…life continues to be busy, and time continues to speed past me.

I’ve been staring at this post, wanting to write, but at the same time almost feeling guilty of feeling so blessed when all around me there is heartbreak and devastation taking place. My thoughts and prayers to the people of Oklahoma, the young girl who was found murdered locally, and the gentleman who jumped off the bridge…

Last week Olivers brother, Chaz, came to live with us. They are so much fun! We’ve had a few altercations between the two, but no one has been injured.

I am still working on organizing the studio. I found a number of trading cards, and a few projects that I received when I attended CKU one year. I believe this Perfect just the way you create was a Donna Downey make and take.

Oprah inspired me with an assignment…

Take 5 minutes | Write down your life dream | Set a due date

This was an easy assignment for me. I didn’t need to take 5 minutes to think about my life dream, and I know that those who know me well can attest to that.

Paris | September 2014

One way or another, I have to make this happen.

Last December I placed an order thru a local hardware store to complete my pottery collection, and the pieces arrived last week. Knowing that each piece was made especially for me makes them that much more special.

Each piece was chosen randomly, and represents the birthplaces of each of us. Keith, Bangor | Me, Boston | Toni, Ellsworth | Reggie, Portsmouth | Matthew, Austin | Oliver and Chaz, Verona Island | –I have two other pieces; Sandy Point, town Keith and I were married in | and Bucksport, our first home.

Stace delivered the new Stampin Up! catalog, and a few cards for me this weekend, and I was seriously drooling! I am so excited about this new catalog, and am loving the new stamps. Mark your calendar, and order from me in September!

I am putting together a small on the go project life kit, and found this adorable little pouch that the UPS guy just delivered…

You love it, don’t you?! The opposite side has different camera designs on it.

Today is day 172 of Reggie being in Kandahar, Afghanistan. For almost half a year my heart has been breaking, and I am so anxious for his deployment to conclude.

On that note, I am going to close down as this post is getting long. Be well folks, and take care. Until next time…

-Jenny

Seriously! I don’t want to alarm anyone, but yes, I did some small amounts of rubberstamping!

Here are the four Project Life filler/journal-cards I created for swaps. My house is still in disarray, and my little studio looks like a tornado touched down, but I have fulfilled my swap responsibilities, have them packaged up, and I am looking forward to signing up for a few more.

…so, I am wondering if it is too early to begin the countdown until completion of my MSN?…37 weeks. Wow…it actually feels like it is within reach!

Here’s to a beautiful week ahead of us. Until next time, be well friends!

-Jenny

One of my nurse friends surprised me with a beautiful card, and a special note written inside.

Today I have been [attempting] to continue to pull the house together. I have found sweet cards, and notes that I had forgotten about, as well as items that I have been hoarding. I had the parlor picked up, and put back together…for about 15 minutes. Now it looks like a tornado touched down, again.

Look at what is in the house! Papertrey Ink and Studio Calico delivered on the same day!

Here’s a sneak peek at the project I am working on with the papertrey ink stamps…

New course [Integrating Technology Into Nursing Education] has opened, and wouldn’t you know I am already behind. Don’t know how this happens. But, what I do know is, the race is on, and the journey is getting closer to being completed!!

On that note for here I am going to run. Take care friends, and talk soon…

-Jenny

It was a lot of work, but I have officially completed downsizing my studio [well almost completed, I have a project planned --I'll share when it is completed, and I need to paint the chair I will be using].

The original studio can be seen here. I sold my antique library catalog, and my work table. I went thru everything [holy cow, that was not fun!!]. If it was over two years old I tossed it. I am ashamed of the ‘stuff’ that I had. The money that I spent on ‘stuff’ that I didn’t use, but for some reason at that moment I ‘had to have it.’ The number of projects from attending CKU’s that I never finished. Absolutely ridiculous.

I took the antique buffet out of the diningroom and painted it, and purchased a smaller bookcase, and an antique table from my favorite antique store.

I chose to keep two of my suitcases. The bottom suitcase holds very few punches, and the top suitcase holds acrylic paints, etc. The wire basket holds the very few wood stamps that I chose to keep.

Love CTMH storage, and my Raskog.

Of all my dressforms, and vintage cameras, I chose to keep two of each. The two pink boxes on the bottom shelf hold very few embellishments.

Thank you for looking, and I hope you love it as much as I do. I am ready to work on a couple of projects, and to get moving on my project life! Until next time…

-Jenny

I am still organizing and destashing the scrap/stamp supplies… Fed Ex delivered the CTMH organizers that I ordered, and I love. love. love them!!

The small organizer holds 12 craft boxes which I am using to hold the monthly PL pieces from Studio Calico.

 The medium organizer is holding the SC, BH, and MAMBI PL cards perfectly.

…and the large container is holding 6×6 papers that were originally 12×12. I ended up discarding a large plastic tote filled with patterned paper, and still have more to go thru. [not counting a lot of cardstock...] Organized by color, and a few categories such as seasons, holidays, etc., these papers will be used for card fronts, and scraps.

There’s a few more pieces that I need to purchase, but for the moment I am very happy with these three pieces.

The other morning after my dentist appointment, Keith and I were standing in ACMoore and I commented that I wished Michaels was closer. We looked at each other and at almost the same time we said let’s go [we had brought Oliver with us to my dentist appointment so we didn't have to worry about getting home to him]…and look what I brought home!

I am looking forward to my studio being completed so I can get in there and create! Until next time, be well friends!

-Jenny

The destashing of my scrapbook/rubberstamp supplies has proven to be a job within a job, but it is slowly coming together, as is the organizing of the items that I have decided to keep. I have to tell you that these enclosed binders are perfect. Right now, I have one specifically for Studio Calico stamps, and one specifically for misc clear stamps.

My scrap/stamp area has changed drastically. Gone is the excess stuff, and all of the furniture that I previously had [The Art Studio]. In its place I’ve added a smaller bookcase, a small antique table, and I brought the antique buffet table out of the diningroom and added it to my room…

…and decided to paint it.

I matched the color of my Ikea Raskog with Sherwin-Williams paint [using the ColorSnap app], and chose to go up just a slight color darker. I love it! Pink is still my favorite color, but sadly Ikea doesn’t have a pink option for their Raskog, and I didn’t like the grey color. So, though I am decorating around the color of the Raskog, I’ll be slipping pink in, here and there…of course.

Pushing to get the room pulled together. Feeling the need to be creative. It’s been awhile.

-Jenny