Best Wishes for a Happy Holiday Season

I've really been laxin' (is that a word?) on my blogging lately, this is a really busy season for me and this fall was a whirlwind of orders, a family holiday, a sad departure of a friends son and life in general. I promise to be a better blogger in 2011!

That being said Miss A and I went with friends last night to see The Grinch Who Stole Christmas at the Sony Centre in Toronto. I must say I am not a huge fan of this Christmas story but this performance was really good, the actor who played The Grinch was awesome and did a great job interacting with the kids........lots of fun and great company!

Best wishes to everyone for a Happy Holiday Season, may 2011 bring you and your families health and happiness

Tis the Season

Started my orders for these again last week! Need to get my holiday mojo and get crackin' ........ the countdown has begun.

My heart is sad

My heart is truly saddened today, a good friend of mine and his family lost their son, stepson and brother. October 30th, 2010, Hilton went to board with the angels. Hilton was a fine young man and he will be sadly missed by all that knew him, myself included. I can honestly say it was my privilege to have met him, worked with him, joked with him and smiled with him.

The last few weeks at the hospital have been really rough on his family. Hilton fought a hard battle to wake up, with courage and determination. Please pray for his family. As a parent, I can't begin to understand how you get through the loss of a child.

We love you Hilton!

You will always be in our hearts and never forgotten

Something to look at

Here are some recent orders I have been working on, some great colour combo's picked by these customers............lovin' the grey and lime green

http://www.going-ga-ga.com

Come On Hilton.......Wake Up Please!

It's been a long two weeks, I really do have tons to post........our trip to Florida and some new orders. Even had to make time to get my gallbladder out............that's always fun!

The thing weighing heavy on my heart right now though is my friend's son, I have known Hilton since he was 3 and have been around to see him grow up into a young man. Hilton was in an accident almost two weeks ago and has been on life support (pretty much) ever since. Right now we are waiting for the pneumonia to clear and then hopefully they will be able to remove his breathing tube and we can work on getting this boy to wake up. For those of you who believe in the power of prayer, please pray for Hilton and his family. It's such a tough time for them right now. Hilton's buddies are headed to Nationals this weekend (a skateboarding venue), they will be sporting shirts and decals we had printed up in support of Hilton and his love of the sport. Stay safe boys (and girls) and do us proud!

Link to Hilton's Blog: http://hiltonbyrne.blogspot.com/

Another Great Job!

These latest pictures were sent from another special couple who did a great job painting their ABC's for their nursery.

It's About Time!

You know the story of the shoe makers children and how they never had shoes because the shoe maker was always so busy making shoes for everyone else.............finally was able to settle on letters with my daughter and get her's done, I can do anything for her and she picks white. Her room is just about there, just need to pick up the curtains from the seamstress (this mamma can't sew worth beans) and she will be all set. We had just painted her room 2 years ago but she really wanted turquiose walls, so we compromised and did the wall behind her bed and a small nook when you first walk in, that colour. She picked her Roxy bedding and we got an extra set in hot pink and brown. Hopefully this will be okay for the next few years. The dresser I had painted is in there as well and I also had the small side table sprayed ...... added another crystal knob and voila!

That is my old walnut spool bed my Great Aunt gave me, it well over 100 years old and my parents lugged it all the way home from New Hampshire for me when I was small, five coats of baby blue paint and all. My Mom had it refinished, I used it and know Miss A has it. Love the history of it all!

Not much

What a bad blogger I am these days, with summer winding down for us and back to school just around the corner I found it hard to post a little more often this summer. The next problem is my camera is in for repair/cleaning........hopefully I will have my friend back next week and can take some more order shots and get posting again.

I did take Miss A this week to see Nanny McPhee and we both really liked it!

And they just keep coming

Here is another DIY Alphabet that Mommy and Daddy Davis did, these rooms look like they are from magazines or tv shows, another superb job by an awesome customer

Another Talented Customer

Received this one recently from a great cusotmer, love thecolours used and how they stacked the letters. Great job to the Pereira Family!

Loved This One Too!

Miss A really wanted to go see Despicable Me, so Daddy and I took her and it did not disappoint any of us. I loved the three little girls Margo, Edith and Agnes........go see it, it's cute!

These guys are too.........

No Kempenfest This Year

I decided this year to take a break from doing Kempenfest,for the past 5 years I have done the show on the Civic weekend and met some great customers. It was a hard decision but after all the mix ups last year with the construction along the lakeshore and people not able to locate me, and slow economy sales, I needed a break!

But do not fear, if you wish to place an order for letters I will still be offering show specials for the month of August. Once again you can purchase the 10" solid painted letters for $10 each and I will also have a special on my framed letters and names and I probably will do some surprise adjustments as well! Just send me a quick email and I can adjust all the prices for you. I also offer FREE delivery within Barrie, Ont.

http://www.going-ga-ga.com

These are a few cute kids orders I have been working on recently

Best Place Ever.......Just Sayin'

I think one of my favourite places to go is to the cottage. My hubby has the best set of godparents one could ever ask for and they are always great company and we love to go visit them at the cottage. This place isn't really a cottage......but that's what they call it.

The dogs love it, the kids think it's the best and we agree it's a pretty special place to visit. If you ever have the chance to go to Muskoka, Ontario make sure you do.......it's a little piece of heaven on earth.

Happy Birthday Canada......one day late

Spent the day hanging out with my family, ice cream at the general store and fireworks finished off our day nicely! All my best to our friends south of the border for a Happy 4th this weekend

DIY Project

I am in awe of all these great blogging sites where these talented people take an old piece of furniture and change it into a beautiful addition to a room in their house.

In the middle of trying to update my daughter's room I decided to use my Grandmother's old dresser and have it re-painted, instead of looking for a new one. I couldn't bare to buy 20 cans of spray paint and wanted my fav Benjamin Moore brown, so I found person on Craigslist to spray it for me.............and I am very happy with the results

Before

After

Removed old ugly gold knobs and replaced with cute, glass knobs.......thanks Ebay!

Take a look at some of these fun blogs for some super ideas!

http://www.allthingsthrifty.com/

http://www.younghouselove.com/

http://beachbrights.blogspot.com/

just to name a few

Wordless Wednesday.....Kind of

As promised here is what I was up to this past weekend.................

Love Benjamin Moore's colour Willow and love it on my garage doors

Planted some of these

And painted way to many of these!

Love these letters I made for a bride and her new hubby for their wedding

And tried my hand at the Hebrew alphabet........which I think turned out really cute!

Victoria Day Weekend

I feel like I got lots accomplished this weekend, long weekends rock! I have more pictures to post but my weekend included getting lots of orders completed, painting the garage doors, planting some flowers and watching my husband work on the back patio......thank goodness he is handy! But what a hot weekend to be slugging stone. Needless to say the pool didn't get opened and my kids have gripped about it for the past 3 days (it was snowing here 1 1/2 weeks ago....who new to call the pool guys to set up an appointment?) .... so to cool off we went to the movies this afternoon...........and this is a "must see" for all of those who missed it opening weekend.

Lovin' Letters

Did some new samples for my booth and this pretty much sums it up........lots to pick from and fun colours! This is a big deal for me, I really have a hard time fitting anything in but my orders.

Let me know if you would like to order some, they can be found here.

http://going-ga-ga.com/item_1/Solid-Painted-Letter.htm

On a side note, check this out 3 blog posts in a week........I'm on a roll!

Great Colour Combo!

WOW! Two post in two days.....I'm doing well :) But I just had to share this pegboard. Never done this colour combo before and I love it! Very patriotic for my USA friends. I think this might be my new fav.

Family Sign

These are a new fun item that seem to have become really popular with my customers these days. I have a bunch of different designs and can do them them in all sorts of colours combinations. If you are looking for a different gift idea.....take a peek here

http://going-ga-ga.com/item_80/Family-Signs.htm

All over the place

I think it's so neat when I get an order from a parent in another country. Don't get me wrong, I am more than happy with all of my Canadian and American customers but I think it's so cool when someone from Ireland, Malaysia and Brazil (to name a few) actually "googled" and found my web site and my products are hanging on their walls

I might never get to travel to that country, at least I am there in spirit!

ABCD.......you know the rest

Hot off the presses and not even on the web site yet.........how cute is this new item? Trying to figure out the most economical way to have it available in lots of colors and different sizes. Do you like it?

Busy weekend ahead, the shows have begun. I'm off to hang out at the Moms to Moms show in Barrie, hosted by Momstown.ca

Lovin' Polka Dots

Another great customer sent me a picture of her daughters letters hanging in the nursery. She did a great job picking the perfect blue to match the fabric and they look even better on the yellow walls. I think my fav thing to paint is the polka dot, I am trying to talk Miss A into more dots in her room so Mommy can get her fill.........still working on it. Let me know if you would like some help with a room you are working on..........I do more than just dots!

http://www.going-ga-ga.com/

I have more Easter/Spring stuff to post but haven't downloaded from my camera yet, it's been one of those weeks