Wanna win $100?...

then check out Steph's blog here. She had 10,000 hits in 6 months
and wants to give away some Blog Candy!

Check it out on her blog.
Good Luck!
xoxo
Csmoferret

Laughing my self sick...

I just found this link through Crafty Chica 's Twitter page
and it made me laugh so hard I started coughing...
not a good thing but definitely funny to read!

You have been warned! (Click on the link to check it out)

Glitter Lung


Enjoy!
xoxo
Csmoferret

Focus on...

Inspired 2009 Art Journal pages...


I had to re-make my Inspired One Word Art Journal pages due
to an accident with a cracked jar of black gesso. My first
pages were sewn on and I really loved them but the huge
black paint blobs really messed them up...

Sooo here are the results of my Re-Do...
the fronts...
the backs...
the fronts...
the backs...
more fronts...
more backs...
fronts...
last backs...

My One Word for the year is FOCUS based on Ali Edward's Annual
One Word project and I definitely need to work on focusing on getting
things finished, crossing things off the 'To Do' List, and spending
time enjoying my family.

I discovered I really like the Making Memories paper paints more than
acrylics for this project. They just really worked for me on this watercolor
paper.

I can't wait to get all of the pages back.
Enjoy!
xoxo
Csmoferret

Inspired '09 Charm Swap Photos...

I hosted the Inspired 2009 Charm Swap and here are the lovely
charms the Ladies swapped...




Here are closer photos of the lovely creations these
ladies made to swap...


My apologies to Jilliene for misspelling her name on the sorting paper.

Amazing, huh?

Jeff surprised me by taking this picture of me sorting the charms on the
dinner table...

So I returned the favor! Ha!
This is the box pile...it was larger than this by the time we
were finished!

As soon as I get the bracelets for Donna and the teachers made I will
post pictures.

Enjoy!
xoxo
-Csmoferret

Paperclipping Video Tutorials...

Check out the awesomeness that is Paperclipping! Click on 

the picture to the left and it will take you directly to the 

Paperclipping Website. They recently released their 

100th video tutorial and it was very cool!  I have learned 

so much from watching these tutorials!

Enjoy!

xoxox

Csmoferret

PS- Tell them Csmoferret sent you! : )

The Farm Chicks are having a Give-Away...

Check out their blog here. And the incredible fabric
from Pixie Dust Decor here.

Sign up for the give away to win 2 yards of yummy fabrics!

Good Luck!
xoxo
-Csmoferret

Now, THIS is Talent!

If you haven't heard or seen this video of Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent
you must be living under a rock or on a deserted island without any contact
with the outside world. LOL! Just kidding, but seriously...this is just the
most beautiful singing I have heard and I have to share it
with you!

Listen/Watch here.


Enjoy!!
xoxox
Csmoferret

My first item is up on Etsy!!

If you wanted one of my Creative Escape 2007
Charm Swap Charms you are in luck! I have
just listed them as my first items in my Etsy
Shop!! Check them out here.

I will be listing more items over the next
few weeks so check back soon!

XoXo
Csmoferret

Got Scraps? Need to revitalize some shoes?...

Check out this great tutorial on recycling fabric scraps as
shoe decorations.

I love this kind of stuff but never seem to think of it
before I have already donated the shoes. Definitely
going to try this one out soon, though. I have a plan! LOL!

Have a Great Good Friday!
xoxo
Csmoferret

Check out Zing!

I have the American Craft's blog on my Google Blog reader
and I was thrilled to see this today.

Absolutely amazingly cool! Check it out!

xoxox
Csmoferret

Enabler Alert!!!

Check out all the new Scrapbook stuff at Michael's!

I just read this great blog post and she shares some
great photos of the new scrapbook products at
Michael's stores now. Sign up to follow her blog
while you are there!

Don't forget all of the terrific coupons in today's
Newspaper!

Enjoy!
xoxo
Csmoferret

How to make a comment...

I just got an email from a nice lady who asked 'How do I comment on
your blog?'

Well, you decide which post you wish to leave a comment on and then
scroll to the bottom. There is a 'comments' statement on the right of the
blog post at the bottom. If there are no comments it will say '0 comments'
and if there are some comments then it will give that number and then
the word. For example, '5 comments' means there are 5 comments
attached to that blog post.

Using your mouse, click on the '0 comments' (or '#comments' , if you
prefer) and then you will be automagically taken to a comments
form.

Fill out your comment and then your email info and click on
the orange publish your comment button. Your comment
will not show up on my blog right away, instead, it will be
emailed to me and I will read it and post it to the blog myself.

Don't get discouraged if you don't see it show up on the blog
post - it will get posted as soon as I see it.

I do appreciate all of the emails I have received regarding
the porn site comment and I also appreciate how many
of you are willing to put up with comment moderation.
I am curious, though, as to the number of you who enjoy
emailing but don't bother to comment.

I would love to post comments to my blog so
please don't be shy!

xoxox
Csmoferret

I'm checking all comments...

I know that sounds like "Big Brother" but I've just received
several 'nice' sounding comments that were actually from
porn site hosts! Yep! I deleted them but now they know someone
is connected to the address they sent a message to and I am sure
I will be seeing many more raunchy messages in the future.

I am now checking each and every comment before publishing
the comment on the post it is sent to. I have small children who
look over my shoulder while I am typing and I do not
want or need them to be exposed to that sort of post or website.
Yep - I'm a prude. But you knew that. I admitted it in the last
post. LoL!

I hope those who dislike moderated comments will understand.
I don't like to do this but it appears I don't have a choice right now.

Thanks for visiting and leaving comments and understanding!
xoxox
Csmoferret

LOAW 5 Uploaded... & more

Well, I had hoped to get this layout done and uploaded before today
because I wanted to be ahead of the game but life took a decidedly
more interesting path on Wednesday afternoon. More about that in
a minute. Here is the info about the layout...

This is the other half of the Scrapjammies kit I used to make the other
ballet layout and I also added a few ballet stickers from K&Co and
journaled with a Sharpie marker. This layout will stand alone and will
be in our All About Us LOM album in Punkin's section. Even though it
is about ballet, the journaling is to her about her and not about 'Things
we Do" or any of the other album subjects. That's why I decided to place
it in 'Us'.

I loved her routine for this tap performance, but I thought the
costumes were kind of different. I don't know, I guess the way the
kids were wearing them with their bellies hanging out like they were
pregnant really looked odd but they had fun. The stage moms
(me included) tried to straighten out the costumes before they
walked on stage but as soon as the girls started to move the
bloomers bunched up and the top pulled up under their arms.
Kind of odd, but I'm a prude. I know.Sorry, I just can't help it.

I did make the big initials on all of the towels and the girls came
out on stage wrapped in their towels with their initials showing
to the crowd. Then when the music (She wore an itsy bitsy yellow
polka dot bikini) got to the line where the chorus starts "1,2,3,4
Tell the people what she wore..." they dropped their towels
and started their routine. It was too cute! You could tell
this was the girls favorite routine because they all were very
focused and really having fun with it.

The most important part of the routine? Punkin had a great
time doing it and really enjoyed being on stage with her
friends. Believe me, the smiles that they all wore were
dazzling!

So that is my layout for the week. I had hoped to make more
than one - I have several ideas floating around in my head but
this is the only one I managed to finish. So at least I'm on time
posting. Yay!


Okay, about last week. Just a warning, this is long and ...

***** If you don't like hospital stories skip out now and have a great day!*****



On Wednesday, Buddy started complaining about the
right side of his abdomen hurting. I knew he had exercised
pretty heavily with Daddy the day before and gave him some
tylenol meltaways and put some ice on his hip (where he was
pointing). That seemed to help and he took another
dose of tylenol at bedtime.

When he got up on Thursday morning he was crying about it
hurting even more and I told him I would make an appointment
for the doctor and pick him up from school. Well, I got the
appointment made for 10am but he didn't wait. I got a call at
9am from the school nurse saying he had returned all of his
breakfast in a trashcan in class and would need to leave the
premises because he was obviously sick.

I picked him up and took him to the doctor an hour early.
The doc took a look at him, registered his 98.8 degree fever,
his nausea, his abdominal pain and sent us to the Emergency
Room at the Children's Hospital in the next town.

We got there at 11am. Got signed in, he got put in a wheelchair,
got registered and then sat and waited until 3pm before they
even took us back for him to be seen. He was extremely
uncomfortable but was very well behaved. Finally they took
us back and he was examined, got an IV port and then sent
off for a CT Scan. That took only about 10 minutes and then
we were back down in the ER in an arctic corner room.
Everyone was very nice and pleasant and professional.

We were supposed to have the results within the hour. At
6:30pm I finally got a nurse to check on the results. Turns out
they had forgotten us. The ER doctor came in and said the scan
was inconclusive and they wanted to keep him for observation
overnight. At that point Buddy fell apart and started demanding
to see Punkin. The doctor kind of wigged out and wanted to
know why it was so important to see his sister. When I explained
they were twins he backed off and said "Ooooh, that makes
perfect sense then."

When the Doc asked if she was his big or little sister Buddy said 'Both. She
is my big sister and my little sister and I am her big brother and her little
brother. We are very lucky." The Doctor looked at Buddy
and smiled and said "Yes, it appears you are."

Buddy was really good the whole time,of course, all of the
movies they played helped. Night at the Museum, Fantastic 4,
Cars, Ratatouille, and A ScoobyDoo Mystery movie all kept him
from going bonkers. Yes. We saw all of those MOVIES in
the ER waiting and exam rooms!

I called Daddy and he and Punkin came to the ER and about
2 hours later we were upstairs in a room. The funny thing is
Daddy and Punkin actually had the room number on their
ID bracelets 2 hours BEFORE we were ever allowed to leave
the ER! They had already been upstairs to the room before
we ever got the paper work done.

Because, again, the ER staff had forgotten we were there!
Daddy and Punkin's arrival actually jogged their memory
but I still had to bug them a few times to get things going.
They kept talking about how busy everything was but there
were only 2 other patients in the entire ER. Not all that busy,
really. Because Buddy wasn't crying in pain, anymore,
he had totally slipped their minds.

Needless to say - we were glad to move to the room. They
hooked up an IV on Buddy because he hadn't kept anything
down since dinner the night before and they wanted
him to refrain from eating or drinking anything in case he
had to have surgery. They also came in every 30 minutes to
check his vitals and fever and each nurse chuckled
at the sign he made for his door.
'Cause, you know? He is! (That's Amma's nickname for him.)

By the time the Surgeon arrived at 6am to consult with us we
were so wiped out that it didn't really dawn on either of us what
he said until he was leaving ... NO surgery required!
Buddy didn't have appendicitus! He had an extremely sprained
hip joint!! Because he is so skinny and narrow through the hips
his pain was where the Doctors would
expect the appendix pain to be. We were thrilled and
called Daddy to let him know that we were going to be going home.

Well - the floor doctor didn't agree. He had to evaluate Buddy
himself. After a rather extensive exam he also declared
Buddy to be free of appendix problems and prescribed 'no
running/biking/skating/jumping/strenous exercise, etc. for
the next 2 weeks' so his hip could heal.

That brought the total number of Doctors to 5! 2 in ER,
2 floor Docs and the Surgeon. Although we are absolutely
thrilled he didn't need surgery and was considerably
better on Friday morning, it cost us over $10,000 to learn it.

Of course it could have just as easily been a bad appendix and
required surgery. I'm so glad it didn't and will gladly set up the
payment arrangements for the experience. It's just overwhelming
when you realize how quickly your day or week can completely
change and how, suddenly, things that you had on your 'To Do' list
are no longer all that important.

Whew - this turned out to be much longer than I thought
it would be! At least it ends with good news! : ) Right now,
the twins are arguing over a Wii game. Buddy just told Punkin
to "just get over it" regarding a move on Mario Cart.
So glad everything is back to normal! LOL!!

Thanks for making it through the whole crazy story.
I know it wasn't all that big a deal in the long run but it
does feel good to get it out of my head so I can make room
for the next wild and crazy thing that happens. LOL!

Here's to a calm and uneventful weekend!
xoxox
Csmoferret

Inspired 2009 Charms...DONE!

SPOILER ALERT!
Okay, if you are a participant of either Inspired Charm Swap #1 or #2
and you don't want to see the charms before you get them,
STOP READING and have a great day!! : )

If you are curious, then scroll down...














Keep going.....












Ahhh, here you are!

Disclaimer: I am not a professional jewelry craftsman (um,
craftswoman) and I don't claim to be so I may not have
made my charms 'correctly' but I am proud of how they
turned out. If I did it wrong feel free to correct me,
politely, please.

Yesterday afternoon I finished my charms for the second charm swap
and since I haven't posted my charms from my swap either, I thought
I would post them all together.

This is the pile of packaged Charm Swap #1 charms. I love the look of
the printed cardstock toppers on the little cellophane baggies and to make
these toppers a bit different I used the new Fiskars Apron Lace border
punch and some aqua cardstock to make fancy edges. Punkin was a big
help filling the baggies and then stapling the toppers on. She loved
putting these together with me. We had a nice production line
going and got them done pretty quickly.

Here is a close up of the charms I made...

I placed the penny in the photo so you could get a better idea of how
long the charms are. I used 2 black seed beads, 2 pink glass cube
beads, a clear glass bead with the black center with pink flowers
embedded in it and a spiral dangle charm all on a 3 inch head pin
that I curved, added the lobster clasp and spiral and then twisted
around itself. No pesky jump rings here.

My first prototypes had jump rings but the tops of the charms were
so bulky that I decided I needed to cut down on some of the extra
metal, hence the long head pins. I have decided this is the easiest
way for me to make charms. At least until next time! LOL!

Here is the pile of packaged Charm Swap #2 Charms.
I didn't have the help to put together the toppers 'cause Punkin was in
school so I decided to be a little less decorative with these toppers. But
can you see the little flowers peeking through?

Well, here's a close up...
Okay, these were fun to put together. I used the same 3 inch head pins
and did the same kind of finish so I didn't have to use jump rings. I did
notice that it works much better on the stiffer, heavier weight head pins
than on the soft super bendy ones. The soft pins tend to break if they are
twisted too hard. So keep that in mind if you plan to do the same thing.

I started with the 3 inch head pin, then 3 small wooden beads, an
etched glass leaf charm, a green sead bead, a pink mother of pearl
flower with an amber Czech glass barrel bead in the center and then
bent the wire with the round-nose pliers, added the clasp, and used
the chain nose pliers to wrap the wire.

I felt like I was making Spring while I was working on these. Of course,
I had to make extras because Punkin likes to have one of each charm for
her own charm bracelet she is putting together and presenting her with
one made up for finishing the project before she got home.

Now, I need to get the box addressed and get #2 in the mail to the
Hostess. Fortunately, I don't have to mail the first set of charms. I just
have to wait for the last 10 or so ladies to get their charms to me so I
can sort everything out and get those mailed back.

Off to the post office! Have a great day! I'll be back with my
layout for the week either later today or early tomorrow - I'm
not waiting until the last minute to post it this week. (I hope I get
it done today! LOL!)

xoxox
Csmoferret