Lauren Ferguson | There are no mistakes in art, just opportunites to embellish. (tm)

36 Days and Counting!

I know I know, can you believe it! School is almost over. The summer is once again upon us. 

I'm the Mama that always gives a handmade gift. That's who I am.

Well I was in Archivers at the 1.99 bin, and there were these trapezoid shaped clipboards from EK Success. 

The metal clip at the top comes separate. I did not have to worry about piecing anything together at the top. Love it.

I had seen them before but never really thought much about them. But for 2 bucks, I figured why not. It sat in my house for weeks.

Sunday I was crafting with Debbie and the bug hit me to make these. I told Debbie that I was going to keep it simple and not over do it. She threw down the gauntlet and I accepted my own challenge.

I used some left over ICE Resined flowers from my cards, a piece of ribbon and Basic Grey Recess. 

Jillibean Soup made the felt flowers. They are laser cut and I love them. The edges will not fray.

I had originally only made one for her classroom teacher Ms. McCullough. But of course when I showed Chi-Chi the one, she "needed me to make two more" for her Principal and Assistant Principal. 

I made them all for under 10 bucks and stuff out of my stash in less than an afternoon.

And yes, I put the names on with STICKERS. Everybody has to love a good set of letter stickers now and again.

They turned out super!

Teachers love a thoughtful gift. 

until we meet again,

Lauren

Special Needs require Special People

Can I tell you that it has been such a long road to get to this place.

A few weeks ago, I had the boys evaluated. They have been home with me for the past year and we have been muddling through the homeschool process. 

I have a great network of wonderful people in my life. My parents, as crazy as they are, love my kids and step to the plate to help me whenever they can. I have my good friend Debbie who has been an invaluable source of inspiration. She has really helped me to navigate through this maze of Speciality Needs.

This may sound crazy, but when the boys were home with me and I knew that something was just not right, I was OK with it just not being right and working through the transitions. Once you have it written down in black and white by a professional it takes on a whole new meaning.

You have your few minutes on the ride home from the office to sit with the fact that there is a problem that needs to be fixed. It is not as bad or as hopeless as you had though. There is a name for the elephant in the room -- ADHD, and that is not bad. 

After my first set of tears, I realize that all hope is not lost. I just have my work cut out for me as a mother. I must advocate to make sure that they get all that need and all that is available. 

I wipe my tears with my Super Mom cape and reach down to tie my boot straps. I am one of the lucky people who has boot straps.

I have a few numbers to start the dialing journey looking for help, asking for help, finding out what I need to do next. And in this process, I found an agency called Parent to Parent of Georgia.

I spoke to a woman named Laurie. She let me tell her my fears, my hopes and my BIG plans for the boys. She let me embrace all of my apprehensions and she took me by the hand and said all is good you are in the right place.

Y'all, I have been to the mountain top and it is just beautiful. 

Parent to Parent USA (P2PUSA) is a national non-profit organization committed to promoting access, quality and leadership in parent to parent support across the country. This site highlights alliance member statewide organizations that have parent to parent support as a core program and a commitment to implementing parent to parent evidence-based practices. Parent to Parent programs provide emotional and informational support to families of children who have special needs most notably by matching parents seeking support with an experienced, trained 'Support Parent'. 

The website has a database online for services if you want to search on your own or you can call and they will search the database for you. 

I cannot tell you how refreshing it was to have someone say to me you will need this and this and this and this and oh, we have this that may be helpful. She left no stone unturned. When I hung up the phone, I had everything I needed and more sent to my email. 

And they even told me that I could call back. Oh I did this morning, I called back and within minutes, I had another print out sent to my email of all the summer camps that are available in my area.

I know that my cup runneth over. 

I know that I am blessed. 

I know that this new road we are on is going to have its challenges. 

I am going to keep my eyes open.

I am meeting some of the most extraordinarily special people along the way.

until we meet again,

Birthday Crafting with the Chi-Chi

I know I say this all the time but I love crafting with my kids. I love finding the teachable moment with the kids around crafting.

We have safety rules and clean up rules. If you don't follow them you do not get to craft. Ziggy has made it clear that he "cannot handle scissors" because he does not like to clean up.

Well Chi-Chi decided that she wanted to have a crafting party for her birthday and she wanted "to use the Yudu and the Cricut" at her party. I leave the party planning stuff to my Mom and I go off and do the crafty stuff.

We rented the classroom at Archivers and invited every kid in her classroom as well as girl scouts and family.

Early that morning Chi-Chi decides that she wants to have a skull and crossbones on the t-shirts rather than my nice happy go lucky politically correct flower for the girls and robot for the boys.

I finally found an image from Heidi Swapp and burned two screens.

I grabbed all of my stuff for the crowns that we were going to cut on the Cricut and let them decorate. I grabbed all of my paint and two Yudu machines and off we go with time to spare.

We had 17 kids using the Yudu and the Cricut! It was a blast! They made some of the most amazing stuff. All the kids were wearing their t-shirts before they sat down to eat birthday cake.

Every child walked out of the party with a creation all their own. I have to admit that for just one moment, my heart just smiled.

One little boy looked at me and said, "I've never made anything like this before. Thanks I will never forget this party ever!"

My favorite picture is Chi-Chi explaining to another Mom how to use the Cricut. 

I got a phone call from Debbie the next day, she and her grand-daughter, who was wearing her t-shirt, went to McDonald's while there another friend of Chi-Chi's was there too, wearing her t-shirt.

Kids always rise to the occasion. They never want to do just one they want to add more do more and see what happens if.

I realized that it is not just my kids that love it, your kids do too. 

until we meet again,

Creativity stirs in the midst of Chaos

It has been a really busy past two months. It is official, I have now moved to that new place in my parenting spectrum.

I am now a personal chauffeur.

I know bigger kids bigger problems, but time is passing by so quickly and I don't want to miss any of it.

I did not realize that between this activity and that activity, this doctor visit, and that run through the park throw in a birthday party and mandatory family bonding... I could have such a fabulous time.

In the middle of all of it, I have found a few minutes to work on some stuff.

I came home from Florida with the need to preserve a memory. I just loved this photo of my Dad with the kids on the beach.

I wanted to make something that my Dad could put on his desk. 

I went out and purchased a mini black sharpie and a box of pencil holders from Staples.

After a bit of fumbling I was able to get the marker in the pencil holder in the blade holder.

I used Graphically Speaking, Gypsy Wanderings and Gypsy Font for a simple title.

I finished it off with the shells that the kids picked up off the beach and a few starfish from my own stash.

I had a left over piece of a canvas book from C&T Publishing sitting on the table from another project.

My Dad likes to have stuff on his desk about or from the kids.

I took a 4 by 6 photo easel and tacky taped it to the back of the canvas so that it will stand up on his desk.

The kids are going to give it as an Easter gift to him. I am really please with how it turned out.

until we meet again,

Join me on the dark side...

**Warning** Apple says that this is an illegal activity. **Warning**

I have been debating for the past few months whether or not to Jailbreak my iPhone 3Gs.

I did unlock my husband's phone when he had to travel to Nigeria and needed to add a different Sim to be able to use the phone abroad.

Yeah Yeah, I did it because it would have cost us more than a monthly mortgage payment for all the incoming and outgoing calls to Nigeria.

So now here I am with another 199.00 bucks invested in an upgraded handheld device that still does not let me have access to all its potential.

Well after much reading, I decided that this was going to be my next move once I got over the initial fear of FUCKING UP MY PHONE.

I read over and over all of the crazy stuff that people had happen when they did this. Come to find out if you follow the instructions, it is the easiest thing in the world.

Here are my reasons for doing it:

I wanted choices for my home screen. This one is called Blueprint. I even changed the color from blue to black so now it is my Blackprint.

I wanted to be able to control all of the functions at the base level. I am a bit of a geek and did opt to take advantage of a few other features. In particular I downloaded a terminal app to remove a number of files that were dragging my phone's performance.

I wanted to have access to VERY COOL games, utilities and other functions that Apple told me I could not. I no longer have to scroll between a million screens. I have only 2 thanks to an app called Categories. Everything gets put into a set of personalized folders. Ziggy is my little artist. He wanted to be able to "finger paint on the phone". So this is his masterpiece. I also have an app that lets me zoom the camera on the phone. Now how many times have you wanted to take a picture and zoom in.

I can still give Apple my money and use the apps in the AppStore. I downloaded two episodes of Hoarders that I have not seen and rented a few movies for the kids after I jailbroke the phone.

In the end the best reason to do it was to stick it to the man and claim my independence with the millions of other iPhone lovers in the world.

I have been liberated for the past few days and I am loving it. Plus it has given me something to do while I quit smoking!

I have been feverishly working on getting different apps then trying them out. You download, set them up if you don't like them you delete them and move on.

I am in love with my new look.

So all I have is one question...

What the hell are you waiting for!! Join me on the darkside.

until we meet again,

It's a new day, its a new dawn, it's a New Year!!!

Oh my the holidays have been exhausting this year. The kids are older and I am now finally at a point where I can sit still long enough to catch my breath.

I must say that it is official... I am a NON-SMOKER!!

It has been a long hard road. I am on the other side of the crazy. I have had to change my whole life.

I have not been in the basement or my craft room for days. I have had to drink my coffee in the evening.

It all happened a few days before Christmas. I asked my daughter what was the one thing that she wanted from Santa more than anything. She said without missing a beat that she wanted me to quite smoking because I was going die and she wanted me to live forever.

OMG!! I now know how my Dad must have felt when I asked him to quit smoking 30 years ago.

She looked at me and said that she did not want a pie crust promise. I had to pinky swear. Then she looked at me and said that she did not want to be disappointed. She told me that she wanted her heart to sing with my success.

You know how they say that what you tell the kids comes back to haunt you. Well there it was. What can you say to that.

I have never smoked in my house. My husband is a non-smoker. I personally hate the smell of smoke and I am constantly spraying and chewing on mints. So why did I do it??? I am way to smart to say that I do not know any better.

This is my first promise to her that is all about me.

I feel good and I have not had a craving thanks to Chantix. Yes, there are side effects.

I cant sleep and I am not hungry. Not bad for side effects. I have actually lost 5 pounds in the past few days. And as soon as I can get down to my craft room, I am expecting good things to come out of it.

I hope that your New Year is filled with wonderful choices, great opportunities and new challenges!

until we meet again,

We were bitten by the Bug!

Can I tell you that this Thanksgiving has been like no other in the past few years.

The kids are getting older and it is easier to do everything! They make me laugh when they think that I am not watching.

So I spent all of the holiday crafting with my mother! Yes, that is right, I spent all day Friday and all day Saturday cutting stuff out on the Cricut with my mother!

You may not believe this, but my Mom and I have never crafted together just for fun. She actually had me drive all the way home to pick up the 12 by 24 mat, while she watched my three kids. Now you know that she is Cricut Crazy.

We actually had a blast. She loved it. She was a pro by the end of the night. She had names of cartridges memorized and knew what was on each one. Who needs a Gypsy when you have my mother.

I have to be honest and say that I never thought I would actually like the machine. Some of my peeps are surprised that I am enjoying the Cricut as much as I am. All I can say is that they have made a good sturdy machine that cuts well.

Provo Craft was having a contest to see how people used the Cricut and the Your Story to make stuff. I set up my stuff at Mom's and cut until we could not cut anymore. We had fun. It was nice to spend the time with her just being. Plus she dyed my hair and took 20 years off my age.

Here's what I submitted.

I must say that I love how they all turned out. I know they are elegant in their simplicity!

Don't forget that I am teaching in Georgia this month at Sweet Memories. Come celebrate my birthday with me at the store. I will be there all day Saturday December 12. Give them a call to reserve your spot now. 770-832-7033.

Each class is different. You will enjoy them all!

until we meet again,

I finally figured out why I love to teach!

Wow What a wonderful weekend. I got to see old friends and make new friends. It was great weekend. I had fun and so did the ladies that came.

I love Sassy Scrapper. Mary and her team are on the ball. They are sharp business women.

I really believe that is what separates "still in business stores" from "not still in business stores". It is the business of running a retail store and investing in a hobby to make money.

I have seen it over and over and no matter what it all boils down to good business practices and meeting the needs of your customer base what they want within reason.

Can I tell you the highlight of my trip. I have pictures from my trip to Columbus Ohio last year. If you have not read this one. It is really good. I cannot go into the whole thing here. You will need a tissue for this one because I still get goose bumps. Here is the link http://tinyurl.com/ygfs4tf.

So here are the pictures of the girls and I after we had the most wonderful woman sharing moment.

I am so glad to finally have them. I look for that feeling every time I go out to teach. You know how they say once you get it you keep going back looking for that first teaching high. I just love it.

Anyway so as I was driving home from the weekend, I made a decision. Yes, a decision. I was going in to buy the new 3Gs iPhone.

So right out I went Monday morning to get the new iPhone. I wish I knew then what I knew now. They just kept taking my money. First I had to pay my bill up to date. No Problem. Then I had to pay for the phone 199.99 Then I had to pay for a new case 49.99. Then I had to get a new earpiece because my old one was broken and would not pair up. POOF another 129.99, just like that... gone. I had to have a jawbone earpiece in the fashion forward color of metallic pink

Now remember, I also have family responsibilities to take care of like food for the kids. But I need my iPhone.

Nearly two hours later, they try to pacify me by giving me a car charger and a 49.99 earpiece. I just spent 129.99 what the hell and I going to do with this damn thing.

After all that being said, I love my new phone. Did I tell you that I can get email and send email while I am talking on the phone. Oh yeah baby!!  I love love love it.

I also recycled my old phone and turned it into an iTouch for the kids so that they can now play on my phone without me saying "give me back my phone". The kids love it.

I downloaded some music and a couple of videos and they are just as happy as they have ever been.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I did the cutest project for the girls at Daisies with Chi-Chi and the other girls. They loved this little purse. I cut it out from the Bag, Tags and More cartridge from the Cricut.

I used 3L Scrapbook Adhesive Small Black Foam Squares to put the purse together. Then the girls dipped the foam squares in glitter and put them on the flowers. They loved it.

So why do I teach. Two simple reasons...

1) to feed my kids
2) to feed my iPhone habit

until we meet again

Change is Hard

I always thought that decisions were hard. Until recently, I have realized that it is not the decision but the change. And let me tell you if you are not all on the same page it is a nightmare!

I have had my own fair share of bumps in the road, decisions that needed to be made and a family to maintain.

So here is how it has gone for the past 12 days...

Decision 1: Chi-Chi can ride the bus to school.
Change 1: I have to get up at 6.45 every morning to get her ready. Thank Heavens she loves riding the bus because she is up at 6.30 telling me to get up so that she can get ready for school.

Decision 2: The boys are being home schooled.
Change 2: My time is no longer mine. Phone calls must be made in between lunch and the next activity. Emails must be answered in the middle of the night. If I did not have an iPhone, I would be stuck.

Decision 3: The boys are being home schooled with me.
Change 3: My family thinks that I am crazy and most of the time wants to check and double check if I am doing this right. RIGHT???!!!! I have to keep reminding them that at least if I mess it up I have no one to blame but me. And trust me they are going to be more messed up over other things than learning your ABC's and 123's.

Decision 4: I am going to have a License and Design Booth at CHA-W 2010.
Change 4: I have to get all my ducks in a row to pull this off. I did not realize until I started getting this together how large of production I am going to need to put together. I had to let go of some commitments in order to stay on top of other stuff and my submissions to Altered Arts Magazine.

Decision 5: I am going to write a book.
Change 5: This is a big girl step for me. I am a book junkie. I run away to B&N to just sit and read the books in the craft section. I have seen my stuff in some of them. So why not take it to the next step. Write One. So that is my plan to find someone who thinks that I have something worthy to say and my art is good enough for B&N.

And within the possibilities of change...

Decision 6: I will embrace my inner T-I- double Grrrr - R.
Change 6: I am going to face every day looking for the silver lining. Go ahead, ask me... How is that working for you? I have to say that I have done it two times with great results. That is my story and I am sticking to it.

So it has been a week of new decisions and change. I love the direction of my life and would not change it for the world.

Just to let you know, the decision was easy. Making and keeping my commitment to all the change has had me paralyzed for two weeks.

But after wonderful conversations with great women (way too many to list here) over the last two weeks, I have a plan and I am putting it into action.

Oh and by the way...

If y'all have nothing to do this weekend, Jen Starr is teaching classes at the Scrapbook Expo in New Jersey. I have volunteered to be her minion for the weekend.

I am driving up to raid her craft room plus I cannot afford all the over weight luggage fees so why not rent and drive.

If you are in NJ and want to see the person that teaches me everything I know about color and inks, you need to take a class with Jen Starr.

I have never seen her teach, but from what I am told it is magic. So rather than read about it, I am going to see it first hand.

So I will be on the road, by myself with a case of red bull and my iPod.

I don't think that this is an official running away.

I would call this a few days of Daddy doing all the parenting.

I bet when I get back, I will be thoroughly appreciated.

until we meet again,

Firsts are always easier than you think.

I know you know what I mean. The first time is never as hard as I make it out.

What is hard is the transition from the first to the second. OMG! Yes I have had an epiphany!

You guessed it Chi-Chi has decided that riding the bus is not as bad as I thought it would be.

She loves it and wants to know when she can walk across the street and wait by herself.

I had to burst her bubble immediately and tell her "NEVER". I also had to let her know that it is not an issue of trust for me it was an issue of her safety. And we practice safety because McGruff The Crime Dog gave us a plan. That's my story and I am sticking to it.

So she has had a blast over the past week. Me, I am not a morning person. I have been making the adjustment as best I can. I am judging my success on her not missing the bus one day this week. WOOO HOOO!!!

Over the summer, the kids asked me to get one of those upside down tomato things.

So yes, I did just that I figured if I took them over to my parent's house, they would have a fighting chance to grow.

After they had taken root, they just grew but we had no fruit. I just figured that I had planted them too late.

It was our first time planting and we would do better again next year. Well, to my surprise, the kids have harvested some mini Roma Tomatoes. They love them.

The boys are home with me and we are having a blast. The first thing we did was walk around the house and start labeling it up with index cards with the words on them.

So on the door is door and the stair is stair and so on. 

Well Ziggy decided that he wanted to make lunch with my Brother in Law rather than label up the house.

So I decided to take the time with Mr. Du and just hang.

My husband has a bamboo plant at the front door of our house. I have wanted to throw it out for the last two years. I don't keep plants because I have a brown thumb. I have asked him to clean it out. He says that he has and it still looks nasty and the same to me. Oh well, it is not my plant so I am just not going to fight this battle.

Sorry I digressed, off we go to finish labeling up the house.

We see a Vase with Rocks in It and a Plant. So I have all of these things labeled up and I am ready to move on. Mr Du stops me and the conversation goes something like this.

Wait Mama, we have to finish this one.
We are done we have a vase, with rocks and a bamboo plant. What else do you need?
What is that stuff mama?
What stuff?
That green stuff.
I told him that it was spelled S-L-U-D-G-E.

Well next thing I knew a bunch of adults that had stopped by to visit busted out laughing and my husband comes in the room and says "Must you be so L-O-U-D!"

Oh, I have never laughed so much.

He told me to take it off. I told him that I could not until it was gone. When he cleaned it out and the S-L-U-D-G-E, I would remove the label.

I get a giggle every time I walk past the S-L-U-D-G-E.

We had a lot of firsts this week.

until we meet again,