Friday, January 30, 2009

Organizing Junkie's Monthly Roundup



Organizing Blog


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Paper, paper, everywhere!

My hubby takes care of the bills and the "major" paperwork, so I'm in charge of MY paper--of which there are PLENTY!!

This room is one we share, by the way. Most of what you see on the floor IS paper! A lot of it just had to be sorted then thrown away or PUT away.

WARNING!! I do "REAL" befores and afters! No "clean up before the clean up" funny business going on here!

This area is "command central" for my life, including church stuff, all manner of paperwork and my home-based jewelry business. My business is on the back burner, but I do take care of my current customers and fill catalog orders, so I have to have my jewelry and business supplies accessible.

Now I also have an Etsy shop so I have to keep that STUFF close at hands as well.

So, yes, over the holidays it got a little out of control, thus the dramatic "before" photos!!

Now, without further ado, here are the before and afters for direct comparison! :)

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I love these magazine files from IKEA for paperwork and catalogs.



I set aside this tray for catalog orders with an order form, calculator and bags for the jewelry. Totally "grabable" at a moment's notice, which is usually all I get.

**photo temporarily removed**

And here's my now-fully-functional desk!



PHEW! I feel better now! :) I know my hubby will appreciate it, too!

Thanks for looking!

Belly progress, 26 weeks

Anyone out there wondering how the pregnancy is coming along???

If you're like me, time is flying by!

I just hit 26 weeks/6.5 months/the start of the THIRD trimester this week!!

I feel great, continue to sleep really well and have had no issues thus far. Praise God!

Here's me today with some seriously fuzzy hair!! heehee



And for anyone like me who always wants to see the bare belly shot, here ya go!



If you're REALLY into pregnancy and belly shots, head on over to my pregnancy blog for all the gory details! :)

ProudGRITS is preggers

Friday's Fave Five #6



Read more entries over at

Living To Tell The Story

I must say, I am feeling especially blessed, happy and content at this phase of life. Everything is sort of "flowing" and I feel so much peace. I try not to take it for granted.

OK, here we go!

1. Having two of my hubby's old friends over for dinner last night that he re-connected with on Facebook. It's fun to hear them reminisce and he definitely starts acting more like the "kid" I married. Dinner turned out great, too, and it was fun to entertain again!

2. Weather nice enough to play outside. Monkey loves nothing more than dumping sand and rocks on his trains like the avalanches in his 'Thomas' videos!



P.S. Speaking of Monkey, he HAS to get in on it when ANYone takes pictures--so he was in the fray when I took these on Wednesday when I hit the 6.5 months/26 weeks/start of the third trimester mark. Yes, I am in my pjs! My two boys! :)

These cracks me UP!





3. My fairy garden! I had way too much fun with this! This was version #1, with my "pond." I love the table and stools and the mini tea set.



Then I added flowers to give them a test drive, and took the table out for ease of watering.



For the tea party, I'll put the table back in with the tea set, and I'll add these......

4. .....Mini cupcakes!! Aren't they adorable??

"cupcaaake" on Etsy

made them! My hubby had ordered a cupcake necklace for my birthday, and she sent along a key chain with these tiny cupcakes attached. I thought, "Hm, those would be perfect for my fairy garden for the tea party!!" I ordered two and she sent the purple/chocolate one as a surprise extra! Delightful! They're more like the size of an entire cake for these fairies!!



5. This super-soft Valentine's Day owl/birdy/cupcake throw my mom got for me at Target for my favorite chair. The caveat being, of course, that she gets to use it when she's here!! Monkey like to nap under it, too!



A wonderful week full of surprises and goodies, and lots of great moments to treasure! I hope yours was, too! Thanks for stopping by! :)

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

tri-fold mini cards...& Valentines SALE!!



Do you remember these being popular when you were a kid?? A small, tri-fold card and you'd seal it with a sticker. I had never made any so when I got an order for a set of birthday cards, I thought I'd give it a whirl.

I took a 4x6 piece of heavy paper that was white on the back and folded the first side down about 3/4 of the way, then folded the bottom up to meet it.



Rather than a sticker, I jazzed it up with a stamp of flowers, which I embellished with glitter and a button. Inside is stamped with "Happy Birthday" but they could be used for any occasion, of course.



I think they're cute and a little unexpected! It's be fun to attach a gift card inside, too! :)



~~~~~ P.S. There's a 20% off SALE going on in my Etsy shop right now!!! 20% off all Valentine's Day cards and tags--check it out! ~~~~~

Roots & Wings Etsy shop



Friday, January 23, 2009

Friday's Fave Five #5



Read more entries over at

Living To Tell The Story

1. Visiting with a mentor from my teen years who was here for a big Mary Kay conference from my home state of Florida. Not only did we get to catch up but she treated our family to dinner and ice cream...AND gave me all these Mary Kay goodies! Talk about a TREAT!!



2. Getting new paper and stamps in the mail! It's such fun to try new things!

Urban Prairie, which is an old favorite...



And brand new stuff I've never tried from Bo Bunny.



And new acrylic stamps!



3. Two new books on "The Vine" scripture from John 15. I'm super-excited about diving into this passage and the concept of abiding in Christ.

"Secrets of the Vine for Women"



"Secrets of the Vine" Bible study.



4. Finishing an order from my friend for more of these Valentine's Day tag/cards.



After all that "fussiness," I enjoyed making this really simple card, just to amuse myself! :)



5. Ordering The Fairies for the fairy gardens we'll be making at my Garden Fairy Tea Party in a mere two weeks! I ordered the most of this style because, well, girls love pink!! Her name is "Blossom."



I've had a really fun week!! :) I hope you did, too!!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Sincerely 'Fro Me to You, baby dolls

Evidently I've had that mothering instinct for a long time. Here's proof that I was still playing with baby dolls at age 9. Is that unusual?? I was quite the "little mommy." I remember packing a diaper bag for church every Sunday, complete with a diaper, change of clothes, blanket, toy, etc. VERY prepared.

Here I am on what was probably my 9th birthday. I got this doll as a gift, her name was Jessica. The bike was a gift, too, I believe. Gotta love the "jogging suit" and the home perm. Oh, yeah.



This was from Christmas of that year, probably 1986. Here is what was my only boy doll, specially requested from Santa. The back of the picture says "Christmas Day, Alex & Tabitha, cute as can be" in my handwriting. We labeled our pictures, of course, to send to the proud grandparents! :) This doll came with swim trunks and was meant to go swimming, but naturally I preferred to bathe him in the sink. Another lovely sweat suit and fabulously terrible hair!



Did you play with dolls?? When did you give them up??

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

New goodies!!

Check out this link for my most recent GIVEAWAY!! Fun fur yarn and tags giveaway

It's been a while since I've shared my recent finds!

This was my first time ordering paper from an on-line source other than Etsy, and it was only because my regular two "suppliers" were out. I adore this set of Basic Grey paper called "Urban Prairie." A customer has requested some notecards made out of it. I think I'll make myself some, too!!



And this line is new to me, it's called "Bo Bunny." I adore these cheerful colors and the birds, of course.



I got these cutie acrylic stamps, too. Can't wait to let lose with 'em!



This is a book I ordered used from Amazon for my on-going study on the Vine scriptures in John 15. "Secrets of the Vine for Women" was written by the wife of the author of "Secrets of the Vine" by Wilkinson (the same guy that wrote "The Prayer of Jabez"). A little book that will hopefully have some useful nuggets of truth!



Then THIS is what I got last night during my visit to see a long-time friend/mentor here visiting from Florida for the big Mary Kay Director's Convention. It's their brand new spring colors--not even released to the public yet! The eye shadows are divine and the gloss is amazing. I was pining for one of their new compacts so I was thrilled to receive this! I love to take it to my mom's when I stay overnight.



She also gave me all of this! There's a travel skincare set I'll be taking to my mom's now, too, plus a self-tanner (I am a Florida girl at heart!), some firming body lotion and THREE new tubes of pink lip gloss! YES!!! I love new makeup and skincare goodies!! :)



Life is good!!

Saturday, January 17, 2009

"unusual" Valentines

I had a custom request in my Etsy shop for two teacher cards and a cat-lover card. This got the wheels in my head turning!

Here's the custom teacher cards I whipped up. WAY better than the ones that come in the box with the kids' Valentines! Don't teachers deserve better??







This one's in the shop.



Here's the custom "cat lover" card I made. I think it's adorable!



Then I got to thinking...back when I worked at a Hallmark store for three years, there was a card for virtually every occasion called "from the cat" or "from the dog." Birthday, Christmas, Mother's Day and, of course, Valentine's Day.

Presumably, a person wouldn't buy this card for him or herself, but someone who knew a dog or cat owner would buy it for them and sign it as if it were from the person's pet. Interesting.

So I made a few more and called them "from the cat" and "from the dog." Also appropriate for a dog or cat-lover!







Any other "unusual" categories I need to be aware of???