TABS

TAB #1—Pandora.com (playing: James Morrison's "Better Man")
TAB #2—Thesaurus (the word: "traipse")
TAB #3—Wikipedia (subject: nuclear fusion)
TAB #4—Flickr.com (working on my 'Week in Review' post)
TAB #5—Blogger.com (self explanatory)
TAB #6—Facebook (recently addicted)
TAB #7—You Tube (video: alligator calls)

So, I always have lots of tabs open on my computer---hopping to & fro from one random tab to another. These are just a few that I have open at the moment.

What's got you hopping to & fro???

♥

Smorgasbord.

Apparently there is a pumpkin shortage. Just found that out from one of my fellow Twitter peeps. Not enough sun & too much rain made for a small crop. So now all my running around to every grocery store in town for canned pumpkin kinda makes sense.

♥

I saw the movie Rumba last weekend. I'm a sucker for a great foreign indie film & this was SUPER! It was lovely, charming, funny & perfect in every way. You have to watch it! There was not a whole lot of speaking in the movie, which was interesting. The characters/actors are amazing. To see a preview click HERE. I want to dance like Fiona.

♥

My weekly Tuesday adventure with Tia was another dandy. We sucked down some coffee & headed to the library where we realized that the quiet atmosphere really is not best suited for us. We quietly flipped through mags, oh-so-gently conversed in hushed tones & pitter-pattered with gentle fingertips on the computer. We got the giggles & then knowing we HAD to be quiet just made it worse. But, we managed to perfect the "giggle whisper"!

♥

So, I "officially" found out that I'm definitely a vendor at the Badger Mountain Holiday Bazaar that I applied for. It's only the 2nd time I've ever done a show---this same bazaar was my first last year. Maybe it's silly that I'm doing it, since I didn't have such success the first time around. I'm really trying to think of a new way to approach it. I just need time to work on some new ideas. And build stock in the items that are my crafty foundation. And then I always have my annual holiday ornament & card to unveil. I haven't even STARTED on those. Need to work on that. Gosh, I better get craftin'!

♥

I just heard of wheresmycellphone.com & if you've lost your cell phone you can enter your phone number & it will call you for free. Haven't tried yet, but it seems genius to me. And I lose my cell phone ALL the time.

♥

Have you seen THIS yet? Pure brilliance. And beautiful.

♥

The Weekend Sampler

This first week of school is kicking my night-owl butt. I really would prefer a nap in the day. And since Zoey's been learning to read, I'm trying to convince her that she should read ME to sleep every night & tuck ME in.

I've been itching to do some fun tutorials & though I love all the things that are keeping me busy, I unlove how the day goes by too quickly before I can get ALL my fun stuff done. I've been working on Zoey's upcoming party. I've been immersed in the swamp of supplies for the bug catcher necklaces. (Beads everywhere! It's like finding sand in weird places after you come home from the beach. Only with beads. NO--it's not THAT bad.) And I've also been devoting myself to getting the girls on a regular routine since school has started. "Mommy" needs to implement the new routine for herself too. My summer schedule is not fitting in with the plan now. Bummer.

I'm hoping to craft up a storm this weekend: sew, make new rings, & FINALLY get some quiet time to work on some projects rattling around in my head. I'm wanting to come up with a few new items for the Holidays & so I'm ironing out some kinks & setting the working projects into motion.

I've been experiencing a lot of "duds" lately. Which is good practice. I have fun with the process of invention & discovery. It's just frustrating to run into that unpleasant crafty wall & have to start over. Or re-do things. Or realize your brilliant idea turned out to be a crappy one (with a capital POO).

Anyway, I'll still be madly working every spare minute this weekend on party details. And Bug Catcher/Treasure Keeper Necklaces. (The girls thank all their lovely customers by the way!)

Oh my goodness, I can't believe I forgot to brag about this yet: I'm super excited to find out that Christian recording artist Britt Nicole owns 2 of my Vintage Button Rings! Am I totally name-dropping? Fo sho. And I was told that she "LOVES" the rings. Sweet, huh? YAY! So now whenever I hear her songs on the radio I cop this dorky attitude & I'm like, "Yeah, she wears my rings. In fact, she's probably wearin' one right now."

Happy happy weekend!

♥

After Wednesday.

I love randomness. And I love my friend Tia. And so when she showed up unexpectedly at my door this morning with this, it brought me to a very. happy. place.

(She also attached a bag of candies, but my girls & I were all over that before she even left the driveway.)

Happy Thursday everyone!

♥

Random.

My blog friend Laura & I have this weird thing that happens ALL the time: we're often thinking or doing or crafting or wondering the same things at the same time without the other realizing it. And most recently, I've been pondering the whole "What's my style?" thing, expressing myself with a specific style that is true to Nikki--& even to WhiMSy love. Well, yesterday Laura posted on her blog about this exact thing--but also in relation to creating a brand. Check it out HERE. Make sure to read the link she leaves for her newsletter too! Very helpful info & inspiration!

♥

You HAVE to check out THIS hilarious video on You Tube. (Sent to me by Sara of Scrapin' Sara's Gifts.)

♥

Recently Zoey (my 6 year old) came running to me, tattling on her 5 year old sister: "MOM! Pazely just told me she wished she had a DIFFERENT sister named Lily!!!"

♥

We just had my ma-in-law in town for the weekend from Arizona. The girls had a slumber party every night with their grandma. On the first morning they all woke up, my girls told grandma that she snores like a man.

♥

Hey, don't forget that any of my customers that make a purchase at WhiMSy love this month are entered into a drawing for a $50 gift certificate. Yahoo!

♥

I'm tinkering around with the idea of doing the same holiday bazaar I did last year. I think I may go for it. (Deadline is approaching. I need to think FAST!) It's the only one I'll have done this year. (And the only one I did last year.) I didn't end up making as much money as I'd hoped, but I had FUN. It's so much fun seeing the people look at your stuff & I really do enjoy all the randomness that happens. And it was fun meeting a few other Etsy peeps. I wonder if I can twist Tia's arm into helping me again?! I think I'll mix things up a bit & not bring as many varied items. Streamline it a bit. And really, I need to start cranking out crafty stuff NOW!

♥

Hey, I'm trying to create a cute little WhiMSy love blog button/badge. You know, so all my fans can copy & paste a cute little WhiMSy love graphic on their blog? I tried following the tutorial HERE, but why am I so confused?? Can't figure it out. Any help??!!

♥

Ok, that's enough randomness for one sitting.

♥

TTV Photography.

Last night I picked up some old cameras at my mom's house that once belonged to my grandpa Bill. I'm really intrigued & totally excited to get into TTV Photography. (TTV= Through The Viewfinder) I took a few pictures in the dark, by the lamp, just to play around. But I think I don't have the proper camera.


I think for TTV you need this style of camera. You know, the kind with the large viewfinder & you look down into it? I could be wrong. I'm just getting into this. But I'm pretty sure that's how they get all those cool square shots with the lovely rounded corners. So, I'll be searching eBay, thrift stores, garage sales. And dreaming of one day owning one.For a great TTV Blog, check out through the viewfinder. Flickr also has lots of TTV groups, but THIS is the one I joined. I just drool while looking through all the amazing photos. That flickr group is also a GREAT resource for all things "newbie TTV".

Also, a great simple explanation is found from the lovely people at Photojojo, HERE.

UPDATE:: A few days ago I bid {& won} on a Kodak Duaflex from Ebay! With shipping, I paid just under 15 bucks! I SO can't wait to get it!!!

And in completely unrelated TTV news, my blog hit a HUGE record yesterday!!! My previous post about the Bedside Hanging Organizer Tutorial made it on the CRAFT:blog! And it seems I received a very large number of hits from stumbleupon.com!! 6,235 visits?! (Almost 11,000 page views!!) That's crazy. And awesome. At one point yesterday I saw 390 people browsing my blog at one time. I thought for sure my blog would blow up.
Ok, I'm off to have tea with my mom & grandmother.
Happy Saturday!!
♥

{I'll be craftn' this weekend, getting ready for the Shop Update on Tuesday!! Fun new rings & other things! Did you see this photo yet?}

Ahhh....Weekend.

I always love getting together with my family. My sister's low-key home-cooked birthday dinner last night was really nice. At the last minute I decided to make a decoration for the cake. You can see a closer view HERE.

The flower-slash-nature pictures are from my mom & grandmother's yard. It was fun to take pictures of someone else's pretties. We all sat outside & enjoyed the warm evening.

My dad even sported some lovely mock-orange flowers behind his ear. (He's doing so much better since the {3} surgeries he had at the beginning of the year to remove his cancerous esophagus. Still trying to get his throat to stay dilated, but even that is getting better.) And this silly pic of him makes me smile. He's slowly getting back to his usual self.
We've got busy fun planned all weekend----parties & bbq's galore!

Ok, I gotta go: Mr. 'WhiMSy love' is feeding the girls chocolate cake & waffles for breakfast! I better.....go join them.

Hope you're havin' a happy weekend!

♥

Silly. Kooky. Random.

Honestly, anything silly, kooky, & random-- I love. I just had to share this funny idea.

I recently received a lily as a gift. Me--not so good with plants. That's why this poor thing is looking not-so-sassy in the photo. Well, it was one of those plants that came all wrapped in foil-ish paper. And for some reason I immediately thought: "Hat!"

My girls love dressing up & it reminded me of a fancy fairy headpiece---made from the petals of some brightly colored purple flower.

Anyway, we had some laughs from it!

And I love this picture. It was totally NOT planned. Zoey was waiting for me to snap her photo & my little nephew stepped in right beside her, eating his frozen Otter Pop (sideways I might add) & the little dying plant happened to be sitting beside him.

Fly away little fairy! And make all your other fairy friends jealous. 'Cause you know they're gonna want a hat too.

RANDOM.

I'm a busy crafty girl lately. I'm crankin' out Fork Easels for 3 different weddings! It's so fun...& hectic...& fun!

♥

Sometimes I look up a word in the dictionary that I don't know the spelling of & then I realize: "I don't know how to spell it, so how am I supposed to look it up?"

♥

The other day my 4 year old daughter asked me if she could have a snack. Having just had breakfast, I said, "No." Seriously, 30 seconds later, I walk into the kitchen & she has her arms raised to the sky & she's asking God to please send down snacks from heaven. HAHA!

♥

I am having SO much fun with my new ring bands. Wheeee! I just mailed out this month's subscriptions to the Vintage Button Ring-of-the-Month CLUB. Some of my customers are going to be surprised by the new look!

♥

A couple weeks ago The Ungourmet had a contest celebrating her 100th blog post. The prize? One of my Cupcake Screenprinted Pillows. The winner? Click HERE to find out. This just totally made my heart melt.

♥

Oh, someone asked how I make those cute little hearts. All you do is squish these 3 things together..... & hearts ; .....like magic a heart appears! I know there are other symbols you can create but that's the only one I know.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

♥

I was contacted by Country Bob's & sent 2 free bottles of their All Purpose Sauce & promised to give a review. I have no idea how they found me, or why they chose my silly little crafty blog. But, hey, it was free & my condiment supply was running low. We had some friends over, so I microwaved up some frozen chicken nuggets & they started dipping. Here's what the gang had to say:

{Chewing with his mouth full}: "Mmmm.....best. Want more." -Andrew (13)

"It's got a little bit of A1 going on." -Mr. WhiMSy love (37)

"Thumbs up. Really, really good." -Rebecca (10)

"It's good." -Zoey (6)

But, here's a REAL cooking blog to check out. Kim actually made one of the recipes. And it looks delicious!

Visit Country Bob's website & get a free bottle!

♥

I will be stuffing my face on Mother's Day with yummy biscuits from Red Lobster. That's where the fellas from our family have decided to take the ladies. That's all I need---just a big ole plate of biscuits. Oh, & some iced tea.

Tuesday Bits.

Yesterday my Cupcake Planter Tutorial was featured on Tipnut.com!! I'm totally psyched!

Also, my 4 year old & I rode scooters to pick up my 6 year old from school. I thought I was going to die many times. But I didn't even fall once. Almost though...lots. There was a bit of squealing too.

And I don't care if they are weeds. They're kinda perty. And a lovely yellow too.

I'm working on compiling a list of all the crafts I've done through my years as MOPS Creative Activities Coordinator. I've had several interested MOPS peeps asking about the crafty ideas I've done in the past, so I thought I'd make it available as a way of inspiration & help to any MOPS groups seeking ideas. It'll be up in the next couple days--with links or brief 'how-to' descriptions.

Oh!! And lookie what happy mail came yesterday!!! I received a birthday giftie from the sweet Nadine of nadine bozek photography. She saw her Happy Cloud print listed in my 'Birthday Wish List' picture mosaic through Flickr & decided to surprise me. I LOVE all the Happy Cloud goodness!! Thanks so much Nadine!!

OK, I'm off to clean the house. Mr. WhiMSy love & I have hired a babysitter this evening.
The house pretty much gets its best cleaning done when I know people are coming over.

I will blast the tunes on the stereo & pretend I'm somewhere else, doing something else besides cleaning.

{random}

This is what me & my girls were doing yesterday. Oh, & I painted some pots & am working on getting some plants all pretty-like for my yard. I also snuck off, while the girls were in school, to a coffee shop where I lounged on a couch, feet stretched out, while reading & sipping on an iced mocha.

All. By. Myself.

Heavenly.

♥

Oh, & the MOPS moms liked the terrarium craft I taught on Tuesday. I didn't hear any complaints anyway. I did hear some gnome-envy over my little clay dude. All the little jar gardens looked so cute! As I was setting up my crafty stuff, some boys swarmed the table, immediately attracted to my stash of dirt & rocks!We had a speaker that day talk about gardening with kids. Oh how I wish I had more confidence to garden. I really want to take this nasty little patch of yardage in our back lot & have some gardening fun with the girls. This "nasty little patch of yardage" used to be, ironically, a garden. haha! That was BEFORE we moved in. The overgrown vines & trees & weeds had already claimed the territory. I might just have to get out there & get a little gardening action going on.

♥

I've been DYING to share this website. I don't know why, but it makes me laugh. It's called Ninja words & it's just an online dictionary. But it's "A really fast dictionary....fast like a ninja". HAHA! I almost play it like a game, trying to type in words & stump it to see if it'll slow down. But it never does. It really is fast.

♥

I flipped through my old journals & diaries the other day & found a list of things I wanted to do before I die. Seriously, this was on the list: "fight crime".

♥

Jumpy Pics Gone Wrong:

♥

Just recently learned how to cross out words on my blog (a.k.a. "strike through") Like this. Click HERE for easy instructions.

♥

Did you know you can design your own fabric? At Spoonflower. Pretty cool.

♥

I just wish someone would come over & show me how to use my video camera. Teach me how to not be a dummy. I really want to learn. This Etsy "How To: Getting Started in Video" series is really inspiring. It would be fun to stretch myself in this way.

♥

I asked my 4 year old what she was going to name her new stuffed plushie puppy. She replied, "Either Baldy.....or Sophie."

♥

I have felt so whiny lately: there is so much to do & I'm not getting anything done! Things to do, things to make, things to mail, ideas to create, people to write, stuff to organize...

♥

Lately I've been reading myself to sleep: like a little kid with my flashlight under the sheets in bed. The Mr. HATES any lights while he snoozes.

♥

Thank you for letting me entertain you with my random smorgasbord of WhiMSy love tidbits.

random.

My "random" file is filling fast, so I thought it was time for another "random" post...

Do you see what my 6 year old's breakfast leftovers looked like this morning? I love it! Hard-boiled egg yolk eyeballs & a peanut butter toast crust smile.

Someone asked me a little while ago (sorry, can't remember who!) what the "MS" in "WhiMSy love" stands for. OK, are you ready for the answer? Here it is: absolutely nothing. I just thought I'd be so ever so "artsy" & "whimsical" & make some of the letters bigger & some smaller & so that's what came about. I COULD make up something clever though. Any ideas?

Today I'm wearing my green corduroy pants. Mr. WhiMSy love HATES them. When I wear them he sings "O Christmas Pants" to the tune of "O Christmas Tree". I don't care. I like them & they are comfy.

I keep getting a lot of hits on my blog from THIS WEBSITE. But I can't figure out why or where or who or huh?

I also had a few of you ask what I sent my partner for the latest Owlie Swap I participated in. Click HERE for Jessica's blog post about it.

Have you ever driven up to a STOP sign & waited for it to turn green? Or come home from running errands & stood right outside your front door trying to unlock it with the keyless remote button from your car? Yeah, me neither....

I went thrift shopping today! Look at all that yummy bright perfect-for-spring-&-summer yarn!!! I don't knit. Although, I've been thinking of learning to crochet. (2 needles scare me. 1, I think I can handle.) I am using this yarn for a project I've had in my head for a while. And the cool thing is that I went to the thrift store SPECIFICALLY for yarn, hoping to get colors exactly like these. SCORE!
I also picked up a couple treats for the 'Vintage' department in the shop. This 80's see-through Conairphone is totally rad. Seriously, I look at this phone & Madonna's "Lucky Star" echoes through my head. And I see visions of mall hair & my favorite oversized neon sweater.
And, of course, I couldn't leave the thrift shop without snatching a few old books.

I haven't tweeted in a while on Twitter, but the other day I noticed that someone 'following' me has me sandwiched right between Jimmy Fallon & Ashton Kutcher. haha!

Today is the last day of winter! YIPPEE!!

Ok, enough randomness for one day.

Happy Blogger-versary To Me!

I TOTALLY just realized that today marks the day I began blogging---2 years ago. So, YAY! I didn't even know what a blog was 2 years ago. I LOVE BLOGGING!!!! Oh, quick funny story: My 86 year old grandma was talking about my blog the other day. She wanted me to set up my blog on her computer so she could easily access it. But, instead of saying "blog", she called it a "blob". HAHAHAHAHA! That rocks.

I wanted to get all cheesy & sentimental here too. THANK YOU SOOOOOOOO MUCH to all my readers & followers & fans, for reading.....& following.....&....fanning. (?) I get seriously giddy every time I get comments. The comments are the heart of my blog---the heart of ANY blog, really. And I do get sad puppy dog face if things are quiet around WhiMSy love land. For reals. So, say stuff. It makes me HAPPY! And I'm so blown away at all the nice emails I get from my blog readers with such encouraging & lovely things to say. So, thank you, thank you, thank you.

And I half thought of this next idea & half copied from Pampering Beki's blog: What do you love about this ole blog of mine? What would you like to see more of? What do you want to know about ME? Ask me anything. What is it you want to know? Leave a comment & say whatever--as long as it's nice. This is your chance to let me know your opinions & thoughts. (All of a sudden I got really nervous...)

*I call the picture up top "Warhol meets WhiMSy". Find out how to create this, & other effects, HERE.

RANDOM

This is my new ride. The blueberry beast. It's a gas hog. And it's loud. And BIG. And I LOVE driving it! My minivan (a.k.a. the "mommy missile") is in the shop. It needs a new transmission. Poo.

I totally forgot to include this photo in my last 'Cupcake Post'. My girls & I went to McDonald's for lunch last week & while I was happily ordering happy meals I had the girls find some seats for us. They yelled, "Mommy! Let's sit in these chairs that look like cupcakes!!"

Now that the One World One Heart giveaway has come to an end, I've announced my winner. If I don't hear from Carolyn of Carolyn's Creations & Paper Crafts by Sunday then I will pick a new winner! (I know there are many of you re-crossing your fingers right now.)

And not to brag or anything, but I won this & this & this & this & this card & this & this & this & this. Oh, & the first pic in this giveaway. All day yesterday & today I was doing crazy hyper sweepstakes-style jumping & squealing! I can't wait for my sweet packages & goodies to arrive!! I LOVE getting happy mail!

Guess who's almost at 500 sales?? Why me, silly! I'm SO excited! I'm hoping to get there by my 2 year Etsy Anniversary---which is technically Feb 28th, but last year I celebrated at the end of March 'cause that's when I first stocked the shop with handmade goodies. (500th sale gets extra goodies too!)

Look at this sweeeeet mushroom fabric I got yesterday while out on a mini thrifty run at my favorite antique spot. Such a happy little print!

I was up last night finishing the owlie Valentines for my daughter's Kindergarten class. She actually made them all. I just stuffed the lollipops in the wings. They turned out cute! She's very proud of them.

We even put together some hearty goodies for her teacher--using the shrinky dink keychain idea from Lost Button Studio...

...& this cute little wrapping job from Zakka Life. (All the Valentine projects found via The Crafty Crow.)

Hope you're gearing up for a lovely Valentine weekend!

WHAT?

I totally love what my bloggy pal Beki did over at Pampering Beki, & so I'm copying. Do you wanna know how people find my blog?? Here's some google searches people have done...& ended up here. (Their search phrases are in italics.)

sexy vacuuming

haha! Yes. I am here. And I am vacuuming. Click here, this is what they found.

my bunion

Don't have one. Don't want one.

white chocolate gunmouth

what? just weird.

a mannequin head with pipe cleaner hair

I'd LOVE to see this! Wouldn't you??

accidentally ate cupcake liner

Those musta been some AWESOME cupcakes.

doing silly fun things in love

Awww, & they ended up here...

whimsy shrinky

I guess you should hang me on the line to dry. No high heat.

example of a short whimsy

If 5'8" is short, than so be it.

funny photo of person with crutches

I didn't think it was THAT funny. Click here for my crutch pic.

hot crutches

That's more like it. haha!

i love crutches

ok, I'm creeped out. Still.

how to make an accordion envelope out of a lawn bag

Hmm. Interesting. Click here for MY accordion envelopes.

love niks

I love you too!

love tooth

Is that like a sweet tooth?

mary poppins chalk drawings

I did do chalk drawings. But Mary Poppins was never in the picture.

mini crutches figurine

Ok, look---this is getting out of hand.

how do i create a jar of whimsey

Well, if you really want to know the recipe, here it is: add lots of giggles, oodles of silliness, loads of smiles, plenty of happy thoughts, & a sprinkle of dorkiness.

owlie workout plan

Is this like owlie bootcamp?

monkey pics with rudolph costume
Poor, poor monkey.

other ways to break a pinata

Oh my gosh. I never even thought of this. Now I'm gonna be thinking about this all the time.

whimsy my love
Yes, my darling?

shrinky dink too long
scissors might help.

why is my spongecake dry?

Maybe because you used REAL sponges??? Just a guess...

Oh, & today is my dad's birthday. He is always good for a laugh, so I thought this was the perfect post. Happy birthday Dad! Come home soon!

P.S. The random photo at the top is what my daughter's were doing outside yesterday. Flying in cardboard boxes.

Nikki + Melvin = True Love.

Say hello to Melvin the Mushroom! He's one of the most adorable handmade stamps EVERS! My Etsy BFF, Beck, surprised me with him. I think he is precious. I'm stampin' him practically EVERYWHERE!

I'm fond of many of the hand carved stamps I've seen on Etsy & I think that someday it would even be fun to try carving my own. I found THIS WEBSITE that explains the whole process pretty thoroughly. One of these days I may give it a crafty whirl. I'll let you know when that happens. For now I'll just share my favorite shops that carry the cutest handmade stamps: Craft Pudding , The Mayberry Sparrow, Cupcake Tree & WineMakersSister.

Look who got happy socks!

MAN. I have boat feet.

But seriously, I'm sick of this mucky, yucky, un-sunshiny, grey, kinda depressing winter weather & I needed something to help me cheer up. Funky socks did the trick!!!

P.S. The Vintage Button Ring I'm "modeling" is for sale in the shop. This weekend I'll be stocking 'WhiMSy love' with even MORE super fun rings & some new button surprises!