An Early Happy Thanksgiving!

This is going to be a short and sweet post, But I wanted to wish everyone a Happty Thanksgiving! I'm going to be spending at my parents house, Then BFF are going to a outlet mall and do the middle of the night shopping  How fun!!

I know, I know, it's been awhile.....

it's been awhile since I posted and i just feel awful! I started a 30 day blog challenge, got to day 23 and  I have to admit  I dropped the ball. I feel awful for that I have been keeping myself busy with cleaning and preparing for the holidays. then this past week I scrummed to the nasty flu bug that is going around so for the past 4 days nothing really has no got done at all

Another thing that  also have been doing is participating  in is  swaps over at swap-bot. I have received s a couple cool packages from my partners and hopefully posting pictures tomorrow

Favorite Vacation _day 23

I can'
t believe that it is already day 23 of the challenge over at Katie's Journey already doesn't seem like its been that long.

Well today we are suppose to right about our favorite vacation. Mine was when I was a Senior in college. I had a opportunity to go on a 14 day cruise or graduate? Well as you Can imaging i6t didn't take much time for me to make a decision  The cruise was a trip through the Greek isles and Turkey. We flew to London then on to Athens Greece after we spent a night there we border a Cruise ship and were on there for 10 days where we hit all the islands than spent two days in Turkey before heading back to Athens for two days then back to the United States.

I am so glad that I went on this trip because it was so culturally diverse and made me realize what I have here at home.

Day 22-Favorite City

Well, I can say that I haven't traveled very much but I have been out of the country so I would have to say that  Mynoknos Greece would be my favorite spot out of the country. The problem is that Mynoknos is a island not a city.

So I would have to say that my favorite city  would have to be Gettysburg Penn. Because of all the rich history that it holds for are country, I was luckily enough to be able to go there for 4 days but I would love to go back.

Day 21 Picture of me

I know you are going to think this is a cop out but there are not a lot of pictures of me and the only one that i have on the computer is the one that I've shown you so no picture of me today.

Blog Challenge Days 19 and 20

For some reason I am having trouble all the sudden keeping up with the posting, so again here is two days in one post.
Day 20- Nicknames
 I guess my first nickname would have to be  Mindy since my full name is Melinda. When iI was born my grandma said Melinda was to long of a name for such a small baby it stuck. Well I tried to change it in colege but that was a no go cause i would never answer to it so I swent back to Mindy.

Well I have a bunch of nicknames  first off going up my grandpa called me Winnie and then when my sister was born I was upgraded to Big Winnie and she was Little Winnie.

My Boyfriend calls me Sweet pea and sometimes he calls me Vern depending on what we are talking about.
then there  Min, Minie, Aunt Nindy and my sister used to call me Ninna and my niece used to call me Ninnie and a few friends call me Minders.

Day 19 - something I miss

The thing that i miss the most is teaching. I have my BS in elementary education, but here in the state of Ohio you need to have to have your masters to have your own classroom and when I graduated in 2000 I was brunt out and I knew that if I went for my masters i would not do as well as I wanted to so after a hand full of other jobs working w preschoolers I started subbing for the city schools here. Well one thong that you all don't know is that I have Cerebral Palsy (Cp) and in 2004 I started receiving SSD and was told that I could only make $125 a month and keep all of my health benefits. Well I was making $75 a day and I couldn't afford to pay my own insurance so I had to quit. I miss the classroom AWFUL wish i could go back maybe some day.

Playing catch up.

Sorry I didn't blog yesterday about something I'm looking forward to, So today I am going to do both day 17 and 18. I did though pick up the leaves outside it took me a total of 3 1/2 hours  but I think that will  be the last time that I will have to do that before the white stuff flies for the winter.


Now on to the blog challenge over at Katie's Journey. First off Day 17  which is something that I am looking forward to.

I'm looking forward to spending the holidays with family and friends.

I'm looking forward to watching my niece's grow older.

I'm looking forward to making memories with friends.

I'm looking forward to loving life to the fullest.

I'm looking forward to living my life for me.

Now for Day 18- something I regret. This is a hard one for me as the way I am trying to look at things is that everything happens for a reason, so when you are trying to look at things from that perspective it is hard to say that you regret anything.

But if I had to say that I regretted anything it would have to be the 1 1/2 that me and my boyfriend broke up, I feel that maybe I didn't do everything in my power to keep us together, But then again I also feel that we had to break up so that we could find ourselves and we had to do that by ourselves now that we have things are better then they ever were. So as you can see it's hard for me to say that I regret anything. 

My dream house- day 16

I am so excited about this post, I  have been through so many pictures and plans over the years and this is one of my favorites. Although I would change the functions of some of the rooms.

 So there you have my dream home.

Day !5 -Favorite Bible Verse

Well, we are half way through the 30 day blog challange over at Katie Journey, so if it would like to see other people's favorite bible verses hop on over.

I have many favorite verses, but the one that helps keep me grounded, because we all know that we all have those days when we might question things and Mathew chapter 5  helps me remember why I believe what I believe.





The Beatitudes


1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them saying:

3"Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4Blessed are those who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

5Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the earth.

6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be filled.

7Blessed are the merciful,

for they will be shown mercy.

8Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they will see God.

9Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called sons of God.

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Can't sleep so........

I'm posting  day 14 if the 30 day blog challenge for theKatie's Journey really early. but that's OK because I have a really busy day tomorrow. First off, I'm going to church where is Sports Speculator Sunday and we are suppose to wear are favorite team Go Bucks! Well, the funny thing is I'm a Ohio State Buckeye friend and my best friend loves those guys in blue up north:( Yes I know but shes a sweetheart anyway. So this shall be interesting when we walk in. Then after church they are having a spaghetti dinner to raise money for the teens to go to camp. Then it's off to do some grocery shopping.

So anyway back to the Challenge  My favorite pictures. You know I couldn't pick just one so here's 4 and there of my nieces. The two beach ones were from a vacation we took this summer and it was the first time for either of them to see the ocean.

Day 13 - Goals

OK this is going to be sort and sweet, not because I don't have any goals but because I believe that sometimes goals hinder us and when they don't happen , sometimes they can bring one down. So  i like to live each day to the fullest and see were life takes me. The cards have already been dealt it's all in how you play them.

OK so, this is what I would like to see happen in my life, I want to live my life to the fullest, Love life and others. Help people in anyway I can forgive those who need forgiven and above all lead the life that the Lord wants me to.

What I believe............ Day 12

Of the 30 day challenge of at Katie's Journey. So if you want to see more go over there.

r

First of all I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is my Savior.

I believe that children are a gift, and you need to cherish them.

I believe that you can do anything you set you mind to.

I believe that God only gives you what you can handle.

I believe that everything happens for a reason.

I believe that you can't love someone till you love yourself.

i believe you can learn a lot from children.

I believe in second chances.

The list could go on , but there is one more thing that I believe in  and that  a sign I have on my living room wall that states.

DANCE

As if no one is watching

LOVE

As if you never been hurt

SING

As though no one can hear you

LIVE

As though Heaven is on Earth

So you all know that I am....

participating in the 30 day blog challenge, but I did come in late on day 10, So I thought that I would catch up so here is goes.

Day 1 Introduce yourself , a picture and 15 facts.
OK my name is Mindy, I'm single i love to cook and craft and I am getting into blogging.

 Here is a picture.


!5 facts about me well, I have a cat, I'm the oldest, I have two nieces, I have a BS in elementary education, I went to Greece and Turkey when i was in college, I was a girl scout, I went to Ohio State, I know how to ride a horse, I am a christian ,my parent's are still married, I have one sister, I've been engaged twice but never married, I love to read, I love to cook, Best of all I have great family and friends.

Day 2 -  Meaning behind my blog name.


Well, it's simple my blog is called bugs, bells and bits and it's after  my two niece's Jadyn and Bella. You see when Jadyn was born her nickname was Jadyeebug which then got shorten to bug. bells is just a shorten version of Bella and the bit'\s just is from all the happening in my life.So there you have it.


Day 3 -  First love

OK so my first love came later in life and it's still going strong well sort of. It is my BF Troy. We had been engaged and live together for a year and 1/2 and then life went south for us, I moved out and we broke up for a year. We have now just recently got back together and taking it one day at a time.  thank the lord that he brought Troy back into my life everyday.


Day 4- My parents

My parents are still married to each other which unfortunately is a rarity these days. My dad works for the United States post office and my mom works for my uncle doing insurance. they still live in the same house that we built when I was 13.

Day 5- siblings

I have one sister her name is  Kristin and she's younger, she as a husband , and two daughters my niece's Jadyn and Bella.


Day 6 Something that makes me happy

That would be my kitty Shadow.



Day 7 - Favorite Movies

OK, I'm just going to do a quick list

All the Shrek Movies

The Blind Side

The Notebook

Avatar

Hairspray

Chicago

All the Twilight Series

Grown- Ups

Just to name a few.

Day 8 - A place I've been to

When I was a Senior in college I want to Turkey and Greece on a 14 day cruise. through the Greek islands.

Day 9- Pictures of your friends

I'm sorry to report I did not have one picture of my friends Sorry:(

OK, I'm all caught up now. So if you are interested in joining the challenge you can See all the topics here at Katie's Journey

Day 11 of the 30 day blog challenge......... Favorite T.V. Shows

So as I was thinking about my favorite T.V. shows, I now have decided that I am addicted to reality and crime based t.v. shows.  With a few dramas added in.
the shows are listed in random order.

Dancing with the stars

Melissa and Joey

The Mentalist

Pretty Little Liars

Big Brother

CSI

Criminal Minds

Castle

Survivor

Top Chef

The Defender's

American Idol ( we will see if it makes the list after this season)

That is all for current shows as for shows that are older that would have to be:

The Golden Girls

Charmed



Stop by tomorrow to see what I believe in and if you want to join in on the blog challenge you can find the topic here @ Katie's Journey .

30 day blog challenge.........Day 10

Something I'm Afraid of.......

Probably the most thing I am afraid of in life is not being true to myself. Not doing what I know I am capable of doing, being afraid that if I do what I want I will offend someone or push them away. I don't mean to sound like I'm making this all about me, but I have spent most of my life thinking that because of my circumstances I felt as though I could never do what I really wanted, even though I fully new that I could I was capable though I may not be able to do it the same way has everyone else. I don't want to not do something because I am afraid that I might offend someone because the truth is if it's near and dear to my heart  i want to stand up for what I believe in. I have always been the type of person that tries to help anyone in anyway possible and if that meant losing myself in the process. I recently found myself again, the biggest fear of mine is that I will lose myself again.

Come back tomorrow to see what my favorite TV shows are,  If you would also like to join in this 30 day blog challenge  go here Katie's Journey . Hope to see you tomorrow!

Good Morning

It's a brisk chilly day here, and I'm off to clean my grandma's house for her. So I'm busy this morning getting things ready as I'm going top leave in about a hour. I should be back around three this afternoon and will post again . I am participating in a 30 day blog and today's topic is 10 things I'm afraid of so come back later to see what are the 10 things i'm afraid of are come back later

Ok so saying it's been awhile.....is a understandment!

To be truthful, I just got caught up in the trails of everyday life and let  my two blogs this one and "The Cat's Meow" go by the wayside. since the last time that I posted way back in Feb. I became a fly baby and if you are asking yourself what a fly baby is I'll tell you.

It's away to keep your life and family in order, by during routines it makes life less chaotic  and we all know that we all can handle less chaos. The main goal of The fly lady is to make housework fun and establish routines by taking baby steps. I will find out and post a button to link my blog and the fly lady website so that way if you read my blog and think you want to become a fly baby like me you can.  

Another thing that i would like to start here on bugs, bells and bits is I want to start hosting different kinds of swaps, so check back in the near future to find out the details. And if you are a cat lover or pet lover in general don't forget to check out my other blog http://thecatsmeowadayinthelifeofacat.blogspot.com/.

Are you ready for spring?

I sure am ! ans to get us in the mood the Digital Boutique is giving away some candy, so if your interested , take a look here to see how to enter. I'll be back here later to post a couple of cards.

LOst my Mojo......

I think though it maybe coming back. I spent part of the weekend compiling loist of projects that I need to complete, along with gathingh the supplies for those projects. I plan to on monday to start those projects, that is if I can pull myself away from Farmvile on facebook :(

And yet another card.

This card was made for a flood swap im in. and it also  meets the requirements for the scetch challenge over at Saturday's Challenge over at secrett crafter

A Valentines day card

Her's the second valentine's day card for my niecce's, it's using the same inkandoo dollar stamp, paper and ribbon from Joann's . I also did  paper piecing on the hart the puppy is holding , Again, I also used my own homemade glimmer mist.

Again, This card follows sereval challenges this week.

They are:

Creative Belli - ribbons

Fussy and Fancy - hearts

Raise the bar - hearts

Stamp Something - Love Something

Stamping Boutique- layout

Another 5 Birthday cards done this month.

As, you all know I'm doing this personal challenge (with the help of a non swap at the Stamp Shack) to make five birthday cards a month. Well here they are........

I'm still here...

I know I been MIA thew last few days, but I have been busy, My niece celbrated her 7th birthday last thursday, We had a biithday dinner for her up and her greatparents house, Then on Saturday we all went out to the Roadhouse steak house. ( I think that might have been more for the adults then the kids, cause I know I was miserable at ate way to much.) After I dug my self out of out 1st snow storm. Then on Sunday we went down to my sister's house for the superbowl and to watch the Who (ok is it just me or were they alittle out of breath?)


While the men watched the game. us women help my niece make her valentines for her class. Jadyn loves owls and one day when I was looking at the threads over at the  Stamp Shack.  Shelley ,( who I have dubbed the queen of blog surfing and surfing in general.) Posted this link, I though they were so cute I asked my sister Jadyn would like them, sh said yes so I guess we made are own whooooo as we watched the Who? LOL! Here's a picture of the end product.

You can't see it in the picture sorry, but under the eyes there are slits to put a pencil ot you could use  a sucker, unfortunely we didn't have any at the time. each valentine either says " Your'e Owl-right or Your'e a hoot. The big owl in the center is for the teacher and it's going to read "Whooooo's the Best Teacher?"

Blog candy over at southernscraps!

Fonda, Over at  Southernscraps is giving away some awesome blog candy. So go Check it out! http://southernscraps.blogspot.com/

No Card today.

I spent that day cleaning the house and getting ready for the snow  thats is suppose to come in all weekend, so even though I was able to make a card today I'm not going to be able to post it untill tomorrow. Im doing really well though keeping up with the blog. So taking a couple days off is ok right?

Valentine's day card

Ok, so here is a Valentine Day card for one of my niece's. I have another one to make but I not sure if I like this one, Is it too busy?

First off I made my on faux glimmer mist using arylic paint , This is also the first time I did paperpiecing on the heart( Can you believe that?), The puppy love stamp is a dollar stamp from inkandoo. The ribbon was $1 from Joanne's, and the pink button is from my personal stash. The pupy was colored with  prisma markers.

This card does fit sereval challenges though.

Creative Belli -Ribbon

Cupcake Crafts - Four  legged ; Furry

Secret Crafter - Hearts

Fussy & Fancy Friday - Hearts

Paper Sundaes - Valentines

My Niece's BIrthday Card..........

This is a card for my niece Jadyn , Who will turn 7 on Thursday. Jadyn loves fruit especailly grapefruit, but needless to say I couldn't find a image I like with grapefruit. ( ok I'll be honest I didn't look to hard either.) Although, This isn't grapefruit I think she'll like the strawberries too, and who doesn't like glitter!

This is a 6x6 card, I usely don't do odd shaped cards do to the fact that they are more expensive to send.

The Image is by Phindy of Phindy's Place and the seniment is from MFT set Just Bloom, The patterened paper is by DCWV, I used Primas and some glitter  glue on the strawberries. I colored the image with my prismas pencils.

Like I said before I am really in trying to get multipurposes for my cards so  this card also fits these challenges.

Phindy's Place group over at PCP - Brown and red birthday card.

Stamp Something - Delightfully Delicious, make something with food.

Saturday Sketches- The layout,

10 stamps for blog candy over at The Crafty Pad!

Yes you heard me right! The Crafty Pad is giving away 10 stamps and the blog candy is open untill Feb 22. To enter click Here .

A thank you card.

My friend Sally over at the Stamp Shack, was nice enough to cut me a boat load of nestablities. I am very unfortunate not to own a cuttlebug or nesties, but love what you can do with both. maybe someday I will become rich and be able to afford all that I want when it comes to stamping. Sorry kinda went on a tanget there. Now back to the card!

I also made this card to meet the guidlines of the challenge #16 over at Mo's Digital Pencil Too

, Whick was that you had to do the card in shades of grey, but as you can see I did had some color to highlight some of the key points in this terrific image from Mo. It also dawned on me that this card also fit the challenge posted over at Stamping Sisters of Christ. So in the end this cute little card served 3 purposes for me.

Image: Mo's Digital Pencil

Colored with prisma pencils

Challenge card for Stamping Sisters in Christ.

So the challenge over at Stamping Sisters in Christ is based on the scripture

" Therefore, whoever humble themselves like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven" Matthew 18:4.

For this challenge you need to create a card featuring a child, or child like things, that are not baby.

The challenge was sponsored by Mo's Digital Pencil . So I thought that it would be cool to showcase one of Mo's stamps that also fit the challenge. This is what I came up with.

Stamp: Bella and Bronte from Mo's digital pencil.

Paper: Brown, blue and white card stock and a scrap of pp. vellum.

Colored with: prisma markers.

Embellishments: mini brads and computerized generated words.

blog candy at sweet as a gumddrop!

Brenda over at Sweet as a gumdrop as Awesome blog candy for Valentines day! She also as a AWesome blog! Go check it out!

Funny card

I was looking through some blogs to see if there were any challenges , that I would like to enter. I found this one over at Stamp something challenge blog to make a funny card. When I read this I knew just what stamp I wanted to use. it was a digital stamp from bugaboo stamps. the deadline to enter this challenge was 7:00 tonight, so I had to hurry. Hope you feel that its as funny as I do.

Stamp: Bugaboo digital stamps

cuttle bug embossed background

card stock: white, teal , red

Ribbon: pieces I had laying around of red and teal grosgrain ribbon

Pop up birthday card

OK, like I told you last night. I'm in a personal challenge to make 5 birthday cards a month, along with the help of Sherri's non swap challenge.

So my first card is a pop-up card. I got the ideas off of Sherri's blog.

Here's the outside

Here's the inside.

The stamps I used was a set of three stamps by Great Impressions.

ink was white daisy from CTMH.

Brown and white card stock.

Misc pp.

misc brads.
Corner rounder.

St patty's day

Im in a swap for Saint Patrick's Day over at the stamp shack. When, I signed up for the swap, I thought that it would be easy to do since my own birthday is march 16th. That would have been to easy. I had no stamps for this at all so this is what I came up with.

Birthday Card stash

Not only have a bee bad about keeping up my blogs, I have also been bad about making cards to keep in hand. so when Sherri, over at the Stamp Shack post a swap were you do not really swap anything , but she emails you with a reminder to make 5 birthday cards a month. I had to join. So far so good, Here they are. For some reason i didn't write down the stamps I used on these

cards before I put them away , so I will have to do that tomorrow, Then I will post each card with the details.

I am also in Sherri's Make 5 Christmas cards a month , so I have to start working on those.

I'm back!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, I know, I know. I said that I was going to keep this blog up better this year. it just seems as though everytime I think I'm going to have alittle of time to sit down and blog, something always comes up. Tonight though I vowed I would sit down and blog a bit.

I've been up to some card and atc making the last few days so I will be posting them. A big shout out to my friend ErinK at the Stamp Shack among others over there for helping me take better pictures of my projects. You will also noticed I have also gotten some new watermarks by

Karen Giron . For just $2 she will costomize watermarks for you. Thanks Sherri for turning me on to this site

I have also been doing alot of blog hopping these past few weeks so be sure to look at my blog list and see which blogs that I have added, I will also be adding some new things to the blog so don't forget to check it out!

Welcome 2010

Hello all,

Hope that you had a fun and safe holiday. I sure did all though I was unable to usher the new year in last thursday I was in bed by 11:00pm. In the new year I vow to keep this blog up also Shadow (my kitty) and i are staring a new blog called thttp://thecatsmeowadayinthelifeofacat.blogspot.com/. This blog will be written in the third person and will have everything to do about shadow and cats in general.

Also look back here on bugs, bels and bits for my new card creations and ramblings about my family.