New in my shop!!

I'm so excited about this fun new item in my Etsy shop. I custom made this for a super sweet Etsy customer who's giving it to her mom for Christmas. I love it so much I've decided to sell it in the shop! I love coupons, so I guess it only makes sense that eventually I would create a coupon book to sell :) You can see more pictures of it here.

~ Andrea

Another Giveaway

I'm so excited about another giveaway I found! This lady makes some pretty amazing things for little girls...check it out here: http://kandykissesboutique.typepad.com/. I figure the more contests I enter I'm sure to win something!!

Downtown Holiday Jacket and Pant GIVEAWAY!!!!

I've been following Grosgrain, a blog by Kathleen Dougherty, for a while now. She's an amazing seamstress and makes the most adorable little girl's clothing. Right now she's giving away another one of her beautiful creations to one lucky person...perhaps it will be me this time? I would love to win - I think Em would look lovely in this...

Downtown Holiday Jacket and Pant GIVEAWAY!!!!

Thanks LL

My friend LL gave me this blog award! Thanks so much! I haven't won anything in such a long, long, time! How fun!

Just thinking...

There's so much running through my mind lately - and today is no different. This isn't a normal blog for me, but I'm sitting here asking myself whether keeping a blog is for me or someone else. Maybe it's a combination of both, but I feel like my ramblings and thoughts written down for all to see - including myself will push me to keep working on making some much needed changes. So for today, my blog is for me...

I'm thinking a lot about whether or not I can have it all, do it all, be it all. Can I be the best mother, perfect hostest, blog writter, twitterer, myspacer, facebooker, wife, kids church leader, cook, business owner, house cleaner, and child of God? There are so many things that fall under my job description right now. I'm a creative person and I love that. But at times because of the creative thoughts that run through my head, I find myself adding on more and more projects to my list because of this thought: "why in the world would I buy that when I can make it!"

The answer I've come to is that I CAN do it all, but something is going to suffer. I can probably do all of these things, but chances are that I won't be able to do all of them very well. So this brings me to the realization that I HAVE to make a list of priorities and plan out my week...almost down to the minute.

That doesn't really match my natural thought process. It isn't going to be easy for me to have such a structured day. While I love organization and structure, I don't enjoy it so much when it affects my time. I like staying up ridiculously late and sleeping in. I like wandering around the house during the day doing only the projects that I feel like I'm in the "mood" for. I'm constantly telling myself that I don't need a structured day right now because Emma isn't in school.

But I really do need it and I don't like it. I can't run a business, keep my house clean and do all of the other things mentioned above and keep my sanity if I don't organize my time. I realize this is going to be a process for me. I know most things don't change overnight and that it will take a while for me to turn this forced structure into a habit. So I'm starting here and now...with a list of priorities and things I need to change to get on the right path...

1. Check Etsy, emails, blogs, and other time sucking internet "must haves" in the morning and during Emma's nap - ONLY

2. Make a monthly calendar with all dinners planned ahead of time

3. Make a weekly calendar with my cleaning schedule, etsy shipping days, time scheduled in for "creative fun", free time, and family & church obligations

4. Work on being okay with not having everything "perfect" all the time

There's so much more...but for now I think this is enough to comment on. It's exhausting doing so much self-evaluating!! :) ~ Andrea

Free Stuff!!!

Who doesn't like free stuff? I like free stuff so much that I cut coupons weekly and run out to CVS like a mad woman just to pick up stuff that I probably (definately) don't need!

Anyway, my blogger friend, Sue, asked me to join her Thanksgiving Giveaway and offer something FREE from my shop to her blog readers. How could I resist? So, starting today you can go to her blog, leave a comment and be entered in the running for one of my boxed personalized notecard, luggage tag, confetti sets! I'm even throwing in the gift wrap if you'd like to have it sent to someone else :)

Run, don't walk, on over to Sue's Blog, Confessions of a Tired Super Girl, and enter to win. Oh, and tell a friend to enter too! Good luck and have a happy weekend :) ~ Andrea

P.S. She'll be giving away other goodies too...so if you don't want my stationery I'm sure she'll have something you want to win :)

Here are some more pics...

Take Joy...

(Another favorite shot from our family vacation...this one was taken outside at the Science Center)

Just stopping to take joy in the little things... Emma and I have been home alone a lot the past week or so with Vance up at the church working on a project for the new Mesquite Campus AND therefore I've been very lonely. I took Emma out to a few stores last night and at one point I said to her that I was lonely and missed Daddy and wished he were with us. Emma touched my face and said "Oh mommy, don't be sad. You're a good mommy." She melts me.

As much as I hate being home alone - I really have enjoyed my special time with Emma. She is so precious! I hate that so often I go from one moment to the next without actually enjoying and appreciating the moment that I'm in. I was so focused on wishing Vance would come home that I was losing the joy of being in the moment with my wonderful two year old. Even being in Walgreens with her, watching her delight over all of the Christmas trees and the blow-up snowmen is a moment to remember and enjoy. I guess God uses our kids to remind us to slow down and take joy in even the little parts of our day...which is what I'm going to focus on doing more of!

Fall Vacation Part Two - Trip to the Zoo

Gorgeous Weather + Family Day at the Zoo = Perfection!

My new favorite picture of Em! She had so much fun riding around on her daddy's shoulders most of the day! We got to the Ft. Worth Zoo around 1 (much later than we had hoped) and were contemplating whether or not we should stay since they were closing an hour earlier than we originally thought. But we decided to go on ahead since we had driven all the way there. I'm so glad we did! All of the school groups had just left and the park was perfectly peaceful. We had plenty of time to see everything (even though we had to eat lunch as we walked) and really enjoyed our time there. The zoo was so pretty and clean (my favorite part)...I can't wait to go back!

We couldn't believe Em wanted to touch the birds! This was the best part of the zoo. The birds were flying around everywhere and it made Emma laugh and squeal so loud! Seeing these special moments through her eyes is priceless.

She thinks her dad is awesome (he is, by the way)!

Thanks random stranger for taking our picture! I'm so tired of the closeups taken by us!

Perfect end to the day...movie together at the drive-in theater. It was so awesome and the weather was perfect. This was definately one of our favorite days!

Celebrating 90

My Grandmother is turning 90 next month and I had the priviledge of making the invitations for her birthday celebration! Unfortunately the party is in Florida and there is just no way that I am going to be able to make it back home for it. I had really hoped that somehow I'd be able to swing the purchase of two tickets for me and Em, but it just isn't going to happen.

My Grandmother is a remarkable woman and I wish I could be there to celebrate with her. She is always happy, optimistic and so very active for her age. I hope to be half as spunky as she is when I'm 90 (her name is Sparky, how very appropriate)! Happy Birthday Grandmother!!

On a completely unrelated note...I'm in love with the packaging for these brownie/cookie bars! Sometimes something like this will catch my eye and make me kind of happy everytime I look at it. Wierd, I know, but that goes along with my lifelong love of paper!

I only wish the actual cookie bar was as good to eat as it is to look at! I just can't get over the texture...too much like coconut - I don't do coconut! Anyway, Emma loves it and it's good for her. Can't go wrong there! Just thought I'd share a few pics!

Thank You Erika!

I was so excited to get a message from Erika at The Tilted Tulip saying that she had chosen my 2009 calendar to be featured as one of her favorite calendars on her blog! It's exciting that someone picked my calendar out of so many others on etsy. Thanks Erika for making my day!

Happy Wednesday

I'm off to the post office to mail a few orders and then I'm going to spend some well needed "fun" time with the little one. I'm afraid she's going to start calling Dora her mommy :( Happy Wednesday!!

I finished!!

I finished the 09 calendar and put it in the shop today! I think it turned out pretty much how I wanted it to... I can't wait to hang it on the wall! I can't believe it's almost 2009 AND that we have a new president. Wow. What a day.

2009 Calendar Preview

I've really been wanting to make a 2009 calendar, but haven't been able to decide on a design. I finally came up with these...I'm about halfway through the months, so I'm almost there!

I like the idea that it isn't just a picture, but something I can write on and actually use! Sometimes the practical side of me takes over the creative side! Each month features a different list and/or project that goes along with holidays in that month. They're 5" x 8.5" and printed on super thick cardstock. I should have these in my shop in a few days!

Our Fall Vacation

(me and em on the playscape)

to nowhere...

We actually didn't leave Dallas. We stayed at home and did a bunch of local stuff that we haven't had time to do since we moved here. It actually was a lot of fun. I made a schedule for the week that we took with us everywhere - it had our itinerary and maps of where we needed to go.

One of the bonuses to staying at home for your vacation...you don't come home with a ton of laundry to do!

I took so many pictures...it's hard for me to choose just a few to show out of the HUNDREDS on my computer! So, I think I'm going to spread out pictures from the vaca over the next few days!

These pictures are from our day at the mall! Doesn't sound like much, but this mall was amazing! It's the Galleria Mall in Dallas, which is just beautiful, clean, has a great playscape for kids and an ice skating rink. Not only that, but we haven't been to the mall since LAST Christmas! I know, I know, that sounds ridiculous, but everything here is so far away and I just hadn't gotten up the nerve to drive through Dallas to a mall I wasn't sure how to get to. But we did it and it was totally worth it. I'll definately be going back again soon. Enjoy...

Emma BEFORE she knew what was about to happen...

Emma AFTER her ears were pierced...

These days lollipops fix everything!

We went to this kids toy store and in the back they had these strange mechanical animals that kids could ride. They were so adorable...I had never seen anything like that before. Emma rode the elephant...and then cried because she couldn't ride the zebra too...this was only the start of all the crying she did that day! Poor thing turns out she had an ear infection. Can you believe I would have her ears pierced on top of that? What a terrible mom :)

I couldn't resist taking this picture of Emma on the playscape! Somehow butt cleavage is cute when you're two!

To quote Emma "woohoo". That girl loves to play!

More pictures coming later! Happy Saturday!! ~ Andrea

A few new things in the shop

I updated the shop a bit today. I added two handmade envelope notecard sets I've been working on, and I added a boxed set of Christmas cards I designed. Not too much, but it's a start! I'm totally out of the routine since our vacation...pictures of that coming soon!

The Boxed Christmas Card set includes 12 cards of any of the six designs.

This is the holiday boxed set...lots of fun handmade envelopes, notecards, confetti, etc.!

I really had fun with this one! The cards all feature a different design made out of handpunched flowers and small rhinestones. Super cute!