Lazy Weekend without Buttons

I had all of these plans to work on buttons this weekend. I have an extra long weekend as I have today (Monday) off as well. I'm lucky that in my day job we have what is called a compressed work week where we work an extra 15 minutes a day and take a 1/2 hour lunch instead of a full hour and we get every third Monday off. It's a really nice deal and I love the extra long weekend I get every three weeks. Anyway I had all these ideas floating around my head last week during the work week. I had planned to do so much creating but when the weekend rolled around I had no interest at all. I did go out and buy some beautiful glass for fusing and spent way too much money on that. When I got back home from buying glass though I didn't even really want to work on that. Now it's Monday and my long weekend is pretty much over although I still have today. I did list a few buttons I had previously made and you can see one of them here in my Buttons By Robin Etsy store http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=28055904. These were inspired by a painting pattern that I used for the design. I think these are fun and great for primitive crafting. I am a bit disappointed in myself for not doing more creating when I had the time but I guess I must have needed the break. I probably shouldn't try to push myself creatively or the buttons will turn into a chore instead of the pleasure they currently are. What do you do when you have a creative slump or don't feel like creating for a while?

Foxy- Handmade Sewing Buttons

Isn't this little guy just the most adorable fellow you've seen in a long time. I love these sorts of simplified images and have been making a lot of buttons in this style lately. The big plan is to make some of these sorts of images into graphics to sell. I won't be doing that with this particular image as this was an image I purchased but I do have plans to make my own little creatures. You can find this guy in my Buttons By Robin Etsy store at www.buttonsbyrobin.com

Happy Birthday Mom

Today would have been my mother's birthday. She passed away April 4, 2009 less than two month's after my dad passed away. Tragically Mom died in a house fire and we lost the family home and all of our childhood mementos with her. My parents were born a year and a few days apart. Which means that their birthdays are within a few days of each other. Now where I used to celebrate both their birthdays in the same week, this year its a sad reminder that neither of them are here as I have two birthdays to get through within the same week without them.

Anyway, this is not to be a sad post. This is to remember the happy times. I hesitated to put this picture up because Mom was a very private person and didn't like her picture taken. When I saw this picture taken with my son who was just a couple of months old at the time (many years ago now) and I see how happy she was though I had to put it up and hope she understands. It's so nice to see her so happy in a picture. She thought the world of my son, her only grandchild. He could do no wrong in her eyes. I loved her even more for that. It's hard to put into words how much she meant to me. I only realized how much myself now that she's gone. She would have been the first person I went to when I had some good news, especially if it related to my son. She was the one who would share my joy at everything he did. She would have also been the first person I would have gone to if I had a problem. My son is all grown up now but this really makes me smile to look back at this picture and remember how much she loved him, how much she loved all of us - my sister and I as well. She really would have given her life for us. How I wish I had her to talk to, to call up on the phone. I do regret that I didn't do it enough when I had the chance. Was she perfect - absolutely not. None of us are. She did do the best she could and she loved us with all of her heart. I'm sure she is happy that we are all doing OK and that although we miss her she has managed in her passing to take care of us all. She would be so proud and happy she was able to do that. I will be forever grateful to her and continue to love her always. We miss you Mom. I know you think we favoured Dad but that wasn't true. We loved you both with all our hearts. Robin, Penny and Matt.

Happy Birthday Dad

This would have been my father's 70th birthday today. He passed away on February 9th, 2009 a few weeks after having heart surgery. He had a heart valve replaced. This was his second heart surgery and he tried really really hard to stay with us but in the end his body gave out.

The strange thing is while I miss him terribly every day, today is not a sad day. I am remembering him and all the wonderful times we had and how privileged I was to have him as my Dad. He was such a funny person. His sense of humour was wonderful and I have many memories of him and how he would often trick us as kids. The picture here is of my sister and I when she was just a year old. I won't say when that was because that might give away our ages. One fond memory I have is of Dad driving us down our country roads and saying to us each and every time. He would always say "I see a rabbit." Gullible children that we were we'd always excitedly say "Where, where!" and look around feverishly to try and see the cute little bunny we imagined. Dad would inevitably say "It's peeking out behind a rock." He said this every time and we always fell for it. I know this may seem like a silly story but to my sister and I it's a very funny and fond memory. Thanks Dad for being a wonderful father. I wish you had been able to spend more time with us but I know you are at peace and you are always in my heart and I will always love you. From Daddy's girl.