Some visual therapy…

After a stressful month, I have been finding it hard to get back to my old self. I find myself wandering through the days in a weird zone, feeling little and that is not like me. I am a very passionate person, but I haven’t been able to stir that old passion…. until yesterday that is.

It’s been a long time since I have created a treasury on Etsy. Since they switched over to the new treasury system. So yesterday I decided to create a treasury and it took off from there. I found something that really touched me deeper than most of the things I had tried lately. I don’t know if it is the pure eye candy that you can find on Etsy, or if it is searching for the right products that fit into the current mood that I was feeling as the creator and presenting it in one lovely group of items that speak from my heart.

Whatever it is, it worked! I felt some passion and my creative gears started feeling inspired and rejuvenated. Now, I won’t go as far as to say that I am my old self again.

I know that I will probably never be who I was before the accident with my daughter and I can accept that, but to find a new place of comfort within my self and my life would be wonderful.

So the first treasury I started with was this one… I was inspired by the warm summer days and the colors just drew me in.

Once I finished the first one, I knew I had to create one that went back to my roots. Etsy has some of the most amazing designer of children’s boutique clothing and the photography is simply enchanting. So I filled my treasury and my soul with these lovely bits of visual therapy. Some of the designers are some that I frequently designed with in the early days of Etsy and the late days of eBay.

Finally, I was so caught up in the beauty of the photography and the items in Boutique Kids treasury, that I couldn’t get it out of my mind. As I was reading before bed, I read something that inspired me to create one last treasury before I went to bed. This one is called Contemplate the Flowers. If we could all spend more time living our lives like flowers and just allowing things to be what they are, we could find more happiness in our lives and therefore, my inspired treasury:)

Who knew I would find so much pleasure in gathering snippets of other designers’ items for sale and creating a collection that is cohesive and visually appealing, but I did! I found great pleasure and peace in this and I wanted to share them with you.

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Gratitude…….

I received an email today asking me if gratitude had benefited my life……

Gratitude has played a big role in my life for some time now and it has changed the way I look at the world.

A couple of weeks ago, my family experienced one of the most traumatizing experiences we have had in our lives, and gratitude was one of the things that pulled me through. To pay it forward, I wanted to share my experience with you and share the ways that gratitude has helped us through this trying time.

Two Saturdays ago, my daughter was almost killed and it was a huge blessing that everything turned out the way that it did. So what am I grateful for?

Well…. I am grateful that my husband was in the right place at the right time. I am grateful that he didn’t think before he acted and that another friend was there to help. I am grateful for the family that pulled together to help in the time of need and that the best surgeons and doctors were on call that night. I am also grateful that God gave me more time with my daughter and that I have this opportunity to re-evaluate my life and priorities to make more of each day and each moment.

My daughter’s life was saved and she will recover. My family is still whole and we can find a way to move past this trauma. I am so grateful for my family and the life that we have together. I choose to see the world through new eyes and find the good in things.

Every dark cloud has a silver lining. (Proverb)

 

If you have had your life changed by gratitude, please pass it on. You can also share your gratitude on the Gratitude Log.

A snowflake I see?

Not quite, but it seems to be in the near future. The temperature has drastically dropped this past week as the wind has whipped through knocking all of the beautiful red and gold leaves from the trees. Fall is a beautiful time, but it always brings the chilling reminder that winter is near. I'm not ready for winter yet. The house is still only half painted, the wood is not chopped, and I'm not ready to be cold again.

Ok, now that I've complained, I can move on the fun part of winter. Hot chocolate and marshmallows, and Smores..............

It's bright... It's flirty... It's so much fun, you almost forget it's winter when you see it!

I just listed it on eBay today with AbbeyRoad and guests.

Little, T had so much fun with this photo shoot. I just have to share a few more pics with you, because she was such a little poser. My family will like this, since this is about the only time they get pictures of my kids anymore, lol.

As for the falling leaves and chilling air... We took a drive Sunday afternoon and I got some great photos. I will post them next. (first I gotta get 'em out of the camera)

TTYL,

Mandy

A birthday and a Sale!!

Saturday is my 31st birthday and I'm finding myself a little down about it all. I'm not sure why, because I made it through the big 30. This just seems a little different, and maybe I'm feeling a little older, a little more tired, and deffinately a little crazier this year. So I thought some sales might cheer me up and keep me busy enough to maybe forget how old I'm getting.

So I am having a storewide sale on everything in my Etsy store until Saturday June 21st. Please stop by my store and take a peek if you have a minute and if you see something you like, grab it while you can at a great discount!

Thanks:)

Mandy

The Pitter Patter

of little feet again. It seems like yesterday when my first child was learning to walk and here I am five kids later still brought to tears when I see my baby take her first steps.

It's actually been a couple months since she took her first step and it was so adorable in a bittersweet way. It's always cute to see them grow up, but the next stage is always harder than the previous. I don't push my children now, I just try to enjoy each moment, because tomorrow may be worse.

Which brings me to the reason, or shall I say reasons for my blog absence. Kids 1 and 2 have so much homework after school that I think most days I am back in school. Who's the student here? I distinctly remember doing my time in school and gladly left that behind, but now it haunts me through my children.

Kids 3 and 4 fight constantly and kid 4 uses a blood curling scream as her defense mechanism when kid 3 is bullying her for the pen or notebook, which is the constant battle here.

Then there is kid 5.... She went from taking her first step to running through the house like a tornado ripping things out of place, eating everything in sight, ripping papers to bits, and demanding I spend every waking moment focused on her.

I do know this too will pass and soon I will have so much time to blog, you will be sick of me. So until then, stick with me and I will try to post as often as I can.

Mandy

Just when I wasn't looking

I fell into love with photography all over again.

I stumbled onto this really cool style of photography. No, I didn't find a pause button for my kids or hire a maid, but I did find something new to love and another reason for people to look at me funny as I take pictures of random things. My kids love it too. They always ask when we can go out and find something cool to shoot.

All of a sudden completely boring things are brought into a completely different light.

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Thinking ahead....

I am already thinking Spring, but with the holidays quickly approaching, I have been thinking about the dreaded Christmas cards. Now don't get me wrong, I love to receive Christmas cards. In fact, the more the merrier, but when it comes time for me to send out our family Christmas card, this means gathering ALL 5 of my rambunxios little children together for photos.

Last week I took them out for some picture taking and the poor dolls really tried, but I only ended up with one that actually had all 5 looking in the same direction at the same time! And we took over 200 shots. Now they weren't posing in all of these shots, many were just pictures of them playing and just being kids, but the ones we tried to pose for turned out as I had expected.

Oh well, I did end up with some great outtakes and one good photo, but I can't show them yet. You will have to wait for Christmas:)

It did inspire me to create a set for a little girl with some very cute vintage fabrics that I aquired from a very sweet lady and some of my vintage trims that I told you about this summer.

It turned out so cute that I almost don't want to part with it. It's a size 24 month/2-3T or a small 4. I have all the details posted in the auction on ebay. This is one of a kind and will never be reproduced by me, so please bid accordingly.

It is ready to ship so you will have plenty of time for Christmas portraits of your precious angel.

Click on the photo to see the auction.

Growing Pains

My palms were sweating and my heart was racing as I approached the fair ground buildings. I had my photos ready to submit, but were they good enough? Would people look at them and think to themselves, or worse, whisper to a friend, "What was she thinking? Does she actually think these are good?"

I pushed forward and entered the building against the will of my mind and body. After entering the building I see many others who are also entering their photos. They seem confident. Oh their photos are absolutely beautiful. "What am I doing here," I think to myself forcing my feet to take another step. "I am putting myself out there for judgement and against others who are obviously so much more experienced than me.

I take another step up to the table and begin the registration of my photos. My hands are shaking and I seem to have forgotten which category to list.

"Why am I so scared!" I scream to myself. I continue to fill out my stuff, as another participant approaches me. "Your photos are amazing" she tells me. At this point I am shocked, because she has what I would call an "amazing" photo.

Once again, I ask myself, "Why am I so scared?"

I proceed to enter the other photo and move on to enter my last photo into the agriculture contest. More compliments received.

By the time I left the building, I was exhilerated and yes still shaking.

I have come to the conclusion that I am nuts. My sweet husband assures me that I am not crazy, just a "sissy". Well, call me what you will, it was just crazy that I would be so afraid of something so simple.

However, I have trimphed. Whether I win or not, is not important. The important thing is that I conquered my fear. Well maybe not "conquered", but deffinately faced and

persevered! And second, I shared my fear with all of you. (which was not easy either)

From this I shall grow:)

Sincerely,

Mandy

Here are some snapshots of the three photos that I submitted. It was a painful process choosing only a couple, but at $8.00 a piece for printing, matting and such, I could only choose a few.