I've Been Tagged

I was tagged by twiddlestix designs (who makes awesome cards!) with Seven Random Facts so here goes!Here are the rules:
1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

OK... seven random facts.... here goes:

1. I have ridden in a tractor, a combine, a bulldozer, tractor trailor and basically any other vehicle you can find on a farm. My dad was a farmer and I was by his side most of the summer.

2. I love horses, but I am scared of them at the same time. They know this and tend to push me around. I worked on the horse farm at Virginia Tech for one summer. I loved it but was scared to death I was going to get run over by a horse, LOL.

3. I love trees!!! My favorite tree is a japanese maple. They are all over the campus at Virginia Tech and when I bought my house, I was so excited to have one in my front yard. I love that tree.

4. I traveled to France when I was in 10th grade. I went with my school. My camera broke so I have no pictures of the trip and I can barely remember most of it... except getting a little tipsy at a discoteque and make a bit of a fool out of myself.

5. I own about 300 acres with my mom and sisters. We rent it to my uncle to farm, but I sometimes think I need to figure out a way to bring our land back into the family. But when you own something with three other adults, it is sometimes easier to just ignore it than to make decisions that everybody can agree on.

6. I worked for the phone company for 7 years. Our department checked the listings in the phone books nation wide. BORING! Worst job ever, but at the same time, it was one of my biggest blessings.

7. I was a single mom when I had my first child. When I was pregnant with her, I moved into a river cottage that only had a log stove for heat and I lived there alone. My mom lived about 10 minutes away and she was who I called in the middle of the night when I went into labor. She drove me to the hospital and she and my two sisters were in the room with me when I had my daughter.

Here are the seven people I am tagging:

muffin top designs

crazy times candle & bath

MandyMagoo

LazyTcrochet

Shellie Mitchell

Art 2 the Extreme

Taffy Talk

My Roots

I grew up on a farm. My dad was a full time grain farmer and also an avid conservationist. I adored my dad. He passed away from pancreatic cancer in 1996 when I was a Sophomore in college. My grandma still lives on the farm. I now live in town which is about 15 minutes from the farm and the house I grew up in. I miss it now that we are no longer directly a part of it like we once were. It is nice to visit and I love to see my kids run around on the farm when we visit Grandma. The above photo is my daughter and niece at the Easter Egg hunt we had on Saturday.

I think the way I was raised has a huge impact on the style I have in my crafts. I love nature and I love all things that grow. I am so happy spring is here and that I will be spending more time outside with the kids.

Nothing is safe from becoming something else.

At least that is true for my house. I can barely stand to throw anything away without staring at it for a few minutes and wondering if it has a new life as something else. Tonight, it is one of those times where there is no doubt. I was inspired to do the above treasury by the task I was performing when the treasury opened. I was cutting apart Kaileigh's old amber teething necklace. The amber on this necklace is gorgeous! I bought this from a reputable source, spent quite a bit of money on it, and my daughter decided when she was about 2 to bite one of the beads off. That is one of those fun memories I will have for a long time. I remeber where we were when I realized she was fiddling with something in her mouth. But that is my Kaileigh, always straight to the mouth, or on the skin or on the walls... always wherever it does not belong, LOL! So, I am cutting all the tied beads from this necklace and thinking I would love to have myself a stretch ring and the treasury became available. Yay!!

I like this treasury alot! Hope you do too.

How aware are you?

My husband is a huge bike hobbyist! He loves mountain bike racing and just recently got a brand new mountain bike for Christmas. So, I am always kind of interested in the biking items available on Etsy and am always amazed at the items I find on there. These people are amazing (speaking of all the phenomenal artists on etsy.com). Check out some of the items I found:
BMX Bike Onesie
Sea Poetry
Ride My Bicycle Felted Purse
Hi Bicycle
Bicycle
Organic Cotton Bicycle Shirt
Bicycles are for lovers
Lomo Bicycle
Old Bike 2
Rustic Bicycle Chain Birdhouse
Circuit Board Keychain
Fence With Bike
Bicycle Shoe
The Dead Bicycle
Little Bike Pouch
Bicycle Clutch

Aren't all of those awesome?
Now, on to this awareness test. How aware are you?
Find out by clicking here: Awareness Test

Just missed it!!

So lately I have been missing the treasury by mere minutes! It has been so frustrating because for a while there I was spot on with the timing of the next opening and I constantly had treasuries. Lately, every time I pop in, I find a whole new huge batch of just made treasuries that are minutes old. I love treasuries! I love making them, I love looking at them, but I don't have a lot of luck getting into them. I think the key to making treasury friendly pictures is a limited number of colors in your photos. So, if a picture is taken in a light box, I think it has better chances of ending up in a treasury. Or, if a picture has solid backgrounds or very close up angles, I tend to think they end up in more treasuries. I tried the light box, but it did not work with the concept I had for my store. I am really happy with the pictures I have, I think they kind of match the theme of my store. I guess we can't have it all, and I think I am OK with that. I do love the occasional surprise of finding myself in a treasury. It always kind of makes a bright spot in my day.

I am happy with my latest treasury pictured above, but I am thinking it does not have that jump out and grab you factor necessary to land it on the front page. But most times, that is fine with me. I have featured a lot of my favorites in the treasury and I think it looks really good. Really makes me happy to look at and I just have to remind myself that sometimes, that is even more important than landing the front page.

Free laughs on Etsy.com

I know when I talk about etsy.com to some of my friends, they just don't get it, including my husband. They think I am a tad obssessed. But, honestly, window shopping on etsy can make you laugh out loud. The people on that site are comic geniuses. These cards by GenObata are just amazing. First of all, his cat Lilly is so expressive. Her expressions alone make me laugh. But then her as a giant feature in these familiar tourist images just is so funny. I love everything about these cards and think they would be perfect for every occassion. Check out GenObata's shop and check out all of the places Lilly has visited in her travels.

Look what is coming my way!!

WooHoo!! I have been drooling over this for a while now. Then I saw a post by shellieartist that she was going to give away a free print with her 100th purchase. Well, that sealed the deal for me. Forget the buying freeze, I jumped off that wagon at a break-neck speed and headed straight to shellie's shop. I bought the above barn original and now I have a free print headed my way also!!!

Her work is gorgeous! This little ACEO I bought a little while ago:

was just enough to make me KNOW I needed more. I am so thrilled with it.

My front living room is decorated with a farm house theme and the barn original will fit fantastically. Also, shellie's work reminds me alot of my surroundings growing up. Here is a picture from the area around where I was raised:



As you can see, I am an outdoorsy type of girl, so shellie's work really speaks to my heart.
Check out shellie at her etsy shop

Awesome play food purchase

I have read and heard a lot of scary things about plastic over the last year. Also, I have been trying to simplify and make changes leading to a more simple way of living, including my children's toys. I really am finding that toys that do less encourage the children to do more. Well, the burger I purchased from handsewn has been awesome for the kids to play with. This is the best burger ever! The kids have had so much fun taking it apart and building different types of burgers. Each ingrediant has been created perfectly. The pickles and onions are adorable and the swiss cheese makes me giggle every time I see it. I highly recommend this toy for children!! Also, because of the fuzzy texture, they are so much more careful at "pretending" to eat. With the plastic food, they are constantly shoving it in their mouths, but with this burger and the ice cream cones I bought from handsewn they actually pretend to eat it. Please check out this store!!