Birth Announcement

Just wanted to do a quick post, I haven't been posting too often since I haven't been creating. But, wanted to show you the birth announcement I made digitally in Photoshop CS2 for a friends daughter. Then off to Walgreen's to have 30 printed in a 4x6 for just $5 and change! If any of my friends are ever interested let me know and I will hook you up! There are sites out there that charge an arm and a leg. I will simply make it for you and you can have them printed so your only cost would be the development. Well, unless you are looking for something that I don't have and so covering the cost of the digital art might be needed but still very inexpensive!

Second week of Metamorphosis Monday

This is week two of Metamorphosis Monday and this week I am sharing Before/After* of the window/desk wall of my craft studio. When my husband bought our house, pre-Nancy, the room was painted a bright green and had a student desk that was original to the house. He has installed crown moulding and new baseboards (twice, thanks to IKE) and demo'd the bookcase and student desk and built a great new bookcase. Since I can't move my desks in till the new carpet is installed, I moved some of my stuff in as you can see. I am really itching to get back in there and create, soon my DH says. As I get moved back in there, I will be posting more photos, I hope to change it up a bit. The one good thing that came from IKE hitting our home is it is allowing us to tweek the rooms we had just finished. We had a chance to live in them and so overtime we did realize there were things we wanted to change. So, I suppose a little good came from that bad storm. Be sure to go visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch by clicking here to see more Before/Afters, hope mine wasn't too boring. Happy Monday, Ciao for now.

Teresa Collins Picked Me!

I was checking in on my favorite blogs and as I read Teresa Collins blog I came across my name! Yeah!!! I left a comment on her blog the other day in hopes of winning some of her fabulous new stuff and I did! What is funny is that I was in my cube at work, most had left for lunch already and so when I read my name I let out a shreak that I won.....lol. Yep, someone heard me and so I had to share my news. I know, I am such a scrapin geek! But, her stuff is to die for! I would have bought it and will end up buying more of what she is gifting me. It is just so much fun to win and see your name on the blogs, hehe. And it is super exciting when you win stuff from awesome creaters like Teresa! If you don't know her then please take the time to check her blog out as she has some incredible stuff!

And, if you visit the blogs and they are giving away some "Blog Candy" as they usually call it you should totally leave a comment! It doesn't take long and you don't have to have your own blog! You just have to be sure to remember to go visit it again to see if you were the lucky winner! Click here to be taken to the post showing what all I won! We hope to get carpet installed soon so as soon as I get moved back into my craft studio I will start creating once again! Have a great weekend!

Metamorphosis Monday

Happy Monday! I'm off today, yeah! I came across a couple of great blogs this weekend and so I have decided to participate in a fun blog event. Each Monday the blog "Between Naps on the Porch" will be hosting Metamorphosis Monday. All you have to do to play along is post a before and after shot of a project you have taken on. I've decided to share the before/after of our bar, the before were colors chosen by the previous home owner. When my husband bought the house he purchased some art that would work with the colors. However, once I came into the picture I quickly suggested, OK, insisted that we put our own touches to it. I think we did pretty good, we replaced the cabinet doors with custom made doors. My DH took one of the doors off and built a wine bottle holder. My dad installed the HD Laminate counter and I did the faux treatment. The one thing that I need to change is the color of the ceiling, it is too white and stands out entirely too much. Also, the trim at the base of the bar is tiny, and we are slowly replacing it with a taller baseboard just haven't made it to the living room yet. You can see I painted the bottom of the small wall to the right of the bar to check the color. We still have to paint the entire livingroom so the color will change from the taupe like color you see. If you want to see the links to those participating click here. And if you want to learn even more and want to participate then click on the butterly pic on the left sidebar. You are sure to see some great before/after shots. As always you can click on photos to see them in a larger size. Ciao for now.

Tag and A Tag

I've been Tagged and How to share a Handmade Tag

I was tagged by Anne of Gaal Creative.

Here are the rules:
Link to the person who tagged you (as I did above).
Mention the rules.
Tell 6 things about yourself.
Tag 6 other bloggers by linking to them.
Go to each person's blog and leave them a comment to let them know they've been tagged.
Here are the 6 things about me:

1. I got married for the first and last time at the age of 40.

2. I don't have kids.

3. I got a wii for Christmas.

4. I have been employed by the same employer for the last 23yrs.

5. I love decorating.

6. I helped my DH install a new roof on our home after IKE hit.

Now I am suppose to share the fun with 6 other bloggers, I follow many so this will be tough. I really have enjoyed meeting new people via their blogs and mine. If you don't have a blog but follow some, I encourage you to leave comments now and then. It is so awesome to hear from the folks who read our blogs! Hope you have time to check out some of these great blogs as well as some of the ones I have listed on my blog to the left. And you won't want to miss visiting Anne's Blog so be sure to click on her name or blog name above.

Joan at Stamping with a Passion!

Brooklyn Limestone

Lisa with Splendiferous Creations

Scrapping Out Loud

Created by JB

Just an Inkling with Kathie

Now for How to share a Handmade Tag...

I've been asked by a few friends what I do with the tags that I make, well here is what I did at Christmas. I simply stamped a card to coordinate the tag and attached it with brad. If you look closely on the ribbon of the tag I tied in the gift, a Pandora dangle charm. I also give the tags as book markers and so that is another way to give them out via a card. You could give it as a Thank You, Birthday or just because.

Thanks for stopping by to visit my blog, I hope you have time to browse at some of my past posts as I do share many of the projects I make. I'm almost back into my studio, as soon as the carpet is installed I can move back in and get back to my creating. ciao for now

Blessings

Hope you had a great weekend! We did, why you ask? We did mostly nothing, yep, we lounged and we lounged and we lounged. Just the two of us, I did a little work here and there but for the majority of the weekend we did nothing. Well, we did play wii, read the paper, surfed the net, watched movies and we said NO to house repairs! It was great!

Something else that I have been doing is being "Thankful" for my blessings. I know it's not Thanksgiving but we should try our best to be Thankful out loud all year long not just around Turkey Day. OK, so back to my blessings, my husband and family who love me unconditionally. The friends who have stuck by me even if they don't always agree with my personality traits, because they love me unconditionally. My job, with times the way they are, I am so Thankful to have the job that I have even if at times I feel like it's time for a change. My home, I am thankful for the home that my husband has provided for us. Mostly, I am Thankful for my husband, we have been married for just over a year and I am so proud to be his wife. Because I met him just before I turned 40, I had the chance to meet many possible Mr. Rights who turned out to be mostly Mr. Wrongs. Don't get me wrong, many of them had some good traits but they weren't meant to be my partner, my best friend, my true love. It is amazing how many times we think we have met the right one only to find out that they aren't. I spent so many years allowing myself to date the wrong type of men. I was great at seeing the mismatches of my friends but was often blind to my own. The only thing that is good from all that is that I knew to walk away, sometimes a lot later than I should have but the point is, I walked away. And for that I am thankful, so very thankful!

Organization Here I Come

Just wanted to share photos with you of my new re-vamped closet. I am so excited about it that I started moving my things into it. Here is what I came up with for now, I will most likely have to move things around once I get more of my things back into the room. The great thing about the closet is that it has movable shelves so I can tweek them to my exact liking. Oh how I love my sweet, talented husband! He built it all himself, none of the shelves are pre-made. The only thing that we used pre-made was the hardware. This meant lots of painting but in the end it was worth it. Although I did whine about it and we did get help from my sis so that was helpful.

For now the only two areas in my studio that I can put stuff in is the closet and the bookcase. Since we are going to get carpet installed (soon I hope) I will have to wait on moving my desks in. Once I do get my workspace back I will have a better idea as to what I need stored in the closet and what needs to remain near my work area. I am also contemplating getting new tables so we will see how it comes along. Hope you had a great holiday and that your first week of the new year is a great one! Ciao for now.

p.s. I merged two shots of the closet into each photo below so hopefully it isn't confusing.

Happy New Year

I hope you and yours had a great Christmas and New Year's Eve! So, now the New Year begins along with promises we make to ourselves to do the usual....

Work Harder and Smarter, Be Organized, Keep a Tidy Home, Cook Healthier, Save for the future, Read, Create, Decorate, Blog, Inspire, Spend more time with Family, Focus on the Future/Let Go of the Past and find a Church and attend weekly.

Which of those are you going to add to your list of resolutions? I plan on doing a little bit of everything listed above. I will more than likely do more of one or the other but I will do my best to not put too much on my plate at once.

Home Update - We are finishing up the painting of the studio and guestroom and we hope to get our carpet installed before February? Then we will paint our master bedroom both walls and ceiling and then move on to the outside projects that IKE left for us out there. I have to tell you I am so over all of this work! I love to decorate but redoing rooms that we had just completed has taken all the fun out of decorating! The good thing that has come of this IKE business is that we will get new carpet and my DH is redoing my closets in those two rooms so we will be better organized! Well, I am rambling on so I better sign off, my DH is going to work tomorrow and I am off so I will continue painting in the guest room. Ciao for now....2009, yikes!

p.s. Not sure when I will have time to create so for now I will simply be blogging verses sharing my art. Hope you will still stop in now and then.