Where’d she go?

June 4, 2021 by Leave a Comment
removing screens on our deck

Well hello to you! I know I have been missing for several weeks and I am here to say I wasn’t simply just sitting on my hands. As the school year ends and summer approaches, I usually have a lot of things to do to prepare for the next season in our home.

I have been spending my time checking out contractors for some much-needed work as well as some new projects on our property. For one, I have finally decided to try out a mosquito spraying service. I have been thinking about this for years and the purest in me has always won out and so I never pursued contracting a company. But each year, it seems that the mosquitos have increased and are more vicious in the summer months forcing us to spend much of our time on our screened-in deck. However, after a year of quarantining at home during the pandemic, I am really looking forward to spending time out on all of our property. So I have hired a company to treat our property to create a barrier against both mosquitos and ticks. I can cancel at any time so I am going to give it a try.

painting

The other project my husband and I have been working on is repainting and rescreening our deck. It’s funny that I can color and paint in my craft room but painting out on our deck, well let’s just say that I am not a natural. Since our deck is pretty large this process has taken some time to complete so I have not spent much time in my office. Now that it is complete, I am not in the process of bringing out all of our deck furniture and decorating now that the time-consuming work is complete.

All painted

We also have decided to take down our old veggie-raised beds and redesign a new space in our back yard with irrigation. We have removed all the old soil and broken down the old beds and are now in the planning stages before we order wood to be delivered to begin this next project.

I had intended on releasing some new products at the end of May but that didn’t happen either. But rather than get mad or listen to my inner critic, I am embracing the ebb and flow of my work as I handle my home projects. So I haven’t had much time to write posts. But I will get back to this as well as back to work in the up coming weeks.

Have a wonderful weekend!

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Happy Monday!

May 10, 2021 by Leave a Comment

Hello! I hope you all are well. I somehow managed to work through last week and missed writing a post so I thought I would share a recap of my peaceful Mother’s Day. The photos are not in order but I bet you can figure that out!!

My day began with a yummy homemade breakfast-in-bed and then I spent a little time reading in bed until my youngest joined me for a chat. Then Leao set up the new pump to our rain barrel and I was able to spend time watering some plants in the garden with rainwater. We always talked about getting a rain barrel and I am so happy we finally got around to doing that. It makes so much sense and the plants prefer the rainwater. We have two barrels and I could not believe how much I was able to water from only two barrels! Leao’s young lilac bush had its first bloom right in time for Mother’s Day. So I had to snap a picture of it. I have the old fashion lilac bushes but his bush has the beautiful fun white outline on the petals.

Then Apollo and I sat outside and ate some sushi for lunch. On Saturday, we spent the day with my mother-in-law and we ate lobster to celebrate. They also bought me a huge pot of dianthus and I knew exactly where to place it. I have a large pot I bought last year in place of the large tree we had to cut down. I kind of thought it would be a nice memorial for the tree so I bought a pot but never filled it. The dianthus pot fits in it perfectly and the flowers are so prolific. I look out my office window and smile at all those blossoms.

Leao took Apollo and I for a chai at Starbucks then we drove over to nearby lake to sit for a bit. Something about being near water is so calming.

At the end of the day I watched some TV with my husband and colored my first page in one of my new coloring books. I plan to complete it this week. I really enjoyed coloring this page.

What a relaxing but filled day I had. I didn’t miss laundry, cooking or cleaning one bit!

Have a wonderful Monday!

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New Merch – Mother’s Day Cards!!

April 20, 2021 by Leave a Comment

Hello! I am back and ready to share some Mother’s Day cards I have been working on. I decided to create two different designs.

floral design

The first is a floral design that has a close-up of beautiful lilacs. I own several lilac bushes and each year, I anxiously await the buds and blooms. The sweet aroma that fills my yard brings me so much joy. So I thought that would be nice to incorporate lilac’s which typically bloom around Mother’s Day, in a card design. I searched through my stamps and found a beautiful digital stamp and used my Silhouette to layout the design for the card front.

Asian-inspired design

The second design came about after a conversation with a friend who was looking for an asian-inspired design to send to her mother. I told her I would look through my supplies and come up with a design. This card has a beautiful Asian girl dressed in a kimono under a branch of cherry blossoms. I used my distress inks to create a colorful backdrop that makes the kimono pop. I did a little research about kimonos in Japan and found out that color and style are often determined by the time of year. For the month of May, the traditional colors worn are orange blossom yellow and purple. I designed the card on my Silhouette and added dimension by having the image diecut.

So if you are in the market for some handmade mother’s day cards that will make a mom happy, stop by my Etsy shop and order one now so I can get them to you in time.

Have a wonderful day!

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It’s here!! My Etsy shop is live!

April 9, 2021 by 2 Comments
http://www.belindascrafts.etsy.com/

The wait is over! I pushed the site live a week ago and it felt really great. Now I can focus on streamlining the administrative tasks and more importantly I can get back to creating new products. I currently have a mix of cards in the shop. But I have so many ideas for new products. Because each card is handmade, I will release new products at a slower pace but the initial push to launch the shop is over so I can focus on realistic timelines. I will be moving out to work on my garden soon so that will likely impact my work schedule. But I will find a nice balance between them.

Since launching the shop I haven’t done any marketing, so I will be sure to include information about new product releases here on the blog. I will probably resume my Instagram account for marketing and business purposes in the near future as I increase my inventory. In the past, I was a bit shy about promoting my shop but this time, I’ve begun to tell family and friends about the shop, and hopefully, I can convince (guilt) them into making a purchase to support my small business.

I would also like to resume my weekly blog posts. So come on back to keep up.

Have a wonderful weekend!

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