This is NOT Spring...

This is NOT Spring...

I just stepped out my front door and took this photo.

This snow and rain is here for the next seven (7) days.

Only one of my couple hundred daffodils started to blossom yesterday.

Now it will be smashed to the ground with heavy wet snow.

Please wait for me dear daffodils.

I so look forward to your bright yellow blooms.

That bright yellow that makes me smile.

That gives me hope sunshine will come and stay.

Oh winter you may rest for another year.

Our water tables are happily full to capacity.

Our forest trees have filled their energy with your water.

Please bring Spring...

Birds Who Sing...

Sunshine and Smiles...

Two Birds and One Cat...

Here is an adorable little bird I received from Miss Lilla of Hawaii. Many of you already follow her blog and know the fun things she makes and shares. This bird is made with ticking fabric. Lilla also included the cafe au lait sticker just for fun. Thank you so much Lilla. I love my bird.

This is bird two that I received and I am loving the message here. Kerri's blog was the very first blog I ever followed and I am so glad I found her. She is wonderful and talented and heartwarming. I just love this piece of her art. Even the back is decorated and personalized. Thank you very very much Kerri.

And with birds there must be a cat. This is an art piece I received from Terri. She is part of 3 Creative Studios and her blog is filled with lots of art, fabric quilting and zentangling. I am thrilled to have this adorable cat to inspire me. Thank you so very much Terri.

The generousity of bloggers is always amazing. I feel blessed to be able to enjoy so much.
Each of these pieces of art inspire me to create. I think that is partly why I like blogging so much as we all share our ideas and abilities and inspire others to make their own creations.

What will you make this week? I am making some simple birthday cards for January mailings.

Create something that really makes you smile with delight this week. After all we are beginning a brand new year where anything is possible for each of us.

Believe...

If you just believe...

The magic and wonder of this beautiful season...

Will keep you in the moment of all that is special to now.

Createology will be in the studio making a couple of last minute gifts

(photos later).

Also wrapping lots of gifts for friends we will see for Christmas.

May you have a day filled with all that makes you smile.

B E L I E V E . . .

Happy Flowers...

Aren't these just the happiest flowers? I smile everytime I see them. It began with the petunias Mr. C gave me for Mother's Day along with some other potting flowers. I usually do not like to receive florist bouquets because they do not last and are sooo expensive. So the potting flowers were perfect as I can enjoy them for a really long time. The red geraniums and Royal Purple's are so vibrant and in the blue pot just look perfectly patriotic with the flag flying.

I do not know which geranium variety these are however I have never seen such a beautiful varigated color scheme. Oh Grandma I miss you as I should have paid more attention to your amazing knowledge of plants.

This little Saucy Chick is looking over her recently planted flower seeds. Hmmm...let's see if any of them sprout. She does have a couple of volunteer plants she watches over.

Flowers have always been such a bright and happy spot in my life. Here the critters eat everything that is planted so I have just a few on my upstairs deck for the season and they are doing a super good job of making me happy and smile.

I am off to bead in the studio. There is a necklace designing session waiting for me.

Which flower is your favorite or is it too hard to pick just one?!!

I do love them all.

Happy creating...

More cards...

I would like to acknowledge Fiskars and thank them for great customer service. I began to make some cards and discovered my Seagull corner punch was broken. Somehow the metal parts had broken and fell out in pieces which meant I could not use the corner punch for making my cards. Before I threw it in the trash I took a couple of pictures and thought I would email Fiskars to let them know. I got an email response right away and they said they would send me a new one in a few days. Well today I did get my new punch and it works and I am very happy. Just when I was thinking customer service is a lost art Fiskars comes through with excellent customer service. Thank you very much Fiskars.

As for receiving cards I have done that this week. My Blog Pal Cory sent me this very creative card she made using recycled cards. It is multi layered and has lots of interest to it. She tied on a tea bag for a relaxing cup of tea. On the envelope she hand drew some little flowers to mimic the tree in the picture. Well done Cory. I like it very much thank you.

My other card I received from my Blog Pal is this one with a silk flower on the recycled cards she uses. I truly love the flower and it will be finding a new spot off of this card onto another project very soon. Cory included a package of Cosmos seeds and I shall be so happy to plant these as I love the flowers with their wonderful shades of pinks. On this envelope she drew some little cosmos flowers in the corner to carry out the theme. Very clever.

I have been busy writing and sending my April cards and goodies so it has been very busy on the desk top here in the studio. I must say I even had fun at the post office trying to mail my cards. Two envelopes were 1/8" too short so I had to bring them home and re-package them. Of course they still cost 64 cents each but 1/8"...come on! Some of my cards had "bumps" in them so that was an extra fee on top of the extra fees. I told the clerk I was trying to make them as flat and light weight as possible. A couple of the burly guys standing in line behind me suggested I take the envelopes outside and they could drive over them a few times with their big diesel truck! A good laugh was had by all except the clerk. Every single item I was trying to mail had some issue and excess expense and by now the guys in line are teasing me about maybe I used the wrong color of ink...purple. I was able to mail all except the two shorties that lacked 1/8" each envelope. Of course my wallet is now empty. Fortunately for me I had a mission of mailing some fun cards to some people I have never met and hopefully they will get a good laugh out of them.

Are you sending any snail mail this month of April?

I still have a long list of addresses I will be sending to so I better get very busy.

Another Gift Given...

Now I can show you another project I worked on, have given and has been received. My very sweet cousin has been having some difficult life issues and recently had her husband pass away while she is dealing with her ailing mother and father whom live with her. Her father, my uncle, is with hospice care so time is short. I wanted to give her something she could wear and that would bring a smile to her day. So as you can see in the above photo I got out the supplies to make her a pair of earrings. Very simple and sedate as that is what she would like.

Then I thought I would stamp and color a tag to mail them with. The roses are done with a packing tape transfer that is so simple and fun to do. I purposefully made the colors bright and intense as it was still gray and dreary winter when I sent these. She and I both have similar weather even though we live in two different states. She likes the snow and we all know I like the hot sun. LOL

A small coin envelope on the back side of the tag to hold the earrings for safe journey through the mail. Of course I also wrapped these in pattern tissue which is my new favorite and tied them with ribbon and sent the package in a card and padded envelope.

And here we have the finished earrings. Turquoise nuggets and beads. My cousin loves them. What a great feeling it gives me to know that she is wearing them and that she really does love them. She even got a new blouse that matches perfectly.

I am so happy that you like these my sweet cousin.

Blessed with friends...

I feel so very blessed to have friends. This being Earth Day is another reason to feel blessed as I am so happy to be a part of this earth. I spent a wonderful day yesterday with my dearest and closest friend. We had to run errands and do grocery shopping but somehow it wasn't the chore it seems to be when done alone. We laughed, we shared stories, we split items that we didn't need a lifetime supply of, we were very helpful when one or the other couldn't decide whether to get something or not and we ate a leisurely lunch. All the while sharing a rare and wonderful friendship.
I am also blessed with friends whom I have never met in person. I have new friends that I have met through this amazing world of blogging and etsy shopping/selling. Each one unique and so very interesting and talented. I tend to be rather shy in person however I am not so shy online. OK I am not shy in person...I talk to anyone, anytime, anyplace. Sometimes I wonder why am I talking with this person?!! I am so like my mother was. The first time Mr. Hubby took me to San Francisco (just a decade ago) I couldn't understand why people wouldn't smile when I smiled at them. He cautioned me that, "You never make eye contact with anyone in a big city". Well, that is just not me. I had the hardest time looking everywhere but at people. I am a people person. People and especially events energize me. I come alive when I am around other people especially when they are having a good time. I am always in amazement when at Disneyland or DisneyWorld (actually any theme park) that too many people are frowning, mad or definitely not having a good time. Be happy comes to mind.
Thank you to all my friends, long time and newly found, for bringing me great joy and the feeling that I am blessed.
Happy Earth Day to all. May we take good care of our earth and our friends everyday.

Tuesday tickles...

This is the Saucy Chick studio where we create wonderful things that everyone needs to have. This picture includes our good friend Sylvia who needed an urgent intervention making some lovely anniversary table favors. Of course we did more laughing than anything else. I just love it when the studio is busy and productive.

Lots of ideas and thoughts are getting ready to explode in the studio as the days become warmer and longer. Let's stay tuned for updates.

I am still learning so much on how to do all this wonderful computer technology. The latest to come to me is facebook. My daughter set up her profile and convinced me to become one of her "friends". Okay...now came the tough part. How do I do that? Well, she called me and walked me through the process and it was actually quite simple. Oh, not to say that I didn't have some issues. Some how I became a groupie for Ellen deGeneres and her quotes of the day. What!!! I admit I have watched her show and listened to her comedy routines but a quote of the day groupie is not for me! Luckily I was able to delete that from my facebook profile. I will merely be happy if facebook allows readers to get to our blog and our etsy shop (www.createology.etsy.com). We are still awaiting the first and critical sale so that we can get the stigma of zero sales off our shop. Please do check out our items for sale. Also, we are not getting comments on how this blogging is doing for you readers. We are pretty good at accepting constructive criticism so that we can improve what we are doing.

So, Tuesday tickles is just a mere rambling today and hopefully brought a smile to your faces.

Smile and Sunshine...

"One little smile can fill the room with sunshine" is a little saying off the inside of Dove Promises candy wrappers. What a nice treat...a delicious bit of chocolate and an uplifting thought. I agree that a smile brings sunshine not just to a room but also to other people. I always try to smile at others just in case it helps them feel better or gives them a reason to smile back. Actually a smile is the easiest thing to give. It costs no money, takes no tools, has no obligations and is something that benefits the giver as well as the receiver. In fact, you can be the recipient of your own smile...just look in the mirror or a piece of reflective glass and smile.
Funny how when you commit to write a blog how quickly the days pass by and you realize that you really should write something but you have no idea what would be good to have anyone read. Well, I just sit down and whatever comes to my mind or something I see around me is usually what I end up putting through my fingers to the keyboard. I think that is a lot of what makes blog reading so interesting and different. I read lots of blogs from others and the more diverse they are the more interesting I find them. Of course that is a personal preference.
Nothing clever or creative today. I spent time in the kitchen not only cleaning it but baking a chocolate cake for my beloved husband. He actually requested a chocolate cake around the Christmas holiday but we just had enough other things to keep us satiated. Well, today is the day for him to enjoy his chocolate cake. He has been working very hard and has gotten a rotten cold and achey bones so I thought this would help him get well. It is a double layer triple chocolate cake with dark chocolate and chocolate fudge frosting and in the center between the layers are Ghiradelli chocolate chips. I probably won't sleep for a week just from licking all the bowls, spatulas and beaters. It is definitely a chocolate lovers dessert. "Let them eat cake!"
I just reviewed what I have written and realized I began and ended today's blog with chocolate.
Here is a smile for everyone :-)