Archives for May 2011

I have been so busy this week…working like crazy, keeping late, fun nights and hanging with the 3 Kelley kiddos.  But I really know it’s been a good week when there is lots and lots and lots of this going on:

And my countertop looks like this at the end of almost everyday:

In our busy week, Harper had her first eye appointment.  Josh and I are both blind as bats, so it was no surprise when she failed her eye test 2 years in a row.  She does already have a small prescription and a few other eye issues, but lucky for us no glasses yet.  She adored the chair and it didn’t hurt that Cousin David (our eye Dr.) let her raise and lower it herself.  She’s inevitably doomed in the eye department, but just glad it’s not this year.

Harper has also been rockin’ her “I love you” hands this week in very appropriate times.  Harper:  “Mom can I have a rice krispy treat?”  Me: “Sure.”  Harper: *I love you* hands.  I concur.

And have you ever seen a cuter little cupcake garden stick?  Well, maybe you have, but this one is pretty sweet.  Harper has been wearing these out.  Every time we go to Joanns she buys yet another one, with her own money, to color and give to someone.  I was lucky enough to be the recipient of this one.

The boys had their first experience with buying something with their own money this week.  Harper decided she wanted to make a purchase when we went to Target, so she loaded up one of her little bags with money from her piggy bank.  The boys insisted on doing the same…no money out of my pocket is totally cool with me…let’s do it.  So off we went.  They ended up pooling their money together and buying this:

They were super proud of their purchase and Huddy still has the receipt.

I also experienced a parenting 1st during this Target trip.  All three of my kids have small blankets which they have slept with since they were born.  I have always had a strict rule about their blankets not leaving our house.  My mom broke this rule with Harper while we were in Ethiopia with Sol.  Let’s just say she had to do major back tracking in a BIG mall, ask about a million people if they had seen a small, dirty yellow blanket and finally had to be assisted by a police officer to dig through a mall trash can, but the blanket was found.  THAT is why they stay at home.  As a general rule, we just leave stuff at home.  I never wanted to be in that pickle of a situation.  Well…Sol and Huddy recently got a special little toy from my Aunt Tootsie.  Sol got a small beanie dog and Huddy got a cow.  They have been attached to the hip with this dog and cow…who knew?  I made the mistake of letting them take this dog and cow with them to Target when they wanted to make their big purchase.  As we were getting back into the car after our 1.5 hours in Target, had everyone strapped into their seats and backing out of the parking spot Sol yelled out “My dog!” “My dog gone Momma” and the tears started flowing.  I soooo wanted to leave that dog in Target, but we pulled back into the parking spot, got everyone out of their seats and headed back into Target.  He was just so bummed about that dang dog.  Harper was super upset for him and asked random people as we back tracked though Target if they had seen Sol’s dog.  I wanted to give her “Lost Puppy” signs.  Finally there he was:

At this point I really, really wanted to break out into “Reunited and it feels so good”

Oh was he H.A.P.P.Y.  Huddy was really, genuinely happy for him too…”I’m so happy you found your dog Sol”.  Harper did a little dance and congratulated Sol upon finding the dog…it was as if he had won an event of some sort.  I was waiting for the trophy presenter to come out and hand over a large trophy.  Afterward which Sol would put on goggles and we would spray him with shaken celebratory champagne.  I laughed and reminded myself of my infamous rule about leaving stuff at home.

Needless to say, the dog and cow are now in the blanket category.  Lesson learned on my part for sure.

In work news, I have been working on a huge order and cannot wait to show all the goodies that are in it.  Also finished up these these two 10×10 canvases, which headed out to Renada in Nashville, Tn.  Renada needed two very special teacher gifts and I am a total sucker for a good teacher story, so I was in!  I loved teaching kindergarten and know how much work, love and energy good teachers put into their kiddos, so I was thrilled to know where these were headed.  Thanks again so much Renada.

This next 10×10 canvas was ordered by Emily in Colorado.  Emily is going to be celebrating 9 years of marriage with her husband this summer and she wanted a special canvas to celebrate with.  Thanks so much Emily and hope your anniversary is amazing.

And I just finished up these China tees last night for Angie in Indiana.  She wanted a tee for herself and one for her husband to show some love for their next sweet child.  Totally appreciate it Angie.

Joanns has a great Memorial Day sale going on right now…I should be one of their spokeswomen.  Holiday sales are my favorite.  I picked up some great new fabrics.  These are now added to my fabric selection.

Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day Weekend!

It takes all kinds to make the world go round, right?  Even little wee mustached ones?  I sure hope so.  We will never let go of our love for a good mustache.  I might be raising kiddos with weird mustache complexes.

They’re kind of addictive though.  Makes us feel older and wiser.  Gives us a false sense of wonderful furriness on our upper lip.  And gives us that boost of confidence we were are lacking.  Fake mustaches can do that for you…they could probably bring about world peace if we gave them a shot.

(I feel Huddy is really rockin’ his creepiness is this picture.)

In order news, I shipped out lots of goodies this weekend and today.  These 2 camera straps headed out to Reilly in South Carolina and Abigail in Indiana.  Thanks so much ladies.  Hope you love them.

Abigail also wanted to key fobs with her camera strap order.  Again, thank you Abigail.  Enjoy!

This set of key fobs was ordered by Elise in Georgia.  Love this red paisley fabric.  So appreciate it Elise.

This 8×10 canvas is headed to Dawn in Louisiana.  Dawn wanted a unique graduation gift for a missions minded graduate.  Something bright and youthful, complimentary of the grad herself and maps for the background.  Thanks so much Dawn and hope she loves it.

This next order was placed by Kelli in Ohio.  She wanted a special 11×14 canvas for her mom.  Kelli wanted me to use the Proverbs 31:10 verse and also told me her mom loves books and scrabble.  I love being able to tie in things that are personal to the recipient…I like the real custom part of it and this was too fun to make.  Thanks so much Kelli for letting me run with your ideas and trusting me to make something that your mom would love…hope she does.

And lastly this 12×2 canvas was ordered by Beth in Illinois.  Beth wanted me to use more neutral colors in a nature sense.  She also asked that I use the words Jesus, strength, hope, peace and joy.  Thanks so much Beth.  Hope this piece serves the purpose you were looking for and is a special reminder for you in this time.

And did you notice the measuring stick print in the above piece…I.AM.IN.LOVE.  You will see that again and again and again and…

Happy Tuesday!

Thank you so much for everyone who entered our 6 Months Waiting Art Giveaway and helped spread the word…we completely appreciated it.  I also loved reading about everyone’s favorite bright and funky color.  I am currently in love with most everything tealish/lagoon colored and mustard yellow…be still my heart.

Now for the winner:

#177 Abigail.  Super congrats Abigail and check your email for a message from me.  And again thanks so much for entering.

I have finished up a few more orders.  These key fobs were ordered by Lisa in Oregon.  She wanted 2 special end-of-the-year gifts for her daughter’s teachers.  Thanks so much Lisa.

Also if you have ordered key fobs from me, I actually have them already made up, but am waiting on new hardware to arrive.  Should be here soon.  So just know, your key fobs are done minus the important key part 🙂

I was able to make up a few art pieces as well over the past few days.  This first 18×18 canvas is headed to Tamara in Murfreesboro, Tn.  Tamara was awesome to work with.  She told me an important verse she likes and along with the fact that she loved flowers and let me run with the rest.  This was really, really fun to make and my goal was that by the time I was done, I wanted it to be something I would hang in my own house.  Thanks again so much Tamara for entrusting me with your piece…it was too much fun.

This last 10×10 canvas was for my mom…yet again 🙂  My mom called me Tuesday afternoon and told me she needed a canvas ASAP.  One of her dear friend’s dad passed away about 2 weeks ago and mom had just received word that her friend’s mom had just passed that day.  She wanted something really special and loved the red flowers in Tamara’s canvas above.  The catch was she needed it to be completed by this morning (Thursday)…needless to say last night was kind of a long night, but I got it done.  With a story like that and it being my mom, how could I say no.  Love you Mom!

And I know most of you are just sitting on the edge of your seats waiting for an update on my potty training endeavor.

3 Observations From Potty Training:

#1:  I have not changed one diaper in an entire week and it has been crazy, wonderful.

#2:  I have not missed diapers being gone from our house, not even one teeny, tiny bit.

#3:  I have been thinking “Praise Jesus” all week.  So potty training = good for my spiritual life.

So, yes, the boys are doing an awesome job and they love all their new undies.  They both have even stayed dry all night long for several nights…What’s that I hear?…Praise Jesus!  They rock the undies all day long and are becoming quite in love with public bathrooms, toilet height and if a bathroom area has a water fountain.  Josh even found them bottomless this morning in their room, but they then explained to him that it was because they needed to potty.  Sure enough there were the goods in their toilet.

  Huddy also showed me how Sol dumped out one of their ball baskets, pushed it over to the toilet and used it as a stool to get onto the potty.  I was pretty impressed and have now added “stool” to my shopping list…no pun intended 🙂  All-in-all, this week has equaled success in the potty world at the Kelley house.  Happy Thursday!

Well there you have it, 1/2 a year has gone by now with us on the waiting list for our next little man.  To celebrate, as we do with each month getting closer to him, up for grabs is another art piece.  This piece is a 9×12 canvas and unfortunately I just could not find that special verse/quote/song lyric that contained our special word SIX…at least one I really liked.  I had to rethink my process and go in a different direction, so I chose part of 2 Corinthians 4:SIX, “Let light shine out of darkness”  SIX words as well.

I also used an entry from a dictionary for SIX…as you can see I felt the need to make up for the lack of SIX in my wording..a girl can try can’t she?

As always there are lots of ways to enter to win this piece.

PLEASE leave a separate comment for each entry.

-Leave a comment about your favorite fun/funky/bright color

-Blog about the giveaway

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Giveaway will end this Wednesday, May 18th at midnight and I will post the winner sometime on Thursday!

Enter away and feel free to help spread the word.  Happy Monday everyone…here’s to our boy!

For my Mother’s Day gift this year Josh planned an entire day for me and only me!  Can I get an AMEN!

Well yesterday was my day and it was fabulous (thank you Josh Kelley).  He had me gift cards to some of my favorite places to shop, made me a pedicure appointment and even lined up Aunt Jen (thank you Aunt Jen) for the entire night so we could do an over night date…what?!?!?  In true “I make lists for everything” style I had to make a big to-do list for my day.  I wanted to make sure I did not forget anything and yes, I even put lunch on my to-do list because I like crossing things off!

Fun Fact:  I have only had 2 pedicures in my life…is this sad?  One for my own wedding and one for my best friend Ashley’s wedding.  After training for the 1/2 my feet were crazy ugly, so this was super exciting to me.  The lady who did my toes so nicely said, “Well, they’re not the worst I’ve seen.”  Was that suppose to be comforting?

Mason and I are becoming fast friends.

Goodwill was a nightmare…seriously stood in line for like 25 minutes to check out, but just could not leave these goodies behind.  These will be plastered to canvases eventually.

Had lunch with these beautiful ladies and yes, I did get cherry coke…makes my heart race thinking about it.

Practically the only thing in my closet…Target you treat me well and fulfill my need for tees.

Oh how I love thee…let me count the -recycled juice glass set and hippy red dress- ways.

My laptop and I had a much needed Internet date together here.  Did not buy one thing…sorry sweet Panera…do you feel cheap and used?

Ate the best Shrimp PoBoy sandwich ever and watched a terrible movie…Something Borrowed was not up to par for me, but Jim (from the Office) was spectacular.  The only reason I even picked the movie.  Unfortunately, he didn’t quite save the experience all together – nothing personal Jim.

Ended up here.  Turns out all those weeks, which added up to months, while Josh was having to work out of town and I was pregnant with Harper are finally paying off.  Elite Member = Free stays.  And so what if this hotel is literally 2 miles from our house…it contained no children, at least none that I was responsible for 🙂

I may or may not have eaten this at 1 am…don’t judge.

And by the end of my most fantastic day and night my to-do list so awesomely looked like this and I was one happy lady.

We even slept in.  Yes, 8:30 is the new noon to us.  I wish it weren’t so.

Orders have been spilling in and I have set to work again.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for placing all these orders.  It really is amazing…did I say Thank you?  I mean it!

These key fob sets are headed to Charity in Georgia, Becky in McMinnville, Tn and Brittany is Nashville, Tn.  Thanks so much ladies.

Also mailed out some camera straps as well.  These were ordered by Rebecca in South Carolina and Amy in Knoxville, Tn.  Thanks again ladies…totally appreciate it.

I am working on getting emails out as well, so if you have not heard back from me yet, please know I am working on it.  You guys are awesome.

Also we have officially been on the wait list for 6 months as of today, so our 6 Months Waiting Art Giveaway will be posted sometime tomorrow.  Happy Sunday!

Mother’s Day was a blast and last week I got to go to my nephew Cooper’s school and be his stand-in mom.  Coop had a Mother’s Day Luau in his classroom and my sister-in-law was out of town, so I got to go in her place.  I have to say, it was so much fun…hate Jen missed it, but glad I got to go.

Once we started eating our Hawaiian themed lunch (which was awesome) Coop told me there was going to be a Hula Hoop contest and a Limbo contest between all the moms.  For those of you that don’t know, I am a tad competitive, so when Coop said this I immediately was like, “Why didn’t you tell me so I could have been practicing?”  Yes, I would have practiced…sad…a little, but it is the truth…I may have a sickness.  I later found out Jen also knew about the contests and chose not to inform be based on my competitiveness as well…not cool Jen, just not cool 🙂

Soon the meal ended and all the kids and moms headed out the back door to get our Hula Hoop and Limbo competitiveness on.  By this time I had already had one million kids, one or two other moms and a few grandmothers ask if I was Cooper’s mom, so I did feel I was getting a little stink eye from some of the other real moms.  Once we made it outside I started surveying the hula hoop choices.

Hula hoop hint #1:  Always pick a large, weighted hula hoop. 

Never ever go super small or light…big mistake.  And then I saw “my” hula hoop…the hula hoop that was going to propel me into the winner’s circle.  I picked her up, loved on her a bit and then let Coop know that I would not be defeated.  She was a beauty, a bit dented, but I knew she was going to get the job done.  She was teal blue, with a pink and white stripe and speckles of shimmer…melt my hula hooping heart.

Coop and I knew we had a winner, so we watched after her and made sure to get her back after each round.  I rocked the first round of moms and after a few more rounds found myself in the final with 1 other mom and it was on!  The other mom took a very slow, promiscuous (use your imagination) approach to hula hooping.  I on the other hand took the “bull by the horn”…was “fast and furious”… “can’t hold me down”…basically, I am a fast hula hooper…I like a good sweat when hula hooping.  The other mom gave me a good run for my money, but in the end I prevailed and it was glorious.

I also should have been the winner of Limbo…I’m not bitter or anything, but Coop’s teacher called it a draw between me and another mom…who has ever heard of a draw in Limbo…come on Mrs. Neitch.

All-in-all, it was a great day for winning.  Coop made me proud by making it to the final 3 in the kid’s hula hoop contest and so what if it was him and 2 other girls…an aunt can be proud.  And seriously, forget trying to be the better cook or crafter or having the better husband or being the most involved mom or teaching Biblical principles to your children…Nothing says “#1 Mom (Aunt)” like beating other moms in a hula hoop contest…[cough and limbo].

On another note…my mom may officially be my #1 customer…unfortunately I do not charge her full price…ha…but really it is nice to be able to do things for my mom and I like that she comes to me for presents she needs.  I have been holding off re-opening for new orders until I finished up some family and friend orders that had been placed and I am finally done.  My mom ordered about a million things, including an adorable set of something x 9 that I cannot post yet…bummed?…I know.

The last few items she needed were all art pieces.  She wanted a 18×18 Names of Jesus gift for her preacher and 2 sweet 8×24 name pieces for some important little babies.  I love how the name pieces turned out.  Thanks mom!

I made this little robot tee for my nephew Van’s birthday.  Van just turned 2 and had an awesome robot party.  My SIL Katy had mentioned wanting a robot tee for him and of course, I was more than happy to make him something up.  Happy Birthday Van the Man!

I was also able to get the time to make up some 8×10 canvases for gifts to some special teachers in our lives.  I hope they love them.  These were referenced from Micah 6:8.

For Mother’s Day I made my mom and my MIL a canvas along with a painted Mason Jar of flowers.  My mom loved the “His eye is on the sparrow” canvas I made previously for a gift she needed, so I made her one of her own for Mother’s Day.  For my MIL’s canvas I used one of her favorite verses – Romans 8:38-39.  I also used a few words to describe each sweet lady.  Love the special moms in my life and I personally think I have the best mom ever!

Josh and I always help our niece and nephew, Coop and Campbell, each year with their Mother’s Day gifts for Josh’s sister Jen.  This year they made some super cute stuff, but they also picked out some special fabrics for Jen and I made this fabric banner for her classroom.  I love it and can you guess her favorite color?  I was totally cracking up at how Coop and Campbell stuck with blues…they love their momma and know she loves blue.

And I am officially taking new orders again.  I have been trying to get this post up since yesterday, so anyone that contacted me about orders over the past few days, I have added them to my order list.  I already finished up one order.  This 8×10 canvas was ordered by Lori in North Caroline.  She wanted a special canvas for her MOPS mentor mom.  Thanks so much Lori and hope she loves it.

Along with re-opening orders, I have another very important task before me…

we have officially ditched the diapers and are not looking back…so needless to say I am keeping a pretty close watch on these two, for my carpet’s sake!  I am working on responding to emails and getting current orders made up, but please be patient with me.  Thanks again so much…you guys rock!  Happy Wednesday!

Next year is going to be grand!

This past Saturday my brother Chris and I ran our first 1/2 marathon and lived to tell about it.  This may sound completely wimpy to some of you, but Chris and I were super nervous and neither of us wanted to run 13 miles…who really does 🙂

The day before the race, I was escorted by these two good looking men to pick up my race packet.  They were total gentlemen.

I may or may not have eaten Krispy Kreme doughnuts the night before…good or bad choice…who cares at this point because they were delicious.

I ran in honor of our sweet boy.  I prayed for him and thought about him and even finished before my goal time, so I was super pleased with my first 1/2 results.  Chris totally rocked and I am so proud of him…also so happy we have this little memory to share.  My mom and SIL Kim came out to cheer us on and did not disappoint.  They cheered, took pictures and even had a big thing of balloons to help us spot them.  When I saw my mom and Kim on the course, I have no idea why, but I threw up my “I love you” hands.

I honestly never thought I would even see them, there were 31,000 people running along with us, so the chances of seeing them seemed very slim to me.  I was a bit surprised by my picture decision.  I could have done a million other things.  The guy in the background behind me was a little like “Whaaattt?”  I don’t blame him.

Chris was nice enough to stop and love on Kim, my mom and his kiddos…he kept it classy…I kept on running and just threw up my love signs.

Harper had a soccer game that morning, so Josh and the kids did not make it out, but we celebrated afterward with none other than Chick-fil-A and a cherry coke…oh how I love thee!

All in all, it was a great experience and I am already looking for my next 1/2 to run.  And if I can do it, anyone can, really.

I have also completed a few more pieces.  I finished up another 22×30 canvas for my friend Brea.  This time Texas and I love how it turned out.  Thanks for allowing me to be apart of this art Brea.  You rock!

I also made up this 10×10 canvas for my mom to give as a gift.  It is inspired by Matthew 10:29-31.  This is actually my new favorite.  I have plans to make several more similar pieces as gifts.  It just makes way too much sense to me.

I also finished up some items for Facebook giveaways, adoption fundraisers and some friend orders.  Key fobs and a Taiwan tee (my first Taiwan tee, by the way).

I also picked up some new fabrics.  I am diggin’ these…a lot.  I haven’t been fabric shopping in a while so it was nice to see some new stuff out and it doesn’t hurt that they are all bright and fun and springy.

And I have been working on Mother’s Day presents…these are going to make some mommas happy and me too.

Happy Thursday!