My Customers Rock!

I must admit...some of my best ideas come from my awesome customers! 

Like this book!

I've been in a bit of a rut.  Relying on sticker sheets to pull together a theme.  But this book...no stickers allowed!  (Ok, there are a few letter stickers!)

 

Row, Row, Row Your Boat!  Why just add the words when you can include the music?

 

I've had these metal numbers (and letters) forever.  Somehow I never seem to have the right number/letter in the right color at the right time but they finally found a home in this book!

 

Words cut from a children's book add the personal touch. 

Baby Beluga?  Raised 3 kids and never heard of it...but we missed out...it's a cute little song!

And, finally...the Hokey Pokey!

Of course the book just wouldn't be the same without the beautiful Amy Butler paper.  Love it!

And, then there's this book.  Celebrating a 23rd birthday at the Rockies game!

 

Although this book is very different from the one above, it is SO much fun!

I totally love the lively colors!

 

 

I would definitely not call myself a huge baseball fan...but hey, I'm adaptable!

 

Especially when I can get away with adding pink, aqua and lime green!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another custom order that was fun to do (considering how much I LOVE Washington, DC!) can be found here.

And then there's my friend Patti!  Always fun stuff for her...

Six books for six friends.

The same, but different.

 

A book to match each of their personalities.

 

Can't decide which one is my favorite!

The pictures turned out a little blurry....I think I was tired!  :)

 

I'm betting these girls know how to have some fun!

Yeah...my customers have some amazing ideas!  Thanks for the inspiration!  :)

So Inspired...Words to Live By...17

When a man does not know
what harbor he is making for,
no wind is the right wind. 
~Seneca

Recently one of my girls was in a quandary when it came time to choose a major at college.  She struggled because she couldn't come up with ANYTHING that interested her.  I, on the other hand, have the opposite problem.  Narrow it down to ONE?  Are you kidding?! 

I ended up with a business degree because I wanted to run my own business and I thought it would provide a good background for me.  What I didn't take into consideration at the time was that the "business" I wanted to start was an arts/craft type business.  So, why didn't it occur to me to get a degree in ART?   Or at least double major?  Yeah, I have no idea what I was thinking!!! 

For years, it seems, I've been drifting a bit.  Caught between what I should do and what I want to do.  At times I've been unsure of which harbor to aim for...and other times (like now perhaps) I have the harbor in my sights but not quite clear on how to navigate in that direction.   Maybe, finally, the right wind is about to push me along.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! 

A day at the beach

 

I'm ready...how about you?

So Inspired...Words to Live By...16

 

If you do what you've always done,

you'll get what you've always gotten.

~Anthony Robbins

Where can you make changes this week?

Remember to stop by Notes from a Cottage Industry to find more inspiration!

Las Vegas Scrapbook

This is the newest arrival in my Etsy shop. 

 

Perfect for throwing in your purse…

 

or setting on your desk…

so you can share the fun of your trip with all your friends!

 

 

Follow the   I Made It! {Thursday Blog Party} @ Everything Etsy to see what projects everyone else is working on this week!

Summer Break…Time to Scrapbook!

 

My summer break officially starts TODAY! 

Eight weeks of nothing but scrapbooking! 

Oh…I wish that were true.  I suppose somewhere along the line I should do the other things on my list too…like yard work, painting my front door, washing windows (a job I really don’t hate…the clean sparkling glass just makes me smile!!) but for today at least, those things are going to stay on the “to-do” list because I have scrapbooking projects to work on! 

I must admit, I’ve been a little slower than usual getting my custom orders out the door lately.  When it gets so close to my last day of work for the school year, I tend to push everything to “when I’m done working”! 

But NOW I’m DONE and ready to jump, dive, and immerse myself in scrapbooking…and some other crafting as well.  I have lots, Lots, LOTS of creative projects that have been floating through my mind lately and I am so excited to have some time to actually get working on them.

First though, I have some custom work to finish up…like I’m ever FINISHED! Of course that’s a good thing!   :)

I love how this DC book turned out.

Totally makes me want to go to DC…NOW!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve got some other “destination” books coming up.  Hopefully they’ll be listed in my Etsy shop soon.

 

 

So Inspired…Words to Live By…15

The deepest secret is that life
is not a process of discovery,
but a process of creation. 
You are not discovering yourself,
but creating yourself anew. 
Seek, therefore, not to find out
Who You Are,
seek to determine
Who You Want to Be. 
–Neale Donald Walsch

Ok.  First let me say that I LOVE this quote.  IF it’s not my new “all time favorite”…it’s pretty darn close!  It’s a quote that found me this week.  Does that ever happen to you? 

This is how it happened….I have been wanting to purchase this book by Kelly Rae Roberts for awhile now…

I love her website and her blog and basically feel so inspired by her.   I hope that doesn’t sound creepy!  :)  But lately I have been wanting to paint again….craving it actually.  I used to paint years ago and got away from it but the idea of mixed media art has climbed into my soul and is begging for attention.  Everywhere I look lately I run across another book, magazine, blog, etc that just consumes me!

Another thing I love about this book…the faces of the women in the paintings.  Aren’t they awesome?  They remind me of a painting I saw in my college art history class of a young girl.  I can’t remember the artist now but a few years later I searched frantically until I found a copy of the portrait because I couldn’t get her face out of my mind!

So anyway, a week ago I went to the store with every intention of buying this book.  I held it in my hands, flipped through it, read some passages…and put it back on the shelf because this book by Shona Cole also caught my attention!

I loved this one so much that I waited on the Taking Flight book.   But, of course, I couldn’t get Taking Flight off my mind so this week I went back to the store and finally bought it!

Anyway, nothing like making this a long story!!!  As I was flipping through the book last night I found this quote (the one above!) and immediately loved it.  Then later, I was blog hopping and stumbled upon the quote again.  Can’t for the life of me remember where I found it but it was like the quote was making me step up and take notice. 

I knew then that it would be my quote for the week!

Kinda opens up some possibilities, doesn’t it?

Don’t forget to stop by Notes from a Cottage Industry for more quotes!