Pinterest Addiction

Well, I don't know about you, but I'm addicted to Pinterest. I have 66 boards with over 3,500 pins! OMG! I really love it. I have a huge craft show that I participate in November so I've saved a bazillion craft ideas to make things for that show. I'm amazed at the ideas that are on Pinterest. I'm planning on starting early (now!) to get ready for this craft show with a lot of the ideas that I've pinned on Pinterest. And there are so many great recipes on there, too. So if you haven't been on Pinterest yet, get on there and start pinning. Look for Sharon Dennison and follow my boards!

What Happened to January?

I was sure I'd be blogging more in 2012. Somehow I slept through the whole month of January. My motivation has gone somewhere... where I'm not sure. I haven't accomplished anything and now February is moving along, too. Funny how that happens. I've been sick for two weeks, just like everyone else I guess, because here in Indiana we've had no winter to speak of and therefore it hasn't been cold enough to freeze the cold and flu viruses. So I've felt lousy physically and it's affected me mentally, too. I've been in a bad spot the last few weeks. But I see a glimmer at the end of the tunnel. I'm ready to get started on some of my crafts and get going with some things. I've wasted enough time of 2012 already. So I'm hoping this weekend to get moving and forget about all this dreary weather and find something fun to work on.

Sharon

Happy 2012

I for one am very happy the holidays are over. I'm looking forward to 2012. I have a lot of great new ideas for crafts for my craft shows. I just have to get in the right mind set to start on them. I've been in a "funk" lately, I guess because of the holidays, but now that they're over I need to get moving on the crafts so I can have plenty ready for the big show I'll be participating in come November.

I'm really interested in Pinterest. Have you been on Pinterest? It's amazing. I have 40 boards with almost 2,000 pins. I need to figure out how to put the link on my blog to Pinterest so you can hop over there and see my boards. I really like Pinterest as there are so many amazing ideas there, from other people's blogs, websites or wherever. I'm on it every day adding new and interesting pins. You really need to check it out if you haven't already!

Hope everyone had good holidays and that you have a great 2012.

Talk to you soon.
Sharon

We Got Through Christmas, Somehow

Friday, December 23rd, was my birthday and I went out to dinner with my son, Adam. We had a great time and didn't get home until 9:30. My significant other wanted to go out then so he could buy me his traditional card and flowers and I said I was too tired and didn't want to go. So for the first time in 19 years I didn't get a card and flowers from him on my birthday. Needless to say, I was disappointed that he didn't plan ahead a little better and go get the items while I was gone with Adam, or gosh, I don't know, possibly plan ahead and get them earlier in the week. He blamed me for being gone late in the evening. At any rate, he was a no-show on my birthday and I was not happy.

The tree was finally decorated Christmas Eve after I spent all day on Christmas Eve shopping. I had to wait until my commission from ThirtyOne came in to go shopping. I then had to get up early on Christmas Day to pop everything in gift bags as I had no time to actually wrap stuff. My significant other didn't help do anything. Another no show. He's in the dog house as you can imagine.

My stress level hit an all-time new high this year. I'm hoping next year will be better.

I'm up to 32 boards on Pinterest. I love it! It has so much to offer as far as crafts and such.

I guess I'd better sign off for now. Have to get on Pinterest and I'm watching my basketball team play tonite. I have a lot going on!!

Until next time.
Sharon

7 Days 'Til Christmas and My Tree is Still Not Decorated...

I guess I'd better get busy and get my tree decorated as it's only 7 days until Christmas. It's standing in the living room completely undecorated. I had a bazillion things to do today before we could go to my significant other's great niece's 2nd birthday party. And somehow the tree decorating didn't happen. I need to find one of those light connector things that you can feed through the tree to connect all of your lights to because our other one was broken when we got it out to use it. We've had it so long that I don't even know if they make them any longer. I'll look for it after work tomorrow. Then I can get the tree decorated. I guess that means I can leave it up longer after the holidays 'cause it's taken me so long to get it decorated. Works for me. All the other decorations are finally finished. Finally...

My friend told me yesterday about Pinterest. I'd never heard of it until then. We were shopping at a shop and the owner there mentioned Pinterest, too. So I went on it and looked around. It seems very interesting. I asked for an invite, but I'm on the waiting list. Hopefully, I'll get the invite soon so I can get on there and start my pin boards.

I'm going to lunch with a good friend tomorrow who works with me. We'll be going to a local restaurant that is a lovely girly place (no beer, no TVs, no steaks, etc.). But it has homemade, soups, salads, sandwiches and divine desserts. I can't wait. We'll be exchanging gifts and enjoying a great lunch. My birthday is the end of this week, December 23rd. I'm not crazy about having a Christmas birthday, never have been, but it is what it is. I'll be 55 and have always had to deal with it. You'd think I'd be used to it by now. :)

OK, I guess I'd better go for now. Talk with you later.
Sharon

Hello - It's finally me again after all this time!

I have not been on my blog since March of this year. I have decided to get back into the swing of life with everyone else and my blog should help with that. I apologize to my "followers" who have not heard from me in so many months. I'm going to make a very conscious effort to do better. Thanks for being my follower! I appreciate you're being there.

I went out with a friend today. We used to go out shopping, going to yard sales, and antiquing a lot, but with the economy, neither one of us has a lot of extra money to do things anymore. But we went to a local town to have lunch and shop a little at one of our favorite stores. It's one of those stores that has so many cute things - decorations (seasonal and otherwise), primitives, quilts, candles, etc. We stopped at a few other stores and had a good time reconnecting with the town and each other.

I've been very busy lately making wool felt/wool pillows and ornaments to sell. I recently participated in the Christkindlmarkt show at Ferdinand, Indiana and made $375 over the 2-day show! I was amazed at the large crowd they had. It was held the 3rd weekend in November. I have many great ideas for next year's show and as soon as the holidays are over, I'm starting on the projects for next year so I'll have more items to offer. I only had 10 things to sell the 2nd day of the show because I sold so much the 1st day! This show is on the American Bus Association's top 100 places to visit in North America! There were buses coming in from all over. Last year, there were 7,500 in attendance. I think they were even more this year. I'm so excited to be planning my booth for next year's show. So if you live in the area, plan on the 3rd weekend in November 2012 for the Christkindlmarkt in Ferdinand, Indiana. You'll love it.

We also had a great show at my work (a law firm). I sold $120 worth of pillows. And I've sold about $150 worth of pillows to my fellow rug hookers in our Guild. So I've got to get busy and make more pillows! All of my pillows are handmade, even the pillows are sewn by hand, I don't use a sewing machine to sew them together. I've attached a couple of pictures of some of the pillows so you can see what I'm referring to.

OK, enough about me. It's good to be back blogging.

Stop in to say hello.
Sharon

I have completely forgotten my blog...

I'm hoping with the signs of spring that I'm coming out of the "funk" I've been in for three months. You know - laying on the couch, not doing anything, except gaining weight!! I didn't get my Christmas stuff put away until the last weekend in February. (I was trying to get it put away before March...) Duh. I'm sorry to those who have signed up to be my followers that there's been nothing to follow on my blog lately. Thanks for being patient and faithful. I'm going to try to do better, I promise.

I've been working on spring crafts for an upcoming craft show that I'll be participating in soon. This has helped my mood some. I worked on some crafts before the holidays for fall/holiday craft shows and haven't really picked up anything since then. Well, those days are over!! Over, I say!! I've got to get my act together. Get some weight off, get things organized at my house, etc.

I'm supposed to be moving in with my significant other of 19 years, but just can't get my act together to get the house listed. I'm a collector of a lot of STUFF and some of it is going to have to go away for me to be able to move in with my SO. He has the home his Dad was born in that's 125 years old. It needs a lot of work. And it basically has no storage at all because back then people didn't have many clothes or collectibles. What am I going to do with all this stuff that I've been collecting for 25 years?

Well, anyway, I'm hoping to get some cleanup-type things accomplished this weekend as it's supposed to be warm here this weekend.

I promise to do better with posting, etc. And soon I hope to have a giveway, my first. I'll keep you posted on the giveway thing.

See ya' later.
Sharon

Hello 2011!

Well, once again, I've neglected to post regularly. I've been down in the dumps lately and have completely forgotten about my blog. How sad is that? I also forgot my blogoversary! I was going to have a giveaway in honor of my blogoversary, but will need to wait a little while due to some financial issues. But in a few weeks, I plan on having a blogoversary giveaway, just a little later than than actual date.

Hope everyone had good holidays. Just glad they're over - no more shopping and trying to stretch the almighty dollar. Hopefully 2011 will be better financially.

I also hope to blog more this year (so far in 2011 I've not done very well in that regard). I can only hope to do better than last year!!

See you on the next blog.
Sharon

Christmas Decorations Are Up!

Amazingly, I got the fall stuff put away on Sunday and a lot of my Christmas decorations out!! I have a rather large collection of Santas, but didn't put a lot of them out so the decorating didn't take as long as it has in some years. I'm thinking about selling some of the smaller Santas on eBay just to minimize the collection.

But I'm very glad to have the decorations out! I don't have the tree decorated, but think that will happen tomorrow night. Now if I can only get my shopping finished (or started...), I'll be happy. I've watched some movies on TV lately and feel I need to relieve some of my holiday stress, most of which is self-inflicted. I have a Christmas birthday (December 23rd) so the holidays are stressful for me anyway and the last few years, they just seem to be getting worse. So I'm going out in the next few days to do some shopping (or all of it...).

I have some vacation days after Christmas so I'll be off work from Christmas Eve until after the New Year and I'm looking forward to being off work and working on some crafts. Working on my crafts always helps me be less stressed.

And my blogoversary is coming up soon so I might have a giveaway, who knows...

I'm Behind With the Holiday Cheer

The pictures posted above are from last year. I haven't got any of my holiday decorations out yet and haven't even started my shopping for the holidays. My significant other and I spent 16 hours over the Thanksgiving weekend decorating the conference room floor of my employer (a large law firm). It turned out beautiful and I've had many compliments about how lovely it is. But since then I've had no motivation to get my fall stuff put away and start getting out the holiday decorations at home. I have a large amount of fall decorations that I put out and it's rather overwhelming to put it all away and then get started getting all the holiday stuff out. I have a rug hooking event for my guild this Saturday, but I'm determined to get started on the decorating when I get home on Saturday afternoon. We'll see... It sounds good, but I lose my motivation easily. I usually would have my holiday decorations out by now, but taking the whole Thanksgiving weekend to decorate somewhere else kinda put a damper on that. Granted I did the decorating at work because they paid me and I need the money to buy Christmas gifts. It's all such a vicious circle!!

I'm trying to make a promise to myself that I'll get a lot of it accomplished this weekend. I'll post later about whether that happens or not!

Happy Thanksgiving!

My intent to blog more often has once again gone by the wayside. So instead I'll wish all of my fellow bloggers a Happy Thanksgiving. I sometimes grumble about the things in my life - my finances, the stress in my job, my family's issues - but they are all trivial. I'm very thankful for my job, my family and my home. I know others are less fortunate so today I'll try to remember all that I have and be thankful for it.

Hope each of you has a nice Thanksgiving.
Sharon

I Haven't Posted in Over a Month!!

I don't know what's come over me! I haven't posted in over a month! Sometimes I feel like I have nothing important to say. Other times, I'm covered up and can't even find a little time to post, even a small one.

This time of year I sell handmade crafts at a few craft shows and I've been busy getting ready for those. Unfortunately, this year I procrastinated and waited until 2 weeks before the 1st show to start making additional items. Hello!!! All of my items are hand sewn - pillows, ornaments, pincushions, etc. - and it takes some time to actually make the items as I don't use a sewing machine. My sewing machine and I are not exactly BFFs... So I had a craft show today and was up until 4:00 a.m. last night finishing several items. I'm wore out now after the show. I didn't sell a lot of stuff today which is always disappointing, but there's not much you can do about it. It didn't seem like we had as big a crowd as we've had in the past. I'll blame it on the economy.

I've been in a slump lately mainly due to my financial situation which is really dragging me down. I barely have enough $$ to pay my bills and then there's rarely any extra for groceries and gas, you know, the non-essential stuff. It exhausts me trying to borrow from Peter to pay Paul and then try how to sell something to get a little left over for Mary.

The only bright side is that I've started selling ThirtyOne products (purses, tote bags, etc.). I've had 2 shows besides my open house which I had to get started. Both of my shows were over $1,000 in sales each. So I'll make over $500 for the 2 shows!! YAY!! I'll get the money on November 10th. I'll be so glad to get the $$ as I'm behind on some bills. (I get really tired of saying that...)

I'm hoping that this ThirtyOne job is going to ease my financial situation some. I figured I could make better money selling ThirtyOne products than I could if I went to Target or WalMart for minimum wage and then they made me work every weekend stocking shelves. I'm not exactly a spring chicken and after I've worked all day at my regular job, I don't know that I'm up to stocking shelves. Besides my significant other works 2nd shift and I really only get to see him on the weekends and Target or WalMart would schedule me EVERY weekend between now and Christmas. Plus I get to sell cool purses and tote bags. That's way better than stocking shelves.

I'll try to do better posting on my blog. I'm trying to get an attitude adjustment about life in general, but have been really dragging lately due to financial burdens.

I'll post again soon, promise.
Sharon

Hectic Weekend

I'm so very glad this past weekend is over. My significant other's family had a family reunion which we were in charge of on Saturday and I had an open house to start my ThirtyOne business on Sunday. Too much going on for one weekend!! The only good thing is that my house is really clean now and all my lovely fall decorations are out.

I just love my pumpkins and can't wait every year to get them out. I wish I had a place big enough to leave them all out year round. Pumpkins are my favorite things and I love the color terra cotta. I'll try to take some pictures and post them soon of my decorations. I think you'll like them.

It's finally cooled off enough to be fall-like outside and we're enjoying that, too. I'm over the heat and humidity as I know most everyone else is, too.

Happy fall to everyone!

Sharon

I'm Now a Thirty-One Consultant

I signed up today to be a Thirty-One consultant. If you've not heard of Thirty-One, it's a company that sells purses, tote bags, backpacks, storage bags, etc. in a variety of prints and you have the option to have the bags embroidered with your initials. I'm hoping this will be a good endeavor for me. I've sold other direct sales over the years - Pampered Chef, At Home America, Premier Jewelry - so I know I can sell these purses and bags. They are so cute and the embroidery makes them even better. They will make great gifts especially with the holidays fast upon us. I need the extra money (don't we all?) and I hope that this will be the ticket.

Check out their website - www.thirtyonegifts.com.

Sharon

No Ribbons on My Rugs :(

Well, I went to the Kentucky State Fair today on my lunch hour and to my surprise there were no ribbons on my rugs... :( I was really bummed. I felt sure that I had a winner of one ribbon or another this year. Whoever was in charge at the Fair this year in displaying the rugs did a pitiful job. My table runner was rolled up (along with some of the other table runners) and you could only see about 1/5th of the rug. The pumpkin rug was thrown over a rod in a glass case and you couldn't really see the whole rug. The only rug you could see entirely was the pomegranate rug which displayed well. I've decided not to enter any more rugs in the Fair. Apparently the judges don't like my work or the way I hook. Either way, I was very disappointed and so I went shopping after work and bought myself some new pumpkins to go with the 16 tubs of pumpkins I already own... probably didn't really need any more, but I'm in love with pumpkins so I can always use a few more!!

I appreciate the positive comments I received about my rugs. At least someone liked them!!

Sharon

Tomorrow's the Big Day

Tomorrow I'm going out to the Fairgrounds at the Kentucky State Fair to see if I've won any ribbons!! I hope that I have, but won't know until I get there. I'll be disappointed if I don't because I worked really hard on the three rugs I turned in this year. My style is different than anyone else's around my area. It's called higgledy piggledy which is a more random style of hooking than hooking in rows like most hookers prefer to hook. It's definitely a unique style and not too many hookers use this style of hooking. Deanne Fitzpatrick hooks in a style of hooking similar to this if you've ever seen her rugs or videos.

I changed the background on my blog today. I'm pleased with how it looks. I'm so ready for fall!! I only hope we actually get to have a fall season. After having such a hot sweltering summer, we're probably not going to have much of a fall season and will probably go right into winter. Ugh!! We had snow on the ground for 2 months last year which is highly unusual for this area. I hope we don't have a repeat of that again this year... :(

I'll post again tomorrow to let you know about the results of my rugs in the competition at the Fair!! Thanks for the nice comments about my rugs.

Sharon

Pictures of My 3 New Rugs - Taken to The Fair Today!

Here are pictures of the 3 rugs I entered in the Kentucky State Fair today. I won't know until Thursday of this week whether they will win any ribbons. I'm extremely proud of my rugs this year. I think they all turned out great, but then I am a little biased...

The first rug is the rug I tried to get finished in time for last year's Kentucky State Fair and it just didn't happen. It is adaptation from a Blackbird Designs pattern called Autumn's Grand Finale. I really love this rug and am glad I was able to enter it this year.

The second rug is a table runner and is adapted from a Sally Van Nuys pattern which was featured a few years back in the Create and Decorate magazine. She used a dark wool for her background, but I chose a plaid for mine and it made the background of the runner very different than the original pattern. I think it turned out well, and of course, I adpated it to suit my tastes.

The last rug is a white luminary pumpkin. Pumpkins are my favorites and I can't wait to hang this up next month along with my other fall decorations!!

I always draw my own patterns even if I have a pattern to go by. That makes my patterns my own as I "tweak" them as I hook them. As you can see, I lean toward the primitives which is how I decorate my home. I really love the creativity that rug hooking gives me. I'm so glad I've found rug hooking, but wish I had known about it sooner!

I'm going to have to stop hooking for a while as I have several fall craft shows coming up and I have to have stitcheries, wool felt pillows, penny rugs, pincushions, ornaments, etc. ready for the shows and must get busy with these items to have them ready in time.

I hope you like the rugs. Feel free to leave me comments to let me know what you think. I've only been hooking 3 years in November, but am very proud of what I've accomplished in my rug hooking. I'll let you know later in the week regarding the results of whether I won any ribbons at the Fair!!

Sharon

A Very Good Weekend - Rug Hooking, Pig Roast and a Picnic

Finally, a good weekend! The hot weather finally broke some and the humidity wasn't so bad. It was still hot, but with the lower humidity, it was much more enjoyable outside. I was off on Friday to take care of some things at home. My significant other and I went to Bass Pro to buy some hunting boots for his brother who was on vacation. We went to Cracker Barrel for a nice breakfast and then came home to cut down a dead tree in my yard. He works 2nd shift so he went to work and I worked the rest of the day on finishing one of my rugs for the Kentucky State Fair. The finished rugs are due to be turned in next weekend before the Fair starts. So it's down to crunch time!!

Then on Saturday, I worked again on my rug while I was fixing some picnic food to take to a pig roast. We went to the pig roast which was about 1 hour away from home. We had a good time and the potluck food that everyone brought was awesome - especially this potato casserole with bacon on top (yum) and this incredible homemade pecan pie (double yum!!).

This morning we went to a local Catholic picnic and then to my significant other's brother's farm for him to help his nephew do some work on the farm. I worked again on my rug trying to get it finished in time for next weekend. When they were finished working, we came home and went over to his brother's to see his great niece who's 7 months old. She is the sweetest thing. I didn't get to see her last weekend, and I was having a bad case of withdrawal... I had a bad week, but she always makes me feel better. She's changed a lot in 2 weeks and is talking up a storm. Babies are good medicine when you're feeling down!

So basically it was a pretty busy weekend. Unless something crazy happens, I'll have my rugs ready to turn in next weekend to the Fair. I hope they do well this year in the competition. I'd love to get ribbons on all 3... we'll have to wait until the 19th to see how the judging goes. There's a lot of heavy competition in rug hooking in my area and some amazing rugs are entered in the Fair. I always think mine are worthy of blue ribbons, but then I don't do the judging!! I'll post some pics before I turn them in at the Fair.

Hope everyone has a good week. It's supposed to heat up again here... can't wait!!

Sharon

Diappointing eBay Sales

I have a lot of items on eBay now because I need to downsize some of the massive amount of stuff that I have in my home. The unfortunate thing is that I'm not selling much. I'm assuming a lot of it has to do with the economy. Maybe other people trying to sell things on eBay aren't selling theirs either. I really need the money. This living from paycheck to paycheck stinks and really wears on my nerves. I'm trying to downsize because I'm supposed to be getting my house ready to put on the market so I can move in with my significant other of 18 years. I have 25 years of stuff that I need to downsize to be able to move in with him into a house that's 125 years old with one closet on the first floor that's about 15-18 inches wide... It's more than overwhelming. But my bills are suffocating me and we're paying 2 mortgages for 2 homes and 2 sets of utilities and all that goes with having 2 separate homes. I just need to get motivated to get everything ready to stick a sign in my yard that says FOR SALE. Overwhelming barely touches how I feel.

But I'm bummed that my stuff on eBay is not selling. It's good stuff like Gooseberry Patch books, rug hooking wool, wool felt patterns, etc. I guess I'll have to yet another yard sale to see if I can make some money there. It's SO HOT to have yard sales and the weatherman acts like it's not going to let up anytime soon.

Well, something will probably work out. It always does.

More Posting

Sometimes I feel I should post more. But sometimes I just don't have much to say. Some of the blogs I follow post almost every day. I'd like to come up with a catchy same-day-of-the-week-post like Whatcha Doin' Wednesday, Teacup Tuesday or Freebie Friday or something on those lines that I see on other blogs, but have yet to come up with something snappy like that. I know I would have more followers if I posted more. So as of today, I'll be posting more. About what, I'm not sure.

I'm working on finishing 2 of my rugs which I've entered in the Kentucky State Fair (see my previous post). I enjoy rug hooking very much. It's a very creative outlet for me. I create my own designs and then draw them on the linen. I pretty much do that with everything I work on - stitcheries, wool felt, penny rugs, etc. - I may have a pattern to go by, but I usually adapt it for what I need or what I like and rarely use the pattern to actually draw it on the medium I'm working with. I'm continually flying by the seat of my pants!!

I have several craft shows coming up this fall and into November. I need to get busy making my items to sell. I've been in a slump lately. This hot weather we've been having FOREVER has really been taking its toll on me. I come home and should get busy working on new items to sell, but instead I sit on the couch in potato mode until it's time to go to bed. But first, I have to finish the two rugs I'm hooking as they'll be due at the Fair August 14th for the competition. So I guess I'd better leave this post and get busy hooking. I'll post a picture of the table runner I'm hooking as soon as I have it finished which should be in a few days.

Try to stay cool this weekend if it's hot where you are. The heat index was 105 degrees here today... :(

Sharon