A Quick Brag.....

Here's my son and his ROTC unit, they are marching in the Memorial Day parade (we have a pretty good parade here for Memorial Day due to the fact that we have a Medal of Honor recipient that lives in our town and we are home to a Vietnam Memorial and a Korean War Memorial that encompasses the men who lost their lives in state of Minnesota).
That's Joe front and center (right behind the white shirted guy with the flag) It was only about 40 degrees out and pouring rain! But they persevered.
Last night we went to the awards ceremony for the NJROTC unit that my son is involved in. This is his 3 rd year. I just have to brag a little--he just raked in the awards...my goodness!! He has come a long way over the last 3 years...starting off as a stay-in-the-background, all D's and F's on his report card to all B's, C's, and even a couple A's!!


Last night they honored him with the Purple Heart for Leadership--which encompasses community service, academic excellence, physical training excellence, and leadership in his unit. He has volunteered for many of the community service projects that the unit has been involved in and never complained about the hard work or it taking up his valuable time off.

He also got the Volunteer of the Year award, for time and cheerful disposition while serving. AND, as if that weren't enough--he got an award for Most Improved Cadet and Cadet of the Month. Yeah JoE!!!

Pretty Birds drawstring bag

Pretty Birds drawstring bag
Originally uploaded by misseskwittys

Just wanted to show off my newest creation-- OMGosh--this is the cutest fabric ever! I just about plotzed when I spotted it in the fabric shop!! lol Just the cutest little birds and the bright teal and pink foilage, add in some butterflies and pretty little speckled eggs! wow.

I've paired it up with a pretty teal cotton print--to match the leaves--and some soft golden rick rack. Available HERE!

OH! I don't think I've told you guys about the drawing I'm doing in my Etsy shop :

Since 7 is my favorite number--and I am close to having 700 sales in my little shop--I've decided to do a DRAWING!! From now until I reach 700 sales, each item purchased will get a entry in the hat--and I will draw a name the day after 700 is reached. (So, if you buy 3 things, you will get 3 entries in the hat!) There will be only 25 entries in this drawing--so your chances are pretty darn good to win! The PRIZE will be a goodie bag!! A cute little handmade drawstring bag loaded up with some of my handmade goodies and fun crafty supplies--I'm sure you won't be disappointed. Good Luck...and Thank You!

Getting my sh....stuff together

Ok--so my life really isn't all that exciting, to say the least! It's ok--I actually had enough excitement in the first half of my life so that I appreciate the lack of constant excitement here in the second half! lol

One thing that plagues me is the constant need to get organized. Keeping a home with all the people and stuff involved is truly a challenge, and especially if one of the people in the home is a crafter/treasure hunter/sew-er/etc.--- ***ahem*** so I get EXCITED when I find some cool and easy way to help me. While breaking down boxes yesterday to get ready for the recycle truck, I ran across an empty cheese box--you know the long narrow ones that Velveeta and/or Land O Lakes comes in? It dawned on me that my carded trims would probably fit in there nicely! Ran down to my studio and.......

AND...as if THAT weren't enough.....the two boxes fit perfectly, side-by-side into one of those shoebox size plastic tote boxes (which is where I had all my rick rack in the first place). Now I can see what I have at a glance, without having to dig through the box. I love it!

So, now I just need more of those boxes for the seam binding I have stashed......grilled cheese anyone??

Creeeeepy

Do you ever get that strange feeling that you are being watched?






Wait!---there it goes again.........
~~~shiver~~~~

Panic!

ONE MONTH AGO

OMGosh--it's time for my usual rant about how fast time is going by! Am I the only one who gets totally freaked out by this? I swear, I think something happened a week ago, and come to find out it was a month ago! Gheez. I don't like it! I was informed by my daughter yesterday--quite happily I might add--that there are only 15 school days left to the year! WHAT? It's just not possible.

2 WEEKS AGO

My baby boy is ready to get his driving permit. He will be going through his driver's ed this summer (OMG--have you any idea how much this costs?--I was totally shocked and now, sadly, I have to sell one of my kidneys--which I am quite fond of and don't want to lose).

YESTERDAY

So....how was everyone's Mother's day?? Mine was so nice this year...I really feel cherished. The kids were so sweet to me and spoiled me rotten all day!

We went to church first thing in the morning, and they both dressed nicely (no jeans!) and sang along with me during mass (which I love!). Then they took me out to breakfast--and they paid! That's a pretty big deal for a couple of kids who don't have jobs or allowance. They actually asked their Dad for some extra chores the weekend before so they could make some money to take me out to eat. HOW SCHWEET IS THAT??

Then! they cleaned my car for me when we got home! Seriously, at the end of winter, when we start getting some warm days and the permafrost that has taken up residence in the carpetting starts to thaw, it begins to smell a bit like the lion's cage at the zoo in there. Ewww. Well, it's all clean and sparkly and Fabreezed in there now, what a pleasure!

Then Linds baked me some brownies with cream cheese frosting and Joe did up all the dishes and cleaned the kitchen. Mark came home from fishing and made a big dinner. Then to top it all off, I got an MP3 player as a gift (yeah!) which the kids took the time to load up ahead of time with all my favorite songs! So now I have some tunes to listen to on my walks. Am I spoiled or WHAT!

Well, that's my blab for the day. Now I have to go and get my wholesale order done....it's the one I started 2 weeks ago......(omg, has it been over a month?) Panic.

Take time for the important things......

Well, I got up this morning, as I usually do...grabbed myself a giant cup of joe and headed down to my shop to get a little work done. Do ya ever have those days when you just have absolutely no ambition to do what you should be doing? I looked at my fabric, blah....looked at my buttons, blah....looked at a couple paper projects that are sitting on my worktable, blah.....blah, blah, blah! I glanced over at my shop monkey--JoJo, and he gave me one of those looks! ( He just knows me too well.) Go play today Karen...you need a day off! Well, he didn't have to tell me twice!

Yesterday I was over at Sweet Repeats blog and was enjoying her music while I was there--so I decided that it was just what my blog needed to perk it up a bit! So, say hello to my new music player. I had a really good time deciding what to put on there--and found a bunch of my favorites for you to listen to while you visit.

If you've never heard the song "Oreo Cookie Blues"--make sure you give it a listen...it is my unofficial theme song! lol (though if you were to ask Mr. Kwitty, he would say it was "Still Crazy after All These Years"--not sure if that is because he thinks I am still crazy after all these years OR if it's because I tend to sing that song with particular gusto every time I get a few cocktails in my system) Either way, they are both good songs and I hope you enjoy listening while you are here!

Another cool thing is that you can just minimize the page and still listen to the music, which has added a whole new dimension to my computing experience! Yeah.

I then decided that my SIL will probably enjoy a little gift for her birthday. She is one of those gals who really doesn't get the appeal of handmade--so I have to actually go to a store and buy her stuff. (she's so weird!) So I parked the car waaaaaaay down the road and had a nice long walk to go along with my shopping....it's a beautiful day, and the sun is shining and no coat required! Awesome.

Now, I'm home--feeling rejuvenated! I've a few minutes to spare before the kids get home from school and I have to make dinner--so I'm just gonna sit here and enjoy my tunes and play a couple games of solitaire--so there!I did manage to list this new bag yesterday--grass and skies and butterflies! It's available in my shop.

Oh, and would someone please go purchase something from my shop--I've been sitting at 666 sales for 2 days now and it's freaking me out a little! I'll put something special in your package........

Have a great day friends!

xoxo Karen

P.S. JoJo told me to tell you all that you are to take the rest of the day off!

Strawberry Shortcake anyone?

Who would like a nice big slice of strawberry shortcake--with gobs of whipped cream on top?

Aww--dang! Too slow! Sorry you missed it, it was scrumptious, now excuse me while I lick my plate!

Look what I got this week!! I'll tell ya, I am so lucky at these blog drawings lately! I won this beautiful necklace from KatRoman in a drawing on the blog Dirty Pretty Things to Ponder

Many thanks to both--I love the necklace (in fact, I wore it to church this morning).

I'm thinking spring this week! The temp is actually around 52 right now and the sun is shining--yeah! Makes me think birds (yah, so what else is new?!) Someone on Etsy recently called me the "Bird Lady of Etsy"!! LOL so...it's come to that has it? I always thought I'd be the crazy cat lady, but bird lady will work for me. I listed these cute bird tags yesterday. I went through my paper stash and pulled out all the pink and aqua polka dot papers I had, and cut a tag from each one. I like the contrast of the serious black songbird silhouette against the playful pastel polka dots. Available HERE.
Another sure sign of spring is the fishing opener--which is coming up next weekend! You can already feel the excitement in the air around here. You know, land of 10,000 lakes and all that--fishing is BIG around here! Personally, I love to fish-- I keep a fishing pole in the trunk of my car at all times, just in case!

I've made this very cool fish tag in honor of fishing season. It's sometimes so hard to know what to get for those GUYS-- you know, those hunting, fishing, sports guys! Here is one solution to your gift giving dilemma. It's a cool crappie collage on the front and I've sewn a pocket in the back so you can tuck a little surprise in there. There is even a cool library pocket type sleeve for gift giving.

I've actually made one of these for my husband and surprised him by buying his fishing license for him, and tucking it into the pocket on the back, and tucking it in his tacklebox--so when he was getting ready to go fishing on opener weekend, he realized that at least one of his errands was already done! It really made him smile, and now he uses the tag as a bookmark every day too.

Or how about sticking a little love letter to him in the pocket and tucking it in the book he's currently reading?

My brother got one for his birthday with 2 tickets to a local ballgame tucked into the pocket on the back. Or you could tuck in a gift card from his favorite store.

You could have the kids make up handmade coupons for car washes, yard work, garage clean-up, etc. and stick those in the pocket! A great Father's Day idea.Oh, one more thing. I made up this cute little pocket for your tea bags--so they don't get all smushed up in your purse (0f course, your business cards or other cards will fit in there too, if you are not the tea type). When I was ironing on the little teapot applique, it slid off center a bit, so I am offering it in my shop at an OOPSY price!

Ok--well, I'm gonna go and soak up some sun! Yeah! Have great day.