AuntiePea

{ Mood Alert }

October 22, 2007 by Shawn · 14 Comments

Found these little cards here and filled one out digitally Friday night.

Feeling a little better now but it’s been a rough week. Seeing a grandmother who was always so strong and independent become so frail is tough. Seeing her casket carried to the gravesite next to my grandfathers by my brother and cousins was even more difficult. But to be honest I think it’s entirely different circumstances that made the loss of my grandma this week particularly difficult. Circumstances that I chose for myself that I don’t regret but that seem to emphasize otherwise bearable feelings of being alone. The email from my mom letting us know that Grandma had peacefully passed on came late Tuesday night after any friends that I could call had already gone to bed. Going to bed alone each night is a lonely feeling anyway but it’s emphasized when you could really just use a hug. Going home to an empty house after the visitation Thursday night was equally emotional for me, emphasized by a severe storm (which I normally love) and tornado warnings nearby (which is a bit scary when you’re in a 2nd floor apartment). I live alone by choice so I’m not looking for pity. I just want to remember what this time in life was like for me and this is my only journal so those of you who read unfortunately get the bad with the good.

Fortunately there is good to share too. I’m feeling better today. Wishing there were 2 more days to the weekend. But I got to spend alot of the day yesterday surrounded by the most adorable nieces and nephews on the planet. Sharing tiny cookie bites with Ainsley, watching Isa wink, cuddling with Selah in the nursery and getting one of the world’s best hugs from Paige just a few of the good bits.

And I haven’t even blogged about me new sweet baby niece that I got to hold for quite awhile Thursday night. She was such a honey. This is Gracyn Kay. You can see lots more pictures of her here.

Off to work today and then working on blog designs tonight. I decided it was time to start a separate blog to post about the design stuff. I felt like it was sortof taking over this blog. So if you are interested in what’s going on in the blog design part of life you’ll find all that here from now on. I have a lot of ideas for this new blog including links to fun blogging tools, advice on posting, tutorials and of course posts about the current blogs I’m working on. So, the following is the last (well, last regular) peek at a blog that I’ll be finishing up hopefully tonight…

pink-grapefruit-style_12320817062241

And finally a fun little quiz that I stumbled across and had to check it out for myself. I think it was right on for me. Funny cuz I really never think of myself as having an accent. Apparently mine is an Inland North accent. What’s yours?

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak “Standard English straight out of the dictionary” but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like “Are you from Wisconsin?” or “Are you from Chicago?” Chances are you call carbonated drinks “pop.”
The Midland
The Northeast
Philadelphia
North Central
The South
The West
Boston
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Have a great Monday.

Filed Under: life

random and with no sense of direction

October 18, 2007 by Shawn · 18 Comments

So, blog updates… the banner I posted in my last post over a month ago IS for my dear friend Jayne. Shabby Juls got it right. :) Jayne’s got some fun things to add to the sidebar area and then we’ll make some minor adjustments but for the most part it’s done and one of my favorites so far. :)

And then one that I did awhile back that I can’t believe I haven’t blogged about before was for a little shop in Oklahoma City called Basiques Boutique owned by the sweetest mother/daughter team. I’m thrilled that they’re going to actually start selling some of their gorgeous items online so stay tuned. Here’s what we came up with for the banner using one of their gorgeous wall paintings. How fun is that?! :)

basiques-boutique_1232082939306

Another blog that’s almost finished but close enough to show is Jo-Anne Coletti’s. She paints gorgeous rose paintings and has recently released a CD of digital scrapbooking papers and elements. It was fun to use some of her own elements in the design. One thing you might notice about her blog is that I’m now offering the complete custom design package for blogger customers. Pretty exciting since I’ve had a number of requests for that. :)

I’ve got 3 blogs that are in their final design stages of pulling everything together and coordinating with the client on sidebar items and I’ve got a few that I’m waiting for feedback on their initial design. (A couple that were sent out over 2 weeks ago so I’m hoping they’re just on vacation or something and not trying to figure out how to tell me the banner is not at all what they were looking for. LOL)

I also have been wanting to switch my blog over to wordpress for a LONG time and finally decided to take a weekend (and it took the better part of an entire weekend) to learn wordpress once and for all. I had just gone through a very discouraging situation with a client where I almost decide to hang up my blog designing hat. An idea that I had that I thought would be a fun option to offer to future blog clients, one that I’d put a lot of creative energy and work into was given to another designer and it just sucked the fun right out of this designing stuff. I don’t get a lot of original, completely-not-done-before, creative ideas and this was one that I was pretty excited about. What made me even more happy was that the client was super excited about my idea too. Well, now the credit for that fun idea will go to another designer. If someone is interested in having a fantabulous about page done for them I am more than happy to haul out the fun ideas with all the bells and whistles that I have now stashed away in my little creative cabinet but I don’t think I’ll be advertising it as an ala carte option for now because I don’t want it to appear that I’m copying someone else’s creative idea. Sooooo, instead of continuing to feel abused and taken advantage of I chose to let the situation motivate me to learn more aspects of this blog design world and find something different to offer.

So this is my new home on the web and I’m SO excited to start offering full wordpress custom design and setup option to clients. What’s AWESOME about wordpress is that there is no monthly fee for it and it’s incredibly customizable. Like crazy customizable. I can’t wait to play around more with my own design but for now I’m just tickled with little things like how fun the comments icons are and how nicely they show up right after my signature. It’s the little things like that that can totally make my day. :)

I saw this little photo project posted by Rachel awhile back and since a word immediately came to mind AND I have a fancy little remote for my camera I decided to join in. You can see lots more here. But yeah, I’m beat. So if you decide to jump in on the photo project send me a link so I can check out how you’re feeling. :)

I also feel inspired, motivated and blessed so it’s not all bad. :)

So here’s my current balanced to-do list:

I decided that my to do list template needed a little updating. Still balanced, just different. I uploaded the new template so you can grab it here if anyone’s interested.

And then I joined in a little challenge at one of my favorite blogs and they posted this little list of girl-power questions yesterday. Here’s mine. :)

1. Name – Shawn
2. Pink – Love it or Hate it? love it
3. Signature shade of lipstick, lipgloss, etc. – pink gloss (little bit sparkly)
4. Do you have a best girl friend? I have many – the VERY best
5. Do you have a woman mentor? not that I can think of
6. Are you a woman mentor to someone else? I highly doubt it
7. Tomboy or Princess? Princess
8. Favorite Girl Band can’t think of a girl band but favorite girl artist – hands down Sara Bareilles
9. Are you a mom? Do you want to be one? just to pixel and actually no
10. Do you and your mom have any rituals? not that I know of
11. Fashion magazines – yea or nay. nay
12. Do you have a feel good outfit? do feel good shoes count?
13. Have you called your grandma or special aunt, or special older lady lately? saw my grandma for the last time Friday night
14. Signature Scent? angel although I rarely wear perfume
15. Favorite female tv character I can’t pick a favorite
16. Favorite place to hang out with gal pals? a good chick flick with popcorn
17. Did you ever ditch your girl friends to be with a guy? Do you still? I’m sure I have
18. Friend you call when you need a laugh? Jayne
19. Friend you call when you need a shoulder to cry on? Jill and/or Nikki, depends how late it is. :)
20. Have you reminded your friends of how much they mean to you lately? not nearly enough

Can you tell I’m trying to make up for a month of not blogging? Kay, back to work and then dinner with Jill tonight and funeral visitation for my grandma. Tomorrow is the funeral and then I’m looking forward to a rather quiet weekend and catching up with out-of-town cousins. Back soon with some photos of recent sewing projects and hopefully an etsy store update.

Have a great day!

Filed Under: blog design, life

{ Remembering Grandma }

October 17, 2007 by Shawn · 21 Comments

I remember…

Summers at the Conference Grounds and her firm belief that the black sand on the beach was caused by the volcanic eruption of Mt. Saint Helens. I’m still not buyin’ that. Or how the water in lake Michigan could basically cure any illness or rash, especially poison ivy.

Sunday dinners where she mostly sat quietly and observed the craziness of a table set for 14.

Having a stash of pop and munchies in our bedroom when Grandma would watch us for the weekend because “pop turns your insides all black”.

Cod Liver Oil —> *shivers*

A ride with her and Grandpa to visit my cousins in Canada. The trip should take us straight east across the state of Michigan and then on into Canada. Instead somehow we ended up so far off track that we were passing Amish buggies on the road. Now the only amish area I knew of in the area is due South down in Indiana. That’s a pretty major wrong turn. Not a particularly fun trip but one I’ll never forget.

She was beautiful with great skin and a metabolism like none other. Two traits that I hope she passed down.

A hairdresser she was not. (poor mom – that had to be rough) LOL

She was a horrible driver and when they finally took her car away she called the cops to report it stolen. That’s my grandma.

But she did have a green thumb and was a pretty good seamstress.

She volunteered endless hours, refused to turn down any charitable cause and even took people into her own home who seemed less fortunate.

And, although it seemed their entire lives that they never got along, when my grandpa was diagnosed with cancer she never left his side. He was a gem and he loved her. You could tell. I’m thinkin’ there must’ve been something pretty special about her.

Right about now she’s probably up in heaven getting one of Grandpa’s scruffy cheek kisses. Man I miss those. And she gets to see my uncle Bob. He was a gem too. And hold Jacob. How sweet that would be. Hope she’s giving ‘em all kisses for me.

I know I haven’t blogged in forever and I have so much to blog about but tonight I just wanted to get some thoughts down about my Grandma. She passed away earlier tonight after a rather short fight with cancer and a much longer struggle with alzheimers. It hadn’t really occurred to me until the other night in her room that she was my last living grandparent. I regret that I didn’t spend more time going through photos with her or learning some old fashioned sewing tips. I’m proud of my mom for taking such good care of her. I hope she’s resting peacefully tonight knowing Grandma’s finally home.

I promise to be back soon with more of an update. Right now I’m off to bed but I do have a post full of fun blog news including:

a big blog move announcement and fun new design options
updates on 2 projects that I mentioned WAY back in my last post a month ago. (One that’s done and turned out super fun, the other unfortunately took a rather different turn)
A store update
TV show thoughts…the Bachelor, Brothers & Sisters…
and LONG overdue photos and announcements.

In the meantime, go hug your grandmas.

Filed Under: life

{ Fly-by Post }

September 12, 2007 by Shawn · 43 Comments

Saugatuck1d I think there’s a blog prompt out there somewhere called wordless wednesday. This is gonna be my version of that. More pictures less words because I’m…emotionally drained, way behind on last weeks to-do list, still in my pj’s at 8:30 and meeting Nikki at Panera in an hour. So, quick recap of the past week in pics…

I like how this has sortof a wooded whimsy look. And because I mentioned new clothes in the last post. This is my new favorite top, although you can’t see much of it here. You’ll have to trust me that it’s very cool. :)

My new bag. Still playing with a new design but this one I couldn’t part with. The original idea was to take it for one night to get some pics in real life rather than hanging on a hook and then sell it but all the little things I carry around with me have called it home. Oh, and it’s much cooler here now so I’ve hauled out my favorite shiny red shoes. They make me happy every time I wear them. :)

A night of sewing with Jill and then with Nikki and I’ve got 5 new bags posted in the shop. I’ve given up picking favorites. :)

An off-road derby on Saturday night that I got to see 4 of my nieces at. No pics though, rushed off to not miss Dan’s race and forgot to grab my camera. :( He did great though. We’ll have to wait for Kimmy to post again for the details.

And yesterday I received a little package in the mail from Katelyn with another super sweet card and my very own remote for my camera. Now I’ve got a tripod and a remote so no more excuses for not using my camera more often. Plus I can finally take better pictures of my purses. :) Oh, and there’s my new jacket from last weeks shopping trip. :)

Okay, off to finish getting ready for Panera and then work today and sewing with Jill again tonight. Tomorrow is a whole day of blog designing. First person to guess who’s banner this one is…

bannerdraft

…wins a little RAK from me. (click image to view full size)

I’ve got 3 others that should all be coming together by tomorrow and I’m working on another FUN project for Tara that I can’t wait to share too. I got an email from her last night that actually said, and I quote…”I LOVE THIS MORE THAN OREOS!” That made my heart smile.

Kay, gotta run, back soon (hopefully) with more blogs to share, that recipe (sorry, just crazy busy) and a new revised to-do list template. I’ve discovered that certain areas need to include far more space. I also need to add a ‘long term goals’ area or something along those lines. Wow, this has turned out to be very wordy for a ‘wordless wednesday’ post. Sorry ’bout that. Now I’m gonna be late for Panera. Oy!

Have a great Wednesday!

Filed Under: blog design, sewing

Random Tidbits of a (too) Busy Life…

September 2, 2007 by Shawn · 18 Comments

First of all, thank you for all the incredibly sweet comments on my last post. I really do have the best friends in the world. I took a little break from the designing yesterday afternoon to watch some football games over lunch and do some retail therapy. Someone spoiled me and hopefully if we get some photos this week I’ll actually be wearing something different in them for once. I think someone may have been getting tired of seeing the same 3 outfits on rotation. :) He walked out empty handed though so we may need to plan a little day trip here, maybe on the way to some therapy of this sort?? We’ll see. A road trip would be good. That’s what finally gave me the breakthrough on Maegan’s blog design so maybe it would help with a couple that I’m stuck on at the moment.

As promised, a little video of Pixel and her best bud Murphy. I hung out with them Friday night for a bit while Nikki was working. They’re really quite hilarious together as you can see…

click here to see the video

Does that count for a Pixel update? Trying to check some things off that list a couple posts back. :)

And my to-do list for the week.

I used the template I’d made awhile back along with some Leora papers and goodies by Gina, Jackie, Shabby Miss Jenn, Natalie and Jennifer.

Havin’ a really hard time juggling everything lately so hopefully this will help. I’m finding when I let other priorities slip that my creativity seems to go downhill too so maybe keeping things balanced better will make me more productive in the blog design area. Right now I’m spending far too much time ‘stuck’ on designs and I really think it’s because I’m trying too hard. Now if I just need to step away from the laptop for a bit and refocus I’ll have this pretty list of things to remind me what else I need to be taking care of. :)

I know I’ve posted the template before but I tweaked it a bit while I was making this list so if you didn’t get a copy earlier or you’d like the new (hopefully improved) version you can download it here. I don’t claim to be a template designer and it would probably help if I used more templates for my own scrapping. In fact, if I did I could probably even add a little bit of scrapping for myself on that to-do list huh?! :)

Oh, and did anyone else watch the Sound of Music last night on tv? Well, if you missed it it’s on again tonight. I have the DVD but somehow there’s just something nostalgic about watching it when it’s on tv. It’s quite possibly my very favorite movie as you can maybe gather from my blog banner (which is WAY overdue for a rehaul). I put a little Sound of Music playlist on the blogpod for your listening enjoyment. :)

Kay, off to get ready for church. Then a full two days of blog designing with a little house cleaning thrown in here and there. Maybe a walk with Pixel. An episode of Big Brother tonight. Back to work on Tuesday, dinner at my favorite restaurant before they close for the season and ice cream at Charlie’s.

I’ll try and pop in here again before then with a couple more new blog links and that recipe I promised (if you can really call it that).

Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend so far.

Filed Under: blog design, digi-scrapping Tagged With: pixel, shopping, template, to do, tv

New bags, blessings and friends…

August 31, 2007 by Shawn · 9 Comments

First of all, Jill and I did spend the evening sewing Monday night and I’m finally posting some photos of our fun. We set out to create a completely new design and came up with what I do believe is our favorite purse yet. As soon as I decide which fabrics will match with the most things in my wardrobe I’ll be making one of these Lily Kate bags for myself. That is if I don’t snatch one of these currently listed in the shop as my own. :)

You can find these purses in my shop here. Jill’s been busy making Lily Kate bags ever since and if you’re quick you may find one in her shop. She keeps her store much better stocked than mine so you’ll wanna check back often.

So It’s been a rough day for a lot of reasons. For that matter it’s been a rough couple of months. In fact for the most part there hasn’t really been much about the year 2007 that I’ll probably hold any fond memories of. So lately I’ve been thinking that I might be overdue for a count-my-blessings post. Just a reminder of some of the little (and big things) in life that I do have to be thankful for. So here are a few things that came to mind as I’ve been thinking about this post over the past week…

Fresh mowed grass (although that was Tuesday and the lines are beginning to disappear)
Pixel’s growing bladder. She no longer has to be let out every 5 minutes (although now I’ll need to figure out another reason to make a dozen or more trips up and down the stairs each day because I think it was actually helping my figure)
Hummingbirds that visit the flowers on my deck.
Carnation Instant Breakfast (and a sister who keeps my cupboard stocked with cartons of it from Sam’s Club) :)
Blueberry muffins at Panera with Nikki
Shoe-of-the-day pics from Jayne, love this girl SO much

Video mail from the amazing and talented Katelyn, not to mention the sweetest card. She’s so good to me. :)

I really couldn’t ask for better friends. They’re so patient with me when I go days (sometimes even weeks) without checking in online or fall asleep on them while chatting (sorry Shari). I feel so blessed by the friends that I’ve met online. I know it doesn’t make sense to some but these girls mean so much to me.

Then there’s Jill who has been my friend since kindergarten. We talk almost every day lately and I love that. She’s been there for me in so many ways and I could never thank her enough for her friendship.

And my new sweet friend Nikki. I should’ve added my apartment in general to my gratitude list and one of my newest favorite things about living here is my neighbor Nikki. Having moved out on my own this past February and going through a lot of months where I felt completely alone most of the time, Nikki has been an absolute Godsend. Our dogs are the best of friends. I have to get video of them playing together because it’s the most hilarious thing. But Nikki is the greatest neighbor I could ask for. She’s always up for a trip to Panera for bagels in the morning on my day off. She calls to ask if ice cream sounds good at 9:00 at night and we make a trip to Coldstone. When she gets off work at 11 I’m the only wierdo who’s still awake that late so she comes over to chat and doesn’t care if I’m in my pj’s and looking a wreck. Gotta love that. :)

These are just a few of the beautiful people that I am so blessed to call friends. In a year where I have lost more than I could’ve ever imagined they have been there with love and support and a good laugh when I’ve needed them most. I truly don’t deserve their friendship but I’m so glad they stick by me anyway.

And I have to ask for your prayers for another friend who just lost his mom to cancer. She died peacefully in his arms last night. He has been there for me through the absolute lowest points in my life and has never left my side and my heart breaks for what he has been through the past few months. I wish there were something more I could do to be there for him. Please keep his family in your prayers.

I’m off to work this morning and then plan to spend a majority of my long weekend designing blogs.

Have a blessed holiday weekend.

Filed Under: life, sewing Tagged With: crafting, friends, gratitude, purses, sewing