I'm Back!

        Hello y'all!! I sure hope some of you are still out there! How sad is it that I have been missing from here for over a year. But my life last year was crazy and I simple couldn't do it all. I'm hoping that I can get back to posting now and I ask for you all to over look and forgive my loooonnnnggg vacation from blogging.
Let me take a few minutes to tell you a few things that happened in the past year. First of all last summer my lil campfire was featured in a magazine called Babiekins. I have to tell you I was very excited and couldn't get to the bookstore fast enough to get a copy! I was a giggly silly mess!! So much so that for weeks whenever we were at Barnes & Noble or Target I would rush over and search for the magazine and just happen to leave at least one copy open to my page.....hahahaha oh yes I did!. If you've never seen this beautiful magazine please take a few minutes and check it out it is simply stunning.

Then in the fall I had my other knee replaced. It was my right knee and I must brag a little and say that I was back to driving two weeks later.  Now I am back to life and I'm pain free!! Then I was asked to share my experience in the hospital where I had my surgeries Clark Memorial Hospital's advertising newsletter. This photo was after my first knee replacement but before my second one. I'm walking down near our creek with two of my grandson's. They were so excited and were celebrities for a while in the area. Especially with their teachers once school started back up again. It was a fun experience for me to be able to do this with my grand-kids.

It has been absolutely wonderful to be able to help my husband in the garden, chase my grand-daughter and walk to the creek without wanting to cry! I was even able to go the Ohio river this spring after the floods and gather driftwood which may seem like a silly achievement but to me it was heavenly!

Hadleigh with our niece Lindsey during her graduation photo session. She was all mud and tutus!

I have a few new toys in my shop....with a girl in mind now due to our sweet Hadleigh. Pink is a new and strange color for us after raising two boys and having three grandsons. I have to admit we have nearly made ourselves sick with so much pink flooding into our world.

I also had a very sad experience. My signature item the campfire was copied by a large company. I contacted them immediately after a past customer notified me. I sent them the info of my federal copyright and asked them to cease and desist with this item. But what did this evil company do? This Goliath in children's toys asked me to create toys with them! Yeah sounds great right?! Well after having my attorney look over the contract he told me he's seen a lot of horrid things done to unsuspecting artists but this contract was the worst. They would have owned everything I have ever made in the past or the future and there was simply no way I could ever just walk away! There of course were many other issues with the contract I'm only naming a couple. Thank heaven I didn't fall for their full court press from many of their executives. And boy did they press!! My heart goes out to any small company or artist who works so hard in their craft and then falls victim to the big guys. It is evil and it is happening all the time!

At my oldest grandson's high school graduation.

So fingers crossed 2014 will be a better year for blogging!!