Addicted to Stumbling

I love to stumble!! Have you stumbled today?

If you have never heard of StumbleUpon then you have got to check it out. You create an account and set the categories that you interest you. Then you download a task bar to start stumbling.

I stole this from their site:

StumbleUpon helps you discover and share great websites. As you click Stumble!, we deliver high-quality pages matched to your personal preferences. These pages have been explicitly recommended by your friends or one of 8 million+ other websurfers with interests similar to you. Rating these sites you like () automatically shares them with like-minded people – and helps you discover great sites your friends recommend.

You can add your own favorite sites to stumble and keep customizing your interests. I have found websites, blogs, videos, and so much more that I would never have STUMBLED upon before.

Check out these amazing papers I just stumbled upon.



Can you imagine the amazing things you could make with this beautiful blood orange papyrus paper???



How about carrots??? See many more amazing papers here.

Favorite Magazines

It is that time of year again. Our school is doing a magazine sale and our Girl Scout troop is doing the magazine sale. I have to admit I have a huge addiction to magazines. Here are some of my favorites.

Everyday Food
I have gotten this magazine since 2005. I actually do the bulk of my meal planning out of this book. The recipes don't call for a ton of ingredients and even my 14 yo son can prepare the meal. So if I am running late I can call him and let him know what we are having tonight and he is a sweetheart and starts it for me.

Country Living
I just love the images in this magazine. I haven't done any projects from it yet but I definitely start dreaming when I look at all their great ideas.



Rachael Ray
I am in love with Rachael Ray. I finally got a subscription to her magazine after buying the magazine each month. I have to admit (but don't tell my husband) that I have only tried one recipe out of this magazine and it didn't work for me. I keep meaning to try more because it all looks so yummy.


Somerset Studios
Who doesn't fall in love with the look and the feel of this magazine. The paper the magazine is made from even feels rich. So much creativity in just one magazine!



My greatest addiction is any Christmas/Holiday magazine. I have tons of issues from as far back as 10 years ago. At Christmas time I pull them all out and look through them all again and get gift and decorating ideas. It is funny but something I didn't like 5 years ago in the magazine will be my new favorite thing for this year. And of course I buy the season's new magazines. I already have Holiday Crafts 2009 and the pages are marked for the things I want to make.

I really want to try the paper mache this year. And there is the cutest Halloween and Christmas fabric mouse you ever saw. I don't usually do Halloween crafts but this year has me wanting to start.

Need More Time..............

Lots of things have changed in since my last posts. I didn't start my own online store but went back to work full time. I was offered a job to be a programmer again and best of all work virtually from home. No commuting, just working in the comfort of my own little home.

The only thing lacking is the time and energy to create. I miss it so much and trying to find a way to sneak it back in between a job, 4 kids homework(wow is this a time suck), housework, soccer practice, cooking, girl scouts, church, and just the overall time constraints of life. I know you all have the same problems.

I did get a make these amazing simple and beautiful flower pins for my children's teachers. I love them so much I have made several more.

I found the instructions here Reese Dixon's Organza Flowers. I ended up not cutting the petals she suggested but made 6-9 circles in different sizes for each flower. I love the look.

My daughter helped me make them. She was very careful not to burn her fingers but we kept a ice water bowl nearby just in case her fingers got hot. She took them to school in a basket and let each teacher pick her favorite.

I sewed felt circles with brooch pins on the back of each one so they could be worn as a brooch.

First Holy Communion

My twins had their First Holy Communion last month. They were so adorable. I just had to share some pictures.

Big News!!!

I have BIG NEWS!!!!

I will be launching a new website and putting up my creativity kits online again. I am so excited. I love putting together kits that let others be creative.

Here is my story and I am sure we all have a story just like this one......

Last week I wanted to make these adorable cupcake bath bombs for all the teachers at my children's school.

I read the directions and wrote down my list of supplies needed and proceeded to head to the health food store where the writer of the instructions said I could find my supplies. After wandering the aisles of the health food store and being completely overwhelmed. I had no idea what the items I needed even looked like. Finally I gave up and stood patiently waiting for a salesperson to assist me.

While waiting nearby I heard in graphic detail this poor customers problem with his foot. He was going into detail about all the "natural" remedies he had tried and was asking if the salesperson if she had any other suggestions. I was in shock that someone would go through what this poor man was going through. I would most definitely be at the doctor's office yelling for DRUGS! He is very admirable for sticking to his beliefs of natural treatments. But seriously I could have done without the gruesome details. LOL!

Finally the patient and very polite salesperson was able to give me her attention. I explained my lack of knowledge of what I needed and showing her my list of supplies. She proceeded to tell me they didn't carry this, or this, or this. But she did have one item on my list, a large bottle of witch hazel for $9.99. The instructions only said to spritz with witch hazel so I am sure I did not need this huge bottle of witch hazel. Seriously I have no idea what to do with witch hazel. She was very nice and said she would be happy to order the other items on my list.

Well being a busy person like we all are I had waited till the last minute to even think of what teacher's gift I was going to make. Teacher Appreciation day is tommorrow!!! There is no way that I would be able to get my supplies in time to make the Bath Bombs.

I could order the ingredients online but couldn't find them all on one website so would have to pay shipping from several different sites. There is probably a website that lists all the supplies but darn if I could find one.

To add to all this drama I don't even know if the measurements of the supplies listed make 1 or 20 bath bombs. Can you imagine if I ordered everything and only made 3 bath bombs??? I have 4 children and a TON of teachers to make gifts for.

My bath bombs were quickly costing a fortune. Instead another parent and I are setting up a chocolate fountain in the teacher's lounge for the teachers.

You know what would be perfect! To have a kit with all the indepth instructions both written and images (for those that like visuals like myself), supplies, tools, and only one shipping cost. And to know how many bath bombs the kit would make. I would be able to create and not have to own a huge bottle of Witch Hazel.

I love putting together kits and making sure that all of us can try new techniques but most importantly not to waste our valuable time running around town looking for those supplies and tools you need. We get to spend our very valuable time on creating!!

We love Ducks!

The baby ducks are growing so fast. They are not even 1 month old and they are huge. They still love to be snuggled and played with.

They are almost as big as our full-grown hens. We took them out yesterday and they were so funny to watch waddle around. But poor babies were terrified of the hens.

My adorable Wyatt holding Waddle or Quackers. We have decided on names but still waiting to see if they are boys or girls.

Too cute!
This is Maeve and she is the first hen to run and see what you are up to and see if you have her a treat. She is the skinniest of the hen and we decided it is because she "works out" so much.

You know the story of the baby duck that went around to all the animals asking "are you my mother?". My oldest son picked up this duck the day we brought it home and it settled right now and would cry if he put it down. The duck has decided that Chase is it's mother. Of course Chase would die if his friends knew this.

Sorry the pictures are a little dark it was raining yesterday and we were all getting quite wet playing with ducks.

What is up with this EGG!

We have the cutest and sweetest chickens in the world. They are so tame they follow you everywhere and love to be picked up and petted. We let our chickens out during the day and they eat all the bugs in the yard.

We started with baby chicks a year ago and this year we have 9 hens laying 6-9 eggs a day. They lay ginormous eggs but this one is by far the strangest egg yet. The kids are so excited to take it to school to show their teachers.



Here is a picture of a large egg from the grocery store, then our usual eggs from our chicken, and finally our STRANGE egg.

The kids talked me into saving two baby ducks this year. The ducks were not standing on their own and so they couldn't get to the food or water and were going to die. My Noah nursed them and made sure they got food and water all day long. He saved their lives and now they are also huge.

Here is a cute picture when one of them when they are a week old.


We haven't named them yet because we don't know if they are girls or boys. And because we saved 2 ducks we had to get some cute little chicks to keep them company.




The ducks and chickens do not live in the house! Looks like they do from the picture above. They were in containers in the bathtub for 2 weeks so we could make sure they were getting their medicine and the weather was so cold here even with a heat lamp. Now they are cozy and warm out in the barn still separated from the big hens. So now we have 2 ducks and 14 chickens, a dog, and a cat. A crazy place if you ever saw one.

One of our little friends were visiting when the babies were in the tub and went on to tell his teachers that he played with baby ducks and baby chickens in the bathtub. He totally confused his teacher!