New kit and tutorial in shop!

As promised, I have finished my "the journey" kit and tutorial and listed it in my shop. It's a fun mini album kit, and with it you get everything you need to complete the album except for adhesive! I used the kit to document a real journey, a cross country road trip to bring my daughter to college in Oregon. It doesn't need to be a journey literally though, you could use it to document any kind of journey like a relationship, a milestone event (like a graduation), etc.

I used some fun papers in this kit from Scenic route and Basic Grey. The kit also includes some embellishments like fun buttons from Fancy Pants, flowers cut out using my Cricut, and mini flowers I made using a paper punch and decorated with shiny rhinestones.

If you haven't checked out my items on Paper n Stitch yet you are almost out of time! My shop there will be open until July 12th, so take a few minutes to check it out - and vote for me if you would!

Summertime is grand!

Because I don't consider myself a gardener I'm pretty proud of this garden in my front yard, known as the Love Garden. Everything you see grows "automatically" which I think a real gardener would tell you means that these plants are perrenials. I just think of them as pretty things that grow without effort, which I love!

I'm especially proud of the clematis that grows on a post topped with a birdhouse. It's especially pretty right now, full of purple flowers.

They just started blooming this week and I happened to be outside yesterday afternoon and thought I should get a picture. I noticed that it was cooler than it had been for days, and the wind was really picking up. Within minutes of this photo it got dark and started to rain really hard! My daughter had just gotten home and went to the back yard to let her dog, Hunter, out to run around. He doesn't like the rain, so he went straight to the garage when the rain started. He's a bit spoiled, and doesn't really like sitting on the garage floor so he usually looks for a rug to sit on. Yesterday he must have decided he deserved better, because he found a chair and made himself comfortable.



Emily, my daughter and his favorite person on earth, quickly grabbed my camera and snapped a photo, although there was really no rush because he stayed there for a long time. Once the rain stopped he was ready to go back outside.


We've been enjoying the nice, hot summertime weather, especially after a really long winter. I hope that your summertime is grand as well!

Little known fact . . .

Do you remember where you were when Elvis died? I sure do. I was in Door County, Wisconsin (if you haven't been there it's worth a visit) on vacation with my Aunt & Uncle and my two little cousins. I should say adorable little cousins, right Jana? We stayed in a cabin in the woods and spent our days on the beaches of Lake Michigan. My uncle went into town (Ephraim, WI) to get a newspaper one morning and came back with the news that Elvis had died. I remember thinking of my mom, a true Elvis fan, and wondering if she had heard.

I think I will always remember today too . . . where I was when I heard that Farrah Fawcett, and then Michael Jackson, had died. I learned about Farrah online over lunch and I wasn't surprised since I had heard in recent days that she was losing her battle with cancer. After work I stopped at our local grocery store and while I was still in the car my daughter called to tell me that she had just heard on the radio that Michael Jackson had died. I was really surprised and rushed home to catch the news.

Both Farrah and Michael had interesting lives and careers. I was a fan of Charlie's Angels and later was impressed with Farrah's performance in The Buring Bed. I grew up listening to Michael Jackson and watching his videos - what a talent.

I really didn't have anything in common with Michael Jackson - I'm not a great dancer, I've never had a monkey for a pet, I've never been seen out in public wearing a mask. I do like to wear gloves sometimes, but that's as close as we get.

Farrah and I, on the other hand, do have something in common because we were both born on February 2nd. Not the same year, but like Michael said, "two out of three ain't bad". No wait, that was Meatloaf.

Farrah . . . Michael . . . RIP.

Totally Random Tuesday - final installment!

Ok, so it's only the third installment of Totally Random Tuesday . . . but I'm already bored with it! You too? Then it's settled, let's quit!

• Jon and Kate :(
• Cheap table lamps are . . . well, cheap.
• Dinner with college girlfriends tomorrow night - woot woot!
• Someone told me that if I got a sewing machine but didn't keep it out ready to use I would rarely use it. They were right.
• It was HOT in Minnesota today!

I'm busy working on a mini-album kit tonight; one for me and one for someone (like you!) to buy. The theme is "the journey" and for me it will be a place to scrapbook my trip with my daughter to Oregon last summer. For you, or whoever buys it, the journey could refer to a trip, a relationship, a job, a move, etc. The colors are blue, grey, orange and tan and the kit will include buttons, flowers, fun paper, etc. I'm excited about this kit! I hope to have it done in the next couple of days and I will post pictures here. Stay tuned!

Totally Random Tuesday

Here it is, the second installment of Totally Random Tuesday. I missed last week, but no one's keeping track, right?

• It's raining, it's poring. Pouring? Not sure.
• Should have worked on a project tonight but my daughter and I layed around and watched Sweet Home Alabama instead. Oops.
• My sister & brother in law completed their circumnavigation of the globe. Woot woot!
• I support David Letterman.
• I do not support taxing insurance benefits for employees.
• Watching House Hunters International makes you realize that we are spoiled with all of the space we have in our homes and our land. Have you seen a Paris flat??

Random it is!

Catching up . . .

I've been such a bad blogger lately! One reason is that it's finally been nice here in MN so I've been spending more time outside. The other reason is that I've been working on a custom order this week that has kept me very busy!

The order was for 50 birthday party invitations for a 90 year old woman. I was told they could be very simple . . . but that's just not what I do! They ended up being fairly complex but it was worth the work.

The picture above shows the work in progress, taken at night so please excuse the poor picture quality.

The "busiest" part of the project was sewing buttons on 50 flowers. Here's the stack of flowers sitting atop my button container, waiting to be sewn.

I got the invitations done on time; here's a picture of the finished project:

And here's what a box of 50 custom invitations and envelopes looks like!

Now that the order is done I'm ready to work on other projects. I have a few things planned, so be sure to check back. I also listed a new item in my shop.

Pottery

My daughter has always been a crafty little thing -drawing is really her passion but she also does pottery, sewing, etc. She took a pottery class in high school and made some really cool pieces. I was lucky enough to get this piece, although I'm not sure if she gave it to me or if I just kind of took it!

I love the colors and the shape. It sits in my dining room so I see it every time I walk past. It has "feet" on the bottom as shown in this photo:

In other news, I've had a busy few weeks making cards. I've made lots and lots of graduation cards for myself and others - I think I made my last 6 today since graduation is tomorrow in this area. I have enough on hand for online orders, so I'm ready to move on. Last night I started on a custom order for one of my favorite repeat customers (you know who you are!) and got her cards done today.

I was going to start on a mini album kit tonight - one for me and one for my shop, but I'm not getting too far! My daughter has emptied her room into the family room (where my craft area is) and she's sorting through all of her possessions, so I seem to be spending my time reminiscing with her and not getting much crafting done. Maybe tomorrow?

oh my gosh!

I'm excited to announce that my products will be on sale through July 12th at paper n stitch! I'm thrilled to have my items available in another shop, especially one that is so pleasing to the eye! Head on over to paper n stitch to check it out, and if you wouldn't mind voting for me I would appreciate it! You do need to create an account to vote, but it only takes a minute, really! Once you are logged in you can go to my shop - goshery - and simply click on the heart. It's really that easy!

Each month the shop with the most hearts wins a free month of advertising plus $150, so it would be wonderful to win!!

Totally Random Tuesday

Maybe I'll make this a new feature . . . random ramblings on a Tuesday evening. Sound good? Here we go with the first edition:

• I wish I was left handed.
• I have more projects to do than hours in a day, so why am I spending hours online?
• I'm too worried about Jon and Kate to do anything productive.
• Watering potted plants is fun in June but then the fun wears off and it's just one more task on my "to do" list.
• I like sushi. I know!
• I recommend the book Those Who Saved Us. Very good. (I know the book title should be underlined but can't seem to figure out how to make that happen. Forgive me.)

This fall (actually late summer) I'll be driving to Oregon and back (taking my daughter to college) for the 3rd time. Every year I stay in Best Western hotels all of the way there and back - the same ones every year. I'm trying to figure out a way to get Best Western to sponsor my trip. Any ideas?