40 things stolen from crazy mom

No I didnt steal anything from her literally lol

Do you like bleu cheese? no


Have you ever smoked? yea I thought I was cool

Do you own a gun? a gun no several guns YES a .22, 20 ga, 30.06, I want a .17

Favorite type of food? Chinese

Favorite type of music? 80's & 90's Metal, newer music, country

What do you think of hot dogs? mmmmm

Favorite Christmas movie? A Christmas Carol the one with George C Scott

What do you prefer to drink in the morning? coffee or mountain dew

Can you do push-ups? I could but I wont lol

What’s your favorite piece of jewelry? wedding set and 2nd engagement ring

Favorite hobby? tatting

Do you have A. D. D.? ha ha sometimes i wander

Do you wear glasses/contacts? glasses my eyes arent so good

Middle name? Ann

Name three thoughts at this exact moment: this headache needs to go away, i hope i dont throw up from my headache, i wish everyone would shut up

Name three drinks you regularly drink: iced tea, water, coffee

Current worry? life

Current hate right now? those who tell me my sons ADHD is just an excuse, and that he just needs disciplined more, and i am a horrible mother

Favorite place to be? here with my family

How did you bring in the new year? in bed

Someplace you’d like to go? a honeymoon ANYWHERE

Name three people who will complete this. ? ?? ???

Do you own slippers? yes but prefer bare feet

What color shirt are you wearing? brown

Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? never tried them and have no desire too

Can you whistle? yep.

Where are you now? in my tatting chair agonizing over this headache

Would you be a pirate? only if Jack Sparrow was a pirate withme ;)

What songs do you sing in the shower? depends on what ever is in my head

Favorite Girl’s Name? Shannan

Favorite boy’s name? Nathaniel

What is in your pocket right now? dont have a pocket

Last thing that made you laugh? my husband trying to make me laugh.

What vehicle do you drive? currently none

Worst injury you’ve ever had? blood poisioning from a thorn

Do you love where you live? YES

How many TVs do you have in your house? 2

How many computers do you have in your house? 3 working 1 non working

If you changed your job, what would it be? I always wanted to be an archaeologist.

If you were granted three wishes, what would they be?? my sister to wake the heck up and see what she is doing, NOTHING to ever happen to my mom, dad, brother, hubby or kids, over come my low esteem

Tatting Tea Tuesday March 30, 2010

Well this is the final TTT for March I did get some tatting done today but with trying to get other things done it wasnt easy well that is until we lost power and phone for awhile. blame it on the wind, must have known I needed a time out lol

My mood wasnt too great today, on occasion I get in these moods where I feel worthless, stupid, fat, ugly etc... Sometimes its triggered by something other times its not, I tend to just shut myself off or act like its all ok. I was and still am in a bit of this mood today, I am tired, must be all the crap adding up at once who knows I think it partly has to do with not having a vehicle for the past 2 months and still wont until atleast the end of April. Easter is Sunday, I am not completely prepared but whatever... It was sunny off and on today but a bit windy I decided to take the camera for a little walk it was nice and refreshing, but chilly, it picked me up some but not fully...

I seen the mail man come but waited until I got Shannan off the bus to check it and imagine my surprise when my package from LADY-SHUTTLE-MAKER came in the mail, I had ordered a custom hook pen awhile back and fell in love with it and decided to order another set of size 10-11-12-13-14 custom made white with blue and my name on them. WOW is all I got to say about them there are no other words but WOW!!!! Its awesome as awesome can be... Its georgous see how all them make up a tatted doily how NEAT-O!!!

Now for the tatting I did today... Nothing spectacular really

March heart for the heart a month challenge

still not real sure i like it

thought it would look nice...

you know that little earring motif I inquired about yesterday I envisioned putting 3 together as a georgous necklace center piece Ummmmmm NO it looked horrible not really that bad but it wasnt nice to me at all
it does look nice but not as a necklace...

hmmmm? which one do YOU think looks better??

Well I am not sure which would be better? I know which one I like better and which one I like the look of better but I would like the opinion on what YOU think...

This was that one design awhile back that I was having trouble getting the right way. Finally got it but it required beads on the shuttle(s) I really really dont like that because it bothers me and takes me even longer to do the project. so I fiddled around today and did 1 with 2 shuttles and the other SCMR and 1 shuttles with beads on the ball thread

I really like the look of and prefer to do the SCMR one...

What are your thoughts / opinions??

OOOOoooooo Shiny

Well I have recently acquired some shuttles made in India I bought SEVERAL the pricing wasnt so bad I found them on ebay and they have an online shop as well HERE I was messing around today and thought I would show you my WIP but the way its going the WIP might get whipped out the window because this is probably the 8th time I tried and I do need to start over AGAIN lol I really like this shuttle its not real light its got some weight to it but over all its wonderful its plated brass I believe.

I got my huge thread order last night and I was so happy so soon I shall start dying again along with some ~*"...NEW..."*~  items... Are you curious yet? he he he he you will have to wait and see what I am talking about :)

I gotta run to walmart again tonight UGH!! I hate it there heck I hate shopping in general but I need to buy a new shuttle case my collection has out grown my box and I still have 9 coming in the mail... OMG did I just say 9... Thanks Jane you got me away from the needle now you created a shuttle addict THANK YOU and my hubbys wallet thanks you too ;)

ok my monsters shall be home soon then hubby following soon after, and I just realized easter is a week away OMG I really hope part of the easter gifts I ordered off etsy will be here in time ...

Have a wonderful day all and if you havent read my post about crying while I cook maybe you should all the way to the end ;)

...sometimes I cry, when I cook...

well because I am cutting onions of course LOL it happened to me a bit ago and my eyes aer still watery and stingy. I feel the need to cry for real though but it wont come out lol

It has been a week and I am so looking forward to the weekend.

Sunday night hubby had me up ALL night because his teeth hurt, I have told him for months to get his butt to the dentist but noooooooo why on earth would a husband ever listen to his wife?? This all came too on a rough day, I picked the kids up at my moms and went and did some grocery shopping Nate was good at first then the little demon child came out, so much I had to discipline him in the store and I got funny looks from an elderly lady, I did not smack my child that is saved for closed doors ;) lol but I told him he was in trouble and that was the last time... all you moms know what I am talking about. He still kept at it I had to drag him around the store while he put on his fake tears etc... it was not fun...

So Monday came I was a complete mess and so darn tired I wanted to scream, I was a mess because I ran out of my nut pills (anti anxiety meds (go ahead and judge me, whatever we all have our troubles)) and havent had any for about 3 days so I was all frazzled hubby was complaining and telling me how scared he was to go to the dentist etc... I made him his appointment and he went I wish we could have gotten in earlier because David was driving me CRAZY to the point where I was ready to pull his teeth, but I do understand I had 2 teeth pulled at the same time a couple years ago. So he got them pulled and your mouth does get sore he is having trouble chewing but my goodness I gave birth 2 times and the one I didnt have ANYTHING for pain and with my son (the one with no pain meds) I had my tubal done so there was double the pain I didnt complain as much... So yea he has been making me crazy lol

Yesterday my son had an appointment so I had to take Dave to work, I bet you I wasnt home for more than a half hour at a time. UGH!! Talk about exhausting, around 4pm is when I finally got to be home for good. i have been tatting some but I am just too lazy and busy at the moment to scan and tell.

I got a huge and by huge I am NOT exaggerating HUGE pot of soup cooking... I really really REALLY wish my mother would not have handed me the trait of cooking too much, I could feed a small army most times, so could my mom, hubby was being a smarty pants one day and told me to pretend I am only cooking for myself then maybe we wouldnt have so much left over. He thought it was funny but i didnt.

And we managed to adopt 6 crustacians so far, I am thinking a few more may wander onto our premisise from my daughter bringing them from school. Here is the story when I was in high school for some reason I fell in love with hermit crabs as pets and after my son was born the last living one I had passed away so I decided to not get anymore I wouldnt have time for them seen as how I had a new born and a 13 month old to chase after. The kids have been wanting them because I talk about the ones I used to have and I figured for Easter from David and I we would get them some, i bought 4 I named them Hermie, Squirmie, Pinchy, Inchy as a joke and well the kids loved it lol 

Any whoo my daughter is studying animals and stuff in science class and they have fiddler crabs, which are different than hermit crabs so I decided to let her adopt a couple and then I realized they need 2 different living enviroments so yesterday when I was running I bought another small aquarium and a few decor and sand etc... and they they spotted them somehow I ended up being conned into adopting 2 fiddlers plus how many ever shannan will be bringing home from school... The fiddlers creep me out a little because they remind me of BIG spiders I refuse to pick those up lol

Meet Fiddly

And Pinchy

Pinchy is my favorite he pays attention to me plus he isnt mean Fiddly broke off one of his legs and fiddly is smaller here is Pincy posing for me.

If you read this leave a comment and maybe just maybe a few of you may get something, hmmmm guess its like a give away for listening to me ramble and checking out my new pets lol

No warning on when this will end, its when I decide it will and maybe Pinchy will draw the winner(s) with his big claws. ;)

WHAT A MESS

OMG!! Can you believe this? This is my tatting area... messy messy messy... We got out tax refund and my wonderful hubby gave me money for my addictions... I am buying some drawer carts for some organization... I can imagine it will take me awhile but I will get it organized :)

in photo 2 you will see miss diva-licous in her usual spot she loves to lay there when i tat. and she is the boss of MY chair lol

What a mess I got sigh, atleast my chair is comfortable ;)

New shop policies and a little rant

Well pardon me while I rant ok. Some of what I am about to say has happened recently and some has been happening in the past:

i had a lady purchase a book from me and telling me it was in her words a poor excuse for a book, it was poorly written, not understandable, and she took it to her tatting group and that they all agreed with her that it was a waste of her time and money. "ouch" She had said she expected it to be comb or spiral bound or a hard back book, I clearly stated in the description the book was in a protective folder and there was even a photo of it there as well... So my desire to please everyone and make everyone happy ended in her getting a full refund :( i shouldnt have given her full refund but she got it. and still she harasses me BUT I have seen a time or two after that her tatting the designs from the book, hmmmmm ???

Another thing is my buy 2 threads get 1 free, I used to let the purchaser choose their thread and sometimes they would just tell me to throw anyone in of whatever size they use. Well i had this happen to me 2 times by 2 different individuals they didnt like what I sent as freebies when they said to give them whatever, they demanded refunds for the 'free' thread. and of course me again being a people pleaser asked them what thread they did in fact want and they got their way...

Its not my fault that people do not read descriptions of products, its not my fault that people didnt choose their thread like i asked them too.

New policies in the shop, No refunds on books or pdf books, Thread is still buy 2 get 1 free but I choose your free thread in the sizes you ordered.  I feel really mean doing this but I gotta save my own butt.

I am going to have to re- do my shipping costs as well, seems they are too high, but in my shipping includes envelopes and protective wrappings as well as the postage and a teeny portion for gas to run to the PO.

Allrighty I ranted I feel better now if I could just put my foot down at times lol

Heather

~*♥*~AFTERNOON TATTING~*♥*~ IS READY

Go to my Publication Blog or my Etsy Shop  to Order

Book is available in PDF format or Hard Copy...

12 designs for an afternoon filled with tatting.

Full color photos

Patterns are written as well as diagrammed
Patterns Include

 

Cross My Heart

In My Heart

Gi~Gi

Flowering

Cascade

Baby Whale

Dragon in Egg

Miniature Swan

Medium Swan

Large Swan

Birds

Butterfly

Tatting Tea Tuesday March 16, 2010

Still dosent seem right with the year being 2010 yet. Weird.

Here in the states we had day light savings time Sunday, I love it but I also hate it because it will take me awhile to get used to it, I stayed up til about midnight last night and with the alarm ringing at 4am, sometimes its just not good lol Got up and cussed under my breath at the wretchid time did my wifely duties and then realized the kids both had tutoring this morning and I had to fill out umpteen million pages on medical forms for the kids among other things UGH!! WHY nothing has changed in the last 6 months cant they save some paper and just call you? whatever...

Got the kids up and off as well then it was ME time WOW I love me time it always seems to go way too fast though, wander why that is???

It was a bit dreary looking this morning and I didnt think we would have a beautiful day but WE DID!! I managed to get out and take a few pictures and just enjoy the fresh air and see the birds. I loved it I am really really hoping by Friday some of this horrible mud dries up because if it does and if other things go as planned I AM GOING ON A HIKE in my woods WOO HOO, I cant tell you how great that makes me feel.

On a crappy note though my throat for some reason is starting to get sore again GRRRRRRR! If I ignore it I am sure it will just go away!

---------------------------------------------
Todays Tatting Tea Tuesday was an adventurous one...
I posted last night about what do 4 shuttles with 4 different colors of thread and a bit of a drawing have in common?
WELL I dont have the drawing on this computer and I am not gonna get on the lap top right now for it but it was a freeware embroidery drawing I found somewhere not exactly sure where though.

Any way I was looking around last night and seen it on the lap top and thought WOOOOO maybe I can try that and you know what I ended up only having to wind the 1 shuttle and emptied the other 3.

Here is what I created its not quite right yet but close to what I want it to be and CHECK OUT those leaves arent they cool? :)

I did some experimenting too this morning see.... HA HA you will have to wait and see what that could be.

Supper is nearly finished one of my  moms creations (i think) mushroom soup and burger over pasta or mashed potatoes tonight we are having the pasta. soon my monkeys will be home. where ohhh where did my day go :(

Its highly possible by Friday Afternoon Tatting will be available WOO HOO!!!

Have a good day everyone

What does...

4 shuttles with 4 different colors of thread and a bit of a drawing have in common?

If it works I will show you tomorrow...

My husband said his wallet, he didnt laugh but i did...LOL .. he just dosent understand but he loves me and spoils me ROTTEN especially when it comes to my tatting addiction, bead addiction, thread dying addiction and any other sort of 'things' i get addicted to...

I didnt realize it was 5 days since I made a post did you miss me? LOL

just been busy putting Afternoon Tatting together its ALMOST done almost meaning VERY VERY VERY soon it will be ready.

yesterday was hubbys 45th birthday he says he is old (pssshhh) age is only a number I tell him this but he says that I can say that because I am only 33 WHATEVER lol

Well off to create while the hubster goes to bed and I snuggle in my comfy chair with my puppies who have already taken their spaces on my lap...

Books N Stuff

I moved my books for purchasing over to its own blog it will keep my blog here less cluttered (i think)

http://heather-johnston-publishing.blogspot.com/

Tatting Tea Tuesday March 9, 2010 part 2 of 2

I have a bit of an announcement to make. Pretty soon I shall have a booklet ready for purchasing, no its not the Tatted Ladies book YET.
Its called Afternoon Tatting

 I am really hoping this will be the first of many 'afternoon tatting' books
This book has 12 designs, fairly simple, only 1 of the 12 uses 2 shuttles, the rest are shuttle and ball. Each design uses 9 beads, dunno why 9 was the lucky number but it just was.

I still have 2 gals testing for me so once they are finished up I can get everything finalized and ready. I really need to thank JANE EBORALL she granted me special permission to use her adding a bead to picot technique to my book not just the link but the whole tutorial so THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH JANE!!! I also want to thank my testers, Aileen, Isdihara, Sunela, Leah, and Crazy Mom Tats...

Patterns are written as well as drawn out, and I have to send a thank you to Sherry (lady shuttle maker) for being so kind as to give me the drawing program in exchange for my books. Without that program I would still be cursing out my PSP7 program when it dosent agree with what I want it to do.

The cover of the book was approved  by my daughter I was messing around last week trying to figure out how to do it and she gave me a few ideas and I think the cover looks WONDERFUL!

I did end up tatting a little bit today but nothing worth showing, my mind was pre-occupied with other things and stuff going on. Right now I am not in the best of moods either. I could eat all the chocolate candies I made earlier but I wont.

Ok gonna nurse this headache and try not to cough because it makes my head feel worse.

I hope to have some tatting to show off tomorrow Maybe I will get my March Heart finished, awww heck I finished the center of it last night I must show you

center

ok in this picture on the left you will see the original it was scrapped it didnt seem right to me so the right one is on the right...

Tatting Tea Tuesday March 9, 2010 part 1 of 2 BEWARE!!!

I did some odds and ends today around the house, I was getting ready to tat and I wanted some type of something sweet, hmmmm but what to have?? ?? ?? I had some snack cakes here that I used for hubbys lunch usually there are extra but looks like a snack monster must have gotten into them so there was no extra for me and there wasnt even enough for the rest of the week... CRAP! So I thought What can I make, I wasnt in the mood to make cookies or a cake then I thought I got lots of different ingredients here. So I made some Tatting Tea Tuesday Sweet Insanity... WHAT IS THAT you ask, well follow along and you will see...

You will need a pot...

2- 14 oz cans of sweetened condensed milk

Pour them in the pot and let it get nice and warm

I put in some cinnamon which is optional

Once that is all nice and warm add in

2- 12 oz bags of chocolate chips (I used 1 chocolate and 1 white)

Let that get all nice and melted

Then add in 1- 8oz bag of toffee chips or 1 cup of smashed up Heath Bar

STIR together

NOW  add in 1 1/2 - 2 cups of Raisins (or dates or nuts or any kind of nut or dried fruit)

MIX well

add in 2 1/2 cups coconut

MIX

It looks and smells so good now

Using a small Ice Cream scoop or spoon

Place a scoop on some foil (easy clean up)

This recipe yields approx 70 candies

2- 14 oz cans of sweetened condensed milk

2- 12 oz bags of chocolate chips (I used 1 chocolate and 1 white)

1- 8oz bag of toffee chips or 1 cup of smashed up Heath Bar
1 1/2 - 2 cups raising (any dried fruit or nuts will do)
2 1/2 cups coconut

Follow Directions above and ENJOY!!!

Hello, my name is Heather...

... and I am addicted to hook pens and Tatting Shuttles...

Here is my collection so far... You will notice I said SO FAR...

I had ordered a custom pen from Sherry...

I requested either my name in blue or blue flowers...

She did both and the flowers are HEATHER and they are even blue...

I am going to order 4 more custom ones with my name because they are awesome...

Because I just might lose 1...

Because well I just want to and that is all there is to it...

http://www.etsy.com/shop/LadyShuttleMaker

The shuttle addiction confession will be posted at another time...

Monday...

Well its Monday (again) after last week feeling like crap today I am feeling somewhat better, still coughing like a nut, sore throat is off and on, stuffed head and nose, my voice is pretty well gone due to my anger with my son last night he lied to me for quite awhile and I yelled well tried to anyways and it hurt my throat further, being sick and tired makes me so cranky... KIDS... I am working away at tatting and the books are getting closer to completion I am getting more excited and I even invested in something to make my books more appealing. you will see that soonish :)

Hubby ordered me to not do anything today hmmmmm that is funny, I am not doing alot but dishes and laundry are top priority as is making supper I am thinking meatball stew, YUMMY!! The sun has been shining here and I LOVE IT!!! there is a little bit of ground showing but only up by the road it may be some time before we see it down by the house my back yard goes almost up to my rear end LOL

I even walked around this morning taking some pictures, I will show a few of my faves like always lol
I managed to see a pair of mountain blue birds which I knew they were around here but never seen them I didnt get a pictures because I was admirinig them they were pretty much above my head and I didnt want to move too quickly and scare them away. This little guy scared me today I heard a weird noise and he jumped off my husbands backhoe arm hit the hood of my coat and ran then he decided that since he scared the heck out of me to pose for the camera lol

Hope you all have a good Monday!!

bit of everything

Well I am feeling somewhat better, no longer achy or as tired but still drained. I got me a nice cough now and barely a voice, my kiddos are happy lol

I kept Shannan home the last few days she has had a sore throat and congested but no fever, so I thought it best she stay home.

I have been holding out on you all... On Facebook there is a group called TATTING and the owner set forth a challenge of tatting a heart a month so I stepped it up and decided to design a heart a month.

Here is January

Here is February

I had Februarys designed for a few weeks BUT wasnt real thrilled with the original so I changed it up a little and perfected it this morning

I got an email the other day from a young girl who loved my tatting designs she told me she was 11 years old, and from Sweeden, I was happy to get that its nice to see younger ones interested in tatting. She told me that I should try tatting that peticular design in silver I am not clear as to which snowflake she had done. But it made me smile.

Then the other day I also got another email from Georgia Seitz, she asked me if I would like to share one of my designs with the online class WOO HOO :) Now to think of somthine to share. WOW! I am so happy I was asked :)

I know there was more I wanted to say but all this coughing I think some of my brains may have fallen out HA HA!!!

I am sure I will remember when I hit PUBLISH POST lol

thought I would share

some photos I took while messing with different aperature settings and stuff on my camera

someone needs a manicure

thread with tatting, shuttle, and hook pen in the background

beads, tatting, shuttle, scissors

A peek into my shuttle tin

these werent staged photos but just what was lying around