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i can't believe the response to my printable lunchbox notes.
They have been tweeted, facebooked, pinned and blogged oh, so so many times. It is the coolest feeling to know that those happy little doodles are landing in lunchboxes all over the world.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for spreading the word and sharing with your friends. I said it before, and i'll say it again...you guys are the BEST!
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I made a paper chain to count down the days until our tropical anniversary getaway. We still have a while to go, but it's so much fun to tear a link off and count it down...like when you're a kid counting down the days until Christmas! Since it's just Mark and I going away, i thought i would hang it in our room. It probably won't last too long on the headboard, but for now, that is where the countdown begins!
♥
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My sweet blogging friend, Kristina of One Happy Mama, is doing everything she can to raise money and awareness for Type 1 Diabetes. This is a cause that is near and dear to her heart, most especially after the diagnosis of her daughter, Caylin, this past March. She and her husband created the Caylin's Cure fundraiser and have set a goal to raise $10,000.
I offered to create a custom art print for her to auction off for Caylin's Cure and she sent me a scripture that she finds comfort in. Her only other request was for me to include a ladybug somewhere in the print...
So, hop on over to One Happy Mama to find out how you can contribute to hope and win one of two framed prints, or learn how you can receive an unframed print, too! Thank you, friends and God bless!
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{new art in the shop today!}
My hubs has been out of town all week and it just happened to be one of those weeks when i needed to be in 10 places at once. It would have been handy if i had been able to clone myself. Doc appointments, sports carpools, church committments, meetings, school open house...you name it, we had it. But, it's Friday and we made it through! Phew! My fella is on his way home to me and life under the Big Top will run a little more smoothly. ♥ Have a wonderful weekend, friends!
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Have you guys seen the blog Dear Photograph? OH MY WORD. The first time i laid eyes on it, i cried. I am such a sentimental softie. And this...just pushed me over the edge. They encourage their readers to take photographs from the past and then take new photographs of that photograph in front of the location where the original photo was taken. Confused? Take a look at the photo above. That's my Riley and Katie when they were probably 3 and 5 years old. That's their Poppy {Mark's Dad} watching them in the background. That's a picture of our house that i took today, in the big picture. Mark grew up in our house. His parents lovingly gave us the house 13 years ago. We've since painted the house, obviously, but the structure remains the same. Isn't that fun? I think i might go crazy snapping these photos. We have so many from Mark's childhood, too, that would be fun to do. Like this one of Mark doing the dishes about 35 years ago...
i die. Isn't he the cutest thing you've ever seen?
Now, go...give it a try! It's a warm fuzzies kinda thing to do. Speaking of warm fuzzies...thanks for all the love and concern for Katie after yesterday's post. You're the best. xo
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Last week we had a scare when Katie was diagnosed with a large ulcer on her cornea. Her pain was extreme and she had to endure painful procedures, to boot! Throughout those procedures, i found myself trying to distract her with thoughts of favorite vacations, movies and of course, boys...anything to help her get through the pain. Because her procedures were on her eyes, she couldn't simply look away! It broke my heart. Thankfully, she is now on the mend and her vision is coming back around. We learned how strong our brave girl is and we learned to never ever take our vision for granted again...something we don't often think about. That is, until you are faced with the possibility of losing it.
Having just been to the State Fair, lingering thoughts of carnival sweets and dwindling summer days helped to illustrate this new Katie inspired piece in the shop today!
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{all better art available in the shop}
As i am sure you heard, Indiana is mourning 6 beautiful lives lost and praying for many more injured at the collapse of the Sugarland concert stage last weekend at our Indiana State Fair. Memorials are underway and we are all still mentally processing just what happened.
{the makeshift memorial under the grandstands on the fairgrounds}
The State Fair has always been a place of summertime joy. Now, we begin to find a way to honor those lost and respectfully try to move forward and find joy once again. Not surprisingly, attendance at the Fair took a huge hit since the tragedy. There are thousands of people who put the Fair on every year and many who rely on it for their livelihoods. The administration at the Fair decided to encourage folks to come back to the fair {it ends on Sunday} by offering free admission last night and all day today. So, Mark and I decided last minute, after dinner, to take the boys to the Fair for dessert...even though it was a school night and it would mean a late night beyond bedtimes. The boys were so excited when we told them. So were we. :) We paid our respects at the above memorial and then headed on to visit all of our favorite spots at the Fair.
Starting with the amazing Lego display in the Home & Family Arts building...wow! Lucas Oil Stadium:
and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway:
then, a walk past the illuminated Midway...
to the Ag/Hort building where the awesome canned goods sculptures are...
this is also the building where the prize winning giant pumpkins are displayed...1160 pounds!
although there is corn on the cob, turkey legs and burgers, state fair food is predominantly fried...
yup...that's fried butter and kool aid. ewww. Tradition brings us back to the red barn for elephant ears every year...
We adore the animal barns, too. Last night we only had time to hit the swine barn, but that's ok, it's my favorite. Check this big guy out...his name is Reggie and he weighs 1,305 pounds!
We took the tram to the backside of the fair and stopped to climb on the giant tractors...
and Riley was surprised and happy when he got a phone call from his sister who was at the Maroon 5/Train concert. She called him when they played "Drops of Jupiter", because she knows it's his favorite song of all time. So sweet.
That Maroon 5/Train concert was the only concert that was originally scheduled to happen at the Fair this week and wasn't cancelled after the tragedy. Instead, they moved the concert to Conseco Fieldhouse downtown and the bands donated every single dime they made from ticket sales to the Memorial Fund that has been set up for the victims. The Fieldhouse donated the space for the concert and not one single person was paid to work it...they all donated their time. Class acts. Sugarland has also been amazingly loving to Indy and are planning to hold a memorial here after the families have had a chance to have their own. Indy is feeling the love, for sure.
...and so, time will help us to heal and we will never, ever forget.
*You can make a donation to the Indiana State Fair Remembrance Fund by clicking here.
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New art inspired by a dear friend, with a HUGE heart, who is celebrating a very BIG birthday. Happy happy, Anne. Love you! xo
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If you have ever ordered anything from my etsy shop, then you already know about the happiness that you find when you open your mailbox. I receive such lovely feedback from my customers about my prints, but also about the package that it arrives in. This week, one of my sweet customers, Jennifer, blogged about what she received from me here...
I always hand address and decorate every package that ships out from whimsy studios and always tuck in a few little extras, too.
As business has been increasing, it is a little more time challenging to get them all done. But, i love doing it and love imagining your faces when you receive your mail from me. The kind folks at my local post office have gotten to know me by my decorated packages and love when the seasons change and i bring them a new design. Have i told you lately how much I love my job? I do! ♥
So, hop on over to my etsy shop and order a little happiness for your mailbox, too!
xo
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Summer unofficially ended today for our senior, sophomore, and 5th grader. It's their first day of school, even though officially, there is more than a month left to this beautiful season. I couldn't resist hand lettering this desperate sentiment over top this sunset photo from our summer beach vacation. It perfectly sums up how my family feels. Yup, I'm one of those moms who loves having her kids home during the summer. I can't wait for them to come home today to tell me all about it. ♥
This house is awfully quiet :(
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