For My SISTV Secret Santa (or Catch Up Post #2)

OOHH....I am getting SO excited!! As I've mentioned before I'm particpating in the SISTV secret santa swap....I SO highly recommend this site if you are a scrapbooker - it is awesome:) And one of my dearest friends is on the design team (GO Kerry Lynn!!)

So my secret santa sent me this secret message:

Anonymous said...

Hey Raesha, You are the most voracious crafter--my wheels are turning...a couple more questions for you: tell me more about what kind of patterns you like on your fabrics. Also, can you post a pic of your craft space on your blog so I can see how you work? And are you a tea/coffee/cocoa drinker? Santa is fine-tuning your list! But I certainly don't expect you to wait till Christmas--tear it open, if you must!!

Dear Secret Santa:

Thank you for the lovely compliment:) I'm looking forward to crafting my heart out this weekend:):) I love polka dots, paisley, patriotic, vintage feedsack and any other vintage reproductions on my fabric:):) You totally do not want to see my crafting space right now but I promise in the morning I will take some pictures and post them:) It looks like Hurricane Helga ripped through my desk. I love herbal tea and hot chocolate drinker - I don't do coffee (but hubby loves it:)) I hope that I can wait to open it until Christmas cause I think it will be such an awesome surprise under the tree:)

Love - Raesha

Catch Up Part 1

Welcome to a series of month long posts here at My Love :) Seriously:):) I've decided I'll just do a little bit everyday...wait...I think I already said that...anyhoo...

Here is the bag I made for the November Flickr Bag Ladies Swap - our theme was Party Bag and my partner and I chose pink and black for our colors. I love how this bag turned out. It's not wonky like this picture looks - it was just a little breezy outside when I took the picture:) I made the flower removable so my partner can wear it as a pin too. I filled the bag with some party essentials (mirror, tissue, lotion, etc) and mailed it all the way to sunny Florida. I can't wait to show you the awesome bag Trish sent me!! (It's waiting to be photographed on Saturday when I have some light)

I took Miss S to the park a few weeks ago and took some random shots of her. Now I'm certainly no Moki when it comes to picture taking but I think these turned out okay. I want to send one in our Christmas cards....which one is your favorite? I have about three days to decide which one I want so I can get it sent off to the printers.



And a belated thank you to my sweet Mary Ann who sent a surprise pacakge full of this cool wired ribbon - thank you my friend!!

Little by Little

Here's a peek at some pics from Vegas - I took over 100 pictures!



I'm still so tired I can barely keep my eyes open. Part of it might be my temporary fall of the wagon - I drank Dr. Pepper like it was going out of style all weekend! But it kept me awake and alert during my long drive there and back:)

I have so much catching up to do....but I will eventually post about the awesome swaps I've received lately, Christmas crafts that I'm working on, and I promise to get caught up on your blogs and get back to commenting!! I'm thinking about spending a lunch or two a week at the library getting caught up on my blogs - there's one just a few blocks from the office. I'll have to check it out. Today at lunch I worked on Christmas cards - I'm making about half and using store bought for about half. With a card list of over 100 there is no way I can make them all.

I'm taking it little by little...each night I'm doing a few things and I hope to be caught up sometime next week:)

Me

Tired.
Happy.
Home.

Monday, Monday

Two days until Miss S and I leave for Vegas...I am so excited I can hardly stand it. I wrapped the last of the gifts, well almost - I have a few more that I am picking up tonight from Moki - and my packing is half done.
Work is crazy busy - but my house is clean and almost all of the laundry is done. That makes me happy.
I sent off a bunch of little packages today - ladies, your Recipe Challenge prizes are FINALLY on the way:)
And I sewed:

Some skull and roses pouches and a skull apron...more gifties (I made these last weekend)!


A purse for my Flickr Bag Ladies swap - our theme this month was party bag and my partner and I chose black, white and pink for our colors. I'm thrilled with how this turned out. I cut another one out and I might make a few more for Christmas if I have time. It's the perfect little bag for party essentials:)



My awesome package from my SIStv Secret Santa - I can't wait to use all these goodies. The Starburst are already gone. I ate them while I was wrapping presents yesterday:)




And Yuki - sunbathing while I was cleaning the kitchen. I had the dog's bed outside while I cleaned the floor and washed the cover to the bed. She cracks me up.


Lastly - look what opened in Albuquerque on Friday? Guess who spent their lunch hour there? Oh my - I was in heaven. Good thing I only had $20 bucks on me or I could have gone crazy. Best thing was they already had a little clearance corner:)

I am WAY behing on reading all your blogs, and answering emails. I hope you'll forgive me for just a bit longer. I don't plan on doing much computer wise while I'm in Vegas:):)

Craft Love

I was so excited to win a couple giveaways this month from my fellow bloggers. These two packages both arrived today. First - some wonderful goodies from Rebecca at Thrifty Goodness for her 200th post giveaway - I love it all!! Vintage papergoods, table linens, ribbon, a copy of adorn and so much more! Thanks Rebecca!


And from Miss Stephanie I received a beautiful pin that she crocheted along with a prototype for an ornament swap she is participating in. Steph - I did that swap last year and it was awesome! I already put the pin on my coat and the ornament is hanging on my bulletin board until I get the Christmas tree out:) Thanks Stephanie!


I spent a good part of today hanging out with Moki, Nikki and Nikki's mom working on some Christmas crafts. Moki supplied all the supplies and a yummy lunch. It was so cool to see how our shadow boxes turned out - all 4 of us had very different results and it was fun to see our individual styles coming through in them:) I made my first peggy - we laughed that she looked like "Pat" (from SNL) until I added a bow to her hair - then she became Patricia:)

I have yet to take pictures of the sewing I have done this last week - everything is in the bedroom and Hubby is already asleep so I don't want to sneek in there. Plus the lighting's horrible since it is the middle of the night:)
Finally, I received an awesome package from my SIStv Secret Santa - oh my!! I seriously got a little teary eyed when I opened it - I'll take pics of that too tomorrow. AND Secret Santa - I normally sign my work "Raesha" :)

Three Hours

Miss S passed out on the couch tonight at about 9 and I took advantage of finally having control of the tv remote:)
I watched the premiere of this:

Two episodes of this:

And an hour of this:


I am going to have some WEIRD dreams tonight!!! What a combination!

More Veteran's Day Love

I was rereading a post I did last year for Veteran's Day and I wanted to mention these awesome men again. And because my sis and I were talking about the servicemember's in our family on my drive home from work today

Happy Veteran's Day to:

Ray Terry - Air Force, Vietnam - my dad
Grandpa Terry - Navy, Korea - my paternal grandfather
Grandpa Holguin - Navy, WWII - Hubby's maternal grandfather
Opa de Ruiter Zylker - Air Force, WWII - Hubby's paternal grandfather
Michael Linderman - Marines, Gulf War (KIA) - my dear friend from high school
Rick Hughes - Navy, Guantanamo Bay - my brother in law
Ian Terry - Army, Iraq - my brother
Grandpa Berry - WWII, the Pacific - my maternal grandfather
Ron Becker - Navy, Vietnam - my stepdad

Mom - what branch of service was Grandpa Berry in??

I'll be back in a few days with pictures of my crafting frenzy from Sunday:)

Lazy Sunday???

Hmm...let's see - what did I do today?

1. Went to church
2. did the dishes
3. vacummed the whole house
4. did two load of laundry
5. finished a little makeup bag - started two more
6. made an apron for a Christmas present
7. hemmed a pair of jeans for a coworker
8. made a patchwork baby blanket for a coworker (my first "real" commission piece:))
9. went to dinner with Hubby and Miss S
10. Seriously checked my email 8 times
11. Seriously checked flickr 8 times
12. Tried to catch up on a few of the 1200+ posts I am behind on in bloglines
13. Texted with my fabulous brother, Ian, for about an hour
14. took the vacuum to my brother, Shay's, house for them to borrow
15. put away the Halloween decorations
16. put up a couple Turkey day decorations
17. finally finished my garland for this month's Sweet Goodness Swap package
18. packed up two swap packages
19. Thought about folding the clean clothes
20. Fed the dogs
21. Ordered a pair of shoes from Nordstroms for Miss S for Christmas - Kenneth Cole's wedge sandals on sale for $16.90 plus $5 shipping - I had a $20 rewards certificate so I paid a total of $1.90 for the shoes:)

I am pooped.

Happy Veteran's Day

Veteran's Day...a celebration to honor America's veterans for their patriotism, love of county and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good...

Miss S's school had a special celebration on Friday for Veteran's Day - each class was visited by two veterans and they had lots of fun activites throughout the day. The kids created these veteran's walls (this is one of three) and if you look really closely up at the top right...


you'll see the stars Miss S created for Uncle Ian and Uncle Rick - she did these all on her own with no help from Mom or Dad and was so proud at how they turned out.




Saturday night at church we had a special Veteran's Day concert. Miss S sang in the children's choir and I sang with the adult choir. I was really worried because I've had a scratchy throat all week, but I had no problems (must have been all those pleading prayers:)) We also had two special memorial walls....here's Uncle Ian again (SORRY Ian! I don't think I got the dates of service right!) The concert was very cool - we had about 150 attendees.


To all our veteran's - THANK YOU!!!!!!

Finally!!

First, let me apologize to Micol for taking so long to post about the FABULOUS package she sent me!!

I participated in the latest round of Sweetpea swaps hosted by Green Bean Baby - this one was round #7 and the theme was "Something Old, Something New"... I think Micol and I are sisters separated at birth becuase we have so much in common and our tastes are so similar:)

First - all the delicious sweet treats. The Swedish fish are almost gone:)

A beautiful mix of old and new fabrics - I can't to sew with all these!


And even more goodies - Micol made me some awesome soap, crocheted potholder, a cool skinny purple scarf, woven purple squares and the coolest little bag (with polka dots!). She also included a specially made atc and atc blanks (which I've already used all up!!!), a vintage pattern (just about the right size for Miss S) a cool stack of stickers, and she hand dyed some purple yarn for me! This is the first hand dyed yarn I've ever owned!!! I'll have to find something perfect to make from it. And see that little pin on the polka dot bag? That's Micol's logo - SO cool!!!

Thank you for such a wonderful package!! I love it all....and I really love the scarf - I've already worn it to work:)

Yes I know...

I did say I was heading to bed...but the house is so peaceful and quiet that it's nice to have this little time to myself.

I'm participating in the SIS Secret Santa Swap and look at this fabulous message I got from my Secret Sister...

"Hi Raesha in Albuquerque!! I got your list! And lucky for me (& YOU!)--I've got your blog addy too, so maybe you can post a bit about what *inspires* you?? merry merry holidays! your secret santa."

So for my very cool Secret Sister:

Things that inspire me (in no particular order)
quotes
vintage sheet music
vintage greeting cards
pretty much anything vintage
other people's creations
music - especially the Beatles and Jimmy Buffett (what a combination!)
scriptures (I use the King James Version)
Japanese craft books
flickr
acrylic stamps (alphabets and solid stamps)
children's books

Look how fancy I got there centering my list!!

And blogger is cooperating for just a minute so here's the atcs I received from Amy's swap:

Such a cool variety and Amy's swap are always filled with the most talented crafters!!


And here's what I sent...the little BOO pulls out of a pocket I made on the front with the quote.
Certainly not as fantastic as the atcs I received, but I hope the recipients liked them.

Darn It

Blogger won't load my pictures tonight...gggrrr...I'll guess you'll all just have to wait until tomorrow to see the awesome package I receivedfrom Micol and the awesome Halloween atcs I received from Amy's swap:)
I'm heading to bed...the time change is kicking my butt!!!

Help me!!

I am on a big kick to declutter our house....and earn some extra money for my upcoming Thanksgiving trip to Vegas!!!
I have TONS of Longaberger baskets and I'm slowly picking out a few here and there to sell. Before I list them on ebay I thought I'd post them here...email me at raeshadrz at yahoo dot com if you are interested in purchasing any of them. They are all in pretty good condition - just a little dusty and the color weaving on a couple are slightly faded. I have a ton of old fabric garters too that I don't want anymore so if you order a basket, I'll include one of two of them for you:)

1997 Shades of Autumn Bountiful Harvest Basket - with liner and protector $40.00


1998 Father's Day Finders Keppers Basket - with divided protector and lid $40.00

Thyme Booking Basket - with liner and protector $20.00

1998 Picnic Pal Basket with liner and protector - $35.00

1996 Spring Sponsoring Incentive Basket (I earned this basket when I was consultant) - with protector $35.00

1997 Chives booking Basket - with liner and protector $20.00


Large Vegetable Basket with liner and protector - $50.00


1997 Father's Day Personal Organizer Basket - with liner and protector $40.00


1997 Father's Day Personal Organize Basket with over the edge liner and divided protector $40.00 (the elastic pooped out on the liner so that will need to be fixed)


1998 Shades of Autumn Baker's Bounty Basket with liner and protector - $40.00

1996 Shades of Autumn Maple Leaf Basket with liner and protector - $40.00
1995 Thyme booking basket with liner, protector and tie-on - $20.00


Shipping will be extra - these are all fairly big baskets other than the booking baskets so they will most likely be shipped priority mail.

Happy Hippie-ween!!!

Our theme at work for Halloween was the 70's - here's a bunch of us decked out in our 70's finest. Peace, love and happiness ruled the day. My co-worker, Jennifer, (next to me in the big afro) won the costume contest. She looked fabulous!

We had a big pizza lunch and bobbed for apples in the back parking lot. It was nice to party a little bit during the midst of our busy work day.

Miss S and I went trick or treating that night....I took this picture as we were heading out the door. She got so much candy! She is really good at only eating a couple pieces a day so it will last her until at least Christmas as long as Hubby and I stay out of it:)

And I carved this cool pumpkin - I think I saw the idea in an old Martha Stewart to turn the pumpkin on it's side and have the stem be the witches nose. It was super fun and quick and easy:)


Today was our annual craft day at church - called Super Saturday. Here are two of the crafts I made.
A nativity puzzle...this was supposed to be a gift but I love how it turned out so I am so tempted to keep it!! Or maybe it will be a gift for Miss S instead of the original recipient I had in mind:)

And decorated blocks..I used pattern paper on the rest of the sides and a picture on one side. I made 4 at the church and brought home 6 more to work on. I wish Super Saturday was every month! It was so nice to eat a great lunch, craft, and visit with my sweet friends all day.

Check it Out

See that big new button on my sidebar??? I'm so excited about the November Handmade Holiday that Sew Mama Sew is doing!! A project a day...how awesome. Though it will most likely be 3 or 4 projects on Saturday or Sunday for me:) But I'm thrilled to see all their tutorials.

Halloween was a blast! I have tons of photos to post so I hope to get back on later to do that:)