Happy Holidays from my home to yours...

Sorry that I have taken such a long break from my blog. Things around our house have been a little crazy these past few weeks. Hopefully, I can get myself back to a better schedule this coming year. I will be sharing a few of my Christmas layouts this weekend, but I first wanted to share the decorations around my home.

Happy Holidays! :)

I LOVE Halloween........

I don't know if it is because my birthday is the day after Halloween, but this holiday has always been a special one for me. :) I just love doing Halloween layouts and would really do them all year if I could! I love thinking of new ways to dress up my little bears and new haunted houses to build! Here are a few more that I did this week and I am guess there will be more to come! :)

The Pixie Cottage: Autism Benefit

The Pixie Cottage: Autism Benefit: "We here at The Pixie Cottage are thrilled to have a little artist who volunteered her time and her art to help a worthy cause. Let me introd..."

This past weeks listings

Finally able to sit down at the computer longer than 5 minutes! :) Brian was out of town all week last week, then Alexis came down with the stomach flu so my time was very limited. Here are the layouts that I was able to get done and listed last week. I just LOVE Fall and Halloween layouts! They are truly my all time favorite layouts to do...

The hunt for a job is not going so well. The opportunities are just not out there right now. I have been out of work for 10 years now and it looks like I will have to apply for a starting position, boo.... :( Maybe it is time to begin a new career.....

It has been a tough couple of months

While on a mini vacation to California this July, my mother called with sad news. My Great Aunt Alice passed on the Big Island of Hawaii. She was the matriarch of our family and had lived a long life. She was 96 at her passing. My biggest regret was that I was unable to go home for the funeral, I felt like I let my mother down... :(

Also during our vacation, we found out that Brian's Aunt Shirley had taken a turn for the worst. When we got back home to Colorado, we planned a trip to visit her. It was just going to be for the weekend, spending as much time as we could with her. Brian's sister was going to be flying in from Kuwait to spend some time with her that weekend as well. Well, to our dismay and great sadness, we didn't make it home in time. We all kept our plans and the funeral was planned for that weekend. Aunt Shirley was not just an Aunt to Brian and his sister, she was like their mother, and like a Grandmother to my children. She will be greatly missed......

BABY FURNITURE PAPER PIECING CD

I am so thrilled to finally be done with this disc!!!! It took me way longer than the other pattern discs due to the detail of most of these piecings.... What you will find on this disc:

How to put together one of these piecings - through pictures, list for you my favorite supplies to make these piecings, full size pictures, layout ideas, and will also share with you some of my tips and techniques.

Patterns included in this disc are:

~ Crib

~ 3 Drawer Dresser

~ Blanket

~ Changing Table

~ Stool

~ Window

~ Small Topiary

~ Large Topiary

~ Stroller/Carriage

~ Bouncy Seat

~ Sippy Cup

~ Cabinet

~ High Chair

~ Kitchen Stand

~ Hot Air Balloon

Patterns discs are available on ebay as well as etsy... :)

This past weeks listings......and more!

This week has not been the best of weeks. My AOL account was hacked into and I lost all of my email contacts, all of my orders, and all of the layout ideas sent to me. I had this account for over 15 years and I really didn't think that I would have to back it up in anyway. I was SO wrong! I would look over my emails to fill my orders, but that is all gone now. Some of the names I don't even remember, so if you are reading this and I have not gotten to your order yet, please leave me a comment here. :( Thankfully, I don't take payment up front!

I will be taking off for the next two weeks! The family and I will be heading to Cali for a much needed break. We are hoping to rejuvenate ourselves at the beach and poolside. We weren't able to get the family home to Hawaii this summer like we had hoped. We felt bad for taking the beach and family away from them, so Cali was the next best thing. :) We are excited to be spending some time with one of my dearest friends Chris and her family and also meeting Julie's family - I feel like I already know them!!! We are also going to be able to take Alexis to Disneyland. (Look for some Disney layouts when I return!!!!) Talking about returning......It has finally come down to me getting a job to help with the family expenses. With a son going to college, and things slowing down horribly at ebay and etsy, I have been left with no other choice but to return to the working world.... I really can't complain. I have been able to spend the last 7 years at home with my children doing what I love. I have made some great friends, and have the best customer base ever! To tell you the truth, I am really afraid to go back to work. Things have changed quite a bit since I have been out. Thankfully, accounting remains accounting, just the programs have changed. I will most likely not be able to continue doing layouts, but will keep the Pattern CD's up, as well as continue to design stamps for The Pixie Cottage. I will keep you all informed on the job search....

Listings up for this week...

I took a huge risk by doing some boy layouts this week. I am really not sure why, I guess it goes in spurts, but my sales on boy layouts don't always do so well so I tend to shy away from them. When I first started selling on ebay I did very well with them. Over the years, not so much. :) I have been trying to go through the thousands of paper in my stash and found this dinosaur paper that I just had to use again. I thought, how could I make it different from the last? Ah, my little kids as cavemen!!! I really did love the way they came out, the little girl even has bones in her ponytails. The treehouse is always a fun summer one to do, this time I tried to change it up a little. :) I have been doing layouts for over 7 years - at least 4 or 5 a week... Sometimes ideas are few and far between when you have just about done them all! :) :) Remember, suggestions are always welcomed.....

This past weeks listings......

UGH! My office is just so hot! It is the room above the garage. I am sure that is part of the reason, that and the air just doesn't come blaring into this room like it does the others. Summer is one of the hardest times for me to get any work done. I am just not feeling so creative when all I can think about is how hot I am! :) I was able to get two double layouts, one one page, and a couple of piecings done despite the heat. I my only hope is that I will be able to do the same this week, we are in the 90's and at 9:25 am, I am already hot.... :)

Teachers gift

Teachers gift ideas are always a little hard for me. I try to give them something a little different, yet something they can really use. This year, Alexis's teacher LOVED bears. How perfect for me, but what to do, what to do? I thought about it for awhile and came up with this note book - what better for a teacher right? :) This was one of those with the fabric binding covering the spiral and a sturdy plastic cover. It also had a piece of elastic sewn into the binding for a pen! So I cut the backing piece of paper to the correct size of the note book and added my little bear holding a pencil and a couple of school books on the side with an apple on top. I LOVED the way it turned out and her teacher was happy to receive it! :)

Did I really forget

to publish last weeks layouts? Why yes I did! Yep, this is the kind of weeks I have been having! :) I guess it is because the children are out of school and keeping me way busy! :) I will put up my listings for this week tomorrow along with the teachers gift I made this year.

This weeks listing....

So I found this really adorable paper stack at Hobby Lobby this week filled with Princess Papers!!!! I LOVE just about every sheet in it!!! I only used it for one of the 4 layouts I did this week. That was only because I found it on Wednesday and I was listing that day and had already finished the other 3!! So guess what I will doing this coming week? :)

Where have I been for the last two weeks!

Well first off my oldest, Tyler graduated from high school on the 20th of May. My mother, sister, niece, and nephew came in from Hawaii for the graduation and stayed for a week. It started with the awards ceremony on a Wednesday night, graduation on Thursday, then his party on Friday night..... We spent the rest of their time here together, going here and there. We went out to dinner EVERY NIGHT (thank you Mom) and I seriously gained 4 pounds!!!! Work out video here I come! :)

It is really hard to have your house full of family and then to have them gone. I took the rest of the time off to get myself together. Here are a couple of the graduation photos. My son has decided to go to CU Denver for the first two years and commute. Can I just say Thank God he is not leaving. I was just not ready to let him go!!!! :) :)

I was able to get back to work this week and will be posting those layouts sometime this weekend!

This weeks listings and a new CD idea

This will more than likely be the last couple of layouts for the next two weeks. My son will be graduating from high school this week and we will have family in town till next tuesday. My mother, sister, niece, and nephew will be flying in from Hawaii and Brian's mom will be coming in from Maryland. It will be both a busy and exciting week. I truly can not believe that my little boy will be graduating, time does fly by really fast.......

So these are the listings for this week. I have also listed a custom pattern cd on ebay. You will be able to pick your favorite 15 animals from my 3 animal pattern discs for one low price. I have also listed a few paper piecing sets from my shabby collection on etsy. Hope everyone has a great week and I will be posting some graduation pictures later in the week. :)

This past weeks listings......

This weeks listings......

I am gearing up to do a baby paper piecing CD can you tell? :) This week I had fun doing more baby layouts and especially loved the stork. :) I have a few busy weeks coming up with my son graduating high school, my mother and sister coming for a visit, as well as my mother in law. I am hoping that once things calm down, I will be able to sit and get it done. I have also been asked to come up with some Hawaiian designs for a variety of items, cards, ect. so I will also try to squeeze in some time to do those. I have also got to sit down and draw up so designs for stamps for the PIXIE COTTAGE.... Busy busy busy, but loving it!