Fall Photos

Needed to take some photos and share!

Name cards

New name cards! The holidays are fast approaching...wouldn't it be great to be organized now? These are the first of several I will be listing soon.

Craftopolis

Have you Etsy sellers seen this sight yet? Craftopolis...it's pretty cool! It tells you if you are featured in any Treasuries, if you are: what the name of it is, when it expires, and it's clickable! There is also a Treasury Clock there that tells you how much time you have before any of the Treasuries open up. Also they let you know if you are in any of the Gift Guides too!

Another great feature of this site is the "Shop Lovers" section. You can go to any month of the year and every time your shop received a heart, it will show up on that day! It is fun!

Go...check it out!

Happy List

I saw this just yesterday and thought it was a wonderful idea for a blog! I am making a list of 10 things that make me happy!

1. Freshly cleaned sheets
2. After sticking to an exercise program, that feeling of much more energy
3. Taking photos
4. My kid's giggles
5. Giving presents
6. A clean house
7. Snuggling
8. An awesome sunrise
9. New hairdo
10. Flip flops

I think I may have to do this list more often! I could write more!

The Twins

Since we are building a house this summer, we took an overnight vacation with our family this year. Minneapolis...Twins game! It was a lot of fun for my kids to see the Metrodome, and a pro baseball game! This was the first view of the Dome when we got in. Fantastic sight!
The fun part was that the Twins beat the Indians 11-0!

School Starts

Yes, today we had to get up on time, get ready, and head to school! What happened to summer? It's the same question that comes up every year at this time. This summer has been especially strange because of the cooler weather that we had.

One good thing about it is the fact that I might be able to get my house cleaned, and have it stay that way for a couple of hours! That's my positive thought for today!

My new house is coming along quite well. Soon I will be picking out paint colors because today the sheetrock is going up! I will have to post pics soon.

For now, I am posting this one...full of that summer look! Have a wonderful day!

Photos

Just thought I'd let you all know that I've added photographs to my Etsy shop and ArtFire Studio. These are some of my favorites!

One Paper...Several Cards

When I saw this paper I fell in love. I'm always on the lookout for great boy/guy papers, and this one seemed to fit the bill!

Lately I have decided that when I start to use a paper, I am going to use it all up. That way I don't have a half sheet here and there that I don't know what to do with! I made 10 cards with this sheet! I do have a couple of scraps left that I will file away and hope to use at some point.

Beauty

Spring is so glorious, isn't it? I am loving it.

We Started!

This was the scene from 3 days ago...cool, huh?

New Specials, and Special Things!

So it's Monday again! This week's new sale is: 20% off one single card...any one you want from either my Etsy shop, or my Artfire. There are links on the sideboard to each of them! Just enter "20%Blog" in the message to seller, and I will refund you that money!

Just wanted to share a couple of fun things I found on Etsy this morning! The first one is a cool pillow from pinkalmond Isn't it cool?!

Willowcreeksigns is a really neat shop, and once I have my house up, I will be making some purchases! This is just one of my favorites!

And this is actually not from Etsy, but I saw this recently, and I want it!

Having My Own Driver...

I'm officially an "older Mom" now. My oldest got his driving permit, and now can drive us around. Let me tell you...it's not as fun sitting in the passenger seat. ;)

More Parade of Homes

Check out this house...it definatly had "wow factor!" They used brick, stone, copper roof, shingles, copper gutters, and wood siding...and that was all on the inside! It was pretty unique.

The first picture is a little play area that looked like a real house under the steps- so fun!

This is actually the laundry room. The washer and dryer were stacked on top of eachother in the corner.

It's Monday!

Ok, so I think I should get rid of my ArtFire account. There has been no sales there in the last 4+ months.

On that note, my Monday Special will be from Etsy this week! I'm giving 20% off ONE card. You can buy as many as you want, and then I will refund you 20% off the most expensive card you buy. (Most of my cards are at $2.50 though!) This will run through May 9. It will go along with the "free shipping if you buy 2 cards" that I already have going on for the Mother's Day promotion.

Just type in 20%Blog in the "Message to Seller."

Now for a little Parade of homes fun! I went to quite a few houses on Saturday to get some fun ideas for my new house. Check this out...a 2 story closet! Wouldn't that be living the high life! (I'm standing in the upstairs part of this closet.)

This same house had a dome ceiling in the kitchen...it was a gorgeous house, just something I would never live in!

I am in the midst of thinking of what colors I would like to have in my new house. I am a color person...love it! However, just recently I have discovered that I also like little "pops" of color. For example, the walls painted white and then the accents in the room bright. Like the photo below, isn't it cool?!

I have a lot of decisions to make! Looking forward to most of it...all but flooring. I don't like that part!

Special Monday

This week I am offering FREE SHIPPING at my ArtFire Studio! Come and check out all the great cards I have to offer there! Offer goes through Saturday, May2. All you have to do is put in "FREEBLOG" in a message to me, and I will give back your refund through Paypal.

Here is my latest Mother's Day card that I have to offer there. (Click on the link on the side bar, and it will bring you right to my Studio.)

More for Mother's Day

Made a few new cards again! This time around it was for Mother's Day...and I even snuck in a Father's day card. Although, the Dad card could be used for a birthday too!

If you are looking for a Mother's day card, I have a few. Also, type in EGMOMS and you will come up with several Etsy shops that are running a promotion on cards!

Proof of Spring

The weather had definitely taken a turn for the better here in Iowa! Yesterday I spent all afternoon and evening cleaning up the yard. We have all these wonderful old trees on the yard...combine that with Iowa wind, and you get about a billion sticks all over the place! Yesterday was not so windy, so I decided to burn some of those piles of sticks that I have been collecting. I am wondering if I am exaggerating with that number of sticks...we have over 300 trees on our property, so I think I could be close!

While I was out there working, I noticed this tree, that is protected by a building, is starting to get it's leaves. What a wonderful sight! I had to get a pic of it. I hope you are enjoying your Spring!

Special!!

It's Monday...and I am starting up a new thing here on this blog. Every Monday I will be posting a new "Special of the week!

I'm going to be starting out with ArtFire. Buy any 2 cards from there and get the third one you really like for Free! Here is what you do: Buy your 2 cards from me, then post here which one you would like for free and I will send them all out to you! Happy Monday!

My house

I am in the middle of tearing my house apart for my garage sale that I am having. We are going to be moving this fall, and after 16 years, it is time to get rid of stuff! I have a lot of things that I have saved over the years from my walls that I know I will never put up in my new house!

In the past I have been to many estate auctions because I was in love with old things! Loved them! I still do to a point, but my tastes have changed somewhat. I will miss my old "hook" that I have in my bathroom to hang my hand towel on, but it's staying with the house.

Yesterday I videotaped my house (well, at least the clean rooms ;) so that I will always remember how it looked. I also did it for my younger kids because they probably will not even remember living here!

The starting date for the new house is drawing closer, and I am getting very excited about it!

Poor little Birdies!

A week ago we had a lot of snow on the ground. In between we have had a lot of melting, however, we still have spots of snow here and there. I took this photo last Sunday and I love it! Even though it was cold and I am so ready for some really warm weather!

Contest

How fun is this! I was notified by email that someone entered me in this contest by BlockHead Radio. This is the card that is featured:

Here is the link- come and check it out! Thanks so much! http://blockheadradiolive.com/paper

WooHoo!

Yay! I did it...I cut my hair, and I am loving it! It's not as drastic as Katelyn's, but still people are going to notice! However, I don't know if I am as brave as Katelyn, so I'm not sure I will post pics. Yikes! Oh, wimpy me. (I always hate pics of me anyway!) But my head feels great, I'm loving the style, and I hope it's easy to do!

Here is my favorite card that I have made lately...just LOVE it! The colors are awesome together, and the font...oh I love that font! Just added it to my Etsy shop!

Well, There I Go!

It's official...after selling on Etsy for almost a year and a half, I am just now getting some official looking cards with my URLs on it! Go Moo cards! I can't wait to get them!

I have been making my own, and lately I haven't made enough. Every order I was almost done packing then, oh yeah, a card! Made me so crabby! I'll be sure to post pics when I get them!

Here is my newest Mother's Day card: (I do need to take some better photos of it!)

A Different Perspective

I am loving this picture of the day thing! The other day I gave my camera to my youngest little tike, and it was fun to see his perspective on life! Take a look at the photo I chose for that day:

Inspiration

Ok, so I said I was going to do the baby card thing, but I just can't get into it for some reason! I made a whopping total of: one. Woohoo. I guess the new pile of paper that I bought just doesn't inspire me to do the baby thing! I am actually working on making a bunch of Mother's day cards. This is a big event for card makers like me!

I am also have a time pulling my nose out of a book...Harry Potter actually! I'm hooked! My oldest has read and reread them so many times, and I just laughed at him, but now here I sit. The weather has been perfect for that, raining, snowing, cuddle-up-with-a-book weather. Now, on to book 6!

Teeny Tiny Baby Card!

I was asked by a friend of mine to make a couple of little cards for some boxes that she has. She sells soap at Etsy now! She fills the boxes with a couple of bars of soap, and then adds a card to go with it. I made these baby cards for her, and decided to list one too! If you'd like to take a peak at her shop, it's called, BarNoneProducts.

Shopping on ArtFire

I have to tell you...shopping at ArtFire is really snappy! First of all, when you click "Shop" it brings you to a page where all the categories are. Also, there is a number of listed items by each category.

Ok, so then after choosing a category that I wanted to shop in, there are subcategories on the side. Also, at the top of the page there is quite a few options to sort by. "Random, Highest Price, Lowest Priced, Newest Listed, Oldest Listed, Most Views, Least Views!" How cool is that!

I also noticed that there are ad spots on the side available. I just might have to try that out some day. The price isn't that bad either...$10/week for a top level category, $5/week for a main level category, and subcategories are $2.5/ week.

All the options, and the categories, subcategories...really makes shopping at ArtFire a breeze. Just another thing that I like about the site! It was also a plus that I saw my cards scattered in there. At least, if people are shopping, they are getting face time!

Feature

I have been featured in a blog today! Check out SubEarthan's blog. It's such a pretty blog, and she features sellers on a regular basis. Very cool!

New Series

I have a whole series of cards that I made with fun paper. The next set of cards I need to make is baby cards! I don't have too many of those in the shop yet!

New Set!

I have been working hard on getting new cards for the shops this week. The new ones are made with really neat paper...and I love how they turned out!

Photo a Day

I am doing a new project this year...taking a photo a day of our every day life. My sister first told me about the project after she heard about the kit that Becky Higgins was puting out (Creating Keepsakes.) I tried for over an hour to get that kit when it came out, and thought I was sucessful, but apparently I wasn't. I still wanted to do the project, so we started looking around for other albums to make it work.

This is the album that we came up with...from Pebbles Inc. It's called the "Share and Tell" book, and I bought the beautiful chocolate brown!

Here is my picture of the day from yesterday:

Happy Friday to Ya!

Spring is coming! I saw a few robins this morning, and that makes me pretty excited! Even though it is forcasted to snow here in the next day, I can handle it!

Come and check out my newest card on ArtFire!

And now I must get to work.

House decisions

I have a front door picked out for my new house! It was an easy decision...just looked at the book for a couple of minutes, and found just what I wanted! The front door that I have now in my house is mostly window because it is our only view to the South. The only problem that I have with it is the fingerprints! It is hard to keep looking decent with little ones around! This time around I decided on a door that only has a window at the top.

I am busy looking for decorating ideas, and found this on Flickr. Don't you just love it?! That print really does it for me!

Imagine the Warmth

It's raining. The roads are super icy. The temps are falling. It's winter again here.

So I thought I would post pics from where it's warm. Enjoy!

Thinking of you

I was really having fun making cards last week! It seemed like everything was flowing nice, and the cards were turning out great! I am hoping to get down there and do more of the same today. Before the weather starts getting warmer, I need to get more done.

This is one of the cards that I made. I think it's so pretty! I have it for sale at my ArtFire shop.

Is it Spring Yet?

Oh, I have a bad case of Spring Fever! I need some green...and I don't mean cash...I want some green grass, leaves, anything! I'm not sure why it's so bad this year. I am ready to get outside and hear the birds sing though!

I guess I will have to settle for something that looks like spring. Take a look at this card I have listed!

ArtFire Studio

I am up to 25 items in my ArtFire studio! I know, that's not much, but I am happy with what I have there! Still no sales though, and that is a little disappointing. I am still holding out because I love the way they have the listing set up, the stats page is fantastic, so I really would like to continue there.

Great earrings!

Ah, earrings. I have a love affair with them. There are so many in my favorites, I just can't decide which ones to buy! What usually happens is I find out too late which ones I really wanted...those are the ones that have sold, then I look back and wish I would have bought them. Check out these beauties from Creationsbymatilda. Aren't they pretty?

New Fun Stuff!

Lots and lots of newness in my Etsy shop! I have been having so much fun with making new cards lately...just ask me how clean my house is!

Come over and check out the new selection!

Yeah for a warm sun!

My hubby and I went to Mexico last week with 2 other couples! What a great time we had! I'm so wishing I was back there, relaxing in the sun. But, it's back to reality for me! I am holding out hope for another time like it someday.

My Guy

Check out this new card! I love how it turned out...always hard to find some fun guy cards! Also, don't forget my deal I have going on!

Embarking on a New Endeavor

Ha ha! Too funny of a title...such big words...are you impressed?! Well, I really am starting a little something new. I have a friend who makes soaps, and she wants me to make some labels for them and also make some cards to go with it. She found these really adorable boxes that she puts the soap in, then she wants the card to go on top of it. Perfect for a baby gift, Mother's day, Christmas...we will just see how this will go! It's fun trying something new!

Now how about a new card from my shop? I've had a hard time keeping up here, on Etsy, ArtFire, and life, so things have been slow there. I am ready to get back into it, make more cards, and list a lot more. I also would like to get out and personally get some sales off line. Those are my goals, and I will start after the 15th! (I'm going on vacation, I'm going on vacation...and I will be so warm!)

So, in the mean time, I would just love it if you'd buy out my whole shop! ;) At least go and check it out! Don't forget my ArtFire shop, it has some really beautiful cards in it. Now, it's back to packing for me.

Get crafty!

I have been so out of crafting lately...haven't even wanted to make anything new! I guess I am in a rut. Today is the first day that I have had an urge to get back into it, but I have to get work done first. That's what happens when you have a family to care for!

Check out this really cool necklace I found on Etsy! I love the colors, and the beads are pretty neat. It's from Floriganders shop.

New Deal!

Just wanted to inform you all of the new deal I have going on in my shop! Buy 5 cards, and get them for $9.50. It's time to move some cards, and force me to update the shop! Also, check out my ArtFire shop...if you like any of those cards, let me know, and I would be happy to give you the same deal.