Somerset Life Spring 2010

The new gorgeous issue of Somerset Life is here! My friends Jessica and Lou surprised me by letting me know, I had no idea I would be featured in this one.
I know I have showed these cards on the blog but I can't find the post anywhere, they are black, taupe and rhinestone covered vintage book pages. Sewn and glued into a pile of heartfelt cards.
We call today a good mail day! Our first Waldorf toy ( a Large Rainbow Stacker) arrived in the mail from Imagination Kids. We absolutely love it. We've found 12 ways to use it so far in just the first day.




I'm sure there's a name for this yummy concoction but today it's called" Wanna Be Warm Soup".
To make it I poured Vegetable Broth into a soup pot, cut up 1 potato, a couple carrots, 1 zucchini and 1 squash, 1 onion. To herb it up a bit I added some fresh parsley and basil.
Let simmer on Low to med heat for 1 hour and it was perfectly mushy enough to eat. It lasted for 3 of my individual meals :)

This afternoon we went to our favorite garden park and took some lovely pictures. I will be sharing those with you tomorrow, but here are some darling peeks :)



For all of those following the student loan situation, we have finally found out that the hearing went along as planned on the 22nd of March. The judge heard the Lawyers and the students speak and we are currently awaiting his decision. If he approves the settlement, we will be looking for our first house soon :) Thank you for all of your faithful advice. I can never hear that God has it under control enough.
I also want to say a very special Thank you to the beautiful Colette Copeland who linked me in her feature on Crescendoh. It was an honor to be chosen by her and an honor to be featured on Jenny's new site again :)

A month of Custom orders

A natural method of growth in discovering new products and projects for my Etsy shop has been Custom order requests. I think it will be fun to show what just one month's worth of custom orders looks like.
Above is a giant 6.5 inch ivory crepe paper rose made for centerpieces at a wedding.

Worn white card stock Thank you tags for Wedding favors.
Custom Business Logo Tags
Ephemeral Crowned number tags for Wedding Tables

Favor tags to tie onto bags of birdseed

Leaf shaped name tags for fresh fruit at table settings
Aroha custom printing tags, means loved ones Large Rustic Save the Date Tags

Ivory and Pink Crepe PaperRose Garland Fancy Nancy Tags for a little girl's birthday party

Featured around the Web

My Marie Tag on a little bit french

One of the most rewarding parts about creating and selling items is being able to see what my creations are used for. Here are some photos I've been collecting from wonderful wed friends I've met...

My mini crown tags on Alice W.




From Style Me Pretty.com




From Re Inspire Me

Seam Binding Crepe Paper frills on ChippyCottageCharmHouse

From A Little Bit French

Fresh Air

I couldn't be more glad that Spring has come. Waking up in the morning and opening the windows breathes life into our house. The house stays cleaner, our moods are happier because we are getting fresh air and sunshine. We Love Spring!

I want to send Thanks to all that have wished us well about our school loan situation, it means so much that you would stop your day to wish us well or say a little prayer for us.
I wish I had something to share on the matter but the fact is that I have heard not one word on the settlement. I guess it may take weeks or even months for all of the objections and students to be heard. It is not as cut and dry as I thought the final fairness hearing would be.
I'm grateful though to have Etsy keeping me busy. I will definitely not complain of boredom, I have 130 yards of crepe paper frills to sew, 700 tags and 200 roses to make. All of which are done while sitting in my comfy little chair outside under a quilt made by Great Grandma Leota. Watching the kids ride their bikes, cover everything in chalk and have picnics.
Even with all of the "work" to be done with Etsy , I took one day off to create some projects for the kids. Seeing the Scrappy Kimono in this post on one of my absolute favorite blogs ever Childhood Magic made me want to start crocheting. I began by making the kids scarves which they liked but fall is just about over. So this time I began playing with stitches. Trying to create a circle pattern instead of rows.
It worked out wonderfully and now each child has their own handmade by Mommy bag. Made from rainbow yarn of course so as to not show the imperfections :) the girls keep their little stuffed animals "pink bunny" and "quack quack" (the duck) in their bags and Jaedin keeps his cars and his grumpy Care Bear in his bag.


I have also given a bit of time to researching needle felting. You tube was my classroom and I have ordered my basic needle felting tools. I'm am really looking forward to showing you all the projects I will create. I will be making playmats, a mushroom fairy house and felted roses .
Another great Blog I found that catered to my desire to eat more natural foods is this blog AuraJoon. Here you see 2 dinners I made this week. One is Herb noodles with asparagus with a side of stewed tomatoes, onion, zucchini and squash.
The other is whole grain rice, asparagus, carrots and onion. Both were delicious!
Can't wait to try more recipes.

So much to look forward to!
Oh yes, And Thank you for the great response to the Love Letter Journals. They are sold out!
Another kit coming soon :)

GIVEAWAY WINNER!

It's a lazy, rainy Sunday and I am enjoying sewing and rose making. Getting caught up on Etsy orders :)
The completed Love Journal book will be sent to the giveaway winner Sandy at My Shabby Streamside Studio

The random number generator chose the 13th comment :) congratulations!



On another note, I thought I'd share with you what has me thinking today :)
Tomorrow is a very very special day for us. Only a little over 2 years ago I left my job at Michaels Arts and Crafts to become a stay at home Mom. The reasoning was that my husband was going to start a very exciting venture. He wanted to become a Helicopter Pilot.
We met with Silver State Helicopters and he was accepted the next week. We signed loan papers to begin his Helicopter training. We were only 22 years old with 3 kids. As you know, young people in their 20's try as we might, find it very difficult to see very far into the future.
We thought we read through papers, the fine print, we thought we did our homework on how this process was going to go.
We had NO idea what amount of research and thought we should have put into it.
We agreed to enter into a 70,000 loan for only 2 years of schooling!
My husband had been going to this school for less than 6 months when one day he received a call that his flight training had been canceled for that day due to his school going bankrupt.

We had no idea what it meant that morning but we learned the severity of what was happening slowly over the next few months. First one statement came and it said 23,000 of the loan had already come out, then the next said all 70,000 had been paid out to the school by our lender AES only 2 days before the school closed.
We learned we were responsible for paying that total. I can't even describe what kind of mistake it feels like now. Then, I thought I was being a supportive wife, pushing him to do what he loves.
I am one that truly does take head to the advice of the wise ones around me. But not this time.
It was a step we had to take on our own and we are going to see what the next step is tomorrow.
Tomorrow morning a judge will rule on a class action lawsuit involving 2,700 other students who were also being schooled by this company.
If all goes well we will only be responsible for paying back 25% of this loan. Which is the deciding factor in us being able to buy our first house.
I am praying today for the judge to approve this settlement but know that I do not know what's best for our family..only God knows. So even more, I'm praying that God gives me the grace to accept whatever happens tomorrow.
Either way. I will be grateful for all of the lovely people surrounding me, the lovely home I have now and the fact that I have a job that caters to my soul!

Joli Paquet Submission

Now for SALE in my Etsy shop! Only 13 available!

The lovely Jolie Paquet was looking for submissions from interested artists.
I have been wanting to be one of their featured artists for about a year and this was a great opportunity to get a shot.
I practiced with the Mon Ami Angel Kits. And I created a new kit today...

The Love Letter Journal. For you and a loved one to pass back in forth when the feelings of adoration hit. Write down the love you are feeling and cherish it as a memento.

Here is the mess that is the preperation and gathering of the beautiful supplies

Here is the sewing of the sample Love Letters Book

These journals would include gorgeous white, cream and pinks of fabric strips and lace to cover the front of the book. Seam binding to tie it shut and a pretty german glitter glass star to finish it off.
The packaging comes with vintage early 1900's Ephemera and a coffee dyed tag smelling of vanilla wrapped with all of the pretty trims.
We'll find out on Wednesday if I made it as a guest artist on Joli Paquet.
I thought it was only fitting that I share this with you before I know the outcome as I just told you in a recent post that making art is not about being accepted or rejected but having incredible amounts of fun. Which is exactly what I did creating these kits~!

UPDATE!!

It is Wednesday and I found out today that I will be joining these 3 ladies

Heidi Wallingford

Kelly Green

Sheila Rumney

in being Guest artists on the fantastic Joli Paquet website...

To Celebrate These kits are FOR SALE in my shop and The sample book I have made up as seen in the photos above will be given to one of you who comment on this post. I will randomly draw the winner on Saturday the 20th of March.
I will mail this gorgeous finished book to you along with more goodies of course!

TUTORIAL FOR LOVE LETTER JOURNALS.......

1. Find the 2 strands of soft pink seam binding wrapped on the coffee dyed tag.
And open your journal.
Sew or glue 1 strand onto cover and 1 to the back of book to be tied shut after project is complete.

2. Now you can begin sewing or gluing on front cover. Start at the left side of the journal by putting down your first desired strip of fabric or lace. sew straight stitch or sew frills by scrunching fabric strips (push a bit of fabric under foot of sewing machine) 2. Work your way to the right on the cover of the journal with desired strips until front of book is covered.

3. Glue Glitter Star to desired area on cover with hot glue , add ephemera and embellishments to book pages.

Please feel free to contact me at YourAngil@Hotmail.com for any questions or tips :)

Chalkboard Trays

Although I do not do tremendous amounts of entertaining at my home I still enjoy these inexpensive tarnished trays that are abundant at Goodwills and Thrift shops. My personal collection was too large and unused so it was time to make them usefull. If there is anything I learned from Rachel Ashwell's Shabby Chic books it was that " Less is more, So the "less" must be perfect."


We are way too busy and our time is too precious to be walking around tubs of useless items that we are fond of but don't use. Everything must have a purpose and it's place. While considering that...... some items purpose might be too just look really pretty on that shelf.
With this tray I taped off the edging with blue painters tape and then spray pained the center with Chalkboard paint. There are mini quart cans out there somewhere that would make this step a lot easier but the only chalkboard paint I had readily available was this spray paint. Make do with what you have right?

Because I used spray paint , there was not a clear fine line around the edging so with a hand held small tipped brush I painted taupe colored acrylic paint around the edging of the tray.

After I let the paint dry I embellished with a handmade cream crepe paper rose, a vintage rhinestone trinket and of course my favorite little german glitter glass stars from MemrieMare.Etsy.com.
I thought this would work well as a message board in the kitchen or entryway hanging with a plate hanger or more permanent with a lovely saying such as this one in french meaning "I Love you". I think this would work best sitting in a frame easel on a hutch.
There certainly will be more of these coming soon in my Etsy shop. This one though is in California being considered for Somerset Home magazine. We'll see!