Out with the OLD and in with the NEW!

Auld Lang Syne Robert Burns

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot and days of auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear, For auld lang syne, We'll take a cup o' kindness yet For auld lang syne

We twa hae run aboot the braes And pou'd the gowans fine; we've wander'd mony a weary foot Sin' auld lang syne

We two hae paidled i' the burn, Frae mornin' sun till dine; But seas between us braid hae roar'd Sin' auld lang syne

And here's a hand, my trusty friend, And gie's a hand o' thine; We'll take a cup o' kindness yet For auld lang syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot and days of auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear, For auld lang syne, We'll take a cup o' kindness yet For auld lang syne

My country road after a storm on New Year, January 2008

2008 was a wonderful year and lots of great things happened. I spent the year focusing mostly on trying new things and taking care of my family, being green and replacing old bad habits with new healthy ones.

As I woke up today I've been thinking abut my "word" for 2009 and what goals, changes and accomplishments I want to make. I haven't come up with specifics as I'm still mulling things over, but I hope to get them committed to paper sometimes tonight or tomorrow.

Happy New Year to you and your family, I hope that 2009 is a safe and prosperous one for you!

December, a Photo Essay!

This is our country road on the day of the ice storm. I think there was 1/4" or more of ice on those trees and power lines. The road was a little slick because it was pretty cold.

I met my friends Hannah and Heidi on Tuesday night before Christmas and we had a nice tea and quiet time before the DAY. We didn't have to worry about craft fairs (we did 5 or 6 or them since November) or helping anyone, just chatting and having a nice visit. I made the above piece of art for Hannah because she fell in love with a card I had made using a set of Martha Stewart clear bird stamps. I love them!

We got 18" of snow on the Sunday before Christmas...this was my back

porch before we shoveled it off. It was GREAT snow!

My porch decoration using branches cut off from the tree. I had the family party this year so needed to get my house all spiffed up for the 19th....21 people and lots of food later - we had a great time. Thankfully it's not at my house next year!

My boy after he opened his big (and only) present from Santa. Look at that face....he was happy...but now he's not allowed to play with it until he learns a few lessons about being grateful. I think a trip to work at the soup kitchen is on our agenda for this week.

My Dad has everything in the world, so what would he like?? Money. But how do you give someone money in a cool and creative way??? Make it hard for him to get at it...I hid it on the tree and he didn't even see it until we told him to go looking for it. I loved seeing his face when he saw it.

My boy and my Mother on a snow shoe trip yesterday. It was REALLY foggy on the river and in the woods. Kinda spooky in places. We gave her a new and easy to use set of snow shoes, I think she likes them because she can get them on and off without my or my DH's help.

Boy I look tired there! Must be because of the crazy busy fall I had.

Beautiful day today, we took the girl for a walk. Pretty soon that 9 year old shadow is going to be taller than me!

Merry Christmas to ALL and to all...

a good night!

Freezing Rain and another show!

Just a quick note, we'll be at the St. Lawrence Arts & Community Center on Saturday from 9 to 4 selling our wares. It's our last show (yahoo) and I'm looking forward to it.
We're also getting a freezing rain storm tonight, I'm really hoping we don't loose power tonight...I'm also hoping there is school tomorrow!
Since I've been working on things that I can't share with you right now I thought I'd share the stamp shelf my father made for me this fall. Isn't it great? My studio needs a major cleaning right now....and a big purge too! That's all for today....

Christmas Prelude

Just a quick post to share my pictures from Saturday. I love the way my Martha Stewart Christmas Tree came out - and the banners I whipped up were a great hit! The place we were in was at the end of town kind of away from the hub bub. It was kind of a long day - up and out the door early for an hour drive down there and then we stopped at the Maine College of Art sale on the way home and saw some really nice things.

Kennebunkport was really busy, and the Church we were at had the nicest people come through - and the other exhibitors were really nice too. We did have a fun day, visiting with each other and the people that came through. After a large glass of wine I fell asleep on the couch around 8:30...today was a relaxing day at the book store and a few other errands. Ta Ta for now!

Christmas Prelude

My friends and I will be displaying and selling our wares at the Christmas Prelude in Kennebunkport tomorrow. We're really excited as this celebration got the front cover of Down East Magazine for December. We'll be at the Village Baptist Church on Maine Street from 10am to 2pm....hope you'll stop by and say hello!

I promise to post some pictures of the cool, funky and Martha Stewart inspired Christmas tree I made to display my ornaments. It's much cooler than the 1o dollar one I was going to get at Target, one because it was FREE and two because it looks great. I may bring it home and find a place for it in here!

Gotta get to bed now, tomorrow is an early day and I'm pretty tired right now! Nighty night!

A Quick Card...

Thought I'd share a quick thank you card I made this week. The bird stamp is from Martha Stewart, the thank you I got from Jo Anns and the patterned paper is Jenni Bowlin. I loved it so much I decided to make a few more. That's all for now, I'm wiped out right now. Nighty night!

Hello December!

We got out first snow storm of the year last night....and it's already melted. The snow turned to rain sometime in the night and melted much of it away, plus we only got an inch or less. I'm not ready this year for snow, though I am thinking of my snowshoes and going cross country skiing. I hope I get the time to do some of those things.

Now that it's December I'm thinking about quite a few things.....getting my tripod out and getting our family portrait taken, finishing up all the projects I have scattered around for the last two craft fairs (Prelude to Christmas in Kennebunkport this weekend and one at the Traip Academy in Kittery the weekend after), our family Christmas party on the 20th....and then finding time to do some shopping. Geez. I know I havem ore things I am thinking about - like all the EK Success assignmets...and trying to get to the gym for the treadmill....Ireally hope things slowdown at the first of the year!

Thought I'd share a picture of some ornaments I finished up. ONe is for a swap I'm in and the others are for the craft fairs.

Well, ta ta for now. Hope you had great MONDAY!

Good Bye November!

Where has the time gone? This morning I watched the news a little bit before I got up and got to thinking about time...and the fact that the bad weather is approaching tonight and tomorrow...and then thinking, well it won't be long and spring will be here and the bad weather is gone. wha?? I guess that kind of thinking will get me through the winter :-) I still can hardly believe that Christmas will be here in 25 days and I still feel like it should be summer. I guess that means that I've been crazy CRAZY busy these last few months.

Even though I've been busy with work for EK Success, volunteering at school and furiously making things for craft fairs - I haven't been to busy that I can't have a little fun too. Last week I had two of my good friends over for a collaborative lunch and a lazy crafting afternoon. Kelley and Karen came bearing food (soup and dessert) and I made muffins to go along with the soup. It was a lovely day - as we all finished up our cards for a swap today - here again at my house. Another respite from the frenzy of making cool stuff to get together with a group of kindred crafting spirits. A bunch of ladies (and myself) that used to shop at Kelley's store (and one took my classes) have started getting together once a month. Today it's my day...at my house. I shouldn't be doing this computer business, I should be doing those last minute cleaning up organizing things..but anyway. We're going to swap cards, chat, eat, craft and have a lovely afternoon!

I hope you do too! ta ta for now!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Hope you all had a wonderful day with family and friends - and lots of turkey. I ate everything BUT turkey and it was wonderful!

I've got another card up on ScrapScene today. Check it out for instructions and supply list!! Nighty night...goin' shopping for a special Christmas present for my boy at 6am so I've got to get to bed!

What a GREAT week!

Sorry I haven't posted, it's been crazy here!! The weekend was good, I met some really nice ladies and sold some good stuff - and good things happened! I met Betina Clark from Artascope Studios in Portland. She also works for Lovell Designs in Freeport. She has the most beautiful silver jewelry - I don't know why I didn't buy any but I will the next time I see her. She has beautiful ornaments too! I plan on asking for a weekend intensive class for Christmas from Artascope, it looks seriously cool.

Betina also took a couple of my cards to show her boss at Lovell Designs and called me on Tuesday saying they'd like to have them on commission in their gallery. Wow. I am so very happy about that! I trucked them down on Wednesday and think they look awesome, check out the Lovell Designs website, they have some gorgeous pewter work. Thinking of a few Christmas gifts from there too!


Then on Wednesday I got an email from Angie at Scrapscene that she was posting one of my Christmas cards for Day 19 of her Card a Day series.

I also found out this week that we've gotten a space at the Village Baptist Church for Prelude to Christmas in Kennebunkport on December 6th. Plus, I've been so busy working on my EK Success assignments, finsihed up the last one this afternoon so I've got about 2 weeks to work on replenishing my supply of cards before Prelude to Christmas....phew...my head still feels like it's spinning!

Gotta run now, dinner is ready! Ta Ta for now!

Project for Scrapbooking & Beyond Magazine

Just a quick share today - this project should be available for download on the Scrapbooking & Beyond website soon. I've got a lot of work to do before the end of the day, hopefully tomorrow I can put in a better post! Ta Ta for now and thanks for visiting!

A Conspiracy to Create...

Don't forget that tomorrow is:

A Conspiracy to Create...

You can become a Deputy Crafter for a Crop Scene Investigation. Visit this website : http://cropscene.com/learn-more and register for some crafting fun! Until November 10Th, the site will host daily giveaways and give you clues to help solve a crafting mystery. Celebrate on November 15Th at participating local stores for even more fun. Join EK Success, Martha Stewart Crafts, K and Company, Inkadinkado, and Prism for the some crafting excitement.

Look on-line here http://cropscene.com/learn-more for a store near you!

Thankful for...FRIENDS!

Just a quick post to share some Thanksgiving ATC's I made for a swap with some friends - both on-line and in person! I just love the Organza that I used, though I wish I'd had enough to use it on all of them! I love the old stamps don't you - my friend Hannah gave them to me. Can you tell which one I made for myself?
Well, gotta get back to work now....hope you all are having a great Friday...it's raining cats and dogs here today - please make it stop! Ta Ta For now...probably won't post until Monday due to the weekend craft fair I'll be in!

A few pictures...

and not many words because I'm so tired I can barely keep my eyes open!

Nighty Night!

Here I am...

busier than I want to be...I was away from the house all day today - and when I finally got home at 5pm I was frazzled and ready to sit down and relax, but I didn't....work work work and laundry too! We watched a movie - well Big V did while I worked on the computer...it was good. Funny at times, sad too! Not a must see though.

Some of you have commented wanting to know how Saturday went, and I've been avoiding talking about it. It was a long day for sure, up at 5:30, and rainy - and not so busy, very frustrating to say the least. It was really busy in the morning and then in the afternoon the traffic completely died down. It wasn't a total flop, that's for sure - but I was really geared up for lots of people all day long - and was really hoping to have a sell out and that didn't happen, maybe I set my sights too high. I'm hoping for a better weekend this weekend - it's another fair - but two days at the Brunswick Hockey Boosters Show. It's been around for a long time and supposedly gets over 2000 visitors. I have one more show after this and then it's smooth sailing for the rest of the year! Cross your fingers and toes that we have some busy days!

Since I haven't posted for a couple days, I thought I'd share some cards I made recently. I just love all the wooden stamps I bought from InkaDinkaDoo and Stampington. So easy to paint the images and do pretty things with, you should get some for yourself too!
You can't tell, but on the Season's Greetings above I painted Tattered Angels type of stuff on and the letters and scrolly thing are all iridescent, a lot nicer in person that's for sure. The silver thread matches the iridescent stuff I painted on. It gives this card a very elegant look to it.

Also wanted to share these pictures of our local Elks Lodge that I took yesterday, Veteran's Day. It was such a powerful sight to behold, 200 flags on the lawn of this Federal Style home. The minute I started clicking away the tears started flowing down my face. It was so beautiful - so very meaningful - it made my heart swell with pride for all the Veteran's out there (including my husband). On the way home all I could think of was the news that had made me angry the night before. They had interviewed Americans that had moved abroad to live and now that obama is our president-elect they are "proud to say they are American but they couldn't before". I'm always proud to be American, no matter what color, political party or religion our president belongs to! grrrr, that made me mad!

Well, I need to get to bed, tomorrow is another BUSY day for me!

Ready, set......GO!!

Tomorrow is the first show of the season, and I've been busy getting ready for months and months....a little bit here there and everywhere in between all the other things I do. Last night I whipped these tags up while I was watching TV and stitched them this morning. I love the way they came out. My goal this year was to use up a lot of old things I've had and been meaning to use. That paper ribbon I got when I lived in Washington State over 5 years ago....and the postcard paper - I got at Absolutely Everything several years ago! I'm happy to be using this up, it feels very good! Though, I'm so happy with the way the paper ribbon looks I may have to see if I can find it again...now to remember where I found it If any of you are in the vicinity of the new Brunswick High School tomorrow and have time to drop by, I'll be there from 9 to 3 selling my wares!