Back to school . . . and a craft update!

My "baby girl", pictured above, went back to college on Saturday to start her 4th semester. She goes to school in Oregon and we are in Minnesota, so she's far away and yet we stay connected. Aren't cell phones grand? I remember waiting for Sunday night when my parents would call . . . we didn't talk the rest of the week because it was expensive. Now my daughter and I can chat online, text or call on our cell phones - and of course she can read my blog! Communication is a good thing and help to close the many miles between us.

Now that the new year has begun, kids are back in school and year-end paperwork is complete it's time to focus on crafts. I have a project in the works (more Valentine items) that I hope to complete over the weekend and post here.

In between work and crafts I'm still studying for my HR Certification test which I'll be taking very soon. I'm nervous about the outcome but very anxious to have it over.

Until then, here's an item that's for sale in my 1000Markets shop and my Etsy shop;

I love the colors of this card, and since it's blank inside there are many ways that it could be used (thinking of you, thanks, happy birthday, etc.). I would love to have you visit my shops and check out the rest of the items!

I wish that I could have watched the inaguration today, but since I was at work I missed it. I plan to watch CNN tonight and see the replay. What an exciting day!

Oh - don't tell my daughter I posted this picture . . . she probably wouldn't like it!!

The pressure is . . . off!

This is my first holiday season as an on-line seller at 1000Markets, and as I sit back and review my holiday performance I am . . . underwhelmed! I knew way back in September that I should be making lots of Christmas items for sale. My plan was to have several different sets of Christmas cards for sale and some gift card holders too. I stocked up on green cardstock and sat and thought, and thought, and then I thought some more. Try as I might I could not come up with any ideas!

I moved on and worked on other things, waiting for the Christmas creative block to clear, but every time I tried to come up with ideas I came up short. I tend to be a procrastinator and work well under pressure, but I really wanted to have Christmas items for sale early. I did eventually come up with some cute gift tags and mini cards, but that was it.

Now that the holidays are upon us and it's too late to for Christmas cards for this year, I feel free to move on and make other items and suddenly I'm full of ideas! Some of my ideas are even Christmas related - how irritating is that?? Tonight I've been working on some birthday and thank you cards and the ideas just came to me in no time at all. I guess the pressure of making the perfect Christmas cards got the best of me. Next year I'm going to get started earlier, and hopefully I won't suffer the same creative block I faced this year.

Let it Snow card

One of the cards I made over the weekend is the snowman card pictured here. It would work well as a holiday thank you card, or just to send a note to a friend. It features the cutest little snowman which has been attached using pop-up adhesive so that he really stands out. You can purchase this card in my 1000Markets shop.

Happy Holidays to all - enjoy good food, friends and family, and those holiday traditions that make this season so special.