Some Craft Show Photos & 2010 Calendars

Hi everyone,

If you followed my post back in December, I posted my calendars I was getting ready to sell at my church Craft Show. Here are some of those pictures of my table, my calendars and set-up!

My cards & display include the cards out for customers to walk by and pick up, maybe read. But then also a homemade "Password File" and some of my altered weekly calendar books for purse, etc.

Here are my Screen Door framed decor display. I also showed some of my cards & Screen Door kits I was selling.

On the right side of the next picture you can see my calendars. My desktop & fridge calendars are shown.

The fridge calendars have really strong magnets for hanging. When I glued these down with E6000 glue, the magnets attracted eachother - and making the glue slide until drying some time later. Of course, I was giggling when I saw these the next morning!

This was a picture taken the night before the show - looking at my display to see how it would look prior to the big day!

Here is a snapshot of each month. Both Fridge & Desktop calendars had the exact same stamped images for each month. This made stamping & assembly a snap!

My family, friends & even our mail carrier received what I did not sell. You simply cannot save these time sensitive gifts! (all stamps are The Angel Company).

Using a great font, I printed out the title sheet on my computer and layered it on my front cover.

I wish I could say I made a killing and sold out everything, but honestly I did not. Since my Theme of the Year is SEEKING JOY, I have to be honest with myself: I experience joy when I am creative.

Thanks for stopping by...

Life is all about timing... the unreachable becomes reachable, the unavailable become available, the unattainable... attainable. Have the patience, wait it out It's all about timing.”
Stacey Charter

My Word of the New Year & A Family Journal

Hi everyone,


Happy New Year!!! Here is a photo of my family taken on Christmas Day! This one turned out pretty cute!


I am sitting here in my craft room with TONS on my mind. Resolutions, you say? Bah-humbug! Aren't resolutions a waste? I think so! They set us up for failure and give us the self-inflicted guilt that I simply don't want lurking around the synapses of my mind! Thank you very much! OK, I'm not ranting, I promise!


The perfectionist in me says "NO WAY!" I am simply too busy with other things on my mind that need focusing. What are they?


Last year, I was searching for Peace in my life. I have surely found it - and I'm blessed for it. I am working on so many issues (no tissues, please) and with the help of many avenues, peace has been found - slowly, but surely. Living in truth, living by what my faith teaches me and giving my best is what I have been working on!



So, in 2010 my word of the year is JOY! Have you found this? Has JOY eluded you? I want to feel joy or happiness! I am talking about getting joy from your meaning and purpose and fulfillment in this life - I want this! I have been working on my sharing my heart, journal my feelings and give my time, talents & treasure to God, my family, friends and self, my faith grows. My joy has not increased though! Why am I not happy? Aren't joy and happiness the same? Let's check it out. Dictionary.com says the following:


hap⋅pi⋅ness –noun
1. the quality or state of being happy.
2. good fortune; pleasure; contentment; joy.


joy –noun
1. the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation: She felt the joy of seeing her son's success.
2. a source or cause of keen pleasure or delight; something or someone greatly valued or appreciated: Her prose style is a pure joy.
3. the expression or display of glad feeling; festive gaiety.
4. a state of happiness or felicity.
–verb (used without object)
5. to feel joy; be glad; rejoice.
–verb (used with object)
6. Obsolete. to gladden.


So, I guess from my own Dictionary lesson they are very close! I am working on Joy as my word of the New Year! I am working on going back to school - exploring some possible avenues that may bring fulfillment to me! That is a good thing! I am excited to share this with you as I search for my personal meaning and purpose. I will keep you posted as I start a new 2010 chapter: Seeking Joy!


I do know that my creativity is a good outlet for me no matter my mood or searchings! The last few weeks have been like getting out of the Holiday Haze. I need routine. Routine is GOOD! Now that the kids are back in school, I am creative and actively searching for JOY, here is a project I made with my kids in mind. It's called The Journal of Polizzi Ponderings! I like alliteration, can you tell? It's where I pose a question and pass the journal through the house and in my own kids handwriting they tell me things about a subject I develop.

The How-to: I put this together pretty easily! Here's what I did... I used a school ream of notebook paper wide lined. I usually keep a few of these on hand during the school year. I then have a stash of chipboard cardboard from the back of the graph paper my husband uses at work. I recycle TONS of these during my creativity moments. I covered the chipboard with the gold & black cardstock using pre-punched letters from an unknown source to spell out my "Polizzi Ponderings & Of" part. The word Journal was written by me using the Sharpie PosterPaint marker in opaque white, then with a fine tip Sharpie, gave shadows to the script. The using "Spring Dreams" stamp set from The Angel Company I added corners. Next came layering Marvy Uchida scalloped oval punches in black & white cardstock. Used scalloped scissors by Provo Craft to dress up those edges. Glued everything down with either Scotch double-sided tape or Glue Dots. Ran a length of B&W checked ribbon (Walmart, I think) down the black panel, and tied shippers twine though the front & back covers with the school notebook paper making a sandwich inside. Tip: make sure you leave some space when tie-ing your knots so you can turn pages easily. Pretty easy-peasy, huh?


Next, I created some "rules" for the notebook. Here's what is written on the inside front cover of our Journal:
1. You can write up to 3 paragraphs.
2. Stay on the front side of each sheet - markers can bleed.
3. Pencil only.
4. Only write in the Journal when it's your turn. (Ah, siblings)
5. It's NOT homework - just have fun!
6. Use your best handwriting.
7. Put it on Mommy's craft desk when you're done!


Back in November 2007, I posed a question to my daughter Gianna; "talk about a new activity you'd like to try and explain why..." After my husband and I got a huge kick out of her answers (all of them, truly are hilarious), I wrote back saying how I {{{loved}}} her ideas, etc. What a fun way to get your kids to journal! Do I even have to mention how fun it will be to scan them onto a huge projector and show their entire wedding party some of the crazy things they've said when they were little? I'm only a little nostalgic!!! :)


So, jump ahead to 2010! I did have to wipe off some dust since it's been forgotten for awhile... Here is what I did for today's Journal entry. I used a RAK Doodle from Stephanie Ackerman's Homegrown Hospitality blog {{{LOVE THIS BLOG}}} (click here) and printed it out for our family journal theme. I wanted to see how my kids are coming along with the "sharing feelings" area of their lives. I know at 12, 10, 10 and 6 they are just learning to articulate feelings, I want to show my kids how to share their feelings in a non-threatening way, but also, on paper it's less lecture-sounding, too. Yup, that 12 year old is almost a teenager!!! YIKES!
Cannot wait to see what they share with me about this topic. Thanks for stopping by... What do you think?



"The unexamined life is not worth living.” - Socrates