Some wonderful times!!

We made it to San Diego and back, and had a wonderful time!! Here are a couple of pics for you to enjoy! This is one of the best Mexican restaurants in Olde Town where we stayed. I just love all the palm trees they have!

Here is me and the girl on the beach, very sunburned from family day. It was supposed to be 92 and ended up 102 and we were on asphalt all day.

Here is the first hug after a looooong 13 weeks!

And here is Marine boot camp graduation! Congratulations Travis!!

My baby is a whopping 67lbs. now! She is such a sweet baby! Checkin' out the fishes!!

Sitting so pretty! What a good girl!!


So I have a new online friend!! She is officially my most loyal customer! Here are some bears I made for her this past week as a trade. She now has 7!!!


I sent her more surprises, but I just got them shipped today so I will have to wait til she gets them before I put them on here. She is by the way the one that talked me into expanding my doll collection in a different direction. I promise I won't go as crazy as I did with the beanie babies! These girls are way more than beanie babies! But I always loved my barbie's growing up and you are never too old to play with dolls. (That is what I have been told!!) My story, sticking to it!! Here is a couple of pictures of her dolls, the first one with the first 4 bears she purchased. They are so cute!





I think this one is my favorite!!!!!


So the DH and I built a dollhouse! Gotta have props for the etsy store! This thing turned out huge!!

So my new friend sent me some things, for trade, to help me fill it up. She told me when I opened the box it would look like Christmas, and boy was she ever right!!!!!

Here is a pic of the dining table and chairs. She also sent me a stereo with speakers and a TV!

Talk about hooking me up!!! I think I owe her another bear!! I just love miniature stuff. I have made some things for the house like a couch, night stand, wardrobe, pearl hangers, and a bed. I will post pics of those when I get it all set up.

So a BIG THANK YOU to neodesign for getting me on a big head start!!!

I have been working on some knitted dresses for the Blythe doll that I will post when I get ready to list them in my etsy.


Hugzz,
Gina

Update and Award!!

It is so wonderful to have cyberspace friends, that are friends even though you have never met face to face. Thank you so much Jann for this award. Your friendship means the world to me!

The wording for this award is as follows: The Karma Award: These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kinds of bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award................................. Since most of my friends already have this award I think I will spend a little time on the net looking for some new friends of blogs that I enjoy, but haven't taken the time to meet yet.


I never feel deserving of my awards because I feel I have neglected my blog more than I should. Hopefully I will have more time to update after school starts this week. Right now, it is all about finishing the garden stuff ( I feel like a squirrel stocking up for the winter, haha) and getting things ready for the last year that I will have a child in the public school system! YEAH!! and BOO!! I have had a child in school nonstop since 1986. Hopefully I got over all the empty nest syndrom when the first one left. Otherwise I will be burying myself in my crafts!



I will leave you with a pic of J's rosebush that her boyfriend bought her. It has really outdone itself blooming since he has been gone to bootcamp. He is so much like my husband it is scary. He asked her what she wanted and she said roses. So he shows up at the house with a WHOLE BUSH! Yep, just like her dad!

It's Been a While!

Funny how summer takes on a life of it's own. One minute, not much to do, and the next is just swampville. Once we got the fence finished, the garden started producing. We have put up green beans, pickles (4 kinds), corn, and tomatoes. I got 6 custom bear orders all needing to be shipped while my girlfriend from Texas and my sister visited the last week of June. Whew!!

Then we got Chanel fixed, didn't slow her down too much. She is now over 40 lbs. and big. HaHa. This is her favorite afternoon napping spot, and whenever daddy wants to sit there! He complains, but for some reason does't make her move.



The temps have been really high here the past few weeks, so we haven't seen Blue in a while, and have been busy every evening watering. That rain seems to just go around us. We have only had .4" the past month.

It is almost time to start school shopping. I can't believe the summer vacation is almost over. I have tried to enjoy the summer with my daughter as this is her last summer before high school graduation. I thought it would never get here and yet I can't believe it is already here.

I will leave you with some eyecandy from all the flowers I have been watering every day. Enjoy!!







Hugzz,
Gina

AWARD!

I was given this award from Becky of Whymsicalmusings.blogspot.com. THANK YOU BECKY! You are such a sweet friend. Here are the rules.

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.
2. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered.
3. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.
I will have to get busy and find some new blogs to award now.



It is friday and the fence is almost done, good thing because I received a custom order for 4 teddy bears this morning. Yeah! The only problem is my hands are so sore from bending wire it is hard to hold the crochet hook. The hands aren't the only thing that is sore. It is amazing how you find new muscles you never new you had til you use them. Then they let you know they are there! HAHA Between the fence and the garden I haven't had much time for my crafting lately and I am having withdrawal symptoms! So the bears will be a nice break for me. I processed 15 lbs. of green beans yesterday morning by myself. You have to know that when it comes to outside yard stuff, I am not your girl unless it has to do with the flowers or my koi pond. I just don't find much joy in all the dirt related things, besides the heat index has been in the high 90"s all week. The garden hobbyist is the hubby. Don't get me wrong I love to eat the stuff and I don't mind too much helping him but if it was left up to me I certainly wouldn't have a 35' X 120' patch of weeds with some veggies in it! HA

Update: Since the boyfriend is gone away to bootcamp, we worked out a deal to steal his dog Blue at least once a week. He is such a sweet, huge baby and Channel dearly loves him. By the way last week when he was here I don't know if he did it on purpose or accident, but he took a swim in my koi pond and had a hard time getting back out. I was standing there looking at him like how in the world am I gonna get a 95 lb. lab out of that slippery pond. Luckily J coaxed him to the little island and he was able to climb out with a little help. Needless to say after a little scolding he doesn't go near the pond now. Here is a pic of them wednesday night.



Have a Great weekend everyone!
Hugzz
Gina

Work, Work, Work!

We have been busy lately trying to put up some new chain link fence. We decided to replace most of the stockade because it blows down every time we have a storm! I have had a little time to do some crafting, although it has been more of a challenge to find time since school is out. My daughter's boyfriend left for Marine bootcamp last monday so she has more free time now. Wish I did! She has been a lot of help to me though, we played with the camera yesterday and redid all of my pics for my etsy store. She does a wonderful job, better than me, and my store looks way better now thanks to her. Here are some things I have been working on:

More beads! These are my favorite, love the blue and fuschia:

These yellow ones turned out better than I thought they would but I am not a yellow person:

And here are the fun ones. We all need a little fun in our lives, and I love all the different colors in them. They are made out of comic strips from the newspaper:

I love summer and also William Shakespeare, so here is a poem for you to enjoy!

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (Sonnet 18)
by William Shakespeare


Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Have a Wonderful Day!!
Hugzz
Gina

Another Wonderful Day!

Yesterday my BFF Becky and I were blessed with a day out together. Eating lunch and craft shopping is our favorite 2 things to do together. I am so blessed to have a wonderful person like her to "hang" with.

Lots going on since my last post. Prom is over, YEAH, went well, so very tired from decorating and cleaning up. School is out for the summer! Graduation is past! Now time to prepare for summer camp. I did manage to get more beads done, did some research on the net for recycled crafts, found some reallllly kewl stuff. Here is a pic of one of the progects that inspired me to try something new with all of the magazines my 2 girls still have stored around the house. I will post another pic when it is finished.


Took the baby (Channel) back to the vet yesterday for the last set of puppy shots and rabies. She weighed a whopping 27.4 lbs. I had no clue Labs grew so fast. I did know how big she will be full grown, I just didn't know she would grow so fast the first few months. Here she is today

She has been tired the past few days from shots and her buddy Blue spent the weekend with us.
I was going to post more pics from the yesterday shopping extravaganza but the camera is doing really strange things this morning. It took an hour to get these 2 pics I posted here so I may be shopping for another camera today. I got some really pretty paper yesterday for some new bead designs I saw and am going to try to recreate.
A new friend of mine has a wonderful giveaway on her blog, you should go check it out if you are interested at all in making your own beads. http://justjenndesignz.blogspot.com/

Have a Great Week!
Hugzz
Gina

Finally!! Beads

I finally got my beads finished, photographed, and listed! Here is a pic of the finished ones listed on etsy and another pic of more drying. Here is a tutorial I found online if you want to make some yourself. They are quite addicting!
http://alteredobsession.blogspot.com/2008/02/handmade-paper-beads-tutorial.html




This is why it took so long! Every time I try to work on my crafts, Channel thinks it is time to play with her little friend!


Here she is defacing the Yorkie cage one minute and the next, scratching her ear and looking at me like "Whaaaaaat, I was just trying to play with my friend!"

Then 2 seconds later, laying on the rug she also defaced, acting sleepy!


She is now napping on my feet which is good because I needed to update my blog. I did get some beads finished today so I guess I will go pack the important stuff to take with me to the storm cellar tonight. We already lost 2 fence panels this morning from the wind and are expected to have tornadoes and hail tonight! Just another day in Oklahoma.
Have a great day and stay safe!:)
Hugzz
Gina

Still Busy

I hope this post finds everyone happy and healthy! So it has been a while since the last post! Boy time flies when you are training a puppy! She has grown so much since my last post, but still acts like a baby. She went from 7.6 lbs in the last pics to 12.5 lbs in the most recent ones here. I thought I would post a pic of her friend, Blue, so this is what we have to look forward too. I just hope she is as well behaved as he is!
He is such a sweet baby, all 95 lbs. of him!

Here is Channel now.



And here she is being spoiled by daddy ON MY COUCH! You can tell more about her size in this one.



Here is an older one for size comparison and trying so hard to be gentle with T-Bone. He is slowly warming up to her when she isn't going full bore.



Still haven't got any more bears done. I need to work up a few more since I sold 2 last week, but crocheting isn't very feasable with a lab that likes to play with yarn. I have been working on some new beads though and will post some pics when I get them sealed. I just got my diamond glaze in the mail yesterday.

Hugzz
Gina

What's Up

Been busy and distracted! Well, a lot since my last post. The day of my last post, friday the 13th do doubt, my dog Daisy Mae, yes we are from the south, passed away. Then on Sunday my dear beloved decided to clean out the Koi pond. We didn't realize that our illustrious city water had new additives and we ended up losing 2 of my largest Koi and several other fish including one of the shebunkin babies who was 6 inches long. Needless to say I was not very pleased! My husband is wonderful and tried to make it up to me by getting us a new puppy on the following wednesday. Then, yes there is more, on the following saturday my hamster died. (We are very much animal lovers) Although, my allergy Dr. would probably jump for joy at the news of fewer animals in my home, I was less enthused. Daisy was 11 and had a full life and we enjoyed her very much, she will still be missed greatly even though the new puppy takes up every minute of every day.

So yes, there has been little time for crafting, can't seem to concentrate long enough. Then there are the endless potty breaks between 2 dogs that are not on the same schedule what so ever! The puppy, Chanel, pronounced like the cologne, is doing much better than the 1st day. She is sleeping longer at night, playing by herself more, and has only had 2 accidents in the house which both were probably my fault for not watching the clock. It is very hard to concentrate when you are sleep deprived! But last night, she slept from 9:30 til 3:00 a.m., it was wonderful not getting up every 2 hours. I likes my sleeps! She is a real sweetheart and so far has been very trainable. She was 6 1/2 weeks and 7.6 lbs. when we got her. She is now 9 weeks, don't know the weight but has grown at least 3 inches taller already. So I will leave you with a pic of my current time waster. HaHa




These were taken on 3-21-2009, she has since started losing her baby face and looks more like a lab. What a personality!

Hopefully, the way she is progrssing I should be back to crafting shortly.

Hugzz
Gina

It's time for Friday inspiration!

I found this quote in an e-mail and found it very thought provoking.

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass,
it's about learning to dance in the rain."

As I was looking outside for some "stuff", for my next art doll that is in my mind, and everything is still wet from the 2 inches of snow yesterday, I found myself waiting for the "stuff" to have to dry out before I can get started. There seems to be a lot of storms in the lives of people around me lately. I know there is a purpose for the things that happen to us, but sometimes it takes weeks or even months and sometimes years to see just what that purpose is. Sometimes waiting is the purpose. Just being a good friend and listener is one of the other purposes, letting people know how much they mean to us. Life shouldn't be just about getting to the end, it's all about what we do while we are on our way!




Have a Great Weekend!

Hugzzz
Gina

More Bears!

The weather was so nice this weekend! Got some much needed work done in the flower beds, still more to do, but that will wait until after the snow we get tomorrow. I have lived here most of my life and am still amazed how it can be 80 one day and a few days later they are talking about freezing rain and snow. Boggles the mind doesn't it?

Oh well, stocked up on some supplies, crafting supplies of course, so I am all set! More Bears to be born, and things to do, like getting caught up on the blog.

Here are a couple of bears I finished, and as always you can find them in my etsy.




By the way, I have started using some of Becky's art that she has so generously given to me over the past few years in some of my pictures. Her link is on this page. I also won an ATC from FOREVER JANN and as soon as I receive it and make sure it is ok with her I am planning on using it as a prop also. Her link is here too!


Hugzzzzzzz!
Gina

I have been awarded!

Thanks Becky for nominating me for these 2 awards! If you only knew how much you challenge and encourage me! The first award is the creative blogger award
With this award I need to list seven things I love and then pass this along to seven very creative bloggers, so here’s my list;
1. My first love is God.
2. My husband of almost 19 years, Richard.
3. My children, daughter-in-law, and extended family.
4. My dear friends that stick by me no matter what.
5. The wonderful talents I have been blessed with.
6. Nature and all the beauty it beholds.
7. All of my wonderful pets.


The second award is

This award I received is accompanied by the following words: "This blog invests and believes in the PROXIMITY-nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this clever-written text into the body of their award." I now have to pass this award on to 8 fellow bloggers.

Since I am new to the blogging world and I can't get Becky back, I will include some new friends I have met recently.

1. My new friend FOREVER JANN http://www.foreverjann.blogspot.com/ (great artwork)

2. A friend I met through etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5142446 (Wonderful jams and jellies and a new baby)

I am not really sure what all I have to do with these awards so I will just do 2 for now and add more later.

Hugzzzzz
Gina

Memories

Sometimes memories make you sad, but it is better to dwell on the good memories. When I think of my grandmothers, it always makes me happy. I was looking around for props today to take pics of my new bear I listed on etsy, and found some sweet memories to share. First the new bear:)



While looking around I found a bear that I made a while back but have just recently knitted a sweater for her. She has to be a her she is very Pink!




I also like primitive dolls and ornies. I like a lot of different crafts, styles, colors and very rarely stick with one particular medium. This next pic is my sewing machine cover. She used to be a rabbit! Now she is a sweet Annie with a purpose.



And finally, what inspired my post for today. This is a little doll I had from childhood. I just recently brought her home to live in my doll bed that I have had since I was 3. (Not quite an antique yet but in a few years maybe). She isn't a very pretty doll, or even worth much $ wise. She has simple plastic limbs and head but her eyes still blink! I don't remember when I got her or who exactly gave her to me, probably came from the 5 and dime store for around $2. She is stained from age and humidity on her flannel body and is finding herself very naked. Her clothes were in even more disarray. I washed them and will not part with what is left of them but I can't help wondering if she doesn't deserve more. Maybe a very delicate crocheted dress with a pair of bloomers and definetely a diaper! She brings to mind a song I learned way back then:

I dropped my dolly in the dirt,
I asked my dolly if it hurt,
and all my dolly said to me was,
Wahn,
Wahn,
Wahn,Wahn,Wahn.

She may not be very pretty and doesn't have much potential in the doll world, but she has sweet memories that won't ever be forgotten.



Remembering,

Gina
XXXOOO!!