a quick hello,

I've been popping in here and there. A little time on Flickr, a little time on Facebook, but I've been spending most of my time being crafty. This past week I managed to start and finish a few new layouts, a journal, a mini album, and a note-pad. I love weeks like that! I have one last project to finish and then I'll be able to spend some time catching up on blogs, and photos.

I did want to share a couple of photos. I did a post this summer about caring for Orchids. They are the only flower and can keep alive!!

**For example, I purchased one of those Amaryllis bulbs for Christmas, (you know, the ones you can buy at Target for about $10,) and they're suppose to be fool-proof? Well, I grew it for 4 weeks and no flower!! Alaina was crushed. My green thumb seems to be out of order.**

Back to Orchids. Mine are making their way back!! They seem to bloom about every 6 months, so the one Peter gave me for our anniversary back in July is ready to bloom this week. I'm a lucky girl... flowers in February!! sweet!



and Alaina's little orchid is busy growing a new stem. It should be ready to bloom next month. She's been anxiously watching it's progress! :)



I'm a flower girl at heart :))

and the winner is...

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

the boy tags & stamps go to:
#7
Daniela said...
I am your new follower. Found your blog from Elle's Studio. Would love to win some goodies. Awesome layout and sketch. Love your style!

July 16, 2009 9:25 PM

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and the girl set goes to:
#36
Mama Tuttle said...
Cool . . . I hope that you haven't already picked the names yet!! I checked into Elle's Studio and loved your projects so here I am!!

July 19, 2009 10:30 PM
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congrats!! just email your address to me at rosas07@msn.com and the package of Elles Studio tags will be on their way to a new home. :)

Something pretty and simple for today.



Today is a bit hectic. The boy is sick, he had 4 vaccines and a blood test yesterday, and now has a fever today. We had a storm come through last night, and my favorite tree in the backyard is in 2 pieces now. Alaina's been singing the clean-up song, because that is what the backyard requires at the moment. If I get a chance, I'll squeeze in some scrapbooking, and more brainstorming on topics for guest-blogging. So many possibilities!!

Hope your week is off to a great start! xo~ Tara

the weekend edition

Don't you just love when you have a super productive day!! I feel very accomplished at the moment.
Today I did;
3 loads of laundry
1 dishwasher cycle
baked 2 dozen Chocolate Oatmeal cookies
made 1 dish of sugar-free Berry Jello
cooked a 4lb. roast in the slow-cooker all day
worked on 1 custom order
almost finished 1 scrapbook page
jotted down some notes and ideas
vacuumed
& I got to watch a little of the movie The Holiday, it's cute, at least what I got to see...

I think that's it. My little baby Chase is taking 2 naps now a day, but it still allows for lots of spare time to get things done. Thank goodness for long naps!!

Peter and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary on Thursday!! I got a lovely new orchid to add to my growing collection. My husband knows me so well, and had mentioned that he tried to find Peony's, but since they're out of season the orchid was the next best choice.



Since it's super hot here (116f.) we're not outside much, except for the occasional sunset photo. Of all the states I've lived in, AZ has the most spectacular sunsets. Alaina told me that the clouds looked like pink cotton-candy, and they did.



Happy-happy Saturday!!

she...

is one of my favorite crafty friends! We stay up entirely too late every night she's in town. I try teaching her every thing I know, but little is actually accomplished because we're too busy catching up with one another. I always look forward to Danielle visiting, and Alaina loves her sooo much!!

I've been working on so many fun projects lately that I'm a little behind now with the blog. I'm guest designing this summer for a couple of super cute people, so my next couple of posts will be filled with scrapbook stuff! I'm also doing a little give-away.... or RAK, whatever you want to call it. I made a set of gift tags, and since they're my new fav thing to make, I thought I'd give away the newest set. Must take some photos of them first. :)

I have brownies coming out of the oven in a few minutes. The house smells like chocolate. Yum!!! Happy Fathers Day, to all of the dads in my life. ~ T

i'm leaving on a jet plane....

or rather a large SUV. I got a very nice offer that I couldn't refuse, and I'm now taking the kids and heading south to Tucson for a few days, and we're leaving in the morning. So, this changes my plans a little for updating my store. I've had lots of family coming and going for the past 5 weeks, and I really had planned on working the entire week to be ready for the update, but a full house can change plans as I've come to realize.

Fingers crossed** I'll be ready this weekend. I'm also finishing my project for the kit that I put together for the store. I feel like I always want to have a sample that goes along with a new product. I love pretty little projects!

Some highlights from this past weekend:

*Making the best fresh lemonade
*Shopping at Anthropologie with Grandma Judy & Alaina
*talking with the sweetest person on the phone about her horse ranch
*Bringing home a couple more bouquets of Peony's
*Finding a cute pink vintage makeup hard case (just like the one my grandma had)
*Making Mickey Mouse Waffles for the family at Sunday breakfast



I need to pack some suitcases tonight, and a couple of cameras. Alaina's been packing her bag and it's now full of Barbie's and Bratz dolls. :) Hopefully I'll be posting some good photos of beautiful south AZ when I return.

may I have your attention please...

My name is Tara and I suck at blogging. Yes, there is no way of getting around the fact that I am a terrible blogger. I admire so many woman that seem to be able to manage their time well enough to keep clean homes and find the time to blog after the dishes are washed and the kids are asleep. I however, am not there quite yet. Granted my home is clean, and the dishes must be washed right after the last person has finished their dinner, my kids are tucked into bed around 9pm and by 10:30, I'm usually ready to start work. Unfortunately, my cute blog isn't included in the category of work. Guilt ridden, I'm back... and making a mid year resolution, to blog at least twice a week. I seem to have been introduced as crafter/blogger alot recently, which makes me a bit anxious because in fact I'm not a blogger, an imposter blogger would be a more accurate title. But I will be diligent in my efforts to uphold my resolution. With that, my sincerest apologies if you check in regularly to see if I've posted!!

this post is a rambling mess in itself but it's something I felt compelled to write about. Up next is a post about placemats, making your own that is. Be back in about an hour.

twitter

So, now I have a twitter page too. :) We'll see how many different sites I can keep with. :)) I'm having a hard time trying to find people I know have profiles with them, I guess I'll have to play around over there until I get the hang of it.

http://twitter.com/thepinkcouch

I'm suppose to be getting a couple of scrapbook pages done today, but it seems as though I'm easily distracted! :) I'm also working on a new flower tutorial for next week. Be back soon with that! xoxo ~ Tara

a craft yard sale!

I've been spending a few weeks now reorganizing my studio. I've already went through and sold locally all of my paper, because there is nothing in the world that I hate to ship more than scrapbook paper. But now I have two huge boxes of embellishments and other crafty things to sell. But I need some advice!

What is the easiest way to sell everything?





**The last time I cleared out my studio I sold everything all at once in one very large, very heavy box. I'm thinking that would be the easiest thing for me to do. The thought of having to photograph every item is a little overwhelming. Any good ideas out there??