A Little Giver Away Before The New Year

 TatterBeans

Hello Everyone, hope your Christmas day was as awesome as mine.

I also hope you are not suffering with that deflated feeling ...
I have to be honest I am ...

I always get it the day after but thats ok I decided to cheer myself up by doing a little giver away over at TatterBeans .... and would love you Ladies and Gentleman to join in with the chance to win one of my 5x7 prints...and its really simple you don't even have to do anything except click a link and leave me a comment.

How simple is that ...and this little giver away is going on till New years Eve.


So just hop on over to Tatter Beans and join in with some after Christmas Fun


*And it doesn't matter where in the world you live .... I want you to come join in the fun.*

Missing in Action ....

Well that's how it feels really .... I'm beginning to ask myself "who are you"
I'm sure the kids may feel this way to.... so where have I been and what am I up to... well if I said building a business would I be forgiven ....

I hope so cause right now I feel a bit of a let down on the whole blog/post front and I have to make a public apology to Cate at Keep Cate Busy  she awarded me the Stylish Blogger Award and I totally missed her comment ...

Cate really you can come across here and slap me ...

This is my award and Im totally made up about it ...... 

 

So here is what I now have to do...
1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award -
2.Share 7 things about yourself
3.Pay it forward to 15 recently discovered great bloggers
4.Contact those bloggers and tell them about the award.


So 7 things about me....

1: I have recently opened my own shop on Etsy
2: I'm a Christmas baby ...... and very recently turned 44..... wow am I really that old.
3: I have a pile of ironing sitting in my laundry room that is so big that I would be happy to pay someone else to do it.
4: I love Cheese and Onion sandwiches ..... you have to remember I am British
5: I would stay in my PJ's all day If I allowed myself to.
6: I have never followed a cooking recipe in my life.. I'm a throw in the pan type of girl and hope for the best

7: I love my life and my family with all my heart..even when times get rough I still hold on to what God has given me .

Now the hard easy bit 15 recently discovered blogs.

1: Acute Designs ... A fellow Etsy seller who is following her dreams and makes the most beautiful hair accessorizes
2: My Little Drummer Boys ..... I have a lot of admiration for this lady.... read her story.
3: Crazy Adorable ... another Etsy .... who's blog is just so cute, and product is adorable.
4: hanamik ... I know this gonna get boring but my fellow Etsy sellers have such wonderful blogs that I just cant help promote them... Hana is expecting her first baby soon and she looks so good doing it you really should check her out.
5: Dreamaginarius beautifully laid out blog ... totally styling it up here.
6: Pepper Glen  Love it here.
7: Small Town Woman I know she is my sister but hey she has style... she must have she is my sister
8: The Purple Notepad  I have read Katies blog for a while but this Lady has style and writes so beautifully ..and should be discovered a bit more so here is your chance.
9: Align Boutique ... a really friendly place to visit ....
10: hrushton art A gem I found today .... one follower but really there should be more...

So I'm gonna stop at 10 cause really I have not discovered any others recently that I can really list ...sorry ... but note to all you really should do 15 ..I'm just a bad girl ...don't follow my bad habits ... 

So off to contact them all now.... but before I leave .... let me just say you ladies are all stylish to me in one way or another...and I'm grateful for each and everyone of you ... Have a wonderful Holiday and I look forward to spending the New year with you all as we Blog Along together

This week Im Grateful for : Flowers and ......

 (Imagine by TatterBeans)

Don't flowers make you feel good... they are like a kiss from a lover, a smile of a child and the gift of a friendship all rolled into.

  I'm grateful for flowers cause they make me feel good...and we all need to feel good about something....

I put my flowers in water and then had to steal one to take a photo of it..cause you know I'm also inspired by flower I mean why wouldn't I be right?

So a big thank you to my American Sister Small Town Woman  for brightening up my day ...(they where an early Birthday Treat)

I am also grateful today that my husband doesn't read my blog ... after my PMS Post  he came back from work in an awesome mood.... So very grateful.

What are you Grateful for Today .... 

Come join us all at Maxabella's as we bring the weekend in with some gratefulness

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone...

Angry Man

So its that time of the month again in our house

That time of the month when nobody can do right for doing soooo much wrong....

That time of the month when you don't talk in case you get your head bit of .....

That time of the month when you get used to be ignored, not told anything, kept in the dark, grunted at and pushed a side like you where a bit of something the dog left behind on a walkway.....

Yes its that time of the month ......

That's right my husband has PMS ...

The news is bound to be greeted with snorts of cynicism by most females....

I for one will not blame you if you do snort..all I ask is that you clean up the snorting mess by yourself ..I have enough to deal with right now......

So all that is left to do is for you to watch this short video reverse the roles and you will truly see what I'm going through right now

PMS I know is no laughing matter.... but when we reverse it its a little bit like
Man Flu

Flogging My Blog on a Thursday for FYBF with Random Ramblings of a SAHM

A Personal Message from Santa

 (weheartit)

This is way to cool....

I was sent this link last year from my brother-in-law he had producted one for his daughter

Sadly in went into my spam box for what reason I do not know and I didnt get to do it for Bip and Bop...

Last night dropping of to sleep I remembered it and so I have done one this morning.....

Your kids will love it ....

Portable North Pole 

Crazy few Days

I have had the most awesome crazy out of this world few days.....

I was asked to do a custom order ...
Description was awesome lots to play with ........ totally enjoyed working with this client

Then got featured in a Treasury which most of you know about... that was so exciting

Made my first Treasury ...now that was loads of fun 

One awesome blogger showed me some love .... Maxabella has anyone told you lately that you are truly wonderful.

Started working on my Valentines concept .... well you can never be to far ahead right?

Custom order done and dusted.... my first sale. 

Sleepless night with Bop ...she has a cold and a cough ..... better one has a sleepless night with her than the whole house.


Woke up to a blanket of snow.... nothing to write home about but its the first ....

Spent the day with Bop ..she is no good on four hours sleep... me neither .

Spent an hour trying to explain to her today that this

 

 was not the original

That this was

 

Felt pretty old once that lessons was over 

Hop over to TatterBeans 

I pounced on an awesome store today on Etsy.

Would love you to see their work.

Where will 2011 take you...

..... with 2011 just around the corner, what are your hopes and dreams for the coming years?


I can also show you know (cause its working) the treasury I was featured in.... your clicks( you click on the featured item) are still welcomed and needed.

This week Im Grateful for : Stars in my Life

This week I am grateful for so many things in my life.....

but I promise I'll only name a few

1: My best friend who is a star a bright shinny one..... whatever I do she is always there besides ...she encourage me and supports me ... I think she humors me as well ...and I love her for it ....*


2: The wonderful person (she is an awesome star) who featured one of my prints on her Treasury on Etsy ..... I hope she is truly blessed this weekend as she has blessed me. There is nothing better than waking up in a morning and checking your emails to find out that sort of news.


3: To all of you who left me encouraging comments yesterday .... You are all Bright Shining Stars.

Linking up with Maxabella for I'm Grateful For 

Happy weekend everyone...may it be a blessed one for all of you.

(*out of all my friends she was the only one who entered my failed attempted at a giver away .....) 

Featured in a Treasury on Etsy

I had an email today from Etsy.....

I had been featured in a Treasury....
I was totally excited.
Its not front page but if we get lots of clicks veiws and comments it might just make it ... which would be totally awesome .....

My print that got picked is this one 

 Featured on

There is Still Time...All Undiscovered in 10 Categories Whew!

I have all morning been trying to embed a code from Cultcraft that would show you all the treasury but it will not work for me ...totally gutted.. so if anyone knows how to get this silly code to work I would love to hear from you.....

But in the meantime do a girl a favour and go view click and comment if you can ...help me get to the from page

Id be really Grateful

Creating The Light.

 (Art Work Credited to TatterBeans)

It has been six months.... Since I quit my day job and entered into Therapeutic Parenting.

Ive regreted it all at times, Ive rejocied in it at times.....

Ive seen the light, lost it and found it again.
Ive pulled my hair out and its regrown.
Ive cried myself to sleep at night, and woke up laughing.
Ive been bored out my mind,but to busy to think.

It seems like only yesterday when we made the decisions  that I would come out of the white collar world, and become a SAHM to our two RADdlings.(not sure what RADdlings means check over in the right hand column)

I had great visions of grandeur to begin with, I always see roses before I see weeds. Then for whatever reason I lost my mind vision
A wise woman said to me around this time of losing my mind vision


"You need to be doing something for you, something your passionate about, something that inspires you" 

This did strike a cord with me, I enjoy the creative side of life but had not done anything creative since leaving my job as an Art Director for our local Boys & Girls club.

The only photography I did was quick snap shots of the kids... Id stopped drawing, didn't do any crafts, everything had gone.

I did start to do some creative work again slowly but it was surely.
I then asked a question to two women online who I admire, one for her ability to put into words what we are all thinking  and the other for her artistic talent ....

"What do you think to my work?''
There response was positive, they told me to go for it and not look back.
I am crap at self belief .... Im even worse at self promotion.

I'm scared of failure ...and I always think everyone else is soooo much better than me ... which as I write this I still believe to be true...

But and here is the positive, I have stepped out ...Ive even stepped up .... I took a leap of faith ...... and I did just what everyone had been telling me to do....

It is early days and all business take time to grow and be known ..... maybe I will succeed maybe I wont.
It wont matter either way.......the important thing is Me is back ...the one who is alive and kicking ......



*And if anyone wants to know what it is I'm up to...there are hints of it all on this site 

Flogging my Blog on Thursday for Flog Yo Blog Friday ....... 

Come flog with us .... @  Random Ramblings of a SAHM

I ♥ Quench Metalworks.

Have you ever been just trolling over web pages, facebook, Etsy and suddenly something hits you smack bang in the face and your in love. Yes/No?

This I have to say doesnt happen that ofton with me but it did today.
I was just checking emails and facebook while Bop was eating her lunch (remember Im homeschooling this week) and on the front page of my facebook this little gem shows up.

I have for sometime admired Quench Metalwork's work, they are unique in every sense of the word.

They are on my after Christmas list which I informed my husband a few nights ago (we also buy each other something after the Christmas session as affording something before is nearly always imposable)

The piece that made me fall in love today is in fact a custom piece of jewelry, which might not be offered to the public but even still it caught my eye and made me whoosh.

The embroidery is by Cindy Steiler of Mary's Granddaughter....her work can also be found on Etsy 

The rest  is Quench Metalworks

A totally wonderful collaboration!

 
Quench Metalworks Facebook page

Quench Metalworks Etsy Store

Quench Metalworks Blog

Go have a look round and then come back and tell me how much you love their work.

Signing off and going back to homeschooling .........

Grounded with Mom

(weheartit)

My daughter ...bless her ....

Will be spending the week at home with her mother being home schooled ...

Oh joy for me

I had threaten that if the refusing to do work, hiding under tables cause she is mad ( normally for no real reason it would seem) didn't stop then she would be pulled out of school and homes school ..... this was after she dumped her homework Friday night on the school bus and proclaimed to me she had none...

What she didn't know was that her teacher had called me just as she left school to tell me what was going on... this homework was extra work that she had refused to do in school that day.

So as I am not one to making empty threates I know have to see this one though....

So over the next few days my post may be of a ranting nature or they may looked slurred ..depending on weather I can find the bottle vodka I hid from the dog.

Oh and she hates me right now... she told me so.

Sharing Sunday: Crayons, Soaps, and Bags

Its that day again Sunday where the old week is over and the new one is about to begin.

I love the feeling that the old is gone and the new is coming, its like the unexpected and whats round the corner all rolled into one big pile called life.

So what did I find this week.... well let me say its been fun finding this weeks shares... really fun and there was so much I could of shared but as most of you are mommies I picked out things that I know you will all love ..... so without further a do let me introduced you to

Kitty Baby Love.

Now I wish I had known about this company when Bop was small .... cause I would have spent a small fortune on their crayons instead I spent a small fortune on crayola crayons that got snapped in half, and the amounts of paper I use to pick up was a joke.... these would of been perfect for her cause I'm not seeing how she could of broke these  ....

This is what Kitty Baby Love has to say about themselves

Kitty Baby Love is a collaboration between my partner, Ben, and I. In 2008 we found ourselves expecting our first child & unemployed though desperately seeking (Hello, recession!). Tired of waiting for callbacks, we decided to do something ourselves and started Kitty Baby Love- which is named after our expected son (Mikah, born May 2009) + kitties (our 'other' children).

With Kitty Baby Love, we strive to create items that support creative growth, family bonds, local economy, and most of all, something that will bring a smile to your face. Thank you for your support and making it possible for us to be a working family.

Along with their crayons they sell candles and a really neat coloring book.... 

You can find there store here Kitty Baby Love
They also have a blog which is worth a visit there are cute tutorials and some wonderful posts which I know you will enjoy. Kitty Baby Love 

My next find isn't really a find its a store I have admired for sometime and I know some of you know here but for those of you that don't and have not yet found her store here we go

Let me introduce Kellie and a Bag Full of Posies

Why I have never ordered one of her bags I'm not sure but its on my to do list after Christmas.... but honestly they would make wonderful prezzies...and even better the ideal bag to take with you while Christmas shopping or any shopping come to think of it.


Here is a bit about Kellie

I'm your typical s@hm. that loves a little whimsy in the everyday. whether it's in design, clothing or my bags. my day job is my kids & home. my night job is either blogging or creating.

You can find Kellie's store here Bag Full of Posies
And her blog which is a must must must is here This Blessed Nest.
you can also find her on face book and twitter.

Last but not lest is Been Around the Block ..... this store has some gorgeous soaps for sale at awesome prices..but what caught my eye was this

 yes its a lump of coal soap.... I should get these for my kids I keep telling them all they are getting for Christmas is coal

Go look around Been Around the Block it is a pretty awesome store, and she is doing a giver away if you LIKE her on Face Book.

And don't forget the give away on Tatter Beans.

Saturday : Including a 911 Call and a Giveaway

To say its been an interesting day would be a total understatement.

take a look at these photo's and see if you can guess what happened to us this morning

This is my backyard.

Oh look their on my roof

I wonder what their doing up there.... 

well this is what they where doing

Putting out the chimney fire.

What a morning and all this before 10am .....

I wont go into details about how or why let me just tell you it was a tad bit scary, and very cold outside ... 

we removed the children the dog and the rabbit and placed them all in the car with it running to keep them all warm.

Bop was still in her Pj's as was myself.

So that was my morning, along with the cleaning up from it all and tiring to remove the smell from the house without opening doors or windows... Impossible job let me tell you.

So I think I said something about a giver away...oh yes I did, didn't I .....

Well there is something many of you don't know about me.... I am a photo/digital processing freak.

 So I had to do something with it all..... 

Out of my passion and my need to be creative I opened an Etsy Store, and to run along slide it I have a brand now spanking blog..... so I am inviting you all to come visit and read about my new project and join in the giveaway.....

So ladies and gentlemen I introduce to you Tatter Bean Photography

This week Im Grateful for : Survival

 Image by Me

Its been one hell of a week let me tell you this much... so I'm grateful I survived it so to speak.
It started of with my dog you know the one that loved Vodka and Coke ... ye him.. he became well lets say he became not is his self....

Tuesday morning we were woken up at 5am by him hacking ..... honestly I thought he was going to die, and there felt like nothing I could do to help him, I hate feeling that helpless.
So by 7.30 am I was ringing the vets but before I could ring the vets Bop decided to play me up cause the dog being ill wasn't about her....this continued all through the day with phone calls from school, peep talks from me over the phone and her just being a dammm right nuisance in every department going.

So we get to the vets long story short he has an abscess in his jaw line throat area from probably eating grass which he does fairly often... he secretly wishes he was a cow.... he did this last year and it cost us over $600 for a operation to remove the abscess ... fingers crossed we have caught it in time this year.

While on the way back from the vets which let me point out is not even five minutes up the road he throws up in my car.... and it looked like egg yoke ... maybe the abscess busting ...I wonder... but it wasn't pleasant to clean up.
Bop has continued to play me up cause the dog being sick isn't about her.... bless her RADdy ways ...
So being a thoughtful mom I decided to defuse the situation and got the Christmas tree out yesterday for them to help decorate that night once daddy got home.... more to come on that in a minuter

But first the visitor ... I'm so grateful that my husband dealt with the visitor in a timely fashion and in a humane way... we caught the mouse and he was set free in the woods behind us ... read more about this here if you don't know the story

Back to the tree.... ye not such a good idea... cause the dog is still sick and its not about her.... no need to say any more the tree is up but I have a few bold patches where hair once grew.

Oh and to top it all she dumped her homework on the school bus today...saying she didn't have any.
Well mom knows she did cause the teacher had rang mom tell her that more than normal was coming home, as she had refused to work most of the day and spent it under the table....

Well I'm off to find my table and I may just stay there most of the weekend.



So this week I'm grateful for Survival Technique.

This is a Grateful post linked up with Maxabella Loves... pop over and link up with what your grateful for this week...

There's a Rat in my Kitchen

Well not really a rat more like a field mouse...and its in my kitchen...for weeks Ive been saying to my husband there is a mouse in this house... he normally replies naw there isn't ....

Well there is I have the evidence I need today to prove it ..... and the flipping thing isn't scared of me nor the kids...who by the way as I'm writing this are on mouse duty .... until the man gets home and can catch it...


I had been painting to day and had thrown my tea bags on to the plate that had the paint on it plus a can lid from the gravy I had just used while cooking dinner...

I turn and there the thing is .... just licking the gravy of the lid.... I clap my hands and it shoots behind the counter.... and then low and behold its back ... this went on five times.... until I said to the kids stand guard..while I ring you dad.....

I'm not scared of mice neither are the kids...... we live in the middle of nowhere why would we be scared...but I really do object to it being in my kitchen....

Can you see it ... just munching away ....

and here are the kids on Mouse Duty .....

excuse the state of my kitchen ..... 

we had to move everything around to try to catch the thing... so far no such luck... ill let you know when we do

So this is me Flogging my blog...... but really wanting to flog a mouse if I could catch it