… she’s ready… I’m not.

All right… I enjoyed having a drawing so much last month I have decided to have one monthly along with my EtsyBlogger carnival post! YEAH! :) This month’s drawing will be for one of my Amy Butler - Sparkle n Glitter Wildflower Blossom - 2 in 1 Cards. These cards are reusable! I include extra paper and a nice little explanation on vellum on how it all works. The blossom itself can be used after the card’s life has expired. It can be detached and added as a gift tag or placed anywhere you like. (It’s attached with Velcro!)

Drawing will take place on Monday, August 25th. (Comments counted until Noon, PST on 8/25/08. U.S. residents only, please.) So, leave a comment so I know you’d like to be entered in the drawing and tell me, has summer gone too quickly for you?! Happy getting ready to send the kids back-to-school! :)

UPDATED 08/25/08 @ 3:00 pm: Drum roll..... The winner of this month's give away is... miesmama!!! Congratulations!!! Thanks so much for commenting on my blog!

Miesmama, please send me your mailing address via an etsy conversation. I'll send out your card this week! :)

a l-a-z-y afternoon & bookmark delight

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE TO READ!! However… I have a hard time putting a book down in the middle of the story, soooo I have to limit my reading. (or nothing else would EVER be accomplished… besides the important fact of not leaving characters in limbo!) Is there anyone else like this? I know my sister, Bethany, is like this too (admit it, Beeper!)!

Well… a couple of Sundays ago after a nice morning of volleyball, my husband had a great suggestion of spending an afternoon out in the Jacuzzi/pool AND maybe I should bring out a book (see how this is all HIS fault… or just his way of guaranteeing that I’d be outside the rest of the day!). It sounded like such a relaxing way to spend a Sunday… so I went to my book stash (books that NEED to be read!) and selected one in a series of three that my mom gave me (I guess we can say this is also her fault!).

The book I selected to read was, “Full House” by Janet Evanovich. (I did get teased and harassed by my husband and daughter throughout the afternoon about the title… My husband kept asking if Uncle Joey was dressing up as Elvis yet, and lots of other things that are just best not repeated… AND it is NOT about the TV series!!!)

If you’re looking for a book that is “light” reading that keeps you turning page after page with crazy characters, “a little” steamy sex, suspense, and funny dialog… well, then, this is the book for you! I couldn’t put it down until I was finished. It was a l-o-v-e-l-y way to spend an afternoon! I can hardly wait for the next lazy afternoon to present itself… that’s when I’ll read the second book in the series! :)
OK… to celebrate my first EtsyBlogger carnival post, anyone who leaves a comment on this post will be entered in a drawing to win this bookmark (appropriate, don’t cha think!). This bookmark is marked #3 in my bookmark series. It’s a new item I wanted to make for my shop. (I’d love to hear what y’all think!) I have made a couple of other similar bookmarks as custom orders and I’m excited about adding more. All elements have been hand cut and embroidered. (I did use a sewing machine to accent the leaves and flower center as well as to sew the bookmark together.) No two bookmarks will ever be exactly alike, as I hand cut and sew all pieces, PLUS I’m not a robot! :)

Drawing will take place on Monday, August 4th. (Comments counted until Noon, PST on 8/04/08. U.S. residents only, please.) Better leave a comment… and tell me, do you get caught up in books too?! Does everything stand still while you “rescue” the characters?! (…and most importantly… what do you think of the bookmark!?!) Happy Reading!

UPDATED:

August 4th @ 12:42 pm.

Here's the winner of the bookmark! I can't even believe it! I had my daughter choose the name out of the container... she mixed it for what felt like h-o-u-r-s... and whose name does she pull out but her Aunt Heather's! (I'll be mad Heather, if I find out that money has exchanged hands!!!) :) I am VERY happy for Heather though, as she could use some good luck right now! Congratulations!

Thank you to ALL who commented... and please check back! I plan on having a MONTHLY drawing! I'm planning for August's drawing now! :)