Seashell Card and Few Dreams of Mine for 2015

Hi friends. Today's card is just a fun card focusing on the sea and things you can find in the sand. I love Florida and the beautiful beaches there. I love beaches everywhere! I'm not picky! This weekend I was able to pick up some very fun items at the beach and found two fabulous stamp sets in my stash that reminded me of my adventure that I would like to share with you. There are a lot of bright colors and texture.

I have been focusing on eBaying by going through everything, cleaning house and organizing more. The front room craft space is looking pretty good. The back room needs some serious help and like I said last week, I'm hoping to pull that together as well, or at least a little bit. I have a great table that I picked up locally and it weighs like 100 pounds. I need 3 inches cut off of the legs so that it's perfect for me. It's a large table and perfect for crafting. I'm going to go industrial chic and soften up the space with pretty baskets from all eras with a heavy vintage emphasis. This is such a cost effective solution for me because I already have a lot of baskets. I'm pretty excited about this! I'm one of those people to where if I'm not organized, I feel like my life is spinning out of control. I've been disorganized for a while now and it's driving me nuts. What I neglected to mention above is getting some wire racks, like the kind that you would see in a restaurant kitchen. They are silver of varying sizes – much like what Tim Holtz has in his craft room behind his desk. Watch one of his videos and you will see what I mean. First, Mike and I are going to go junking for the racks or something we think will work just as well, if not better. Today we are organizing the garage so that I can neatly organize everything I want to eBay, which is an insane amount of stuff, all craft items, and I will let you know when I start that process as I know that I will have something for everybody. That will give me additional divorce retainer as everybody is well aware of the consequences if I'm forced into selling my dad''s car and I will follow through on it. I will be doing my part to ensure that doesn't happen. The rest is up to my "husband."

For 2015, I'm changing up the blog and stretching my wings to share my love of all things vintage and retro with you, including my weekend junk finds, how I repurpose/upcycle/recycle them and what I am using them for. It's all cool eclectic but works perfectly together. There's going to be a lot more true art on Cindy B Designs and 2015 is going to be an exciting and good year for me, and I'm looking forward to it. I'm changing and growing in that aspect of my life and many others. 2013 was the worst year of my life and 2014 hasn't been much better, especially with some significant declining health issues that have me spooked. Please continue to pray for me there. I have skin cancer and it's very widespread and also in my nodes, which we all know is bad, bad, bad. My dermatologist and oncologist are all over me but I am never going through chemotherapy alone again, never. But for 2015, I'm forging ahead to the best of my ability and it is going to be my rebirth in many ways, and not just with art either. I have a dream to buy a farm that has a barn and I would like to open my own shop of all things retro and vintage. I really miss living in the country and waking up to cows and roosters rather than the sound of traffic. Then you get me down to the Bay Area and I change my mind. My barn boutique would include fabric, beautiful ribbon, restored retro/vintage appliances, dishes, and so, so much more. No rattlesnakes would be perfect. I don't know how my cancer, rheumatoid arthritis or lupus is going to handle all of this since my heart wants and dreams of one thing and my body doesn't like to cooperate. I do wish God would heal me physically. I obviously have trust issues, but once I just dumped my family issues at the foot of the cross, He didn't fix them but He fixed me. I believe the key to everything is having God where he belongs in my life, glorifying Him through my words and actions, not associating with people who intentionally harm me since that is straight from the pit of hell, and having good people in my life who love me and support me, and who love God too. I have wonderful friends who don't know the Lord but if I set a good example as Christ did for us, then maybe they would want to know about God too and I don't even have to say a word. 

Edited to Add: I would love to plant a nice garden too so that I can start canning. I've developed a very strong passion for canning. It's a process. It takes patience. The results are amazing and the best part? Being able to decorate up the jar of course! Beautiful ribbons, fabric, tags, stamps, coloring, fun labels. I love it. I did some canning earlier this year where I picked some local produce from a farm open to the public. So far I've only canned vegetables and some fruit. Next year, I would love to do more fruit so that the recipient can make pies! How fun is that? You have a lovely and useful gift to give on the fly. I have dozens and dozens of Bell jars in clear, blue and green to also do the cookie mix in a jar thing too. Those are my Christmas gifts this year to my friends – that and homemade gift card sets. They have their choice. It's completely economical and I don't see myself spending over $100 max for literally 50+ gifts! I"m just very excited. I would love to have a gas stove. Electric is horrible. Better yet, I would love to have a Hoover sideboard and the mother of all vintage/restored stove/oven combo. Did you know the confection oven has really been around for decade? So has the bread warmer. I love the picture below. It would be my ideal kitchen combining the new with the old in a classic way. I especially love the red stoves. They rock. My front loading washer and dryer are a beautiful candy apple red.

My divorce is now on the fast track and I firmly believe that I will be divorced within the next 6 months. I would be surprised if I wasn't. I am no longer letting this divorce stop me from moving forward in my life and I'm eager to slam the door firmly shut on that long and horrible chapter of my life, which was over half of it. As a matter of fact, I already have slammed that door shut. It was a hard decision because marriage is supposed to be forever, but my "husband" never loved me. 

The process of looking for the perfect little farm is something I can start now. I don't know where I will end up but God will take me there. It's all in God's timing so I'm just going to trust in Him and Jeremiah 29:11. I'm looking so forward to this wonderful new chapter in my life and in some ways, it has already started and it's all good. I've set boundaries for myself and I respect them. I have my self respect back. I've taken it back. And I will not allow anybody to abuse me for having self respect or boundaries. 

They say "one man's trash is another man's treasure." I have to disagree with that. Sometimes trash is just trash. I want to show you my obsession with junking and all things vintage, and how to spend the least amount of time and money – that's the key – to make it worthwhile. The little vintage trinket that my cat broke, yes, I'm still stuck on that – it was so beautiful! It was a true find and cost me 10 cents. I really wish I had taken a picture of it. I knew it was special the second I saw it. The dish was just so beautiful and there was a thick lining of authentic 24-carat gold around the outside. I took it to a jeweler and he authenticated it. When Pete was down here, we were dividing up marital property and exchanging and I gave him my dad's Pyrex dishes that I grew up with. They were white with a blue pattern on the side with a lid, but I really regret doing that.  I wasn't into junking or vintage at that time – I was just starting – and I should have kept that part of me growing up. I wish he would be kind enough to pack it/them up and send them back, but I'm not holding my breath. I mainly want it back since it's a part of me and part of my daddy, and I cling to everything that is a part of me and my daddy now, especially that he's gone. Daddy was my rock and the only man who has ever loved me. I grew up with that dish and many meals were cooked in it that I loved and hated. Canned salmon anyone? I won't get it back for the simple fact that I want it, control and withholding. Pete has already managed to ruin and sabotage the holidays for the kids and myself. I'm sure he's proud of his "win," but I just see angry and hurt kids. 

Now onto my card. It's not my usual Clean and Simple Tuesday Series on Wednesday card since I've been working on it for a few days off and on while trying to organize and figure out just what I'm going to do with this place. My shoulder injury and stroke has not helped the moving in process at all. I've been here for 4 months now and every day, I try to do more and more to make this place mine. Chico will never be my home. The San Francisco Bay Area is, but for the time being, this is where the Lord has me so I'm going to make the best of it.

I guess this is my little fun anti-holiday card. Like I said, I have been in the process of cleaning up and these two stamp sets were sitting on my desk for a reason. I have a terrible habit of having a million craft projects going at one time and that must stop. I also have to make sure an envelope is done and decorate the inside, but I can leave the sentiment blank and always stamp one inside later appropriate for the occasion. It's part of the culprit of the mess is not finishing what I started. That and no real craft room. I am proud of myself by typing out my products again rather than InLinkz. Doing this helps me to clean up along the way rather than at the very end leave a gazillion things on my desk to build up my supply list and HTML code to copy to the bottom of the card. Once you have your supply list built up, you're good, but I'm not there yet and by not using the InLinkz, I'm putting myself on a hamster wheel because you have to build your library. It's more important for me to clean up right now and now make an even bigger mess – which I don't think is possible, but I'm sure I'll manage to pull it off. I really do need to find my paper trays that I had at my old studio. I gotta tell you, that was such the perfect setup for me! I miss it. I miss a lot of things.

No video today as I'm still reading, but the card is super self-explanatory and I hope that you like it. Thank you so much for stopping by to visit me today and God bless you!

PS: I haven't forgotten about my Christmas class, I'm just late and running behind – that's nothing new 🙂

Luke 15:11-32.

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