Today i'm thinking of...

Last August, when I went to see my dear friend Vic and the wonderful weather we had that week. Not to hot. Not to cold. No rain, just perfect weather and lots of fun antiqueing, meeting friends (like in the picture below of Shawn, Vic and myself) and relaxing for the entire week with a good friend, her family and beloved dogs. Not that I need to relax right now, I'm pretty caught up from the overload of the holidays and all the work I needed to do....to the point of feeling lazy - but that's another story! It's the weather that I am longing for. The warm, sunny days with green grass and beautiful flowers, butterflies and gardening. I can't remember a winter that I dreaded as I did this one....even when we got the first snow I wasn't ready for winter, in fact I prayed for it to be our ONLY snowfall of the year. In the fall my Mother and I had started walking together a couple of times a week, I was doing some work outside to my gardens....and just enjoying see our yard sans snow and temps below 10 degrees! Alas, that hasn't happened, but a girl can dream right?

Photos by Becky Novacek

Speaking of being lazy, I need to get some creative motivation. it's not that I'm not feeling creative, it's more that I'm obsessed with reading. Reading books about Queen Elizabeth, the daugher of Henry VIII. I'm obsessed with them. I love that period of time, maybe I was re-incarnated from that time??

I went shopping today for baby things for a friend...oh my gosh Target has some of the most adorable things out there...NO, I don't want another baby - but I just love looking at baby clothes!

Thanks for visiting, and I hope you all have a great weekend. We're off for a family date to see a movie and have Thai food for dinner! Ta Ta for Now!

Sneak Peak, Part 2

I've got another quick sneak peak for you. This one is using a new and cool punch from EK Success. And in my opinion, you've got to get them, definetly a must have. Look at these slim punches, the single punch is the size of an Ipod Nano, the border punches are a tad bit bigger - still they are so cool, they folds flat for storage. Think how much easier these would be to store. The page, Explore Nature, below uses the scalloped edge border punch. I'm not sure when these will be available, but I can guarentee you they will be HOT!

Explore Nature

Even though I created this page, it is the property of EK Success, please do not copy it and put it on your site without their written permission.

We go snow shoeing practically every weekend, and for us Saturday was the day. Today we woke up to -14 degree temps and decided a movie was in store instead of playing outside. Thought I'd share a few pictures from our outing.

You almost can't tell which is the child and which is the adult here!

Isn't he cute?

I've been inspired by Rebecca Sower this week to look to nature for inspiration. Can you see the three cool triangles made from fallen trees and branches?

Hope you had a relaxing and great weekend. Back to the old grind tomorrow!

Sneakie Peakie....and a few weekend pictures!

EK Success brands has quite a few new products coming out at CHA in Los Angeles this weekend. K & Company has several new paper product lines, InkaDinkaDoo lots of new wooden and clear stamps, Dimensions has a really fun new embroidary line....EK some new Jolee's...but one of my all time favorites is the three little chickie's border punch from the Martha Stewart line. Something about it makes me really happy....hopefully I'll be getting one real soon :-)

I was also lucky to be able make a few projects for K & Co. to take to CHA using new products by Brenda Walton. You can view the new Sweet Talk Line here, at Brenda's blog.

You can see some images of the other new products on Kara Ward's blog, here!

New Jolee's Boutique by EK Success

Hand Made Embroidery Kit by Dimensions

Wild Raspberry Line by K & Co.

Madeline Line by K & Co.

Last weekend we went to Oakham, Massachusetts to take my Mom to visit her sister, and her daughter. We had a pretty relaxing time, I even found myself having a nap on Sunday afternoon. It was pretty nice to visit, we did lots of cooking like we always do - I got a little haircut too.

Here are a few pictures of my boy with the daughter of a friend of my cousins that came to play on Sunday. She brought her snow pants and stuff and they played out in the snow for a while. I think they had the best time picto-chatting on Nintendo. Aren't they just the cutest little couple you've ever seen?? BTW, they are the same age...look how tall my boy is!

One World, One Heart Give Away

Sign up here for the OWOH event! This is a perfect opportunity for you to win a copy of my book, Art from the Heart and one Artist Trading Card. In order to be eligible you must be an active blogger with a link back to your blog OR leave your contact information (email address) in your comment so I can contact you if you win.

In case you don't know what OWOH is, you can read about it here. This is a great way for everyone to get to know more artists that are in the blogging community. Just a reminder, please comment ONLY on this post in order to have a chance at winning. The contest closes February 12/09, and the winner will be determined using a random number generator.

Good Luck everyone!

Just a quick pop in to say Happy Tuesday to you all...I've got company this week and the boy is playing hookey today so we can go sliding, to the movies and have a nice day visiting with our friends. The picture above is the three boys when we went to Williamsburg last spring!

I'd also like to ask you all to say some prayers for my friend Leslie, I think she needs all she can get right now! THANKS and have a great week!

Poor Neglected Blog

This poor neglected blog, I feel so bad for it - every day it's on my to-do list to work on...make changes to...spruce up...but I just don't get to it. Today I got a wild hair and totally re-arranged my studio. Lots of purging that needs to be done, but the furniture is placed how I think will work best for me. When the light is better I'll share some pictures, I love my studio but find lately I'd rather work in the living room. That does not make my husband happy, that's for sure. My stuff is all over the coffee table with no room for a drink for anyone...he he. At least I'm not holed up in my studio but hanging out with him, right?

My dear friend Vic gave me this award a little bit ago, and I've been lazy about getting it posted here. THANKS Vic, hope you're not to busy these days working on CHA Assignments! I think I have to give this to 7 people/blogs, so here goes:

1. Scrapbook Trends: I love Nat's blog...very creative and she always has lovely and creative pictures of Germany.
2. Bonorama Mama: Shawn is a great internet friend - and I met her last summer. We do a lot of ATC Swaps and I've really enjoyed getting to know her through her blog, I know you will to.
3. Confessions of a Pioneer Woman: You've got to read Ree's blog, she is hysterical, plus she has great give aways all the time!
4. Simply Rose: I met Rose through Vic, she's a really cheerful, creative and fun lady.
5. On the Funny Side of Life: Stephanie is another wonderful blog friend, and we also do a lot of ATC swaps! She actually lives close enough (well, kinda) that a visit isn'treally OUT of the question - as long as my husband goes on another fishing trip to upstate New York...then we'll visit.
6. Abagadassett Art: Say that three times fast :-) Karen is a creative soul that lives near me and we get together and create art, go on lunch trips and long road trips to antique stores and places that make HUGE whoopie pies. VERY Creative and fun friend.
7. Life is full of 4 Leaf Clovers: Kelley she's one of the nicest, gentle wonderful friends that I have. Also very creative, she's the third musketeer in any fun lunch or road trip that Karen and I have.

Ta Ta For now, have a great weekend everyone!