Ok, I know it’s been FAR too long since my last post. I’m sorry! I hate going to a blog over and over again every day to check what’s new, only to find that same old stale post, so I TRY not to do it, but you know how it goes…. life gets in the way of my blogging sometimes!
Some business…… the last of the Sugar Shack kits were shipped today. WHEW! I shipped about 50 boxes JUST for these kits, I think. FIFTY! So far, I’ve only received three emails of things I messed up…. One was that I forgot the crepe paper, and another was I forgot the instructions. Doing SOOO many, I was worried I might forget something. But, thankfully, these gals were peachy and let me send them the missing components without being all upset with me! The third thing was someone’s box was crushed. :( That makes me sad….. nothing like waiting for a special thing in the mail, only to be disappointed that it’s all messed up when you open it. Of course, I’m sending that sweet gal a new box. PLEASE…. if anything YOU EVER buy from me is yucky in ANY way, let me know right away! I will always make it right! I want you to be happy and have fun. Kay? Kay.
I’m in the middle of making the Let It Snow cones. I’ve had several special orders for those, so I’ll try to make some extras to list this week. TRY. I’m also doing two special orders for crowns, so I’m sorta swamped! But SO grateful to be swamped! It is such a blessing.
OK… other fun stuff…. OH MY GOSH my 5 year old was in a Thanksgiving play at his school, it was the cutest thing you’ve ever seen. They were all wearing construction paper costumes and it was darling.
Oh, I just love my boys so much. Today, I was on the floor folding laundry (stop the presses!) and I looked up at my 5 year old and suddenly he looked so OLD. So big and mature, and for a flicker of a second, it seemed I could see the man that he will become in his face. For just a moment, that baby face disappeared and I saw something older, tougher, male-r. I just started to cry right then and there. Not blubbering idiot crying, just misty. Then later, my boys were playing sorta loudly and kind-of annoying me and I was about to tell them to cool it, when a little voice inside me reminded me that instead of worrying about the dishwasher, I should go in and play with my kids. It was one of those moments when you are suddenly AWARE that you’re missing something with your kids. That these moments will fade fast and that I will one day long for the hustle and bustle and chaos and noise of children playing loudly in the background. I will miss them so.
This is such a busy season. I’m going to try hard to relax and pull back a bit, and concentrate on making it special for my kids by doing fun Christmas crafts with them, reading them “The Night Before Christmas” a lot, watching the Charlie Brown Christmas special with them, reading them the story of Christ’s birth, and just BEING with them. Grateful for the honor of their presence. I’m gonna put them in their jammies and house shoes and drive around looking at Christmas lights. I’m gonna make them hot chocolate with marshmallows, even though they just eat the marshmallows and slush the cocoa all over the kitchen. I’m gonna string christmas lights along the top of their bedroom walls. I’m gonna let them decorate the tree however they want and tell them how beautiful it looks. I think we’ll make a popcorn garland. Or maybe construction paper? I’ll concentrate on the moment because it is such a fleeting gift.
OH gosh, I searched forever for pics of me at MY highschool prom. My date was just a friend of mine and he drove the COOLEST trashy firebird camero…. and I had a bad girl slinky black fitted dress with a slit up to there and I thought I looked so great! LOL…. but, THAT was THEN and THIS is NOW (may I point to the fat-arms again?). Anyway, if I come across them, I’ll scan them and show you. In the mean time, here are pics of what my current dream prom dress would be.
Doesn’t this look JUST like one of the dresses that Molly Ringwald cuts up to make her own dress in the movie Pretty In Pink? OH, I love it so very much! I remeber cringing when she cut that gorgeous thing up, even then in my teens. funny. I’m going to get a dress form for my ruffly confection one of these days, but for now it’s shots in my bathroom (hey, the lighting is good, okay?).
Amazing, isn’t it? I love it. This is of course my submittal for Natasha’s Virtual Prom. Natasha is a dear and treasured friend. She’s an Aussie and they are enjoying their spring right now, so she’s in the dancin mood. Check out her blog for all the details.
Wanna dance? I’ve got dibs on all the Bon Jovi songs (Never Say Goodbye…… Livin On a Prayer….) and even a few Motley Crue (LOL… maybe Home Sweet Home…. oh my gosh) and how about some Whitney Houston (OH, I wanna Dance with Somebody) and no prom would be complete (at least in my generation) without Skid Row’s mega ballad, “Remember Yesterday”. MY GOSH I am OLD. I’m trying to think of some more lady-like songs from that time, but let’s face it, it was trashy 80s-90s hair bands that ruled during my day. Half of them wore more make-up than me. Remember Poison? Oh my gosh, they were in full faced makeup! Oh my… good times, good times….LOL
I would much rather have danced the night away to some fun 50s-60s tunes if I had the choice today. Some good dress-twirlin diddies!
OK, I’m off to work on some special orders for crowns and cones. Ya’ll be good at the Prom and the afterparties!
OH my goodness! These little house kits are selling out faster than I can make them! I just listed more… about 20 total. I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to get any more of most of the ingredients to this kit, so this is probably my last hurrah. I may have one or two stragglers after this, but actually I doubt it. I am using the last bit of my tinsel and I don’t think I can get my paws on any more houses or some of the bottle brush trees, etc. We’ll see. But anyway, they’re in stock again for now! PLEASE NOTE that they will ship the monday AFTER Thanksgiving! Not this coming Monday! Too much to do!
Speaking of shipping… Today was one of THOSE days. Oh my gosh. Here is my day, in a nutshell:
*I forgot today was Oklahoma’s Statehood Centenial birthday (for my international girlfriends…. 100 years ago today we became part of the union…the U.S.A.) and my son was supposed to wear cowboy and frontier gear to school. I had to go back home, get it, bring it back to school in time to paint cowboy hats on all the kids faces. Of course, son was not wearing jeans, so he had his cowboy hat and boots on with his sweat pants. LOL
*both kids and hubby (biggest kid) are sick.
*now I’m getting sick.
*huge blow-out poopy diaper all over youngest son. Of course, this happens 45 minutes from home and on the one day I forgot to bring him a change of clothes. Naked baby in the back seat on a cold day. I looked like mother of the year, lemme tell ya. Thankfully, my mom was with me and she stayed in the car when I went in a couple of places to do fun things like refill my printer ink cartridges and buy chocolate milk for my screaming kids.
*my car broke down.
*when Brian came to work on the car, we traded cars so I could continue on with my stellar day. Forgot boxes to ship were in the back, forgot to transfer them to new car, so couldn’t ship today *sigh*. So now I get to get up at the crack of dawn and try to get to the Oklahoma City PO before it closes at noon. My rural PO is not open on Saturdays.
I do not like missing a ship date. I do not like people being mad or disappointed in me. I’m working on this in myself. LOL
So….it was an interesting day. But, in then end I had to count my blessings. If you look at it, it really could be seen as a blessed day, not a cursed day. So, in honor of the Thanksgiving season, I’m going to give thanks for my day like this:
*Thankfully, I live only 5 minutes from my kiddo’s school, so returning home for cowboy gear was a snap. Thankfully I am a stay-at-home mom who has that luxury of time. Thankfully, I get to participate in fun school activities and enjoy seeing my little guy learning throughout the day
*I’m grateful that even though the kids are getting sick (again), they were really patient and sweet today.
*Thankfully colds don’t last forever and they serve a purpose
*I’m so grateful that I did not go off and forget diapers when I forgot a change of clothes. And something told me to bring an extra stash of wipes. If I hadn’t, I would not have had enough.
*I’m so grateful that my car broke down in a parking lot, instead of the middle of the street. And also thankful that my mother was with me and had just bought the boys new toys, so thankfully they had something to do while we spent time waiting for my husband to come rescue us.
*I’m so grateful that Brian was off work today and was able to come help us and was willing to trade cars with me so I could get everything done that I needed to.
*Thank heavens my mom was with me to help entertain naked baby and big brother while I just quickly ran in the stores to get stuff done. This way, I didn’t have to get them in and out of their carseats a hundred times and worry about them touching or breaking stuff.
See… it’s all in how you look at it, isn’t it?!
OK, in other fun news… did you see that Heather is doing a giveaway on her blog for a FREE blog makeover, including a new banner!? AWESOME! I would enter to win, but she already made me a cool banner.
Also, I’m soooo enjoying seeing all the Silver Bella stuff on blogs and Flickr. I’m still so bummed that I couldn’t go this year, but I’m going to do everything i can to try to make in next year. Welcome back, Bellas! So glad you all had such a wonderful time!
Ok, first of all, I added 7 more of the little sugar shack kits to the site just now (it’s almost 2 am. don’t ask.). I added 3 of the Sweet Snowy Chapel and 4 of the Gingerbread Cottage. So many people emailed and asked if I would have more. I will try to make more of the others, but I just don’t know if I can. I’ll let you know right away if I do. Thanks so much for always being so supportive!
By the way… the lipstick in the picture on my last post is Revlon ColorStay Stay Currant. I put it on lightly when I want a kinda fresh look (like in the pic) and heavier for a more redish look. I love Revlon Color Stay, by the way. Love it. Stays on all day and night. But it does not dry out your lips. It comes with a gloss that I love also.
Now, here’s the super exciting news! My amazingly talented husband, Brian, has teamed up with my amazingly talented friend, Heather Bluhm to bring you the most amazing website design! Brian’s new business is called “Mr. Doodle and Company“. Isn’t that a hillarious name!? You’ll have to go read his About page, it’s so cute and funny. It tells how we started being the Doodles!
Anyhoo… Brian and Heather are going to be absolutely amazing together. Brian is the smartest person I know. Truly. He is so incredible when it comes to techy stuff. And of course, no one does digital art like Heather Bluhm. She of course designed the banner for my website. See it… up there… isn’t it fabulous!? Heather and Brian can do it all. I’m so proud of them and so thrilled for their future and success.
So, if you need anything from a banner, to a blog set up, to complete web design including e-commerce, please consider Mr. Doodle and Company for the job!
Hello gals…. a while back my blog address changed, it used to be at wordpress, but now it’s here on my site. My super smart hubby put in an automatic forward so that when you go to my old blog addy, you are brought here instead. But, I don’t think we’ll be doing that forever. So please update me in your blog roll, links page, or wherever!
************************************************
Aren’t these just darling? They are marshmallows in the shape of ice cream cones and dusted with sugar! CUUUUUTE! I bought them for my kids, who were completely confused as to why I was taking photgraphs of them! I was practically having to beat my kids and husband off with a stick just to take the picture!
Wouldn’t these be just so sweet in hot chocolate?!
Here’s the bag and brand:
I also got some new lipstick this week. I love new lipstick…when it actually looks good on you. Here I am cheesing for ya.
Here are some funny “self portraits” of me! LOL
Hmm….self portraits are hard….. and my arms look fat (because they ARE fat)
Ok, well, maybe if I hold the camera over my head….. Nope. That didn’t work. And my arms…. still with the fat arms…
I had these same chubby cheeks when I was a size 7. Go figure. Well, maybe not quite this chubby!
OK. Enough of me! I have a winner for my give-away! It’s Jamie! Jamie, I’ll email you for your address and send your little glittery house on it’s way.
ALSO…. I am making more glittery house kits! They’ll be listed tomorrow afternoon.
Oh my goodness! The little house kits sold out in less than an hour, I think. You are girls after my own heart, that’s for sure! It’s so nice to be here, among other lovers of the things that I love. Including, but not limited to this list:
Sweet, fat, juicy babies with rolls on their thighs and smelling of baby powder
a good flea market
frozen margaritas
Jimmy Buffet songs
vintage rhinestone jewelry
millinery flowers
Bing Crosby singing Christmas songs
reading cool blogs
pregnant women, ripe with the future
new moms, exhausted and worn, but full of love and joy for their new baby
new dads, unsure and nervous, but overwhelmed with love
memories of my childhood with my sisters
remembering my ”first” things… first kiss (Matt S. in the back yard during a game of truth or dare…. shh… don’t tell my mom), first boyfriend, first car, first kiss with my husband (fireworks! He was soooo cute. Still is.), first time to sign my name after I got married (how weird was that…to just have a whole new name?), first paycheck, first time I felt my babies kick, first time I held them, … so many sweet moments
Looking forward to new firsts in the future
good girlfriends (half of which I’ve never seen. I love the internet!)
people who leave comments on my blog(!)
vintage wallpaper
a good pair of underwear. You laugh, but you know it’s true.
a good bra. One in which the underwire does not break through the fabric and begin to stab me in the armpit. *note to self…buy new bra this week.
lip gloss. It is amazing what a little lip gloss can do.
red lipstick during the Holidays.
having the name “Holly” at Christmas. Even though I was born in May. Wouldn’t it have been funny if my parents had named my sisters things like “Noel”, “Carol”, “Joy”, ”Ivy”?
BTW…. I used to work for the phone company and at Christmas time everyone thought I was lying about my name when I answered the phone. Isn’t that funny? But I did have a friend there that always answered the phone as “Trixie” (her name was Carol) and another guy there always answered the phone with the names of famous golfers or other sports heroes he liked… Like “Southwestern Bell, this is Mr. Couples speaking”. Kinda funny. Not really relevant, but funny anyway. Moving on….
going off on tangents
coffee. with CREAMORA creamer. Oh.My.Gosh. If you haven’t tried it, you must.
and of course, little glittery paper-board cottages!
I’ve recieved MANY emails and comments asking if I am going to make more of the kits. I’m going to try. I will definitly be able to make a few more, but I just don’t know how many. I’ll let you know when I get them ready.
Thank you all for making the first Joli Paquet event such a success. Our fun little group of artists still has a few kits left, which you can find links to here. This was so much fun. It was my first time doing a kit, but I think I will do more because it was just so darn fun!
I am counting you amongst my blessings tonight and always. Thank you so much for your kind words, your loyalty in continuing to read this silly little journal of mine, and your fun-ness! LOL….. have a great Sunday!
I did it! I made FOUR Joli Paquet kits. The latest addition today is the Gingerbread Cottage! CUUUUUTE! Remember, I will adjust the colors of trim, etc, to your preference. So you can have an entire pink village if you want. All up to you.
By the way, I decided the one I will GIVE AWAY is going to be the little chapel. Don’t you love the two little love doves on it? LOL
It’s also flea market friday! Here are some sneaky peekies.
These are just some of the fun things on the site tonight. Come by at 7:30 central time to see all of the goodness!
*****NOTE***** These will ship by the END of the week! So by NEXT Friday. I have been overwhelmed with shopping for and assembling the kit prototypes. I have ALL the stuff, but I will be putting them together in the boxes for the next few days. So PLEASE don’t get impatient with me! LOL
Today is the day, gals. It’s Joli Paquet day. I’m not listing mine until 7:30 central time. That way, the west coast has time to get home from work, but it’s still not too late on the east coast. I’ll have all of my kits available for sale then. I’m TRYING to do one more, but we’ll see how far I actually get. Maybe that one will have to wait until next week when I add more ‘Let it SNOW CONES”.
Everyone has been asking me the price of my kits. They are $27.50 each and that includes every single thing you see in the pictures…. well, except for glue and paint, those things would be a mess to ship. Here is what the kit(s) include:
*Detailed instructions for assembly
*1 paper board house or chapel (unpainted)
*1 paper mache 7 to 8 inch round box (box size will vary slightly… within an inch…. from kit to kit, but I’ll make sure you get all the same size if you order more than one kit)
*3 bottle brush trees of varying sizes as shown in the picture
*batting for the snow on the ‘ground’ and the roof
*tiny silver tinsel garland
*pom pom trim in the color of your choice
*white crepe paper
*1 baggie of genuine Mica Flake for snow cover (more than enough!)
*1 baggie of a mix of 4 different acrylic and glass glitters for the icy walls of the cottage. I used 4 different grades of glitter… a really fine acrylic powder type glitter, 2 sizes of acrylic flake glitter and a medium grain German glass glitter. The mix of the grades and grains makes for awesome covereage and a really good frosty look.
*And…. all the other little tiny things that are unique to the individual kits… 2 tiny deer in varying postions, one male and one female, for the two story house, snowflakes, doves and mercury glass beads for the church/chapel, a snowman for the little cottage, etc.
*1 piece of paper to go on top of the crepe paper on the bottom of box for a finished appearance.
*Remember, YOU get to paint the little chapel and box with YOUR paints, so YOU get to decide what color your cottages will be! You tell me the color you’re going to do and I’ll make sure the pom pom trim and the mercury glass bead coordinate with your color preference.
*****NOTE***** These will ship by the END of the week! So by NEXT Friday. I have been overwhelmed with shopping for and assembling the kit prototypes. I have ALL the stuff, but I will be putting them together in the boxes for the next few days. So PLEASE don’t get impatient with me! LOL
And….drumroll please…. a giveaway! I’m going to give a way a Sugar Shack Box Kit too! Yay! I’m not sure which one yet, but whichever one I do, you will get the choice of the color for the pom pom trim. Just leave a comment here and I’ll enter you in the drawing. All the other Joli Paquet chicks are having give-aways too, I think. Some are giving their kits, while others are giving away a bunch -o- good stuff. My give-away will go through Sunday night. I’ll draw a name and tell everyone the winner on Monday. So, if you get your name in before I go to bed on Sunday, it could be you!
This has been so much fun. Here’s the cool part…. My kids helped me with my houses. So, I’m tellin ya, it’s very forgiving and easy to do. i let them paint the base color, and mama came back with the detail on the trim. Mica Flake and Glitter cover a multitude of sins! LOL . And usually, no matter what I make, my husband is asking me “are you selling that? How much can you get for that?” and on this one, he said “that’ll look cute on our mantle at Christmas”. Wow. High praise indeed!
Today is also Flea Market Friday! Woo Hoo! I have a few sweet things for you this week that I know you’ll love. It starts at 7:30 central time also.
So grab yourself a cup of hot cider or cocoa, put on a little Bing Crosby, light some candles, and let’s get our GLITTER on!
If my house wasn’t such a mess, it might be cute since it’s absolutely covered in glitter and mica flake. I’ve been working on my Joli Paquet kits. I have three variations on my Sugar Shack Glitter Village Kits. I’ll get better pics later, but here they are:
This little sweetheart has a snowman holding a candy cane:
This sweet little church or chapel had me singin “goin to the chapel” all night.
and here’s my original one…remember this cutie with the vintage mercury glass bead tree-topper? I’m adding another little thing to this one, so I’ll get another picture later and show ya.
All of these fun babies will be available on Friday night. I’m also doing Flea Market Friday this week, so pop on by around 7:30 central time for a glitter dusted good-ole-time.
Isn’t this fun? I’ve been working on this for a special swap I’m in. I’ll be making several in all different wallpapers. This is a hanging collage made with vintage wallpaper, vintage millinery flowers, vintage rhinestones and more, but the cool thing is, it’s for your own photo! So you can make a sepia or black and white of your fave photo and insert it, and then change it with the seasons or maybe display a fave postcard, whatever. I love how this turned out. I’ve done some frame boards on huge pieces of wood and they look cool but too heavy to ship. SO this is such a lightweight and fun version. I don’t know if you can tell, but the edges are covered in clear glass glitter.
OK, this is a super busy time for everyone, I think, and I’m no exception. This friday will be the Joli Paquet sale date, and I’m also going to have Flea Market Friday. It should be a fun day, but boy am I swamped!
I am also working on more “let it SNOW CONES”. I’ve had several requests for them. I promise, it’s on my list! I hope to have some by the weekend, but it may be early next week. We’ll see how I do on time.
