Back in Action

I'm back in action after a long weekend.  I flew down to Florida on Thursday to join my family for my cousins' memorial service.  It was good to see my family and good to be with everyone.  We all needed it.  There is so much left unresolved, but I guess that is the way it is in this type of a situation  It just breaks my heart and I grieve so for my Aunt and Uncle and his brothers.  They are in such pain. 
Jim was able to  join me after all and it was so good to have him there with me.  He didn't get down until Saturday and we left on Sunday morning, but he was there and that was what mattered. 

So back home and back to work.  Before I left I finished my room.  Then we got the futon back in, Jim put shelves in the closet for me and I hung the curtains.  While I was away, Jim did get some of my stuff moved upstairs, but there is so much more to go!  Michelle emptied off my bookshelf and moved everything upstairs for me, but had no place to put it because it doesn't look like the shelf will fit.  Each time I m ove spaces I have this problem.  What goes where?  I either loose space or furniture or something.  Now I have too much furniture and too much stuff and not enough space to put it all back.  Something's got to give!  I think that something has got to be me.  I'll be on the road to purging my stash and maybe putting some of the bigger items on Craigs List or something.  I just hate to have to part with my things!  The pain!   
The good news though is that the end is near.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Soon I will be on my way to scrapbooking, cardmaking and general craftyness again.  Oh, I can't wait.  What fun!  I know it will be worth it in the long run, but right now I've about had enough.  
Last night I sat on the floor sorting paper.  And of course now nothing from my old room now matches my new color scheme.  So, I see a shopping trip in my future.  I will definitely post pictures when I'm done. 
Until then!  

Weekend Review

Had a great weekend!  It felt like a normal weekend for a change, don't know why that is but I'll take it.  Saturday morning we took Bella to a class that was sponsored by the parks and rec department and held at Rose Hill Manor in town.  The class was titled 'For the Birds' and it was about identfying birds and seemed right up Bella's alley as she just loves to watch the birds.  Having it at Rose  Hill Manor was an added bonus as that is the Hisoric Mansion of the state's first govenor and is a beautiful setting.  She had a lot of fun, met some new friends and even got to paint a bird house to take  home.

It was an absolutely beautiful day-the weather was just perfect!

Next we went to the scrapbook store and took advantage of some of the pre-closing sale.  Everything in the store was 25% off and some of the prices had been reduced.  Even the fixtures were for sale.  We didn't get there until close to 11:00 and the store opened at 10:00 and by then most of theBazzil cardstock was gone!  One woman bought over 600 sheets of paper!  (I heard her counting it.)  Anyway, I got some good bargains and then headed home. 

The big news is that I finally got to do some work in my craft room!  It feels like its bee so long since I've been able to spend any time in there and it was so good just to get something done.  So what did I do?  Well, I finished all the favor tags for the wedding that I am working on as well as the chair signs.  Here they are:

Front and Back

All packaged up and ready to go!

The wedding colors are Ivory,Chocolate Brown and Avacodo.  You can't see it in the picture, but the wooden signs have a bit of a shimmer to them and beneath the brown there is a very thin line of gold paint.

Here you an see it a little better.

I also made a few cards:

And that was about then end of my craftiness for the weekend, then I went to bed.

Playin' Catch Up!

I fee like that is what I am always doing!  Where does the time go?  A three day week end was not nearly enough time, but it was a start.  What I need is a three day work week and a four day week end every week. 
I decided to stay close to home over the holiday weekend and try to get something done.  Anything really.  Jim had to work both Saturda and Sunday, so it was a great opportunity for me to get to work.  Bella's dance classes have been moved from Saturday mornings to Tuesday and Thursday evenings, so our Saturdays are a bit more open now.  Being as this was the first Saturday though, we headed to Home Depot for their monthly project.  If you have kids and have never been there, I strongly encourage you to go.  Check your local Home Depot, but most of them do it on the first Saturday of the month.  They offer free Kids Workshops at many of the stores and they are great!  The children get all the pieces they need to make a craft, a child sized Home Depot apron, a certficate and a pin for their apron for each workshop that they complete.  A different one is offered each month and Bella just loves to go!  This month the workshop was a football table or stand..  (Bella choose the table.)

The finished product!

After we finished we ran a bunch of errands and finally made it back home. 

I was asked to help Michelle's best friend with some of the preparations for her upcoming wedding, so I decided it was time to get down to work on it.  She has asked me to do the favor tags, programs, name cards for the tables, a Mr & Mrs sign for the bride & groom's chair and a memorial bi-fold frame.  There are to be approximately 150 guests at the wedding, so its a lot of paper work!  The name cards look similar to this:

But in the colors of the wedding of course, but it is a lot of steps when making 150 of them, but I got that part done.  The favor tags with match the leaf in the small circle pictured above, and I've gotten those cut out, but haven't done the veining yet.  Good start anyway.

Monday was an absolutely beautiful day!  Perfect weather and Jim wanted to gt up and go. Unfortunately, my get up and go got up and went.  I was pooped and just not feeling well.  Tummy problems.  So he took Bella and Michelle and the went to the zoo.  They had fun and celebrated the last day of summer!

Hope you all enjoyed a great few days! 

I'll be back soon with more pictures and some crafty ones too!

P.S.  Bella ended the weekend by loosing yet another tooth!  She has now lost a total of seven-one way or another! Ha!

Expectations

It has occurred to me that I may have built up the expectations of one little girl.  I understand that I it is possible that I may go slightly overboard on her birthday parties.  Just slightly.  Now bear in mind that I am a blog addict and I seek out blogs of all kinds but especially those that are related to crafty people.  There you can find parties that make mine look like amateur night at the Roxie!  Seriously.  But I love to do it for her which is why I do it and I realize that she has come to expect this type of birthday party.  That is fine, I understand that.  It is after all her fake birthday.  What worries me just a little and has me thinking that perhaps I've bit off more than I can chew is that this morning when she called me and gave me the countdown-today is the 8th, then the 9th, then, then, the 10th!!  She followed that up by saying 'GaGa, you should probably start getting the house ready'.  When I asked her what she meant she replied: 'Well, we can't have the regular, plain old house for my birthday, can we?'  Oh, of course we can't.  What must I have been thinking!  She doesn't really expect me to do it all again does she?  Does she?  Here are a few more pictures from Saturday.

Our Birthday Girl

Welcoming Guests...

Opening gifts...

Bella and Michelle

The goodies!