2013 Year End Review

I can't believe the year is almost over. I wish I could find a way to slow down time. What a year this has been. One I will never forget. The worst part was everything that happened with my mom. Thankfully she is doing better now and still has her leg. I hope that she will continue to do well in the New Year and we never have to go through something like that again.
The best part of the year was my Etsy shop finally took off. I found my niche with party decor for kids, specifically 1 year old's. I never imagined it would get this big. I am now doing something I love as a  full time job. I am just trying to keep up with the demand and not burn out. I need to be better in the New Year to not take so much on and make time for myself and family but it is hard for me to say no.
I have been so busy with work that I have not had much time for posting on my blog so today I thought I would share some of my favorite projects this year and some that I never had a chance to share until now so without further ado here they are.

January: Finally got the chance to try the Chalkboard technique.

 

  February: Monster birthday party.

 

 March. Monkey Birthday party.

  April: Custom invitations for a nautical birthday.

 May: Pink Party

June: Floral Birthday
                                                                        

July: Princess Birthday

 August : Turtle Party, Sunshine Party, Owl Party

September:Elephants

October: Gingham

                                             

 November: Penguins for Boys and Girls, Winter Onederland

December: Birds and Ribbons and Bows

Which one is your favorite?

It was a lot of work but very rewarding too.  I am also very thankful for Emilia and all her help especially with the cutting and Rich for taking all the packages to the post office to try and solve the shipping problems. I still have a long list of party themes to work on next year so be sure to check back then. I hope you enjoy the last few days of 2013 and 2014 is a great year for us all!

November Papertrey Bloghop

Happy Monday, I hope your weekend was a good one. Today is also the 25th of the month which means its time for another Papertrey Bloghop. This month the challenge was to make a miniature paper house using the template on Nicole's blog and this inspiration photo

 I LOVE little houses and anything that has to do with them so when I saw this challenge I had to participate. This is what I came up with.

I started by converting the template into an SVG file then I added the windows and doors. Next I cut the base and roof  out of Sweet Blush and aqua digital cardstock and put them together. When I was done I used spray adhesive and applied angel dust glitter. The house really sparkles in real life. I hope you can  see it in the photo. I decorated the roof with baby pom pom trim, silver tinsel and homemade tissue paper fringe. I also added digital sheet music patterned paper reduced to 50%. Finally I finished it off  with tiny pearls, the banner from Door To Door which fits perfectly and a silver glitter star with a button hot glued to the middle. I placed the house on a  square piece of white cardstock then attached more tissue paper trim to look like snow and placed it on my cake stand. The bottle brush trees are from this Etsy shop. I also bought some matching wreaths which I was hoping to add to the circular window but they have not arrived yet. When they do I will add them if they fit and update the photo. ETA: The wreaths I ordered were to big so this is how I finished it off instead. The small photo is how it was before.

 

After

 I love how this came out. I hope you do too. I look forward to seeing what everyone else comes  up with now. I hope the rest of your week is a good one and you have a great Thanksgiving if you are celebrating this week. I know we have a lot to be thankful for this year, I hope you do too. As always I appreciate you taking the time to visit and thanks for stopping by.

Catching Up

Happy Wednesday.  I hope all is well where you are. Things have been a bit crazy here and I never got the chance to do an October update like I said was going to in my last post. I am going do that now along with sharing some new stuff for November.
My mother continued to have the IV antibiotics for most of October. She passed out one Saturday morning after my father dropped her off at the hospital for an infusion. Thankfully she was not hurt but nobody took her to the ER to be checked out. They took her up to the infusion center and did the antibiotics like nothing had happened. When she got home and told my sister and I what had happened we called her doctor and she said to take her back to the ER. I don't understand why then didn't take her there after it happened,. Anyways after doing numerous tests they said she was throwing PVC's but didn't think it was anything to be concerned about and said it was normal for some people. After being there for hours they decided to stop the IV antibiotics and send her home. She is still having some issues with feeling faint but no one seems concerned. She had her third surgery last Friday. This time it was for the skin grafts. I was hoping that she would not need them but she insisted on having them done. Thankfully the surgery went well and the leg had healed enough on it's own so there was not a lot of grafting to be done. She was in the hospital for 3 days this time though and went home Monday. She is not suppose to be putting any weight on that leg until Thursday but has already been doing more than she should, I just hope she doesn't do anything to ruin the graphs. We celebrated her 69th birthday on the 8th of October. With everything she went through this year we were very grateful that she was able to celebrate this one. This is the card I made her.

I got the inspiration for it from one that Heather Nichols made here.
I have been having major problems with USPS. It all started in August when they changed priority mail to 2-3 days on the labels. I have had several priority mail packages take over 5 days now and did not make it in time for the buyers parties. Because of that I will not use priority mail for orders that need to arrive in less than 5 days now. I now have to use express mail for buyers that need things in less time or they have to be willing to take the chance. Last week I found out that express mail delivery can only be guaranteed if the package is taken to the post office. They cannot guarantee it will arrive back to the post office in time if it is picked up even though they offer free pick for them. I think  that is totally crazy and is false advertising. It does not say that when you schedule the pickup. It is no wonder they are going out of business. Unfortunately FedEx and UPS are double the price. I do not drive or have the time to be going to the post office if I did. As a small business owner this is very frustrating and upsetting. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.
I was finally able to make the Christmas tag I wanted to for last months bloghop. I got the inspiration for it from Marybeth's blog during the Papertrey Bloghop last month. I wanted to make a version that would fit a gift card so I had Rich draw one up for me then I converted it to and SVG. This is what I came up with.

I used the Polka Dot Parade #9 tree and stamp set. The to and from are from the Tiny Tags Set.

If you would like the svg file I would be happy to share it just send me an email.
That's all for now. I hope to be back Monday with a project for this months Papertrey Blog Hop.  Until then I hope the rest of your week is a great one.

October Papertrey Bloghop

Happy Friday. Today is the 25th of the month and the Papertrey Bloghop. This is the first time I have been able to participate all year. I told myself I was not going to buy anymore holiday sets this year but when I saw the new little polka dot parade tree set by Melissa Bickford  I had to have it.  I put out a request in the forum to see if someone could order if for me and Linda from NC responded.  After that I saw the theme for the Bloghop this month which was to make at least 5 holiday gift tags I knew those stamps and dies would be perfect to use for the challenge. Unfortunately they did not get to her until Tuesday and are still on the way to me so I was not going to participate but after some brainstorming I came up with another idea using things I already had. This is what I came up with.

8 Hanukkah gift tags to represent the candles we light each night. Hanukkah starts on Thanksgiving this year. They are calling it Thanksgivukkah.These tags would be perfect to add to a small gift each night. They would also make great birthday tags too.

I started with tag sale # 7. The candles are from the Wishes Come True set. I bought that set with Hanukkah in mind. The numbers are cut from the block alphabet dies. The pattern paper come from this digital paper pack.
I hope this has given you an idea for Hanukkah. It is kind of like a Jewish Advent Calender.
I will be back soon with my monthly update and when my little tree arrives I will post what I make with it. In the meantime I look forward to seeing what everyone else has come up with. I hope you have a great day and as always thanks for stopping by!

September Recap

Happy Saturday.  It's hard to believe that it is the end of September. It feels like it flew by. We woke up to a chilly morning and no heat. It is suppose to be in the 70's again tomorrow though so we are going to try and get through until monday to call for repair.
The month started out great with my 1000th sale in my Etsy shop on September 3rd. I never thought I would see that number. This just proves that you should never give up and all my hard work is finally paying off.
The middle of the month my mother had another surgery. She ended up with an infection in her ankle bone. She was on IV antibiotics everyday to try to resolve it but it was not working so they removed about 1/3 of bone. Turns out the biopsy did not show an infection though which was odd but she continues to have IV antibiotics every day with 2 more weeks to go.The rest of the leg is still continuing to heal but the bone infection has delayed the skin grafts. We are hoping she will not need them now and the leg will heal on it's own. The last thing she needs is another surgery. She will find out in October though.
The beginning of the month also brought us torrential rains with a good portion of the state flooding. Thankfully we were spared down here but it is sad to see all the loss. During that time I ended up with an ear canal infection and had to go to urgent care. Not sure if the weather had something to do with it or not but the pressure changes did not help. Before that I had another bad experience with my primary care doctor so I will be finding a new one.Why is it so hard to find a doctor that wants to figure out the problem instead of blowing it off?
This month I added an airplane party theme to my shop which includes a hat, high chair banner, cake topper and photo clips. I used the cut files from this SVG set for the airplanes reduced by 50%

 I also completed this boy version of my best selling girl shabby chic set. .

I used Betsy Veldman's tutorial for the 3D stars but added Gesso to mine to make them look more shabby,.

That's all for now. I hope your weekend is a good one.  I will be back next month with more to share.

August Recap

It is hard to believe it is already the end of August.  The summer has gone by way to fast. With everything that has happened with my mom and my Etsy shop being so busy I don't feel like I had much time to enjoy it. Hopefully next summer will be better.
The month started with our 19th wedding anniversary on the 3rd. I am still out of ideas for cards to make for Rich so I bought him this card from this Etsy seller.

My moms leg was continuing to heal so she could have the skin graft surgery done but she has an infection in her ankle now. She has to have IV antibiotics every day for a week. We also found out she is severely anemic so no surgery until those things get resolved. Part of the problem with the anemia is she is not eating well which is causing it. We can't make her eat though. Emilia has even been cooking special meals for her but she is still not eating enough. We also had a issue with the home health care. They threatened to stop caring for her. They wanted me to convince her to go back to the hospital which was not necessary so they didn't have to do it. Crazy. When my mom found out about it she was very upset and rightfully so since they were making decisions for her without her consent. Thankfully they are still coming but not another word was said about it which I find very odd. I just wish her leg would heal so she could get her life back. It does not feel like that is going to happen anytime soon though.
My sisters birthday was on the 20th. This is the card I made for her. It is a CAS from the one Betsey Veldman made here. My sister loves roses so I knew this would be the perfect card for her when I saw it. I changed the sentiment which was from Brithday Bash. It has been a long time since I made a card it felt good though.

I decided to go with a farm theme in my Etsy shop this month. It has been on my list of things to make for awhile now and I finally got a chance to do it.

This is what the invitation looks like when opened

I love how these came out especially the invitation. It even folds flat for mailing.  You can buy the svg file here. The diecut images are from My Scrap Chick and SVG Attic.  Who says girls can't be farmers too.
That's all for now. I hope you enjoy your labor day weekend and will come back next month when I will have more to share then.

July Recap A Long Road Ahead

It is hard to believe it is the end of July. The summer is going by way to fast. A lot has happened since I last wrote. The month started with the visit to a specialist about my moms leg. What happened at that appointment was a total shock to all of us. This doctor, if you even want to call him that walked in the room after being over an hour late took one look at my moms leg and then said " It's to bad that I am the one that has to tell you that you are going to lose your leg" The whole time she had been sick no one had ever told us that. Unfortunately I was not there or I would have let him have it. My sister gave him a piece of her mind though and they left. I was on the phone with my mothers primary care doctor immediately after that and she was able to get her into another doctor the next week. Thankfully after looking at the leg he recommend that she have it debridement to remove the dead tissue something my sister asked the other doctor about doing but all he wanted to do was cut it off. It is amazing to me who is allowed to be a doctor in this world. On July 16th she had surgery to debride the leg and thankfully he did not run into any bone or tissue and was able to save it. It as a day surgery so they let us take her go home later that day, I kept begging her to let me get some help for her at home that night but she refused. When my sister and I got her home she passed out on us twice so I had to scramble to find some help anyways. Thankfully I was able to find someone at the last minute so we could go home after being with her most of the day. She made it through the night but she only allowed me to have help for her until the middle of the next day. The rest of the week she was on her own with our help but was still very weak. She has not been eating much either. Unfortunately Medicare will not pay for non medical help that is all out of pocket so that limits the amount of help I can get for her too which really sucks. My sister and I are doing as much as we can to help her but she makes it hard because she still refuses any other help and tries to do to many things she should not be doing on her own. She has to go back for skin graphs in about 6 weeks. This doctor is still optimistic that the leg can be saved but we are not out of the woods yet. The skin grafts will be even very painful and will require her to say in the hospital for 5-6 days so they can manage the pain and make sure the skin graphs take. She is not able to take any strong pain meds though. She is getting by on antinflammatory and Tylenol. At this point all we can so do is  pray the leg continues to heal correctly so they can do the skin graphs. In the meantime trying to keep her from doing much, getting her to eat and taking her meds correctly is the biggest challenge at the moment though. Thanks to everyone who has been praying for her so far and has taken the time leave me comments here. If you could continue to pray for her and all of us that would be much appreciated. There is still a long road ahead all we can do is just try and take things one day at a time.
Besides everything going on with my mom I am still swamped with Etsy orders.I did make some time this month to come up with a new Nautical party theme that I have been wanting to make for awhile now. This is what I came up with.

It all started with the party hat then evolved from there. I am really happy with how it came out I hope you like it too. I  hope to add a new theme each month so be sure to check back.
We celebrated Rich's birthday on the 24th. I did not have time to make him a card and I am running out of ideas for cards to make him  with birds on them so I bought him this card from this Etsy Seller 

The Kesterel is his favorite bird so this was the perfect card for him.

 

One more thing I wanted to share before I go. 

Our container gardening is doing well. This grew in our pepper plant. I didn't plant any sunflowers so these must have come from the birdseed. I love sunflowers so this was a very welcome surprise.
That's all for now I will be back next month with another update hopefully sooner if time allows.