Happy Birthday to Me!
My birthday was Wednesday (I was actually born on Thanksgiving!) and my husband and daughter woke me up with presents and this beautiful card my daughter made. I laugh every time I look at this card. First of all, I think my husband has a bit of a feminine look to him. Maybe it’s the curliness of his hair, or the long eyelashes. And then to top it off, and you probably can’t see it, but she wrote ARMY on his shirt. That would be because more than half the time my husband is wearing a shirt or sweatshirt that says ARMY on it. But she copied the shirt he had on that particular day, going so far as putting a mule on it also, which apparently was on hubby’s shirt too. Totally cracks me up. Attention to detail. (although she put glasses on her daddy and forgot to put them on me…so much for attention to detail!) And I love how she added our menagerie of animals on there too. One of my favorite birthday cards from Summer ever. Totally going in the scrapbook! Check it out.
Summer says if you look closely, you should see that the hearts on the front of the card form a face. See it?
** edited to add……..
HA! I’m such an idiot……..I just realized the reason she didn’t draw glasses on ME is because that’s HER on the card. Of course I wouldn’t be on the card wishing myself a happy birthday! (Dear Santa , I need a new brain for Christmas.)
Filed under Life | Comment (1)For the love of soccer.
My daughter is a soccer player. She’s 8 years old, so she’s still at the point where she really doesn’t know what the hell she’s doing and isn’t REAL sure if she cares all that much yet. I mean, sure, she cares if she loses or wins the game, but in the middle of the game when she has to RUN and WORK to keep the other team from getting a goal, then she’s not so sure.
(taken 3 years ago during her first soccer season)
Our soccer fields and the entire soccer season here are run completely by volunteers. The organization was started by a local doctor who has a love of soccer. It took so much WORK to get this thing going, and it takes a lot of work to keep it going throughout the season. This man is my personal physician, and I have seen how he works who knows how many hours a week at his actual “doctor job” and then can be seen in the evening out mowing the soccer fields. That’s dedication, people.
Our soccer season just ended, and he sent out an email to everyone. It was so eloquent and so well-written, and by reading it I think you can really feel his love of the game. I loved it so much I wanted to share it here with you. I think next I’m going to drop him a note and tell him how much I liked it.
(also from 2005. I love her darling little braids)
Here’s what he wrote:
This season, as always, was one of youthful exuberance, family bonding, community cooperation, volunteer spirit, visual spectacle, and healthy exercise.
In the tumble of competition, wins and losses, standings, ref calls, spectator cheers (and jeers), and bruised shins, the true value of what we do sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. I want to focus on that value for a moment .
Weekly from August through November we gather teams of young people from throughout the county (and beyond) for fun and games in a great outdoor environment. With the help of their parents, volunteer coaches, dedicated community representatives, willing referees, concession workers, all manner and type of board and administrative helpers, grass mowers, garbage cleaners, and everyone else who makes it work, the children learn. They learn about healthy life choices, teamwork, rules of competition, and the challenges, joys, and sometime disappointments of athletic endeavor.
They learn of the transience of defeat, and of victory. They learn, by observing examples everywhere, of positive (and occassionally negative) role models in their peers and the adults. They learn to collaborate, to cooperate, to view it all in perspective. They learn there are people you can count on, and those you can’t. They learn there are those who give 100% every time, and those that don’t. They learn where they fit on that continuum, and where they might aspire to be. They learn the world’s most popular game, and they learn important life skills in the bargain.
This is important work we do, and we take it seriously. We know that together we touch many lives in a memorable and formative youth and family experience. We are thankful for all of those who collaborate to make it work for all of us. Thanks for joining us on this year’s journey, and for everything you have done to contribute to its success.
**
Those words that I highlighted in red above? Isn’t that so TRUE? And it’s like he’s not even talking about soccer anymore. That is LIFE. Just plain ole LIFE.
Filed under Life | Comment (1)Altered votive candle holders from Goodwill!!
Check these out!
I am always hearing about my friend Abby’s cool Goodwill finds, and I finally got to go myself on Sunday. I picked up these glass votive candle holders knowing I could rub something onto them and pretty them up. The little white votive candles already have these pretty silver diamond stud things in them.
BEFORE:
and……………AFTER:
Art lives here.
Remember the other day when I showed these letters I was working on? Well, I got them all blinged up and finished and hung them on Summer’s art room wall. And it only took a year and 9 months! Woo hoo!
Forgive my absolutely crappy photos. My camera is about to throw in the towel.
That’s Summer’s artwork you see hanging in front of the windows. I strung up a thick piece of twine/rope like material and I clip her items on with mini clothespins. I change them out every so often when she gets a bunch of new stuff. That was an idea I got from Family Fun magazine, and I LOVE it.
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Wonderful Wondertime.
I’m a reader of Wondertime magazine and recently I got published in their September 2008 issue for contributing how I teach my child about people in our family who have passed away and how I keep their memories alive for her.
And this is the old printer’s drawer that I bought off ebay and filled with memories of my mother-in-law.
It’s all about the presentation.
I think it’s great when I buy something from someone’s etsy shop or on ebay or wherever and it comes all packaged up really neat or pretty. It says something to me that the seller would take the time to package something up nicely. It makes me want to shop with them and purchase again. In the last couple of months I have bought from 2 people, 1 on etsy and 1 on ebay. I want to share with you what my items looked like when they arrived.
This person’s ebay store is called Barnridge Blessings and it’s here if you want to check it out.
Okay, first of all before I even OPENED the package, this is what it looked like!
Kudos to this lady for advertising other stamps she’s selling by stamping the envelope with them! I thought it was so clever. I love clever people.
Then after opening the envelope, this is how my stamp was all wrapped up prettily.
See the cute crow paper she wrapped it in? I love it!
And then if I didn’t already think she was awesome for the packaging part, she included a freebie. I’m loving THAT!
The second shop is on etsy and is called Haber Heartwork. You can visit them here but I’m warning you it’s very hard to leave the shop without purchasing. The prices are reasonable and the products are fantastic.
What I liked about her packaging was that she took the time to write me a note and earned extra bonus points by spelling my name correctly. Most people can have the invoice right in front of them and then still misspell my name and it’s a huge pet peeve for me.
Bizarre Bazaar.
The holiday bazaar I was in was kind of not all that great, like I said before, but I would do it again just for the contacts. I ended up having a lady contact me a few days later to order 3 sets of my little stick people note cards. Which could lead to other orders. And so on. So I’m glad I did it.
My daughter was SO into helping me organize and arrange my tables and putting things in just the right spots and she totally cracked me up. I didn’t take any photos at the show because it was too depressing that were no customers, but I did take some the night before as I was doing a trial run of arranging my table since I had never set up a booth at a show before. Here’s Summer proudly showing off her arranging skills. The kid cracks me up.
On a side note, she is DYING to have a treehouse, to which her momma says, “Well, why don’t we get a playhouse and leave it on the GROUND and we’ll just call it a groundhouse because that way if you fall out of it, you’re much closer to the ground than if it were in a tree.” Well, when I said we weren’t gonna be able to afford one anytime soon and she was inquiring about the price, to which I said I think I saw a kit to build your own on the internet for around $400 or $500, well, she was all “I’ve got to make some things and sell them so I can make money for a playhouse.” Then she promptly came into my studio and made this card and begged me to put it up for sale in my etsy shop. Does a kid get any sweeter than that? I don’t think so.
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Hello Card.
My latest card. A friend of mine sent me a goody package with these foam dots on a piece of clear plastic. And I was like what the hell are these and what am I supposed to do with them? She called me a dumbass and told me they were Heidi Swapp foam stamps and I’m supposed to STAMP something with them. So, this is what I did. I used the dots as a background and then stamped a flower over the top after they were dry. I think I kind of like the result. What do you think?
Cute!
There’s this cute little website where cute little things are posted and I’m one of the people featured on there for my personalized note cards! I love this website. I subscribe to the posts so anytime she puts new cute stuff on there I get an email. And she finds such cute stuff! Go check me out!
http://cuteable.com/cuteable-finds-298/3933
Altered Candles.
So once in a while I discover a cool blog that inspires me in one way or another, and then from THAT blog I end up discovering ANOTHER blog and it’s like Christmas or something! And the next thing I know 3 hours has gone by and I’ve got nothing to show for it except my back hurts from sitting in front of the computer too long.
Anyway….that happened today and Chris over at the Just A Girl blog is hosting a party. But it’s even better because it’s for people to show projects that can be made for gifts for the holidays. I am always looking for new things to make so I am in hog heaven right now clicking on all the links and seeing what all these women have been making and showing on their blogs.
Here’s my contribution to the party.
I recently got onto a candle-altering kick and made some fall decorated candles that I loved. And then I made a few Christmas ones also. I took a $3 candle from the dollar store and then added my own scrapbooking paper strip and some Christmas ribbon and a cute little Christmas themed chipboard ornament and attached it with a safety pin from my scrapbooking supplies.
What do you think?
Here are the other ones I made recently. 
The autumn candles are my favorites. These were a bit more time consuming because I used Stickles glitter on the flowers and printed out the words on cardstock and then cut those out, etc.
These fall candles can be purchased in my etsy shop.
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