Some thoughts on this past decade and things I've learned.

Wow, another decade just about flew past, I am in awe of all the things we got to experince in such a short span. Some of you may start reading this and decide it is not worth the time to read....stop now and go do whatever it was you were doing before you came upon my note.

I just wanted to share some things I have learned these past 10 years, some were hard lessons, some are just plain life lessons we all go through, all my experinces have brought me here, the person I am today. Each experince has shaped how I see the future and have given me perspective as to what is important to make it not just a good life, but a great one.

1- I do not depend on anyone to give me things, my advice: go out and get them yourself, be proud of what you do on your own, celebrate being independent.

2- I don't have career goals, I have life goals. What so many people invest in their careers, their education and their workplace, I am investing in beining not just a good parent, but a GREAT one. I will not have some fancy university degree hanging off my wall...I will have however, a young man who will be able to look back on what we did and be happy with his childhood.
Teaching him a little common sense and some natural consequences hasn't hurt him any. He is the future.

3- My house may be messier than yours, but I'm ok with that. It is my space our space (Dayday and me), the place where children live and have fun, the place where I create and repurpose, it is a home, lived in and loved, full of our energy, our life and our accomplishments.
It is also the only house I know that has a huge blackboard painted on the wall!!

4- I refused to live in fear and will keep living like that until there is a real reason to fear life . I learned long ago, that when we live in fear of the future, we stall, we freeze, we stop moving forward thus loosing sight of the wonderful things life has in store for us.

5- I have learned to accept that I will never have all the things I want, and that is ok. I will never be financially rich, but I will always have a very abundant life. I will never be the smartest person out ther either, but I have enough common sense to get me through the next decade.

6- A New hip makes life 1 million times more enjoyable.

7- Saying sorry, admitting when I'm wrong, admitting when someone else is right, and being kind, are all things that are acutally very easy to do, and the more I preactice, the better I am at doing them.

8- Depent on yourself to bring happiness into your life, and remember we get what we give right?

9- I refuse to use the word phrase "I am so jealous", it is a horrible state of mind, and it accomplishes nothing. I learned to try to always be happy for other's good fortunes, but never to be jealous or envious of them, we should feel blessed for the things we do have already.

10- I will keep on being a woman of my word, when I say I will get something done, I will do it. Wendy, I am bringing you that apple slicer, even if it kills me!!

11- I have realized that there will never be enough time to do all the things I want to do, but I enjoy every minute that I get.

12- I have also learned that not everyone is like me and I am not like everyone else, and accepting it makes life simple, easy and happy!

13- I learned that having a child changes how you view life, and if it doesn't? there is something wrong with you.

14- I have started to teach Dayday about the dangers of what street and recreational drugs can do to you, your body and your life. I showed him YouTube's "Meth Mouth" Video, and have explained to him how Pot, if smoked from early teens, can lead you to a life of depression. I am afraid that if we let the system teach them certain things, it is already too late.

15- I will not become a texter- that is what is wrong with this world in my eyes....most people do not communicate face to face, or look at each other eye to eye anymore!! Everythings is through a machine (though I noticed Walmart took out self serve, but that was for financial reason's, I like face to face tellers better). No wonder so many have relationships are void of emotions, self respect and understanding.

16- I belive that I am a better person alone than in a relationship, thus being single works for me. I don't like feeling sad, anxious, lonely, disrespected, used or unhappy, and every relationship I've had has brought a mixture of those feelings into my life. I am better alone than in bad company, my Mom says that.

17- I am quirky and I like it.

I am probably at the halfway point in my life, and I'm quite satisfied with it so far. I am excited for the future and all the amazing possibilities and adventure I will have, I am excited about being Daydayd's Mom and all the wonderful things the future has in store for him too.
There's probably so much more I could write, but alas, I am not a writter and I have things to do...cardmaking, sewing and maybe some Wii before the turn of this decade, and I only have a few hours left. Let's see what else I can accomplish and learn!!

Wishing you All A Very Merry Christmas

2 more sleeps!!! I am so excited, for my son and all the other children in our families, we celebrate life itself and the reason for giving, we celebrate the birth of Jesus. I hope life has been good this year and it will continue to get better with every passing moment. Take time to be with loved ones and remember that it is not what we get for Christmas that matters most, it is who we get to share the time with that really matters!

I'm patiently waiting....

Wow, do I ever feel restricted now that my laptop is down! I swear you'd think it was my life line, I can't do anything, I can't post my newer pictures, I cannot list on etsy, and I can't get started on some projects, all because my laptop has nearly everything of importance saved in it's infinite memory (or so it seems compared to my steam-punk PC!).
Anyhow, this got me thinking about my dependance on technology. Upon studying this a little further, I realized how far I lag behind most peeople, and my computer dependancy is actually not so bad. I don't text on my phone, nor do I have the desire to learn.....I love to talk on the phone, but would rather be face to face, so I don't call too many poeple either. I have a i-pod touch, given to me by my dear son's Dad when he upgraded to an i-phone, however I don't use it much, sometimes days go by before the thingy gets turned on. I don't have cable or satellite, and I don't PVR, though I keep getting phone calls whith all sorts of offers...I'll get it when it's free! My car does have "onstar" phone, the novelty wore off before the first year was up and they did not roll over the left-over minutes, so I haven't used it since. On-star also offers turn by turn navigation, which I used once and it gave me bad directions, I can't be bothered with getting a GPS device, I'm more of a hands-on-a-map type girl.
As for my laptop, it happens to be the only piece fo really advanced technology I own, funny thing is that it was given to me and has more memory than I will ever know what to do with....I didn't even buy it! My PC is a 256mb Compaq Presario...I'm not even sure the upgrade is still available for such an antique.
Anyhow, I am actually typing faster than the words are appearing on the screen and that really says something about this....time to upgrade the desktop computer or I'm a genius typist!

Cheers and patiently waiting,
(I can't even use my cool little signature I created 'cause it's on my laptop, GRRRR!)

Viviana

BTW, that is one of last years Christmas time pictures.

60 followers, 60 cookies, 60 kisses!

Hmmm, what a great week it's been....aside from my laptop dying Saturday, in the middle of copying all my stuff to a memorty stick, the -35 celcius temperature kept me inside for a few days....so I had time for other stuff. I made tons of gingerbread men, maybe 60 or so. I also noticed I now have 60 followers, so to celebrate, I was thinking a giveaway is in order. I will post the details separately and add a picture, but since I am forced to work on a pre-historic computer for a bit, it may take a few minutes (hours??) longer than normal.
In other news, my son's school Christmas Celebration is on tonight, same with his mini-recital in piano. We've chosen to do both, run from one to the other...we will have a 20 minute cusion of time and thankgoodness they are just down the street from each other! He made it clear that he cannot miss piano, he's been practicing too hard for that, but also, he gets to read a letter in front of the whole audience (parents), and since he is only in kindergarden....it's pretty exciting. He's the only one who can read in his class, so we are very pleased and excited for hi too. So 60 kisses for my little runt, he rocks my world!




I wanted to share some pictures of him, some that make me smile. Until I have my laptop back, there's not much else I can do.

In keeping with the mood of the season, I thought I'd share this lovely little holly sprig. I love it because it has a wild rose on it, I live in Alberta, Canada, and the provincial flower is the wild rose (our license plates read "Wild Rose Country"). I am using it on our Christmas cards, which I will post as soon as I am done.

I'm thinking that maybe I should have started on them sooner, but the idea didn't really blossom until a few days ago, when my son and I were outside and I kept on thinking of all those little sepia pictures done in a studio with fake snow, and here we have tonnes of the real stuff to work with. Anyhow, I'll leave it at that, and I'll post it when I'm finished.

This next picture is so wonderful, I don;t even know how to express how I feel about it. The artists name is Billy DeVorss. Who wouldn't want to pose for him? Oh, if only he could paint me looking so stunningly beautiful!



This last one is for all of you who even though it is Christmas season, are still making and creating for other reasons too.
Thanks for looking and comments are gretaly appreciated.

New in my ETSY store!

GIFT CETIFICATES are here!! The beauty of giving without the hastles of shipping! You can give these to anyone anywhere on the planet, so if your most loved cousin lives in Timbuktu and you are in Nunavut, you know your gift will get there at the touch of a button, no postage, no stamp, no missing packages!
The certificates are easy to redeem, they will come with a unique code and expiry time/date which I will email to you upon purchase, then you can print it or email away, you can use them for everything in my store, www.dayhomemama.etsy.com and you can give them anytime for any occasion.
I can do reserved ones too, for if you have a specific amount you want to give, just convo me on Etsy for any special requests.

More Vintage Images

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This first one is not a Christmas one, but I just though it's such a great lable, I love the style and the pink, it's my favourite colour of course!



This image is just so darn cute, the little guy reminds me of an elf....



This one brought back memories of living up north and learning to cross country ski, though me thinks this little babe is not dressed well enough for the weather where I live!!
Enjoy using them for your projects and artwork to sell, but remember to not sell the image itself alone or as a group, thanks!

Sharing some Images,

I just wanted to share with you all a tiny sampling of some of the vintage images I have collected in the past year. I use them for cards, tags, ATC's and tons of other altered art projects.



I created this card with that image,



These other two I have yet to use, but I love them both.





The images are from several different blogs I follow. The images are free to be used for your projects and altered art to sell, but please don not sell them individually or as part of a group of digital images, that would be rude. If you do use them, let us see a picture of your work too! I will add a post with a bunch of the links to all the blogs and sites I know that have freebies of really gorgeous vintage images. There are tons out there, you just have to spend hours a day looking for them! Also, see my sidebar, there are 4 sites for ideas and for free images whose badges I've added, click on them to be linked to their site!

More!

I wanted to share this with you all, doesn't it look adorable? I used to have a glass ball hanging on that brass thingy, but I traded it in for something much sweeter, what do you think?
For the tutorial on the ornament, go see Heather's Blog, Lark and Lola, where you will find all kinds of happy, she has some great ideas, freebie images and turorials.


I am always amazed when I make something from a tutorial and it actually turns out better than I imagined, because I really have a hadr time sticking to specific instructions. However, I love the resuls of this little box, for which I got the tutorial from Splitcoast Stampers (also on YouTube) on making a Top Note Die Box. I don't own a ScorPal, so I used my scoring blade on my sling cropping thingy, and it worked perfectly. The tutorial video is great, and takes you step by step through the making of the box and embellishing it. As always, I changed a couple of things, to suit my liking, and they turned out exceptionally well.




Some of the boxes will hold 3 tea lights, which I will include with those great bowls I showed you all in one of my other postings. I think they look great and hopefully, will be kept for storing the tea lights or other Christmas trinkets people like to keep in mini boxes.


Recognize these? Prima flower jars, I wondered what to do with so many and I wanted to recycle them, find them a new use and well....they turned out perfect for mini All-Sorts, which I plan to give to the mail lady, the office Manager where I live, and the maintenance guy too. I will post a couple more pics when I'm done my other projects.



Thanks for looking!
Cheers,
Viviana

T'is the Season!

Ok, I love this tag! Read more about them at the bottom.


In the recent months I created lots of wondeful cards, tags and tons of other items and proceeded to stock my ETSY store to the gills really, expecting to do well this season. With sales being less than stellar, and time passing way too quickly for my liking, I decided to get started on making a few things for our family, friends and neighbours and concentrated the past few days and spare hours making some really sweet things for us rather than the store.


For all the kids in the family, I've made these cute little brooches. I am obsessed with using my die cutters for as much as possible, let's just say I'm getting my moneys worth out of that wonderful Big Kick (Big Shots older brother!).

I used felt for these and I added the bar pin behind the felt so it will last for a long time. I used these cute snowflakes I found last year at the dollar store and rhinestones from Michaels. I'm happy with them, hope the kids like them too.

So this was my 2 day project, I spent one day folding the rosettes, the next putting together the die cuts and punch outs and hot gluing it all together.

Now, the idea was lifted from LARK AND LOLA's blog, from a tutorial called Antique Music Rosette Ornament Tutorial. Although I didn't have the antique music sheets, I did have a vintage Websters dictionary with yellowed pages, perfect for this project. I used some of the same and similar chipboard die cuts from K and Co, I got them from Michael's. I know that they are supposed to be ornaments, but I will be using mine as tags for all the handmade gifts I'm giving out this year. Brown paper packages tied up with string......oh my, these will look wonderful on the gifts!






Anyhow, I am getting more and more excited about this season, I love the snow, the twinkling lights and of course, the art of giving!

Cheers,
Viviana

40% 0ff on my ETSY!!

Black Friday Special, 40% off all the items in my store, TODAY ONLY!!
Anything purchased today, from now until midnight will get 40% off their entire purchase, no matter what you buy! I will refund on Paypal, or if you want to wait for an invoice I will send one once you are done shopping.





Come check it out, Dayhomemama.Etsy.com , thanks for looking!

An Amazing Find At the Queensland Craft Fair!

OK, I'm not a glass connoisseur and I don't normally buy really pricey gifts for family with the exception of my son... but I think I found a treasure with the purchaes I made this weekend at the craft fair. I was there as a vendor for my other business (Sand Magic Creations), but I also wanted to shop a bit, get my handmade Christmas stuff bought up.
I saw this one table, lots of people stopping by it, well lets just say, it was busier than most with how sales are going this year.
Anyhow, long story short, I bought 7 glass bowls for less than $70, and they are gorgeous! I am sure that in a boutique at the mall the small one would probably sell for $30-40 and the larger ones for $60-70, so I think I got a great deal. That's why I love craft fairs!




Ok, the pictures do not do them justice really, because once you get a candle in there they look incredible (I used a tealight for sizing, but could not find a match in the house to light it with!!).




Anyhow, what do you think?? I love how the dark brown melts into the green and also the rainbow effect on the sandblasted one.

I love them all, so now I don't know wether I will part with any of them. So much for getting the Christmas shopping out of the way!

Scrapshotz Fall Crop, very productive!!

This fall, I was lucky enough to get to attend another crop hosted by Scraphshotz, here in Calgary. As these events usually go, I get lots of talking done, tons of ideas, I buy lots of stuff, and make nothing (atleast get nothing finished).

For the first time, I was a woman with a vision and on a mission. I wanted to get a few gifts done for family members and get some CD tins done for sending picture CD's to the 3 grandmas, instead of making albums which cost way too much to ship, everyone likes digital these days.

My friend Crystal signed up too, so she came down from Edmonton for the event.

She was working on getting some tags done for the gifts she is giving to her co-workers, you can tell it's a labour of love, she had about 6083486 of these tiny reindeer to colour! I'm not big into the colouring.....


That's us, early enough to still look perky since the crop went from 11 am until midnight(we stuck it out till the end too). We got pizza for dinner and a second wind long enough to get things accomplished!
That's Crystal, Lizette and Me!



I got 3 CD tins finished, got 4 Hot Cocoa/Tea Tins done too, I squeezed in an alcohol inked acrylic album (for our mini albums collection), and last but not least 3 Christmas cards and 2 wrapped chocolate bars too.
I actually did tons of stamping, and heat embossing, and I did some die cuts too, all with stamps and dies I don't own (borrowed from some of the wonderful ladies attending the crop). I had a great time and came home with a great little door prize, a light Merry go Round light box!!!



As forCrystal and her 60 reindeer, I think she's still there adding stickles to the pile!