wildflowers and whimsy

Fun Announcement!

2010-05-11T11:50:00.000-07:00

I am very excited to announce my new store at Etsy:

Since starting Wildflowers and Whimsy by TraciNicole I have noticed how excited I get at vintage and retro graphics and typography. My collection of vintage children's books and ephemera has gotten so large I decided it was time to share. I am really excited to have a store dedicated only vintage children's books and vintage ephemera. Don't be surprised if I list some amazing vintage Disney puzzles also. I just might have some here ready to be listed. BookSeeDaisy will always have great vintage paper goods and other supplies for your mixed media, scrapbooking, and collage arts. I've gotten just a small sample listed so far. Over the next few weeks I will be adding much more. You can expect the same great quality of vintage goods at BookSeeDaisy that you have found at Wildflowers and Whimsy by TraciNicole and of course, the customer service will also remain at the highest level.

Thank you so much for being supportive and encouraging over the past year!

Day Two, Just Getting Started

2010-05-05T10:15:00.000-07:00

Sarah and I got up early on Saturday morning (early for us is 7 am). We had decided to hit a church garage sale we saw a sign for the evening before. I had expected lines out the door. It was not that busy at all. In fact, I think there was only one other person in the place. I think I picked up a couple of books at this particular stop. After that Sarah wanted some coffee so we headed over to the Eagle's Nest Coffee shop. Cute coffee shop. Small town America really has some great coffee shops. This particular coffee shop had these really cute monkey breads that were in muffin cups. I love that idea. We also went to a garage sale under a huge bridge that crossed the Mississippi. The woman lived almost under the bridge. I laughed about worrying it would fall but she thought that was crazy talk and didn't seem to think it was even possible. I decided to not go into the history of big bridges in Minnesota with her. I mean, really, I only know of one bridge collapse in Minnesota so she was probably right.

On this day we crossed over into Wisconsin. We took the big bridge the garage sale was under and passed over into Nelson, WI.

Nelson had a lot of garage sales. The town was pretty busy and everyone seemed so nice and happy. The first place we stopped at I scored an antique crock with a metal neck. I had never seen one like that before and I really liked it. I also got a vintage toy tool box. It has the most wonderful vintage patina on it. My favorite sign of the entire trip was this one:

One of the garage sales in Nelson, WI. This little town was so beautiful. I took a lot of pictures on this part of the trip. The bluffs around that area are enough to make me want to go back for a visit. I could take pictures there all day.At the stop in the picture above, I got some really wonderful vintage tins. I am really into vintage tins for some reason. I love the graphics on them and the fact you can use them for storage forever.

Then we had lunch at this great place in Nelson. The inside is really unique and the food was pretty darn good. It was the perfect place to stop and take a rest. After lunch we hit more of the Nelson garage sales and there were plenty.

After we left Nelson, WI, we headed south on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River. There were not as many garage sales during this part of the drive but I got some really cool pictures.

I am going to post them on my Flickr photostream.

Hopefully we will get some sunshine today and I will be able to take sneak peak pictures of my vintage finds.

100 Mile Garage Sale 2010! Completed My Rookie Year!

2010-05-03T19:02:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday I set off for a weekend I had been looking forward to for a long time. My friend, who I have known since (I believe) before kindergarten and I had been planning this trip for months. Neither of us had been up to the 100 Mile Garage Sale before, so neither of us knew what to expect or what the heck we were doing. We were rookies in every sense of the word. We chalked this year up to being the one where we would get the lay of the land figured out. I was overwhelmed by the idea of 100 miles of garage sales and it took me a week to settle on a good driving route through the towns participating in the 100 miles of sales. Finally after researching maps I decided we would go up to Red Wing and work our way back south via garage sale hopping. Thursday night (next time I might go up on Wednesday because a lot of people started their sales on Thursday) we arrived in Red Wing, MN.

Friday morning we were up early and ready to hit the garage sales. Our first stop was a Caribou Coffee drive thru. We needed our coffee fix before socializing with the locals and checking out their junk. Those Red Wingians have some great junk! Our heads were spinning at the site of all the garage sales. Both of us were shocked at the amount of sales in the town. We were even more surprised to see tour buses coming into town. I didn't take many pictures this first day. I think I was feeling a bit like a "kid in a candy store". I do regret not getting one thing I saw that day. A set of four vintage french bistro chairs. They were black and metal and industrial chic and dang if I didn't pass them up. Tomorrow, I'll tell you more about the weekend. Tonight I have a lot of vintage goodness to sit in the middle of and get ready for listing in my shop.

2010-04-21T12:05:00.001-07:00

Life with my three year old is always interesting. I never know what kind of mood he might be in from one minute to the next. At times he can be stubborn, loud, crazy, and demanding but when he flashes his big smile, it melts my heart. I wanted to share some of the funny things he has said lately.

3yr old: "What is gofurmint? (also pronounced government for those of you who don't speak 3 year old) Oh I know, it is those guys that do all that argue!"
Did I say he is smart???

13 yr old boy says to 3 year old: "I come in peace."
3 year old's reply: "I come in handy."
Isn't he quick with a comeback!

One afternoon 3 year old comes to me with a sad face. He says, "I have diss-wex-see-UH." I said, "Honey why do you think you have dyslexia?" His reply, "I can't weed." (read)

The best thing I heard this week was my 6 year old saying, "Mommy, we have a happy life don't we." Yes buddy, we sure do.

What will your garden grow? Gardening? In early April?

2010-04-06T02:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was another beautiful day here in Chicagoland. I don't remember a Spring this warm and bright in my life. Yesterday was actually one of many warm days we've had so far. Warm weather moved in around the end of March. On our first 70 degree day, the weather guy said it had only been 4 months since the last 70 degree day. That is just crazy! Don't get me wrong, a four month winter is divine and life is so much happier in the sun and warm breeze. It's just strange to be out in the balmy weather with the warm sun shining down on me and yet there isn't a green leaf on a tree anywhere in site. The warm bright weather had me thinking of my vegetable garden which in turn had me feeling panicky like summer is here and that I had missed my chance to start my plants. I have never started plants from seed before and I have no idea how long it takes but I know you need time to get the plants mature enough to go into the ground. I keep having to tell myself it is only April. Just April. I have time. So, today the boys and I got a start on our vegetable garden and planted the seeds in the starter trays. I am hoping it works. Even if it doesn't work, the boys had fun and learned about planting seeds.

Doesn't my 3 year old look like he knows what to do with the seeds?

If you have ever started your garden from seed and have any advice, I am very much open to hearing it. If you compost, I'd love to hear about that also. We started composting a year ago and it looks like we have some good rich dirt waiting to be put in our garden and flower pots.

Here are some great gardening items from my fellow sellers on Etsy. I just love the garden plant markers:1. Vintage Tin Watering Can by CampHobachee

2. Vintage Galvanized Bucket Pail Metal No. 8 with Handle by prettyfarmprimitives

3. Lavender Antique Spoon Garden Marker by Hammerman

4. Vintage Handmade Wooden Garden Tray by fridayfindsmama

This needs to find its way to my garden. It makes me so happy just to see this frog. He would be perfect in a water garden. Go to this shop Mudstuff for more awesome garden statues.

What a brave girl I am!

2010-04-02T22:38:00.000-07:00

I took this picture. Me. See the tops of the buildings, those are skyscrapers. Skyscrapers in Chicago. The the little dots at the bottom of the photo. Those are cars. That is what being 103 stories above the ground looks like.I am brave. Facing a fear is the definition of being brave in my book. I am terrified of heights. Absolutely terrified. Usually it makes me all wobbly feeling and shaky. So, no, I didn't jump out of an "aero" plane or anything, but I did stand 103 stories up over the city of Chicago in a clear box......And, I looked down! They kept telling me not to look down, but I did. Admittedly, I freaked out. Only on the inside, because when you are the mom you can't do a full on freak out. So, being that my kids were right there, I didn't start screaming hysterically or anything. But I could have, very easily. Yay me for not peeing in my pants. Did I say I am terrified of heights? Did I say that a while back when I saw this new feature at Sears (Willis) Tower on the news I said there would be no freakin' way I would ever go in that glass box 103 stories above the city? When I was actually standing in line to do this, I thought, "Self, why were you so freaked out by the thought of doing this. Self, the tv made it look so much scarier" I really believed that too. Until, it was my turn and I actually had to walk up to the clear box and could see 103 stories below me. Right there, nothing under neath but yellow taxis that looked like the size of ants. It literally looked like I was stepping off the side of a building. My husband, he got in there and jumped up and down. I suppose when you are someone who has actually jumped out of a plane, not once, not twice, but three times, this was not much of a thrill. He's hardcore like that. Anyway, I plan on facing all my fears. Next, on the list, snakes? Nah, boring, I think it will have to be something truly exciting, like bungee jumping!

It is official. I am doing a teal, white, black/gray color combo in the craft room. I am hoping I won't regret doing the teal rather than the lemon/lime combo I first had my heart set on. I am hoping this won't take very long because I don't do good in disorder, and right now I am sitting in the middle of a huge amount of disorder. I do prefer an organized area very much to sitting in the middle of a disaster area. My darling husband (I am not saying that sarcastically at all this time), is sanding my new (old) cabinets and getting them primed for a new coat of paint. I really got lucky with this man! Hey, ya gotta give props where they are deserved, and he deserves them.
I am not going to go very decor crazy with this room. I am hoping to find vintage pieces along the way rather than go buy all new things. I am trying to figure out what kind of curtains I should choose. I found some on Etsy I adore. They are handmade with a collection of vintage fabrics. Everyone one of the curtains she makes is different. Hmmmm....decisions, decisions......

Wallpaper, Friendship, and Peace Not Necessarily In that Order

2010-03-24T12:49:00.000-07:00

When I started this post I wanted to keep it light and touch on how the word peace has been important to me lately. That is the truth, I have been looking to become a peaceful person. What I was not going to say is that this has been on my mind all week because of the current political climate. I have been seeing so much anger lately. While I try to keep my mind focused on being peaceful, and not engaging in anger, I have been watching the anger around me just grow and grow. I don't like this. I don't like what anger has been doing to my community, country, and world. It truly makes me sad and I am beginning to lose hope that one day the world will be free of hatred. So, I thought I would do a light post about peace and let that be my statement, but then I realized that kind of post was not authentic. That kind of post would be a cowardly way to say something but not really saying it. So, I decided to say it the best way I can.

When I started to think about this whole peace post, I was thinking about friends and how I have heard people wanting to end friendships over political differences. If there is one thing I have realized, when it comes to friendship, it isn't the big things people do, it is the very small things that make a difference. It is the day to day interactions that build strong relationships. I hope that people think of this before ending their friendship over politics. I hope they think about how that person treats them everyday, and not concentrate only on the differences they have politically. I am very thankful for the good friends I have in my life. I am thankful for those who allowed me to make a mistake and yet still call me a friend. Is politics really worth losing a good friend over? I don't think it is. A while back, I read the book The Art of Happiness by His Holiness The Dali Lama, he spoke about peace being a radical idea. The thought blew me away, especially when I realized he was right. At least in America, peace is radical. We are so quick to get angry and react. I know I have done that time and time again. I am learning to stop, think, and be patience. Peace. It is what I say to myself now when I feel myself getting angry. I think the world needs more peace in it and all I can do, is find peace within myself. I am sure I will work at this for my entire life.

Here are a few quotes I found about peace. I hope one of them inspires you to think peacefully when you start to feel angry or hateful:

We can never obtain peace in the outer world till we make peace with ourselves. His Holiness DL

Where ignorance is our real master there is no possibility of real peace. His Holiness DL

If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, there would be peace. John Lennon

Peace begins when the hungry are fed. Anonymous

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. Matthew 18

If we have no peace it is because we have forgotten we belong to one another. Mother Theresa
Thank you to my fellow Etsy shops for allowing me to use these images. On a side note to my husband, any of the above items would make a great birthday present for me...... *smile, hint, smile*

1. Peace Sign 2 inch circles digital collage by Room29'sshop

2. Peace, Love, and Bike Organic short sleeve tee by Loftymornings

3. Peace by mishmishmarket

4. Peace long sleeve green tee shirt by Loftymornings

5. Vintage Red peace tote burlap by panbeth
6. Steampunk Peace necklace by IM Girl

7. World Peace necklace by jewelsbyn

8. Peace Origami Crane poster by fieldtrip
9. Take A Deep Breath Love and Peace Art Print by myzoetrope

10. Imagine All the people screen print art poster by BluLima

11. Get your word on wood in five letters or less by kelseyhenke

12. Peace Love and Passion Brooch by editionbw

13. 8x8 Imagine all the people living life in peace single print by suzannanna

If you have any other quotes about peace, I would love to hear them.

I did find some cabinets for my craft room! I am so excited to get this project done. I think I might do wallpaper on one wall. Have you looked at wallpaper lately? The options are practically infinite! I am thinking of doing either a black, white, and yellow or a black, white, and teal......now if I can only find a wallpaper I love that will cost me less than $100 per wall! Uh huh. Crazy expensive!

Pile O' Fabric....and "I See Sick People"

2010-03-07T14:40:00.000-08:00

I started this post before the week got crazy so this whole post seems totally discombobulated. I apologize in advance.......in the end it will all make sense. I hope.

I have had this pile of fabric sitting on the table in my crafty room for a looong time. I keep it there because if I put it away, I will never finish it. When I started on this project, I had a vision of the end results. I am afraid I have forgotten what it was. I think if I sit down with all the supplies I have there and look at the pieces I cut, it will all come back to me. I am certain it will be different than what I planned on doing with it months ago. Anyway, sort of related to the pile o' fabric but not really, I feel like this room is out of control right now. I am in desperate need of more storage in here. I have tried shelves, the Ikea Expedit, and drawers. None are working. I have decided I am going to have to put in some wall cabinets. I need things hidden, which shelves don't do. When I have cabinets I won't have to stare at a mess. My biggest peeve in here is staring at my fabric falling off the shelf. I am not good at folding it, so if I pull one out, they all start tumbling down. Then I spend more time cleaning up than being creative. It is a crazy cycle of madness that will stop when I install kitchen cabinets in here. Finding used cabinets, easy peasy, right?? Wrong!.....Obviously I know if I went and spent a whole lot of money on new ones I could walk into a store and get the exact thing I need. However, my wallet isn't that fat (I did price them and it was around $1500). Call me crazy, but I can't justify having nicer cabinets in my craft space than in my kitchen (sidenote: can't justify in this case means I can't convince my husband of it). So, I need to score on Craigslist, fast. I had no idea it would be so difficult to find some used cabinets. Meanwhile, I am stalking Craigslist to find the set with the right measurements. Patience. Right. Keep your fingers crossed for me. And really, it is so much more fun to hunt for the right ones than just go buy the perfectly beautiful new ones. Uh huh......good thing I love vintage! I did find one set of white metal kitchen cabinets with, swoon, pink counter tops. Can you imagine?!?! They were a bit more than I'd be allowed to spend. Bummer. I will wait. They will come along.

So, last Saturday I met up with my friend Diana. We shopped and had a great time. I have a feeling her and I will have a few adventures in our days that will end in a lot of fits of laughter and a few P.I.M.P. moments. While we were out tearing up Fullerton Avenue I found a great bag of vintage broken jewelry. I have a few project ideas for this treasury of vintage but I think I am just going to put them in a pretty crystal bowl for awhile to look at.

This week was crazy. It was another one of those weeks where the house was full of sick people all week long. We did have one seven day stretch of all of us healthy, but then it fell apart last week. Only this time, my husband ended up in the hospital for a couple of days. He had an infection in his face from the cold he had. It is a rare complication from the flu virus. He literally looked like he walked off the set of Avatar because of how his face swelled up. He wasn't blue, althought that could have been fun. My 6 year old was also sick with the same virus. I thought about making tee shirts that say "I See Sick People" but then I realized it could be taken so many ways and some of them not so nice.

Anyhow, I am going to redo my craft space and I am thinking of a pink, black, and white color scheme. I don't want to change it up too much because I am too lazy to do that, I just want it to look nice and be a space that is functional for what I need. I also don't want to spend an arm and a leg on it. My thought right now is damask. Black and white damask with hot pink accents. Possibly a chandelier would be worked into the decor plan. Off to hunt down some cabinets...................

Made From Scratch

2010-02-26T17:52:00.000-08:00

Here it is. My vacation album from our Sanibel Island vacation. I am finally finished with this. It was a labor of love. I loved making every single part of it from the memory making vacation to the last stitch in the album. I handmade each page with the sewing machine.

The front cover was something I visualized doing a long time ago. It was a perfect look for this beach vacation album. My favorite part of this album is the handmade glass seahorse. It was a found vintage item. I found it in a huge stash of vintage jewelry I purchased at a garage sale this summer. When I saw it I thought I'd never use it. Isn't it perfect for this album. It actually reminds me of a part of our trip when Cole saw a seahorse and was completely intrigued by the seahorse. I love that I was able to use it on this album.

I purposely left spaces for my sons to put their memories into this album. I didn't want to hand write on this before I took pictures. I am a big chicken like that.

I also used items from our vacation in this album. I like having these items incorporated into the album because I think years to come it gives a sense of the times. I also think they provide information that you might not think of incorporating. One of the pages I used a tide chart from the days we were there. The tides were important to us because when the tide is low is the best time to go looking for shells. We made sure to get out to the beach at low tide so we could hunt for the best shells and so the boys could walk out to the sand bar.

This album took a lot of time but the great part was that I didn't get overwhelmed by it. I didn't post all of it. The album is quite a few pages long. To prepare to make this I took all the bits and pieces I wanted to use a long with the papers that matched my color scheme and made a kit for myself. This saved me a lot of time searching through stuff. I used what was in the kit I made for myself. I took everything from my stash and bought next to nothing new (only a few journaling tags). I am actually really excited to make more of these albums and am starting to feel like I am learning what my style is as a scrapbooker. I owe a large part of this to Donna Downy because she rocks and she was an amazing teacher.

Reasons to be happy even though you are going to get slammed by a winter storm and are totally ready for spring......

2010-02-20T11:03:00.000-08:00

We are currently slated to get 10 inches of snow. This does not make me happy, but what can you do? Nada. Nothin'. Zilch. However, while we were out and about today, I found an estate sale. For me, that is pretty damn exciting and it turned this dreary weekend into a much better weekend and Traci into a much happier girl. I scored too! I found another Royal DeLuxe Typewriter from the 1940s, very odd barkcloth, a couple of great vintage cookbooks and hundreds of vintage postcards from all over the world. I can't wait to look through all of them to see what we have. If you are looking for any particular postcard, let me know, I think I have it. Do you see that purse? 1950s goodness and a suitcase from around the same time.

On the agenda for the rest of the day:

Finish this project! I am getting really excited to see it all come together. I am hoping by Monday I will have it all done. It is a matter of time management. I have to decide between listing the fab estate sale finds in my Etsy shop or being creative with my scrappy stuff.........decisions...decisions.In other news.....It has been an exciting weekend. The 6 year old lost a tooth. He was a little freaked out at first but when he realized the tooth fairy would be coming, he perked up. Oddly enough, we just went and saw the movie "Tooth Fairy" starring the Rock and Ashley Judd. It was a cute movie and perfect timing for us. Maybe I will wait up for the tooth fairy tonight in hopes he looks like Dwayne Johnson.

Etsy Dreaming

2010-02-19T01:52:00.000-08:00

The other day I was looking through the awesomeness that is posted on Etsy and I thought about how fun it would be to put a head to toe look together using only items from Etsy. I got this idea from a book I am reading....more on that later. I like the idea of buying only handmade items and vintage items. I'll explain that later also.........

Start from top left to right:

FrontNCenterDesigns Headband "Grace"

I have a two of these already and love them. The flower comes off the headband so it can be used in other ways. On a hat perhaps? Or during the summer on a purse.

Murwati L Ruffle Wristlet Clutch

I like this for a night out with the hubs. It's simple and chic.

Vintage Chunky Style Shoes HoneyBlossomStudio

Why can't I be a size 11 so I may have these shoes. Must tell Florence about these shoes she will fit them.

RockZombieOldies 1950 Wool Dress

Isn't it just the sweetest!

Why did I decide to look at Etsy for an outfit? Here is why: You know how once in a while you read something or learn something new and it changes a very deep belief you have held onto? This book did that to me. The change in perspective for me was almost physical. The book challenged me to see Christianity in a whole new light. A good light, not the way it has been here in America for many years. Shane, is more than just inspiring, he is amazing. Truly, amazing. Shane believes all the same things I believe although he believes them for different reasons than I do. The truly wonderful part is down to the core of his being he lives his beliefs everyday and in every way. If you have read this book I would love to know what you think. I would love to hear your perspective and if this book has changed anything you do in your life.Shane explains in his book just how bad people are treated in many of the sweatshops around the world. He has taken to making his own clothing. Admirable, but I don't think I will be making my clothes anytime soon. Can you imagine making a bra? I'd have to contract with a blacksmith for mine. However, I can think about where I purchase my clothing and where the money will be going. With Etsy, I am getting a handmade items (although you have to watch it) or a vintage item. Not only am I helping reduce waste by purchasing a vintage item, I am also assured that the money won't go back to a corporation who is allowing humans to be treated like slaves. Does that mean I will never to to Target again to buy something, no, but I will definitely think twice and be more knowledgeable about who I am buying from.

There is much more to this book than talk about sweatshops and human rights violations. It's just damn amazing. No matter what your beliefs are, I encourage you to read this book. Just be ready to really think about how you live your life.

I Did It, Yeah, Yeah, I Did It!

2010-02-14T17:55:00.000-08:00

Today I did something I have wanted to do for a long time; I listed handmade items on Etsy! I never realized how hard it is to put something out there on Etsy you made yourself. I have a whole new appreciation for those Etsy sellers who sell only handmade goods!

I had a great time making these bags. I plan on making more. Each is one of a kind. The ones posted above are made from bits and pieces of vintage goodies. The idea of making an item from something that might have been tossed, makes me giddy! I have so many more ideas and I can't wait to make them happen.

Inspiration, Love, and Beauty

2010-02-12T07:25:00.000-08:00

My week was a bit consumed by having a sick 3 year old child. At one point this week, he was at 104.5 degrees. I get so worried when they have such a high fever. I am not complaining. I know having sick children is part of being a mom. More than anything I love being a mom to my boys. However, the worrying about my 3 year old being sick along with my 6 year old son's impatience and restlessness = me feeling ready to pull my hair out! A bright spot during the week was my six year old son's excitement for his Valentine's Day party at school. He had to make a box to hold the Valentine's he will be getting from his classmates. I was surprised and happy the 6 year old was looking forward to getting crafty with me. It is times like this I am extra glad to be a papercrafter/crafty mama. I didn't have to go and purchase supplies for his Valentine's project. In fact, I had so much paper, stickers, felt, paint, ribbon, etc. the 6 year old said (with an overwhelmed glaze in his eyes), "Mama, there are so many choices."
Today started on a much better note. On the way to take 6 year old to school, this morning, I noticed our park down the street was absolutely stunning. The trees had ice on them and the sun was shining through the ice illuminating everything. On any other day, I would keep driving giving only a second over to the thought of the beautiful winter scene. Typically I would not appreciate a moment that had the potential to take my breath away. Today I decided to appreciate the beauty nature had created. I had my IPhone with me, unfortunately not my Canon. My photos are not anything like what I saw. However, it wasn't about the photo. For me, today, it was about taking the time to stop and appreciate the beauty before me. I did. I stopped, took a few deep breaths, and appreciated the beauty right in front of me. I am so glad I did.

Here is some fun Valentine's Day inspiration from my fellow Etsy shop owners:
Legyviels

Just recently I discovered what a difference a good pair of socks makes in my comfort level during the day. I think I would die and go to heaven if I had these socks!

Holidaykitschklatsch

Cute, right!!!!

RhondasTreasures

I adore this necklace. So simple.

PetiteMichelleLouise

The papercrafter in me adores every last item in this shop. My heart goes pitter patter as I peruse this shop.

Scrapbooking, Etsy and things I am looking forward too!

2010-01-27T13:58:00.000-08:00

In December I took a class from the amazingly inspirational Donna Downey. While at the class I met Diana who has an amazing Etsy shop called Front and Center. Diana wore one of her convertible headband designs to the Donna Downey class and Donna Downey went crazy for it! I also loved it and as soon as I got home, I ordered two. One of them I gave to my cute niece for Christmas and the other I kept. I get a lot of compliments on it. I really love how versatile it is. Diana is very creative, her blog alone is proof of that!

I am hoping to have a project I made done soon. I am very excited to show it off as I made it from scratch. I am also hoping to post the cute boxes my sons made for Valentine's Day. I had a great time painting them and watching them play with paint.

Memories from Sanibel 2010

2010-01-24T12:24:00.000-08:00

This photo is from Mantanza Pass Preserve

Blind Man's Pass Beach on Captiva

*The shells! The best shells in the world!

*Seeing the dolphins feeding. There were so many of them and they got so close to the shore! We even saw one jump and another jumping over the water many times.

*Riding the bikes exploring the island. The photo above is the Sanibel Lighthouse.

*Hiking Bailey Tract and seeing 4 alligators. One was a very close range sighting. So close in fact we were advised to carry the kids! These alligators are not in a zoo, they are in the wild and right on the hiking track! Very exciting!

*TSA interrogating Grandma
*Grandma and Grandpa feeding a wild Egret shrimp from their hands

*The Bubble Room! This was a place that was hard for me to be in. It is ALL vintage stuff. Mostly from the 30's and 40's. All the stuff I treasure hunt for. I wanted to keep it all and take home some of the sticky buns too!

*Sunrise on Sanibel

*BEST MEMORY the boys smiles from being so happy in the sun and sand!

We stayed at a great hotel right on the beach. The day we left they received a notice that they were voted into the top 10 family resorts in the country by TripAdvisor! The SeaSide Inn had a lot of great little bonuses.

www.sanibelcollection.com/seaside_inn/

Each day we had breakfast delivered to our room! The basket was huge. In the basket there was: bagels, orange juice, apples, oranges, Oreos, coffee, creamer, sugar, and cream cheese. They also had bikes that you could borrow for free. Considering renting a bike is around $50 per person, this adds up to quite a savings. They also had free DVDs and free books to take. Just all around a great comfortable place to stay.

Life is GOOD!

2009-12-14T06:53:00.000-08:00

It amazes me how much life changes when you get a child in school. Even if school is just kindergarten, it seems to rocket your life into a whole new craziness! Long gone are the days of us choosing what to do each day. Now we are on a schedule created by a whole bunch of people, none of which live in this household. Even though life is crazy, it is still really good. I could not ask for anymore than I have (perhaps a little more time in a day). I am truly a blessed person and am thankful for all I have.

I recently had my one hundredth sale at my Etsy store! How exciting! I am really enjoying having my store and enjoying all the people I meet through Etsy. On Dec 5th my globe (which has since sold) was on a blog called "The Someday Blog" http://thesomedayblog.com/ it is a beautiful blog full of wonderful images and ideas. I am loving the shoes she has on the blog today!

I am also proud to have an item in this super sweet person's charity auction, Becca Sutton, http://randomthoughtsbybecca.blogspot.com/ going on over on Ebay. Here is the link to all the auction items including my hand stitched "Love" collage. Go bid!!
http://shop.ebay.com/scrappingbecca/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

Tomorrow I just might have pictures of the album I created at Donna Downey's class this weekend. I took it at Windy City Scrapbooking and I would definitely take a Donna Downey class again!

Christmas Here We Come!

2009-11-01T10:53:00.001-08:00

I have this tradition with my best friend. Every year for more than ten years I have always called her (this year I texted, hello 21st century) and tell her I have seen my first Christmas commercial. I hadn't even been thinking to watch for it yet when BOOM, I saw the first Christmas commercial of the year! It was subtle, not a blatant Christmas commercial but it was there! Christmas tree and all! That was around Oct 5th! Craziness! At least there was not any Christmas music involved in that commercial! That might have put me over the edge. So, does the fact that people are starting to show Christmas commercials and shop for it mean that I can start saying "Happy Holidays" to everyone I see???

I worked on a project this month. It is a project using a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I really liked making it and want to make some more. I think it is such a good way to use those bits and pieces of fabric, trims, and vintage stuff I find. I like the fact that each one is totally different than any other one and no one will ever be created exactly like the other. I am working on getting the courage to list some of my handmade goods on Etsy.

Mornings with my son

2009-09-14T14:29:00.000-07:00

I am a stay at home mom, something I count as one of the many blessings in my life. Since the end of August, my older son has been going to kindergarten allowing me to spend mornings with just my younger son. He and I have never had time together to do only things he wants to do. One of the favorite things on his things to do list is go to the farmer's market in our town. There are so many things about the farmer's market he loves but his favorite is pulling the wagon around and talking to people. He can only pull the wagon for a little while but it is still one of the little things he looks forward to doing on farmer's market day. He also loves to see the animals the local shelter brings. I have not told him yet that those animals are there because they hope someone will want to take them home. He would want all of them.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the pictures from our trip to the farmer's market last week. It was wonderful weather and the crops are becoming more abundant each week. This week I plan on picking up some apples to make a fresh apple pie for Sunday dinner.

This week marks the week that we get full swing into our school year schedule. We start piano, kindermusik, art class, and Sunday school. It will be my first year trying to keep track of everything so wish me luck! BTW, I just want to mention how thankful I am to have finally found a place of faith to take my family. We are so glad to have found a place that fits our family and our spiritual beliefs. I have been attending this church for over a year now and this year we are hoping to become members. Thank you Northshore Unitarian Church for being the place we can call our home of faith. It has been the most warm and welcoming church I have been to and I am happy and proud to become a part of it.

Tomorrow I think the little one and I will do some painting. He will jump for joy when he hears that. Painting is another of his favorite things to do. I will try to post some of his "art".

Thanks for reading!

Adios Summer, I'll miss you......

2009-09-07T17:25:00.000-07:00

So, it is Labor Day weekend and the last hooray before summer starts to offically come to an end. It's been a cool summer and I've been loving it. The last time I remember it being this cool was in 2004. That summer was very memorable for me since it was the first summer I had with my new baby. That baby is now in kindergarten but we had a very active summer that year. We walked every single day. He is still an active kid and I have always felt it was because of how much time we spent outside in those first few months of his life.

I am back to scrapbooking and back with that is the obsession with pattern paper. I've been to the scrapbooking store and spent some $$$ on new paper. What is it about paper? I can't have enough. One of the things I have noticed lately is my lack of paper that is appropriate for boys. I am so obsessed with floral patterns. What the heck am I gonna do with loads and loads of flower paper when I have boys!

Well summer, good-bye, I will try not to cry. Now I will look forward to all the things along the way during our journey back to summertime. One of the big ones is our trip to Sanibel Island this winter. It is one of my favorite places ever.

Here are a few pictures from this weekend.

Scrapbook Design and YOU!

2009-08-31T11:07:00.000-07:00

I am a certified Scrapbook Design and YOU instructor! I am so excited about this. I have been wanting to teach my passion for years and finally the opportunity has come up. Scrapbook Design and You is a program developed through EK Success. It is a very new program and I am lucky enough to be getting in on the ground floor. I actually had to train to become certified and I can sincerely say that I am very impressed with what EK Success has put together. The class book alone is filled with amazing amounts of information!

Here is the website for more information:

http://www.scrapbookdesignandyou.com/

If you live in the Chicago area, I'd love to have you in my class!

What else have I been up too? Well, my son turned three years old so we had a great cowboy party. The kids had a blast. I set up tee pees in the backyard and the kids drew pictures on the canvas part of it. We also had a pinata, and no one got hurt!

I have also been out to see my grandparents. I am so very fortunate to have both sets of grandparents still here on earth. Each of them is so special to me. I have not known life without having all my grandparents to call and talk to. This is one of the many great blessings in my life!

My store! I have really been working on my store and I have been loving it. I get so excited when I find great vintage items. Lately I have started purchasing vintage clothes for my store. I have been adding a lot of vintage to my own closet as well. My primary focus right now is plus size vintage. I am really happily surprised that I have been able to find a bit of it!

It's Monday, and I know it will be a great week! I hope yours is fantastic!

Adventures on a Summer Night........

2009-07-12T10:57:00.000-07:00

This Thursday my husband, the boys and I all decided to go for a bike ride and pick some wild blackberries. We had such a great time and quite an adventure. The boys kept their eyes out for wild berries while we rode through the bike paths in our local forest preserve. We had a good amount of berries and then my five year old spilt part of a basket of them. He was pretty sad, but we convinced him a whole bunch of animals would be very happy when they found that special treat. By the time we were done picking all the berries we found, we had enough berries for a few desserts and that didn't include the spilt ones!
While we were riding along a women was on the road with her hazard lights on. She she started yelling down something to us. My husband ran up there to find out what was wrong. There was a turtle on the road that she was afraid was going to get run over. My husband saved the day and took the turtle back to it's watery home. I actually learned a few things about turtles.
1. The "fact" that they are slow, is actually a myth.
2. Their necks are grossly long and they give a whole new meaning to "oh snap!"
3. UGLY! U.G.L.Y. See picture below.

This is my husband carrying the turtle. He was acting all nonchalant about the whole thing. Then he gets (I have just decided the turtle needs a name, let's call him Mertle) Dear Hubs gets Mertle to the grass and sets him down. Problem is the grass is pretty close to where Mertle almost had a run in with afternoon rush hour. I say, "Uh, honey, why did you set it down there?" He says, are you ready for this, "The turtle saw the grass and got really excited so I thought I would put it here." Let me translate that for you. "This thing is freaking ugly and I wanna get as far away from it as possible but I need to look manly so I will come up with any excuse to put it down." The best part, he adds, "Didn't you see it's arms flapping, that means it was happy to see the grass." Uh sure honey!

Since I am telling you the stupid thing my Dear Husband says. I better tell you what I said too. My husband and the screaming to save the turtle lady are having a conversation way up on the bridge. I can only make out part of the conversation. From where I am I hear, "Look it has a leash on it." HUH? Ok, perhaps someone's pet turtle made a run for it while out on a walk. Possible? Sure. Crazier things have happened. What she actually said, "Look it has a leech on it."

See, I wasn't kidding. UGLY. And to add to the ug-factor That neck comes out about four inches. Ewww...................

We also had a tag-a-long bike riding guest. During one of our berry picking stops, my two year old says in a happy voice, "Daddy, you have a spider on you. It's big." Sure enough, my husband had made a friend of the eight legged variety while leaning into a berry bush. It was climbing up his head till he started dancing around and flicked it off (really my husband is not a wimp, he has jumped out of planes and everything). Here is a picture of his new arachnid friend, but it appears much smaller than it was in real life.

After quite a few mosquito bites, a basket full of berries, saving a life and making a new friend, we went home and had our berries with some whipped cream. It was a great night! The kind of night I plan to have more of.

Memories from growing up in the 70's & Thanks Bobbins and Bombshells!!!

2009-06-29T14:28:00.000-07:00

These rings take me back to when I was a little girl. They are from the 70's. I adore the peace sign ring. Do you remember those little ones with the little gems in them? They came in packs with a bunch of them or in the bubble gum machines! I loved them! I always wanted to get them from the machine! It was so hard to choose between the gum and the rings!

This morning when I checked my email I got a message from Karen over at http://bobbinsandbombshells.blogspot.com/ .

She featured one of the vintage aprons I have listed on Etsy, on her blog. Her blog is the "bomb" too! I love the Etsy community. Everyone is so supportive of each other.

Thanks so much Karen!!!

Today I listed a few more things in my store. I have a lot more to list. I am soon going to start listing some fabrics and trims. Oh, and this weekend I found the most adorable owl pillow ever. Here are a few of the items I will be listing soon. I love the hippy headband! Now that is truly vintage!

More accesories from the 70's. I can totally picture the people at Woodstock wearing these!

Can you believe I found the ring with the original little book! I couldn't! It still works too!

Junk in the Trunk!!! Sewing for Peace!!

2009-06-26T15:09:00.000-07:00

It was a junkin' day today. I got up early (not usual for me) and went out on my own, meaning no children. It was peaceful and full of a lot of Kid Rock music turned up high on the stereo.

I found this little rug. I think I am going to put it in my son's room when we get around to doing it over again. I am really excited because I keep picking up little things for it here and there. I know when it comes time to actually re-do his room he is gonna want Spiderman or something like that!

The lady that had this rug says that she remembers the woman who handmade this rug. She said it was a very long time ago. I could not believe how it was in such great condition! I am thinking if I took that much time to make something, I don't think I would let anyone walk on it either!!

More finds from today:

See the bookends? The ducks. I was going to order them this week from an online source. I didn't do it for some odd reason. Today at a sale, I spotted them out of the corner of my eye. I thought there was no way that I could possibly have found the exact same ones. Sure enough! Now my mom has her bookends! I also got a huge vintage chalkboard. I have been looking for a good size one for a while now. This thing has to be 3 feet x four feet! I love how used it looks.

One of my favorite finds today:

I love them. They are perfect too! It is probably hard to tell in the picture but they are smaller than the normal ornaments. These are probably only a few inches big.

Sewing for Peace!

The other day on Etsy I came across a woman who was selling handmade flag banners for free! I ordered one right away but I was very touched by the reason she was doing this. She decided to hold a "sew-in" as a protest against nuclear weapons and to plea for peace. She is very concerned about the North Korea situation, especially since she lives in Hawaii. Here is her Etsy store, if you get a chance, give her a visit!

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6604480

Here is the beautiful banner she made. It is proudly hanging on my front door in honor of our country:

Call Me the Bag Lady!

2009-06-23T12:26:00.000-07:00

I have been doing a lot of sewing lately, mostly bags. I don't use patterns. Usually as I am falling asleep at night I visualize how I want the bag to turn out and then I put it together in my head. After that I jump in with both feet, start cutting fabric, and hope it works out. Same with cooking. In cooking, I just make recipes up as I go. For some reason, patterns (and recipes) are more difficult for me to follow than visual directions. Case in point. I have made a few lined zippered pouches to match each bag. I don't ever use a pattern. Instead I use a video posted on SIS. I must have watched that video 20 times by now and still watch it step by step each time I make a pouch. I need to see each step rather than have them explained to me. Besides, when Rhi says, "I like to live on the edge." I crack up every time!

Here are two of the bags I just recently made. The pink one above is for my niece. She picked out the fabrics and I got to work. I think she picked a couple of great fabrics. I hope she likes how it turned out. The one below if for a friend. I made it out of some sheets from the 70's. I love the pattern and how summery it is.

I still have a couple more to make for other people (Yes Mom, yours is next) and I am excited to try out some new designs. My next design is going to be a bag with all ruffles (No Mom, yours will not have any ruffles).

I hope everyone is staying cool in this crazy heat!!!

I adore long summer days!

2009-06-20T19:29:00.001-07:00

I am so very thankful it is summer. So far the weather has been stormy but beautiful. Today was our first real hot and humid day. I loved it. The boys played in the sprinkler and in the old galvanized tub I have. My three year old called it his "tub". It was a perfect fit for the two little ones.

Most of my day today was spent listing more items in my Etsy shop. I still have plenty more to list. Today I went to an estate sale and found some really adorable vintage invitations. It was a huge box full of them. Some had never been opened, all of them were perfectly wonderful finds. I also found some great vintage fabric and some very old children clothes that I am falling in love with!

Here are some pictures of some more items I have to get listed in my shop. There is a whole lot to list! I haven't even started on the fabric or trims!I hope everyone has a Happy Father's Day. We have a day planned full of games, bbq, and fun!

My New Ride!

2009-06-16T15:05:00.001-07:00

Did you think I meant a new car? Don't I wish! I love the vintage look of this bike and the basket is so useful! We go on bike rides a lot these days and during the weekend, we try to take a picnic with us. I can fit the picnic and the blanket into my basket. My bike is super comfortable and easy to ride. I am so glad my husband and kids got it for me. It was actually my Mother's Day gift.

It is raining here again. So we won't be riding tonight. I am hoping to get started on a new sewing project. I have actually been getting requests for bags. Now I have to get started actually making them.

I hope all is good with you and yours!

Summertime Summertime Sum Sum Summertime!

2009-06-01T12:00:00.001-07:00

It's here. Officially. I know, I know, the calendar does not say it is summertime yet but here in my house, it is Summertime! This is the last summer before my oldest goes off to kindergarten. I am going to enjoy each and every moment before he goes to the first day of school. I have big plans for this summer and one of them is I don't care how dirty the boys get! I am allowing them to dig in the dirt and roll in the grass. They can make as many mud pies as they please. The only rule. No mud paths through the house. Leave the mud at the front door please.

Last night we had a great meal. I thought I would share with you one of the dishes I made. My husband loves it and it is such a great warm weather salad. I must apologies because I don't use recipes.

Summer Tomato Salad

3 ripe tomatoes
1 ball fresh mozzarella cheese (note use the fresh packed in water or it won't be the same)
fresh basil
1 red onion
balsamic vinaigrette
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper

1. Cut the tomatoes into about a quarter of an inch slices (place on the bottom of the plate)
2. Cut the onion into very thin slices (place on top of tomato)
3. Cut the mozzarella into quarter of an inch slices (use as much as you would like in your salad and place on top of tomato and onion)
4. Chop fresh basil and put on top
5. salt and pepper to taste
6. Pour vinaigrette on salad and allow to sit for a few hours to chill everything.

It's even better the next day. In my humble opinion.

Feel free to let me know if any of those directions don't make any sense!

This salad will be even better when I can use the tomatoes and onions from my garden.

Junking Season Started!!! HOLY Fabric Motherload!

2009-05-12T11:59:00.000-07:00

The pillow I found this Saturday while out on a junk adventure! It is perfect for the couch!

Ever since I can remember I have been a huge fan of garage sales. When I was little, like say 6 or seven, the garage sale appealed more to me because there was always the possibility of finding a good toy or two. If a garage sale didn't have toys, then I would look for baby clothes for my dolls. At that age, I was not in love with flea markets or antique stores. I remember going to them with my grandma and mom. I specifically remember going to one called "Seven Mile Fair". Those afternoons were not fun. For a long time, I was very much anti-antique. I remember saying I would not have one antique in my house when I grew up. When I turned 19 years old I needed to buy some cheap dishes and the first place I looked was a thrift store. That's when the junk hunting bug bit me.

I went to a local (local at the time being Racine, WI) thrift store. My decor love at the time was southwestern. Ok, that just felt like a horrible confession. All I can say about that is it was a strange time in my life. Anyway, I went into this thrift store and on the floor, right inside the door, was a box of dishes that looked like brown stoneware. It was a huge set. They wanted around twenty bucks for all those dishes. I was sold. I brought them home and a friend of mine, who was really into antiques, saw them. She gasped and said it was a really nice set of McCoy dinnerware and they were a really good find. Seriously, that was it for me. I felt that surge of excitement and I wanted it again! I imagine it is what a drug high might feel like. LOL! Ever since, I have been on a never ending adventure for the next treasure.

Turtle sampler marked 1969 on the back. Not terribly old but I love it anyway. Anyone ever try to clean one of these samplers?

I am going to give it a try and see what happens.

This year I am even more excited to get to garage sales, flea markets and after this Saturday I will add estate sales to the list. Usually I don't do estate sales. In the past I have always found them very expensive. However, this past Saturday I had such good luck it convinced me to start looking at estate sales. Oh and by the way, I am certain this whole junk addiction is a trait passed onto me by my mother and was passed to my mother from her mother.

Some of the treasures I found this Saturday. There is more fabric where that came from!

These are the finds I got this weekend. It was a rather strange day. I woke up and decide NOT to go to any sales. Then I got an overwhelming desire to GO to a church sale that I knew was going on. Off I went. On the way there I saw a sign for an estate sale. Remember me mentioning not liking estate sales? Well, I did one of those screeching turns due to my last minute decision to break the no estate sales rule. Get this! The illegal screech the tires to get into the other lane turn was an awesome decision! There was TWO garage sales on the same street plus the estate sale. BONUS! You gotta love that! Park once and take your time.

The first garage sale was tiny. The guy had like maybe 20 things out in his driveway. I seriously think he saw the estate sale and the rummage sale across the street and ran inside grabbing stuff to put in his driveway! I did buy a vintage covered Pyrex dish. Hmm...I didn't put that in the picture. It's cute and teal and I love it. We started using Pyrex because of leeching chemicals in plastic. Love my Pyrex! I love that I can cook in them and store them in the fridge!

After the tiniest garage sale ever I headed over to the estate sale. Everything was 50% off. Bonus again! The first thing I did was wander through the garage. I am looking for huge pots to put some plants in. Nada. I asked about fabric. The lady lights up and says, "Yes in the front room." This is when people need to watch out and get out of my way! Bingo! Big box of fabric.

I also found the pillow in the picture. I love that pillow! After the fabric I headed down to the basement of the house. I found the stitched turtle in the frame. I just love it! Then I headed across the street to another house and found more fabric! It was a great day!!!

Yes, that is a medium garbage bag full. What am I going to do with all this fabric? Oh the possibilities!

Sunday I am going to a flea market. My favorite one. I haven't been to it in a few years. There was no way I was going to take my little boys to this place. They would totally drag me down! LOL! I am going with my mom. Isn't it funny how we have come full circle and now I am doing flea markets with my mom. Wow. Time sure did pass. Anyway, I'll take lots of pictures. Stay tuned. I am sure I will find a lot of great stuff! And since my mother is with me, I am sure I will have a funny story or two!

Spring has sprung! I mean seriously, I think it was jailed someplace!

2009-04-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

I could not have taken another snow storm! UGH!

I have two things I would like to share. First, is this picture I took on Easter Sunday. I was at my mother's house in Wisconsin. She lives out in the country on a beautiful road. Only one shot from all the pictures I took. Clearly I have a lot of work ahead of me!

I wish I didn't have to crop off the far left but there was a bush that was in the shot. I think the far left cropping is awkward but it had to be done.

Here's the other thing I wanted to share. I made this messenger bag for my son. If anyone is interested in making one I am more than happy to share. I don't use patterns, I just make it up as I go, so I would be happy to do a tutorial on it.

I always try to use fabric I find at the thrift shops. When it comes to making "boy" looking stuff, this becomes a problem. Mainly because I am so drawn to the flowery shabby chic stuff. In order to keep this bag looking like a bag for a boy, I kept it very "deconstructed" looking. All my seams are showing on this bag and I think it adds to the boy look. Let me tell you, those diamond shapes were hard to get right!

Have a great weekend!!!

Rainbow at Dusk

2009-04-01T19:12:00.001-07:00

Rainbow at Dusk
Originally uploaded by tracinicole

After a crazy late afternoon storm, this is what we were surprised to find. As soon as I saw it, I grabbed my camera and took some pictures. I haven't seen such a cool rainbow in a long time!

I wanted to share this story with you about a family I have never met but can't forget.

2009-04-01T13:28:00.001-07:00

I know this is a long story.

Two years ago my husband, myself and the two boys were on a much needed vacation to our favorite place in Florida. While we were there we experienced a series of mishaps. Most very minor an no big deal, but things just kept happening. It started, actually, at 3pm in the afternoon the day before we left. On that day we got the news that our son was severely allergic to milk. Any milk. Ok, not a big deal, but he was 5 months old and at that age, it's pretty much a must have. This meant he needed a seriously hypoallergenic kind of formula. I had been breastfeeding him so this was just a shock all around. Especially since I was told repeatedly that breastfed babies don't have milk allergies. Uh huh. Anyway, this specific formula is very hard to find. I called practically every Walgreen's pharmacy (and a few others) for about an hour and a half before I actually found some in stock at a Walgreen about 35 minutes from my home. Whew! However, I also had to get some down in Florida. Thankfully the pharmacy called one of theirs down in Florida for us and they had enough time to order it for me so we would be supplied down there also.

We stayed at my father's place in Fort Myers Beach and used his car. First minor mishap was I went to turn the TV on and the thing started acting wacky. I was pretty sure I had broke it. Then we took his car out to an island and the thing would not start when we went to leave. UGH. We had to have a tow truck come get us. Thanks AAA! Then that night the ceiling fan literally fell out of the celling when I went to turn it on. I was pretty sure that after all of this he would never let me near anything of his again!!

The next evening we decided to go to Fort Myers Beach for dinner. It was amazing. An outdoor Greek restaurant with a fabulous Greek salad and an awe inspiring sunset. The kids were so well behaved and it felt like a true vacation. There was a really cool juggler on the beach who was juggling flaming torches. My three year old could not believe anyone could do that. It was getting later and the baby needed to eat so we headed back to my father's place.

All of us were happy, but the five month old was getting a little fussy. I had everything timed so he would eat when we got back from our dinner. On the way home, we see some commotion up ahead. Suddenly a police man jumps out of his vehicle and stops traffic. I am literally the next one to go past his car and he yells at me to turn around. I looked at him with confusion and said, "But I only have to go up to that turn RIGHT there." He said, "NO!" He then explained to me that I would have to turn around and make the trip around the island to get back into Fort Myers and into the entrance to the subdivision. I ask how low long that will take. He says forty minutes. HUH? Are you serious? Meanwhile I have hungry baby in the back seat. I explain to him that I am not from here. I have no idea how to go around the entire island on a 40 minute trip then go into the city to get myself back to the entrance that is literally 100 feet in front of me. We go back and forth about the directions and he is throwing all these roads out at me and I look like a deer in the headlights. Have no idea where he is telling me to go. Then I explain the formula situation. Told him he could call my pediatrician to verify I am not lying. He still says no. So, I go park in a parking lot and he sees this. He comes over and says it will be at least three to four hours, but I am more than welcome to wait. This is where it all changes. The officer starts to get that shaky voice, he then pulls me aside and says, "I didn't want to tell you this in front of your family but, two children just died right there and we need to keep people out of the accident scene." Then he starts to get teary eyed. I hugged him. That was my first response. I said I was sorry because I could tell this had really upset him and being that my father had been a sheriff for many years, I know these guys do get effected by what they see especially when it involves children. Then he says to me, "Go ahead and walk to the entrance and leave the car here, but I am telling you DO not, no matter what, look at the accident or let your child see it." I knew exactly what he was saying to me. He didn't want me or the kids to see the nightmare in the street. However, being that I walked RIGHT past it, I saw enough. As we were walking past the accident scene, the ambulance showed up (yes that is how close we were to witnessing the whole thing).

When we finally got home and the kids taken care of, I cried. And cried. At this point I had no details about what happened. All I could think about was the mom of these two children. My husband asked me why I was so upset and I tried to explain to him that a mom out there is experiencing her very worst nightmare and two little lives were gone (the boys who died were 6 and 1 year). Seeing the accident site made it feel so different. I wished my tears would take away some of the mom's tears. I knew that wouldn't happen but I couldn't NOT cry about it.

That is the shortest version I could come up with for this very long story. I always wished I could reach out to the mom of these little boys. I don't know what I would have said or done, I just wished I could do something. I think of her and her family from time to time and hope that she is doing as well as could be expected. Yesterday I thought of her again and looked up some information. I came across this article about the accident and the sentencing of the man who was driving the vehicle that struck this family that night. I was surprised at how much time he got in prison, but understand the reasoning behind it.

Jordy Martinez and Jesus Martinez, I hope wherever you are, you have found peace and love.

Maria Del Rosario Bustamante, I don't know you, but you have been in my thoughts since that night and still are.

Here's the article:

http://www.injury-lawyer-florida.com/2009/01/fort_myers_man_sentenced_to_15.html

Falling in Love with Scrapbooking Again!

2009-03-31T11:42:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since I have been feeling inspired to scrapbook. Lately I get my stuff together and nothing comes to me. I have made a few cards for people but no pages. I think sometimes we just need a break.

During my scrapbooking hiatus, I kept thinking about why I didn't feel the urge to scrapbook. Finally I realized what it was. My old way of scrapbooking just doesn't appeal to me anymore. Many times I would make a page just to make something. Now I have stacks of pages that are basically decorated photos. Please, don't get me wrong, I am not knocking anyone else's scrapbooking. I am still a firm believer in people creating the way it works for them. I am just so glad I have found a way that works better for me now and makes me feel more fullfilled as a scrapbooker.

I think taking a break from the online scrapbooking community has helped me find this new way of scrapbooking (although I do miss the conversations and laughs!). I think being online and seeing other's work all the time was overload for me. I never did find a style that "fit" me because I was always overwhelmed by all the ideas I saw and wanted to work into my pages.

Also, before this I could tell you exactly what was the newest product and latest trend. If I saw a piece of paper I could tell you the company who makes it and the line it is from. Not today. Please understand part of this is because the nifty little pay cut from my husband's company (see a couple posts below) and part of it is because I just don't care about the latest and greatest anymore. It's freeing. I am using more found items and non-scrapbooking stuff than ever before. I am using actual items from restaurants we visit, tags from things, and other memento from our lives.

I am documenting our lives with real items from our lives! I think this has made my scrapbooking more meaningful to me, more inspiring and yes, less expensive. Each page I create now is a real story from our lives. Each page is a story that started with that little voice in my head saying, "Oh, I gotta write that down so I remember it." I don't ever feel behind anymore, or like I have to run out and buy something. Everything I need to create a page is right here in my ridiculously over stashed scrapbook room (ugh! the money I spent)! LOL! I am determined to use up what I have, BTW!

Budgets, Happiness, and Kindergarten!

2009-03-09T11:16:00.001-07:00

As many people around the world worry about the global economy, we are also. This http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-tues_pay_cuts0217feb17,0,3374713.story is my husband's company. He was one of the people affected by this temporary pay cut. So, we have decided to see how much we can stick in the bank despite the temporary pay cut rather than flush money down the toilet for things we really don't need. In many ways, this has become something that I am thankful for. In other ways, it is frustrating. Last week I put my mind to cutting the grocery bill as much as possible. I was able to cut the cost by $40 for one week. Percentage wise, it was about 40% of our grocery bill. When I realized I had saved that much, I was a little frustrated I had not been doing it all along. Just think of the vacations we could have gone on (my husband and I love to travel)! I have been doing all the cooking also. We use to be rather reliant on going out for a few meals a week. I am proud to say that in the last 21 days we have only eaten out 2 times and both times we did it on a budget. Thank you Steak and Shake!!! P.S. Steak and Shake has "Kids Eat Free on Weekends". It was very inexpensive for us to eat there! I'd be lying if I didn't say that being frugal takes a lot of planning and a lot more time, but honestly, I have been feeling happier lately. It feels like we have returned to a more simple time in our lives. Did I mention that right now we basically have no TV?? I have one TV that is working but the antenna is not very good. It seems silly to me to have TV we pay for when I can watch all the shows I want from my computer when it is convenient for me. It's only been about five days with no TV though, so ask me about in about a month. I might not say the same thing!

We went to kindergarten orientation last week! I have one five year old who is very excited to go to school! I can't believe it is almost time for him to start school. I remember when G was about 4 months old and I took him out for a walk one afternoon. He and I were strolling along when I saw a women outside with her little bitty baby. I asked her how old her baby was and it turns out she was born in the same month as G was. I distinctly remember saying to the mom "They will be in kindergarten together." When I was at the orientation I turned around and saw that mom and her little girl. I could not believe that much time had past since I said that to her.

My most recent passion has been photography. I have been following along with a new blog called http://sarahbowen.typepad.com/photography/ last week she asked us to find some pictures we were inspired by and go take a picture to recreate whatever it was that inspired us. Here are a few pictures I took:

This was my second photo outing shooting fully in manual. I had resisted for so long because I could not make sense of it. One day I walked out the door and decided that I was going to put the camera in the manual mode and figure it out. After that outing it finally all started to make sense. I am still very wet behind the ears as the saying goes but I am going to keep working and learning about photography and hopefully I will get good at it someday!

Flickr

2009-03-02T13:28:00.001-08:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

It turns out, it is easy being "Green"

2009-02-02T11:30:00.000-08:00

2009 is underway and one of my goals for this year was to learn more ways to be eco-friendly. The first thing I did was a little research and I came across this book Easy Green Living: The Ultimate Guide to Simple, Eco-Friendly Choices for You and Your Home (Paperback)by Renee Loux. It has been such a great source of information for my husband and myself. I think the thing that surprises me the most about this whole journey to greener living is that many times, it is cheaper! For example. Using baking soda with a couple of other ingredients is WAY cheaper than the Comet I use to use. I was also surprised that the baking soda (see recipe below) kept things cleaner and I had less residue than I did with the Comet and other products I had used in the past. Here is my first and most favorite discovery so far on this journey to greener living. Credit for this recipe goes to the Renee Loux. Thank Renee for such a great and easy source of green ideas!!

Recipe for cleaning almost everything:

3/4 cup baking soda

3 to 4 tablespoons eco-friendly organic liquid detergent

15-20 drops tea tree oil

Mix until it has the consistency of frosting. I promise you will love this!

Torture de Santa!

2008-12-15T17:12:00.001-08:00

I wasn't sure if this was fun or torture for the boys. We told them before we left that we were going to see Santa. I thought the announcement would be followed with cheers and excitement to tell Santa what they hoped to get for Christmas. Instead they were both quite certain they did not want to see Santa. Grant was "nervous" he said because he was afraid he was not on Santa's good list. I re-assured him that I was positive he would be on the good list. Cole was unsure how he felt but willing to go along with it. That is until he saw Santa in person. Then the lower lip came out and he said "I no ant ooo O" which means "I am not gonna sit on that man's lap, no way no how." I explained to him that he would probably get a candy cane from Santa if he talked to him. Suddenly Cole was very excited to meet the man in the red hat. When it was Cole's turn he said to Santa "I ant a andy ane" translated to "I want a candy cane" Santa said he didn't have any, but he would be sure to bring some on Christmas. Cole had a complete melt down. Can you see how red his eyes are in the picture?

Cloudy with a chance of glitter rain!

2008-12-08T12:06:00.000-08:00

This weekend I worked on making an ornament (and holiday cards, plus a hat for my two year old). It was a creative weekend for me. I haven't had one of those in a long time. I was in the mood this weekend, for sure! So I cleaned up my area and got to work.

Back to the ornament. I had a picture in my head of how I wanted it to turn out. All the pieces were sitting there calling to me to create this image I had in my head. For the first time in a long time, the image in my head is exactly how this ornament turned out.

All in all, it was a great weekend. Everyone was healthy (finally) and we didn't have a hectic schedule. We put the Christmas tree up and we also had to say good-bye to one of my favorite ornaments. My four year old dropped it on the floor and it broke. It was my favorite because he picked it out when he was two years old. He was mesmerized by this ornament and had to have it. How he didn't break it when he was two, will remain a mystery! I am now keeping pictures of the ornament remains. I think I will start a book called "Another one bites the dust" and compile all the pictures!

Have a great week! OH, the Girl Next Door Collection goes on sale tonight at Scrap in Style. I've seen the sneaks. LOVE IT!

Holy Rotten Sweet Potato!

2008-11-27T11:42:00.000-08:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

I should have known things were not going to go well this year. I say that with a smile on my face because none of these things are bad, actually I find them all funny. It started last week with the napkins I made for today. I thought they turned out pretty cute. Then I went to wash them and the color ran in the red thread. Oh well.......then today happened!

Seems nothing I do today is going as planned. The great thing about it is we are getting some really great laughs about all of it. I am still living in the haze of this cold so I am using that as my excuse today. First I get up at 7 am, I am not a morning person btw, to make my turkey. Normally I don't make a whole bird. Instead I make turkey and dressing sandwiches. I found that the family is happier with the sandwiches than the plain turkey. So it has become tradition in our house. Only this Thanksgiving Jenni-o has a new package that looks like the package of the turkey I normally buy and this new turkey has a bone in it still. ACK! I can't use that for my turkey dressing sandwiches. Plan B we are having a normal turkey this year. I had to promise my husband I would make the turkey and dressing sandwiches sometime during the winter. Back to the story. After we laughed about having to change up the menu a little bit, I start to season the turkey breast. I purchase most of my spices at Sam's so they are industrial sized. I went to put some black pepper on the turkey and didn't realize I had the huge opening opened. I had about one cup of pepper pour over the turkey! We laugh about that and move on. No big deal. Then I go to cut up the sweet potatoes, rotten! I mean gross and completely nasty. Ted runs to the store and they say they got a bad shipment yesterday so he could get six new sweet potatoes from a new shipment. He comes home, we peel cut and bake thinking they looked better but not quite normal. They were bad too! So, no sweet potatoes this year. By the way, did anyone else have bad sweet potatoes this year?? So, my turkey is cooking, cheesy potatoes in the oven and the green bean casserole. Let's hope all else goes well!

Do you have any funny Thanksgiving stories this year?

The Turkey is thawing in the sink with care........

2008-11-26T16:52:00.001-08:00

With hopes it will be a tasty affair!!!! Dad with his sniffles and mom with her snot, settle down and wish they could sleep A LOT!

We have been so sickly around here. I really believe I just had the worst cold I have ever had in my entire life. If I say that again this winter, it is because I think it is like being in labor, you forget how bad it is until you do it again. The worst of it has past but I still sound terrible and I have a heck of a cough!!!

The first day of not feeling very good I received my kit "The Homebody" from SISTV. The hardcore cold hadn't revealed itself yet so I did a little scrappin'. Here's what I came up with.

I literally took the kit into my bed along with a few supplies and did these layouts. I still have a lot of pictures left to scrap with and a lot of this kit left to scrap them. This is not a kit I would have pictured myself liking so much, but I really liked it. Sometimes I think it is the best thing to spark creativity, getting stuff you normally would not choose for yourself. I know I usually choose the same thing over and over again.

Etsy...Oh, how I love it.......and OMG! It is so much work!

2008-11-22T20:50:00.000-08:00

Today I spent much of the day posting lovely vintage items in my Etsy store http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5431107. I cannot believe how much time it takes to get everything in there. I love selling on Etsy so every minute is worth it! I'd love to hear about your Etsy stores too! If you have one, please post a link to it in my comments section. I will be sure to check it out!

Tomorrow I am going to be posting more items. That is if my kids will let me! Right now they are both sick, so I am thinking they will be doing a lot of resting tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed the lighting will be good for taking pictures. I wanna get this amazing shirt posted in the store too. It is vintage and has green cherries on it!

One of the items I will be posting tomorrow is a great collection of vintage items for scrapbooking.

Night Owl and PJ's!

2008-11-11T15:11:00.000-08:00

Night Owl will be available tonight at Midnight! I loved playing with these colors. I loved using these colors for a summer page I did (see photo below) and I love it for Halloween pictures! I think it is a really versatile color combo.

We are hosting an online PJ party at http://www.scrapinstyletv.com/ on November 15th starting at 8pm CT. Games, challenges, free classes and lots of laughs! Get in your pj's and have some scrappy fun with your SISters!

Why I am certain my 4 year old has a lot of my family in him!

2008-10-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

Grant: "Mama I really want that police toy."

Me: "I know buddy but you have not really been listening very well and little boys that don't listen very good don't get cool new stuff like that."

Grant: "What things do I have to do to be good?"

Me: "You need to listen when I ask you to do something. Also, you can't say no when I ask you to do something you don't want to do. Screaming and having a bad attitude is another thing you have to stop doing."

Grant: "Ok mama. I can do that."

Me: "One more thing. You have to stop being so bossy."

Grant: *long silence* "Ohhhh that's hard Mama. I don't think I can stop doing that."

Just an end note to this. When I tell either my mother or father this stuff about my son they both say "I wonder where he gets that from?" With the implication that it is me he gets it from. I just reply, "The same place I got it from."

Mom says, "Yeah, your father."

Dad says, "Yeah, your mother."

Can you tell they are divorced? LOL!

It's Been 7 YEARS since..............

2008-10-29T11:54:00.000-07:00

I dressed up for Halloween! I am so glad I did. We had a great time with the other families at the party. My husband was very happy since Halloween is one of his favorite times of the year. This year he and I waited till the very last minute to get costumes. Why did we do that? Good question. It turned out ok, but as always we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off. So here is how the conversation went down the night before the party.

Me: "Ted we should go to Goodwill early in the morning to see if we can find costumes."

Ted: "Yeah that's probably a good idea, but Grant has a soccer game in the morning."

Me: "AACK! I forgot! Alright I guess that blows the plan. So, we won't go early, we will go after the game. Oh yeah, and we have to figure out what we are going to make for a dessert we signed up to bring. Also, I suppose we will have to make the dessert too. UGGGGHHH."

Ted: "Ok."

Yep, just OK. "OK" like it is very reasonable plan to do all that and get to the party by 5pm meaning we must leave our house at 4:30 pm. I am really lucky he is so calm and cool all the time. Even more lucky he encouraged me to purchase the desert! LOL!

I loved my purple hair! Can you see the "bling" I put on my face? Yeah, got that straight from my scrapbooking supplies. I personally thought it was genius! I did mention this costume was last minute!

Vintage Finds!

2008-09-10T17:56:00.000-07:00

I have been having such a great time going to rummage sales and thrift stores. Sometimes I have no idea what I am going to do with my finds, other times I know exactly what I am going to do. Recently I found some place mats. As soon as I saw them, I knew exactly what I was going to attempt to do with them. Here are the results:

See the floral valance in between the green drapes? I re purposed the place mats and turned them into valances! I love that they didn't cost me an arm and a leg! I did have to go and get a little piece of new fabric to match, but other than that, I used only the place mats. I wanted to fancy them up a little so I created a ruffle in between the two place mats.

You will see more of my vintage finds being transformed. I have an idea for vintage pillowcases that I can't wait to show you! I am doing a crash course in sewing. It is called Sewing: Trial and Error 101. My teacher.....................me. So far both the treasure hunting and learning to sew have been adventures!

One last thing. If you signed up to be a SIS affiliate through my blog, please email me at keriazakos@sbcglobal.net. I will need your address so I can send you a little something! There is still time to sign up!! You just have to make sure you email me and let me know.

One more thing. I was at Craft Fancy today http://www.craftfancy.blogspot.com/

As my two boys and I were pulling up, so was the UPS guy. He was delivering this:

Yes, I did buy some! :)

*Traci*

One week away from civilization!

2008-09-07T16:49:00.000-07:00

One of the many sites on the way up to Minocqua, WI.

I am back from my lovely vacation in the northern WI woods. We really had a great time. My boys were full of excitement with each new discovery. Their favorite day was the day we went to Lake Superior. The entire beach is covered with nice smooth rocks. I could not believe the rocks held their attention for so long. They played for hours and still didn't want to leave. We were the only ones on the beach, in fact, we didn't see anyone the entire time were were at the beach. It was peaceful. At the beach we didn't have a toy, a radio, a game, nothing. And yet, we were happy. I realized how much we need to do that more often than we do now.

Shhh....my favorite part of the vacation, besides watching my boys be so blissfully happy in the great outdoors, was all the yard sales and thrift stores I was able to find. I thrift shopped and yard saled from IL to the far northwoods. By the time we were returning to IL, my husband and I were humming the tune from Sanford and Sons. I even had stuff tied on the top of the van!!!

I also found these:

This one I found in Cedarburg, WI. Loved how they had things set up. They were really great to talk to also! And they were especially kind when my son (who was suppose to be being watched by my husband, was twirling their display around!)

Scrapbook store in Woodruff!

Very friendly! I could not believe how much Tim Holtz stuff they had!

Tomorrow I am hoping to have pictures of all my great finds. Some of it is soaking in the sink right now. I found the most amazing valances ever! EVER! Really, I found some cool stuff!

Did I mention I saw a real bear? REAL, as in, wild. Not in a zoo. It was so cool! We also saw bald eagles. Michelle, I did not have a mint on the pillow. :) Our accomodations were pretty good though.

One More Post Today!

2008-08-28T18:58:00.000-07:00

I forgot that I wanted to post about this.

In June I took at class at SISiversary. It was taught by Jo-Anne, our wonderful and amazingly creative Fashionista. I.was.blown.away! She has a view of scrapbooking that is real and everyone needs to hear. I watched people walk out of the class with a new appreciation for their paper and glue. They were inspired, to say the least.

If you need some inspiration, even if you are not a scrapbooker, I strongly encourage you to take this class with Jo-Anne. It's easy too. Just click on the SIS TV banner one the side of my blog and sign up!!! I promise you won't regret it! Did I mention it is only $12.95! What a steal!

I read.

2008-08-28T10:34:00.000-07:00

I am a huge fan of Philippa Gregory. I am working on reading everyone of her books. So far they have all been pretty good. When I saw this book, I had to get it right away. I am in the middle of another book, but I couldn't wait to start this one. I can't finish it. I just can't.

This book is so haunting and so horrifying that I can't read it. It is giving me nightmares and my heartaches from the utter evil that human beings had to endure through the days of slave trade. I say "human beings" because through out the book the kidnapped Africans are called everything but humans. They call them animals, they call them stupid, they call them property. YES, I have heard all this before, but never have I been taken on the journey from Africa through the voice of one of the humans abducted. Read this if you can stomach the details of children raped, murdered and people beaten to death (let me say again, it is described in detail). Philippa Gregory is a spectacular author, I adore her and I appreciate that she told it like it is. I do find it interesting that she choose to have the setting in England rather than America. I wonder what made her decide to do that. I wonder if she thought it would be less difficult for Americans to handle if they thought it was someone else committing these crimes against humanity?

Maybe I need to continue to read this. Look at how much I have thought about this and what it has sparked in me.

Let me just add, this is required reading at the high school here where I live. I just don't know how I feel about that. I was always totally against censorship and I still am. I just don't know why of all the good pieces of literature out there we need to feed this kind of violence to high school students.

I am a SIS TV affiliate!

2008-08-27T11:22:00.000-07:00

YAY! Anyone who knows me, know I am very happy to be part of Scrap In Style TV. I have been a SISter since last year. Since March, I have been part of the team. Now I get to be an affiliate also! How much better can this get? If you want to become an affiliate also, please click on the link here on my blog and sign up. Then you can reap the awesome benefits that come along with being an affiliate! If you have any questions, please send me an email! Really, it is as easy as posting a banner on your blog!

There is a rak for anyone who signs up to be an affiliate through my blog!!! Please leave a comment and let me know you have done it!!!

Have a great day everyone!!!!

Traci

I am finally gonna do this!

2008-08-25T18:45:00.000-07:00

Finally, I have my blog going. I have had it for a while but only played around with it once in a while. Now I am going to commit to posting and keeping it updated. YAY! I am so excited. Now I can do RAKs and post other fun stuff here!

Please, if you stop by, say hello!

Bored, so what better to do........

2008-01-18T12:56:00.000-08:00

COLD day here in Chicagoland. Have I told you how much I dislike the cold? More than a lot. I am pretty sure I was born to live in a tropical climate sans the hurricanes. People tell me all the time, "You don't want to live in a hurricane prone place." Ok. Let's think about this for a moment. I live in a place where a town was just wiped out, in January, from a tornado. I was in a tornado once, no warning, just BOOM tornado. Yeah, I'll take the three day warning of a hurricane coming anyday over a tornado out of the blue. LOL!

Today I cleaned. The kind of cleaning you do when people are coming over, because, well, people are coming over. I will have put lots of hours into cleaning this house only to have my dad come over for a couple of hours to watch the boys. We'll see if all the cleaning was worth it. I think I should have steak and lobster tonight. That would make it worth it. Throw in some tiramisu and well, yeah, happiness. :)

My NEW TOY!

2007-05-20T20:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I have been screaming from the tops of buildings about this new toy of mine. I have been having so much fun playing with it. IT is, are you ready....a DSLR. Canon Rebel XT. Yesterday we went to Independence Grove and I played with it. I got a few shots that I liked. I am so excited to learn how to use all the manual functions. Holy moly, just the technical jargon alone is overwhelming. I think it will be years before I am fully manual but I am having fun learning. Check out my first outing with my XT. Do people name their cameras? I think I need to name this baby! Any suggestions?

Crash and Burn, sort of...

2007-05-14T11:35:00.000-07:00

So this week. Well, Ted did go to Denver. But let me start first with the night I posted the last post to my blog. As I said, Cole had a temperature of 103. We ended up in the emergency room with a temperature of 104.8. They discharged him with the diagnosis of an ear infection. The next day he went to the pediatrician. No ear infection and blood/urine tests looked fine. Ted went to Denver. Tuesday, Cole started to throw up and have terrible diarrhea. He wasn't keeping anything down and everything was comin' out the other end. Back to the ER I went with Cole and my three year old in tow. Some IV fluids and back home again. Next day, same thing. We went back to the ER again. This time they kept us and Cole stayed for two days. That's the short story but everyone here is doing fine!

This Week, Flying Solo

2007-05-06T18:51:00.000-07:00

This week, I anticipate will be a rough one. My husband is traveling for business, leaving me a single mom for five days. I made it my goal to remain completely positive about my temporary singledom and I was doing really good. And, wouldn't cha know it, the inevitable happened, my eight month old son got a temperature of 103.7 tonight, the night before my husband leaves for his trip. I will remain positive. I will remain positive. I will remain positive.

The Story Continues

2007-04-08T08:12:00.000-07:00

About a six months after I had my first son, I was shopping at Gurnee Mills Mall. Within the mall is a store called "Archivers". I had had no interest in the store before and usually walked past without so much as glancing in that direction, but for some reason, that day it called my name. My husband hesitantly agreed to go in and he watched me carefully as I looked at the patterned paper and matching goodies (this is where the patterned paper obsession started). As I strolled the isles, I could feel the dormant creative beast within me start to come alive. Still, I resisted the strong urge to purchase. As I started to think about what I could make, I became completely overwhelmed. I had no idea where to begin or what to buy and the fear of spending a bunch of money and flushing it down the proverbial toilet played a good part in my wallet staying shut. We left the store without purchasing anything, much to my husband's amazement. I did leave with the store flyer that advertised beginner scrapbooking classes. I hemmed and hawwed for about a week; I just could not get scrapbooking out of my head (well, I could not get the patterned paper out of my head, oh the colors). Finally, I called the store and signed up for their Basic Scrapbooking class.

How It All Began.....

2007-02-12T20:59:00.000-08:00

I have always been someone who needs a creative outlet. In high school I took almost every art class there was, and was even chosen for one of the coveted "independent art" openings . I absolutely loved having that time everyday to get messy with any of the supplies in the Art Department. When the Art Department was no longer available to me, I knew I needed to find a way to still be creative. That is how this quest for the perfect outlet for my artistic side began. I took drawing classes, dabbled in quite a few types of crafts, and even tried sewing. I would really get into whatever the art/craft du jour was, and then just as easily get bored with it. I bet I have the basic starters for every kind of art and craft known to man. So, when I announced to my husband that I was thinking about giving scrapbooking a whirl, he did his usual, "Uh huh, sounds great honey." I am sure what he was really saying was "Oh man, how much money we will be into this time before the excitement fizzles out?" Even I was really reluctant to try. Let's face it, I have a long history of intense interest followed by sudden boredom. It took me quite a few months of thinking about it, but I finally decided to take the plunge.

To be continued......

The Light Bulb Finally Goes On

2007-02-11T20:58:00.000-08:00

I never thought of my family as being very strong on traditions. We had the standard family traditions, the same ones you find in every American home. Food was about as far as traditions got in our family. There just hasn't been any traditions passed down from generation to generation. I had always thought our family's lack of traditions kept me from having a common thread linking the generations. Now a mother myself, I understand I had to mature, and really settle into who I was, before I could see the thread has always been there. The common thread I found is so much stronger and deeper than any family tradition passed down through the ages, because this thread is as much a part of me as the color of my eyes and hair. It will forever entwine my grandmother, my mother, and myself. I can't believe I never saw it, especially since it was so obvious. It is one of the most integral parts of who I am, one of the parts I love the most about myself, and yet more often than not, I deny that part of myself, rarely acknowledge it. It is the artist in me.

I have never really called myself an artist because I was afraid to. In my mind, you were not just allowed to call yourself an artist. No, that title was not a self given description, it was an honor bestowed upon the greatest of talents and could only be awarded to you. I don't know what I expected, someone to show up at my door one day with the secret ring that says I could now call myself an artist and now I could begin to create. I also felt that since I wasn't "talented enough" that I may as well not do it. What was the sense? This seems to be another commonality between the generations. I remember complimenting my grandmother and mother on how talented they were, but they would always brush off compliments regarding their talent. Both women so very creative and talented. For some reason, they never really allowed themselves to embrace that side of themselves. Perhaps life got in the way, raising children, jobs, and house cleaning. Neither of them allowing themselves to create, just for the pure joy of creating. My mother is an unbelievable painter, yet still doesn't paint. She doesn't think she is any good at it. Really, she is. Once in a while, I hear her say she is going to start again, but the paint brushes are still collecting dust down in the basement. They both tinker in crafts, Grandma even having a craft business for a short time, but never fully and truly letting it all hang out and just create.

Here I am, the next generation of this family. I know I have been given an incredible gift and it is my turn, my turn to embrace the artist. It is time to stop worrying if it is "good enough" or not. I need to love the process and not worry about producing a freakin' Rembrant. It's time to just do it; time to stop overthinking and create just to love the experience of it. Learning to love the journey, I believe is just as important as the end results.