Still unemployed but getting craft mojo back!

Wow, it's been awhile since my last post!   I've been still searching for a job.  In the beginning when I was laid off, it was like "Ok, I haven't had a vacation in awhile and let me take some time".   After the 1st week or 2 you get motivated into finding a job.  By the 4th, 5th, 6th month.....PANIC sets in!  I found that especially towards the end of the year there were absolutely NOTHING posted jobwise.  I think most places are wrapping up their end of year stuff and not looking to hire.  Now that it's the new year, things seem to be picking up a bit, but the problem is...there are so many people out there unemployed it's almost like playing the lottery.....not great odds!   Next week I have a 2nd interview on Monday at which they said it's between 2 of us and they'll most likely make a decision that afternoon.  I'm really hoping for that one.  It's a little less money, but still local....15 minutes from home!   If that one doesn't pan out, then I have a 3rd interview for another place that has seem promising up to this point.  This is supposedly my last stop in the interview process.  Everything seems really great about this job except for the commute.  When I calculate the cost of gas alone I'd spend in the year, I'd probably be making less than the closer job.  But at this point, I'm hoping one or the other hires me.


So I've had some time on my hands.  I got back into researching the family history more and got a bit added onto the family tree.  Finally came across some older photos of my one grandfather which was nice.  Up to that point, all I had were really old ones of my grandmother when she was little and her side of the family and then my grandfather once they were dating and then married.  So nice to find older ones of him and some of his family.  We know that one my direct ancestors (a great great etc grandfather) came over on the Mayflower, so that's exciting.   I'm trying to get photos that go back to at least my great-great grandparents and then I want to try to incorporate those photos into some sort of altered craft or scrapbook type of item.  Here's one of the photos I found of my Great Grandparents.  I just love the old vintage looking photos. 

And I've tweaked my bottlecaps a little.  My parents gave me a Sizzix Big Shot for Christmas and surprise!  I can flatten my bottlecaps with it.  That was probably the coolest thing I've done with it yet!  When my camera batteries are charged I'll share photos. 

And I've noticed that the # of my followers is starting to creep up.  Stay tune this coming week, as I think it's time for some sort of spring giveaway!!!!!

Hope all is well with everyone!
Aunt DeeDee

Christmas and New Year's Wishes!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and are looking forward to starting a brand new year! I spent a nice quiet Christmas with my parents. This is the 1st time in my 39 years that I didn't sleep at my parents house! But since we live in a 2 family house connected by a garage in the middle and all I had to do was wake up in the morning, go through my kitchen door into the garage and into their kitchen.....just sayin' it's not really much different!!! BUT it was nice to sleep cigarette and smoke free for once on Christmas Eve! Mom decided to bake a ham so she didn't have to cook much in the way of dinner.


I had mentioned about how we used to always get a puzzle for Christmas when my sister and I were little. And then mom commented how she thought a Thomas Kincaid puzzle would be pretty. So I wound up getting her a 1000 piece Thomas Kincaid puzzle and she wound up getting me 2 Springbok winter puzzles- one 500 pieces and the other 1000. Christmas day we put together the 500 piece one and the last piece was put into place at 3am! Boy that was hard!! And the other day we started the Thomas Kincaid one and we've been cursing that one out ALOT. I have no clue why we thought puzzles were so much fun!!!  Here's the one we did on Christmas, it was pretty when finished.

The most fun I have at Christmas is taking pictures of my parents cats on Christmas morning.  They currently have a total of 8 cats!  Yikes!  This year I didn't even get pics of all of them put here are a few of them:

This is Jack, but I call him Mr. Jack.   He and his sister Jill aka Beanie were mine for awhile.  We had found a home for them but the person had to give them back.  I kept them for a bit while trying to find a home for them but got in trouble when the landlord found I had them.  So mom took them for a bit and we knew at that point they'd stay with her.  She already had their brother so it was a happy family reunion with them.  Jack is still my baby boy though.  Isn't he just the most handsome lil guy???  And he ALWAYS hangs his legs over the edges of things.  Sometimes he has both hanging down....he has unually long legs. 

This is Jill aka Beanie.  She's just a teeny tiny tot.  She is really a small little girl.  All of the mean kids in the family seem to pick on her, but just like her brother, she's still my lil girl!! 

And this is Woody, their brother.  Caught him in mid yawn!  Guess we were tiring him out!!  His a big ol' boy!  I think he and his brother got all of their mama's nutrients and poor Beanie didn't!!

Awwww.....the newest additions to the house!  My parents lost 2 of their males this year within a week apart.  They were Dad's boys and he was really missing them.  While at the garden center this summer, we found the farm had kittens there and well......here are Gizmo (left) and Ralphie (right).  I hear them getting yelled at alot!!   But they had fun on Christmas morning.  Ralphie loves to shred paper...at which he gets yelled at for.  Well, he thought Santa was just the coolest for bringing lots of paper to shred that morn!

And should my mom EVER find out that I posted this picture I will surely meet my demise, but I just had to.  Snapped this while we were baking peanut butter cookies.  I'm pretty sure I got yelled at after snapping this!

And here is my little tiny prim and country tree.  You can see a bit in the above picture of my mom's tree.  She still does a more traditional tree....colored lights, various ornaments, garland.  When I went out on my own, I went different.  I love the white lights opposed to the colored lights.  And the past few years, I've participated in prim ornie swaps so just about all of my tree is handmade ornies.  Only the top portion has store bought ornaments that are small, but still prim in nature!  :)   And then I have some wooden candy canes and metal icicles that were also bought.  I found a new tree at Lowe's that I wanted to buy this year, but after losing my job I couldn't justify buying a new tree.  I always think I need a new tree but then after putting my little Charlie Brown tree up, I just love it.  So I think it will be a keeper for at least another year!

And finally I must post a picture of one of my girls, Gracie.  I tortured her this year by buying a Santa cape.  She was the only one stupid.....uhhhh I mean gracious enough to leave it on long enough to snap a pic!  She really was not amused by it!!!

Have a safe and Happy New Year!!

Aunt DeeDee

Giveaway by the Rusty Thimble

Brenda from the Rusty Thimble has been so generous with her giveaways this year.  Each month she has offered some wonderful items and given them to lucky followers of her blog.  As we close in on the end of 2010, Brenda has one last giveaway and it doesn't disappoint!!!  Go on over to her blog and check out the darling snow girl ornies that she is offering to a lucky reader! 

http://therustythimble2.blogspot.com/2010/12/december-giveaway.html

Now I'm off to do some errands and visit the craft stores.

Take care,
Aunt DeeDee

Hard Candy Christmas

Tonight I was listening to my Christmas music and Dolly Parton's Hard Candy Christmas was playing.  And as I was listening to the words, I was thinking that yes in deed, this is a hard candy Christmas.  Being out of work since mid September has been depressing.  I've had a 2 jobs in particular here in town that I wanted so bad and came really close but not close enough and all of the other jobs have quite a commute attached to them.  When I was first laid off, I thought well at least I have time to get ready for our November show but I just lacked the enthusiasm to craft.  The show finally came and I had stuff prepared but not like I would have liked.  However at the end of the day and tallying up sales, you know what? I actually had better sales than last year.  Huh?  How did that happen?   So that started to get my spirits up and at least it has renewed my creativity and I have the desire to craft.  And the job hunt continues.  So I've decided that....

I'll be fine and dandy, Lord it's like a hard candy christmas, I'm barely getting through tomorrow, But still I won't let sorrow get me way down........Dolly Parton can be SO inspiring!  :)

I hoped everyone had a great Thanksgiving and had a special time with friends and family.  It's hard to believe that Christmas is approaching at a very rapid rate.  I hope to get the house cleaned up and start decorating this week.  I've been listening to Christmas music, well I've been actually listening to it before Thanksgiving but I so love the music of this holiday.  I could listen to it all year long.  It's just so inspirational.

And lastly, I'll leave you with this story!

As you can see my Gracie Ann is not a small cat. She prefers to be called fluffy and I don't have the heart to tell her that her fur isn't all that fluffy. You would imagine it's hard to misplace a cat of Gracie's size, errr sorry, FLUFF. So one day I can't find her. I look in her all of her usual sleeping spots (since that's all she does all day long). I cannot find her anywhere. This is a small apartment, where in the world could she be? Then I notice my kitchen cabinet ajar. She has a really BAD habit of opening the cabinets under the sink so now they all get locked. But never would I have imagined what I was about to discover!

So I spy with my little eye a bit of FLUFF sticking out of the upper cabinet!



I seriously have no clue how she got up there, she's not the most agile of cats!  And to see this big ol' girl curled up so tightly in the bowl, I couldn't even be mad at her.  She must have thought that was the most uncomfortable bed!

So next time you open that kitchen cupboard, BEWARE!  You never know what may be lurking inside! 

Have a great night!
Aunt DeeDee

7Gypsies New Holiday Goodies!

Oh my 7Gypsies has their new holiday goodies out and they are just great!!!    The holiday stamps are awesome.    Check out their blog and new products and their holiday giveaway.

http://sevengypsies.blogspot.com/2010/10/very-merry-gypsy-holiday-indeed-and.html

Update on life and GIVEAWAY alert!

Sorry I haven't posted in a bit!   I was laid off from my job a few weeks ago and I've been in a bit of a slump.  Not many hiring out there for what I do so it's a little discouraging.  I've got my fingers crossed and saying prayers for a job here in town.  The office is just at the bottom our hill....it would be so nice to be that close for work.  No worries about the cost of gas, wear and tear on the car, etc.   But since Mom hasn't been able to craft since they are working on an addition for their side of the house, I've got the time right now to be working on stuff for the show in November.  So I guess that's a plus!    I'll post pics soon of things I've been working on.  I just did a big batch of bottlecaps on Sunday and they're hard now so I can work on getting them made into pins, magnets or necklaces.

Now for the giveaway alert.....not one from me but Brenda over at the Rusty Thimble!  She's got a GORGEOUS prim santa up for grabs for a giveaway this month made from a pattern of Sandy's at The Olde Country Cupboard.   Check it out!!! 

Until later,
Aunt DeeDee

By Your Hands Blog...Have you checked them out?

Good morning!  What's everyone planning for their weekend???  My day is going to be cleaning.  I have so much crafting to do but everyone thing is a mess and disorganized so I thought I'd feel better taking today to do a good cleaning and then I can concentrate on crafting tomorrow.

So have you found By Your Hands Blog ?  It's a great blog that showcases Featured Artists, Tutorials, Tips on Organizing (I really enjoy that one!!), Trash to Treasure and many more different elements.  Go on over and check them out!  They also have a giveaway this month from Krsital Norton of Rags N Tags . 

Click here to visit By Your Hands Blogspot!

Aunt DeeDee