Happiness is….

Being able to share what you love with the world.

Being thankful for everyday.

Fulfilling your dreams.

Accomplishing you goals.

LOVING what you do.

It is also the beginning of one of my most favorite quotes:

Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued,
is always just beyond your grasp, but which,
if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
                                      -Nathaniel Hawthorne    

That is such a beautiful quote. It reminds me to sit back, and reflect, or take in what is going on in life, and to find the happiness and joy in the moment. While at times this can be difficult, it is necessary. Sometimes I get caught up in things, or let something upset me. I put myself back in check by taking a moment to think of all the good things I have. I have so much to be happy and thankful for. First and foremost the health, love and support of my family. Without them nothing really matters. They are my heart, my life. Everything I do is for them. To be able to watch 3 little people grow up, and view the world through their eyes is beyond words. I am blessed.

I feel like I have been on a journey of transformation myself, in just about every aspect of my life. I am welcoming all aspect of this transformation. I feel like something just clicked when I turned 30. It was like I woke up and discovered who I am, what I want, where I want to go, and how to get there. Through my daughters battle with cancer, I learned that every second is precious, and not to be wasted. I do my best to make the most of each day. I’m not perfect. I don’t always think “happy” thoughts, and I have plenty of bad days, and mood swings (just ask Jay! LOL!) but I always catch myself at some point in attempt to make the best of everything. To live my life in a way that if it were my last day, would I be ok with what I had done or accomplished.

That all leads me here.

I truly LOVE what I do. I love sharing it with all of you too! I love having an idea, executing it, then somehow inspiring someone else.

I have SOOOO much to share with the first release of My Time Made Easy™ LLC, so I’m happy you could stop by. I have a ton to share, but for today I felt the project deserved its own post.

Today you will also find some inspiration from our latest release by stopping by to see

Here is a peek at All A Flutter ©

Then her Shutt-erfly ©

and more to come from Kristin Bueter (our digi paper girl) who was just announced as the NEW! design team member for the Color Throwdown! Make sure you check out the Color Throwdown, since they are all used our NEW! Pretty Printables © digital paper!!!

OK now I will get along with my sample! You already got a PEEK above….

Recently I released a Pretty Packaging © templates called Hanging Holiday Sled © I alluded to the fact that it was far more than just a “holiday” sled. It could be utilized for any time of year.

After that the emails flowed like lava!! People asking ” What other holiday can this template be used for?”

Well, that is just it….not just ANY holiday….how about ALL year?

I used the Hanging “Holiday” Sled and designed this to hang on the door. As you can see this is an everyday type of decoration.

 What you CAN’T see is that I used a stunning shimmery paper called Mother Of Pearl. I then used a gold, and brilliance ink in beige to “distress” it. It’s really pretty in person. Imagine coming upon the home of someone and this was at the door to greet you? Or hung in their home somewhere?

I think your first thought would NOT be that it was cardstock. It looks like an expensive item you’d get from a specialty home magazine. Meanwhile it cost just dollars to create!

This is the side view

Even the sled rails are in a gold cardstock. Its a shimmering masterpiece, that I am just so proud of.

Who would have thought a “sled” could look so elegant?

The wired ribbon was the main source of inspiration for this creation. We all need a starting point, right? It then blossomed from there-literally!

I used the Pretty Pieces © Cut File-Flutters and Flowers © to create the shimmery daisies you see along the bottom of my sled! I just used my Cricut, and cut out 6 of them. I then manipulated the petals, and painted them with Shimmerz. What a fantastic touch that adds!! I then put in some glittered leaves, and some other shimmery bridal confetti adorned with gold brads and pearls.

The butterfly was inspired by the glittery butterfly in the photo. Stamped on Mother of Pearl carstock, and gold embossed. I then used some Copic markers to fill in the color, and adhesive rhinestones on the circles of the wings.

I am in love with the All A Flutter © image and sentiment set. Here I used the All A Flutter Sentiment set on a large label nestability, stamped on the Mother of Pearl cardstock, in which I drew a gold border around using a gold pain marker.

There are 9 sentiments in this set. Each sentiment uses a different font.

The purpose was to provide you with the perfect “butterfly themed” sentiments that could be used as the main focus of a card, scrapbook page, photo mat or Pretty Packaging © project, or on its own for a tag, or maybe inside a card. The All A Flutter © image set makes the perfect accents to these sentiments. They can just “flutter” around them, as you have seen over the last few days. With the Flutters and Flowers CUT file, you don’t have to even cut them out, the machine can do it for you. It also saves you tons of money on punches. Especially since these are all re-sizable!

Many of you inquired what the sentiment set actually has for sentiments: (the website is updated with that info too :D)

The butterfly image reads” Follow your dreams”

The circle sentiment reads: “Cherish Yesterday Dream Tomorrow Live Today” 

The butterfly counts not months but moments,
and has time enough.  ~Rabindranath Tagore

May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun
And find your shoulder to light on,
To bring you luck, happiness and riches
Today, tomorrow and beyond.
~Irish Blessing

Love is like a butterfly:  It goes where it pleases
 and it pleases wherever it goes.  ~Author Unknown                                       

From small beginnings come great things…….

(used in today’s project)
Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued,
is always just beyond your grasp, but which,
if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
                                      -Nathaniel Hawthorne      

What the caterpillar calls the end of the world,
the master calls a butterfly
                   -Richard Bach

But these are flowers that fly and all but sing:
And now from having ridden out desire
They lie closed over in the wind and cling
Where wheels have freshly sliced the April mire.
~Robert Frost, “Blue-Butterfly Day”

Supplies:

Pretty Impressions © acrylic stamp sets: All A Flutter © image set, All A Flutter Sentiments © set

Pretty Packaging © templates : Hanging Holiday Sled ©

NEW! Pretty Pieces © Cut File : Flutters and Flowers ©

Cardstock from Couture Cardstock: Mother of Pearl, Bow Bells, Vivian (gold)

Michael’s craft store: Gold leaves, shimmery bridal confetti, wired ribbon, pearls and pearl brads

Shimmerz, gold embossing powder, copic markers

Well my friends that is all she wrote for today. More to come tomorrow!!

Thank you ALL for stopping by, and taking time out of your busy day.

We are half through the week 😀 I am already looking forward to the weekend. I hope to get more crafting done this week too. Its been several days since my fingers have seen ink!

Take time for you today.