Thank You Notes

You know you need these. Christmas is over. The new year is tomorrow and it is time to get out that thank you note to Great Aunt so and so before she gets upset that you didn't send one.

We seem to have forgotten about these in this day of emails, twitter and blogs. I've always sent them. Even before I made cards, I sent them. I think it is important as well as kind. I also think it is becoming a lost art. Don't get me wrong, I love, love, love the internet. Always will. But, you will never find me sending an e-card or a thank you over the internet instead of a proper paper card or thank you. I also still write notes and letters. Yup, I'm one of them. I guess it makes sense seeing as how I have a card shop, love paper and collect pens. But I think there is a grace and respect in a hand written thank you for a gift that you just cannot convey over an email.

So, this is the first in a line of Thank You card sets in my shop that you will find. There will be more in the next week or so as I make more to put in there as well as for me to send for my own Christmas gifts.

Happy New Year and be safe everyone!

First Trip Away

Duckie. Check!

Color wonder markers. Check!

Cars. Check!

Leapster. Check!

Ok, mommy, I'm ready to go!

Stasiu, my 4 year old is taking his first trip away from mommy. He is going with Nana to visit Mimi, Uncle Tim and Cousin Isaac in Virginia. He was so excited last night he was bouncing on the bed as I packed his suitcase. He wanted to make sure he had all his favorite toys. He cousin, I'm sure, will have tons of good toys and books, but Stasiu didn't want to leave without a few favorites.

They left early this morning and will be back in about a week. Mommy will get plenty done around the house. Plenty done on the shop. Plenty of snuggles with the baby. Plenty of time missing Stas.

But, he will have a blast.

Blog Candy--Cosmo Cricket Giveaway

How would you like to win $150 worth of Cosmo Cricket stuff? Do I have your attention now? Well, hop on over to Life as Lou's blog and enter to win. She has collected a huge amount from Cosmo Cricket as well as some from her stash. You have until January 2nd to enter.

Christmas Bird Candles

This is one of the crafty gifts I made for Christmas. I actually made it on Christmas day. I know, I cheated, but I got these beautiful bird stamps in my stocking and had to use them instead of what I was planning on using. I picked up some decent candles at Target and they came with the leather rope and wooden bead--I think they added to the candle look so I kept them on. One thing I did learn by accident was if the candle has a rougher finish the stamped image actually goes on a bit better than if the finish is smoother. I've made these several times and had always used smooth candles. The rougher ones just produce a better finish.

I then turned the candle over and stamped a floral image on. I'm very pleased with how they turned out. I think I may add these to my shop.

Christmas

Dude! I got a Dell!

So, I have been using a desktop for a few years now. It is nice, but makes it kind of difficult to snatch computer time. It is in my craft room on the second floor and I get to hop on either during nap time or when someone is home with the kids. My craft room is also spill over guest space and is occupied from time to time (like now) so my time on my computer is also limited.

I have been telling my husband that when the kids are old enough to have their own, I'd like to get a laptop then give them my desktop to put in the "common room" for them to start using. They aren't old enough yet, but he got me one anyway!

The funny story behind that is he asked me one day about a month or so ago if I wanted a smartphone or a laptop. I said laptop. Then I IM'd my friend Molly the same question to which she answered, laptop, laptop, laptop. Mostly because we don't actually talk on the phone, we IM all day. Most of my friends and I IM or email to talk to one another. Plus there's the etsy shop, artifire shop, blog and all the ohter things I do. As a joke, he texted her asking what to get me for Christmas. She of course said laptop, thinking he really wanted to know. She had no idea I was standing there just having fun with her and feeding him responses. Anyway, she told me later saying how she put the idea in in his head... Cute!

So, I was awake before the chickens again this morning. I should sleep tonight--I took my last dose of prednisone last night so hopefully it will be out of my system and I will sleep like I should. I got up, loaded firefox and a few other applications and am sitting at my kitchen table enjoying myself. When my husband gave it to me, he joked it didn't come with tech support--ha ha! My guru will hopefully work on it some while I'm out shopping today.

Still have to get the IM up and running though...


Merry Christmas!

My Boys

Every year for Christmas, I get the boys pictures taken and give them to the grandparents. It's expected. I once asked if I pictured them out. I received furious head shaking and was told NEVER! Ok, good. So, we usually go to Picture People or somewhere like that and I'm usually pretty happy.

This year, through my friend Katie , I met a photographer who also is joining our mom's group. She is Uh-Mazing! Let me explain just how hard she worked.

On the first day we went to the park with a very
non-cooperative baby. He saw stairs. He wanted to climb stairs. And. Nothing. Else. The air was cool and crisp and my 4 year old turned into a puppy and decided it was playtime instead. Still, she got some great shots.

The next day we went to Furman University. It is a beautiful campus and there are no stairs! The baby was cranky but not climbing the stairs. We had to have been there for over 2 hours getting shots of these two guys. She was so patient with them and it seemed like her camera was always going.

In the end, the results were breathtaking! We gave the parents matted 8x10s of the top shot. The best, best item is the cd. This was Jen's idea. She took all the shots and put them on a cd. "What a Wonderful World" by Louie Armstrong is playing. I watched it the first time with my mom and my friend Jennie. We got teary. Heck, I'm tearing up now thinking about it. It's beautiful, it really is.


So, if you are in the Greenville, SC area, her name is Jen Rogers and you should really check her out!

Blog Candy Alert

One of the blogs I follow is Stampin' With Di. She has a very fun site and designs for Hanna Stamps and Molly Stamps. Well, she has a HUGE blog candy giveaway going on right now. This one is good till Friday, so be sure to enter. It includes a Snail refill, Sakura Quickie Glue Pen, a Stampin' Up! Decor Elements Applicator Tool , Bold Bright Brads, a roll of Alpine Felt Ribbon, Assorted Die Cuts, Hand Stamped Cards, A pack of 6x6 Patterns Pack of DSP, plus 3 stamp sets: Organic Grace, Best Yet, and Spring Song.

All you have to do is head to her blog and leave a comment about your New Year's resolution for stamping. She will use a random generator to pull a winner out!

Good Luck!

Hubby's Christmas Present

My husband, Chris, is a great guy. He is an especially great dad.

Two summers ago, we painted nearly our entire house except for his office, our bedroom, bathroom and my office. While I was in Florida with the kids, he finished our bedroom (insert "awwww" here) and we are just trying to decide now how we are going to finish our bath and I am still undecided on my office.

We had a color picked out for his office. We've had it since we painted the entire house. It is to be the
same green as the dining room. We just never got around to it. I knew Chris wouldn't. You see, if he has a free Saturday, he is doing something for me like fixing something or watching the kids all day so I can do something. Or he is playing with his boys 4 and 16 months. He loves to just spend all day with his kids. He is that kind of dad--the best kind.

So, I decided that his big gift from me would be to finish his office. I hired Super Jim, our handyman to paint and move all the heavy crap--and there was a LOT of crap. He started early yesterday and is coming back today to finish. I have a couple more surprises in store for the office, but that will have to wait till Chris sees it. Did I also mention he also reads my blog?

He's a great guy, isn't he?









This is part of the dining room. We have company and can't eat here yet!













One coat up!! Isn't it wonderful??

Christmas Cards and the Lost List

For various reasons, these cards didn't make it to my shop. These and styles from my shop are getting sent out to family and friends as soon as I find my list. My list, you may ask? Well, I finally whittled it down from the 80+ post wedding list I had been doing the last 6 years. Yes, they were all handmade last year. This year I am only sending out to those that have to get them (close friends and family) and to those we normally swap cards with. I am down to a respectable, and manageable 38ish.


Except I sat at the kitchen table with my husband,made and amended the list. And now I can't find it. Woops. I am hoping it went to the recycle bin tucked under some newspapers. As soon as the family is awake, you know where I'll be--in the garage digging through the recycle bin like a crazy lady.

Teacher Gifts

For the first time, I made teacher gifts. My oldest is 4 and we just love his school and his preschool teachers. He is in a wonderful program and is thriving and loves going to school. I pulled the idea from my my shop but used different papers and added the pens.

For the pens, I didn't want any white showing from the background paper so I basically designed it myself by sponging and stamping it. I think it looks much better darker and without any white showing through. Plus I wanted it to match the post-it-note holder. I've seen bic pens used for these but I use the RSVP pens. Its more work, but I think its a better pen. It writes better and being a pen and paper junkie myself, it's something I appreciate.

The sentiment at the bottom says "the little things", which I think is appropriate.



Their other gift was chocolate chocolate chip cookies that my son and his daddy made. I think they may have been a bigger hit. One of his teachers made a comment about getting them home and stashing them before her family saw them. They are the best cookies!

Joseph's 4th Birthday

This past Saturday we had 2 birthday parties to go to. The evening one was at our friend Joseph's house who turned 4. His mommy outdid herself. It was all based on a storybook favorite of his about a boy who goes to space. She put stars up in the living room, the kids wore their pjs and brought sleeping bags for story time, then we had pizza and cake.

After gifts, we went back into the living room for a star hunt. She had taken glow sticks and the glow-in-the-dark stars and put them all over the living room and given the kids adorably decorated bags to collect them all. That was their goody bag. Needless to say, we've had abut a zillion glow stick hunts since then! The party was so much fun.

I knew the party was based on stars but got lucky with the spaceman theme, too. Hey, the stars can align for me as well! This is the card I made for the Big Guy. I had this really fun Basic Grey paper and just cut out the space ships. I also like adding dimension to the inside and did that as well.

It's been a bit since I actually posted something I made, so here it is!

Enjoy earth creatures!

BNR Buy and Replace Treasury

I have been remiss in my posting duties. I shouldn't say duties because I actually love blogging. My personal goal is to post every day or every other day at the latest. However, we at case RoseBushDesigns, have been sick. The oldest has a productive cough, the youngest picked up a stomach virus and his main goal is to go through as many diapers as possible in one day. Me? I have the trifecta of infections. Sinus, double ear infection and bronchitis. We are a joy to be around. Thank God we aren't sharing!

So, 4 year old wakes me up at flippin' 4 am wanting to snuggle. I'm not sleeping well anyway thanks to the trifecta, so I'm up. I figure I'll put in some face time with the computer. Get some emails caught up on, do some Christmas shopping, buy some books, hit etsy and such--have I mentioned the newest addition (my niece)to the family will be a GIRL!!! As I'm about to buy some toys on etsy I go to the treasuries first. One of the funky things is they never--never start on page one. Whenever you go to there, it plunks you down somewhere in the middle. This time, it plunked me down right into the middle and I happen to see a gold star! What a nice thing at 5:30 am! In etsyspeak a gold star means you are featured in a treasury. Being featured means you will hopefully get more traffic to your shop. Now, this treasury is a BNR, or Buy N Replace. The idea is one buys something from it (that they just adore) and and an item from their shop will then be featured in the treasury. A nice way to give everyone some love.

So take a peak while it's on; it will be up till friday. Here is the link: BNR Treasury.

Red For The Holidays

The South Carolina Etsy Street Team put together this wonderful treasury and I happened to be featured in it! Don't the reds just get you in the mood for Christmas? Great job TeamSC!

Go on over to Treasury West and give it some love.

Cyber Monday

Today is the day to let your fingers do the shopping for you. There are a lot of good deals out there. A lot of Etsians are running specials as well as tons on the web. Don't forget my all time favorite site, slickdeals.net. When you go there make sure you visit Hot Deals under the Forums tab.

My shop ( insert shameless plug here) is running a special as well. Everything is 25% off with free shipping through midnight tonight.

Have fun and make sure you have plenty of coffee!

At Least We Didn't Have to Go to the Emergency Room

This was the first year since we were married that we spent Thanksgiving without family. It was just my husband, our 4 year old son, our 15 month old son and myself. It was quiet and nice. My husband made beer braised shoulder pork, potato gratan, acorn squash and finished it off with a sinful creme brule. That is until dinner almost didn't happen.

While the pork was cooking, the baby was napping, I was putzing around and my husband and oldest were outside playing. At some point my son got a rock. No big deal. Dirt is his best friend. A while later I am upstairs and I hear there is a rock up his nose. You read right UP HIS NOSE. I go downstairs to investigate. I look up there and see nothing. And like any good mom of a little boy, I stick my pinky up there and don't feel anything. I give him a tissue, tell him to blow really hard and tell him we got it. I'm thinking he had some dirt fly up there and it was irritating him.

As I'm walking away, I think to myself, this is MY son, he is 4, he's done some pretty strange things. Would he shove a rock so far up there I couldn't see it. YUP. So I go off in search of a flashlight. Sure enough, he has a rock shoved up his nose. Almost clear to his sinuses. After a couple fits of hystrical laughing and seeing my future with not one but two boy children, I go tell my husband that unless I can extract this thing that an ER trip my be in our iminent future. "I thought you said there wasn't one up there!" he said. "I needed a flashlight", I said. Boy, can his eyes get big.

I find a thin pair of tweezers and somehow convince my son that it's ok for mommy to try to get the rock. He didn't like me shoving the tweezers up there. The rock going up was ok. The tweezers weren't. Now, he's crying because the rock hurts. Mind you, he'd been walking around with it in his nose for maybe an hour before he told us about it. I try the tweezers one last time and he isn't having it. I see our Thanksgiving being spent in the ER with a laughing doc as he gets the rock out. And probably nasty cafeteria turkey.

By now, the kid is laughing and crying and producing truckloads of snot. We try one last trick. We get him to hang upside down and blow his nose really hard. And Woo Hooo!! He expels the rock.

Now, we have a great story to tell for years to come. I'm sure it will come up at his wedding. I've saved, blogged and called all the grandparents.

Maybe I need to take out an ad now.

So, I'm Done...

I had read a post from an etsian about renewing and keeping your item at the top of the pile and how that will promote sales. Well, renewing if you didn't have a new item to list. And, sometimes I don't, so I would renew. The last 4 weeks I ran my own little experiment. I listed new items up to 3 times a day or renewed if I didn't have a new item to list. So, you may ask, how were your sales? How much extra money did you make? Did you find that you were working extra hours, sleeping less, needing more coffee to keep up with your extra orders?

Nope

I sold one card. One. To a really nice woman also named Beth (funny, isn't it), whose daughter knows of my shop because she is an etisan. Does she know of my shop because of my experiment? That I do not know, but I wouldn't count on it.

So, my cards will settle to the bottom of the pile with the rest of the other card sellers who have already figured this out and I will continue to promote here and on twitter, flickr and if I ever get caught up on my facebook page (perish the thought), there too.

What Happens When You Give a Baby a Pierogi?

Obviously he uses it for hair gel.

And facial treatments.

But, there's always bath time.

Picnik for Photo Editing

Part of selling on Etsy is getting articles to your email about how to improve your business. One I received a few days ago was about a free on-line photo editing site called Picnik. Here you can edit your photos using such tools as exposure, resizing, editing, cropping and the like. For those of us, me included, that aren't quite up to par with photoshop, this is a great way to edit your photos.

I used to use picasa, mostly because it was free, associated with my google account and a great way to also house my pictures and send albums to the grandparents. One of my basic complaints, however with it was when I uploaded my photos back to my hard drive, it created a separate folder. For photo editing for Etsy that just got messy for me. With Picnik it replaces them. That is an aspect I very much like.

As you can see, the first picture is brighter than the second. The second picture was taken in front of a window, with secondary lighting and on a macro setting. Now that we are heading into winter, finding days with decent lighting are going to be hard. I can eventually buy or rig a light box, but that won't happen for some time. Picnik is my next best option. Considering that the above picture is the third card I have used the site with, I am happy with the results. I think as I use it, I will get better at it. But, as a third try, it isn't too shabby.

Elegance Treasury

On Etsy there is this thing called a treasury. It is much like a favorite list or an admired list. Someone puts it together and waits and waits for a treasury spot to open then submits theirs. I have had the honor of having one of my favorite cards put in by andreabaker. She did a great job putting such a pretty treasury together, didn't she? So, head on over to Etsy and give this treasury some love while it lasts.

The Place Is Lousy With 4 Year Olds!

This week I have been watching my girlfriend's almost 4 year old while she has been on jury duty. The times have been interesting to say the least. I have had my 4 year old, her daughter and a teething 15 month old. The conversation yesterday went like this with Lauren, her daughter:

Miss Beth, can we have some crayons?

Do you and Stasiu want to color?

No we want to run around.

With Crayons?

Yes.

NO!

She thinks on this for a minute.

Well, can we have markers?

The things these kids come up with.

Bring Home a Tree

Did my first ever craft fair this past Saturday and did a few new cards for it. I'm just getting to putting them up on etsy. Between a baby that is getting his molars at 15 months--go figure--, a girlfriend with jury duty in need of child care and a couple nights of very little sleep, I am running seriously behind. Not the best time of year to be behind, is it? But then again, you could probably say that at any time.

I like this card because of the little cars. They are just fun. It is a wheel from Stampin Up! and since I am a Demonstrator... Yeah, had to use it! This wheel is called Time for a Tree and you just roll and roll and you get different images. So you could keep doing different cards and unless you are seriously anal--which I do not have time to be--all your cards will be just a wee bit different.

So, enjoy the new card and if you like, hop on over to my shop and take a look at my other Christmas goodies. I will be posting more Christmas cards and I'm working on some packs and a new idea for next year.... I think it will be fun!

I Believe Christmas Card

I believe in Christmas. I believe in family, kids, the smells of trees, baking cookies, being together, making dinner, watching The Polar Express 65 million times with a 4 year old, wrapping presents at 12am, and everything else that comes with it. I like this card because it expresses all of that. I keep it blank inside so I can write long notes to those I like to do that with but stamp sentiments to those who I know just want pictures of the kids.

In my etsy shop I am doing something a bit different for Christmas. I am offering sentiment options. Buyers can opt to have all or some of their cards stamped on the inside with a Christmas sentiment either in black or a matching color. I think that will make it easier for a lot of the Christmas card buyers out there looking for choices. Below is a list of what I'm offering right now.

Off to make, glitter, emboss and stamp more cards!

Preschool Halloween Party

I don't have any shop related items to post since I spent the morning at a Halloween party with my kids. This is an annual party thrown by a member of my mom's group and she does a terrific job. She goes all out with the decorations, food, goodie bags, music, you name it. The kids have a great time as do all the parents.

The top picture is a partial of the kids. We couldn't get all the kids to sit at once. Perish the thought. My oldest is the dragon in the middle with his finger on his chin. That is his latest pose.

My youngest is pictured below. Yup. This is the what-could-I-have-possibly-done-to-deserve-this-mommy look.

I don't think he liked his costume nearly as much as I did.

What about you?

Happy Halloween!

Blue Christmas Tree

I finally uploaded this card to etsy and not because it took me forever to finish. Well it did, but that wasn't my biggest problem. I had funky shadows over my card. I took about 20 pictures and still funky shadows. So I go through my check list:

Card in front of only window---check

Natural light (borrowed from friend) on---check

Table lamp on--check

Macro setting on camera on---check

Flash off--check

Okey dokey. Now I know my pictures aren't the best but they are improving. I rack my brain and try to figure out why they just look funky. It is time to pick up the preschooler so I turn off lamps and head downstairs to collect shoes to run back upstairs to wake up the sleeping baby to go. As I'm heading out the craft room door, I go to turn off the light. Ruh roh. Yup, never turned on the room light.

Man, I need more sleep. Or just more coffee.

Crazy Days

My husband is coming home from Gainesville today after visiting some college buddies. I've been home alone with 2 kids and a dog since Thursday.

Current status:

Dog is in backyard running from end to end barking at folks mowing their yards.

4 year old is at back door barking at dog.

1 year old is hanging on my pantleg filling his britches.

Yup, pretty much status quo around here.

When You Put a Baby to Bed with Damp Hair

This is what happens!

Christmas Card-Finally!

I have been so busy, with , well, life that I haven't even started on my Christmas cards. And as an estian, that is bad, bad, bad. 30 lashes for me. So, here is my first. I stamped out a gazillion of these snowmen, colored them with my copics and cut them out. I officially hate snowmen. Ok, I'll like them next week when I'm on to something else. But, today I hate snowmen.

The inside sentiment is very cute for this card. It says "All my best friends are flakes." I bought this set because it made my mom laugh and that was enough reason for me. If you hop on over to my shop, you can see the inside of the card.

I'll be posting more Christmas cards soon.

Conversations with a Four Year Old

On occasion, my son Stas decides to play the "Who is in the Family" Game. Here is last night's version from the dinner table. The picture at top is him at his preschool trip to the pumpkin patch.

Stas: Daddy, do you have a brother?

Daddy: Yes, his name is Todd. That is your Uncle Todd.

Stas: Do you have a sister?

Daddy: Yes, that is Mimi.

Stas: Daddy! No, silly, that is your girlfriend!

Who knew?

Stas: Wok (my mom), do you have a brother?

Wok: Yes, his name is Thomas.

Stas: That's a train!

Wok: And he kinda looks like one!

Stas: Mommy, I ate all my peas, can I have a piece of candy now?

Don't you love it?

Soccer Season Comes to a Close

Soccer season is officially over in our house. We had a great 7 week run of it. Stasiu did pretty well. This was his first time playing an organized sport. He learned to pay attention, follow the rules and have a good time. The coach he had was wonderful. Half the time he ended up laughing at the kids. How can you not when they get so enthusiastic about kicking the ball that they are 10 feet off the field and have to be turned around back on to it?

This is him in the blue sweatshirt. The number 10 was a great player. He almost managed to get the ball past him. You can see how much fun he had.

Earlier in the week, we had the parent, kid game and the kids all got their trophies. That was a bit of a weepy moment for me. I never thought I would be the weepy kind of mom but now and again it hits me. Of course, we all ended up laughing when every single one of the kids were spinning the little soccer balls on the axis.

The same coach is going to do this again in the spring and we are definitely signing him up. He had such a wonderful time and he learned so much. I don't know who had more fun, him or us.

My 6th Anniversary

Sunday was my 6th wedding anniversary. We didn't do anything fancy since we have a 4 year old and a 1 year old at home. Actually, we like staying home and playing with the kids. Since we have so much stuff we do the traditional list and I got him an iron chiminea. His traditional list said candy. I got tons of it! So I guess we will be sitting outside by the fire eating chocolate for a while.

I made this card for him. He is so supportive of my card making it is hard to give him one that he hasn't seen. He was going to give me the Big Kick for Christmas but A. C. Moore had a great coupon and I couldn't' resist. A girlfriend brought a bunch of folders over for me to play with and this is what I came up with. She did something much like this for a Christmas card and it came out so nice I thought he would like it.

I Made the Front Page

I wasn't online yesterday. Firstly, it was my 6 year anniversary and secondly, I was fighting a migraine so I took it easy. So when I got on line today I did my usual; check etsy shop, check treasury list, check treasury west, check blog, check majaba... Wait, I have a TON of hits and hearts. Ok, etsy's counter must be off. I am participating in Etsy Greetings Trick or Treating promotion but that is an awful lot of hits for such a short time period. Could I have been on the Front Page?? Naw. That is for the true artists, I tell myself. I make cards. I like my cards. I put work into them but I don't own a printing press of any kind, I don't make my own stamps and I don't make them from my own drawings or pictures.

Well, whadayaknow, I made the front page! So, I guess I can get that whole, I'm not the front page type out of my silly little brainpan and list more of my cards.

Thanksgiving Card

This is one of my first Thanksgiving cards of the season. Yes, I can hear you now. Beth, you are saying, it is October and you are way behind. I know. I know.

Here it is. I am particularly pleased. When I got this set I kinda sat and looked at wondering what exactly I was going to do with it. Then I found my embossing pen and my copics and went to town. I put an ivory piece on the inside so you can write your own sentiment.

I'm really pleased with this.

The Beaded Frog

A few nights ago I had a Girl's Night out with my mom's group. We went downtown to a beading store called The Beaded Frog. We had food, wine and a great time out without husbands, kids, snotty noses, diapers and got to wear high heels and dry cleanable shirts and dangly earrings. Now, many of us our crafty. Myself, I do paper crafts besides sewing, knitting, quilting and dabbling in other things. Once while living in Halifax I visited a beading store and made something but was not pleased with the outcome.

This place was something else, let me tell you. The selection was overwhelming. There were 3 people there to help us. You could do everything from completely designing and physically creating your own piece to picking up a single item and getting help creating a piece. I chose the latter. I had picked up the center green piece you see in the picture above about 4 or 5 times and put it back. It is a hand painted piece. To me, it looks a bit like a tree of life image. Finally one of my friends told me to get it and get help.

Now being all of 5 foot 2 and a bit, shall we say busty, I didn't want anything elaborate or chunky and one of the other girls, Stellla, had a beautiful piece she designed around a large polished stone and helped me with this. She put a large brass piece behind it then picked out a bunch of small brass pieces. I decided I wanted to make this more of an everyday piece and picked out 3 stones. The clear stone is my husband's birthstone, the dark is my first son's birthstone and the light green is my youngest son's birthstone. I love so much how this turned out that I am planning another trip with my mom.

So, if you are down the Greenville, South Carolina way and have never done this, pop in and have a good time either by yourself or with girlfriends. It is a lot of fun!

Trick or Treating with Etsy Greetings

Etsy Greetings invites you to go trick or treating. I am participating in this week's fun! Here are the rules:

This is a fun, easy trick or treating experience, heavy on the “treat.” Everyone who finishes Trick or Treating through the shops will receive a coupon good for free shipping*. At the end of each week, the coupon holders will automatically be entered in a drawing for a pack of cards that has been donated by all our talented Etsy Greetings Team members!

Below is a list of this week’s participating sellers and just below that is a list of Halloween words that can be found in the listed shops. These words will be found in the TITLE of the listing.
What you need to do is visit each shop, find a listing with ONE of the words and click on the item (each shop name can only be used for one Halloween word). Notate the listing number. (Found on the right side of the page, under the heading “additional item info”.)

Once you have trick or treated at each shop, please contact SarahKatesKreations (http://www.SarahKatesKreations.etsy.com) with your list. She will email you your coupon and enter you in the drawing for a pack of cards!

Here is the list of participating shops...

AScrappyDesign
BeverlyDyer
CapeCard
CardGoddess
CardsByJenna
HaleysHandmades
NYPapercrafter
RavynFaire
RoseBushDesigns
Southernscraps
StelieDesigns

Here is a list of our Halloween Words...

bats
black
boo
candy corn
cat
fall
frightful
halloween
moon
spooky
witch


Happy Haunt.... I mean Hunting!

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A Finished Craft Room!

I finally got my big piece of furniture in the craft room. It is the gentleman's chest pictured below. As mentioned in a previous post, my mom gave it to me to house my supplies. It has many drawers and the cabinets are deep. It is just over 5 feet tall and 5 feet wide. It is about 1 and 1/2 feet deep.

Now, here is the kicker--2 men carried it up my stairs to the second floor. See, my craft room is the bonus room above the garage. We hired our handyman to help us do this. He, SuperJim, and my husband lugged this thing up the stairs at 9 at night while my mom and I counted the gray hairs rapidly popping out in our hair. My son, by the way, thought it was cool-when he could tear himself away from the Backyardigans. My husband had a strap and would holler "Ho!" (no kidding, he really did) and SuperJim had his back under it and that is how they got this sucker up. Thankfully, no one got hurt, it didn't get scratched, fall down the stairs and take out the front door--seriously, I thought it would happen.

Afterward, my husband needed a LARGE drink and a handful of advil and SuperJim was laughing. I guess that is what all superheroes do.

I spent the next couple of days organizing, getting bins for the little things--because there are a lot of little items involved in paper crafting and just finding a home for everything. I am supremely happy with my new space. I was up here till almost midnight Saturday just enjoying the space and tidying up. My husband had to come up and remind me I had an early morning and should think about sleep.

I still have a few things left to do. I need to hang the organizer sitting on the craft table. I still need to paint since the current color which I think is named dirty yuck is not working for me. The room is still spillover guest space so I have to be mindful of that but I am still in love with my new space!