And Now ... I can Handle Christmas!!

After listening to Christmas music and looking at Christmas products since before Halloween ... I am now officially embracing the Holiday season!

* Do I have my home decorated? No
* Do I have my lights up? No
* Do I have my music out and on? No
* Have I bought all of my presents? No, but some of them.
* Do I want to do it all now? YES!!

However, I have my son's wedding to go to (Dec. 1st) and so I'm chomping at the bit to get him married, so I can ...

* relax over the wedding and start stressing out about Christmas
* Decorate til the cows come home - my favorite part of Christmas.
* Buy my "Christmas Vacation" sized Christmas tree (has to be real or it's not Christmas) my husband so graciously puts up with every year.
* And stress over all of my last minute orders in my shops.
* Stress over the perfect holiday menu and then cook until I can hardly stand, barely eating the food because I'm not hungry over smelling the food all day.

Sounds like fun, huh?! LOL!

Seriously, I love the holiday season. I love finding just the perfect gifts for people, and then going all OCD over the wrapping of the gifts. I love decorating my tree so that it's beautiful enough to be on the front of BHG magazine. I love the smells of spices in the air. I love the generosity of people, and the goodwill that you just don't see at other times of the year. I may even like my neighbor (who is a very crabby man, and very hard to like ... but you never know!).

So, in the spirit of Christmas, my Brag Monday entry for the Graphics Fairy are more Christmas gift tags. Hopefully you have taken advantage of some of the sales going on and you have presents that they will work perfectly for!

Bonjour mes amies, and have a wonderful week! Mine will be filled with last minute wedding preparations, and the excitement of seeing family members I haven't seen in over a year.

Au Revoir!!

Lorraine

*As always, these are for personal use only. No mass production allowed, however you may send any and everyone to my site to download their own personal copy.

Baby, It's Cold Outside ... or at least it Should be!!

This past few weeks I've had a hard time staying healthy. The weather keeps dipping up and down, up and down, which is not a great combination with asthma or staying healthy! But, I'm now feeling much better and trying to get back on the horse.

In the meantime, I've been gathering Christmas graphics, Art Deco graphics, and a whole bunch of fashion illustrations that I'm so excited to start using. And, so I had to make a Printable for you. I hope you enjoy it. It's something that I will be using in my stores (Zazzle and Etsy), but in the meantime, I'm happy to let you use it to inspire you.

Isn't she wonderful?! She's from 1913 from a french fashion magazine called La Gazette Bon Ton (High Society Fashion Magazine). This is truly the beginning of the Art Deco movement and you can truly tell by the modern lines and drape of the fashion. And it's PINK!! Who could ask for more!!

So, now on to my Brag Monday. I also have been working on Christmas tags with some of the beautiful Victorian pictures I found. Many thanks to the Graphics Fairy for sharing her beautiful images. So, once again, these are for you to start using as you (hopefully) are getting ready for Christmas. I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed making them.

As always, these are for personal use only. You may not mass produce, but please feel free to send anyone my way to download their own copy.

Have a wonderful week mes amies!!

Beauty: Within, Without, or Not at All

I believe I may have mentioned earlier that I have been really working hard on finishing up some projects in my home. It is truly coming together, and I'm so excited about how I feel when I open my door, walk into my home, and just feel ... aaaahhhhhh. I'm truly home. Not only is this transformation the result of trying to create a beautiful home, but it is also an internal transformation ... a realization of who I am and what makes me happy -- what "speaks" to my soul.

I'm in my late 40's and it has taken quite some time for me to figure out what truly is me, what truly makes me happy, what truly speaks to my soul. Also, what "spoke" to me at 20, isn't what speaks to me at 48. Too much life has happened in the meantime.

I'm reminded of the analogy of us starting out as lumps of coal, and through life, God creates a diamond ... something that He saw in us from the very beginning, but that we aren't able to see in ourselves. At least for many, it takes a long time, for others, they never see their full glorious worth. How incredibly sad that is.

So, today, for my Brag Monday, I've created a free printable to help remind us that we have to carry the beauty within in order to see the beauty outwardly. I particularly hope that it will inspire you to remember how beautiful you are ... and that you will believe it!

I love this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson. I created the printable using a peacock graphic (with many thanks) by the Graphics Fairy. As always, feel free to click on the printable and right click to save to your computer. It is for personal use and may not be mass produced or used in any commercial way. Please feel free to send people my way so that they may download their own copy.

Au Revoir mes amies ... have a wonderful week!!

Lorraine

It's all About your Head ... or Neck, as the Case May Be

It's been a bit of a tough week for me, and so I knew I needed to blog ... not to vent, mind you. I'll spare you that ... but I needed to create my Freebie Friday printable for you and pour some humor into my life. Hopefully, it will offer you a chance to chuckle as well ... and yes, I give you permission to laugh at me, I'm laughing at me while I write this.

As I said, it's been a bit of a trying week. But, I've realized that it's all about perspective. I was griping to a friend of mine about some of my troubles and then promptly moved into another stresser that just popped up, albeit a good one. As any good friend would do, she promptly said "Boo Hoo ... must be rough to have Google wanting to promote you on the internet, I'm sure that's really terrible." And ... it hit me. What the heck am I complaining about. See ... it's all about perspective. I'm worrying over my house being perfect for a photographer that Google is sending to my home as they are highlighting me for the state of Indiana with one of their ad campaigns. Who freakin' gets to do that? Me!!!! I can't believe it's happening to me. So, why am I stressing out. I should be jumping up and down, thrilled beyond my wildest dreams ... and GRATEFUL!!!!

Some people don't even have a home right now thanks to Hurricane Katrina, and I'm freaking out about what is probably the chance of a lifetime, business-wise. So ... as I thought about what I could use for inspiration for my Freebie Friday, I turned to Marie. We always think about the fun she had, fashion, wearing anything she wanted, escaping to Trianon to get away from the court politics, and we promptly forget the woman lost her head ... literally. So, while this picture is not Marie, it is Marie-esque (do you like my made up word?). I hope you enjoy and get a laugh out of it.

As always, feel free to click on it and then right click to save to your computer. You may only use it for personal use (print or as a wallpaper for your computer) but may not mass produce. Fee free to send anyone my way to get their own copy.

Have a wonderful weekend mes amies ... and keep your perspective straight (and your heads on!).