Holy Blog Train, Batman!

Wow!  I can hardly believe I'm posting on this blog.  It's been way too long!  When I last posted I was talking about my kids going back to school and me deciding what to do with myself.. Not long after that post, I was offered a job and I went back out into the work force for the first time in 10 years.  I landed a great gig at an elementary school working part time in the mornings.  I LOVE my job but boy was it an adjustment despite being only part time.

So, here it is, almost a year later and I'm finally getting back in the design game!  Welcome to my July Blog Train stop!  I had fun with this, hope you can find some use for it! :)

You can snag this mini kit by clicking on the following link.  If you have any problems, please let me know by leaving a message here or posting on my facebook page.  Have a great July!

Download Here

*** LINK HAS BEEN UPDATED
SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE***

Thanks for stopping by!  It is so cool to be doing a little designing again (I have a few new kits almost ready so keep an eye out!). I've been doing a ton of scrapping lately but I've been missing the creative outlet that I've only found with designing.  Click on the link to the right to check out my A Cherry On Top store if you are looking for some oldies but goodies to build your scrap stash with.  All of my products at ACOT are currently $1 (including some CU products!) so take a look if you get a minute. :)  Now its time to depart the station and head towards your next destination.  Have a safe trip!  You will soon be arriving at:

 Snips and Snails Designs

a little updated info

Hey there! I hope that this gorgeous September day finds you all doing well (and that it truly is gorgeous where you live as well!) and thriving! I just wanted to take a minute to update you on the status of my design biz.

I have left Funky Playground Designs and I am now selling exclusively at A Cherry On Top. My store over there isn't too full but you will find most of my more current items. I will be adding more very soon (some new, some stuff that is wasting away on my hard drive begging for some shelf time at the store). My decision to leave FPD was a difficult one as I really enjoyed being part of a great team and getting to know all of the designers and community members there. I found that I simply wasn't very productive these past several months and it didn't make since for me to take up space in more than one store when I am not actively designing (not that I'm 'not' designing, I'm just doing it every so slowly right now!). So, you can find my goods at my ACOT store and right now I have a huge $1 sale because I'm too lazy to switch prices back. LOL

In other news, my kiddos are both in school now. My son is getting ready to finish out his second week of kindergarten and my daughter has settled nicely in to 4th grade. I am struggling a little with the concept of being a stay at home mom without any kids to mother. I've had a little one in my care day in and day out for the past 10 years (even before my 9 year old came along I cared for my cousin's daughter) and suddenly here I am in this big, quiet house trying to figure out where I belong!

I figured that the natural thing to do would be to catch up on all those projects that I've been meaning to do the past several years but in starting them I am just creating more messes to clean up so I spend my day between painting this, fixing that, throwing out something else, sorting, organizing, creating, etc. I've been doing a lot of work in my office and I am starting to get really excited about my fun new space. This room before just screamed 'boring' and I am working to make it an inspirational place to work. I hope that in doing so my creative mojo will be overflowing and I will find the desire to work on all of these kits that are sitting in my head waiting to come to fruition.

just a little bit HOT

I know hot. I grew up in Arizona. I have been outside when the temperature spiked to 122 degrees and it felt like the sun was going to bake the meat right off of your bones. I've had sunburns so bad that I blistered and peeled for weeks and had to live in my swim suit for days and slept with a bottle of lotion at my side for those middle of the night attacks of pain from the burnt part laying against my sheets for too long. As a child I once ran out to meet the ice cream truck barefoot. I thought I was going to miss him but it turns out that I had way more time than I imagined because in the end I stood on hot asphalt waiting for the other neighborhood kids to get their frosty treats and I bounced back and forth from one foot to another trying to cool my feet down for a few seconds. That was a disaster, as you can imagine. I spent the next week on the couch or in bed. Walking was excruciating. I had 2nd and 3rd degree burns on the bottom of my feet. To this day my feet are so sensitive that I don't much walk barefoot inside the house, let alone outside. Yeah, I know hot.

Now I live in Kansas and I've been spoiled by summers when it barely hits 85 on a good day and the public pool closes early (or doesn't open at all) because it just isn't warm enough. I've also had summers where the mere act of leaving the front door and walking to the mail box made me feel as though I was trying to breathe in a steam room because of the crazy humidity. We've always said that Kansas has crazy weather. Where else would you have rain, snow and then sunshine on Halloween with temperatures going from the 30's to the 60's in a matter of hours? Okay, I'm sure there are other places as well who share our crazy weather as we can't be alone in that but none the less, it gets kind of unpredictable at times. So, I suppose this summer shouldn't be a surprise.... but...

This summer is HOT. It was pretty hot last summer too but nothing like this. Last summer I stalked my old home town on weather underground and watched as our temperatures and heat index soared above them. I commented a few times that it would be cooler to move home and I longed for the 'dry' heat of Arizona instead of the mugginess we had here. I don't think mother nature took kindly to me coveting weather elsewhere and making such comparisons because this summer is so much worse. This summer we have had crazy days of high temperatures and heat so dry it feels like you could cook a turkey on the front steps. We've had those humid days too, the sauna days when you are ringing wet but it isn't all sweat. We've had the days of burning your hands opening the car door or picking up a penny from a parking lot. Its been hot. Too hot. In fact, we recently went on record for having the 4th hottest day ever in our area and the hottest ever in the month of August. Last night the heat index was 124 and as we sat here sweltering I couldn't help but check out my old neighborhood to see how they were fairing. It was 4 degrees cooler by the thermometer and their heat index was 107, a degree lower than their actual temperature. I hate to mess with mother nature and all, but seriously? I am starting to think maybe we do need to move home... or at least take our cue from the snowbirds that visit the area every winter only do opposite and spend summers there. LOL

So, how is it in your area? Are you baking right along with me? I am dreaming of autumn and long sleeves, of crisp air and long walks. And to think, its only the beginning of August.

another passion of mine

I like to scrap (though I haven't in quite a while... see the post about longing to find inspiration), I like to craft (yep, there's a post about not being able to do that lately either) and I love to take pictures. I also love to decorate my home. I have such an eclectic taste and style that home decorating has been a long and tedious project with more misses than hits as I fumble around finding what works just right for me... well, for us, my family and I. I follow home improvement blogs and decorating blogs and watch design shows. In fact, I probably watch, read, devour too many because I see too many things that appeal to me. I love modern and contemporary and rustic and industrial and shabby chic and the list goes on. I have a hard time pinpointing my favorite style because I see beauty in almost everything. I don't like the dark and macabre and I'm not too fond of mid-evil but most other genres (if you will) of design appeal to me. I suppose you probably already guessed as much considering the eclectic nature of my designs though, right? LOL

Anyway, I had a fun weekend finding goodies at the flea market to transform for our home. I picked up an adorable little table that was sporting a very unfortunate coat of lime green paint. Actually, in the store under the fluorescent lighting I didn't find the color half bad. My husband thought I was nuts but I kind of liked it. However, once I saw it in natural light I realized just how appalling it really was and therefore my cute little table had to have a new coat of paint. It is now sporting a very chic coat of satin finish black paint. Every table can use a little black coat, eh? Yeah, I know, that wasn't a good joke. Its late, what can I say?

So, while I miss scrapping and crafting and designing, I am staying busy doing something creative at least. I am also counting down the days until the kids to back to school and I can get my design on!