Even though i don't get much traffic on this blog since it is in a hiatus status, i thought i would post this. I believe in the power of giving forward and i believe in giving to those that are not as fortunate as myself. I believe that what this little boy wants is not all that much to ask of anyone. So i am hoping that this post inspires just one other person to give and help him reach his goal.

"A 5yr old boy named Noah Biorkman , is in the last stages of a 2 1/2yr battle with Neuroblastoma (Brain Cancer). The family is celebrating Christmas next week and Noahs request is to get lots of Christmas cards..Lets get him some. Please send cards to: Noah Biorkman, 1141 Fountian Viewcircle, South Lyon, Mi 48178."

While i do not know Noah personally, i do know that it doesn't take much out of my day to send a card, in fact the boys all made cards and we are all sending cards to him. I am very fortunate to have four healthy boys and not everyone is that lucky. I spend time going through wishes on the Caring Bridge website to see how i can help because for me, sending a card is such a very little thing that means so much to the person getting it.

When the boys and i go outside we are constantly looking around for something to do, in my case that involves occupying their time and in their case i think something that involves lots of glue and paint. Today the boys were in love with how the butterflies were everywhere for some reason and this inspired us to create some butterflies of our own. While this is not ocean related it is a great craft.

You will need:

* paper towl roll (sans paper towels) or toleit paper roll
* Paper plates
* glue
* multi colored tissue paper
* glitter
* paint brush
* pipe cleaners


1. Cut the paper plate in half (use a dessert sized plate if doing the toilet paper holder)
2. Cut out shapes or just random squares of the tissue paper.
3. Use the paint brush to coat the plates in glue and then have fun with designing the wings.
4. Glue to the paper towel roll, you will want to glue the curved ends to the roll, like this : )(
5 Bend the pipe cleaner in half and glue it to the top of the butterfly. Add googly eyes if you like.


Depending on the type of glue you use you may have to wait a bit for it to dry. I used a glue gun and had pretty instant results.

Spending time with all of the boys at home reminds me of how they differ when we do crafts. Today we did another project for the ocean mural, we made jelly fish. Originally i was planned on making starfish out of the pipe cleaners, but i couldn't quite get the right look. The kids were getting impatient and i was messing around with several of them when i came up with the idea to make the jellyfish. We had both sparkly and normal colored pipe cleaners. First we took a pipe cleaner and made a circle out of it, from that circle we wrapped four in half around the part that would be the bottom. J, my 6 year old was able to do this project with very little help from me; D, my 4 yr old needed some help with the "tentacles" part, but otherwise was fine; and #3 needed me to do it for him, but did pick out the colors he wanted. In all it was a success and they had great fun being a herd of jelly fish and chasing each other around the house.

It was a good day free of glue and paint. Sometimes even us crafters need days like that.

One of the things that i have been blogging about over at my mommy blog is the subject that the boys and i chose to focus on this summer: The Ocean. Seeing as how this has involved a lot of crafty type things, i have decided to continue the discussion over here and leave the mommy blog for things more along the diaper rash and guess what the boys did today line.

This blog was primairly started as a stitching blog and well not a lot of that is happening lately. I am getting about 2 hours of sleep and doing needlework is just not something i can sanely do. I do miss stitching and plan to try and incorporate some back into my life and schedule. For right now i find myself more involved with paper crafts and things along those lines. I love scrapbooking, card marking and whatnot and feel that since this was created as a crafty blog, i can share all of it here.

In studying the ocean with young kids, they really learn best visually so i took a portion of our dining room wall and covered it in marine blue and sand colored 12x12 scrapbook paper. It took about 27 sheets of blue and 14 sheets of the sand to cover a section of the wall. I used some of my Fiskars scissors to shape waves into the top layer of the marine blue and a rough scalloped Fiskar scissor for the sand. We have had several different projects involving painting fish and dolphins. We made jellyfish out of pipe cleaners today and i am really amazed at how much my 2 yr old is enjoying this and remembering the different animals we make. He loves to point them out to everyone when they come over.

Right now the only photos i have of the ocean are posted via my Blackberry onto my Facebook page, but i am working on loading my digital camera software onto my new laptop and hope to have some pictures up here soon. I also want to share the many cards that i have been working on as well as the teacher gifts i made for the end of kindergarten in June.

Today i hope to work on organizing my stickers and taking pictures of my new scrapbook organization, although i could probably do with 4 more cubes, i think my hubby would kill me as he is already less then pleased to see most of it out in the open. But hey it is organized and i think that is majorly important. I was always frustrated in making things as i could never find anything i needed and would just buy new stuff. That's great if you 1) have the money and 2) have the room, both i am short on, but i would do it anyways.

I have been ADDICTED to watching YouTube videos of people showing their scrapbooking rooms and have actually come across some people who also have some great tutorials for scrapbooking and card making and stamping, all of which i love and hope to share some of here as well. I am also going to be holding some drawings for free stuff as well. Time to get back into the crafty side of me because it really does make me happy!

Over the last few days i have been working on organizing the monster that has become my craft area. When i started crafting, i was really just into stitching and have tons of kits and patterns all ready to go for me to stitch. When i started having kids, i thought how great it would be for each one of them to have something hand stitched from mom. Yeah that would be great, now if i can only find it under all the mess! From the stitching it grew into beading and jewelry making and really that has been great. I never have to buy jewelry anymore unless it is something silver since i haven't ventured into the metal element yet. And of course being the paper loving person i am, naturally i had to get into scrapbooking and card making. It is scary just how much crap i have acquired over the years and just how messy the area is. I really need my own room, then i could close the door and hubby could not think about just how much crap i actually have.
When we moved into the house, i swore to hubby that i wouldn't let my crafts escape this huge TV amoire that we bought for them. Yeah here it is 4 years later and well, escaped isn't so much the right terms as exploded maybe since wow i have a lot of stuff and it is everywhere. I don't even have a half of the things i need for stamping and whatnot, i just kinda make do.
Target in our area has been clearancing out their Itso cubicle boxes that come with shelves or doors or fabric bins, similar to the Cubix, but they are 14x14 so much bigger and able to accomadate the 12x12 pads and whatnot for scrapbooking. So i banked on these and bought everyone that the store had to offer, which was around 8. I bought 4 doors and all the shelves that they had which wasn't a whole lot, 6 i think. I have cubix fabric boxes at home from other stuff so i planned on using those in helping organize the area. I like too that those are smaller and so i can put other things in the cubes as well.
So i am working hard at getting organized finally, but really all it is doing is pointing out the things i NEED to buy in order to complete something on my enormous list of things to do.

Ahh it's good to be back and ready to post again. I cannot figure out how to get the following widget on my sidebar. It says go to the layout page and select follow, umm what if you don't have a layout tab? So frustrating. plus all the blogs i had added in the follow section are no longer there and if i select follow on a blog, it doesn't show up. It's nuts. Good to see that some things never change in terms of technology and my blog.

I have had lots of time off and no time to do anything. Lots of personal stuff has kept me from doing any stitching or scrapping, but i am ready to get started again. Sometimes it is good to get away and take a step back from what you were doing. Sometimes you get involved in too many things and in over your head and don't quite know how to tell people that. But i returned all the RR's i had in my possession and while i didn't get all of mine back, that's ok. It isn't the first time i have had one not returned.

This blog has always been a great source of sharing what i have done or working on with the internet so while i had decided to get rid of it, now i am thinking i will keep it open. I like having something different from my mommy blog. So stay tuned lots of updates to follow.

I had a very productive weekend on the stitching front. I spent a lot of time finishing up the Open RR and moved on to the Winter RR piece. I am about halfway through that one. I also started looking at things that would work to stitch for my oldest teachers. I need to put those on deck and get them kitted otherwise i will totally forget about it until a week before Christmas break. I am horrible about things like that.

I didn't get anything done for my Etsy shop. It seems like i fall into a black hole of cleaning and daily activities and i never seem to recover. I get stitching done a little before bed each night otherwise i am out. Sometimes i look at the daunting task of pulling out all the paper samples and embellishments and just lose desire to do it. I hate it because i have so many ideas that i need to get down and done. I am just reaching the point where the 2 hours of sleep i get 5 days a week is really wearing on me. It is a goal of mine though to get done before the end of the year and stock up on some inventory so that i can sell while i am out on maternity leave. In this market we are really looking at falling deeper in debt without my paycheck. I really worry about this with the new baby coming and all.

I will get it done though. I really wanted to put things out before the holidays because i have been selling alot of my cards like craxy to people i know, but i know that it is not sound business to sell what you don't have stock of and i certainly don't want to disappoint anyone. My goal is to start selling next year and then by the holidays i will have learned more about what works and what doesn't in terms of selling on Etsy.

So yesterday i spend a LARGE part of the day volunteering at my son's school, but after that i took to my scrapbooking area and set out to really create. Then i fell asleep. Seems par for the course over here. I am really hoping to get some stuff made on my weekend and get at least one RR completely finished and packaged for sending.

I have made a choice and withdrawn from several groups that i belonged too. One was on Yuku and while i was SO honored to be in it, i can't access Yuku from work and this really does cut into participation on the board. I know that is what Becky wants and i honestly just don't have time outside of work to be on the computer. So i hated to leave since it was a two year wait to get in the group, but i know that someone else who really wants it and will participate more than i could will take my place. I also withdrew from the crazyexchange group as well. I don't have a lot of free time and since a lot of the mailing is overseas, we are in a serious financial crisis over here so i can't justify it. I still haven't heard on if my Halloween exchange made it to my partner, hopefully it did. I still haven't received anything for that exchange or for my birthday, but i know that if my partner is from outside of the US it can take forever. Sometimes i think that they still use the Pony Express, complete with pony! I will miss the groups and the opportunities that they provided for me to learn, Maybe one day i will be able to join back, but for now i need to focus on family and the things i am trying to manage right now.

There has been a lot happening on the craft front. I have been doing a lot of research on posting things on Etsy to sell. I have been reading, reading and more reading up on all the fabulous articles that are there that point out what it takes to be successful as a seller. I think that since my craft focus seems to go in many different directions i will be posting more than one type of thing rather than just sticking with jewelry or cards.

I have been stitching up a storm. I am in three Round Robins and am on track with all of them. I am going to try and mail one off early since i will be out of town during the actual mailing date. I need to look at my square though i think it is missing something. The Open RR piece i am working on has a theme of "Frogs" and i cannot tell you how refreshing it is to have a change of subject matter. I am loving the piece that i chose and i hope that she likes it.

Pretty much other than i am constantly tired all the time and don't get enough time to eat or sleep i am busy with the kids and school and work. I really do wish that i had more time to spend creating rather than just managing chaos.


I want to add the Follower widget, but after reading the instructions i don't have the "Page Layout" tab and therefore it doesn't look like i can add this option to the front page of the blog. I have however figured out how to manage it on my dashboard. I did tie it up a bit when i asked it to merge with the blogs on my goggle reader. The reader is up to 2038 blogs and i think i crashed it because i had to shut my browser down for a while and when i came back it had only added 141 blogs. It refused to do anymore after that. Oh well i am hoping that i get the "Page Layout" option soon because i am unsure how to add this feature to my front page without it.

I hope everyone is well out there.

I hear crickets chirping. That would be my own fault i guess.

I have been remiss in updating this blog. To tell you the truth it isn't on purpose, i have been busy stitching. I just have a hard time updating my blogs sometimes. I talked about my reasons behind not blogging on my mommy blog and in some ways it has clouded my joy of blogging.

I promise i have been busy with stitching and scrapbooking. I have made a ton of cards and i have finished several gifts for some friends.

There is another reason behind not blogging, you will notice a new ticker at the top. It's true, we are pregnant with our 4th. I am OVERWHELMED with morning sickness and have been put on two medications to help me cope and at least be able to get to work. I can't believe how with each pregnancy the sickness has gotten worse. This will be our last and that makes me sad, although after having to deal with this morning (HA, all day is more like it) I may be ok with it. I love the babies though. (* Sorry Carol, I know you said the tickers slowed things down for you, i hope the one doesn't mess you up)

When we first found out about it we had twins, but we lost one. I am nervous about how that has affected the baby i still carry. We have never gone through something like this before. I know that my family has a high rate of miscarriages after 35 and that was the main reason behind the decision to be done with 4. That and the money! I don't know how i would handle a loss such as that. I won't be posting much about it on this blog, i will use my mommy blog for that.

I am currently working on my Little House Needleworks RR as that is going to be mailed off soon. Also there are finally enough people to have a Winter themed Neighborhood RR, so i have ordered my fabric for this and the pattern i will be using as a center for my RR. I actually have two fabrics coming as i ordered the wrong fabric at first, but i know i can find a use for the fabric. I mean you can never have too many pieces of fabric, right?

I haven't had a lot of time lately to upload photos, but i have been busy working on so many projects and hold on to your seats...finishing them! I know i am just as shocked as you are. Here are a couple of the exchanges i have gotten and sent in the last two months.

Here is the Garden Themed Exchange from Chris on the SBEBB:





I totally LOVED it!

Here is my very first crazy exchange from Edda. This is her first pinkeep and the first one i have ever received. She did a fantastic job! Thanks Edda!

As i see by Nicki's comment, my RR piece for the LHN RR has not yet arrived. That is so frustrating, but i am glad that i thought to order another piece of fabric. I should get it by next week since it isn't a special cut and then be able to get it in the mail to Nicki. I wonder how much some sort of Priority Delivery costs to her? Hmmm. If not a lot i will send it that way, we are strapped for cash due to the inevitable surgery for tubes that awaits my soon to be 1 year old and then my oldest has a tube coming out so we may have to do a second surgery for him.

I didn't get a chance to stitch on anything today. I have been dealing with cranky sick kids so i haven't had any me time today. Hopefully tomorrow.

Thanks for letting me know though, Nicki!

I have made a lot of progress today on Villa Mirabilia. I just have her hair left. Although i just noticed that i left off her arm. My goodness thank goodness i noticed that before i sent it off. How embarrassing that would of been!

I have ordered another piece of fabric for the LHN RR piece that was mine and i sent to Nicki. I don't know that she has gotten it yet and i want to make sure that should i need to resend or redo it, i wouldn't need to hold it up since i didn't have another piece of fabric to fit the measurements i needed.

That's pretty much it on the craft front. The mommy side is pretty much taking up a lot of my time lately.

Today was a pretty good day in the land of stitching. I got a huge amount done on Villa Mirabilia and should be done with this in another day.

I also got in the fabric that i needed for the HAED RR. I had ordered and received a piece of fabric at the beginning of the year, but i didn't use my head and ordered a piece that is too small. No biggy because i can always use more hand dyed fabric. Who can't?

I am still hoping that a few more people will sign up for the HAED RR as we have had one drop out. I know that i have slots for at least 8 people to stitch on my piece so we need a few more people to come by the BB and sign up!

We also need people to sign up for the Winter Themed Neighborhood as well. There are only 4 of us signed up so far and that doesn't make for a very big neighborhood now does it?

I have to train tonight at work so i will not really get much in the way of stitching done tonight. Hopefully though i can get this piece in the mail to Jenn on Monday and then start the LHN RR piece. I am a bit worried about my original piece that i sent to Nicki, i hasn't arrived the last time i checked. Fingers crossed it gets there soon. That is one of the reasons i am going to stitch like crazy on the one i have now so i can get it in the mail early for her to have.

I spent so much time cleaning today that i haven't gotten anything else done. I did get an e-mail out to Edgar about the SB exchange since i haven't heard from my partner that she received her gift.

I am hoping to get a few stitches in on the Mira RR piece before bed. My eyes are mighty tired though.

Today i mainly worked on Villa Mirabilia for the Mira RR. I want to get this in the mail by at least Wednesday to Jenn so that she can get it back to Diane. Jenn is WAY faster at stitching than i am, but i am plodding along and am 3/4 of the way done. I always get bogged down in the hair. All those browns, yech!

Next i will work on the LHN RR piece i have. I am down to deciding between two charts and i have the threads for both. I haven't heard from Nicki yet on my piece, i sure hope it gets there soon! Hopefully i will have this piece done in a short period of time and be able to mail it early to Nicki since it seems to take a little bit to get to her. I don't mail outside of the US much so each time is a learning experience.

I am also gathering materials up to make two quilts for the boys new twin beds. They don't like to be covered up, but it looks silly for them to just have sheets on their beds. J wants a Spongebob quilt and D wants Cars. *sigh* i am tossing a few ideas around in my head to get these accomplished without costing a fortune since i am sure their tastes will change in a few years. I will eventually do basic quilts for their beds that just involve colors and no characters.

While i have not been posting much here, I have been getting things done.

Here is an update on where things are at this time.

* Mirabilia RR - I have Diane's and i am almost finished with it, i am stitching Villa Mirabilia on it
* LHN RR - Mine piece has been sent to Nicki and i have my first one to stitch on.
* Winter themed RR - I have no idea what is going on with this one. There have been no posts in the forum for a month and at that time we didn't have enough people to get it going. I have my fabric and chart however, so i am just waiting.
* HAED RR - I did e-mail Nicki about this a little while back and i heard back from her in regards to it still being in the works, but i am not sure if it is still on track for May or not. I have the chart i plan on doing and am waiting on the fabric. I ordered the wrong size last time.
* Garden Exchange - I have the chart and items for this. I haven't started it, but it is not mailing out until May 1.
* Crazy Exchange B-Day - I am doing a piece for someone who missed out on getting something for their birthday
* Crazy Exchange Exchange piece - i am working on my first one. I have been a member for a bit and have yet to have anyone initiate an exchange with me. I am hoping that this is normal and not some sort of weird clique thing.
* Birthday Exchange - I sent my partner off her exchange sometime ago and have yet to hear if she received it. I need to e-mail Edgar about this one. It was my first time mailing to that country.

I have found a piece for my niece i believe that i am going to do for her room. I have yet to find a sampler for her, but i may just do this chart and then put all her details on it instead of a traditional sampler. It may work out better.

There are still a million other projects i want to get done and off the ground, but i am making good progress on all the commitments i have made for the year.

As promised here are pictures of the exchanges i sent out. This first one is the package i sent my fob exchange partner, Paula. The design is a freebie, i will post a link to the blog that has them when i am back at work. I don't have any of that information on my home laptop. Sorry the pictures are horrible of the fob. I think that they are a little better if you click on them.




This is the piece i sent for the Frosty Friends Exchange on the SBEBB. It is from Cross My Heart's "Meran Button Pillow" chart.

Sorry for the lack of posting lately, I am battling a sinus infection and it is just making my life snotty and fuzzy. As long as i don't look down or left or right i am fine though. I thought i would do a recap of sorts of what projects i have going on. Mainly for me, but you are all welcome to view it.

Stitching on:
* SB Birthday Exchange piece (my partner's birthday is in March)
* LHN RR, blocking out the sections for everyone (not sure that i will get the border on it as i still haven't decided how i want to finish it)
* Crazy Exchange (this is my first time picking someone to stitch for, i got the name a week ago)

Next up:
* Mirabilia RR piece (i have the next one and have picked the pattern for it)
* Crazy Exchange Birthday Piece replacement ( I have yet to see the person i sent the package to probably 6 weeks ago post that she received it and i have asked the mods to check on if she had gotten it. No word though.)
* HAED RR (waiting on the fabric and a couple of charts)
* Garden Exchange (mails in May and i received my partner from Becky)

Undecided:
* Pinkeep Exchange (Signups are open on the HoE)


I think (hope) i covered everything. It feels like a lot, but i think that is because i haven't been up to tackling a lot of the stitching because the pressure in my head is almost unbearable. I hope to post photos of the other exchanges soon as i see they haven't been posted yet.

I see on the HoE blog that Paula has received (finally) the fob that i sent her. I really had fun stitching the piece for her and found out that i need to practice the finishing part a bit more. I was pleased with how it turned out. If Paula doesn't post a picture in a few days then i will post one that i took right before i mailed it out.

I also heard that my Frosty Friends piece arrived (again finally) to my partner Melissa. I loved this design and really wanted to finish it into a pillow as shown on the cover of the chart, Meran Button Pillows by Cross My Heart, but I was unable to find fabric that i liked for that. I like the way i wound finishing it as a small wall hanging piece. If Melissa doesn't post photos i will post the ones i took before i sent it out.

I don't get a lot of opportunities during my work week to post photos of the things i have been working on just because i have to get my laptop out, pull the pictures off my camera and then post them. When i am trying to keep the kids from destroying the house it unfortunately gets lost in the shuffle. I am trying to do better though.

I didn't get a picture of the Mirabilia RR piece i finished before i sent it to Jenn, but it is on its way to her now, a little late, but i did let her know that. I love the Mirabilia RR's because it gives me an opportunity to stitch parts of all these designs i have and see how i like them. Plus people pick the most amazing fabrics and it is fun to see how a design looks against it. I went ahead and re-stitched "Midsummer's Night Fairy" for the one i sent because i just didn't have enough of the fibers needed for the other design. Since i was already behind it wasn't fair to hold it up any longer. You can bet i was smacking myself for frogging all my progress before. But it actually turned out better than i thought it would. I was pleased with the end result. We are nearing the end of this RR. There are a few murmurs that maybe a Round #3 may be in the works and if so i am really on the fence about it. I have a piece that i sent out for the first Mirabilia RR that has 9 squares to be done on it. I think originally the group was going to be 12 people and then someone else joined and Jenn broke it down into 2 groups, not however before i went ahead and stitched the squares for all of them. Which was fine by me because i have several friends that i have been planning to ask to fill in the other squares. I got it sent off to one friend and she is sending it back to me now as she just never got around to working on it. So i might join in to get the others squares filled out. I have to be careful though, i have a few other RR's in the start up stages and i want to make sure to not overextend myself. The bonus for this piece is that it is already blocked out and the cover letter is done for it.

I am just waiting now for the patterns for the LHN RR that has its first mailing in March. I am sending specific patterns along as i am going to finish this piece for my kitchen and i don't want people to have to buy any charts just for my piece.

I have also signed up for the Garden Exchange on SBEBB. I love flowers and am excited about this exchange. There are so many possibilities. I am just sad that the area i live in is in an extreme drought state, it is said that by June 08 our area will be out of water, the main water source is so low you can walk across the whole thing. That is virtually unheard of. It is a bit scary and they have gone to Stage 2 water restrictions, so no outdoor watering this year.