Be Creative

Simply Handmade Magazine and Sneak Peeks

Today I dropped by the store and they had a brand new shipment of Simply Handmade Dec/Jan Issue and I remembered I had a project in there. A favorite of mine since  it was made with some of my Grandmas vintage buttons. There are tons of great projects so take a look when you see it in the store its so much better in person. Magazines are so hard to photo!

 
And here's a little sneak peek at whats been going on in my craft room these last couple of days.

 
I'll have a big reveal of the whole project soon! Have a great friday friends!

Ants = Clean Linen Closet

Today was a holiday for the kids and hubby. I was planning (remember that word "planning") to unearth my craft room after the flurry of kit making. So there I was all content having a glass of ice tea and making my plan of attack when I heard this... "Mom there's ants in Dusty dog food again". And that was it for the "plan"... hubby cleaned up the dog food, called the pest control, and got the downstairs under control. I tried to escape upstairs with my ice tea but guess what more ants on my desk and in its neighbor the linen closet. GGGGrrrrrrrrr....

Well... the linen closet needed cleaning so out came everything!

Note this is what I want my linen closet to look like... This is Martha Stewart, not me. I don't have perfectly color coordinated linens and come on I have two kids so nothing will ever be folded this nicely for more than a millisecond.

But I did fill two more huge lawn bags of "stuff" for give away. Really we only are a family of four so I don't think we need that many linens.

I kept 8 good bath towels, 4 car wash towels, 12 hand towels (we go through these like crazy) 12 wash cloths, 1 set of flannel sheets for the girls and some misc. stuff for holidays. Its a pretty barren linen closet. Just like I like it... 1 more thing simplified. Yeah! Laundry room... you've seen what happened here today and you're next!

Now it's 7:46pm and  I have come to the conclusion that the craft room did not and is not going to get clean. Unless some fairy shows up in the middle of the night. And in addition to that I have wrote my most boring blog post ever... sorry. Hope you get done what you plan to today or at least you have some fun not doing what you planned.

Kits

Its all about the November card kits around here right now. Last night was all hands on deck. I even had to recruit my Mom to help (Thanks Mom!!!). Mom, Niguel and I worked for many many hours die cutting, stamping, cutting ribbon, inking and on and on. Randy made dinner (a delicious one too!) and prepared all the shipping. Ky, well... ky had a hard night of homework and then she entertained us by making a toaster and toast from paper scraps and stuff she found in my trash can. Thanks to my team I wasn't up all night. Today is my class and kits go to the post office. Tomorrow we'll CLEAN UP! Oh, and i'll post pictures of the November kit. Hope you have a great day!

My Heart

 
Is thankful for...

each and every one of you who read this blog of mine and are my cyber friends.

My girls, husband and family.

Friends.

My health.

and so very many things!

Emotional

Please hold on while I take a break for a little pity party. Today i'm wavering between being mad and sad. Something silly has me going. But apparently it was alot more important to me that I thought it was. Can I share??? You see I have had the same answering machine greeting for eight years. I remember the day like it was yesterday, two babies (Niguel 4 and Ky 3) sitting on my kitchen counter. I whispered in their ears what to say and they alternated back and forth and recorded our message.

This is the Zieglers... We're not home... leave a message... and we'll call you back... ruff... meow... Beeeeep...

I loved it the day we did it, but as the years have passed by I have grown to really cherish this message. I could call home anytime and hear my little girl voices. Little voices I have missed as they grow up. A little trip back in time for me.

I've known and thought about the day the recorder would die and need replaced but there just was no way to transfer the recording to another device. Today was that day! I called home to retrieve a message and there was an automated greeting, I hung up... I must have the wrong number. I called again, same greeting. I instantly cry! I feel devastated because I know its gone forever... FOREVER!

I  know that i'm over reacting about this. I also know that i've been on the brink of a break down about my girls growing up oh, since the day they were born.

Do I have other recordings? Yes I do but since I heard this one so much it had a special place in my heart. I've talked myself off the ledge now and am so grateful I have my girls to hear their voices any time. Now my heart just aches for my little recording.

Off to make something to take my mind off it. Silly Mommy stuff... feeling blessed I don't have a real problem.

Sizzix - Inquiring Minds Want to Know

In the last little bit i've got lots of questions about my work at Sizzix. Here's the low down. First I should say that by far the most amazing part of working at Sizzix is the people I have met there. There are so many nice people... but the 4 ladies I work with in the art room are the best and i'm happy to say that I can call them friends.

How I came to work for Sizzix... Several years ago I had a customer that came to my card classes. Brandy then worked for a Golf course but soon went to work for Sizzix in the Marketing dept. (i'm not really sure how she found her way there). We kept in touch and saw eachother at Tradeshows. One day while I was checking my emails there was an email from Brandy asking if I would consider working in the Sizzix Art dept.  I dropped off some samples, had a great intrerview and three years ago this month I got the job. I only work part time so I can still mainly be a Mom.

What I do... As part of the team I make projects for trade shows, advertisements, the web site, Distributors web sites, make & takes, sales supports projects like (1 die 3 uses) and so much more.

We also play a role in die design and packaging. One of my favorite things is to design die lines or at least give inspiration for fun new shapes. Its cool to see everyones ideas come to fruition.

Is it ever hard...yep, it is. Its hard to be creative when there are short deadlines but that doesn't happen very often. I'd say challenging is a better word. Sometimes we have specific requirements of product to use and every so often they don't work well together. Sometimes we get requests are to say the least interesting, but thats when the creativity really needs to kick in and we make it work.

Hope that gives you an idea of what I do when i'm not working on cards for my classes and kits.

Below is a photo collage of some of my favorite Christmas projects i've done for Sizzix.

Check out the Artist Lounge where you can see lots of Sizzix projects. 

Also check out my photo albums for trade shows Here and Here  

Around the Craft Room

Lots of little things happening around the craft room last week and the momentum hasn't stopped this week either. Here's a few peeks, don't worry you'll most likely see some more of these. 1) Ribbons and trims 2) Snowflakes 3) Wool Felt Hearts 4) Feathered and glittered party hat 5) Cute as a button sentiment 6) Crocheted flowers

 

Boo

 
This by far was one of the fastest weekends I have ever had. I didn't get half of what I wanted to do done. We did make treats for friends, and carve pumpkins with friends,  and go to a party with old old friends (meaning we've known them a long time, not that their old), we visited with family and celebrated birthdays, so many good things.

Hope you enjoy the pics of my not-so-little anymore trick or treaters. I always find it interesting how my girls pick costumes that kind of have a not so obvious look into their personalities. I don't think they even notice it or mean to do it, but I do. I mean, Niguel a cop? I have no idea why she picked this... but she makes sure EVERYONE is following the rules around here. Oh boy, and my Ky... I've written so much about her on my blog that you probably get her outfit. I wasn't really on board with this one, I just don't like little ones as devils or angels for that matter, but its what she wanted. I saved the fight for another time. I'll just say that as we were getting ready Ky was playing out her part, fun stuff friends, really fun stuff!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Checking In

Just wanted to say sorry i've been off the mark blogging creative stuff this week. I've been in super busy Mommy mode. I have been crafting and creating as well, but haven't got the photos or editing done. I'll work on that lots this weekend so next week will be packed full of things to see.

Have a great weekend!

Warp Speed

Doesn't it seem like we are traveling at warp speed towards the holidays? It sure does for me. Tonight it even feels like fall as we are getting a north wind and its a little chilly. Chilly for us anyway its about 65 degrees.

Spent today shopping for some supplies and starting to get some projects ready for CHA (craft and hobby show). I worked on the November Card Kits and am loving the cards this month! Tonight I am trying to think of some kind of crafty things to make as christmas gifts. The focus this year will be simple, simple, simple!

Here's a super simple card to share this evening. Trying out some different things trying to decide
what I want to do for my personal family Christmas card. I like this one but I think I want something a little more contemporary.  So will you be making your cards for the holidays?