First, a little background.

I grew up with a mom who was creative in everything.  Our home was always the best decorated, all of it created by my mother.  We lived in a tiny 3 bedroom house with 5 kids (6 when the step sister came to visit), so we did not have a kitchen table, rather my mom had a “work area” on the kitchen table….  actually, on every flat surface in the house.  She went through her phases; one month might be dedicated to .. say.. candle making.  During this time, we had candles everywhere, and IN everything.  She used soup cans, plastic bottles, ashtrays, whatever she could find for molds.  We didn’t mind that part so much because the house smelled nice, the problem was that since she used the same pans to melt her wax as she did to make our dinners (no microwave back then), everything tasted like candles too.

Next month, we spent alot of time out in the countryside, picking weeds and wild flowers for her to make dried flower arrangements with.  She used these for swags, wall hangings, Christmas decorations, etc. etc……

Then there was the Christmas season when anything goes!  She made angels, all kinds of angels, small ones, big ones, white lacey ones, plaid ones, red ones, sooo many angels!  There were balls, she would glue lace and beads and whatever else suited her needs.

There were so many other things, too many to count here.  The best part of all this was that other people liked them and she sold them.  She really underpriced her items, I had seen similar items in high end crafty type stores at like triple the price, especially during the holidays.

Anyway, I digress.  I was not fortunate enough to have my mother’s eye for beautiful details and opportunities.  She could go to a craft store, a thrift store, a dime store and find things that I would look at and think “Junk, what can she possibly make with this?”  The next day I would come in after school and see the most beautiful arrangements, decor and yeah, some kitschy stuff too, but it was all great!  People raved at my mother’s creations.  Herein lies my problem.  I can’t look at a single item and think “Hmmm this has potential, what can I make out of it?”.  My thought goes more like this:  “Hmmm what a piece of crap, who would buy that?”.

Since I have been blogging for a little more than a year and a half now, I have seen so many creative blogs and I look at them with envy.  Some of the items I see, I think “yeah, I could do that!”  So I go to the craft store, buy the things I might need for a project and……… I draw a blank!  What is wrong with me here?

I have, however, started making jewelry. I started, oh, about 6 months ago, and I have a good selection of beads, wires, jump rings, stringing materials etc. .. I’ve made a few items and given them as gifts.  Most of them are nice, but they look home made and not anything as beautiful as the one’s I have seen on the blogs here.  I’m working on perfecting my jewelry, I have some patterns and a few videos that I’ve purchased with instructions and I do try.  I’m thinking practice makes perfect, right?  Hopefully I will have the patience to continue on.  Just between you and me?  Patience is not my strongest virtue.

Whew!  Got that off my chest!  Any pointers would be appreciated!  Thanks!!!

I know, I know.. I’ve posted similar videos before, but I just LOVE these guys!  I mean, no matter how many times they do it, how can the do it so fast and not screw it up!?  Practice makes perfect I guess.  What more can I say… hmmm.. well, see for yourself– And enjoy!!

Due to my big move out of state this week end, I will be off line (because we will have no I-net access yet) for about a week.  Therefore, I will not be able to make my EC drops or visit your wonderful blogs.  I apologize for this inconvenience and thank those of you in [...]

It’s that time of year again.  Time for flowers, candies, special jewelry, time to show the one you love how you feel (as if you don’t do that all year long–or at least you should!)  It’s also time for some lonely people to feel sorry that they don’t have anyone to celebrate the day with.  [...]

As I mentioned in my previous post, my husband was transferred out of state, to Oregon for work.  He is there now, living happily in our new apartment.  Meanwhile, I am still here in our old apartment, trying to get everything packed up.  Keep in mind that I am a 52 year old overweight woman [...]

Wow, I came home from vacation and found out that my Entrecard account had been deleted!  While inquiring why this was so, they informed me that my site was redirecting users.  Well I couldn’t figure out how this had happened, so I contacted Hostmonster, which is my web hosting company and they checked to see [...]

It’s 2:00 in the morning and even with my sleeping pills, I can’t sleep, so here I am, putting in writing some of the things that are bothering me and keeping me awake.  Now, if you read my blogs, I don’t usually “journal” on here, but tonite is an exception, so either bear with me….. [...]

The following is a Re-post from the blog entitled “mypicturesofmontana.com“.  This family has had some terrible things befall them in the last few months, and now need our help.  Just $5.00 from some big hearted people would be of great help.  C’mon, you can sacrifice 1/2 of a meal out, a pot roast, a movie [...]

This is an article I posted last year on my old blog.  I thought it was worth a re post. I hope you enjoy it!
My most memorable Christmas was when I was 11 years old. My father had left the year before and left my mom, me, my 2 younger sisters an my younger brother [...]

To all my American friends, Happy Thanksgiving!! To all my other friends, please take a moment to reflect on the things that you are thankful for. We shouldn’t need a holiday to do this, but sometimes we just need a reminder. In America, we celebrate Thanksgiving as a reminder of the first [...]