Thank You... and a clumsy Week In Review...

Thank you to everyone who left sweet comments and reached out to me after reading Thursday's post.  I truly appreciate it.

I'm still trying to get things back together here - but in *trying* to catch up with some blog reading I did come across a few lovely projects from last week I thought I'd share with you.  Enjoy, and I will see you next week!

I used to LOVE making paper lanterns as a kid.  These lanterns in lovely floral prints at Dollar Store Crafts would be perfect for a baby shower...

My friend Abs over at Steinway Street is uber crafty - I knew this already (and so did you since she's been over here for a couple of guest posts!) - but I was super excited for her to see her beautiful coffee filter flower wreath featured at One Pretty Thing this week!  Yeah!

This tissue paper stained glass project over at Filth Wizardry is so bold and striking - and I love the "let your kids get messy" attitude that goes with it.  So much fun!

I've featured Trey and Lucy's button earrings before - but these with little bows are so petite and feminine I'm in love!  I need to have a button earring making party - immediately!

Happy Weekend, Crafters!

Hold that thought...

... it's been a rough few days over here, though you can't tell from my posts.  It was lucky that I was on the ball enough the have posts ready to go for Tuesday and Wednesday, or else I would have been the silent blogger this week!

On Monday afternoon my Mum was taken to the ER having suffered a TIA (transient ischemic attack, or "mini-stroke") which resulted in a frantic 2 1/2 hour drive to the opposite side of the state for us, a night in the hospital, a red-eye flight from Sacramento to Detroit for my Dad, lots of driving for everyone, and not much sleep for anyone involved.

Thankfully, she was released from the hospital Tuesday afternoon and is already feeling much, much better.  I returned to Grand Rapids later last night and slept, really slept, for an entire night.  It felt so good!

So, you'll understand that I don't have much to post today, there are about 100 things that have been put on the back burner this week!  I'm hoping to squeeze in a little time for some creativity today - but we'll see where I'm at after getting my house (and life!) back in order.  I may be back tomorrow or Saturday, or I may not be back until after the weekend...

What I'm hoping to take from this week, is that it shouldn't take an emergency for us to appreciate all that we have.  Too often we (I) get stuck on everything we (I) DON'T have, or things that AREN'T going right, or what we HAVEN'T accomplished today, this week, this month, or in life in general.  Today, now, is time more than ever to appreciate what we DO have.  Because ultimately, our families and dear friends, are all we need to live and love.

Big xoxo's today to Mum (obviously!) and to Travis, Dad, Will, the Roehm's, the Hill's, the Bradow's, the Herr's and all of my other "family" for the support this week, and for making my life so full - no matter where it takes me.

Father's Day Gifts for Kids

Won't you hop on over to Babble and check out my latest kids craft article?

And don't forget to find me on Twitter if you haven't already! 

Say "Hi" at Twitter.com/readysetcraft

Happy Wednesday!

My (not so) green thumbs

Since we've owned our home - I've had really good intentions of growing our own vegetables each spring/summer.  (Yes, I do realize that gardening isn't technically a craft - but it's working with your hands so I'm thinking it can count for now... stay with me!)  Only problem is... well, there are actually a lot of problems!

We purchased our 1920's craftsman style home in the Fall of 2008.  Everything was in really good shape for the age of the home, but the yard (both front and back) was a little (lot) bit of a disaster!

The backyard was a hot mess.  Kind of jungle-like actually!

Our first summer here the back yard was top of the list to fix up.  We needed a space for Bella to roam, and for us to entertain.  So the jungle turned into this...

New fence, new patio, new grass, etc. etc.

That same year I got a little crazy with starting seeds and trying to grow things.  I think I had about 20 different types of vegetables and herbs growing.  Not one plant survived.  Seriously!  Yikes.

This year marks the beginning of the front yard re-do.  Here's what it looked like when we bought it...

Phew!  What a mess, huh?  Now, where we hired professionals to do our back yard, we're going to tackle the front ourselves.  The funny thing about this is, as you can tell by my seed-starting last year, I don't know the first thing about gardening.  BUT - I have the attitude of jumping right into things and acting like I know what I'm doing - always hoping I'll just figure it out as I go along.

Here's the beginning of front yard phase one (it's going to take two years for sure...)

It doesn't look like much - but it's a start!  I have some lilies starting to open - I LOVE lilies!

We hung baskets out front and on the back steps...

And I've chosen just a few vegetable/herb plants to grow in pots that I picked up from the farmers market.  I figure that based on my past luck - I should go with quality rather than quantity!  Two types of tomatoes...

And a couple of spinach plants and a parsley waiting to be planted...

Wish me luck!  I'm hoping that this year's plantings will be a little more successful, and that I'm not destined to be a gardening failure for the rest of my life!  : )

One Stamptastic Weekend!

What did you do this weekend?  Did you have nice weather?  Our weather was pretty yucky, which made for the perfect weekend for some stamping!  Saturday morning I hosted a Stamp A Stack at my home.  My summer group is generally quite a bit smaller than the rest of the year - but this particular group was a lovely one and we had great fun. 

Mariah and Heather are a mother and daughter stamping team (below left).  I swear that Mariah (age 12) is a future demonstrator.  She takes my card ideas and comes up with creative twists for them!  Alison (below right) stamped with us for the first time, and she's pretty much a pro already!  She won the door prize - the "Of the Earth" stamp set.  I can't wait to see what she comes up with with it!

Janet (in yellow) has been stamping for 15 years (or more!) but was new to my Stamp A Stack's Saturday.  She was so much fun and we just loved having her!

Since the new catalog comes out in just a couple of weeks I did some major organizing and cleaning out on Sunday.  I purchased these totes for 50% at JoAnn's (came out to $4 each!) and labeled them for each of the SU color families.  And yes - there's my kitty Mizzy in the background!

What an attention hog!  : )  Anyways, I organized my cardstock and my scraps into the new color families and arranged it in the totes.  I REALLY hope I can keep it organized like this!

I've told you before that Mizzy is my crafting kitty, right?  She LOVES some cardstock and ink!

I put together a lot of cardstock that I'm getting rid of.  All of the 81/2x11 cardstock below is up for grabs because these colors are retiring.  At my new catalog party in July I'll be selling this for 5 sheets for a dollar!

I also put together a bunch of scrap packs - of pre-folded cards, designer series paper, and cardstock - all in retiring colors and designs.  These are up for grabs for $1 a bag as well.  You can see all of them on my Facebook page by clicking HERE.  Want me reserve some for you?  Live out of town but want to buy some and have me mail them to you?  Just drop me a line at joanneroehm@yahoo.com

And finally, I did some actual crafting myself!  I put together these invitations for my aforementioned New Catalog party...

I miscalculated (by a lot!) and ran out of ribbon about half way through.  I think I actually like the ones WITHOUT ribbon the best - you can see the beautiful paper better!

All in all, pretty productive eh?  Let's hoping I'm setting the tone for a productive WEEK this week!  Happy Monday, everyone!