Where did the last two months go?!

Seriously.... last time I posted was May 8th!!! I've still been checking in on all the blogs on my feed, and at the Hero Arts Flickr group etc, and have even checked out some challenges here and there and started coming up with ideas for card entries. I just don't seem to have felt the motivation to sit and write, or blog the cards I have made- which is strange as I loved it when I was active in all the challenges and blogging before.

A post by an online friend,  Virginia, inspired me today. She was just picked as a Moxie Fab World winner, and will be published in a future issue of their magazine, along with another card she already had picked up for publication!! I was so excited for her to hear this, and reading about how she was so happy to have achieved one of her goals I remembered all those goals I had set for myself in my card making and stamping. Being new to both, having stamped my first card in September last year when recovering from surgery, my goals don't stretch to being published yet- though I suppose it wouldn't hurt to check out the submission calls and submit some cards here and there- my biggest goal since finding the Hero Arts blog and Flickr group has been to win one of their monthly contests. I was entering 2-3 cards for each round for months, but haven't entered at all since March I think. Well, I can't expect to win if I don't even take part can I lol!!

So, as of tonight I am heading back into my craft room and going to get back into entering all the challenge blogs I love, including the Hero Arts challenge.

I have been crafting over the past few months in my absence however, and branching out into other crafts. I actually took part in a craft show in our new town in April, and was really successful- hence the Etsy store I started :) I haven't kept up with that much since it's inception though, and really do need to start adding more items to it. I started making photo coasters, which sold really well at the show and sold quite a few sets online- but honestly there is not much creativity involved in it and I quickly got bored lol! I enjoy making them using photos I have taken as at least that way I get to do some photography in the process, but I started doing personalized ones where people sent me their photos, and that wasn't as much fun... though more popular!!

Here's an example of my own photography on a photo coaster I made:

The photo is of daffodils that popped up and surprised us in our new garden!! It has been so much fun discovering new flowers coming into bloom everyday as the summer unfolds. I'll have to share some more pictures soon.

Mum and Dad bought me an early birthday present of a sewing machine too, which I originally wanted for sewing on cards but now I've been doing some little sewing projects too! I don't have any photo's of projects yet, but will share them as I make more. My biggest project so far was for my Mum's birthday which isn't until August, so can't share it until then!!

As I said in my last post, my parents visited in May and we had lots of fun with them. I got to teach Mum a lot of new stamping techniques and her favourite was heat embossing :) She went home very excited to buy her own heat gun and get embossing! We also made a trip to Yosemite, and hiked up to Vernal Falls, which was beautiful.

That's my Mum and Dad celebrating reaching the falls after the looonnnggg climb :)

We had a housewarming party on our 6th Wedding Anniversary, and enjoyed sharing our new home with some of our friends, eating BBQ and smores :)

That's me and hubby having fun lol!

Before the party, we built our own fire pit in the back yard....

There's me adding the final brick :)

We've had so much fun doing little projects around our new house. So far we've changed out all the fixtures like towel rails etc in both bathrooms, changed out the faucet in the kitchen, fixed our own air conditioning by researching and buying a part online (saving lots of $$$ lol!). I already shared our kitty bathroom project lol, and my craft room. We're planning what to do with the yard next year.... I want it to include some raised beds for veggies, but other than that we're still pretty stumped lol!

I've been enjoying trying new recipes, using my new oven and Kitchen Aid mixer in my beautiful new kitchen! Here's the red velvet cupcakes I made from scratch for hubby's 31st birthday :)

They were sooo yummy!! Though not really in keeping with my other goal I have been working on to avoid wheat and to eat Clean. I'll be posting more on my new healthy eating adventures soon I think. I think I will end up expanding my blog to more things I am interested in, as well as my cards. I enjoy when the people I follow share more every day life things in their blogs as I feel like I get to know them a little more- so I hope you don't mind my rambling about things other than cards :)

I'm also waiting on a start date for a new job I should be starting soon. I decided it was time for me to head back to work after taking a year out to focus on my health and deal with my Endometriosis. I seem to have it more under control now, fingers crossed and so it's time to get out there and meet people in our new town, and make some pennies!

So.... that's where the past few months went lol!

Ok, now it's time for me to get in that craft room and start creating!!

Lynsey x