She is my CUPCAKE & I am her NANNIE ~

Today ~ January 3, 2014 my #2 granddaughter, Mia is 3!!! 

{You're not imagining things ~ yes, it is her sister Aly who turned 4 just 2 days ago!}

As many of you know our family has gone through some very rough waters over the past 3 + years and alot of healing and restoration has taken place in many relationships over the past few months. One of the greatest blessings I've experienced is having such a wonderful relationship with my granddaughters. I was able to fly and see them in September before their dad {my son}, Tyler was deployed. That was such a life changing trip. I have a very dear friend to thank for making that possible. Words can never express my gratitude to her for gifting me my plane ticket. 

I arrived in North Carolina very late on a Tuesday night in September and went in the girls bedroom and looked {in awe} at them sleeping ~ I could hardly wait for them to wake up. I was a bit nervous because they didn't really know me due to difficult circumstances and distance. My nerves were put at ease early the next morning when I heard a little knock at my bedroom door. It was 2 very beautiful girls ~ one with  blond curly {like her dads} hair & big blue eyes and the other with straight dark brown hair & big brown eyes. At that very moment, I MELTED. I told them to come in...they excitedly squealed..."Hi Nana" and the rest as they say is history...

In those few days we had together, Mia and I absolutely fell in love ~ as I did with her big sister Aly & baby sister Liza. We played, we read books, we crafted, we washi-taped, we glued {she LOVES glue}, we visited, we went at the park,  and just enjoyed being together. My son, Tyler is deployed right now so my daughter in law and 3 granddaughters came home {Davenport} for about 3 months. I cannot tell you how much I enjoy having the girls in the area. Sometimes they stop in and see me at the COOP and I'm of course very impressed with their love of crafting! Mia especially loves to put "pretties" {rhinestones} on her art projects! 

My other grandchildren call me Nana however Mia for whatever reason calls me Nannie! I.just. love. that! One of the times I talked with the girls on the phone before they came to visit, Aly told me she thought it was funny that Mia called me Nannie and she {Aly} calls me Nana. I told her it's fun having two names~ her name is Alynnah yet we call her Aly ~ she agreed it is pretty nifty having more than one name! :)

Love this little family!!!

I appreciate and admire her parents ~ Tyler and Natalie and the amazing job they are doing in raising this sweet girl and her 2 sisters to be the incredible people they are.

SOOOOOOO.......HAPPY HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY
Ameleigha Lydian Craft
My Mia-girl

To my Cupcake....your Nannie loves you VERY much!!!

It's GRANDStime (no, it's not about biscuits)

This past week I had a little gathering for my grandchildren. I refer to them as my GRANDS so it seemed fitting to call it "GRANDStime"...when I sent a message regarding this to my daughter in law, Mrs. Natalie she happened to be skypeing with Tyler and she asked him why I would be having a get together about biscuits. He reminded her that I call my grandchildren "GRANDS" ... we have had a good laugh about that.

The girls arrived and played together, we made a craft project (reindeer ornaments for my tree), each made our own pizza and played some more. I also wanted the girls to come over to see my Christmas decorations. 

Aly & Mia both told me right away how absolutely beautiful the decorations were and they LOVED

that the Christmas tree spins around! :)

{{{Both girls after this Nana's own heart!!!}}}

I love their pretty matching Gymboree dalmatian outfits!!!

Precious baby Liza ~

Aly & Mia enjoyed another Craft favorite for an appetizer ~ Chili dip! YUM!!!

Making ornaments for Nana's tree ~

That's my girls ~ adding Washi tape to reindeer!

Love these 3 little darlings!!!

Saylah had so excited and had so much fun being {as she said} a pizza cooker with Mia & Aly!!!

My favorite part was when Mia said she would like to have macaroni & marshmallows on her pizza... we figured out she meant peppersoni & mushrooms!!!

Granddad had the best time too at GRANDStime!!!

I will say we do love GRANDS biscuits in the Craft home...
We love GRANDStime a million times more!!!

4 years ago today ~ the day I became a NANA

It has been almost a year since I blogged! Yikes!!!

 Today ~ January 1, 2014 is the perfect day to begin blogging again and what better day to start than on my oldest grandchild's birthday.

 Alynnah JoEle Craft turned 4 today and I hardly think that can be real.

Time goes by so quickly.

I will never forget the moment she was placed in my arms. I loved her immediately with a love that was definitely like nothing I ever felt before. When my children were born I remember feeling such a love that I was sure my heart would explode. Then to have a grandchild is beyond anything I ever anticipated.

My firstborn is a dad to his firstborn. Priceless.

Happy little family of 3!!!

I am a NANA...be still my heart.

Precious love between daddy & daughter.

Love these 3 ~

I am not entirely sure how she has gone from this....

to this...IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE...

However, I am sure of how very much this little girl is loved by me ~ her Nana and how proud I am of her and the sweet person she is. 

Happy Happy 4th Birthday Aly Jo ~ my Punkin' Pie!

GRAND OPENING CELEBRATION!!!

3 Craft Chicks is so very excited to announce the grand opening of both of our shops!!!

The COOP is a cute little house that has scrapbooking and crafting items and a large {well lit} area for working on all your latest and greatest projects!!! There will be paper crafting supplies for sale in this area. While attending crops and classes you will have full use of a wonderful room full of thousands of rubber stamps, a Cricut die cut machine, many cartridges, sizzix machine and punches. I would like to give a HUGE shout out & THANK YOU to my dear dear friend Pat known to most as Grammy Pat, for all the fabulous rubber stamp sets!!! Thank you does not even begin to say the heart full of gratitude I have!!! There will be some vintage treasures for sale in the COOP along with handmade cards and other goodies!!!

The Nesting Box is an adorable very! little building out in front of the COOP! It is filled to the brim with vintage and re purposed household items, furniture, custom paper garlands, banners and vintage baby items!

The location of both shops is 14915 W Hwy 2 ~ Medical Lake, WA. It is 1 mile east of Fairchild Air Force Base and 15 minutes from downtown Spokane!!!

Come celebrate with us beginning Friday night, March 15th beginning at 4 p.m. Festivities will continue on Saturday as we open for normal business hours at 11 a.m. We are hosting the first crafting event at the COOP on Saturday, March 16th from 9 a.m. until midnight!!! 

This fun filled day of scrap booking {or whatever craft you choose to bring} is $25 which includes snacks, door prizes and a yummy dinner. Reserve your spot now by calling Michele at (509) 475-9026 or sending an email to craftchicksx3@yahoo.com.

Thank you to my sweet friend Jennifer Wood for coming up with the name the COOP and also naming our very first crop!!! How appropriate for St. Patrick's Day weekend! I have so appreciated her support as we began this very new to us business. She has spent endless time with me over the phone weighing the pros and cons of ideas and allowing me to ramble on and bounce ideas off even when I'm sure at times I sounded absolutely ridiculous!!! What a treasured friend she is to me and my whole entire family!!!

BRING 3 CANS OF FOOD TO DONATE TO 2ND HARVEST AND RECEIVE 15% OFF YOUR FIRST PURCHASE THIS GRAND OPENING WEEKEND!!!

We feel so very blessed as we undertake this endeavor and look forward to seeing many of you 

at

the COOP 

and

The Nesting Box!!!

YOU CAN FOLLOW US & "LIKE" us on FACEBOOK!!!

IN THIS HOUSE...

YES WE DO!!!

I saw this on facebook and thought it was so perfect for my sweet little{&loud} family!!!

We love each other fiercely and although have our ups & downs we are family and do it to the best of our ability!!!

I have been so blessed beyond belief in my life as a wife, mom, nana, daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece and cousin. They are roles I cherish dearly and don't take for granted.

 Yes, there are relationships in my family I wish were different and I pray that in time will be restored & healed.

WITH ALL MY HEART & SOUL...

I DO LOVE MY {very REAL} FAMILY!!!

A sneak peek into 3 Craft Chicks shop progress...

Saylah was with us this past Saturday as we were all up at the shop working and she wants to give you a tour of the progress we're making...

This room will have die cut machines, rubber stamps and other tools for hours of scrap booking and paper crafting fun!!!

After cleaning up this room, Saylah had the best time running around and playing peek-a-boo through the door that wasn't put back together yet...

It doesn't take much to make this munchkin happy!!!

Oh yea...by the way...don'tcha just adore these chubby 2 year old hands???????????

Where oh where will I be putting a couple of my amazing awnings???

It still makes me SMILE when I see the awnings and realize they are MINE!!!

It's also a great reminder that if you don't ask the question, you won't get an answer and what is the worst that can happen??? The answer could be "no" however in this case it was "yes"!!! {Remember I had seen these advertised on Craig's list a couple months before beginning 3 Craft Chicks and didn't have a need for them BUT  THEN after starting our little business wondered if they had sold...so I contacted Serena Thompson and they were still AVAILABLE!!!

 SO. GLAD. I. ASKED...RIGHT?????

A great example of sisterly love...

We decided to totally re-do the bathroom too so got the crow bars out and began that big task...

This is before...

DURING...

Saylah wasn't allowed to go into the room but she would just stand in the doorway and watch NatNat go to work!!!

SHEER CUTENESS RIGHT HERE...

She kept going around with her hands on her cheeks...saying..."OH MY gooTness..."OH MY gooTness!"

Can't imagine where she picked that up at??? 

Loving how the kitchen is turning out...

KNOCK KNOCK...

who's there?

One very sleepy 2 yr old and her baby doll...

Be still my heart!!!

Apparently Saylah thought baby doll needed another nap...

IN THE KITCHEN CUPBOARD!!!

{At least she left the door open}

SAYLAH ~ SIGNING OFF FOR NOW...

Going back home for dindin and then after Saylah's mommy comes to pick her up,

WE'RE HEADING BACK TO THE SHOP!!!

yippee!!!!

We wanted to work on putting up slot-wall in the crafting area

Here's the before bare wall...

The way to a perfectionist mans heart at Christmas...

A LASER LEVEL!!!  

Put up slot-wall in the back room that will hold supplies & machines...

LOOKIN' GOOD!!!

Ok...sooooo...ya have to have alittle fun in the midst of work ~
right?
I was in the bathroom PAINTING! and hear the YMCA song come on and Lauren tells me
 I NEED TO GET OUT THERE. N.O.W.
This is a site to behold!!!

These ARE the MOMENTS I LIVE for!!!

This is the next day...

I LOVE.LOVE.LOVE this vintage 50's table...
Kinda like my awning story...I saw it last spring at Funky Junk and seriously coveted it but knew I didn't NEED a ginormous table such as this!!! It's HUGE!!! After signing the lease for the shop...my mom reminded me of this table and how perfect it would have been! It helps to be best friends with Jennifer {who owns Funky Junk} and she contacted the lady who had the table to see if it was still for sale.
INDEED IT WAS!!!
SOLD!!! to 3 Craft Chicks!!!
It's incredibly sturdy and the chairs are comfy and there is still room on either end for another table if we need it!!!
PERFECT!!!

Can't wait for this week when Jim is putting lighting up!!!

SO...I found the BEST spot for one of MY awnings...

Going into the kitchen!!!
Scotty's popcorn machine will be on the right side of that doorway...
I THINK IT WILL BE GAAAREAT!!!!

HE'S JUST A TAD BIT EXCITED TOO!!!

I think you will agree it is coming together nicely and that there a couple valuable lessons to remember:

1. Don't be afraid to ask a question ~ the worst that can happen is the answer is no & that only hurts for a minute.
{Sidenote to that lesson: My mom always says though not to ask the question if you're not prepared for the answer!!!
 That's good advice ~ TRUST ME {& HER}!!! 

2. Even while working hard, take time and stop and enjoy life's moments & laugh & sing & dance & whatever your little heart desires!!!