Friday's Letters - 7-11-2014

Get this poster here! Love it!

It's been forever since I did a Friday's Letters, so here goes!

Dear Paulene- I LOVED your photos from your Alaska trip.  This and Ireland are definitely on my bucket list.  And it is helping convince me to get healthier so I can meander about the footpaths and hike the glaciers without keeling over dead from the exercise.

Dear Raynore, Brooke, Patricia, & Sherry - ya'll have been so good about checking up on me and my family through this medical drama.  THANK YOU and thanks so very much for your prayers. I have felt such an outpouring of love and concern and it's just humbling.

Dear Big Brother, Happy Birthday! I am so thankful for your happiness, thankful you are my brother and that you brought Angela into our family.  Your sense of humor is wacky but so much fun! Hope your 43 bday is the best!

Dear crafty people - I've added new posts to Pressed Clovers, both on Facebook and on the blog. And on Pintrest! I'm trying to get back into the habit of posting. :)  (Here is my creations page on Pintrest)

Dear shingles, feel free to wrap up and go away so mom can get some relief from your horrible pain. I'm taking her to the dr in the morning, hopefully he'll have some suggestions for getting this over with quickly.

Ya'll have a GREAT weekend and I'll see you back here soon. :)  :)

Adios 2013...

Holy cow, Batman, where did 2013 go?? It's just crazy to think the entire year is G.O.N.E. I mentioned before, I'm not sad to see 2013 go, but there have been some really wonderful moments that I wanted to remember. 

January: Pinned It/Did it - Love canvas.  This was made for my sister from the kids for Valentine's Day.  The baby's feet and the preteen's hands.  :)  I thought it was cute! 

February: I am going to toot my own horn about the racing scrapbook I made for my friend, Paulene.  It was an honor to be part of her racing memories! :)  

March: 500th post!!!   And it just happened on a Muffin Monday. :) 

April:  Friday's Letters in April.  What can I say, I was boring in April.  But here is Sweet Niece and she's adorable. :) 

May:  I blogged roughly "Every Day in May."  - my Favorites and my Struggles. 

June:  Sweet Niece #2 turned ONE and I lost my sidekick - Muffin. :(

July:  The annual Family Beach Trip! WOOP WOOP!  And lots of scrappin'. 

August:  A Monday Muse on a Wednesday with lots of pics pics pics (and one picnic). 

September:  It's My Birthday!! Thanks to everyone who contributed to the USO! 

October:  The NOTEBOOK: It's not what you think, it's better! 

November: Friday's Letters - just a snippet of my life. Love it. 

December:  My column for YC Magazine.  

So there you go! :) A review of 2013!!! Thanks for reading, for being my "imaginary friends," for commenting and caring (because I know some of you do!).  Happy 2014!!! 

Seeing dreams come true!

So today is Thursday...and I've wrapped up my 30 things.  I'm not quite sure what direction I'm going to take Thursdays into for future posts. I'm currently thinking about that.

Today, however, I want to share with all the world how incredibly proud I am of my sister!  She's an excellent teacher - outstanding teacher - and she finally took those first baby steps to post her work on a teacher-based website.

CLICK HERE TO SEE HER AWESOME WORK.

Seriously, this is awesome. Because she is really creative, funny, connects with middle school students and yet gains such respect from them. And now she's finally sharing her skills and talents with others who excel in other areas but may need a little help with the creative part of presenting history.  There is even one Christian based lesson for homeschoolers!

Please go by and check out her stuff.  If you use it - free or paid items - please rate it so she can get accurate feedback on what to change to improve! AND PLEASE SHARE! :) See those share buttons (google+, facebook, etc).  Thank you so very much. :)

Holy Cow Batman!

Who out there is a They Might Be Giants fan and knows the line, "Hang On, Hang On, Tight!" Holy cow, Batman, I'm doing my best to just hang on.

I know you are tired of hearing about my Pressed Clovers business at this point, BUT, I have to tell you - I just sold another book today! It's making it's way up to New York tomorrow morning! I'm so excited!  *breathe breathe breathe*

Maybe I shared this with you at some other point, but I prayed for God to make of this what He wanted. If I was going on the right path, please let me know.  I got an order for five books from a friend. But, that was a friend - so maybe it wasn't a sign.  I posted my store online just before my job went crazy and thankful He knew it would have been my breaking point to have a sale during that time.

But since then... a book sale. Then another, another and another! I'm totally doing the Cabbage Patch of Victory (it's a sight, you should see it!). So tonight I'm heading home to finish up some books and get them in the mail tomorrow morning. :)

Whew. Sorry to bore you with that, but I was about to explode so I had to share!

Friday's Letter

One of my favorite pictures of the year!

Dear 2012, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on how this year has turned out.  I perused my former blog posts to help me, so here goes nothing.

Dear January, the Sock Hop went better than I imagined and is the number one hit page out of my blog. Everyone wants to know how to do a sock hop and I hope my work helps them. I chose Breathe as my word for 2012 but honestly, it didn't work out too well.  And I introduced everyone to my Prayer Peeps, who are awesome.

Dear February, the month of sickness. Let's not talk about it.

Dear March, thank you for finally revealing the gender of my sweet niece! We waited forever, but found out just in time for my sister's first baby shower.

Dear April, Of course, once we discovered the gender, mom and I set about doing the nursery! Sweet pinks and greens... getting ready for baby.  Also had a bit of drama at a performing art center, but it was resolved quite nicely!

Dear May, Katie had another baby shower and Mom received the honors at her retirement dinner!

Dear June, Ahhh... June! You brought me my sweet baby niece, Macy! *sniff sniff* Several posts were dedicated to her. My other sweet niece, AH, put on quite a show! 

Dear July, We celebrated several firsts, including my first Friday's Letter and my first installment of 30 Things on Thursday.

Dear August, I finally followed my dreams and took a step out of my comfort zone - and opened Pressed Clovers on Etsy!  It was scary, crazy timing just before a Presidential election and it was WONDERFUL.

Dear September, My birth month! You can still make my birthday wish come true! And... I gave you a behind the scenes look at scrapbooking Beth-style.

Dear October, you brought about some tough days.  I still believe we are tougher, but only through God's strength.

Dear November,  Thankfully, the election ended.  And I was able to celebrate Thanksgiving and Macy's Baptism within four days of each other. Ack!

Dear December, you have brought about happiness. Dad's last treatment *thank you for your prayers!*  and Christmas. And I LOVE Christmas!

Dear 2013, I do hope for a more serene and peaceful year, if possible.  That would be lovely.

Sincerely,

Beth.


PS.  Linking up today! (Monday! 12/31)

Hyperventilating...

Breathe Beth, Breathe...

Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh.

OK, so this morning one of the folks I follow, Mrs. Laura over at Mouse in the Kitchen wrote about how starting a blog has taught her bravery and thus she is opening her own store, Designs by Mouse, right there on the corner of her blog.  It has adorable ruffled scarves there right now, for everyone to go check out!  Just click right here!

I totally understand her fears of putting your creations out there to the public and announcing - HERE I AM, YOU GREAT BIG WORLD! PLEASE LIKE ME AND MY STUFF.  I took a similar step this year, just before election time (am I CRAZY?!) and opened my very own Etsy store called Pressed Clovers.

It was so scary. What if everyone laughed and whispered behind my back? What if no one liked my idea or everyone else's ideas were better than mine? All these insecurities bubbled up, but I took the step anyway.

My shop isn't fancy. It has no cool header - much like this blog - no cool header. I don't know how to add that stuff so it never got added. But, it still showcases my products... little pieces of me.

And I have had friends believe in me - oh my, have I had friends believe in me!! Paulene (check out her cool store here - she cheered me on from the first time I uttered the thoughts of opening an online store.  And Grace - she has single-handedly kept me in business! Even trusted me enough to make gifts for her co-workers, which really touched me.

But today. Today I received a convo from a perfect stranger. Someone I've never met but likes my books and wanted to ask about ordering two. Not that she will - she may not. But, she asked. A stranger. *sniff sniff*  I'm getting all emotional because someone LIKES ME! SHE REALLY LIKES ME! (or my stuff, really, but I am my stuff!!!)  This is what she liked - my Christmas Scrapbook.  I'm happy, can you tell?

I admire people who can put themselves out there with total confidence. I admire small business owners and independent stores who are living the dream everyday, despite the fact the dream comes with a lot of realities. My hat goes off to every single one of you. And I also cheer each person who shops with these stores, shops and independent owners, because YOU are making their dreams come true. :)

so...yeah. that.

Heck if I know what's twirling around in my mind. I feel like I've neglected the blog this week simply because of my schedule. And probably the lack of sleep factors into that, too.  My sleep has been interrupted by crazy dreams... one involved those huge lizards, Komodo Dragons?

Yes, these suckers.  Isn't the thought of that enough to give anyone nightmares? Although how they appeared in my dreams, I have no idea. It's not like I've ever seen one in person. But it still makes for an unsettling sleep.

So this week has passed in a blur. I feel a bit out-of-place or like I forgot to do something or I'm missing something.  Do you ever feel like that? For example, in one morning, I forgot to disarm the alarm before walking out the front door. I NEVER DO THAT. Then I fumbled for my key fob and turned it off. Rearmed. Then forgot to lock the front door. I NEVER DO THAT EITHER. I was half way down the road when I started thinking about it, turned around and went back to discover that yes indeed, my door was unlocked.

Do you remember that someone tried to kick in my doors? So yeah, I don't forget things like that.

So what's wrong with me? Am I just losing my mind or what? Who knows, but something's got to give because I really need my brain engaged.

Despite all of these bizarre feelings of not being in sync with myself, I'm actually excited about wrapping up this election (which is still 1.5 months away) and moving along with Pressed Clovers! I really can't dedicate the time to it right at this moment, but there will be a time that I can and I'm looking forward to engaging the creative side of my brain for some fun stuff with paper.  I've considered instead of everything having to be an entire complete scrapbook, to sell individual pages for sale. Hmm... any thoughts on that? Just an idea.

But for now, it's 10 p.m., I'm still sitting in my office at work and I need to go home. Already Donna has called to see if I'm on my way or if the office boogie man snatched me up.  It's time. (But inside, I'm still having a little Pressed Clover party...) Sweet dreams, my imaginary friends! Don't let the bed bugs bite!

Nervous Jitters... Excited Butterflies!

Oh. My. Gosh. 

So I jumped in TODAY and I've opened an Etsy shop.  Me. Yes, me. I did it!

Can I go toss my cookies now??

Yes, I'm so very excited and so very terrified at the same time! I have a STORE! Featuring my premade scrapbooks! I'm soooooo excited!

What's the link, you ask?  http://www.etsy.com/shop/PressedClovers?ref=search_shop_redirect

Basically, visit www.etsy.com and search for PressedClovers (all run together like that) and you'll find me! I only have three scrapbooks posted right now, but I'm going to add two more tomorrow, I hope. :)

EEEEKKKK!!! My stuff is listed on ETSY! *deep breath deep breath deep breath*

So yeah, how cool is that? 

Here are a few pictures of the books I currently have listed! (each title is a link to the book) 

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Book

Girl's Birthday Book

Beach Vacation Book

I hope you'll take a look at the listings on Etsy, friend me/circle me/heart me - whatever you are supposed to do on Etsy and share me with at least one friend.  I realllllllly appreciate your support!! Big hugs to you all! :) 

<3

Beth