Just Another Day in The Frozen North

The days are never dull in this tiny little slice of heaven. On any given day you might find......

....the boys digging their endless little snow caves.......

...Pudge relaxing in his new favorite hiding spot.......

...or one of the neighbors, snow-blowing their roof. Nothing strange about that.

Be My Valentine

Valentines Day is a fun time of the year for cards. I love the colors and the girlishness of it all. This year I was able to make valentines for the boys to take to school. I stuck to a simple design and changed up the colors a bit and made coordinating envelopes. Aren't they just too cute? Thankfully their class sizes are somewhat small, I only had to make 24 of these, more than that and they wouldn't have been so much fun:)
I also wanted to send out cards to some of my family back in the Midwest so I came up with another simple design. Using fresh snow ink from Papertrey and a white gel pen, I was able to create personalized cards that resemble a mini blackboard with the common love graffiti we used to write all over our notebooks back in our school days. They were a lot of fun and I love how they turned out, I hope the recipients enjoy them too!

Once again picture quality is lacking, but I hope to get a lightbox made soon and that should fix things right up;) Thanks for stopping by!

My First Card Challenge Entry

I've decided to enter the card challenge hosted by CPS for Papertrey Ink's anniversary party. I'm not an expert, but I wanted a chance to win some of the prizes they have been giving away. I just wish I could get my pictures to come out good, they just don't look as good as the actual card does:)

Materials Used:

Papertrey Ink, Everday Blessings patterned paper and Around and About Sentiments stamps

Fiskars round and scallop punches

plain white cardstock from Wal-mart and some bits I had in my stash.

Wish me luck and thanks for stopping by:)

New Hobby

I've given up sewing for the time being in favor of paper crafting. I love being able to create little projects in such a short time and I'm able to keep my mess confined easier than I ever did with my sewing projects. This weekend I created a simple note card set for my Mom. I'm hoping she doesn't see this before her birthday:)

The pics are a little fuzzy since I tend to forget about pics until it's dark out and the pics end up less than great. The cards are much prettier in person.

There are four cards in all, each one a little different from the rest. Matching envelopes are included and I wrapped them in a simple cigar band with an additional stamped sentiment. (hoping for a pic tomorrow)

I used a generic card stock I had on hand with some pretty patterned paper and embellishments for a simple, elegant card. I love how they turned out, even though they are not perfect. Each one has little mistakes, but I'm learning from my mistakes and slowly improving my skills.

Materials used:

Paper - Everyday Blessings by Papertry Ink

Picket fence border punch - Martha Stewart

Stamp - Daily Designs Sentiments by Papertry Ink

Epoxy dome stickers with patterned paper behind them and some random bits of flair from my box of goodies.

Thanks for stopping by:)

North of Everywhere

It's been a long time since I visited this blog. At first I just didn't want to try to explain our abrupt changes, then it got easier to just ignore it as time went on. There have been a lot of questions and confusion though and perhaps a bit of hurt so let me try to finally put it all out there.

For years I've struggled with my family, it's no secret. I had a crappy childhood, confused adolescence, and difficult young adulthood. I wouldn't take any of it back but I also don't wish to repeat any of it with my own children. I've struggled with my need to flee for years. Jesse refused to leave what he knew and I only wanted to leave it far behind. I stayed, for him. I was not happy. I can't explain it fully, but I have always wanted to go west, start over, find a new life. He wanted to stay with what he knew. We stayed and we struggled.

We have always had a lot of challenges in our marriage and we have always stuck together and got through them, but 2009 was a tough year. Jesse was under a lot of stress with trying to provide for us and family pressures were getting to him, making him bitter and angry. I had taken to avoiding everyone except my brother Josh and his wife Michelle. I was depressed and spending all my time on the Internet, ignoring the house and kids. Jesse finally looked at me one day and said he was tired of it all, he was done trying to do the right thing and was ready to start over, find us a house.I needed no further encouragement:)

I scrimped, bargained and saved every penny I could for the next two weeks and found us a house. Amazing what I can do when i want something bad enough. I managed to put together a little over $2000 in those short two weeks, enough for a down payment on a four bedroom home in a tiny town in North Dakota. It had all the things we were looking for, more than three bedrooms, a garage for Jess, larger than average yard, small town away from the rat race and stress of Michigan, and it was cheap. It was farther north than we first thought we would go, but we have fallen in love with North Dakota. We love the weather, the scenery, the freedom and most of all the people.

We left behind a lot, our farm has been hijacked by family we no longer wish to see as Jess was only half owner and has no desire to fight anymore. We gave up our animals and homesteading ways, but with two large lots out here gardens are already in the works. We also left behind a lot of tension and stress. I no longer have to play referee for certain family members and I don't have to constantly defend my eccentricities. I can finally just be me. I'm happy and I think Jesse is too. He found a great new job with astounding benefits, he's losing weight and snoring less. I never realized it was stress induced! His friendly nature has made it easy for him to meet new people and find acquaintances that are sure to become great friends. The boys are excited all the time, new experiences and friends keep them busy. Our new town seems to genuinely be pleased to have us and we have discovered we have some stellar neighbors willing to help any way they can. They want us to stay

Finally, there comes a point when you have to stop trying to be everything for everyone and do what's best for you and yours. We are done trying to take care of people who should have learned to stand on their own two feet years ago. We are done trying to help those who will not help themselves. We are finally doing what we think is best for our family and our health. We hope you understand that and can be happy for us.