Quote for the Day

"Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that's real power."

-- Clint Eastwood

Quote for the Day

"Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress."

-- Alfred A. Montapert

Quote for the Day

"If you see failure as a monster stalking you, or one that has already ruined your life, take another look. That monster can become a benevolent teacher, opening your mind to successes you cannot now imagine."

-- Martha Beck

Dollar Store Wreath

My front door needed some cheering up!! We have a plain white door and this year I wanted to brighten it up a little. I made a special trip to Dollar Tree and bought the "fixins" for a wreath to make the door look a little more like summer.

I bought 4 or 5 bunches of "permanent" flowers (some call them fake flowers, but since they never die they are permanent!!) and the wreath.

This is the kind of wreath I used, not sure what it is called. I was pretty surprised that they had the bigger size there.

Then I used my trusty hot glue gun and created the final product. My daughter and I bonded while doing this, she helped me the placement of each flower. So I guess this is her design. The sunflowers are my favorite, but I don't think there are enough of them on the front! It turned out pretty well for only spending $5 on the entire project!! Thanks for looking.

Quote for the Day

"Happiness is the true beauty weapon."

-- Susan Sarandon

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is the day we remember all the service men and women who have fought for and those who have died for our freedom. This is a good time to get together with family and remember our family members who were in the service. My dad served in the Navy. He was on an aircraft carrier. He did not like to talk about his time in the service, or there were just too many kids around for me to hear the stories!!! He and my mom raised 5 kids and worked for IBM in Endicott, NY. I know he is looking over me and my family from above. He passed away suddenly in his sleep 10 years ago.


My father in law also served his country. He was a Marine. He was a kind and generous man who welcomed me to his family from the first day I met him. He also raised 5 children, my husband being the baby of the family. I knew him as a proud, hard working man who loved his wife, children and grandchildren. It is hard to believe that he has been gone for 3 years. I know his spirit lives on in my husband.

My 18 year old nephew, Josh, is now serving in the Marines. He enlisted in December 2008. This was very painful for my sister because this was the first Christmas without my mom and then Josh left for boot camp 2 days after Christmas. He also suprised the family with the news of his enlistment, he only told his mom and dad 2 weeks before leaving!!! GASP!! We were pretty shocked.

Right now he doesn't know where he will be stationed, but we pray that it is away from any front lines.

Our family is very proud of his decision to join the Marines and he seems to (so far) like this experience. He is very brave to make this decision and we are so proud of him to defend our strong country.

Quote for the Day

"You can't base your life on other people's expectations."

-- Stevie Wonder

Photo Albums

Recently, I created a couple photo albums for a silent auction for my kids' preschool. This used an candy container (don't remember what was in it) to hold the circles. I just used my Cricut to make the circles, and adhered a ribbon between the front and back to make a chain. It folded up like an accordian to fit back in.

I also used some black gift bags (bought them when they were on sale at Michaels 5/$1.00!!) to make the front and back covers and the pages. Used the Stampin Up sunflower stamp set to decorate the cover. Sunflowers are such a happy flower!!! Then I adhered a piece of white cardstock to the front back of each page then put an additional piece of paper inside each bag, to make more room for pictures, text, etc.

There weren't any embellishments or colorful cardstock because I remember doing this at the last minute and not having enough time to add everything I wanted to. Everyone seemed to like them at the auction.

Not sure if you can see how I did the card stock on the inside of each page.

Quote for the Day

We should never permit ourselves to do anything that we are not willing to see our children do.

-- Brigham Young

Summer is coming!!!

I hate to admit it but time is really flying!!! May is almost over and (it seems like) tomorrow the kids will be running around the house asking "What are we going to do today?" or "What time are we going to the pool!?" It is really funny because it was just last week when the new school year started! How DOES that happen????

To help everyone out, I've been looking for some new tips for sunburns. No matter how well I think I cover the kids with lotion, someone seems to have a burn at least once during the summer months. Does this happen to you?

I've found some tips on the TIPNUT.com to share with you. Hope this helps this summer.

Quote for the Day

I just love Helen Keller, she was a bright, caring person who inspired many.

"The marvelous richness of human experience would losesomething of rewarding joy if there were no limitations toovercome. The hilltop hour would not be half so wonderful ifthere were no dark valleys to traverse."

-- Helen Keller

Quote for the Day

"Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you will help them become what they are capable of becoming."

-- J.W Von Goethe

Yellow Card Swap

A couple weeks ago I was involved in a yellow card swap on SplitCoast Stampers. Yellow is my all-time favorite color!!! It is so bright and cheery, it just makes me smile when I see something yellow. I like the deep rich color yellow, not florescent just sunny "happy" yellow. I also think that when black and yellow are put together it makes the yellow look much brighter.

The color on the second one is a little washed out, probably because of the flash. And, probably because I was in a hurry when taking the pictures!! LOL

Quote for the Day

It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.

~~ Albert Einstein

Quote for the Day

Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.

~~ Mark Twain