I've been busy...I love to get things done!

It has been quite an eventful 2009 already.

As I blogged about below we have sold our house (still crossing our fingers because the subjects don't get removed until Friday), I accepted a new job (it's been awhile since I have worked out of the house), and my scrapbooking projects are rolling along.

Today I have completed some new tags (which I just listed on Etsy), completed some custom work, and did a layout for Trevors book. I realized the other day that I have really fallen behind regarding my boys books so I have decided that for every project I complete I must do 1 layout for the boys books.

On top of this I have completed some paper piecings that I will be incorporating into some birthday cards for Etsy, hoping to have those finished tonight.

Here are the pics of the tags and Trevors layout.

Cheers

52 Questions - question #4

question #4 - when you look into your eyes what do you see???

answer - after this past year, or couple years, I am seeing someone who looks a little more tired than my age should allow. However if I look a little deeper into my soul I see someone who is happy to be alive and wants to live every moment to the fullest. So I can work on the outside this year but I can honestly say I am so happy that deep down I know life is awesome!

What do you see?????

Don't forget to leave comments on my blog, every comment = an entry into the OWOH giveaway to be drawn on Feb. 12th.

Cheers

WhoooHoooooooo and One Heart-One World giveaway

Last Thursday we signed the papers to move on to the next chapter of our lives. We SOLD our house!!!! There are still subjects to be removed and this should happen by the 30th of Jan.

If all goes as planned (and it should as the inspection has already been completed and all paperwork has been handed over as requested) we will be looking for a new home to move into by March 1st. This is very exciting, we have been here for 5 years but honestly I am ready for a change.

So please keep your fingers crossed that all will be completed on Friday and we can go house hunting!

On another note I plan to join the One World - One Heart campaign. What is this? See below.

This event was created in 2007, and the following was copied from the about page on One World-One Heart blog.

The original idea behind this giveaway event was to bring bloggers together from around the world who may never ordinarily meet. It closes the gap of the blog community and enables us to interact, discover new and wonderful people, and in the process possibly win a prize or many prizes along the way. 2007 had roughly 85-90 participants and many connections were made because of it......friendships that are still going strong.

We had a strong showing the first year for sure, and then in 2008 we had just about tripled that number.This is more than wanting to win something.......that is only the means.......in the end it's about finding kindred spirits. Someone who may be fairly new to blogging, not sure how to navigate, find others and have others find them....Some are long time bloggers and in some cases well known in the art community. Whatever the case it brings all of them together.

This is an INTERNATIONAL event that has and had participants from the US, Canada, France, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Malaysia, Brazil, The Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Ireland, England,Wales, Slovenia and more. It transcends geographical location, socio economics, political affiliation, religious beliefs......it's a coming together like the giant community we are on this planet. If only it took a simple giveaway to create PEACE everywhere, in the mean time here we give from our hearts. We are not solving the worlds problems nor are we curing anything nor are we changing the world. We are merely generating a closer community between humans through blogging. What more could I ask for, my little idea has surpassed my wildest dreams of what it could become.I don't like rules but sometimes there needs to be at least guidelines to keeping things cohesive and fair for everyone.You don't need to be an artist to participate each year, this is open to everyone. What it's not meant for is self promotion. Meaning that the mission of this event is to meet new people and them meet you, rather than be a commercial for each persons specific endeavors. Many people have links to their websites, Etsy sites etc. already on their blog therefore the "visitor" can click on those to find out more about what a person does. The aim is for the event post itself to be about welcoming and showing what each visitor has a chance to win by stopping by.....AND giving the visitor a chance to read and learn more about each person along the way. It is almost like being in a huge convention room where you meet and mingle - only the "hello my name is" badge is each persons blog.

In order to be a participant in this I must post a giveaway on my blog. I love giveaways!

So here goes, all winners will be advised after Feb. 12th.

Each comment received on my blog from this point forward will be entered into the giveaway.

So what is the giveaway you say? How many winners?

There will be 4 winners for this giveaway and each winner will receive a set of 4 greeting cards of your choice. They can be birthday cards, thank you cards, thinking of you etc.

So be sure to comment and keep checking back, every comment = 1 entry in the giveaway.

Cheers

Sunday HandCrafted feature - Handcrafted Soaps

I am starting a new weekly feature on my blog. Every Sunday I am going to feature a few sellers of one particular craft industry.

This week the feature is on Handcrafted Soaps. Before I was a paper crafter I loved to make soap. I wasn't anywhere near as talented as those I am about to feature but it was a passion of mine.

So everyone needs soap right?, why stick to commerically produced boring soaps when you can have fun, unique, works of art!!!

The first wonderful artist I found was Soapalaya Soaps

This shop has a variety of Cold process soaps, Blended Creme Soaps, Skin Care products, Lip Balms, and much much more.

Here are just a few of my favorites from this shop

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=18782206

Vetiver is a fragrance that is fresh, green and wonderfully intoxicating. A carefully blended mix of Tibetan musk, black pepper and Himalayan grasses, Vetiver is spicy and warm with an earthy-woodsy complexity. Perfect for men, but, it is also enjoyed by women. Considered a true unisex fragrance.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=20006609

This is a hefty bar of cold process soap.Each bar is handcut from a loaf and weighs approx. 6 oz. or more.The scent is a combination of kumquat fragrance oil and natural orange and tangerine essential oil. The top has a sprinkling of real orange peel powder.....just because it's pretty : )

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In A Lather is another great shop on Etsy. As mentioned in their site visit this shop to take this opportunity to pamper yourself with some affordable luxuries.

Currently the shop is focused on making Shampoo That Rocks, which are solid shampoo bars. They lather freely, and contain all of the good things that are in shampoo without the water. I think this is a great idea.

Here are a few of my favorites:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19809432

and

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19165564

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Mmmmmmmmm this next shop has some of the most yummy names for their soap. They sound good enough to eat.

Along with cold processed soaps, this shop also carries Whipped soap, Facial Scrubs, Lip Butters, and more.

So visit Pegasussoaps to find some soap sounding good enough to eat ;)

Some favorites:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=18823872

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19945904

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Finally last but definitely not least of the shops I am featuring this week is Shine Your Hiney Soap Co. (what a clever name!)
Along with Gourmet and Luscious soaps they carry a line of novelty and childrens soaps that are wonderful. It always seems to be a bit more fun for kids (and adults) to wash with fun shapes.

Here are my favorites.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19418240

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=12094224

So I would love if you took a moment and visited these wonderful shops, it is always such a pleasure to help fellow crafters.

If you have an idea for next Sundays feature I would love to hear them. I am thinking about doing some sort of doll feature, but not entirely sure yet, be sure to check back.

On a personal note I will have some exciting news to share tomorrow ;)

Cheers

New paper piecing and Queen Peanut

As I mentioned yesterday I have been working on some custom work and put together a paper pieced Santa. I decided to make a second one for my Etsy shop as well, http://www.kriskropmemories.etsy.com/

I thought I would add some cute pics of Queen Peanut, we don't call her Queen normally but these shots just made me think that this is the way she is acting lately. For whatever reason this dog will not lie on the floor. She has to either lie on the couch, my lap, or a pillow. Rory is always trying to make her lie on the floor without anything but she just circles the livingroom until I am willing to give in, it is really funny.

Happy Thursday to all!

Cheers

I received this from a friend of mine and decided that more would love this info.

COFFEE FILTERS Coffee filters, who knew! And you can buy 1,000 at the Dollar Tree for a dollar.

1. Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave. Coffee filters make excellent covers.

2. Clean windows and mirrors. Coffee filters are lint-free so they'll leave windows sparkling.

3. Protect China. Separate your good dishes by putting a coffee filter between each dish.

4. Filter broken cork from wine. If you break the cork when opening a wine bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter.

5. Protect a cast-iron skillet. Place a coffee filter in the skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust.

6. Apply shoe polish. Ball up a lint-free coffee filter.

7. Recycle frying oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a coffee filter.

8. Weigh chopped foods. Place chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a kitchen scale.

9. Hold tacos. Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.

10. Stop the soil from leaking out of a plant pot. Line a plant pot with a coffee filter to prevent the soil from going through the drainage holes.

11. Prevent a Popsicle from dripping. Poke one or two holes as needed in a coffee filter.

12. Do you think we used expensive strips to wax eyebrows? Use strips of coffee filters.

13. Put a few in a plate and put your fried bacon, French fries, chicken fingers, etc on them. Soaks out all the grease.

14. Keep in the bathroom. They make great "razor nick fixers."

OH YEAH, THEY ARE GREAT TO USE IN YOUR COFFEE MAKERS TOO

Cheers

Feeling very proud!!!

When your kids are little there are so many firsts and it's quite exciting. Yesterday Trevor had his first spelling test at school. I cannot remember 1st grade but I didn't think this happened until next year.

Now the words aren't spelling 'b' material but the fact that my little guy is spelling just makes me feel so proud.

Here is a copy of the completed spelling test. The words are the, a, and, of, to, & in.

Great job Trevor!!!!!

I have also just finished a Santa paper piecing (I know I missed the holiday but I was working on one for a project so I decided to make a second for the shop)
I will upload this tomorrow, as well as some featured sellers that I want to showcase.

Have a great day!

52 Questions - question #3

question #3 - do you believe in fairies?
answer - yes & no. Although I am not a believer that little tinkerbells are flying amongst us I do believe that their are little things looking over us. How do I explain this.....my dad and Ror's dad passed away in the same year, all of a sudden 2 stellar jays started showing up every morning in our tree and would literally just sit and watch me on the deck.

Now I know that they are just birds but they are like my fairies because everytime I see them I believe that I am being watched and taken care of. A bit of a stretch?...for sure...but it makes me feel better just like fairies do for others.
Ok cats out to the bag, I am a little strange lol.

How would you answer this question.

Cheers

52 Questions challenge

I found this great challenge today. 52 questions to inspire you.
I will be listing the questions and my answers each week, so join in on the fun as well. Love to hear others answers as well.

It is once a week from the start of the year, so there will be a couple now and then just one a week going forward.

question 1: what do i wish for this year to bring?
answer: peace. Standard answer but although I do wish the world peace this year I am speaking selfishly here. When I say peace what I mean is calm. This past year was so crazy and truly stressful (who am I kidding, the last 3 years have been that way) that I just want to be able to breath this year. Selling the house will help that as will getting back to work I think. The biggest way to obtain peace and calm I think is to learn to handle the punches a little better. I can get really worked up for sure (I'm Irish, enough said) and that is my flaw that I think if I fix will help me obtain a more calm environment.

question2: am i afraid of change?
answer: Absolutely Not. I thrive on change. I look at my life like chapters in a book. The book would be pretty boring if the story never changed. The only thing that stops me from making huge changes in my life are my boys. I think a childs life should remain as constant as it can (Trevor asked me today if he had to change schools would he have to start over in the new school in Kindergarten, they just don't get change) without being dull. I hate dull!

The third question will be posted at the start of next week. I would love to hear from you, how would you answer these questions?????

Surgery, Garbeurators, & Job Interviews

It has been an interesting last couple days.
It started with a great day for my Mom on Tuesday. In 1998 my Mom battled breast cancer and won however at that time they did not offer reconstructive surgery so she has been living for the past 10 years feeling very anxious about how she looked. I understand some would say that you should be happy to have won the battle and not worry about the smaller things but I think it is just a constant reminder of the whole thing and not feeling like a woman can't help with the mental part.
Anyway my Mom after recovering will now feel comfortable for the first time in a bathing suit or a spaghetti strap dress and for that I am very thankful. It was a two part surgery that was completed on Tuesday. She is at home recovering and I believe feeling quite proud.

Wednesday was a great day for me. I have decided, now that I know Rory will be home full-time, to go back to work. I received a call about a really interesting position and went into a headhunters to interview for it. This is my first interview since early 2000 so I was just a little nervous. I must have done ok though because the headhunter is passing on my resume to the company and I am hoping to hear from them tomorrow about a second interview.

I then came home and honestly I am starting to feel like I live Murphys Law when it comes to this house. It has been for sale since June. In that time we have had a water leak/flood and were without floors for about 2 months, we have had 2 offers that fell through for such complicated issues I won't even go into because they are crazy. Then of course the economy did a nosedive and now my garbeurator. It decided to konk out last night and now I can't show my house until it's fixed. I am just thankful that during the water leak episode we found an honest and reliable plumber (and one that doesn't charge you your first born) so he will be able to come in and fix it tomorrow night. $200 bye bye!! Oh well I guess I can now make it a selling feature, lol.

Cheers,
Kristine

New paper piecing added to store

I have been working on some custom pages that focus on Boy Scouts. I do not have any personal experience with Scouts but have been learning quite a bit on the internet while working on these pages.

I was working on a paper piecing for one page (Denise don't look if you want to be surprised) and I fell in love with it so I decided to make a second for my shop.

So here it is, perfect for anyone with a Wolf Scout in the house.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19689518

Cheers

Customer service....some days it really stinks!

First I will start off with my pet peeve of the weekend. I have to admit I wasn't in the greatest of moods but honestly I could have been doing the happy dance all day and still would have been seriously irritated!

For Christmas I purchased a camcorder for Rory. I am not a techy person so the decision regarding what type of camcorder was a little tricky for me. The one I wanted to get was out of stock so I settled for a Canon minidv.

After doing some more research Rory decided he would rather the initial one I had wanted and would wait till they were back in stock to replace it.

I checked the website at Bestbuy yesterday and found 1 in the 3 stores in our area. It was in Burnaby, this is about 1/2 hour away from our house so Rory called the store to confirm it was in stock. He also explained to the dept manager on the phone that he was replacing his Christmas gift with this one, he did this because he wanted to do the transaction in one swoop at customer service.

Anyway we get there, through the snow that was supposed to be rain, and wait in a line about 20 people deep. I am keeping the kids entertained looking at Wii games until it's our turn. Now it's turn, we produce our receipt, ask for the other model ($100 more expensive I may add) only to be told by Ms. RUDE herself that we have missed the allotted time to return this item and thus we our out luck. UMMMMMMM I don't think so!!!!!!

I was mad, apparently I was supposed to read the fine print on the BACK of the receipt because camcorders only have 2 weeks to be returned. But, I explain to Ms.RUDE, when I spoke to the store last week I was advised that the replacement camcorder would not be in til now. Ms. RUDE simply looks at me like I am a flea and says "that's too bad", "it's too late and there is nothing I can do for you".

Again UMMMMMMMM I don't think so, manager please.

Anyway long story short, after making us wait quite a while for a manager it took him all of 30 seconds to realize that we were purchasing a more expensive camera and the customer should always be happy. I have no beef with Bestbuy, however Ms. RUDE in customer service, I'm thinking you should find another calling because customer service is not your thing. K ranting over, after many years in retail I can't stand poor customer service.

After the Bestbuy trip we took the kids to Crash Crawlys. They had so much fun. Rory and I however....no we did have a good time with the exception of being scared out of our minds looking for Brendan.

I had left to look for Trevor, this place is a maze of tunnels two storeys tall so finding him can be fun, meanwhile Brendan was in an enclosed toddler area for kids under 3. When I returned I asked Rory where was Brendan, I could see he was already a little concerned because he couldn't see him. He was nowhere in this toddler area and given that Rory was standing the whole time at the entrance to it we were just a little freaked out. I left that area and found him two storeys up (still can't figure out how he got there) shooting balls out of all ball gun at kids 3 times his age. The monkey amazes me, scares me too though.

I managed to get some scrapping done this weekend and listed some new cards and supplies in my Etsy shop

http://www.kriskropmemories.etsy.com/

Here are some pics of the new cards.

Cheers til tomorrow

DH thinks he's cute and I have decided to start a bucket list

After dropping of the kids at school today I returned home to Rory telling me that he saw the most interesting t.v. show while I was out. It was a talk show about a wife that was planning a secret saving to surprise the family with a vacation.
If you read my post yesterday you will understand why I started shouting "you read my blog!!!!!" It has never been a secret that I write a blog but honestly he has never taken an interest in it so I THOUGHT my writings here would be unseen by him. Apparently not! So the cats out of the bag, he is aware of my plan and yes I did get the rolling eyes and the "we can't afford it speech", no matter, I will continue on with my plan and see if I can succeed.

I have also planned on starting a bucket list. I am still in the process of putting it together but I think what I will do is update it periodically as I add more items to the list or hopefully delete some as completed.

2009 Bucket List

• Learn to snowboard with the kids
• Take ballroom dancing lessons with Rory
• Join a baseball team
• Travel across the US by car in late spring/early summer
• Take a European cruise
• Play in a Texas Holdem tournament
• Take cooking classes - either Japanese or Chinese
• Write a novel
• Learn how to sew
• Get a college degree
• Make my business successful enough to be my full-time job
• Get involved with more charitable causes

Trust me this isn't it, I am just tired so I will add more as they come to me.

Cheers

I tempted fate! and I have a plan :)

I wrote my last post thinking that we were done for the snow. The forecast was for rain so I decided to get the kids out one last time before everything turned into a soupy mess. I went to my Moms today and after a lunch out we headed to the park to play in the snow. We had such a great time until the wind started. It was crazy, it was blowing so hard that the snow was falling off the houses around us making for a fun walk home, who would get a dump of snow on their head next was the question.

After quickly getting the kids out of their snowsuits I looked outside and guess what?, yep you guessed it, snowing AGAIN! This was around 3:30 and as I write this post at 11:30 it is still and hasn't stopped snowing. We have had about another 15 cms of snow today. It is seriously driving me NUTS!

Anyway enough about weather. If anyone knows me well enough they know that I LOVE to travel. After my Dad passed away so early in his life with so many travel dreams left undone I decided there and then that that would not happen to me.

I know for a fact that I am driving my penny pinching (when it comes to travel) husband crazy. So rather than see the eyes roll and have him tell me for the hundredth time that we cannot afford it (he's right but seriously life is too short, you have to find a way I say) I have devised a plan for the next family vacation.

I am hoping this will happen around Trevs b-day in late April. My plan is this, cut my spending without him noticing. What? you say. Well I don't know about you but I find I can waste a lot of money, it seems like nothing at the time, a coffee at Tim Hortons, a chocolate bar, a magazine here a magazine there etc. I have noticed over the last few days that I can do without these things.

So instead of depleting any savings in a big way for a vacation I plan to start a secret savings in which I will put $10 - $20 away every day, he won't miss it but I think it should add up quite quickly. Rory also has no idea what I make from my business, it has always been my personal spending money so that too will make it's way into the fund.

I am not planning on an African safari or anything elaborate, simply a family vacation to Disneyworld or land, I am dying to see Brendans reaction now that he is aware of the characters and takes to rides and such. So I am crossing my fingers that I can make this work because Rory can't say no if the tickets are in my hand purchased and non-refundable. Oh what games I play!!!!

Cheers (tomorrow my New Years resolutions)

Snow, snow, go away, come back....

I think you get the idea. I am really tired of the snow. I didn't think I would ever speak those words because I am truly a kid at heart and usually get as excited as the kids when we get snow. However this year in the last 2 weeks we have had as much snow as we usually get in about 10 winters combined and I didn't sign on for this, lol.

Here are some pics I took this morning, it snowed the whole day yesterday and I am not sure when we are going to see our green grass again.

Anyway we have been playing a lot in the snow so it has help add another dimension of fun to the kids winter holidays.

Tomorrow life returns to normal. The kids I watch are back and school is back in session. So taxi mom will be back at it. Trevor doesn't go to his catchement school so driving is necessary but with two in full time school and one in a half day kindergarten I find myself driving back and forth from the school 3 times a day, some days I feel I live there!

This post may be weird as I have many random thoughts going through my head today and as I write this I haven't decided if I make many posts or one long one.

I went to see Benjamin Button yesterday afternoon with my Mom and sister and I am not sure if I was disappointed because I built it up in my head to be more than it was or did I just not like it. I am not one that falls asleep on the couch when watching t.v. so I definitely don't do this in the theatre but I was fighting the sleep yesterday while watching the movie. I think if 1 hour was cut from the movie the same idea could have been delivered and I personally would have enjoyed it much more. I know many loved this movie so I am surprised by my reaction but seriously I enjoyed Marley and Me much better.

While I was at the movies my Mom told me about John Travoltas son. I was in shock. I am so sorry for their loss and can't believe they have to go through something like this.
I am not sure if I have ever posted on here about Trevors seizures but this really hits home with the worry we have in many different situations. Trevor had 2 feberal seizures when he was a toddler and we were so happy when he turned 6 because all doctors told us he would outgrow them by then. However his past summer Trevor suffered a seizure that lasted about 10 minutes and then a second one at the hospital. These were not feberal seizures so we are back in the worry zone again. We are still waiting on his MRI but honestly I don't know what they can tell us that we don't already know. It is a guessing game regarding why or how so as every doctor has told us we just have to live a normal life with some precautions. This is why it hit so hard yesterday, I have been telling myself not to worry myself sick, you can't die from a seizure is what I tell myself, but you can obviously from the fall so honestly not sure how to get out of the worry zone.

I have a lot more things to talk about but I think I will leave it for a post later in the day. Trevor is going nuts waiting for me to play Monopoly Jr. and Brendan keeps dropping Playdoh on the floor, probably not the best time to be blogging on the computer.

Cheers for now.