Toothless...and Doorless.

 

A tooth fairy pillow.  How cute is this!

It is perfect to hang on a bedroom door.  Kiddo sticks their lost tooth and a little note in it...And then waits for the tooth fairy to put some change in the little front-tooth pocket:).  

Or, a dollar if it is like a major tooth, which are the front ones.  

Also any tooth that is knocked out or pulled out in an awesome way:).

When I went to take a photo of Niamh's tooth fairy pillow, I realized something funny. 

Well, maybe not funny-- it may be a little sad, actually:).

 

We have no doors in our house:). 

Okay, we do have a bathroom door.  

And a basement door, so little people don't tumble down the stairs when they visit. 

But no other doors. 

How weird is that?

My mom took our bedroom doors off when we were kids.  It made sense.  Our bedrooms didn't have air conditioning...and they got pretty chilly in the winter.  So, for airflow, it made sense.  Also, I think I remember her saying we didn't need doors...That if we had to shut our bedroom door, we probably shouldn't be doing whatever it was we were shutting it for:).  

So.  When we moved into our home, I took all the doors off the bedrooms:).  I don't think I even thought about it...just did it.  Because people don't need doors.  Right?  Yes, well.  If you have a super cute tooth fairy pillow...you might need a door knob. 

I realized today as I went from room to room, I had subconsciously understood as a kid that doors weren't really important, at least for the kids' rooms.  I know, I know...Kids need some type of privacy:).  I get that.  They need to be able to be alone sometimes.

Just not in my house:).

Sorry kids.  The doors are out in the shed and covered in cobwebs now.

It is a genetic condition. I expect that someday my grandkids will be doorless as well.

I'm gonna blame this one on my mama.

Although...I gotta say, the four of us kids LOVED being together.  Still do.  

Maybe this world needs less doors:).

If you happen to be one of the lucky homeowners who still have door knobs in your house;)...and kids/grandkids who are at the toothless stage of life, leave a comment!  You could win your own tooth fairy pillow from BV72!  Check out this super cute Etsy shop for lots of handmade goodies!!  It is really a fun place to browse through...This is my current favorite:).

You can also check out the BV72 Facebook page here:).

Giveaway closes on Monday, October 1st.

Good luck!!

xx

Bits...

 

 

 

 

Hello friends:).

Today I have a few new stamps to share with you-- they will be in my shop in just a bit:). This is "Mousey Mo."  Inspired by a recent vaca with the fam:).  

I would also like to share some exciting news! On December 13th, I'll be heading down to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital to conduct a craft with the kids!  I am so excited:)!  I am not sure as to whether or not I will be able to give the children a card yet-- but if you would like to send a handmade card to give to a family, caregiver, or possibly a child, please send me an email for my address.  I will take as many as I can...I can't imagine a sweeter way to brighten up the lives of everyone who I meet while there:).

**Please put ST JUDES as your subject line in the email.  (My inbox is a bottomless pit sometimes:), so this will help me keep track and answer them quick!)

You also helped me raise over $1,800 dollars for the hospital with the Give Big Digis!  How awesome is that?!?!?!  I've always wanted to reach out to this hospital and give something-- you all made that possible (beyond what I imagined), so thank you from the bottom of my heart! 

On another note, please check this out!  Wa-hoo!! Colleen wrote me a while back and gave me the news about making the cover of the new Copic Coloring Guide!  I'm thrilled.  So is Copica;).  

I also got a face lift.  Well, my blog did;).  

I asked Dana from Wonder Forest to give me a new look-- a little more grown up and whimsical.  I think she totally nailed it:).  Do you like the new blog look? 

Okay.

This post has been a bit all over the place:), but I had all these little bits to share with you:).  Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a lovely Thursday!!

Butterflies.

 

 

 

Butterfly Babies.

Sounds pretty sweet and lovely.

Except it isn't. 

This week, my sister Jen left me a link on FB to a family whose infant son has Epidermolysis Bullosa.  I had never heard of the disease before.  I'm not sure that, if I sat for an entire day and tried to imagine the worse disease for a child, that I could have imagined this disease.  It is truly that upsetting.  You can read more about it here.  

I sat and read through the Butterfly Fund site, and felt sick to my stomach.  I just sobbed.  These children, so beautiful and precious, with skin as delicate as a butterfly's wings.  

I cannot imagine not being able to hug and squeeze and cuddle Niamh and Philly.  The mamas of butterfly babies cannot do this.  That breaks my heart.  It puts so much in perspective-- magnifies the gift of a hug before school and a kiss goodnight. 

Jen asked me to do something for the families.

I was excited that she asked me to help a cause she feels so passionately about.  And, after researching EB and spending a night crying all over my keyboard, I am more than happy to put it in front of my readers/customers and hopefully raise a little to help these children and families.  

"Butterfly Baby" will be available Thursday in my shop.  All proceeds from this digital stamp for the first week of sales will go to the Butterfly Fund charity.  I spent a lot of time drawing and re-drawing and then starting over again for this stamp:).  I wanted something not gender specific, sweet, gentle, and perfect for lots of occasions.  I have sketches all over my desk; it took a while, but I am happy with my final digi:).

...I think it is my favorite SC baby stamp:) and it is super versatile-- I think just about everyone can make good use of it:). 

Please feel free to share on Facebook and Twitter (and your blogs too:).  For those of you who share, you can use the code SHAREWINGS for 15% off your order through next Thursday.  Be sure to grab the banner below, too! 

 

Thank you, friends.

xOXo

Monday.

 

I've been quiet lately on here.  

Normally, I like to post daily...or almost daily:).  

The last month has been a little rough.

We all have those months, though.  

And I am positive that whatever parts made my month kinda hard, 

Someone else in the world is experiencing much worse...

So, I am thankful for my Lord.  

That I can cast my worries and cares on Him.

And that I have an amazing, beautiful family that I love more than life.

I am holding off on releasing my Ebook, Violet Vintage.  I feel like it is the best decision to protect my business and brand at the moment. 

There is a lot that goes on in life and business that I obviously don't share on here.  Mostly, because that would be boring:).  Also, because crafting and creating artwork should be fun and inspiring.  So, when it is not, I don't want to share those negative feelings with you!  That would be rude of me;).  

This past month I have not wanted to draw that much.  Or even turn on the computer.  I know much of that stems from things I cannot control on my end.  The other side of it-- I think God was helping me step away from things to re-evaluate what is most important to me.  I LOVE what I do.  I truly, truly love creating and drawing.  I also want to pursue other things in life, like ministry and family time.  And they mean much more to me than any piece of artwork. 

I am looking forward to putting a bad month behind me.  Letting go of the frustration and sadness that got in the way of feeling inspired by and excited about life.  I haven't found a perfect balance between creating artwork and running a business and, more importantly, being a mother and a wife.  But, I'm searching a little harder for it now.  And even in broken-ness and tough times, God continues to work His purposes.  A pastor brought that to my attention just today.  That even in the ugly, messy parts of life, God continues to work in people's hearts-- He sees a bigger picture than I do.  

 sneaks, Blowfish

So, thanks for sticking around, even if there wasn't much on here to stick around for:).  We did go to Disney!  That was a welcomed break and a wonderful vacation full of treasured memories!  We arrived back yesterday morning (after a 17 hour drive, whew!) and kinda bummed it for the rest of the day:).  I will share photos of our time in Disney later this week.

Hope you all have a wonderful Monday!  

Big hugs!

PS!  Before I go, the winner of the Blowfish Shoes Giveaway is Holly Moore!!  Please email me to receive your shoes, girly!!  

POSTCARD #2.

 

Hello, friends.

This is my postcard giveaway:).

I have exactly 115 postcards up for grabs.

Here is how to receive one:

Please leave me a short comment below.

**Do NOT leave your home address in the comments, please.  

The first 115 comments will receive a postcard.  (YOU MUST BE AN SC FOLLOWER.) If you see your comment publish on *Tuesday*, you've got a postcard coming:).  After your comment publishes, please email me your address with the subject line: POSTCARD2.

That's it.

~Comment.  

~If you see your comment on Tuesday, email me your address (krista7smith[at]yahoo.com)

If you do not see your comment by the end of the day on Tuesday, then you commented too late.  But no need to get upset, cuz we will do it again in October.

Oh! 

And that is the postcard right there.

Because I do think of you guys lots.

Love my readers:) so much!

xx

PS...Karen, you just own the Chantilly giveaway!!  Please email me (krista7smith[at]yahoo.com) to claim your gift, hun!  Congrats!

Sponsor

 

If you'd like to sponsor Saturated Canary in October, please check out my advertising page or email me at krista7smith[at]yahoo.com.

Looking forward to October:).

xx

Music Giveaway...Chantilly.

 

Want to hear some lovely music?

Check this out.

 

Chantilly writes pretty songs.  Like, really pretty.  

The kind that make me want to snuggle down on the couch under a big puffy blanket and dream.  She allowed me to add one to a recent video, which was really cool of her!

She is kinda awesome, in a dreamer.sad.whimsical.homey kind of way.

And her music is just beautiful.  

Chantilly is giving away her latest album, Up to the the Moon EP and her last album, Caught Light, to one super lucky girl or boy.  And yes.  They are the perfect background music to an afternoon of crafting or handmade goodness!:)

Here is how to enter!

Check out the Chantilly Bandcamp page. Leave a comment with your fave song title.

For extra chances to win (leave a *separate comment for each), 

follow the Chantilly Blog

follow Chantilly on Twitter

Giveaway closes on Saturday, September 15.

That's it!

Thanks for playing along...

Now go ahead and listen to some lovely music!

xx

PS!! KatherinesCorner, you just won the Fair Ivy giveaway!!:)...Please email me at Krista7smith@yahoo.com so you can receive your goodies!:) 

My Fashion Necessities and a Blowfish Shoes Giveaway...

 

 

 

 

My head is big.

Not in a oh yeah, I'm awesome kinda- way.  Because I have never.ever.ever. been close to being awesome.

(Okay, once I chased down a group of teenage guys who threw rocks at my kids windows when we drove by-- I hunted and chased them down in my beat-up truck on a dirt farm road.  And they froze.  So, I felt almost, sorta awesome that day...but that's it on my awesome list.)

Anyways, my head is very heavily proportioned:).  As in, dome.

Also, I have frizzy, big-ish hair.  

And a very tiny neck.  (Which, in relation to the dome, makes it look even bigger.)  

But.  

My head looks pretty average in a hat:). 

And I can hide my un-done hair.  

Also, my pink eyes...because I have had a case of pink eye in both eyes going on two weeks.  Yippie.

So, this is me.  Probably 5 days a week.  

That's bad, I know.

But I love me a good ball hat. 

Now from one end to the other:).

I also love good, scrunchy, little-bit chunky boots.

Like these from Blowfish.  

They balance me out.

My feet just feel right in boots:).  

Just like my head is happy in a hat. 

That's all it takes to make me fashionably happy.

A hat and good lookin' boots.  

Okay, one more.

I love ridiculously huge hoop earrings.  

If I can fit my fist through the earring, it's going on.  

So weird...But true.

So...what are your funny/weird/out of the ordinary fashion preferences?  What do you gravitate to that is just a little over the edge or funky?...

Make sure you leave a comment, because one random reader will win a pair of Blowfish shoes!!  Woop.Woop.  They are filling my closet.  I am a huge fan and would love to share a pair with someone!

I love to shop the new fall shoes (because nothing beats fall shoes.)....and checkout my latest pair.  I went old school.  (I'll post a photo of how to wear them later in the week when  I announce the winner:).  *Leave an extra comment with your favorite pair of Blowfish shoes to double your chances of winning!

Open to US girls only.  

Closes Thursday, September 13.

So, comment, go drool over the Blowfish shop, comment again, and then cross your fingers.  

Good luck!

xx

Game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I needed a day at a ballpark this week. 

Hotdogs.  Yankees.  Kids cheering.  Phil smiling. 

Not sure if it gets much better than that.

Sometimes a week will just knock the wind out of you.  Today was a much needed break from the computer, emails, doctor appointments, phone calls, and practices.  I've been thinking all week that I just want to turn everything off.  Pack up the fam. Maybe move to Montana.  And live quietly and un-complicatedly.  (yeah, that's probably not a word-- but it did not come up wrong in spell check:).

Instead, we hung out in Baltimore today.  We took the kids to their first baseball game.  And.  Can I just say, my kids have no problem with being loud, cheering with all their might, and-- who knew!- trash talking:).  See photo above with Oriole's hat.

I love my family.

I love that they refresh my spirit and heart.  

And I love the Yankees, too.  

Thanks, guys, for making my sons first game a blow-out win.

You rock.

x

Giveaway, Fair Ivy

 

Fair Ivy is a sweet gift-sending company who sent Niamhy a pretty necklace last month.  (Check Niamh out with her jewelry here:)...Put the girl on cloud 9:).

Lucy is offering one of my readers a surprise as well!  Please check out the Fair Ivy site-- it is full of handmade-goodness...and has something special to offer everyone- even the boys!:)  The fun is in the mystery:)!!

 

To enter the giveaway for a chance to win a fun surprise from Fair Ivy, please be a foller of SC and leave a comment-- 

who was the last person *you* gave a sweet surprise to?  

Increase your chances to win by 

~following Lucy' s blog

~liking Fair Ivy Facebook

The giveaway is open until Sunday, September 9th. 

Thanks for visiting today...

Happy Friday!

xx

Disney Smash, for autographs...

Next week, we are traveling down to Disney World! We are going with some of Phil's family and are super.uber.duper ecstatic!! Phil and I took the kids once before, three years ago.  I was surprised that trip to realize the kids were as much about collecting autographs from the characters as hoping on rides and be-bopping through the parks.  They LOVED the characters and were totally moto about collecting their siggies.  

I always have a couple extra Smash Books (the small ones) just hanging around.  Cuz Smash books are like toilet paper.  You gotta have a stash.  Ready. Waiting.  It makes the perfect autograph book!  Tiny.  Inexpensive.  And able to be customized.  I left the pages very blank (Niamh can add little details later).  Added pockets.  Covered the prints that wouldn't work with signatures...and, in a matter of 20 minutes, had a book ready for the princesses to add their names to:).  

Now I just gotta make one for the little guy.  

And go buy more toilet paper Smash Books to replenish the stash!

I will make sure I update the blog a couple times (over the next two weeks) with photos from Disney/ our travels:).

I'm excited to share the magic with all of you!:)

xx

PS, Diana Fernandez, your comment was randomly selected to win Kellie's Daybook Giveaway!!  Congrats, girl!! Please email me at krista7smith@yahoo.com to claim your gift:).

First Day.

 

 

 

 

No tears.

Well, a few last night at bedtime.  Philly told me he was worried he was gonna miss me at school.  Niamh wanted in on the snuggles, so she came over...with a whiney voice...and said, "I might miss you, mom."  Then she started giggling.  

We ate special donuts this morning (thank you, Phil, for the 6am donut run:)...

We spent a little too much time looking for underwear.  But, thank goodness, both kids went with some on:).  That is always a good way to gage our mornings--Do the kids have underwear on?  :)

Niamh had to have these two pieces of hair hang out of her bow.  I can't say I'm a fan of these hairs in her face, but she did look super pretty.  And sometimes you just need to let them have their own say in their 'style'.

We peeked in the kids rooms before we left.  Niamh was happy, and seated next to one of her besties.  Philly was air-fiving the teacher-- smiling and ready for the school year.

What a difference a year makes!  Last September, I spent the whole day crying, broken-hearted for my little guy.  This year, I'm excited for them both!  

Hope all the mamas out there had a good first day (or will, depending on when you start!) of school with the kiddos!!  And, for all the mommies who are bringing their baby to school for the first time ever this fall-- feeling sad, teary-eyed, and pretty much just a red, puffy-faced mess-- I promise.promise.promise.  It does get easier...or, maybe just happier:).  (I still get the urge to steal them away and continue on with summer:).

But, then the whole hour of looking for clean underwear would have been in vain:).  And you can't throw away all that effort.  

Happy School Year, friends!!

xx

Give A Girl a Blog Giveaway!

 

Kellie is an Aussie girl who I absolutely adore.  She is sweet and quirky.  I imagine if I spent an afternoon with her, my ribs would hurt from laughing.  Her journalling is a constant source of inspiration for me.  I love going through her posts and looking at the way she puts together pages.  They are always full of little treasures, details, and perfectly placed embellies.  

 

 

 

Kellie recently met Amy Tangerine.  (I met Amy at summer CHA, but wimped out of asking her for a photo together:)...Amy has a whole line of pretty Daybooks, all of which Niamh and I have-- and LOVE to work in.  Kellie loves Daybooks, too...And is giving one of my readers a Daybook surprise!  How awesome is that!?  Daybooks are kinda like Smashing...kinda art journally...kinda fabulous in every way! Oh! And they are very addictive, so beware:).

 

The giveaway is open to ALL readers and closes Wednesday, September 5.  Here are the mandatory ways to enter, and a couple extra ways to increase your chances!

You must follow Saturated Canary.

You must leave a comment-- 

When did you start getting crafty?  

Has it been a life-long hobby or was there a year or life event that turned the crafty switch on?

More ways to enter:

Follow Kellie's Blog

Like Smashaholics Facebook Page

Like Kellie's Facebook Page

Like the Facebook Daybook Delights Group

**Please leave a separate comment for each one, as it increases your entries in the giveaway!  This gives each reader 5 possible ways to enter:).  

Hope your Sunday is dreamy!

xx

**PS, Kimberly-- you won the Flair Giveaway!  Please email me @ krista7smith@yhaoo.com to claim your gift:).  Thanks and congrats! 

A Video. Channel. and Youtube Team!

 

The Saturated Canary YouTube Channel is launching today!  My awesome team of beautiful crafters will be posting a fun how-to video each day this week.  After that, you can expect a new video each Monday!  The girls have some super awesome videos lined up, and I am really excited to share them with you!

My video posts today.  You can check out my Ombre Hair Coloring here!  Be sure to subscribe to our channel to be treated to future videos, giveaways, and prizes!

Leave a comment on my video telling me what color YOU would want to dip the tips of your own hair in just for fun!  I would go blonde and light pink:).  One random comment will win two digis from my shop:)!!  

Thanks for checking out my new team!  Here is a complete list of girls, so you can go say hello and follow their awesome-ness:).

Vicky

Carisa

Mary

Yani

Fabi

Penni

Thanks for popping over today:).  

Have a lovely Saturday friends!!

xx