Starting AND Finishing...

I am beginning to see some light at the end of my psychotic cleaning cession! I have gone through boxes and bags and totes and shelves and closets and cleared out stuff that hasn't been used in YEARS.  Of course, I am no dummy, I realize what this means... I will NEED something I've donated or thrown out-it ALWAYS happens to us crafty gals!  Seriously, how much can one person (or 3 in our case) keep??  Much to the surprise of everyone that knew me before the age of 20, I keep a clean house, a tidy house, a super-picked-up-neat-as-a-pin house and although I keep my clutter in my studio, I can only take so much! Today -MONDAY- I will FINISH and by "finish" I mean get the guest room/sewing room (no, I can't sew) picked up also!  This weekend I did take a bit of a break.  I fixed a bed skirt that had a tear for about 10 months and has been hanging over a chair in my guest/sewing room, I fixed the seat of Darlings America Girl Stroller (also a tear in the fabric)

 and... I finished the Twinkie Chan Cupcake scarf I've been crocheting for Darling!

(don't bother clicking to look inside, you did, didn't ya?)

See Darlings pictures in the background...Isn't she CUTE??!! I took those picture of her a few months after coming home from China, she was probably about 14 months old... Oh do I miss those baby days!!  She was a great baby: quiet, obedient and 100% potty trained by 18 months! I know...I got the golden ticket with this sweetie!

Here's a sneak peak of my studio

I haven't seen this much counter space since I moved in!  Yes, that's glue, gunk, and paint on the counter... The Mister is less than thrilled!

Ok, off to finish my project!

Happy  Monday!!

PS: new stuff in my other etsy shop

www.etsy.com/shop/papercutsarecute

Lator tators!!

xoxo

Send down the search dogs..

but only you've given them a BATH! You know how I am about doggie-smells...  I've been down in my lower level cleaning as if we were moving, which we AREN'T!  I have never gotten rid of one outfit that belongs to my Darling...not 1 since I adopted her in 04!  She's a girl (obviously), she's the daughter I ALWAYS wanted, I use her as a canvas to show off cute girl clothing, I am a bit obsessive about my clothes shopping for her....so can you even image the amount of baby clothing I've been going through?  Ok, so it's nothing like my pal- Momof5, who has 2 girls, but still, feel my pain!  Thankfully, I have 3 friends with little girls that I've been able to pass the torch to.  I've kept a couple special outfits from each size... I have to.  I've also gone through every box, bag, and shelf in my studio "storage" room...it's insane!  I watched a marathon of "Hoarders" on Sunday and one episode featured an "Artist" that couldn't throw out ANYTHING! She was going to use it in her mixed media artwork...I felt her pain!

See that bottom shelf? Yes, there is an egg carton there, or I should say- "there WAS an egg carton".

 this is after I cleared the floor and cleared the end shelves...but before I did "Psycho Mom Organize Fest"

Yes, I swept the entire floor with the attachment, there were those sparkly party toothpicks all over...

 the studio itself is also undergoing a purge.... 

 how cool is this shoe rack for my cricut cartridges?

So, I'm on day 4 of cleaning.  We have no food in the house, I can smell myself (I just ran so I'll cut myself some slack on the stink), I can smell the dog, I have laundry waiting to be put away and I found a thousand items I've never listed on etsy... I've got to get going, but I will be back with lots of goodies I found and a new purged work area!!  Now, I just need to start thinking about a new wall color and painting my cabinets...

A North/West Michigan Adventure by mistake...

This Mister and I just celebrated our wedding anniversary on Oct. 10th.

This past weekend the 2 of us headed up north along with 9,426 other people.

Our 1st stop was an antique store about an hour north of where we live.  They were having 40% off everything, don't ya know they didn't have a darn thing I wanted.  Well, except a crochet book that showed how to make a granny square tie!!  There wasn't a price and if there isn't a price, I generally walk away!  The most interesting thing in the store was an old man with no teeth. He was telling the Mister and I how he drove the whole way there on back roads behind some bike riders.  He said the ride was slow, but he wasn't in a hurry... or that was the gist of what we got from the story.  No teeth gives you a strange "accent".

At another shop I saw an orange and black dress I've been dreaming of ever since I left that town, I might see about going back up there and getting it... When we stopped at this particular shop the lady says to me (after finding out we weren't from there ): "So, are you here to look at the leaves?" I replied "No, we have leaves at our house too."  I guess heading north to be a leaf looker is pretty common in Oct!

From there we hit every little town and antique shop we came across.  We finally saw something we're always on the hunt for: an antique gumball machine!

The yellow one we found this past summer and the red one is "new".

I'm still working on a little faux gumball craft...

sneak peak

(NO, the Mister is not thrilled with the amount of glue and paint on these counter-tops...)

So anyway... We were headed to Traverse City.  If you haven't been to the north west part of Michigan, you REALLY should plan a trip! Adorable boutiques, antique shops galore, orchards, fruit stands, artist studios...and gorgeous scenery!!

We got into Traverse City in the evening and this town was HOPPIN!  9,426 leaf lookers swarmin' the city!  We shopped a bit and got dinner and then headed out to grab a hotel room.  Any idea what 9,426 leaf lookers means in terms of a hotel room.... The Mister and I were playing it by ear, which we learned is NOT the best idea sometimes.  Every room in the entire city was BOOKED solid, so we headed farther north...

Next stop: Acme, MI=no rooms

Yuba, MI=no rooms

Elk Rapids, Torch Lake, East Port=NO ROOMS!

Onto Charlevoix, Bay Shore, Petosky, Conway and Oden, MI=NO ROOMS!

Finally a nice man at our last stop called George in Alanson, MI and they had 2 rooms left at their HUGE log cabin resort!  He gave the Mister the price and he said "I don't care what it costs, here's my credit card # and we'll be there as quick as we can!"

If you'd like to follow along see the map below!

Our shopping started in Whitehall and we ended up 25 miles south of the Mackinaw BRIDGE!!

What a long strange trip it's been, but it was GREAT!  No appointments, no place to be at a certain time, no plans... it was just relaxing and shopping!  It has also inspired me to fill my etsy store and sell $80,000 this month so I can go back and buy all the gorgeous clothes I found in one of the shops!!  But look what the Mister got me....

Hello PINK RUBBER BOOTS IN A SIZE 5!!!!  Truly Magical!!

Happy Tuesday friends!

and... 

a little plug about my BABY/KID HAT DRIVE

As most of you know, my daughter was adopted from China and I left a little piece of my heart there.  I'm collecting hats to keep the children and babies warm in the winter.  Many live in orphanages that are without heat.

1. make a baby hat, toddler hat, or kid sized hat 

(you can take the non-crafty way out and buy one if you must)

2. Send to:

David Shellenbarger

c/o chinamommy

146 E Main

Caledonia, MI 49316

3. I need them in my hot little hands BY Oct 31, 2010.

4. I'll take care of shipping them to CHINA this fall.

any questions- please feel free to email me!!

chinamommy@yahoo.com

My long, long...LONG weekend

Ok, not "long" as in bad, but let's just say "it was time for school".  I LOVE LOVE LOVE my daughter, but she was ready, I was ready and today is a good day!  Monday we decided to head out to Lake Michigan because we heard there were some GIANT waves and I wanted to see if I could be rescued by a helicopter and make the 11 O'clock news!

1st off: see how Darling is dressed?  1. hat, 2. hooded sweatshirt, 3. jeans... guess what? It was CHILLY, really chilly...

but do you see this?:

a lady in a bikini with a surfboard!

 the water WAS warmer than the air, which is fine if you plan on staying IN the water.

I found this pill and sold it to a hooker

Now this guy may have made the 11 O'clock news.

this is him walking along the EDGE (NOT THE main walk out to the lighthouse) with his 2 VERY young boys.  It's wet, it's slippery and the waves were totally crashing up along here... 

Can you even believe what a chance people are willing to take with their kids?  To the right (ON the walk) is Mom, I couldn't believe she was letting her idiot husband take her babies onto that ledge!!!

a little piece of "art" carved into the boardwalk.

We walked out to the lighthouse, watched some fisherman, walked on the beach and had a stranger take a picture of the 3 of us with my new camera (after we figured out that I didn't have it turned on).  

Suddenly Darling had to go potty-go figure.

We didn't have shoes (we left them in the truck)...

Yep:

public bathroom at the beach with no shoes!

1 toilet was FULL 

the stall Darling chose had a pantie liner stuck to the floor

wet toilet paper

sand all over

EXTREME grossness

So gross, even I didn't take pictures (yes, I know.... You're welcome!!).

I was beyond grossed out, I'm still shivering just thinking about it.

Headed home and saw this

No, not the camper... the GARAGE!!  

Can you say "Hoarder"?  The Mister even turned around so I could see it (and take a picture).  I would guess the inside of his home wasn't much better and who wants to bet that trailer is being used as a storage unit?!

Then as we drove up the road to our drive we saw our "Friendly" neighbors place

Nice, hun?

and then TODAY at 8:05 this little sweetie headed off to 2nd grade!

No, I didn't pick the outfit.  She's been dying to wear this shirt that says "Pick me, Pick me".  Out of all the adorable new outfits, she wanted the t-shirt.

Her face?

Well, I had this weird email a while back that "someone" was searching for me.  They wouldn't tell me who unless I joined their group, but by the 3 clues they gave me I knew just who it was.

It made me a little paranoid that perhaps she (yes, it's a she) was trying to keep tabs on me or spy on us.

It's not someone dangerous, just someone that is nosy and nasty and has no business being in my business, so I think I'll just keep my sweetie's face for us right now...

Ok, school has started and that means it's time for this girl to get to her studio and start makin' some stuff!

Have a great day!!