Motivational Monday - Be Your Own Cheerleader

Hello friends! Checking in again this week to let you know how I'm doing with my goal setting. Last week I set the goal (again) to create and submit some projects for magazine submission calls and I am proud to say that I submitted some cards to the Paper Crafts May/June call over the weekend. Did you set and meet a goal this week too?

One thing I find helpful for reaching your goals is to become your own cheerleader. First you need to set goals that are important and meaningful to you so that you will want to work toward them. Then you need to be your own cheerleader...if you feel too tired one day, encourage yourself to just take a tiny step to meeting your goal. For example, one day this week I didn't feel up to working on any cards but I knew I needed to work on my goal a little so I could achieve it this week. So I just sat and looked through my papers and embellishments to find coordinating items and things that I might want to create with. Then when I went to make my cards I just needed to work on the design. If you are your own cheerleader you are also less likely to rely on others encouragement or opinions regarding your goals and thus more likely to achieve your goals regardless of outside influences. It is always nice to have family and friends to cheer you on but the first pat on the back should come from yourself.

Okay, onto my goal for this week...to take some extra special time with my boys and husband. This week my oldest has two days off from school and it is my husband's birthday so I am wanting to make sure to enjoy this week with them. Playing games, movie night, reading together...fun times!

I'll be back tomorrow with some great gift ideas and fun do-it-yourself projects!

Thankful Turkey - Etsy Inspired Challenge #113

Hello friends! Time for another Etsy Inspired Challenge! Our featured Etsy shop this week is PutuPrincess Escapes, which offers lovely hand painted shirts. I really love the lotus flower design...so pretty and feminine.

Our sponsor this week is Some Odd Girl which has tons of great digital images. I absolutely adore this sweet rainbow image. But for my card I used Turkey Perky, which you can actually get for free this month!

Isn't that turkey super cute?! I had a lot of fun pairing him up with some Crate Paper goodies. That scalloped frame is actually a chipboard flower...I just took out the middle section and then popped the turkey up on foam squares. I thought this would be a fun thank you card to give to someone this Thanksgiving.

I was mainly inspired by this shirt from PutuPrincess Escapes. I liked the central focus of the owl and Fall feel to this shirt.

One lucky winner this week will get to pick their favorite t-shirt from PutuPrincess Escapes and another will get to pick 3 digis from Some Odd Girl! Lucky ducks! :)

And it's so easy to play along...so if you have never joined us before, make sure to check out the Etsy Inspired Blog for all the details!

Be sure to visit these lovely ladies for extra Etsy Inspiration!

• Angie (November Guest Designer)
• Ashley
• De
• Emily B
• Emily N
• Joy
• Kerry
• Savannah
• Stephanie
• Virginia

This weekend is busy for us...soccer games and celebrations plus lots of stuff to do around the house. Thanks to everyone for your kind wishes last week for my little one...he is feeling MUCH better!

Treasury Tuesday - On a cold, winter morning...

Each Tuesday I share a treasury I've created as well as a few other fabulous treasuries I have found throughout the week. I personally find a lot of inspiration from Etsy and sometimes a gorgeous treasury will inspire me to create a project around that theme or color combination and other times I find new favorite shops and some amazing items that I probably would not have discovered otherwise. So, I hope sharing them will do the same for you! :)

On a cold, winter morning...

Gorgeous, right?! Such talented artists on Etsy! You can see this treasury up close with links to these great items by clicking HERE.

Here are a few other winter inspired treasuries:
Let It...Snow

Winter Wish List

Let It Snow!

Motivational Monday - Allow for Imperfection

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! We had fun taking the boys trick-or-treating and my little one is feeling much better...no coughing for 2 days now! Thanks for all your well wishes for him!

So for those of you who have started following my Motivational Mondays, last week I set the goal of creating 2 cards/projects and submitting them to some publication calls. Well, I did finish one card that I am quite happy with it but I didn't quite get to the second project. So, I will be setting the same goal for myself this week and hopefully by next Monday I will be able to say that I have submitted at least 3 projects to magazines.

In every goal you set, there are likely to be obstacles in the way...sometimes you yourself are your own obstacle. I am known to be extremely hard working and a bit of a perfectionist so sometimes I can be hard on myself when I don't do something as well as I had planned. However, I have learned to have more patience with myself and accept that sometimes I just can't do it all. I'm sure some of you can relate and I hope you will remember to allow yourself to make mistakes and have the same sort of patience for yourself as you do for your children/loved ones.

Please join me in setting a small goal for yourself this week...either privately or share it in the comments section with me and next week I'll be back to share my progress!

Enjoy your evening! If you enjoy winter, jewelry, or the color gray you are going to want to stop back by tomorrow!

Whoo Loves You? - Etsy Inspired Challenge #112

Welcome to this week's Etsy Inspired Challenge! We have an amazing shop for you to be inspired by this week. BeiLeXian is filled with whimsical paintings that are sure to warm your heart. When I first discovered this shop, I immediately fell in love with THIS print. However, my project for today was inspired by all the cute owl paintings.

I also was inspired by this sweet picture. I thought the hanging hearts were so cute and I tried to duplicate that on my card using a needle and some baker's twine that coordinated with my card colors but it didn't quite turn out as well as I had hoped. However, I did have fun creating the little scene on this card using My Mind's Eye's Little Boy Blue collection.

Our sponsor this week is Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, a great shop with both clear and digital stamps. And you could win a $15 credit to their shop by playing along in the challenge this week!

But that's not all! Another lucky winner will receive an $18 print of their choice from our featured Etsy shop this week, BeiLeXian.

So head on over to BeiLeXian and find an item that inspires you, create a project of your own, and link it up to the Etsy Inspired blog for your chance to win one of this week's fantastic prizes!

And don't forget to visit the rest of the Design Team to see what inspired them!

• Ashley
• De
• Emily B
• Emily N
• Joy
• Rebecca (October Guest Designer)
• Savannah
• Stephanie
• Virginia

My little guy just can't seem to lose this cough of his...although we saw the doctor yesterday and she says he seems to be on the mend. Today will be a day of rest for us in hopes of speeding up his recovery. Sunday will be filled with some fun Halloween activities and then it's back to school on Monday! Enjoy your weekend!

Treasury Tuesday - Giving Thanks

Happy Tuesday everyone! Today was filled with running errands, a trip to the doctor for my sick little guy, and visiting with some family we haven't seen in awhile...so super busy, but good. And I think my little one is on his way to feeling better...Yeah!

Every Tuesday I am taking time to create a treasury on Etsy and share it with you all here for some inspiration and maybe some new discoveries or gift ideas too! :) And along with my treasury I like to share links to a few other favorites that I have seen as well.

Although Halloween is this weekend, I am actually already more focused on Thanksgiving. For me it is always a time to pause and take count of all that I have to be thankful for. So that is what inspired my treasury this week.


I'm thankful for so many things but some that I featured in this treasury represent family, friends, my children, education, nature, dance, love, laughter, and my home. To check out this treasury up close along with links to the shops that sell these wonderful items, click HERE.

And here are a few other treasuries that were created with the giving thanks theme in mind.

Giving Thanks in Style

Give Thanks...

Let's Give Thanks and Smile!

Enjoy your evening! I need to work on my goal for this week...catch you later!

Motivational Monday - One Step at a Time

How was your Monday? Did you set a small goal for yourself last week and achieve it?
My goal last week was to participate in two card challenges. Now, technically I did do this but I only created one card (shown HERE). But I am proud of myself for making the time this week to participate in the challenges and I was also very nicely rewarded for it too! :) My card was picked as one of the Fab 5 at 2 Sketches 4 You and it was also chosen to be in the spotlight over at 365 cards!

I have always been a goal oriented person and have found great success in setting small goals to get to the larger goal. That way it's not so overwhelming. Like starting my Etsy Shop...first I just looked into the idea, researched things on Etsy and read the forums. Then as I was deciding to actually start my shop I worked on getting a business license, planning out the details for my shop such as shipping policies and the announcement. Then when it was time to start my shop I made sure to have some inventory, practiced taking good pictures of my products, and decided on pricing. Now, I just need to continue to set small goals for myself so that I keep developing new products, increase my inventory, and work on promoting too.

So, each Monday I will be posting my weekly goal and hope that this will encourage some of you to join me in the same goal or in working on your own goal. This is a way for me to hold myself more accountable and not just keep putting things off until next week when I think I will have more time...that rarely happens! :)

This week my goal is to create and submit two cards/projects for magazine submission calls. Last year I set the goal to get published and I made it happen. But since then I have not submitted much so I want to get in the habit of trying to submit a few projects each month. And for those of you who feel like you'll never get published...there is no harm in trying. Eventually you might get a project picked up and get to see it in a magazine which is super exciting!

Here are a few links to submission calls in case you want to join me in my goal for this week!
Creating Keepsakes
Scrapbook Trends/Cards/Handmade
Paper Crafts

Enjoy the rest of your evening! I'll be back tomorrow with some Etsy inspiration!