Resolute In 2010

Well, it seems to be that time of year again. Time to make a change for a better new year, or at least plans for such. First, lets have a little look back in time and see how I did on being resolute in 2009...

Not so bad! Turns out many of the items on last years list will have to be yearly to-dos rather than resolutions. I am really proud of discovering more of a balance in my life. I took leaps and bounds in improving my perfectionist ways and, though it will be a constant battle, managed to find a pretty good balance most of the time. The house isn't perfection, we eat a lot of sandwiches and I don't get to blog or tweet as much as I'd like but I'm learning to be ok with that...it will be an ongoing process.

So, my resolutions for this new year? The first on the list is a doozy and I'm incredibly excited about it! Now that my business has formed a fairly solid identity and isn't just Random Crafts-R-Us I'm ready for a change of name and graphic identity that fits a little better. I've already started separating business from personal by getting a new personal blog. Now I want to start doing regular giveaways, tutorials and really work on making the focus of this blog all about paper crafts...after I get my new crafty business blog started that is. Get ready to say good bye to The Beehive and hello to...well, you'll just have to wait for that!

Wishing you many wonderful memories in the New Year!

NOTE: My shop The Beehive is now Papercut Kitchen! Please visit my shop Papercut Kitchen by clicking here.

AREtsy Team Seein' Red in '09

A big thank you to Katzetsy for including my Rockabilly glass chip magnets (top row right) in her all red ARETsy team treasury titled AREtsy Team Seein' Red in '09!

NOTE: My shop The Beehive is now Papercut Kitchen! Please visit my shop Papercut Kitchen by clicking here.

Present But Not Accounted For

I've been having a hard time with this move. I can't believe we moved here a whole 5 months ago because I don't feel any more at home than the first day we arrived. Our house is coming together slowly and I'm trying to get into, and adhere to, a new routine/schedule. And I swear I'm trying my hardest to see in this town what others seem to but it just seems to me a really sad place to live. Every time I drive through town I wonder what I should be doing to make this community better because it seems so obvious to me that it needs some serious love. We've been so busy since moving too! I don't think we've ever traveled so much in a 5 month period, Florida, North Carolina, many trips back and forth to parents' houses, which are much further away now. I would guess that half of the weekends since moving have not even been spent in our new house.

I've also realized that ever since we moved I kind of lost my coveted day off filled with mocha, scrapbooking in a gorgeous store, and anything else my little heart desired without any mothering duties. Isn't my husband awesome for recognizing mothering is a job! I'm a person who requires a larger than normal amount of alone time. I need time to be able to think without being interrupted, to daydream, to gain positive perspective on my life. Without that chance to look in at my life from the outside I go a teensy bit crazy and start to dislike it. Absence really does make my heart grow fonder. That day off helped me make it through the week, no matter how rotten it was. Lately I've been more and more nutso and driving my family down with me. "Why am I so much crazier these days? Oh, yea, I'm not taking a day off!" Even when the Bohemian would send me out of the house or take charge of the boys I wasn't really taking advantage of that. I changed that today! I clocked out of mothering gig, sent to boys to Pappa with 100% of their requests, locked myself in my craft room with music blaring, took Mr. Cash on a Pug date to Petco and Starbucks, accomplished, daydreamed, refreshed, ahhhhh. I'm so much better now!

You Say Upcycled I Say Recycled

Let Go Of My Waffle (set of 3 tags)

There's a crazy new word floating around the art and craft community, upcycled. Well, maybe it's an old word and I've been living under a rock somewhere but as the go green craze continues to grow (yea!) so does the need for people to up the cool factor. So now there's this word to make artists and crafters feel artsier and craftier, I feel like a goof using it but when in Rome...upcycle, upcycle, upcycle. So I have some (re)upcycled items in my shop. Some of my paper bead bracelets fit this moniker and at the moment I'm adding to those green items by making bookmarks and tags out of product boxes. I think my favorite thing about these goodies has been naming them, too much fun and they fit right in with my paper hoarding tendencies. So here they are, some of the latest additions to The Beehive, and I've already sold one of the beer box bookmarks!

NOTE: My shop The Beehive is now Papercut Kitchen! Please visit my shop Papercut Kitchen by clicking here.

Pop Tarts Tags (set of 3)

Please Read Responsibly (beer box bookmark)

The Photoshop B-I-B-L-E

What better way to spend the evening and work to grow your child's spiritual development than a bedtime story from the Bible?! Every night before bedtime we read the boys a story that they pick and then a story from their devotional Bible. It seems the Bohemian got a little confused on this night, he must've had projects on the brain! Actually Lil' Spitfire was enthralled, Mr. Golden Curls on the other hand was a little thrown off and ready to resume the routine!

Super Pugtastic!

Pug Notes Pug Cards by Mellisa Langer

Try not to be overrun by jealousy because now, not only do I have the most handsome Pug in all the land, but I have these beautiful Pug tags made by Melissa Langer. I won them from Fannie Narte's adorable blog giveaway. If you're an art lovin' Pug fanatic then you must check out Melissa's other goodies. You can find them in her etsy shop, Pug Notes; her website, pugnotes.com; and read all about her and drool over all kinds of Pug cuteness on her blog, pugnotes.blogspot.com. Fannie Narte's shop is also a must see, her artwork is gorgeous and you can find it at fannienarte.etsy.com!

Busy Bee

NOTE: My shop The Beehive is now Papercut Kitchen! Please visit my shop Papercut Kitchen by clicking here.

It has been feeling good to be as productive as I've been since this past weekend. I haven't been feeling inspired to create in a long long time and I finally decided it was time to get off my duff and work in spite of that. I was determined to just dig into the supplies that have been sitting around and see what I could come up with. Once I started working inspiration came and I completed: my AREtsy swap gift, a Memory Catcher, 5 bookmarks (thanks Sally for that inspiration!), and about 10 sets of various magnets. Many of these items will become Christmas gifts to family but about 6 of these are going into my shop, thebeehive.etsy.com. I'm hoping that a bunch of new items will give the beehive the boost it needs to start making some sales, it's been pretty dismal over there lately. All my poor little orphans are crying for a home of their own!

Update: before I could publish this post I made 2 sales, yippee! Let's hope they keep coming! You can click the photos below to go to the shop listing.