Calligraphy!

I've been having so much fun lately making Custom Wedding Creations such as Save the Date Cards, Name cards and Tags with Hand written Calligraphy. I've never offered Calligraphy as a service before through my Etsy shop because I've never had any official training but by writing with my Calligraphy pen in my normal handwriting I've had the most fun I've had in a long time!

In fact, I'm so in love with it I've been writing everything from little notes to Jaedin's kindergarten teacher to addressing packages with my calligraphy pen :)
If you think of any project that you could use some pretty lettering on, please let me know!


In Other non related news! Be sure to stop by A Kiss on the Chic to check out her Beautiful Scrap Kits this month. With a Paris theme you can't go wrong. She included 3 tags of mine in this kit. Here's a sample! Can't wait to see the lovely layouts they will create!
Find the Eiffel Tower Postage stamp tag, Keep calm and Carry on tag and The damask tag in my etsy shop!

Mops 2009-2010

This Summer was packed full of fun projects for my Mother's of Preschoolers Group (MOPS)
I decided to apply for the Hospitality Leader back in March of this year and I got it! So I've been working on centerpieces, decor, themes, table names, nametags, organizingthe Breakfast Buffet each week, Hospitality Favors and Local business donations for Attendance Giveaways.

September 4th happened to be our first meeting in which there are 57 Mothers meeting in our beautiful church conference room. That day also happened to be My husband & I's 5th year wedding anniversary. Quite an exciting day!!
I wanted the room to feel kind of like a wedding reception with Placecards setting on the Welcome table. the ladies first stop when they came into the meeting was to sign in and find their name on one of these placecards. The placecards are made from coffee dyed manilla folders cut and folded to size. Then I wrote each of their names on the card as well as what table they were assigned too. As a first meeting Hospitality favor each member recieved a pair of seaglass bellflower earrings. Here is a closeup of a sample of the placecards.



This is the info table where Mom's can bring their no longer needed diaper or formula coupons as well as receiving blankets or other items she thinks another mom might be able to use.
I used a food packaging box from my local market for the coupon box by covering it with vintage book paper and gluing on some flowers and prima velvet leaves. You can see lining the table is a smaller strand of battery operated lights that I've covered with flowering coffee dyed coffee filters which looked beautiful when they turned the lights off for an announcement or for the power point presentations. You can find these strand of lights in my shop here.. Above is the welcome table where I set each meeting Attendance giveaways. This first week we had a lucious Home Spa Gift Basket that I found brand new as my favorite consignment shop Grace's Merry Go Round for $4.99. Then for Icebreaker prizes I had a $25 Spa GiftCard that Amarri Spa Donated as well as a Family themed frame. Each lady who arrives before 9:30 gets to enter her name into this drawing which gives all of the Mommies incentive to be on time! (Hard to do!)
Sidewalk chalk Welcomes the Moms as they enter the church as well as tells them which entrance they should go to.

These photos below are of the trail run of our first meeting, only 12 ladies are what we call the Steering team of our group . There are Co-coordinators, publicity, Moppets(childcare) crafts, book keeping and so on. So this was a much smaller intimate version of out big production meetings.

I highly recommend gettting out to your local Mops group for fellowship and a two hour break away from the kids! It's a invaluable group that you will love! Here's the international website:)


As a new year of Mops starts It reminds me that I missed showing you all the outcome of the Back Packing Outreach program my church put on. I raised $60 in my Etsy shop for it back in May. because I had a new camera then I could not upload the photos and so here are the photos of that very successful event!


There had to be at least $10,000 of new school supplies in this room. the night before we packed all of the backpacks with their school supply lists I helped make this room into the little Walmart shop it was with aisles to shop through to find the necessary items for each individual student.

While we are on the subject of fund raising events my Etsy shop has done I have to tell you that the Honduras mission trip was a great success! They had a VBS and handed out backpacks full of school goodies. Thanks to my sweet customers that responded to this Blog post we were able to send $100 to them to pay for some of the 300 backpacks!
Great job guys! I wish I could have seen how excited they were!

September Trim Tags

I've been collecting trims and charms for new Trim Tags ever since the Article came out in July in Somerset Life. I have made almost 30 new Sets! Here are a few that I've added to my Etsy shop so far.
You can find them all here...

Intro to Cardboard Carving

LoveBird Box

In attempt to Introduce the art of Cardboard carving and it's possibilities on a large margin I've sent this simple Love Bird box to Jenny Doh for consideration in Somerset Life. it certainly is elevating the ordinary! How much ordinary is a cardboard box? Think of the possibilities of a corrugated box! Think earrings, jewelry, mixed media, sculpture, home decor, party planning, sewing. The possibilities are endless and throughout the next couple of weeks I will be focusing on the the new technique that I first discovered in high school printmaking class.

I thought I would start with the simplest form of this art which would be finding a simple image or silhouette. Hold still on the top of a box, trace outline of image with exacto knife and peel away either the image or the background. In this case I peeled away the top layer of the background. I simply looked up Lovebird Silohette's on google and found this. Printed out a rough version of the image. This can also be done free handed or using a object from home to trace around. Please! Whatever kind of Art you find fullfilling, if you find a way to incorporate this technique, Please, send me photos! This is going to be a huge technique in the Art world and I can't wait to see it take off!

A Time for Goodbyes

Today I'm grateful for the timing of God and his graceful ways. I began the day at my Mothers of Preschoolers group to hear a testimony of leaning on god in the time of a loss. A member shared her loss of her Granparents. I don't consider myself a very emotional person but it was hard to see such a upbeat happy friend be upset and therefore a few tears were shed.
As timing goes, when I arrived home only an hour later I learned that my extremely Lovely Penpal Leota who is my children's Great Great Grandma has cancer and is now in a nursing home on heavy medication.
Somewhat normal to hear of someone her age. Not necessarally shocking but she was living on her own only weeks ago. In every one of her letters she has the most beautiful and readable handwriting and in every letter I laugh outloud at least once at her amazing sense of humor .

I've learned today that I won't be able to see her before she passes as it will be somewhat soon.
I have a bit of regret for not driving the 6 hours it takes to get to her to have coffee with her and listen to her stories and her lessons. I hate that all of the wonderful things she knows and has learned I didn't soak up from her.
All I want is to speak with her and hear that she knows how much we love her and how much her presence here was cherished.

On top of saying Goodbye to my beloved Leota, I will also be making a trip to my parents house to photograph my kids with a very close friend of mine when I was a child.
His name is Charlie and he is over 15 years old. He is my Beagle Puppy.
He no longer has the energy to eat, stand or walk. We think he will be leaving us soon also.

When I turned 24 years old this year it was one fo the only days I can remember in my life where I felt I needed to brace myself for my adult life. I know I am extremely young, just a kid but it's time to know what all human beings learn, what life brings as time goes on. The reality that is saying goodbye to loved ones and praising God to for new life.

Bless all of you in your times of praise or loss!

My First baby off to Kindergarten

It's been 3 weeks since my first little baby went off to Kindergarten. It's been a totally different experience than I thought it would. I thought I would sit with my 2 daughters and cry my eyes out all day long not knowing what my 5 year old son was doing all day and who he was with.

Here we are sending him off to his first day of school Not a tear in sight!

With the help of the school having their orientations and open houses, in talking closely through e-mail with the principals I learned a little about the school before he started. During an orientation they offered that the kids come and meet their bus drivers and get to ride home on the bus on a trial run. I didn't think Jaedin would get on the bus all year! I thought I would be so overly protective that I would drive him to and from school every day.
Going to Kindergarten Orientation

All of this changed. Jaedin was excited to ride the bus and so excited to go to school that it was strangely easy for me. Thank goodness my husband was home the first two days Jaedin left for school and I'm so thankful that he loves his teacher and bus driver and he loves his time at school.
Thank God!

My son's Kindergarten Teacher's Gift Basket

Catch Up

Well, it seems as though I have taken a longer break from blogging than I would have liked. Even though I have had much to show and talk about. I have never been so busy in my life! I have filled every moment I have with a commitment. The last month has been ridiculously busy and finally my body said it was time to shut down for a while. I am just getting over a cold that had me laid out for days.

I'm excited now to catch you up on all of the things I have to share...

I have kept an eye out when shopping for boxes to carve for Jenny Doh. She is interested in an article for Somerset Life on Box Art. I have shown a few Cardboard Carving Projects before. Here is one I sent in to her. Currently I'm working on some simpler designs to show the simple beauty of the rough torn look of the cardboard when it is stripped.




While in a little drought of new designs for my Etsy and Lollishops , I've enjoyed practicing my photography on antique finds. Such as this ring, guest book and brush and hand held mirror set.

I've also started offering Printed tags. I can customize tags with a name or date for weddings or special occasions as well as businesses.