Crafty Creatures

For those of us who don't have homo sapien children, our cats, dogs and other furry friends can be quite easy to obsess over. Even folks with animals and kids know that there's nothing quite like a kid and his dog. There's just something special about having a pet as part of the family. One of my favorite things about Martha Stewart (besides her fab recipes, organizational skills and cute crafts) is her love for her own poochies, french bulldogs, Francesca and Sharkey. They even have their own blog - The Daily Wag! The blog includes things like photo galleries, pets that are up for adoption, favorite things and other miscallaneous items that would be included in a dogs life! haha! I don't about yours, but my puppies sleep all day, eat, poop, play and then sleep some more!
Josie and Ruben Burlingame


I'd like to specifically highlight a couple of pet projects from Martha, that I'm planning to try. I won't go into all the details since she's got them posted on her site, but here's the skinny. First is a pet travel cushion made from towels and quilt batting. This is much easier to cart around than blankets and its machine washable. This project couldn't be simpler! My dogs already have their own towels, so I know just the ones I would use.

The other project is a little more time consuming but I think well worth the out come. Its ADORABLE! Who wouldn't love a tote with the silohette of their favorite furry loved one on it!? Could be cute on other things too, like on scraps of fabric and framed, for some funky, fun, mod wall art.

Get creative out there and don't leave your pets out of the loop! They love craftiness too!!
Pictures from Marth Stewart.com

Prescription for Cabin Fever

Diagnosis: Cabin fever is a term for a claustrophobic reaction that happens when a person is shut in, in a small space, with nothing to do, for an extended period. Symptoms include restlessness, irritability, forgetfulness and excessive sleeping and an urge to go outside even in rain, snow or the dark.

Prescription for Relief: VACATION!

When endless gray hangs in the sky, why not spruce it up with a colorful get away! Even though gray is my favorite color, I prefer it in other places besides the weather. I love People Style Watch magazine and in February's edition they featured a few pages on Vacation Style. My friend Lindsay and I are heading to Florida in a few short weeks to visit our best friend and her family for a week's worth of gal pal time. We're leavin the boys at home! And what girl doesn't love to plan an entire week's worth of outfits for a fab get away!? I'm so looking forward to blue skies, palm trees, sand and that big yellow thing I think they call the sun - and of course quality time with friends and a break from work. Even if you don't have a get away planned, you can incorporate fun pops of color - like these yellow nail polish selections - into your outfits.

I had picked out the "Lite" color from Sally Hansen (on the left). I wore it once, until one of my dogs got a hold of it.... ergh! The one on the right is called Lemon Dash - I love that!


Here's some of the details I picked out from the article:


Glam Look - G-L-A-M, O-R, O-U-S I love that one by Fergie Ferg! Full on luxe, warm hues like orange, yellow and my favorite coral. Gold and sequins are absolutely essential for this look. I especially love the one shoulder bathing suit.


Classic Look - relaxed yet crisp, pair navy and white with red and gold (I love this color combo) It has that sailor feel. Rope details and gold accents. Great for a cruise!

Casual Look - Comfy and cool, nuetral pieces that are super easy to mix and match. Can you say jersey knit!? I love the Fedora and aviator sun glasses are a must.

What's your style? I think I'm a little of each of them, with a touch of boho!

Here's some outfits I picked out from one of my favorite Flickr folks miss vu. Her artsy shots of every day style have given me plenty of inspiration for my vacation wardrobe or for boppin around town during warmer months.

Mad Love ♥

Happy Valentine's Day! I know its a little early, but I'm feelin' the love today. Maybe because its Friday. I always seem to feel more love on Fridays. My patience level with people is always higher and I generally just feel happier on Fridays. The problem is Friday is only one day a week. Sooo one day a week I love people?? -ooo that's not good- Especially since I consider myself to be a woman of faith. I believe that Love is more than just a feeling. Its a choice. Its actions that you choose to act upon or not act upon. For example, here's where I get my cues from 1 Corinthians 13:7 - this is the message so if your familiar with the bible its not exactly word for word KJV!

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

I suck at all of these. If I had to count on feeling love, rather than choosing to take the above actions as a mind set, I would only love 1 day a week! You better hope you always run into me on a Friday. Thankfully, God's grace is bigger than my inadequate forms of feeling love. Mad love to all in my life. I both feel love for you and choose to try to love you in the above ways.

Here's a few pics of some V-Day inspiration.
Will you accept and be my Valentine!?

Vintage Love....



These pictures are of valentines I made! I even baked
the cupcakes, photographed them and added my own
photoshop text! Gotta thank my sis for the help and
the ink from her printer.

Photoshop!

I'm SO excited! I've finally got photoshop! I've done a couple of projects now and can't wait to incorporate more imagery into my blog with it. I've been reading online tutorials on how to use it and am pretty proud of myself. The pictures below are shots I took of some old sleds that my in-laws had. Don't they bring back memories of sledding as a kid!? They do for me. I've been looking for the perfect photo to try out vintage photoshop effects on.
I love how this one turned out.

The Perfect Winter Weekend

You could say it was the universe aligning - I say it was God's good and perfect timing. The past few weekends in my life have been busy and emotional. My parents have been in town from Findlay visiting, due mostly to the fact that my youngest sister (Abbey) high tailed it out of Findlay a few weeks ago, and has since been living back and forth with Alaina (my other sister - who is a year younger than me) and I. Having an adolescent living with you can be very draining, especially one with Abbey's level of complexities in her life. I won't go there, but if you ever feel so compelled to pray for a young person in your own life, please think of my sister Abbey and send a prayer for her too. This is not the point of my entry on this fine wintry morning, but it is essential to the story. This weekend was looking to be like an uneventful one - I was pumped. After 3 consecutive weekends of visitors, my house was a mess and I was exhausted. I needed a weekend of NOTHING! The weather-lady was forecasting another huge winter storm and what do you know she was right! This weekend was getting better and better! An early release from work on Friday (due to deteriorating road conditions) was the cherry on top of the closing work week. With a pantry full of food, dry wood in the garage(for a roaring toasty fire of course) and a fresh shipment of wine from a tasting party a week ago, being snowed in was better than I could have asked for. Here's some other items - that in my opinion - make for a perfect winter weekend....
1. Zero Plans.
2. Snow - check! (and plenty of it)
3. The perfect pair of gray sweat pants and college sweatshirt, circa 2001.
4. Soup! Italian Sausage - from EatBetterAmerica.com
5. Fire in fireplace - duh!
6. Wine and coffee
7. A weeks worth of DVRed shows, books and unread magazines.
8. Internet and inspiration for blogging.
9. 2 cute dogs :)
10. A good friend or lover to bunker down with - my husband. You have to find your own of course. Mine's booked for the weekend.

Stay warm and indulge a little in the comforts of a perfect winter weekend.

Picture courtesy talents of Jared Williamson

Dazzle Me!

LADIES! Lend a listening ear! A friend at work told me about a shoe of the month club. Are you drooling yet? I was! I've purchased 2 pairs now and have been really happy with the system thus far. Founded by THE Kim Kardashian herself (you know I'm a huge fan - I think its our common big booty trait that gives me some kind of a connection with her) ShoeDazzle.com chooses the most current shoes for you every month based on your style. You fill out a "Fashion Survey" and based on those results each month a stylist chooses 5 pairs of shoes for you to select from. YOU then pick 1 pair from the group and order for 39.95/month. The best part is if you don't like your selections you can request a new group of 5 shoes OR if Valentine's Day has you strapped this month, skip it with NO penalties! You'll recieve an email on the first of next month with 5 new pairs to choose from. Here's a couple that I've picked! These boots were a steal at $40! I love the bow at the top. The blue snake skin pumps were hit with my outfit on New Year's Eve. Don't judge me, but I've even opened a seperate checking account for this shoe club! What?! I coudn't stand my hubby rolling his eyes at me any more! You won't either!

No One Hit Wonders Here!

While doing some R&D for my blog, I came across another blog called One Post Wonder. It debuts blogs that people have created, and only have 1 posting. My most recent fav is ABLOGOFMYOWN - Dedicated to Butterteam. This 1 post 1der is a shout out to another blog! It says "What is up chicken butt?" Isn't that hilarious!? Worth a good laugh... check it out. Since I committed to doing this blog for a year there was no way I'd end up on that site and here's my next posting to prove it!