This Is Too Funny

Just a short post today. I'm photographing and listing items mostly today and then I'm off to finish my organizing spree!

I saw this clutch on etsy this morning and I just thought that it was too cute and had to share.

She has other animal clutches as well as coin purses and card holders. What fun things to make!

Finally Some New Pocket Albums!

I finally finished some new pocket albums and I'm so excited to get them listed. This is the first one that I listed earlier this morning. I love this paper and the fact that the roses are dry embossed I think is just fabulous!

I have 7 more patterns to list and I'll be listing them over the course of the next three days. I found some really great papers a few weekends ago in Maryland and I've been working as quickly as possible to get them finished.

I'm also working on some Christmas cards for my shop. I was just going to make single cards originally but then I decided to do some sets. I have this set listed currently and I am working on finishing up another set or two tonight. This was just going to be a single card but after I finished it I loved the embossing and the overall look so much that I decided to do it as a set of four. I know that people don't always want to send hand-made cards to everyone on their list but I thought for four special people that would appreciate them, these cards would be spectacular.

First Christmas Card

So I just finished my first Christmas card of the year. It only took me about 2 hours. I'm so indecisive when it comes to these things. I tried making some last night but I just wasn't happy with the results so I decided to try again tonight. I was getting all my stamps out and ready to start when I realized that some how I have no Christmas image stamps, just sentiments. So I just stared at the paper for like 30 minutes trying to decide what to do.

I hate when that happens because then I feel like I need to run out and buy some new stamps and God knows that I have an entire box of stamps that I have had to run out and buy so I could make some card that have never been used. Plus my husband has the car so I'm immobile. Probably a good thing.

So after looking at the paper for a long time I decided to cut out the trees from one of Karen Foster's new pattern papers and use them like I would have stamps. I also tried making the look of snow with some Stickles. I hadn't done that before and I think I like the way that it came out. I used my Cuttlebug snowflakes embossing card to add a little texture to the CTMH Heavenly Blue cardstock and I accented with CTMH holiday buttons. Overall, I like how it came out.

A Custom Album

I just finished up this custom wedding album. A friend of the bride ordered it for her as a special gift and I really like how it came out. They were married on the beach on my birthday :) The decorations for her wedding seemed really simple and elegant so I tried to keep the book looking that way too. I hope she likes it!

Long Weekend

I just finished up a marathon weekend. It was totally crazy. On Friday Isaac was drilling with the Army Reserves so he had to drive 2 hours to his drill sight and I was a home getting things prepared for both a Close To My Heart party I was having on Sunday and a Children's Miracle Network Event that I was doing on Saturday. I had high hopes for Saturday's event since it was a charity event but I'm not sure what happened. Very few people came and I don't really think any of the consultants there made any sales except two, Tastefully Simple and a jewelry consultant, and they only made 2-3 sales at that. So I was there pretty much all day and it was a wash. Normally, I would be really annoyed but I don't really feel all that bad about the money I gave for my table because I know that it was for a good cause.

When I got home Saturday night I needed to finish up prepping for my gathering on Sunday and then it was off to bed. We woke up early on Sunday to drive back to Isaac's drill sight, which also happened to be where my party was, and we did our things. The party went well and I pretty much knew the crowd so it was fun. After the party I managed to sneak a few minutes into their local scrapbooking store to check out any new papers or embellishments but I was distracted by the fact that I really need to buy a baby crib, and should I be spending a bunch of money on more supplies...no. So that kind of killed the joy of it all, plus Isaac started calling me to come get him. So I raced over to Ft. Meade and picked him up and he decided that he wanted to go to this China Buffet we used to go to alot for dinner. Our local China Buffets are so terrible so I was excited for some good food. Neither of us had eatten anything since breakfast and it was nearly 5 so we were both very hungry. We ate so much food it was sickening. This was the only time I can actually say that we truly got our money's worth. I think we were there for an hour eating. Isaac had at least 3 plates of regular food and 3 plates of crab legs. It was awesome. So we left there about 6:45-ish and headed toward the Korean grocery store, which is somewhat on the way home. We stocked up on a few essentials and were on the road towards home at about 8. We finally got home at about 9:15 and crashed.

Then yesterday, I picked up another event as a Close To My Heart consultant. I was in Curves working out and they were having a Ladies Night In to sponsor breast cancer awareness. Since I had displays and everything already ready, I just asked if they had room for me to set up a table. They did and so that's what I did from 3-7 last night. It was okay but I'm really having a hard time finding people that scrapbook. I know they are around here but they must be hiding! I did get one large order and two ladies that want to join my classes so it was totally worth it to me. After that I ran to Bible study and got home about 9:30 and crashed again.

I had to go and pick Isaac up from work since I had the car and that was around 1am. Somehow, when we came home Napoleon slipped out the front door and we didn't see him. We thought that he was hiding because he had pooped in the kitchen while we were gone. So neither of us really thought anything about it and went straight to bed. Well, I could hear Napoleon crying all night last night but I thought that it was because Isaac had shut him out of the bedroom so I was just ignoring him. About 4 or 5 this morning Copper and Bella started barking at something outside and I could hear our neighbors dog barking as well. Of course I didn't get up to see what it was and Isaac just put Copper outside the room and yelled at him for barking. So about 6:30 thiss morning I can really hear Napoleon crying and I notice that the bedroom door is open and Copper has come back in. So where was Napoleon? I got up and went downstairs to get him but I couldn't find him. I was calling his name and looking around thinking that Isaac locked him in the bathroom or did something stupid with him. Bella was scratching at the front door and I kept telling her, he's not out there, help me find him. He was hysterical by this point. I finally decided to show her that he wasn't outside and low and behold he came flying in the house. My dog was outside on the stoop of my house all night!! I was freaking out. I felt so horrible. The poor thing was an ice-cube. I don't know how it happened but I know that he'll be treated like a king today for sure. I swear that this baby is cutting the blood supply to my brain off. I am forgetting all kinds of things and saying things that don't make sense and I left my dog outside in the cold where he could have run away or been ubducted!

So yeah, it's been a crazy weekend.

A Dilemma

I'm sort of having a few dilemma's in my life as of late. I'm not sure what to do about a multitude of things and so, I've done nothing.

Dilemma #1: So we have little Noah on the way. Fantastic! But I'm becoming very concerned about what our financial situation will be once he gets here. I mean my husband has a descent paying job and we do fine with the money he makes with the two of us. I'm afraid, however, that once we throw an expensive baby into the mix things might get too tight. I don't want to go back to work full time because I don't want someone else raising my child 75% of the time. I feel strongly that my place is here with him and any other children that come along. However, I'm not sure what to do to contribute to our income. I've always worked and brought in money and I'm starting to feel like I don't contribute anything and just spend the money. Which brings me to my next dilemma.

Dilemma #2: Am I just kidding myself with my etsy shop? I've been on etsy for over a year now and I do love selling my things there. I really enjoy the fact that others love my work. I originally thought that I would be able to bring in a part-time income with this but I don't really think that's happening. I am really bad at keeping records like how much I'm spending vs how much I'm selling and knowing overall if I'm actually making any money. It has just been fun up until this point. But now I may need to take a serious look and I'm afraid of what I might find. I spend tons of money on supplies and I feel like I never use all of them. But I get tired of them or they become the "old" patterns and I want to run out and buy the "new" papers that have just come out. I know that the simple solution is to stop buying and just use up what I have, but something in me compells me to keep buying the new stuff. So the question has become, do I keep my shop open or do I just close? If I closed then I would certainly spend less money because I wouldn't be buying all these supplies. And I'd get to do my own scrapbooking that is seriously behind. I never scrapbook for myself. But I do love having my shop and going to craft shows. So I'm torn.

I could go on with a few more of my dilemmas but this is getting long so I'll stop for today. I did list two more tins in my shop this morning and I'm crossing my fingers that people are going to recover from the economy shock and start Christmas shopping soon.