Surprised by Somerset Life

I was a little surprised to find the July/August issue of Somerset Life in JoAnn's already this morning.  Magazines were on sale this week so I bought it.  It was a rainy day here so both daughters & I were laying on the bed this afternoon reading magazines when Jordy asked, "Mom, didn't you make something that looked exactly like this?"  I took a look and squealed, "Those ARE mine!"

I love surprises like that.   I just wish I had known before I bought it.  If I do get a copy in the mail I may have a giveaway on my blog!

Published & I Forgot What I Sent Them

I just got an email that I have a project in this magazine!  And I don't even remember what I sent in.  The funny thing is that I saw this mag at JoAnn's last week, flipped through it but decided to buy Jewelry Affaire instead.  I should be getting my copy in the mail before the 15th so I'll let you know what they included.

I also can't believe that I let all the ladies from my Bible study go upstairs tonight and look at my craft room.  At least it wasn't quite as messy as it has been earlier this week.  Jordy and I will be setting up at Room With A Past tomorrow.  More photos to come!

I need to get a blogger app for my iPhone so I can keep up with my blog better.  Has anyone used one?

"I'm Famous, I'm Famous!"

 That was my Facebook status Thursday afternoon & I had lots of people asking me why I was famous.  Well, I'm in another magazine.  And, yes, I've been published before but this is the one I'm most excited about.

It's been my favorite project & the editor told me it was one of her's, too.  And I guess she was right.  She even put a line on the cover to my article!

These are available at Barnes & Noble, Borders, JoAnn's, & I've seen them at Michael's before in our area.

Another thing I was excited about was the photography... and the fact that the article is four pages long instead of one paragraph like my usual.  :-)

Isn't this photography amazing?!?

I haven't received the bracelets back from the publisher yet but they'll be going on Etsy or to Room With A Past.  I've already had one claimed.

And the magazine is even asking for ideas of what you would do to recycle old measuring tapes.  If you get the magazine the info is on page 79.  Maybe you can be published, too!

To celebrate I decided to put a couple of new measuring tape bracelets in my Etsy shop.  My daughter also has a few that she's selling back in Texas if you're interested & in that area.

Here's a new style that I hadn't made when I sent those in.  This is a stiffer tape with a snap.  Much quicker to make.

The magazine came at a good time.  I've had a tough 2 weeks at work.  This was a big encouragement to me.  I made a comment to one of my coworkers last week that all the 'yuck' going on at work was ok with me 'cause that's not my career.  THIS is my career.  Or at least what I want my career to be.  So, I'll just keep on creating & sending things in to be published.    Thanks GreenCraft Magazine... & all the Roomies who have been encouraging me to keep it up.

Just to lighten things up a bit...

...this is not one of my favorite Christmas songs but I thought it was funny.  Hopefully some of you will, too.  Don't feel bad about saying "Merry Christmas!"

 Here are the pictures I promised.  I took these before I sent the Bible in to Somerset.  I decorated the cover with lace, paper, and vintage rhinestones.

 I added some of my favorite verses inside the cover.

And decorated the place marker, too.

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas...

Here's another of my favorite Christmas songs -- "The Hallelujah Chorus".  We sang The Messiah last year and it was a wonderful experience.  Wish we could have sung it at Macy's like these people did:

Today was my day off.  I think I actually finished my Christmas shopping.  I bought everything except perishable foods that I'll have to buy next week.  At least, I think I did.  I'm wondering what I'll remember on Christmas Eve.  And so far, I haven't lost anything...lol.

 I got an email a few days ago from a Stampington editor that my work is in another magazine.  This time it's the Somerset Studio Gallery - Winter.  I have two projects in this edition.  I haven't received my copy yet but I did find it at JoAnn's today and took some pictures on my phone.

The first is a little carte de viste photo that I altered.

The second is a Bible that I altered.  I also did some things inside.  I'll try to find the photos I took and share these with you later.

Now that my shopping is done (and just in time... it just started raining) and the soup is boiling I need to go upstairs and make room for Mark & Lauren who'll be here Thursday.

Please pray for them as they travel.  Mark is sick today, too -- got the stomach bug from kids at school.  And pray for my sister who found out today that the baby is breech.  She's going in later this week to see if they can turn her around.

Don't forget that Room With a Past is open this weekend!

Blog Catch Up -

 I love fall... this is only one of the reasons why.  I can eat Happy Apples for Sunday night dinner!  I went to our church's ladies retreat this weekend.  Karen & I came back last night because her husband had to leave on a business trip today.  Even though it was cut a little short it was a great weekend!  We hiked up to the cross.

 I don't think Sandy was planning on going but we talked her into it.  And on the way she ran into a girl that she knew growing up!  The girl works at the camp now & invited us into her home.  This was her view off the back deck --  isn't this incredible?  I don't think I'd ever get anything done.  I'd just sit on the deck & admire the beauty of God's creation!

 Even though my birthday isn't for 2 more weeks I already got my gift.  Glenn wanted me with him when he bought it & last week was our only time this month to go shopping together.  So... here it is -- a new grill!  A real one, big enough to cook everyone's food at the same time.  :-)  The HOA stained our fence last week, too, so it looks nicer now.

And while I was gone the newest issue of Somerset Memories arrived with one of my projects.  It's actually mislabeled.  This is really a page from my Thanksgiving journal from last year, not an altered cabinet card.

Since I got in so late last night I slept a little late & picked up Margie for the late service at church.   So we went out to eat at Panda.  Mechele joined us & brought me a bag of broken jewelry -- one of my favorite gifts!  Then we went to Annie's Attic for the vintage sale and look what I found.  I think my mom had this mold.  Does it look familiar to anyone?  (I didn't touch it.  lol....)

Forgot to mention that I won a basket at the ladies retreat raffle.  A perfect one for us.  Now we can have game night.  It also came with a popcorn bowl, microwave popcorn, & lots of chocolate candy.

Come back to the blog tomorrow for a big announcement!

One of my Publishing Goals!

One of my creative goals was to be published in Somerset Life!  I love all the Stampington magazines, but I think this has been my favorite.  (Although the jewelry magazines are quickly catching up with it for me!)  Yesterday I received the latest copy in the mail.  Which only means one thing, since I didn't preorder it -- I'm in it!!!  And, um.... Angie?  Remember that brush you made fun of me for buying?  Look what Stampington chose to include in their mag!  lol...

Of course, they did put the wrong blog url for me.  They put keepingupwiththetatums.blogspot.com (with the "g").  So Jordy & I decided to make that blogspot ours, too, and just direct people back over here.  See?  I knew that would happen sooner or later.

Green Craft Magazine!!!

It's here... it's here... Green Craft Magazine is here!  I got my advanced copy today.  Jordy was home & got to read it before me.  I guess she wasn't actually reading it, just looking at the pictures.  Because she didn't realize these were mine.  She looked through the magazine and thought these looked like something I would make but said they were too colorful for me.  I surprised her!  She's always saying I need to use more color... just wait 'til she sees the Somerset Holiday issue!  I love how Somerset photographs things.  Always makes them look so nice.  Green Craft is going on sale August 1.  

And this Josh Turner song is for my dad.  Not a real quartet, but close.  :-)

I had an interesting day today.  As I was driving Jordy to church for puppet practice we passed a horse & rider waiting to cross the street.  Then we passed the two turkeys that live at Shadelands.  I dropped her off, came home, & went on my walk.  I walked toward downtown Clayton on the trail.  As I turned a corner on my way back there was a coyote walking down the middle of the trail.  It looked at me, walked a little faster, & then ran back toward the creek.  A little unusual for living in the city.

Glenn & I are going off & leaving the kids this weekend.  He's in a bike ride around Mt. Shasta!  I'm going up with him & I'll just sleep, read, & shop while he's riding.

And there are just a few days left for my Etsy team's Christmas in July sale.  I'll show you some of my items tomorrow.

The Christmas in July Sale Has Started!

Yes, I know it's getting hot outside but our Etsy street teams are celebrating Christmas in July with lots of sales on decorations and gifts.   My sale is $1.00 s/h on all jewelry, tags, and other small items, including this vintage skeleton key necklace in the photo above.  Room With A Past is open this weekend so most of my jewelry is there right now.  Any that doesn't sell will go on Etsy next week and still be part of the sale.  BTW, if you live in the Concord/Clayton/Walnut Creek area I'll meet you somewhere & deliver your item personally with $0 s/h!

Also, I think I mentioned before that one of my projects was going to be in the Green Craft magazine.  Well, it's going on sale August 1.  And look... my journal even made their website.  Look at the last photo at the bottom of the page.  If you look close you can even see my name!  :-)

Somerset Gallery Summer 2010...

Look what came in the mail today!  This one was a surprise.  I even forgot that I sent these tags in.  :-)  The photo I used is one of my grandparents.

Tina sent me some tags recently and I'm using them to display &/or ship my earrings.  I just LOVE these old seed packets that she stamped.  She sells these and other great things in her Etsy shop.

And my desk has been filled with jewelry lately.  Haven't listed any of it in my Etsy shop yet.  I'm meeting with a local shop owner about having a space to sell in her shop.  I like Etsy, but my least favorite part has been packing & shipping so I'd like to try selling locally.  I'll let you know how that goes.

A few more necklaces...

...and earrings...

Something for Angie to See -- My Altered Brush

I thought if I put Angie's name in my post title she'd see this when it shows up on Facebook.  :-)  Their family has had a rough week, too.  Angie's dad has been very sick the last few weeks.  Then Gary's dad died last weekend.  Maybe this will cheer her up.  I blogged here last fall about our little shopping trip to Pleasanton & what I bought.  I told her I was going to make something with it.  It's only taken me six months.  That's pretty typical for me.

I may put it in my Etsy shop, but for now it's sitting here on my desk reminding me that my adornment should not  be merely external.

Also, in this blog post you saw my project that made it into last year's issue of Somerset Holidays & Celebrations.  I found out this week that I'm going to be in it again this year -- that's THREE years in a row!  Yay!  One of my favorite magazines!!!

Published Again!

Here's my surprise -- I got another craft project published in this year's Somerset Holidays and Celebrations!!! It will be in stores on September 1 but I got a preview copy this week in the mail. Family members, do you remember last year when I asked everyone to handwrite what you're thankful for? Well, they all got stuck on my Thankful Memory Pumpkin! Along with many of your photos. :-)

I started this project at Thanksgiving last year but kept adding to it until the deadline. So there's even a photo of Mark on it.

I loved this magazine. The only disappointment was that there wasn't a Thanksgiving section. In fact, my project was the ONLY Thanksgiving project in the whole book! Doesn't anyone celebrate Thanksgiving anymore?

I'm in another Magazine!

I think having my first 2 projects that I submitted to Somerset Magazines accepted last year spoiled me a little.  I have submitted several others throughout the year and so far no others have been published.  I still haven't heard about my favorite project & was just wondering last week if it was going to be returned or published.  Today I went to my mailbox and look what I found!  I had completely forgotten that I submitted these!  
They're made the same way as the matchbook cards that were published in the Somerset Holidays edition and use the shipping labels I sell in my Etsy shop.  I should definitely do a tutorial for these.  They're so easy & fun.  I'll start working on tutorials for the other projects that didn't make the magazine.  And I'm still hoping that last project makes it in!

I have tomorrow off!!!  Gotta go grocery shopping & to JoAnn's to look for a digital scrapbooking magazine.  Got any recommendations?

Just a short post between work & the pumpkin patch/slumber party marathon night.  I got a comment today from someone who was inspired by my article in Somerset Holidays to make their own matchbooks.  Go over and take a look at the photos on their blog.  Anyone else alter any matchbooks recently?

An Emotional Day

Emotional event #1: L leaves for college

We took dd #1 to the airport this morning.  She should be at her school in Michigan by now.  She called a little while ago to let me know she was on the bus from the airport to the school.  I told her just to call or Skype us before she goes to sleep tonight.  So it's probably a good thing that she's 3 hours ahead of us now 'cause I'm going to bed early tonight!  (Grandpa, I just checked again and Michigan is in the Eastern time zone.)

So you see L with her luggage in the first photo.  She thought she had everything under 50 pounds and we knew we'd have to pay for one extra piece of luggage.  But when we got to the airport this morning TWO of the bags were 50.5 pounds and the other was 53!  

Doesn't Maowie look excited here?  While we finished up the packing Glenn Skyped his cousin, Kim, in Australia.   This is her youngest son with her.  Her oldest is in the Army and at boot camp right now in Virginia.

This morning we got up at 4:30 to take L to the airport.  Only a few tears were shed.  Here is the view we got on the way home.  Wow!  I didn't know it looked like that at 6am.  lol...

I tried to go back to sleep but one of Glenn's friends called to see if he'd go mountain biking with him.  I tried again after lunch but Glenn called to tell me he was on  his way home.  I'm still in my PJs but still haven't gotten to sleep yet.  

Emotional event #2:

Look what came in the mail today!!!

Here, J shows you my Matchbox Advent Calendar article.  

Look closely, you may see someone you know -- or YOU may be in there.

Here's pages 2 & 3 of the article.  The magazine will be out on September 1, but they sent the featured artists an advance copy.

But wait -- there's more!!!  I was a little surprised about this one.  I thought maybe this article had been bumped 'cause I didn't ever receive my preview of it, but here it is, "Holiday Matchboook Cards."  And I made one today, too.   I'll show you more examples of them soon.

PS - Lauren just Skyped us from her dorm.  We'll talk to her again tomorrow and find out more but at least we know she made it.

What a Good Day!!!

NOTE:  Please scroll down to see more good things that happened today.

First Good Thing:  I FINALLY won something!  It all started last summer when my sister told me about the giveaways on the Rocks in My Dryer blog.  I think over 400 blogs linked to hers and they each gave something away -- $20 Starbucks cards, leftover craft supplies, jewelry, coupons & other gift cards, some really great stuff.  So I joined in.  I think I gave away a bouquet of my paper flowers.  I had over 200 comments on that one post!  I knew there were a lot of people playing but I must have left comments on over 100 blogs that had something that I'd like to win.  But I didn't win anything.  :-(  But that got me started.  I told my dd that I WAS going to win SOMETHING.  Well, it's a good thing I don't gamble 'cause I've been entering everything I can find since then and just now won my first drawing!  I've entered more blog giveaways, magazine contests, and those drawings you can enter on the bottom of your Home Depot/K-Mart/other retail store receipts.  (Still want to win the $5000 Home Depot gift card!)

So my first blog prize was won from Paula's Palace of AltAred Art.  And it was well worth the wait.  I couldn't believe how much stuff she got into this box.  This isn't even everything!

Pages from a 1905 magazine. 

Chipboard!  Including a Scallop Book.

Lauren's already trying to get these papers away from me.  They're all 8"x8" squares.  There were also some 12"x12" sheets in pink & black that I forgot to photograph.

Vintage goodies!  

Glittery paper:

Second Good Thing:  I just got an email today that 2 of my projects are going to be included in the 2008 Somerset Holidays & Celebrations magazine!!!  They're going to be in a technique-based article and I have to send them a 600-800 word article about how I made them, my inspiration, lessons learned, instructions, tips, etc.  Wow!  I've never done anything like this before and I'm really excited!  I'm sure you'll be hearing more about it from me.  The mag will be available September 1, 2008.

Third Good Thing:  Carmen had her baby!  Her husband works with Glenn & this is their first.  Her family is here from Australia and from what I've heard baby & mom are doing fine.  What a Mother's Day gift, huh?

More Good Things:  I just got off the phone with our homeowner's association.  I called because I thought I had forgotten to send in a payment.  But instead, I have a $244 credit!  Not sure how that happened!  Maybe during the sale?  Anyway, that'll leave me a little more money to pay for all the graduation expenses that are coming up.  Boy, as kids get bigger they keep getting more expensive!  

And I could go on & on... beautiful weather, moving into the new church building next week, this week going to ladies day away with my dd...  So what kind of good things are going on in your life?