Galentine’s Day Winter Box Swap!

Charlene Harreveld 02/06/2017 2 Comments

Galentine’s Day Winter Box Swap!

Friends! You know how much I love snail mail, right? I mean, I have an entire website dedicated to making sure that snail mail never becomes a thing of the past. I spend my life making greeting cards, for heaven’s sake! So when I found out about the Galentine’s Day Winter Box Swap, I immediately signed up to participate.

The Sweet Progress Box Swap is a seasonal box swap for bloggers. All of the participants are paired up with another blogger in the USA or Canada and the goal is to swap a gift. (Do I even need to tell you what I’ll be swapping? 🙂 ) I think it will be a fun way to connect with other bloggers before I attend my first BlogHer conference in June!

Blogging is a cool thing. I’ve made some friends along the way. As luck would have it, I’ve been able to meet two of the people I’ve met in cyberspace in person. Remember when I went to the cheesesteak karaoke party with Natalie Hill and when I coincidentally discovered via Facebook that my bird nest loving blogging buddy was in NYC at the same time I was?? Life is too weird!

You can find out more about the Sweet Progress Galentine’s Day Box Swap HERE, and be sure to subscribe to receive email updates when I post a new blog entry. That way you’ll be able to keep up with the swap and see with whom I’m paired and the fun that ensues.

Have a happy week, and can you believe Lady Gaga at the Super Bowl???? AMAZING!

not sponsored

Craft Room Reveal!!!

Charlene Harreveld 02/03/2017 8 Comments

Ikea Craft Room Reveal!!

You guys! Finally! I have a dedicated creative space that doesn’t interfere with our living space and doesn’t require me to apologize to anyone who visits. We’ve lived in our house for 22 years, and I’ve spent the past 14 of those years making cards. Before that, I spent my free time designing and making outfits for American Girl dolls. I took over the dining room, the family room, and pretty much EVERY room with my projects.

The Dilemma

We toyed with moving to a larger home more times than I care to count. However, we could never justify the higher taxes. Plus, we have the best neighbors ever – they are like family – so the thought of leaving them added to our decision to stay put.

Somehow, we raised a family amid the crafting chaos. Now we are empty-nesters, so our home goals have changed. We are now thinking “multi-generational.” When the girls bring home their husbands and kids, where will they all fit? Yes, a bigger house would be perfect, but honestly, for what we would pay in increased property taxes we could stay at The Breakers for a week when they visit. So we aren’t going anywhere.

The Solution

I’m happy to share my craft room reveal today that checks off all the required boxes! The stuff is moved out of the living area, I didn’t have to sacrifice anything, I have extra space now for my sewing machine, and we have a bigger bed to accommodate our future growing family. It has been a big WIN!!! Take a look! It’s the CRAFT ROOM REVEAL!!!!

queen-size murphy bed with storage drawers and shelves for our American Girl doll collection

table under the window for project photos and videos – lots of natural light!

space for the printer, sewing machine, AND a dedicated space for die-cutting

this is the creative area – where all the action takes place!

The only things we needed to purchase were the desks and two drawer units. I spray-painted all of the other storage bins and baskets white so the wall would look less cluttered.

As you can see, the answer for me was to use wall space to create my craft room. It’s vital to me that my supplies are within arms-reach, and I was able to accomplish that goal.

I would have loved to have used floating shelves, but they aren’t practical for me. Crafting supplies come and go, so I needed to have shelves that are adjustable. Done!

If you are interested, here are the links to the items from Ikea…cheaper now than when we bought them, naturally.

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave your comments.

<br />

Mommy Bloggers

Charlene Harreveld 01/30/2017 Comments Off

Mommy Bloggers

I don’t know how “Mommy Bloggers” do it! They post new stuff every single day with gorgeous photos of their perfect children and clean houses. How? I know they rake in enough dough to have professional help, so much dough that their husbands quit their day jobs, but geeze! I just don’t get it. Something must be suffering.

It has taken me about three weeks to write a post about my new craft room and I DON’T have kids at home, let alone little kids who need my attention 24/7! But I digress. Let me just give you a run-through of what I’ve done just today:

made Valentine’s Day cards for customer orders
packed up boxes of cards to ship
received an email that the comments on my stampinwithcharlene.com blog weren’t working
tried to fix the comments problem by myself
ended up calling GoDaddy for help
ate dinner
tried to film a video of a card-making tip for my YouTube channel and was interrupted 100 times with texts and phone calls
answered emails for Cosmetics for a Cause
stressed about having to get all the paperwork together for taxes
now it’s 8:30 pm and I still haven’t edited the pictures for this post and I haven’t even attempted to edit the card-making technique video
I’m ignoring the fact that I have a kidney stone wreaking havoc on my body

HOW DO THEY DO IT????? I would love for one of them to post a behind-the-scenes reality post of what REALLY happens during their days. I have a feeling it’s not the way they make it appear.

You know that saying? If only life were as perfect as it appears on Facebook…

Next up, I’ll introduce you to Mary Alice…stay tuned.

3 Ways To Boost Your Self-Esteem In 5 Minutes

Charlene Harreveld 01/16/2017 1 Comment

Boost Your Self-Esteem

Did you know you’re an angel? We all are! But sometimes – most of the time – we forget that we all have a uniquely divine purpose. It happens to me all the time. Whenever I begin to wonder what my purpose on this earth really is, like when I begin to wonder what I’m actually contributing to the world, I take five minutes to do these three easy things to help me feel better. Here are some ideas you can try, too, to boost your self-esteem.

Provide Some Type of Service

This is number one for a reason. The best way to feel better about yourself and to stop focusing on negative things about yourself is to help someone else. This has been tricky for me because whenever I hear the word “service” I have a panic attack. I immediately think it means I have to perform some type of physical labor like helping someone move. But service does not have to be a grandiose gesture. A simple smile to someone or simply asking someone about how they are can change someone’s life.

Write Down Five Blessings

This is much easier than you think! Get out a piece of paper, grab a pen, and start your list. Can you see? Hear? Speak? Breathe? Today I thought about how blessed I am that I can use my hands with ease. It means that I’m able to make cards, pet my cats, and eat the yummy cheeseburger and fries we had for Neil’s birthday dinner.

Take Care of Your Personal Hygiene

Put on some lipstick, brush your hair, take a shower, breathe deeply, paint your nails, put on some perfume, do some jumping jacks, or iron your outfit. When you feel beautiful on the outside, it’s much easier to feel better about yourself.

Because of my low blood pressure, exercise isn’t something that is part of my daily routine. When I look in the mirror and I see my arm cellulite, I could easily beat myself up and feel like a failure. However, I’m thankful for shirts like the one I’m wearing from Banana Republic, that have sleeves that are long enough to cover the flab!

How do you boost your self-esteem when you’re feeling blue?

(shirt & jeans: mine, both from Banana Republic, a store with which I have an affiliate relationship.)

When Your Birthday Falls After Christmas

Charlene Harreveld 01/04/2017 Comments Off

When Your Birthday Falls After Christmas

What Happens When Your Birthday Falls After Christmas

It sucks to have a birthday after the holidays. I know first-hand. I was born on January 6th and I was always reminded when I was little that I “just got a bunch of presents” and that people “didn’t want to go to another party.” Even if those words weren’t said to me directly, I overheard them and I remember who said them. Kids know things and when you hear something as a child, it becomes your reality until you learn differently.

Hey, I get it. Now that I’m older, I don’t want to party after January 1st, either. But 24 years ago I had a baby on January 3rd and I made sure that she never felt the same way I did. So what if Santa brought her an American Girl doll for Christmas? If she wanted another one, she got one for her birthday nine days later.

I don’t think people born between December 24th and January 1st have the same problem. People are partying anyway, so why not throw one more party on top of it all, right? It’s those of us who celebrate the week after the holidays that might feel unworthy of celebration.

When you grow up feeling guilty that people have to give you a present when they don’t want to, do you know what happens? It makes you feel unworthy to receive a gift anytime of the year. You think that it’s a dreaded burden for someone to take the time to think about you and buy you a present. That’s why I don’t like my birthday. I don’t like imposing on people.

I Had Family Birthday Parties

I did have a family birthday party every day. We would gather around the kitchen table and have cake and ice cream and I would open my presents. I was not deprived. The thing that stuck with me was the attitude of a few people ahead of the event. Every year. It was difficult to get excited when I knew people didn’t want to be there.

The Twelve Days of Christmas Changed How I View My Birthday

We’re all familiar with the song and the saying, right? But do you know what it really means?

The song represents Christmas Day and the twelve days following Christmas, with the twelfth day falling on the Feast of the Epiphany, or January 6th – my birthday. It is the day that the three kings arrived to visit Jesus and lay their gifts before him.

So there you have it. I was born on a holy day. One of the holiest. However, I don’t think our society could endure an additional week of festivities and survive, so the day and its meaning to Christians is ignored.

I Won’t Take On Your Burden

If you think my birthday is a burden to you because you are too tired of partying, good for you! You’re entitled to your feelings.

I have wonderful family and friends who don’t care that my birthday falls after Christmas.

My gift to myself this year is that my posts are going to address the skeletons I’ve been living with instead of keeping everything in to spare others’ feelings. ( Like HERE and HERE.)

Happy New Year!!!!