Springtime Beauties

I've had my eye on these flowers for the past week, anxiously awaiting their arrival. Today, the spring sun and 70 degree weather brought them into season.
I just love these flowers! So simple yet so georgous with their full, ruffly skirts and perfect shade of pale pink. It's too bad the ants love them as much as I do.

Catch-a-Cat

A seemingly innocent picture of our corner hutch:


But, wait...a...minute! A closer look reveals what the husband does while the wife is away...

Baby Announcements

They're done! The 100 baby announcements are finally done. Boy was this a doozie of a project. They look simple enough, and I thought they would be, but my inexperience made them a little more difficult than they had to be. I have a tendency to come up with a really cool idea, then realize midway through that maybe it wasnt the most doable idea. These announcements are case in point.

Coming up with the paper and color scheme wasnt too difficult, it was based on the baby's room decor and the mother's personal style. She has a black chandelier in the baby's room and I used that as part of my inspiration. Wouldnt it be cool, I thought, to use a black chandelier piece on each announcement?! Oh yeah, way too cool! See reference above about doability of an idea... Yeah, those little black chandelier pieces...impossible to find. Zero craft stores in the area had them. I Googled, and Googled, to no avail. I hit up my bead experts and still came up empty handed. So then I went to "the city", an hour away, and they didnt have them either. I finally settled on a little teeny tiny black charm I found in the jewelry section of Michaels. But how disappointing, its so little. Okay, I can make this work, I thought. So I added a small matching bead on each side of the charm. Okay, this will work. Again, see reference above regarding doability of idea. My initial thought was to place the chandelier piece on a jump ring and thread it through the ribbon. Ive done that tons of times and know that it is doable. These teeny tiny charms and beads...not so much. Hmmm, jump ring is too thick for the charms. As if searching for these silly things wasnt bad enough, now I had to find a way to get them on the announcement. I'll save you from the boredom of too many details, and believe me, there are lots of them, but I (I meaning my mom!) finally had to settle on threading microscopic wire through the beads. Hmph, simple enough...until you have to do 100 of them.

And I couldnt resist taking a picture of my number one fan...she was definitely thrilled with the box, not so much on what I was working on. But none the less, her support is much appreciated. ;)

So without further ado, I bring to you,

"the announcements"...ta-dah!!

Seed Packet Card

I am in love with Doodlebats! That's all there is to it. I purchased five more files this morning, one of which was DBseedpackets. I love that farm fresh feel (cant take the farm out of the girl!) so I thought these were fun to play with. As I mentioned before, there is a separate image for each letter of the alphabet and typically for numbers as well. So over 30 images of seed packets... oh the possibilities!!



Although I have always loved to color, coloring with Prisma or Copic markers is pretty new to me. I only have a very small handful of them since they are so expensive, so I have to make do with what I have. Lots of fun though!

Cupcake Card

So I had to go to the scrapbook store today to get some paper for these 100 baby announcements that Im working on. Ive been looking at pink and black for so long that I needed a fresh change. Up pops this cutsie polka dot paper by BoBunny. Perfect. So I grabbed some sunny yellow and strawberry pink cardstock and couldnt wait to piece together a card.

I tell you what, Im really out of the swing of things! I've fiddled with this darn card all night and Im still not happy with it. The cupcake image is actaully a doodlebat called DBlovepastries. They work like stamped images except you print them out from your computer. At a buck for a whole alphabet worth of images, you cant beat that!

Anyway, here's the card I was super excited to put together but turned out less than par. Ah well. There's a good chance that ole cupcake will get taken off and replaced with something else...Im thinking lemons...or stawberries...

Antique Finds

Last Friday, Max and I headed downtown for the evening. We had dinner at a new restaurant in town then mosied through the various little shops. Downtown was having a gallery walk so most of the little stores were open late. We love little events such as these!


I wasn't shopping for anything in particular, or even anything at all. I did have my eyes peeled though for something sweet to give my mom for Mother's Day. We headed into one of my favorite little antique shops, my favorite because its owner is just the sweetest lady ever and there always seems to be something that catches my eye. This is the same shop where I found many of the vintage napkins that we used in our wedding. But I digress. Anyhoo... we hadn't been in the shop all that long when I found it. Or maybe it found me, I'm not sure. The cutest little wire purse was just hanging on the corner of a large hutch. No price tag, just hanging there like it didn't really know where it belonged. Until of course, I came along, then it belonged to me! So I snatched up the little purse, as well as a vintage hankie, and took them home.


I filled the purse with moss, found at the local craft store, draped the hankie out the top, and pinned on a rose. The picture below is how I gave it to my mom, but I told her that it still needed a little something extra. I wanted to add pearls but didn't have any so I think she'll add them for me. I just love little finds like this. Completely original (as far as I know!) and pretty quick and easy. You just never know what you'll find at one of those antique shops!

Graduate = Celebrate!

When I decided to go back to school five years ago, I'm not sure I truly believed that I would actually graduate. Sure, I thought I could, but seeing it as a reality just seemed too far off in the distance. As I walked through graduation ceremonies today, I realized how dedication, long hours, and a lot of juggling made this distant dream a reality. But this accomplishment would not have been possible without the love and support of my husband, family, and friends. A special thank you to all of those who continued to believe in me!



A good friend of mine gave me the book "Oh The Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss, back when I graduated high school. I thought it would be fun to revist the poem:

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You're off to Great Places!

You're off and away!
You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes

You can steer yourselfany direction you choose.

You're on your own.

And you know what you know.

And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.

About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."

With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,

you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

And you may not find any you'll want to go down.

In that case, of course, you'll head straight out of town.

It's opener there

in the wide open air.

Out there things can happen

and frequently do

to people as brainy

and footsy as you.

And when things start to happen,

don't worry. Don't stew.

Just go right along. You'll start happening too.

OH! THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

You'll be on your way up!

You'll be seeing great sights!

You'll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.

You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.

You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.

Wherever you fly, you'll be the best of the best.

Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don' t

Because, sometimes, you won't.

I'm sorry to say so

but, sadly, it's true

and Hang-ups

can happen to you.

You can get all hung upin a prickle-ly perch.

And your gang will fly on.

You'll be left in a Lurch.

You'll come down from the Lurch

with an unpleasant bump.

And the chances are, then,

that you'll be in a Slump.

And when you're in a Slump,

you're not in for much fun.

Un-slumping yourself is not easily done.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.

Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked.

A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!

Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?

How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And IF you go in, should you turn left or right...

or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?

Or go around back and sneak in from behind?

Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find,

for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused

that you'll start in to race

down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace

and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,

headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.

The Waiting Place...

...for people just waiting.

Waiting for a train to go

or a bus to come, or a plane to go

or the mail to come, or the rain to go

or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow

or waiting around for a Yes or a No

or waiting for their hair to grow.

Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite

or waiting for wind to fly a kite

or waiting around for Friday night

or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake

or a pot to boil, or a Better Break

or a sting of pearls, or a pair of pants

or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.

Everyone is just waiting.

NO!

That's not for you!

Somehow you'll escapeall that waiting and staying.

You'll find the bright places

where Boom Bands are playing.

With banner flip-flapping,

once more you'll ride high!

Ready for anything under the sky.

Ready because you're that kind of a guy!

Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done!

There are points to be scored. There are games to be won.

And the magical things you can do with that ball

will make you the winning-est winner of all.

Fame! You'll be famous as famous can be,

with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don't.

Because, sometimes, they won't.

I'm afraid that some times

you'll play lonely games too.

Games you can't win

'cause you'll play against you.

All Alone!

Whether you like it or not,

Alone will be something

you'll be quite a lot.

And when you're alone, there's a very good chance

you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.

There are some, down the road between hither and yon,

that can scare you so much you won't want to go on.

But on you will go

though the weather be foul

On you will go

though your enemies prowl

On you will go

though the Hakken-Kraks howl

Onward up many

a frightening creek,

though your arms may get sore

and your sneakers may leak.

On and on you will hike

and I know you'll hike far

and face up to your problems

whatever they are.

You'll get mixed up, of course, as you already know.

You'll get mixed up

with many strange birds as you go.

So be sure when you step.

Step with care and great tact

and remember that Life's

a Great Balancing Act.

Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.

And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?

Yes! You will, indeed!(98 and 3 / 4 percent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!
So...be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray

or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,

you're off to Great Places!

Today is your day!

Your mountain is waiting.

So...get on your way!

---Dr. Seuss

No more pencils, no more books...

...no more teacher's dirty looks!

Remember that ole saying? I took my last final this morning so Im officially done with spring semester. Boy was it a doozy! Looking back, it really is kind of amazing how I was able to handle the demands but as usual, it all worked out.

Im really looking forward to getting my hands dirty this spring and getting back to crafty business. Tell all your friends, Twin Sisters is back online.

I'll check back in over the weekend so we can catch up. Its been such a long time...