Friends......

Good Monday to you!!!! It's beautiful here in sunny NJ this August afternoon - NO HUMIDITY!!!! I am loving it.....

Something else I also love is the fact that I am surrounded by FRIENDS! Friends have been extremely important to me and I have been blessed to have widened my circle of friends as my life has gone on.

I wasn't terribly popular in grade school - and in high school I had a "core" group of eight girls but they were a year ahead of me so they graduated before me...I had a few friends though that I've kept in touch with from high school.  I've also had one of my very best friends since grade school and A-HEM that's over 36 years ago! LOL

College friends....I've got two that I've kept in touch with via Facebook and visits. Work friends - yup got one lifetime friend there too!

But I was blessed by God to make so many friends after I had children.  At first there were Mom's Group friends.  Found two of my "keeper" friends there.  Then there were "mom" friends - mothers of the friends of my children. PTA Moms too. Some of them are among my nearest and dearest now.  I've made friends via online forums that have become in real life friends.

Church friends and friends from the sport teams my daughter has participated in and crafting friends and now scrapbooking buddies too....wow I couldn't even begin to COUNT the number of friends I am lucky to have!

I just keep ADDING to my list of friends - which is a wonderful thing.

So to honor my blessings, I've decided to send each of my friends a handmade card (don't worry if you haven't received yours YET - it's going to take awhile to get through the list!) and here is the very first one:

I am a seamstress as well as a card-maker and crafter so this card is going to one of my "sewing" friends.  I love the vintage feel of the kraft paper and the vintage look of the pattern guide sheet too!  Of course I had to add a little "bling" as well!

Leave a comment or send an address if you would like a card too!

Thanks!

Let it Snow...Let it Snow...Let it Snow!!!!!!!!

For those of you who know me well - you know how much I ADORE snow and snowmen! I'm that person you can't stand in the winter when you say you've had enough with the snow already - I AM PRAYING FOR JUST ONE MORE BLIZZARD! LOL LOL

I have been collecting snow-people (it's not just snowMEN anymore ya know! Women's lib and all - Snow WOMEN UNITE!)

I put my snow collection out AFTER I pack up my Christmas decorations.  The snowy goodness stays through March or till Easter whichever come first!

Some of my "snowies" even stay out year round so I can enjoy them on these terribly hot summer days!

So I decided to pull out a few COOL-er cards to share with you today!

This guy seems to be reveling in the sight of some fellow flakes coming down!!!!

While this guy seems to be begging for a cold snowy hug!!!!

Who wouldn't love a cuddly polar bear bringing a special sentiment???

 

And I love the snowflake on this card - it was a Christmas gift tag. I just hid the hole for the string with a rhinestone!

Thanks for stopping by today!  Who knows maybe this will inspire you to start making YOUR Christmas cards early this year? Or spur some Christmas shopping to beat the rush?

Bye!!!!

New for 2013....

Welcome back! I am relaunching my blog with more of a purpose to share my cards and other crafty creations with my friends and family! 

So to start us off (again) here is a card I've made and given to one of my "besties" for her 25th Wedding Anniversay!

Still need to hone my photography and editing skills! 

Hope you like this card!

Feel free to invite friends to follow me too!

See ya soon! 

Ann Marie

Don't Faint

But it is time to start blogging again for real this time.

With the dawn of 2012 everyone in blogland has published their list of resolutions.

I only made ONE resolution for the coming year.

Wanna know what it is????

I want to sell some of my craftiness. I am not expecting to become an overnight success or millionaire with this. I have been sewing and crafting for almost twenty years now and if I had a dollar for every person who has told me "oh you should sell what you sew/make" well I'd be a lot closer to that million right now!

So I am going to take a leap of faith in 2012. I believe that if God gave me the talent to sew/craft then I should believe in His gift and actually DO something with it. No hiding my light under a bushel for me!

You are probably asking: "So exactly HOW are you going to do this Ann Marie?"

Well, I have already created this blog to "talk" about my sewing and crafting projects. I have also created a store on Etsy.com. I will be working in the coming weeks to create items to actually STOCK in my store. I will be back here to post pictures and a link to my shop.

I am asking my dear friends and followers to HOLD ME ACCOUNTABLE FOR THIS RESOLUTION!!!

I am also asking for your prayers as I head into this venture!

Till next time,

Ann Marie

No need to adjust the fine tuning on your screen folks!

I REALLY AM posting twice in one week! LOL

So far no sewing has been done for the Stash Challenge over at SewingMamas - but I do have a bunch of shirts to embroider for school today (last minute orders - gotta love 'em! :*)  )  Hopefully with the kiddies back to school I will be able to sew uninterrupted (I don't even KNOW what that feels like)!

Have been going through JUNK and more JUNK for our town wide yard sale on Sept 11th - if you're in Joisey get off on my exit (6 off the Turnpike) and stop on by!!!! Lots of great stuff - seriously!

Older daughter will be at school (college) and my younger two kids go back to school tomorrow so by 7:00am I will be all alone with the dog and the bird. I do my best to ignore the bird - her name is Oochie which is short for Oochalino which means "little bird" in Italian.  The bird is a cockatiel and is my hubbsy's bird - it SHRIEKS whenever I go past it. We're not sure if it likes me or hates my guts.

The dog Buttons (a beagle - 3 years old) is not so easy to ignore - I love her. I am hoping to start walking her every morning (more for exercise for me although she can use it too!). Normally the kids do 99.9999% of the walking of the dog but I will do it when they're out.

So what should I sew first? I'm leaning towards a purse for me - or some new pants. Either option will give me lots of fabric points (more for the pants LOL!!)

Post and let me know what you think I should make for ME!!

See y'all next time!!!

OK OK so I know I should be......

hanging my head in shame since I started this blog and then sort of abandoned it. But like the saying goes "I'm BAAAAAAAAAACK!!!"

It is National Sewing Month - YAY! I love love love to sew. I learned 18 yrs ago when my dd was a baby and today that baby started College! She is going FOR FREE (can't get much better than that!) on the NJ STARS scholarship program. OK I'm a proud mama - can't blame me can ya?

So anyway long story short (I have a sister who says this ALL.THE.TIME.) - I really want to sew this month.

In fact I belong to a great forum www.sewingmamas.com - and I am involved in Stash Game. Basically you earn points by decreasing the amount of yardage of fabric in your "stash". BUYING fabric during this month causes you to lose points. 8 points per yard sewn and -8 yards per yard purchased!!! LOL There are prizes (cool prizes) for lots of categories.

AND I am going to buy a serger tonight! (Shhhhh don't remind me that I already own a top of the line Husqvarna Viking 936 serger) I am going to keep my 936 set as a cover stitch machine and use my new Brother 1034 D for my "workhorse" standard stitch serger. I got a super-duper deal (read STEAL) on this machine. Goes for $235 on amazon - mine is only $120 AND I'm getting 12 spools of serger thread, an instruction manual AND a book of Serger Techniques and Inspiration! WAHOOOO - GO ME!!!!

In addition to my sewing this month - I intend to get a lot of crafting done. My kids (well the other 2 - 7th and 10th grade) start on Tuesday! So I will be sewing and crafting and organizing ala Flylady! (Check her out too www.flylady.net)

OK that's enough rambling for today ......... do I always sign off that way? Maybe it will become my new tag line???? Wait for my next post and see!

Welllllllll....................

If I post every six months does that still make me a blogger? Or a slacker? Probably both LOL!

Well it's been a very hectic six months in my life - as soon as I started this blog I went back to work full time for the first time in 2.5 years - I was laid off from Merrill Lynch way back in the beginning of the corporate downsizing - one week later I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer and have been out of work since then.

So I work for the ARC of Mercer County in NJ - we are an advocacy group that runs 13 group homes for the developmentally disabled (formerly the Association of Retarded Citizens). I was hired as a Personnel Assistant and less than three months later was promoted to Staffing Supervisor (please hold your applause).

Well let me tell you just how hectic it is to staff 13 homes with staff during the height of SNOW BLIZZARD SEASON in NJ. I was working days nights -weekends - you name it!!!!!!!! It has slowed down some - thank goodness!

I'm trying to do more crafty things as I find them to be therapeutic in that I tend not to worry about anything when I am immersed in a sewing or craft project.

One of the big "craft projects" I am in the middle of is - creating a craft room in my home. Now don't get all excited it's NOT that type of craft room. There is NO actual workspace in the room. It is only 6 x 12 feet and contains two doorways and a full size window to boot. So basically I am using it for storage for my Mary Kay business needs AND my crafting supplies.

So I am in the process of organizing every thing I own craft wise (well except my fabric - that's a whole 'nother post :) )

Joe and Jack installed the nine cube shelf systems (three of them) in the room for 29 cubbies for boxes for storage. Then there are three bookshelves along the six foot long back wall.

Oh yeah the room is HOT PINK cuz it was my daughter's room when she was small and she wanted it "Barbie" pink - and IT IS!!!!!!!

Pics to come later.

OK so that's my absence explained in a nutshell. Hopefully it won't take another six months to post again!!!