Oh, Darn!

I feel like I've missed my blogging. I spent all of yesterday evening working on balancing the books for the OSC. I started after my in-laws left and worked until midnight when Rick came in the office to help me. It took him 30 minutes to straighten me out. I took all dang evening and this was after I had worked on it intermittently through out the month. I was asked to take over this position after she had family obligations she needed to take care of. I wanted to get involved and volunteer some time, but I really suck at math. It's kind of a joke in the family. I am art, history and english not science and math. Anyways, the oh darn part... I missed out on Pam's flocked wall paper packs. They were there when my husband started to help me. When I checked back they were gone. I was trying to explain my obsession with flocked paper to him. He then reminded me my "fun account" has no money. Oh why is he so practical.
Well, all these pictures are from the jaunt to Chuck E Cheese's this weekend. Rick's parents came to visit and join in the festivities. As you can see from the pictures the boys enjoyed themselves.

My Mini-Man is 4!

Is it really true? I can't get over how quickly these guys grow. He's going to preschool next year (he's even wearing a uniform). I love you little guy! I think I'm going to cry now.

Finally Taken the Plunge

I have finally done it! Nine years in the making and I'm really selling my wears. I think the meeting I had with the store owner on Sunday gave me that extra kick in the pants I needed. My etsy store went live late Monday night, my birthday. This has been my dream, to have the opportunity to sell my work and I have at last done it. I couldn't have given myself a better birthday gift. If you take a peek at it, please give me some feedback/ideas you may have. I'm open for some comments especially from anyone that has done this for some time.
I'm really into my pendants right now. I plan to add more of my beaded jewelry. I've got lots of necklaces stockpiled. I'm also into long dangly earrings. I eventually want to also add stationary and frames.

I'm Still Cracking Myself Up

I posted these cards from my early birthday fun day on Sunday. I decided to personalize this card for one of my dear friends Elizabeth. We worked together when my family lived in Phoenix. We were attached at the hip for almost 3 years. Obviously a few inside jokes (snacks, ewok store)...
I used to call her extension and there was only a wall in between us. I just laughed so much when we were together. When I told Rick that the company she started Diamond Business Consulting was doing well and looking for employees he told me, "No I am not taking another bar in another state."

Funny Random Thoughts

Make your own cards here. Just don't be as verbose as myself. What can I say... I like words.

Happy Birthday To Me & Brandon

I really should have a birthday week. I started celebrating yesterday. Brandon's birthday is this weekend so we should just party all week. Our birthdays are only 5 days apart. Last night I decided to make a boxed cake on the spur of the moment and Brandon had a practice birthday cake. Yes, I know they cakes aren't pretty, but they sure were yummy. I am not a baker!!
I spent yesterday at St. Michael's MD. I just love that area. We used to live in Easton, also a wonderful town. I went to a store called What's This What's That. The owner was our neighbor in Easton and I went to go show her some of my artwork. I had never gone to a store to try and sell my wares before. I am just not a salesperson for my own work. I think it was less intimidating to do this with someone I know. She ended up not buying anything this time, but it's given me some confidence and ideas of what to do. I picked up the funniest set of cards from her store. Take a look... It's from a company called She She Me. They've got another cute set I must have.
While I was there I went to my favorite restaurant, The Crab Claw. I love this place. I sat right on the water and enjoyed my favorite, soft shell crab. It's probably good we don't live 10 minutes from there anymore cause I could eat there every other day. My last stop was at Coco & Company. The website doesn't do it justice. They sell a little of everything; stationary, handbags, furniture and home accessories. I got the cutest vintage book there. It's my first one. It's got several operas inside and has the plays, illustrations and sheet music.

If you are ever in the area, you must visit St Michaels. There's a ton of shops I could live in and I so enjoy sitting out by the water.

The boys stayed home with my husband. He's just the greatest. Saturday night he decided they would stay home instead of tagging along. He knew I'd have my mind on the meeting and didn't want me stressed out. Brandon was promised waffles with chocolate syrup for breakfast. Then I woke up this morning and he had a little surprise waiting for me on the dining room table. He had already bought me golf lessons, so we could golf together. But sitting on our table was a pink coffee mug and a gift card to Starbucks. He's the best!

Operation Hokie Hope

Calling all creative souls. Please visit Delaney's blog Elegance. Redefined. She is collecting cards to send to the Virginia Tech community. This is one small, but easy way to send some love and support to everyone. Please consider doing this if you have some time this week.
Nerissa

Lots of Prayers and Thoughts

After hearing the news yesterday regarding the tragedy at Virginia Tech I just want to send my sympathies and prayers to everyone affected. I was watching the news tonight and just wanted to cry.
Nerissa

Weekend Recap

This weekend was fun. It started off with breakfast Saturday morning. I saw this receipe Tuesday night on Alton Brown's show Good Eats. I love cooking and I waited all week to make this for family breakfast. I get my creative kicks from cooking by "winging it" sometimes or adding some of this or that. It turned out pretty well. I didn't see the entire episode, so I was going to try and make it with tortilla wraps. My husband laughed because he knew the tortillas wouldn't work. He's a pretty good cook himself. I decided to use some Phillo dough instead and it tasted great. It was a hit with the family.

Since we live in Delaware, we are getting some of the Nor'easter. We don't have snow or wintery mixes but the rain and wind are keeping the boys from getting outdoors to play. Family members are going stir crazy at home. Sunday we ended up going to McDonald's to borrow their Playplace. We had some sundaes and playtime. Thank goodness for indoor play places!! We also made our way to AC Moore. I had to buy some bribery toys. Brandon had an unfortunate incident at day care and it really set him back toilet training. We're almost there, but I bought these Thomas trains and tacked them up on the bathroom wall. I couldn't really wedge myself in the bathroom to get a good picture, but if you walk into our downstairs bathroom you will see 3 trains.

Lastly I joined my first charm swap. Mary B from My Mothers Daughter is hosting and organizing it. I figured this was right up my alley. I'm sooo psyched! I'll have tons of fun making these and I can't wait to see other people's charms. I just got my first order of collage sheets from ArtChix Studio. New fun goodies. I've been a glass grinding fool trying to catch up and cut enough glass for all the collages I've made.

Antiquing & Shopping Part 2

Here's the second installment of my antiquing and shopping adventure. All these great looking iron pieces are from a store called Really Great Finds. It's across the street from Lucketts. I LOVE the pink iron dress forms. I must have it. I'm going to have to save my $$ for it. I know my husband is going to ask where I'm going to put it. I haven't quite figured that out yet.







The other place I went to is Beekeeper's Cottage. It is a sweet antique/shabby chic store. There are large furniture pieces, handmade soaps, and antique glass glittered monograms. I got an "N" wrapped in faux pearls with a sheer ribbon. I hope to hang this somewhere in my studio when it's set up. One day...

Keeping Busy

I've been making more pendant collages. Oh, how I love these! I'm obsessed with these mini-collages. My pendants are 1x1. It's fun looking for material to collage in these little pendants. I enjoy making original collages in the 1" size. I know some artists make large collages then copy them into the appropriate size. It's a challenge to look for smaller scale printed paper and tiny embelishments. I've wanted the new 6x6 Pheobe and Perhaps paper packs from Basic Grey. They were sold out everywhere and I finally found them. Thank you Crazy Scraps! Another art supply obsession crossed off the list. If you want to see some other small scale art check out Lia's main blog and her other blog dedicated to making 1000 1" squares this year. A lot of her art has images of people and I'm gonna try some of these soon.

Easter Greetings

We had a wonderful Easter this past weekend with the in-laws. As you can see from the pictures, the boys had too much fun. They were passed out in the car on the way home. I somehow did not take pictures of the boys with their baskets, but these are great pics of them with the bunnies. (By the way, that's Allie peeking her head in. The picture was so cute.)

The funniest thing was having snow flurries on Saturday morning. This was all wrong. We were all wearing non-spring clothes to church on Easter morning.

Antiquing & Shopping Fun Part 1

What a fun "Artist's Date" for me. (Just a warning, I went a little crazy with the camera. This is a picture intensive post.) My husband and mother in law watched the boys while I went searching for the barn with the pink silo and black polka dots that sells antiques. I originally passed these stores when we travelled to Florida. I made a mental note that I had to come back. Well, I found it and so much more. I found some things I liked in the pink store, but it was my first stop and I didn't find anything I was dying to have. I did find lots of cute vignettes and took some pictures.
Although, now I'm looking at my pictures, I'd love to own that frame made with vintage jewelry.







The next place I went to was next door. They were brand new and just opened up. I got the prettiest embroidered yellow rose hankie. The store also had some vintage kids books. Maybe I'll pick those up on the next trip. There was also this darling painted circus tray.

The next place on the list was the Old Lucketts Store. What eye candy and a source of inspiration. This store also caught my eye from the road and I looked them up online. They have vintage clothes, jewelry, furniture, vintage table wear, vintage hardwear and lots of outdoor things. There is also a design house, but RATS, it's only open on the weekends. Oh well, another excuse to visit.There were tons of things to look at inside and out. I loved this one room that was garden/French country themed. There were some new stationary/gift type items in the room. I purchased some really pretty sheets of gift wrap. I just can't say no to that stuff. It's getting late, so I'll sign off here. I couldn't wait to get some of my pictures online.