Happy Birthday To Me!

Yesterday I celebrated my birthday surrounded by my family and a whole lot of love.  It was great.  One of the perks was that I got to hold my beautiful niece Julia for the very first time. 

Is she the cutest?  Also, that hair shimmers red...I love it!

A big thanks for my family for making my birthday extra special.

I Remembered The Date!

My husband and I have been married for seven years today.  Happy Anniversary hunny! 

This year is extra special, because one of us finally remembered our Anniversary date correctly! 

We were married on the 27th, my husband always thought it was the 26th and I knew it was a day off, but I picked the wrong direction and thought it was the 25th. 

We have argued over it several times, I have pulled out our marriage certificate to only find we were both wrong...often. 

We have even celebrated it on the wrong day before.  I'm glad we both have a wonderful sense of humor about it all. 

I guess after seven years, someone had to get it right.  Congrats hunny, you got me this year!  Yes, I thought it was the wrong day, again! 

I'm happy that I married my best friend.  I love our honesty and our ability to laugh at ourselves and each other. 

I love that we share some hobbies together.  I really needed someone who has a love for power tools like I do.  

I love that our favorite movies to see together are awesomely bad action flicks. 

I'm glad that I knew I was going to marry you way back when you went to Kentucky.  I'm really glad that you came around to that idea years later! 

Happy Anniversary hunny!  I hope next year treats us as well as this past year has.  I love you!

Good Old Fashioned Fun

I received so many comments from friends and family about the mud photos that I had to share them all.  I also have to address a few concerns about a few of those comments that I received.  Stick with me for it.

What are your favorite memories as a child.  Many of mine were at my grandparents house at the lake.  I ran rampant around the neighborhood with friends. 

I would go fishing, exploring the ditches for frogs and arrowheads.  Try to catch turtles and find the prettiest flowers.

I would play in the rain and run through the mud puddles.  At times I would come back to the house and be marched straight to the shower.

I loved being a part of nature and growing up in a very natural world.  It was a nice departure from living in the suburbs.  I loved getting dirty and exploring. 

I want to give my children those same experiences.  So why is it that I get commended by family, friends and total strangers when I let my children get dirty, hop in mud puddles and paint in the driveway?

Am I in the minority of adults who got to experience that as children?  What is so tragic about letting your children get dirty?  Now I understand getting upset when the Sunday best gets permanently stained, but since when did childhood play get so clean?

I hope this summer, you are the fun mom who lets your children get dirty.  Takes them on nature walks and lets them play with bugs and catches frogs and snakes for them.  Okay, maybe not snakes, but definitely frogs.  Let them jump in the puddles, do it with them!  The looks you get from strangers in the parking lot while hitting every puddle on the way to the car will be worth it.  If that doesn't do it for you, the look on your child's face will.

Let your child take you on adventure of their choosing.  See what fascinates them and cultivate a love of learning by exploring what interests them.  

Maben wants to go on a nature walk this week.  I plan on bringing some crayons and paper to do rubbings.  I will also bring my camera to capture any birds we happen to see so we can come back home and look them up in our field guides.  Maben has a huge fascination with birds and I have come to love them because of his interest. 

What are your favorite childhood memories?  Have you introduced those memories to your children?  Have you ever jumped in every puddle in the parking lot on the way to your car?  Am I just plain crazy? 

I've Been Vandalized!

I will be the first to admit, it was probably too quiet in my house and I should have investigated, but instead I was enjoying a quiet moment surfing Pinterest. 

Then, Maben (my 4 year old) came downstairs.
"Mommy, come see."  Waving me over.
"What do you want me to see?"
"Oh Mommy, come here."  This time extending his hand out and the sound of worry in his voice had me seriously worried.

I grabbed Maben's hand.  "Mommy, close your eyes."  He is crazy if he thought I was going to close my eyes while he lead me up the stairs.  We reached the top of the stairs and he points to my art room.
"In there."

I walk in and see a very proud Colton, with a giant smile on his face and a black marker in his hand.  He had just vandalized a painting I was working on.

"See!" proclaimed Colton...EVER SO PROUDLY! 
"I see baby."  I quietly die a little inside.  If anyone has lost a painting to a little vandal, you know the feeling.  "You aren't suppose to color on Mommy's stuff.  You color in your color books."
"See!  A bird!" 

My little artist was so proud as if it was he that did the entire thing himself.  I couldn't be mad, but my heart hurt and bursted with pride at the same time.  I was hurt that I had lost a painting, one that I was working very hard on.  It hurts to lose something creative that you pour your soul into.   I was also so proud that my little guy is showing the true marks of being an artist.  And it reminds me of how much fun we had doing this.

I guess we need to do another painting project together.  Maybe we will tackle using some brushes this time.

2012 is the year of...

Creativity! 

I have decided that this will the be the year that I really bust out and put my best creative foot forward.  This last year has helped tremendously.  This blog has helped tremendously.  I really feel like I have busted through that creative block and have more ideas than I can possibly entertain.  I am finding inspiration everywhere.

This is a very exciting feeling.

When I started this blog, it was because I was lacking that feeling.  The part of me that saw the possibility, the dream, the beauty in ordinary places.  I have it back and I never want to let go of it.

I have been painting again, I will share them next week.

I am excited to challenge myself with my photo 366.  I look forward to that and hope that you do too.


I won an online class from Alisa Burke.  I have been working on that and it's fantastic.  If you need the artistic motivation to get you sketching again and the ideas flowing, I would recommend her class.  We are only 6 days in and I am having a lot of fun with it.


Tonight I get to start my first of 8 stained glass classes.  Every Saturday evening for the next 8 Saturdays I will get to create, in uninterrupted bliss!!!  I am so incredibly excited for this.  My first project up is a lofty one, a piece to hang above our new front door (which still needs to be installed).  Here is a peak of some of the prep work.

I will go into more detail on my window project in the coming weeks as it progresses.  For now, I see lots of cutting and grinding in my future.

Anyone else dedicating this year to something special or amazing?

Happy Blogiversary to Me!

A year ago I started out on the journey of carving out more time to discover me.

After becoming a mother, my identity changed and I put a large part of me on the back burner, my creativity.  I love to craft, draw, paint, build, photograph, etc.  I hadn't put any emphasis on doing it and wanted to put it back as a priority in my life.  Well, I did and I started this blog to document it!  I can say that I am a happier, more balanced person today than I was a year ago.  This has benefited me, my husband and my kids.

My creativity is...

• stress relief
• my passion
• a gift
• me

I have learned so many new creative things this year.  I learned how to shoot my DSLR on all manual settings.  I learned how to do stained glass with my husband.  I made a quilt the proper way for my son Colton.  There is so much more than I can't even think of right now.  It's so overwhelming to just think of all that I actually accomplished this year and I have an awesome record of it all in this blog.

As a thank you to all the wonderful people who have found me in the past year, I want to giveaway something special.

I am giving away a custom slimline pen to one lucky person! You will get to chose the color of the kit, the style in which it is turned and the preference in the look of the wood (light, dark, etc). 

All examples of slimline pens I have made

In order to enter I am requiring two things:

• Be a follower of my blog
• And tell me what you like most about my blog

(Leave just one comment)
I will close this entry Sunday at midnight Central time.
*I am keeping this giveaway open until Wednesday at 5pm central time since no one responded in time.

Thank you for every comment and e-mail.  Thank you for the praises, the critiques and the inspiration.  Thank you for this past year and I look forward to many more years to come.

Oh My Head Is Spinning

I have been so ridiculously busy and stressed that I think my head is literally spinning.

On top of my busy, busy schedule my computer decided that it was the perfect time to royally bite the dust and need a lovely reformat.  Thankfully I have everything backed up on an external hard drive.  (I totally recommend getting one if you don't have one)  So, it is definitely going to take a few more days for me to get the computer up and running and my files back on here and all the programs uploaded.  Fun stuff! 

So, please stick with me through all this craziness that is my life.

Mission Accomplished!

I am trading one kind of busy for another.  I have accomplished making 22 redneck wineglasses and a Fence Picket American Flag for custom orders this past two weeks.  On top of all that I am taking off with the kids (sans hubby) for a vacation to visit some family this week.  So, my time will be occupied by getting us ready and off to Vermont.  I promise to show off some of scenic Vermont in the summertime.

This is the new flag that was commissioned by a dear friend of mine.  I will be delivering it today to it's new owner.  It makes my heart melt when I know someone is going to appreciate a creation of mine as much (if not more) than I do.  This one looks slightly different than the first one seen below because I corrected some of the math. 

Since I was going to be busting out all the tools to make an American Flag I decided I would try my hand at doing a Fence Picket Texas flag.  The only thing I did different in the construction of the Texas flag was taking my circular saw and hacking off part of the pickets to bring it into the proper ratio of 2:3.  If you are interested in seeing the step by step of making a fence picket flag, go here.

The Texas flag, MUCH MUCH easier than doing an American flag.  The ratios are much easier to calculate and one star as opposed to fifty.  I'm not from Texas, but I birthed two Texans, so this will be going on the fence along side of the American flag, as soon as I install the hook on the fence.

I am looking forward to some traveling and can't wait to show off all the wonderful photos I know I am going to take...probably because I will take like 500 of them.  Some of them will have to turn out well when you take that many! :)

A Little of This and a Little of That

This past week or so has found me in a tailspin of busy, busy, busy.  It seems like I have had a million places to go and a million things to get done.  So far this week I have been working on 1/2 dozen of the redneck wineglasses to fulfill an order.  Find out how to make them yourself here.

I am also working on an order for a fence picket flag.  And I thought that since I was doing one flag already, I might as well get around to doing a Texas one.  I will let you know how that turns out.  If you want to see how I make an American Flag out of fence pickets, go here.

I have also decided that I am going to enter a photo contest for Vermont Magazine.  So I am selecting photos and need to get that in the mail ASAP!  I am also working on making myself a drop in insert to protect my camera so I can lug it around in my purse.  I am really hating my camera bag.  Almost impossible to carry that and the diaper bag at the same time.  The messenger style camera bag is also starting to hurt my shoulder.  How I love my camera.  If you missed it, I am toting around a Pentax KX in red.

I am also in the middle of a Biggest Loser competition with some friends of mine.  So that means my butt is hitting the gym a LOT more, plus I have been cashing in some personal training sessions that my hubby got me for my birthday.  My butt had spasms yesterday...seriously!  You can check out part of my weight loss journey here.

Oh, and the kids.  Yeah, the kids...I've been trying to keep them busy, happy, healthy, fed and mostly entertained.  I also try to squeeze my hubby somewhere in all this when he isn't stuck at work and we both aren't completely exhausted.  We are doing two dates this week...hoping to catch up with the hubby! 

I'm tired.  So I want to apologize if there is any slacking in the posting.  I never understood how summer vacation was so frantic until Maben went off to preschool for a year and that ended with summer vacation.  Now...I get it!  Hoping to play catch up when Maben is in camp next week. 

My Birthday Giveaway!

I mentioned last week that I celebrated my 30th birthday and in honor of it, I am giving away one of my handmade pens. 

This is a beautiful Slimline style pen.  The wood is called Redheart.  The best part about the handmade pens is that the ink cartridge is easily replaceable. Also, the writing is so smooth, you will never want to pick up a cheap plastic pen again. 

So, if you want to win, there two easy ways to do it.

1. Be a public follower through Google Friend Connect (one entry, leave a comment)

2. Blog about the giveaway (3 entries, leave a comment for each)

The giveaway will end next Friday, July 15th at midnight Central time.  Good luck!

Happy Birthday from me to you!

Welcome to the Dirty 30!

The first time I heard the phrase, "Welcome to the dirty 30!" was just a few days ago by a friend of mine who found out that my birthday was coming up.  Well, today it is here and I couldn't be more excited for it!!!  It's my champagne/golden birthday.  I am 30 on the 30th.  I love my birthday and my sister Julie and her family flew into town just for the occasion.  In honor of my birthday, I will let you laugh at me as I show you myself through the years.

And in honor of my birthday, next week I will be doing a giveaway (after family leaves).  So, stay tuned for that!  I hope you all enjoy your 4th of July weekend!!!