Random thoughts...

1.  Today is one of those days that I'm sure every mother has had... I have spent all day in the car!!  I am currently relaxing for the next 30 minutes and then it's back in the car for all the afternoon pick-ups!

2.  When I stopped to get gas in my car, the gas station was BLARING "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" over the loudspeaker... in my opinion, a little early and a lot too loud.

3. Why is it, that when I request a lot of books from the library they all seem to come in at the same time even though sometimes I'll be person #2, sometimes person #60, and sometimes person #232... they all come in on the same day.

4. So yesterday morning at Walmart, Eli (my 3 year old) told the cashier and everyone in line that a new baby was coming to his house (no clue where he got that idea... I am not and will not ever be pregnant again).  They all started congratulating me... I didn't know what to say!!  Then we ran to Target last night and he's sitting in the shopping cart belting out Katie Perry's Teenage Dream all through the store.  I was trying so hard not to laugh, but hearing a 3 year old singing, "put your hands on me in my skintight jeans" is absolutely hilarious.  That kid cracks me up on a daily basis!!

5.  I've had a big ol' crockpot of chili cooking all day and it smells delicious!!  It has taken every ounce of willpower in my body not to eat any of it!  Hopefully hubby will be home soon so we can eat!!

6.  The tree in my front yard is still bright red and absolutely beautiful!!!!  It hasn't seemed to have lost any leaves yet, hopefully it will stay beautiful for a couple more weeks!!

7.  I listed some Cricut cartridges on my etsy store (My store).  I have duplicates of some cartridges and so I'm looking to sell the duplicates (all are brand new in the hard plastic shell).  I usually list them on ebay, but I've had a lot of problems lately with people winning auctions and then not paying... it's really frustrating.

8.  I know I've had some other random thoughts today, but they escape me right now, so I will stop here!!

It's beginning to look a lot like....

Christmas around here!!

First off, let me say that I am FINALLY starting to feel like a human again.  I have had this horrible sinus infection for about 3 weeks and now that I'm half way through with my second half of antibiotics, I think they are finally starting to work!!

Ok, so why is it beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here?!?!?  Nope, no snow in Kansas yet!!

Here's my top 10 list of why I think it's beginning to look like Christmas...

10.  I had to pull out the boys' heavy winter coats today... don't think we are going to get by on the fleece anymore!!

9.  Our heater actually kicked on during the day!  We leave it set at 63 so it's kicked on at night a few times, but yesterday was the first time it kicked on during the day!

8.  There are very few leaves left on our trees!!

7.  We receive at least 3 magazines/catalogs in the mail everyday (none of which I signed up for, I think?!?!?)

6.  Everytime I log onto ebay there is a countdown till Christmas - FYI... as of today there are 41 days!!

5.  My children have started cutting apart every single magazine we have received in #8 to make a pictorial list of what they want for Christmas.

4.  Every store I have been into this week has all of their Christmas decorations out (a couple have even been playing Christmas music).

3.  The invites to the holiday parties have started appearing.

2.  Thanksgiving is in a week and a half!!

1.  I have started posting Christmas decorations and gifts in my etsy shop... SkinnyJenny Etsy shop

Fun stuff!!

I've been adding some fun stuff to my etsy store today (and plan to add some more tonight and tomorrow)!!

Check it out... Etsy

Another treasury!!

My pilgrim die cuts got picked up on another treasury... check it out... Etsy treasury

Moving right along to Thanksgiving!!

I went ahead and have started listing some of my die cuts in my etsy shop.  The first set I will share on here... they are an embellished male and female pilgrim silhouette... I think they turned out really well!!

So the best thing about this is... I posted these cute little pilgrims in my etsy shop and about 15 minutes later I received an email saying that they had been picked up to be showcased in a Thanksgiving treasury!!
You should go check out all the super cute items listed in the treasury!!

Happy Halloween!!

I'm not a huge fan of Halloween, but it's ok!!  There's just so much sugar and junk involved with it that I could take it or leave it, but since my kids love Halloween,  I soldier through it.  For the kiddos classes this year, I decided to go with a non-candy option to hand out, and with the help of Buzz and Woody (my kids' costume choices) we decided to hand out play-dough.  Target had these packs of 20 little containers of play-dough for like $3 each.  We got a couple packs, but the boys and I decided that the little containers looked super boring by themselves so I decorated them... I think they turned out super-cute... what do you think??

I used my cricut to cut out the spiders and then I used a 3-d glue dot to attach the spiders to the top of the containers.  I then used my computer to print out little strips that said "Happy Halloween!!  From: David" (or Eli - for his class).  I was able to use black scraps for the spiders so the whole project was not very costly at all!

So, the very interesting thing is that I got a TON of comments on them so I've decided to add another category to my etsy shop... I will now be selling embellished die cuts by themselves as well as die cuts attached to certain items (for instance playdough containers.)  These die cuts will be perfect for making cards, scrapbook pages, bulletin boards, etc.  Stay tuned for more fun surprises!!!

Hello, anyone remember me??

Just kidding.  I have not been around for a couple of days, and I apologize.  I've had sooooooo much going on.  It's been several fabulous mail days, but we don't need to go there!!  I've made a few custom shirts for a friend of mine.  I think they turned out pretty cute, but you can judge for yourself!!

The pictures aren't that great, but since they were a custom order I didn't need to "sell" them (if you know what I mean).  It's kind of funny because when I started my etsy store I really had planned to sell mostly jewelry, but I've had so many custom order for shirts and onesies that I haven't even had a chance to sit down and make any jewelry.  Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining in the least... I just think it's funny how things don't necessarily work out how you think they will!!

Today was a super busy day for us!  No crafty time for me!  D had a t-ball game this morning, then we went straight from there to the gym and I worked out with my trainer.  We came home, ate some leftovers for lunch, put E down for a quick nap.  I have to admit that I read during E's naptime when I should have been crafting, but I'm reading the series of books that starts with The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo... I'm on the last book, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.  These books are so well-written and so addictive that I've had a hard time putting them down, which has cut into my crafting time definitely!!!  I should finish the book very soon so I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things.  I've got 3 more custom orders that I need to work on and then I will be caught up (for now)!  (Once again I want to re-state that I love the fact that I have so many custom orders for shirts and onesies!!!)

After E's short nap, we went to our neighborhood pool for almost 3 hours.  D has been scared of the water in the past and we've finally resorted to bribery (I know, I'm a horrible mom) to get him over his fears.  Since the beginning of summer, I have told him that I would give him $5 (yeah, what was I thinking) if he would put his whole head under water, and another $5 (yet again, I must think about the current economic conditions before I issue another bribe) for jumping off the side into the pool.  Well after almost 2 months, he decided today to do everything we've ever asked him to do in the pool and more!!  He was diving for rings at the bottom, swimming laps, jumping in from all sides of the pool, it was amazing!!  Then he got smart and demanded his bribery payment (which he figured at this point had to be nearing $100).  I then had to explain to him that I, in fact, only owed him $10... I was not paying him for each time he stuck his head under water or jumped in.  He's definitely going to be an economist I think!  

Then we left the pool and ran home and changed clothes in 9.6 seconds and left to meet J at a local pizza place for dinner at which point D started in begging for his money in cold hard cash (maybe he'll be a banker??)  I had to explain that mommy never carries cash (because daddy never gives her any, but that's another story) so after dinner we would go to Walmart and I would buy him a toy worth $10 and put it on my credit card.  Then the little genius 5 (almost 6) year old figures out... hey, if you can put $10 on your credit card and not give the lady cash when you checkout, then maybe you can just put $50 or $100 on your credit card (scratch all that economist thinking, he's going into money laundering).  Then J (thank goodness he took over the conversation at this point) launched into a 20 minute explanation of how credit cards worked and how they are the possible downfall of society, at which point the remaining 3 people at the table (me, D, and E) had completely glazed-over eyes and maybe even a little drool coming out the side of our mouth!

No fears though, I broke us out of our trance with the ever-popular refrain of "who's ready to go to Walmart"??  

Want a free shirt???

I am giving away a free 4th of July shirt (any size... baby, kid, adult).  All you have to do to be entered to win is go to my SkinnyJenny Designs facebook site... Click here and "like" the page and you will be entered to win... I will pick one winner for every 50 fans on the site and the drawing is tonight at 9pm CT so I can get the shirts in the mail to the winners tomorrow so you can have them before the 4th!!!!

10 things about this weekend...

(Remember you can click on the pictures to make them bigger!!)

1.  Wow!!  Yesterday was super busy followed by a not very busy today... we started out yesterday running some errands, picking the boys up at meme's, grabbing lunch, running some more errands, dropping D off at a birthday party.  Then E and J and I went looking at some houses then back to the birthday party for swimming, then we went and looked at more houses then to Oklahoma Joe's for some barbecue, then finally home and J mowed the yard while I cleaned up the house!  Whewwwww!!!

2.  I made a shirt for the birthday girl yesterday and I think it turned out pretty cute!  I plan to list something similar on my Etsy shop soon!

3.  I also made the bag for the gift and I've been thinking about  listing some gift wrapping options on my Etsy shop...  what do you think?  

4.  We have an extra dog for the next few days.
 This is Max... he is our dog, a 7 year old black lab.

This is Copper... she is my parents' 14 year old mutt (and by mutt I mean mixed breed).

 I feel so bad for Copper because Max just follows her all around the house... it's annoying just watching so I'm sure she's annoyed being followed.

5.  My neighbor and dear friend recently had twins... a little boy and a little girl.  They are adorable.  I finally finished the little onesies that I made for them... I haven't finished their other gifts yet, but hope to tomorrow.

6.  Yesterday (amongst the busy-ness) I was able to get the mail and it was yet another great mail day... yes, that's 3 more cricut cartridges, someone PLEASE take ebay away from me!!!

7.  I also got the new Stampin' Up! catalog from my dear friend and neighbor and SU demonstrator and it's fabulous!!!!

8.  I found a fabulous new bead shop a couple days ago and I can't wait to get busy working on some new jewelry... aren't they just FABULOUS!!!!!!

9.  I really need to get to the gym sometime this week!!!!

10.  Ummmm... I can't think about a 10th thing... so I guess I will tell you that we had Pei Wei for dinner and it was (yes you guessed it) FABULOUS!!!!!

Welcome to the weekend!!!

Soooo... today was a fabulous mail day!!  Here's what all came for me today...  if you aren't sure what those are they are cartridges for the Cricut (possibly the most wonderful machine ever made!).  The cartridges I got today are Independence Day (just in time!!), Home Decor, and Create a Critter!!  My boys are super excited about the Create a Critter cartridge... they have already made me a list of which animals they want me to make for them!  I think my kiddos may like the Cricut as much (I was going to say more, but I'm re-thinking that one) as I do!!

We also got a catalog for a high end clothing shop (that has an outlet here)... as any of you who know me personally, know that we do not shop high end anything!!  As I was taking the catalog out to the recycling bin I dropped it and it fell open to this page... ummm... pretty jewelry right?!?!?   Check out the prices on that stuff...

I'm pretty sure I can make a pretty close knock off for 1/10 of that price or even less!!!!  We will see!!

I know I haven't put anything new on my etsy store recently, but it's because I have been working on a ton of custom orders (which is AWESOME)!!  I just haven't had much time to sit down and just create!  But I think I'm going to have some time to do that this week, so be on the lookout... in the meantime, here are some examples of some custom jewelry pieces I have done...