I'm so neglectful!!!

My poor little blog has been dreadfully neglected since the move to my new place. I don't know why I find it so difficult to keep up with blogging, but it's not the only thing I've been neglecting. I haven't made much of anything crafty since my move either.

The good news is that the craft room, which I now refer to as "the studio", is set up and unpacked for the most part and I feel like I can get in there and create without having to search to find this or that. Now, don't get me wrong, there are still a lot of things I'd like to do to my craft room to make it more efficient, but that will have to wait awhile.

So, what's on the menu? For starters, I have some new Close To My Heart products from the Fall/Winter 2012 Idea Book I will be creating with. Look for cards featuring the Flirty, Clementine and La Belle Vie papers soon!

And secondly, it's time to start on Christmas cards! I was able to make all the cards I sent out last year and even sold several, so that is my goal again this year. I usually make 6-12 of the same design and then go on to another design. It keeps things interesting and provides a variety when chosing which card to send to whom. The new Pear & Partridge Cardmaking Kit ($29.95) from Close To My Heart will be my starting point. This new kit will create 15 cards using their designs/stamps/embelishments and then some. I can't wait to get my hands on this new kit!

If you'd like to see what this new kit, check out my online store at www.abbycandlish.ctmh.com to view the new Idea Book. It's fabulous and you will NOT be disappointed in all the great new paper lines, stamps and embellishments available.

That's all for now...artwork will be coming soon!

No Crafting Time Here!!!

I have not been able to get any card making done for the past few weeks because....I AM MOVING!! I am supposed to close on my new place this coming Friday and it's been complete chaos for the past few weeks. I am so ready for the move to be over so I can get back to a more normal routine and crafting whenever I want to! :)

Thank You Cards

This card is inspired by a card I saw on bigredscraps.ning.com posted by Emilee Smith. I'll be creating some more of these with different colors using up some of my left over papers, but here's the first set. The card base is from DCWV and is slightly textured, I used CTMH ink in Moonstruck to ink up the edges of the card and the patterned paper, it was a really close match. I'm not sure where the pattern paper is from. The other cardstock (Lagoon), stamp and ink (Lagoon) is all Close To My Heart. The brads are from my stash...not sure where I got them either.

I like the simple layout of this and think it would be super easy to add different embellishments and/or swap out the "thank you" sentiment for something else. It's also a really flat card, so it's great for mailing.

Disney Birthday Card

A friend at work requested a birthday card for her grandson turning 4. They are taking him to DisneyWorld for his birthday, so a Disney theme was requested. This is what I came up with. All the supplies except for the Mickey epoxy stickers are Close To My Heart (pattern paper is from Fanfare paper, cardstock colors are Sky, White Daisy & Black). The card size is a 5x7. On the inside, I used a Disney sticker that says "Have a Mickey Day".

January Creations

I didn't accomplish a whole lot of crafting this month...the days just seem to get away from me. I have been going through stuff, sorting, re-organizing and trying to get stuff in order for the upcoming move...I guess that's something!

I did manage to make a card a couple weeks ago using a new stamp from CTMH called Card Word Puzzle.

I used a kraft card base, B&T paper from the Bliss paper pack and random stamped the flower in Outdoor Denim, coloring the inside of the flower with Sunset marker. The sheer ribbon was from my stash. The sentiment is from the same stamp set (which is full of words you can make tons of phrases from). I think the next card I wouldn't color in the flower on the sentiment quite so dark, but I still love how this turned out. And...I have plenty more paper left already stamped and ready to be turned into fabulous cards!

Goodbye January!

This year started out with yet another HUGE change for our family. My brother, David, has Down Syndrome and is 31 years old. For the past 13 years, he has been living in a group home in Wisconsin. It has always been my parents plan for him to go there and be taken care of as they age and of course, not wanting to leave the rest of their children with that responsibility. In the past, we've all "shared" David during his vacations, often spending 2-3 weeks in Florida, Tennessee or Illinois, sometimes longer if we can orchestrate it between us all. This year since my Dad's passing, he's spent a significant amount of time with us as we felt he needed (maybe we needed it too) to be with us. During the past few months we've wondered what would happen if David could no longer stay in WI...at times I've expressed my concern with him being so far away.

Well...about 2 weeks ago, we got the call that he can no longer stay there. They are discharging about 30% of their residents and David has to go. Now, this is a huge thing for any family to find out...but we were particularly concerned because of all the other changes this past year how David would take the news and how my Mom would take the news as it would be her everyday life that is greatly impacted. All I can say is God is good. Although we do not believe we've been given the full information or truth about how the decision was made to discharge David, our family has once again rose to the challenge and taken care of business. The facility told us he would have to be gone by May 18, but my Mom said thanks but no thanks, we'll have him out by the end of January.

So last Thursday, my Mom and brother, Matt, drove to WI, packed David up, attended a going away party for him with his friends and left on Saturday to head back to Matt's in IL. They spent a couple of days with his family and today are on the final leg of David's journey home.

So, how is David handling this change? He is BEYOND excited about coming home. He has an important job to do now (take care of Mom and be a big help) and will be able to visit the rest of us more frequently than before. I am BEYOND excited that he will now be with family all the time and am so happy he is happy too. Mom is handling it all well. We've reassured her we are here for back up and I think she will enjoy having some more company around the house.

Here's a picture of one happy guy...welcome home David!

Mondays...and Music

I'm not really a fan of Monday. It's always hard to get to bed on Sunday night and because I tend to get to bed later than I should, it's SO hard to get up and going on Monday. (yes, more so than any other weekday)

This Monday, I've found the morning much more tolerable by listening to Jeremy Camp on Spotify. I have always found comfort and peace in listening to music, but even more so since my Dad's passing last April. I listen to the JoyFM (local contemporary Christian) while in the car...I don't think the station has been changed since April 2011 and I find at work that I can find a lot of peace (and many days patience) by listening to various Christian artist.

During Christmas, I was stuck on David Phelps. I'm not usually a big Gaither Vocal Band fan, but he is AMAZING and this is music that reminds me of my childhood. Both of my parents are GVB fans. There's something comforting to me to hear songs that I grew up listening to by familiar artists.

So, today's favorite is Jeremy Camp...particularly "There Will Be A Day", "My Desire", "Jesus Saves"...oh who am I kidding, I don't think he has a song I don't love.

What kind of music brings peace to your soul?

Ready for the Weekend

If you know me, you know I LOVE my weekends and time off from work. I love sleeping in and when I want to do nothing, I do nothing. It's great. However, the past few weekends have been lacking in productivity and it's getting on my nerves. I haven't sepnt a productive day in my craft room since before Christmas and I have so much on my "craft to do" list it isn't even funny.

So, why do I tell you this? Because maybe, just maybe, on Monday I will have something fun to post about! I will still sleep in (especially after only 3 hours of sleep last night) but I WILL get in that craft room and get productive! 

On the menu this weekend:
~ Finish gift for my sister in law
~ Build my stash of birthday cards

That's not too complicated, right? :)

Get On With It Already!!!

I can't say that I'm thrilled with the way this year is starting out. On New Year's Day, my computer got a virus, I had to cancel my debit cards and I've had a migraine for three out of the 5 days of the new year!! This is not a good start at all! Come on 2012, get your act together and stop messin' with me!

I would much rather focus on the things coming up in 2012 that I AM excited about. Really there is just one major thing right now...

I have started the process of buying a home! I honestly  never thought I'd be able to do this on my own, but here I am...waiting on my townhouse to be built...ETA end of April. (I would love to fast forward the next few months because the anticipation of it is KILLING ME!!)

So...if 2012 would do me a favor and just take it easy and not disrupt my schedule anymore, I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you. That is all.

New Year, New Blog

I've had to open a new email account, so I thought I'd start a new blog as well.  I'll keep the old one open, but thanks for joining me over here! Now...to refollow all the blogs I love...wonder how long that will take!