The Things That Matter

Sometimes I get mad at myself for not getting everything done on my to-do list; organize the hall closet, go through the donate/sell bag of clothes, write a blog post...

It's funny how that list and what you can tick off of it each day can make you feel like a champion or a looser.

Not sure why I let it get to me so much, there are plenty of things that I do get to--my day is full, perhaps a bit too full.

 Recently I've had some heavy thoughts on my mind about life and death--an epiphany really, brought about by two recent events.

 One very close and personal the other one effecting my whole community; both tragic.

 Being with the ones you love and making them see and feel how much they are loved by you is all that really matters, the rest is sand running through our fingers.

Trigger Happy

It was such a mild weekend here in central Jersey-- hard to believe but spring was in the air. It would be very surprising if it were to last but all of my bulbs are already pushing through to say hello and if nothing else, it's refreshing to be reminded of better times to come.

I'm just having so much fun with my iPhone. I recently downloaded the Camera + App and now I feel like I have an SLR camera and a photo lab small enough to fit in my pocket. I even used it to take pictures of all of my Valentine's day cards that I listed in my Etsy shop--and it was super convenient too!

 Of course this little luv bug is one of my favorite photo subjects...

Vintage Valentine's Love Banner

Just stopping in to share one of my latest holiday creations. I am so excited about this as it is the first ever banner I have made, and I just love the way it came out. I definitely feel a case of banner fever coming on, so there are sure to be more soon.

I'm also really happy I made this banner for Valentine's day because that means that I have actually decorated my house for the holiday.

Every year I start off strong and steady going all out for Halloween, then pushing it with all I've got for Christmas time--but by the time I get through Christmas I'm usually too exhausted to drag another box of decorations out of the basement.

But I was determined this year, and my four year old was my main motivation.

This is the year that he has really gotten into decorating for the holidays, so I didn't want to let him down. And what a better way to get over the Christmas tree than to decorate for Valentine's day!

I used a package of Jenni Bowlin Chipboard banner pieces that I dug out of my stash as the base for my creation. I truly was inspired to make this type of banner by Elizabeth at Creative Breathing and all her wonderful vintage creations.