Origami Owl.

 

 

 

 

 

Origami Owl.

It is a shop that tells stories with jewelry.

It is fun to review products.  It always comes as a surprise and delight that someone would entrust their product to me...and thinks enough of this little blog to send me a gift to post about.  

I can honestly say this Origami Owl locket is one of the nicest things I've ever received from a shop.  Like, ever.  From picking out the charms to put in the locket, to the packaging, to the quality of the actual pieces--I was blown away!  Besides being beautiful, the necklace means something.  

I chose five charms~ a football and number 7 for Philly (he is the 7th 'Philip Schuyler Smith' in our family:)...a painter's palette and headphones for Niamh, a symbol for infinity (because that's our family 'love' word), and I added a pearl dangle because that is Phil's birthstone.  I chose the 'mama' plate for behind the charms...and now I have a necklace that feels like a little piece of family is always with me:).  

You can see how to build your own necklace by clicking over here.

Also, check out the Origami Owl Facebook page for shop updates and gift ideas!

Seriously loved this necklace.

It even comes with a 'fortune cookie' for safe keeping. 

A cookie to keep your treasure in...

It doesn't get any sweeter than that!

Stamps.

 

I love this song.

It is amazing to think that my Friend is in charge of angels:).

This sweet girl and a few other new characters are added to my shop.

You can use code: LOVEYOU to get 20% off all orders.  (EXPIRED)

**Please note, you need to move through ALL the Paypal screens before you can add your code in my shop checkout.  You will not be charged until after you are brought back to my shop to enter your coupon and confirm the order:).**

Hope you all have a lovely start to the week!

Valentine's Freebie!

 

Hello Saturday friends:).
I mustache you, are you in the mood for some coloring??

Here is the link to your Valentine's Freebie:)... (free for 24 hours, so spread the word!:)
**Please be a follower of Saturated Canary before downloading. Thank you!**

I heart you all very much:).
Happy coloring!

EDIT: this freebie has expired; please find her in my shop:).

XOXO

 

Hugs and Kisses.  

Free for you starting tomorrow (Saturday, 3pm EST).  She will be free for 24 hours.  I decided to give everyone a heads up before posting her so hopefully no one misses out:).  Thank you for all the votes on Facebook...I thought leaving the choice up to the readers would be fun!  I didn't count the exact number of votes for each image, but this one was clearly a favorite. 

Turtle Lurv and one other Valentine-inspired digi will be added to the shop on Monday.

Have a happy Friday, friends!

xx

Guest Post, Life of Bon

Why hello there.

The name is Bonnie Blackburn Larsen and writing nonsense is my game.  I’m mostly just a little girl who is all of a sudden a grown, married, working, society-contributing woman who thinks she can still stay up late and shake her booty at night clubs.  But I can't.  My job, where I try to teach high schoolers the difference between a semi colon and a comma, starts at the unforgiving hour of 7 am.  So alas, my days of booty shaking are over. I like ice cold diet cokes and boiling hot baths and stacks of books to read in my blankets when it's pouring rain outside.  I write my blog so that I won’t take life so seriously- it helps me to laugh at the ridiculous and to appreciate the beautiful.  Blog posts vary from avoiding traffic tickets to kitchen catastrophes to dirty conversations overheard in high school bathroom stalls.  You know, the juicy stuff.

I figured if you wanted to hop on over to my blog there's a couple of things I should let you know about me first. You know, those uber essential details that let you know whether it's really worth it to click on over or not.

13 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT BON BON

1.  I don't really ever refer to myself as Bon Bon except for, strangely enough, when I am writing on my blog.

2.  I'm working hard on a goal I made a little while ago to make people feel good about themselves.  Sometimes it's easy.  Sometimes it's hard.  Mostly it's hard when the people I am dealing with are idiots.

3.  Below you will see the picture of the guy I married.  His name is Greg.  But don't call him that.  From here on out we refer to him only as Hubs.  All hail Hubs!  We met when I was reading on a balcony and he was walking across the parking lot.  He told me the pink streak in my hair was looking mighty fine and I told him to come up and make me dinner with his shirt off.  Eight months later I was throwing a bouquet. 

5.  Did you notice there's no number 3?  Because I'm a mastermind!

5.  For a living, I teach high school English.  I have to teach high school instead of elementary because a) I don't have patience for little uns b) I don't want to have to pretend I like crappy drawings and c) I don't do snot/pee/poo/tears.

6.  Today in class we heard what appeared to be tribal music coming from the classroom next door.  In a moment of poor instinct I yelled, "Quick!  We need a sacrifice!  We must send over a virgin to sacrifice "  I don't know why that came to my mind, why I blurted it out, and why I thought it was appropriate.  The kids laughed anyway because they think I'm psycho and that would be reason d) why I don't teach elementary school.

7.  I can be bossy.  I blame it on the 16 year olds.  I get used to bossing them around all day that I come home and think I have the right to tell everybody else what to do, too.  It's weird, but people don't like being bossed around.

8.  I have had close to 20 traffic citations. One day I had two tickets within 20 minutes of one another.  Not to mention the boots, the towings, or the parking tickets.  Or the two cars I totaled.  I don't say this because I'm bragging about my bad driving record, but because I am bragging that it has been 20 months since my last ticket. TWENTY MONTHS.  See, people can change!

This was the day I got two tickets.  

One was for going 26 over the speed limit- a $540 fine.  

My lead foot is was expensive!

9.  The worst part of my day is 5:40 am when my alarm clock rings.  If I had known as a college student that I would be waking up at 5:40 am when I had a full time job you better believe I never even would have considered graduating.

10.  The picture below is what my husband looks like when I leave for work in the morning.  Some kind of praying demon?  What think ye?!?

11.  A couple of days ago I was passing out copies of Les Miserables for my seniors to read.  One girl looked at the title and then exclaimed, "Ah, man!  My copy is in Spanish!"  That's been making me smile for going on six days now.

12.  Every year I invest hundreds of hours watching my favorite basketball team, the Utah Jazz disappoint me.   It's not the healthiest thing I've got going on in my life.

13.  I like ladybugs and roses and anything girly.  I eat bowls of cereal with the milk overflowing.  I've got a hot head and a sharp tongue that is rarely controlled.  I've been known to burst into tears for no reason.  I am passionate about reading and writing and reality TV.  Long eyelashes are my guilty pleasure.  On Saturdays I do my best to sleep until noon and when I see old couples holding hands my heart completely melts.  I think painted fingernails are the epitome of femininity and a diet coke the cure to every curve ball life throws at you.  Now come say hi already!

Thank you, Bonnie, for hanging out here today.

You are s hoot, girl:).

*Comments turned off so that you can visit Bon:).

Monday Mamalogues, Needle and Nest Design

Linking up to Mel at Needle and Nest Design today...

Check her out if you want.

She is like total awesome sauce.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am a mama.  

I've grown into those shoes over the years.  

It isn't like an instant thing.  You gotta learn as you go.  

You need to invest in the journey as much as the destination.

I use to grab my wet wipes and de-germ every shopping cart before putting Niamh into it. I would wipe every inch, in case the germs all the way at the end of the basket crawled up to the seat while I was shopping.  I would wipe that sucker down sterile.  

Then I had Philly. 

Sometimes he crawls through the store on all fours. 

I had a certain vision of motherhood when it all started 9 years ago-- 

like, what I thought it should look like...

It was crisp and sparkly.  Mr. Cleam sparkly.  

It was baked cookies and snot-less kids.

And I would be the super-hero mom that made it all possible. 

I'd even do it in cute cardigans and curls.

But over the years, I've realized that the things most important to me as a mom-- 

...that my children have a deep-rooted love and knowledge of Jesus Christ,

that they put others first,

that they obey, not because they don't want to be punished;

but because they care about their actions,

that they feel safe and free and happy, 

that they value family and holidays and traditions, 

that they live with purpose and intent...

All these things--

They don't come to fruition because of my own capabilities.

These are my goals for the kids. 

They are my prayer.  

My plea to Jesus.  

Because I know full well that I cannot be the mom I want to be apart from Him. 

That is a feeling of relief-- giving my 'mom journey' over to Christ and feeling secure in the knowledge that He will honor my efforts and my heart towards those two goofballs.  I know, already, He is alive in them.  

Motherhood, for me, is being true to my heart. 

Sometimes I might make freakishly disturbing pancakes

And occasionally wonder if Philly ever got his underwear on under his school uniform

Sometimes I allow the kids to stay up late on a school night

And eat dessert before dinner...

Throwing balls in the house is okay

And farting is just plain funny

Some mornings I salute Niamh when I drop her off at school

... just to make her blush in front of her friends because her mom is a total dork

Sometimes I give Philly an overload of hugs and high fives at his classroom

...because I have 'I-need-to-leave-you-now-but-don't-want-to-go-without-one-more-hug' issues.

One thing I know, for sure, is that my kids are growing up slow and good and loved. 

And at the end of the day, that is far more important than a clean house or amazing pancakes. 

Today the three of us were in the doctor's office because Philly has a sore throat. 

Just us and this young, early-twenties girl in the waiting room.

And Niamh was crossing her eyes and making goofy faces at me and Philly.  

Philly was laughing too loud for being sick. 

And Niamh was loving it. 

I told her to stop it or her face would freeze like that.

And she said, so the girl could definitely hear, 

"Oh nooooooo, mom.  That is not real.  

Remember you googled that before to see if it was true?"

I could feel my cheeks get super red.  Totally blushed with embarrassment.  

What mom googles 'can faces really freeze'?  

This girl:).

It is alright.  I can own that.  

Swallowed my pride in the doctor's office today:)...

And, oh boy.

I cannot wait to salute Niamh tomorrow at school:).

Gonna send that girl to her classroom in style;).

muwahahahaha.....

Cupcakes for Valentine's.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, we are still working on the cake pop dessert...but the cupcakes came out pretty cute!  

I don't get to share many of my kitchen creations (mostly because I wouldn't want to subject you all to such horrific images:), but I thought these were pretty cute ideas for some Valentine's Day treats for your loves:).  I think cupcake toppers are my favorite thing to use digis for next to making cards.  They are so different than anything you'd find in a store, and the possibilities are endless!

Hope each of you had a lovely weekend! 

Big Sunday hugs!

xx

Favorite 5.

 

I'm going to start posting my weekly favorites on Saturdays.  A long, long time ago, I did Wednesday Favorites... and I'd like to pick it back up again, but move it to a weekend post:).  

Here are my top fives from this week:).

1. I have these shoes in a different color combo and might just need to pick up the second pair.  They just feel so smart and stylish!

2. I posted a photo of Niamh's monkey doll Santa gave her for Christmas in this post...and a couple people commented on it:).  They are collector monkeys (bet you didn't know such a thing existed!)...You can find them here.  She has two and Philly has one.  They hold up pretty well to playtime.  The hair gets a little funky looking sometimes, though:).

3. Favorite mascara EVER.  It is weird to put on (the second coat is like applying cotton balls to your lashes), but--BUT-- coming from someone who has less than awesome lashes-- this stuff is amazing!  Well worth the money!

4.  The Utter Relief of Holiness.  A wonderful read; and until February 28th, for every book you buy, you get one free.  So, you can share the goodness:).

5.  These workout pants are kinda (okay, really) expensive.  However, they are the perfect workout/running pant!  I have looked high and low for a just barely cropped legging, and finally found them here.  They come in a few different colors/prints and stay put through the whole workout. Plus,  they are really cute to wear out on your Saturday errands!

Do you have any favorites to share??...

Off the Counter.

 

I saw something sort of like this on Pinterest recently, except it was made with an old lotion bottle...or something along those lines.  I decided to give it a go with heavy card stock.  A little holder to keep Niamh's iPod and cord off the counter when it is charging--which is all the time, cuz that kiddo looooves her music and games.  

 

 

Do you have anything crafty planned this weekend?...

I might try some new cupcake toppers:).  The real problem for me is gonna be the actual cupcakes;)!...Oh, and we are gonna give cake pops a go.  Crossing fingers for edible treats this weekend!!

Happy Friday!

xx

Coffee...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Snuggled down into the couch, over a cup of coffee...I'd tell you...

I turned 33 on Monday.  I thought my parents were so old when they were in their thirties, ha!!  I've since changed my opinion completely;).  33 is young, dude. 

I have wrinkles, despite being so incredibly young:).  

That we got another puppy this week.  And the kids were with me at her first vet appointment.  The vet thinks she has something wrong with her heart...so that was a ride home full of tears.  We find out tomorrow for sure, but it was a good opportunity to talk about sad things and realize that life is not always peachy.  ~But God is still good and gives us so much to be thankful for~ 

That our other dog, Lilo, was sprayed in the face by a skunk this week.  AWESOME night that was.  I have spent the last three days bathing dogs.  And re-bathing.  And bathing again.  Dogs smell good, for the most part (Lilo is kinda an iffy situation right now).

I, on the other hand, have a nice tinge of wet dog clinging to me:).  

That I moved my whole work area to another part of the living room.  I can't see the TV from my desk anymore, but I like the whole crafty set up much better anyways.  

We collected all the Christmas directions and put them away.  Except the tree.  It just keeps the living room so cozy... we took the ornaments off and put paper hearts on the branches.  Keeping that sucker up till at least Valentine's day!

That after re-decorating my work area, I realized I have almost 20 Smash books. I need some serious help.  

We are going to the beach house in March...and are pretty excited already:).

That I stuck a key chain with a cartoon poop and cartoon toilet paper in Niamh's lunchbox on Friday (it said 'best friends').  She told me she could't put it on her bookbag because it was "inappropriate."  Also, I was the funniest mom ever;).

That Philly pokes his head out of his classroom at least once (usually three or four times) as I leave him in the mornings to call down the hallway, "love you, mom."  I love that kid.  

That I have three different cheetah prints in my living room.  Is that okay?  I feel like it is not, but I love animal print in decorating.  LOVE it.  

I gave up red meat about a month ago.  Cold turkey.  And I haven't missed eating it at all even thought it was my favorite.  Chicken got top spot by default.  

That we are looking for a new church.  I think we found one we really, really like.  We've kinda been on a roller coaster of feeling sad, disappointed, encouraged and a little bit of "out of our comfort zone".  But more than ever in my life, I know ~know~ Jesus is beside me.  I am thankful for the opportunity to dig deeper into a relationship with Him, seeking God's plan for our family.  

That the house is so quiet right now.  We have Casting Crowns playing softly because the kids like to fall asleep to music.  And beside the quiet songs, all I hear is Lilo snoring (and maybe Phil, too...but don't tell him I ratted him out:) .  It is late at night, when everyone is cozy and sleeping, that I often wonder why God chose to bless me with so much love.  A life truly full of family.  You know, those nights you just stare at your babies sleeping and can't find your own breath?  I am so undeserving of it all...and so, so thankful for every single moment.

Now...tell me how you are doing:). 

These are my favorite posts, so feel free to share.  I am not always able to leave responses to every comment or question on my blog posts, but I always do on my coffee posts.  I am eager to hear how your 2013 is going so far:)...

Friday Movie Night.

 

 

 

Friday night the kids get our room for movie watching:).

They are allowed to stay up as late as they want/can:).  

Last night they made it to 1230am.  

I know. 

My kids are crazy little night owls!

But they love it.  

They usually get the bed that night, 

while Phil and I conk out on the couch:).

The perk for us-- 10am wake up on Saturday!

Wahoo!!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend filled with fun!

an artistic 'Sometimes'...

 

 

Sometimes I see a person and think.  Oh wow.  I need to draw them as a character.

Sometimes I name the stamp after them.

Sometimes I want to give back to all the people who enjoy my characters enough to buy and color them...but I'm not sure how to do this.  The occasional free digi seems to work okay...but I wish it could come with a hug from me to you<3.

Sometimes I just can't draw worth beans.

Sometimes I draw the same character over and over and over.  To get it just right.

And sometimes it just takes one attempt...they are the lucky draws:).

Sometimes I get asked to help promote other artists (digi) work.  I am happy to do that. I want to be genuinely happy for the success of others.  I think it is important to feel that in my heart.

Sometimes I get asked where is a particular stamp in my shop...If you cannot find it, it is probably a rubber one:).  All rubber releases can be found here.

Sometimes I am super excited about a release...like the digital release this Friday.  And the rubber release going to CHA.  (I'm not going myself.)  I have a couple favorites from each I'll show you over the weekend!

Sometimes I am annoyed that I cannot color as good as others.  But, I know practice and patience will help.  And lots more Copics:).  

Sometimes I stop to think I just love.love.love what I do.  I am home with my kids.  And I get to draw and color all day.  And make pretty things. 

Sometimes my heart is so thankful to my Lord and my family.  For letting me do what I love.  And giving me the opportunities to chase my dreams and be myself.  

What are your 'Sometimes' this week??

xx

Diary of a Messy Desk.

 

 

 

 

 

I bought a wooden letter sign for my desk.  

It is simply the letters "ETC".

Ironically, it is almost completely buried under the [beautiful] mess I call my 'work area'.

My desk is tucked into the back corner of the living room.

I bought it for like $35 at a yard sale a while back.  

It has lots of drawers.  And doesn't match any other kind of wood in the living room. 

So, it met my furniture criteria...and I bought it. 

Also, it weighs like 700 lbs.  

So, come storm or earthquake or flood...my desk will make it through:).

The mess kinda moves out from the epicenter. 

Drifts in all directions until Phil has a nervous breakdown.

And asks if I could please clean it up a bit...

you know, find the kids and dogs under the papers and drawing pads.  

And you won't believe the things I find in the rubble...

I lose my phone a lot in this part of the house. 

I found my sparkly perfume here the other day.

And my earrings. 

A monster high doll.

A diet coke can from 2006.

A baggie full of change. 

And 402 Amy Tangerine daybooks.

The funny thing is, I work well in the mess...

It is 'organized confusion.' (crediting Phil for that little mantra)

I'm not sure if I could sum up my days in a better way:).  

I'm an organized mess.

So, I embrace the mess, clutter, disaster area.

Until I actually have to rope it off with caution tape, I will just accept the fact that in creating, 

messes are made...

but so are treasures.

What is the story of your desk/ work area??...

Messy? Tidy? Where is your desk?  

Is it covered in 'creating' right now:)?

PS...

Check out the Make it Crafty Advent winners here.  And Gunn (Merete), you won the Recollections organizer!  Please email me to receive your gift:)!!

DJ.

 

 

DJ LUV will be released as a pair on January 11th.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Hugs!

AWWWwwww...That is CUTE!

 

Possibly the cutest way to stay on schedule.

Ever.

It is like a planner and smash book got together and had a baby.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm giving away a Recollections journal-organizer to a random reader.

To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment.

Would you describe yourself as a rigid schedule-keeper or more of a free spirit?

I'm a free spirit.  

That is a nice way to say, I'm late for everything in life:).

Good luck!

x

PS...Laura K, you just own the Instax Camera Giveaway!  Congrats, friend!!  Please email me at krista7smith@yahoo.com to receive your gift!