The Fever Broke!

Molly slept until nearly 1:00 today, but we have been fever free since early this morning. She is awfully cranky, but I am so glad she is better!!!

Mattie's first day back at school was great. She isn't complaining with her eye, and it is looking good. She is little bummed, but that's another LONG story. She keeps getting disappointed lately; I bend over backwards to give her the perfect/no disappointment life, then someone else swoops in and ruins her day. Oh well, we made rice krispy treats to make up for it:)

Disorder

I have a disorder--something along the lines of not ever wanting to see my kids disappointed, give them everything they ask for, .... She asked for a jeep; we bought a jeep. It is at Wal-mart waiting to be picked up right now. She has changed her mind!! Knowing that Santa can only bring each child one big gift, she wants to change her big gift to a poodle! Jason says that if I buy a dog I will have to pick up every piece of poop--I don't do poop. I am thinking that Santa may just bring her a puppy bank with $20 to start her on saving for a puppy. Any other ideas?? She did a great job saving for her American Girl. She appreciates Julie even more for buying her with her own money. I just don't think I will be able to take it if she is disappointed Christmas morning, and she did just have eye surgery---that is how I justify a lot of what she gets:)!!

Here is the kennel that has the above puppy:

http://www.teacuppoodles.com/#PuppiesforSale

Bakugan

I have heard of Bakugan, thanks to Dawson, but heard of it is about as far as it goes. I got a request this week to do some Bakugan party favors. I have done this sample for him to approve. I hope he likes it; with two girls, I was just at a loss.

I had hoped to get more painting done yesterday, but at least I had lots of sales. I have some ornaments to finish up and about 10 platters waiting to be personalized. COMING SOON--footprint platters with stockings, squirrels, trees, ladybugs, hippos, monkeys, gingerbread girls, ... Can't wait to see them finished!

Magnolia Stitchers

What a great day!! I spent the day with the Magnolia Stitchers of Jackson Parish. I think they had a great show for their first Christmas Bazaar, and I am very happy with my sales. There was no booth fee, just set up and sell. I sold LOTS of lap trays, so it was a great day for me.

Didn't get to stay for the parade; Molly is still sick. We were just up to 102.4 before Motrin time. I guess we will just watch and wait. At least she is pleasant, even when sick.

What's Up

Well, we had a great Thanksgiving--two delicious meals and lots of visiting. Poor Molly is sick. She is running fever and sitting still, so I guess she is really sick. I had already made plans to do a show, so Jason is taking one for the team and giving up a duck hunt to stay with the girls. I have a pretty good husband that does more than his share, so I feel a little guilty about him missing the hunt with his uncles. I am sure I will get over the guilt when I sell LOTS and LOTS of stuff tomorrow!!! I will be at the Christmas Bazaar in Jonesboro from 9-4. We will be set up in the building across from Pizza Hut. They have a great parade and BEAUTIFUL lights, so it is worth a little drive north. Hope everyone had a great holiday; see you tomorrow:)

Sign Up to Be a Follower!

Don't forget to sign up to be a follower. At the end of November all followers will be entered to win a "Cookies for Santa" plate. If I reach 25 followers, I will throw in a mug!

Add a Bow or No??

Let me know what you think--bow or no bow???

Christmas Ball Wreath

I am a pretty plain person and my house is not very fancy/dressy. I follow one blog that always has neat links and some great ideas. Following some of her links, I ended up at Eddie Ross's site. Not a big Eddie fan, but I am a huge Design Star fan. He made a beautiful wreath using one wire hanger with a great Mommie Dearest reference and some Christmas balls. I thought I would give it a try.
Last night, we went to the Natchitoches Dollar Tree and picked up some ornaments. Be sure to check all the aisles on the top shelf. I found some pretty ones there that were not with the other ornaments. I even found some pretty ribbon there. I came home and stayed up until 1:00 making my masterpieces. I wasn't crazy about the bow, but I was exhausted. I went to bed thinking I would fix it this morning.

This is the wreath when I went to bed. I used about 10 tubes of ornaments. The darker blue were some I already had, but the others are all Dollar Tree. I found it simplest to glue the small balls in as fillers. This morning, I began playing around with the ribbon. I finished the wreath and was hanging it on the door and GUESS WHAT--yep, I dropped it. Fortunately, they are non-shatter balls, but it did break them off. I had to hot glue to get the balls back on. Of course to me, it looked better the first time. I took the other bow off and added some glittery blue ribbon to fill in and add texture. I may buy one more roll of that ribbon to make a bow. I haven't decided. I have more ornaments and want to make more. I thought my students might add this to Santa's Workshop as part of our field trip fundraiser. If I can get my hands on some purple balls, I thought a purple and gold one might be nice.

Santa Tote

I think this Santa tote would make the perfect little gift bag to fill with gifts for the teacher. I am running low on Christmas colors in the small totes, but I also have the larger sizes. I would be happy to fill for you and wrap with cellophane. I have several things at the Pea Patch that would make good fillers for kids or teachers.

• bath confetti
• cars
• pencils
• santa, snowman, and reindeer cups
• ornaments
• notecards

I've Always Wanted....

I have always wanted a pot-bellied pig. A couple of years ago, Mattie Claire latched onto this idea and wanted one too. My sweet parents (who never let me have one by the way!!) bought her one that my uncle found at an auction. She was a little older than we thought she would be and not very nice. We named her Strawberry and dressed her and put lip gloss on her--at least Jason did; I was a little scared of her. Unfortunately, she passed away on Good Friday only a few months after we got her. I was looking around on the Internet and found several today. Jason says it's the biologist in him that just thinks they are NASTY, but I think they are the cutest things EVER!!! I guess we have agreed to disagree, and I don't see us getting a cute, cute, cute pig anytime soon. The pic above is one I found on a Louisiana site. Click on the link to see more of her pigs.

http://www.thislittlepotbelly.com/index.php?p=1_3_Pot-Bellied-Piglets-For-Sale

LSU Cheerleader Lap Tray

I have been meaning to paint one of these for a while, and I finally got around to it last night. I have listed it in my etsy shop. I will be happy to do it in your favorite team's colors and add a name.

I wanted to add that we have already bought another one of those dolls listed a few posts back. They have been a big hit at my house, and they smell wonderful--baby powder! If you are still Christmas shopping, you might want to consider them. If you are not local, you can check them out on ebay in the Monday's Child store or locally at the Pea Patch.

More Weekend Speicals $1.75!!

Here are a couple more things that I added as part of the weekend special. They were samples that I did, and she chose to buy the larger totes. I think these make precious gift bags with the tissue fluffed out of the top.

WEEKEND SPECIALS

I have marked some lap trays down in my etsy shop for the weekend. I am so excited about my week off from school and planning to get some painting done. I thought I would offer some specials to help some shoppers get a headstart on their Christmas list. Of course, if you are local, I will drop it off in town to save you the shipping. Just send me a convo.

I will be doing a Christmas show in Jonesboro next Saturday. Their parade is really something to see, and I am excited about the opportunity to take my stuff up there. I hope I get some new ornaments painted to take with me. I always have big plans to get stuff cleaned out and lots painted, but once again--we'll see!

Doing Well

We are home, and she seems to be doing okay. She is complaining a little, but mostly just lying around watching/listening to tv. She is spoiled, but in a good way. Thank you to everyone that has brought and sent her prizes. She has loved everything--balloons are always a hit around our house, and she devoured the requested "steak fingers." My Monday's Child friend gave her the above doll. I thought she was too old for it, but she has been begging for it since they came it. I included a picture above. Here is a link to the ebay store if anyone you know "needs" one.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Corolle-Dolls-Les-Beedibies-Redhead_W0QQitemZ220458927119QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item335460440f

Hope Floats

I feel like the little red headed girl in the movie Hope Floats that didn't get picked for the school talent show, "...and I was gonna do a poem. I guess they don't like poems." I am whining in my head, "...and I was gonna give away an extra mug; I guess they don't like mugs." I haven't gotten any new followers by offering the mug--oh well! That is just a better chance for you faithful followers that are already signed up!!

Jason looks to be on the mend. I won't bore you with the GROSS details, but he is talking in complete sentences again and actually sitting up on the couch. He is probably not well enough to travel to the surgery tomorrow, but I will put on my big girl panties and deal with it! Just keep us in your prayers. It is so scary seeing her put to sleep.

Gift Ideas

Since our kindergarten teacher doesn't read my blog, I thought I might share my Christmas idea. We LOVE our teacher and aide!! You know they are good when kids with brand new broken arms CRY to go to school--not Mattie Claire but another MC. They are so sweet and patient and love our babies like they are their own. Another mother and I are going in together to give them the 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS. Starting on December 3, we will give them a gift a day until the day we get out for the holidays. Here is what I have so far in no particular order:

1. Sweet Pea Design stickers--I order personalized to:/from: stickers from sweetpeadesigns.com. Monday's Child is a dealer, so give her a call if you would like to order. THEY ARE PRECIOUS! 2. Initial Styrofoam Cups--These cups come in a clear sleeve. They have green polka dots and big red initials. Not really earth conscious, but really cute!

3. Personalized Christmas Fingertip Towels--I found some cute little towels at TJ Maxx. My mom is adding an initial, and I am tying them up with some Bath and Bodyworks soap.

4. Christmas Chocolate Bars--TJ Maxx again, I found a box of 3 big and cute chocolate bars. I had to do some cheaper days to offset the stickers...

5. Homemade Cheesecake--No, I am not baking. I am lucky enough that the other mom's mom is actually a caterer, so she is helping us out there.

6. Wrapping Paper--I bought them each a roll of Christmas paper at Target that would be a good match for their stickers.

7. Personalized Throws--I bought some patterned fleece throws at Kirklands--2 for $8.00. Again, my mom will monogram them. I hope they like personalized stuff, because there seems to be a theme here.

8. Christmas Cactus--I have the plan of letting the girls paint a clay pot and put a started Christmas cactus in each one. They are easy to grow (or so my mom says!).

9. Ornaments--I have each teacher a Christmas ornament from Raz imports to match her tree. One is red and green, and one is red and zebra print.

10, 11, 12 I am running out of ideas. I thought about a casserole for a night of no cooking, but who knows about picky eaters, ... Maybe a Sonic card for an after school coke. I would love to hear some ideas.

Keep us in your prayers. Jason is still pretty sick, and Mattie Claire goes for her surgery on Thursday. I am surprisingly calm; I just am ready to have my family whole and healthy!

Christmas T-Shirt

For year's the owner of the Pea Patch has designed adult Christmas shirts. I decided last year that I would love to design a kid's shirt. I finally got them done thanks to the T-Shirt Barn. I have them on sale at the Pea Patch in my booth and will be listing them on etsy soon. I have youth sizes in small, medium, and large.

Christmas Pictures

I tried to take some Christmas pics yesterday before this week's big surgery; it didn't work out. I am sure you can see by the little smirk who was choosing to not cooperate. My new philosophy on raising Molly is to tell her the opposite of what I really want her to do, then maybe I will get what I was going for. She has to be one of the most stubborn children alive. Well, not really, she is very sweet and mostly keeps a smile on her face!

Follower Goal

If I reach 25 followers by the end of November for the giveaway, I will add a "Milk for Santa" mug to the plate. Tell your friends to become followers. I have people comment on the blog all the time that aren't followers, so now is a good time to sign up!

Cookies for Santa

Cedartown and open house were great. I had a lot of fun. Since I don't work in Winn anymore, it was nice seeing some people I don't get to see very often. Don't forget about the November giveaway. All you have to do is be a follower to be entered to win a "Cookies for Santa" plate.

If you are interested in ordering, the plates are $25. I can also add a "Milk for Santa" mug for $5 more. I also just got in a big order of platters for hand/footprint platters. I have sold about 3/4 of that shipment, but I have about 3 left. Let me know if you are interested in a platter. I could email some samples and set up a time to meet with you and the kids. We are getting close to the deadline--I will need time to paint and fire before Christmas. I am trying to stay way ahead of the rush this year. I have made a vow--No Christmas Eve painting, but we'll see. I always have good intentions.

Open House

Downtown Winnfield's

Christmas Open House

Thursday, November 12

5-9pm

Businesses stay open late, offer discounts, and have lots of yummy food. It is really worth checking out and so much fun!

More About Me!

This is a post for my Louisiana/Bama fan. I was actually born in Alabama!! I lived there until I was about 7 years old. My daddy lives in Mobile, so we try to make it over that way several times a year. Have fun at the big game and be safe!!

I just had "one of those moments." What I mean is, I know that in a few years I will look back and think it was funny, probably laugh a little. While watching TV last night, I started working on some custom sea life handpainted ornaments. The large crab one turned out cute and was ready to ship. I am sure you can see where this is headed--she picked it up and crashed the "ball" to the floor. I can say "she," because anyone who knows my family knows which child I am talking about! She's still cute, just everywhere, into everything, all the time! I am smiling, and I am heading downstairs to paint a new crab ornament. Sorry no pics, yet!

Christmas Giveaway

I have been waiting for the perfect giveaway. I will draw the end of November for a personalized

Cookies for Santa Plate!

It's easy--all followers will be entered to win. I know I have a lot of readers that aren't followers, so now is a good time to add your name to list. The sample here is one Mattie Claire painted this summer, but I will post a pick of the Cookies for Santa plate later today.

I have some non-local followers, so I thought I would tell a little bit about myself. I live in Central Louisiana. I am a school teacher and mother to two little girls. I love my job, but I enjoy painting on the side even more. I have some of my stuff in two shops--the Pea Patch and CB Antiques. I will be doing CedarTown--a Christmas Market this weekend, Friday and Saturday in Ruston, La. I know I have said this before, but it is true. You could do all of your Christmas shopping in one stop. They have EVERYTHING! Send me a comment or email if you need more details.