Birthday

Warning: lots and lots of pictures to follow:

For those of you who don't know, my birthday was yesterday. My hubby and I took the day off work and ventured to a little place a couple hours from the house. It's called Silver Springs "natures theme park" and I recommend seeing it if you are ever in the area.

The first exhibits we checked out were the gators. Being in Florida, there are ALWAYS gators to be seen.
They are known for being one of the few places that house albino gators, which are VERY rare.

And they have cute baby gators.
And big UGLY ones too.

Next we took one of their glass bottom boat rides into the wilderness. They have alot of historic info there and it's was very interesting to learn about the history.

and to see lots of nature.


After that boat ride we saw a few more animals

Next we hopped on the (what they claim to be) the world's famous glass bottom boats

and I have to admit, it was really amazing. The water was so perfectly clear you could see down so far. At one point we were 84 feet above the springs and we could see the bottom without problem.

Then to the air lift, where you can see the entire park from the air. I got to be honest, this ride made me a little nervous.
And then, off to the petting zoo :).
Baby the donkey wasn't too sure of me until I got my arm, once she warmed up to me she LOVED having her ears scratched.

Jason feed an Emu, they freak me out.
This is what I am laughing at:

One last boat ride of the day took us 30 minutes into the beautiful national forest. This is were many movies and TV shows have been filmed including the original Tarzan and Smokey and the Bandit.

We stopped at a animal rehab facility and met sugar. A screech owl who has lost a wing.

Next we got to a very populated area. Populated with what you ask, MONKIES. Apparently in the 50's some crazy guy wanted a bunch of pet monkeys. HE bought them and put them on and island in the middle of this area thinking they would live there forever. Well, monkies swim and mate. Now there are hundreds to thousands or monkies surrounding the area and have been found as far as two hours away.
Before leaving we visited the rest of the animals:
and I got to feed a giraffe.

We got some ice cream and hit the road.

Thanks for sharing in the photos from my day.

Busy Weekend

I had a super busy weekend but was able to squeeze out one card set that I am super happy with.

Used mostly papertrey ink supplies.

Also stumbled across these great christmas ideas today on http://jillibeansoup.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Happy Week! (birthday week to me)

And I'm featured on another blog today.

What fun. A fellow team CAC member gave me a little (lovely) shout out today. Please go give her blog so love. She makes some beautiful things, starting with the felt tree pillow, you will see it right under the post all about me :).

http://auntesthings.blogspot.com/

Craft Room Organization and first custom art.

First of all this is what took my entire Sunday. Ok, not the entire thing since today is my mom's birthday, Jason and I spent a little time yesterday celebrating with her and showering her with new craft toys, some coffee, and a few candles. I didn't know what to get her, so she got a hodge podge gift basket full of little things I knew she would enjoy.

So, back to what took MOST of my Sunday. First I had to go to Target and find this bad boy. They are on sale cheaper than they have ever been before, so it was slim pickins when we got there. Thankfully, black seemed more popular than white, so there were two white ones remaining:Cute huh? It TOOK forever and multiple mistakes for us to get this darn thing together. Why oh WHY can't they come at least 1/2 way assembled. Seriously, the directions were uber confusing and after finally getting it together I had to nail 64 tiny nails into the back panels to attach them onto the shelf itself. A hot glue gun would have been so much easier, but in the stressful moment I didn't think of that. My husband made fun of me with my making memories hammer, but it did the job without me having to walk to the garage (did you know I'm lazy?)

So now, the part of the craft room you didn't see before in this post http://aliciasfavoritethings.blogspot.com/2009/07/craft-room-tour.html. You see, there was a BIG ugly (like from the 80's) treadmill that took up WAY too much space. We moved it into a closet (still useable) in another room and gave me more space.

So now, instead of an ugly fold up card table, I have a nice place to store all my junk without it looking so messy. I do have some craft books in another room that will go on one or two of the shelves but the rest will be useful for nicely organizing unstarted pieces, drying pieces, completed pieces and my idog (do you see him, I love him). Oh and that light is AWESOME. It's in the target back to college section for $10. It gives off so much light I can finally see everything in my room at night. It used to always be so dreary in the evenings/night.

Now the craft of the night.

I was asked to create a custom art of sorts. Basically one of my cards designs, tweaked and able to be framed and hung. Here is the result. I'm sending her here to approve it, so let's all hope she loves it. If she doesn't, I already know where I want to hang it. If she loves it, I guess I'll have to make another one for myself :)

The colors are off just a touch since it's 10:30 at night and I had to use the flash. We all know what flash does to our products.

If you like it too, head to my etsy shop. I'd be happy to create one for you, words and colors of your choice.

Happy Monday everyone! (and Happy Birthday mamma).

Friday Favorites

For those just tuning in, I have no order of what days I post what things. I blog when I feel like it and about whatever I feel about at that time :) It's been a while since I posted favorites so here we go...

Etsy Seller http://www.one9designs.etsy.com/ offers personalized jewerly.

Etsy Seller http://www.inspiredbymarie.etsy.com/ offers beautiful woodburned items. This is my current fav, she she seems to list something new everyday so my "current fav" changes often.

etsy seller http://www.prissdesigns.etsy.com/ has some great art.

Etsy Seller http://www.jodiemo.etsy.com/ has this adorable handbag.
And last but certainly not least www.wandaoconnor.etsy.com has some paintings that look just like my little doxie. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!