Welcome to Holland

As most of you know, my son Bryson was diagnosed with Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes 3 years ago. It was a devastating day that changed our lives forever. Ever since, I have become an advocate in the fight for a cure and have used my business (Crimson Clover) to bring awareness to this horrible disease that affects millions of children and adults in our country every hour of every day. Those with Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes will be dependent on insulin for the rest of their lives. Insulin is not a cure for the disease - it is merely life support.

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My dear friend, Laurie back in Ohio who has an amazing daughter, Leah with spina bifida goes through more challenges than I can even imagine. They are the strongest people I have ever been blessed to meet. I didn't know that spina bifida is the most common birth defect and effects 1 in 1000 births! You can lower your risk by taking folic acid during pregnancy, however, it does not prevent all cases. Those who suffer from spina bifida deal with many neurologic and orthopedic problems. Laurie is such a wonderful mom and Leah does not let anything slow her down.

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When I was at my lowest point, Laurie sent me this poem and I wanted to take the opportunity to share it with all of our readers. It truly put things into perspective for me and I hope it will help others, as well.

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning for a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland".

"Holland?!?" you say, "What do you mean "Holland"??? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy.

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around...and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy....and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned".

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.

But...if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things...about Holland.

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Bling for Mom

Hi everyone! It's Tia....finally taking a little break from Crimson Clover to post. Mother's Day is one of my most favorite days! I have been blessed to have 5 amazing reasons to celebrate. Here is a peek at some fun Crimson Clover ideas to wear not only on Mother's Day but for every day.

GLITTER PEARLS & LACE MOM NECKLACE

PINK GLITTER MOM CHARM ON MEDIUM BALL CHAIN



ONE OF A KIND ROCKIN' MAMA NECKLACE WITH VINTAGE RHINESTONES AND VINTAGE GUITAR PICK

OBLONG MOTHER NECKLACE

OBLONG DAUGHTER NECKLACE

TATTOO INSPIRED MOM CHARMS

CUSTOM DANGLE MOM NECKLACE

MY KIDS ROCK MOM DANGLE NECKLACE

AGED PHOTO CHARM (THIS ONE IS MINE, CAN YA TELL?)

ANOTHER OPTION FOR A MOM NECKLACE

YOU CAN ALSO CHECK SOME OF THESE THINGS OUT IN MY ETSY SHOP!

xoxo,

tia & andrea

happy birthday Jeremy!!!!

Happy Birthday to my brother in law Jeremy!!!

I made this little card for him using my cricut and some stamps. He loves baseball like we do!!!

You can see the old baseballs in the apothecary jar on my mantle in this picture too. I found them out around the ball fields while my son practices. I love the stacked up in there!!!

Enjoy!!!!

♥

andrea & tia

paper and glue

My sister and her husband have been visiting with us for the past week so I haven't had much time to really work on much lately. We are having great time spending time together. They are visiting from Las Vegas.

I did scrap Sunday night during while watching Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters. I love those shows and you can bet I am scrapping on Sunday nights when they are on. I call it my "me night". :) I did these two layouts on Sunday night.

This one is of my son while I am trying to get a good smile of him for a snapshot. He does this almost every time I try. He is funny and poor thing he has had a camera in his face for 10 years. LOL!!! I thought it was funny and was a cute way to remember all of the "takes" to get the one good one. He has a fake, too much smile, silly, and then normally we can get a good one. These pictures were from Easter Sunday when we had dinner at Tia's moms house. It took us like 15 times to get the self-portriat family picture. I set the timer you can see how into my husband was...check out the remote in his hand!!! Just keeping it real people. LOL!!!

Close up of the banner title.
Enjoy!!!!

♥
andrea & tia

Another Crimson Clover giveaway!

Hey guys! I'm doing another Crimson Clover giveaway for the wonderful and talented Jen at Tatertots & Jello! Check it out HERE!! It's perfect for Mother's Day and you get to pick one of 4 different designs!

Good Luck!

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Have another cupcake + new spring bright initial charms

I love love L♥VE cupcakes! And Andrea's cupcakes she just posted below look amazing! And I'm quite sure they taste as good as they look. I wanted to share with you one of my favorite charms in my Keep Calm line. It says "Keep Calm and Eat a Cupcake". It is on the new Tri Cluster chain that is so much fun to wear because you can switch out all of your charms. It's very versatile. You can find all of my goodies HERE. These are my new hand stamped and hand painted metal initial charms in the new bright colors. You can choose from: lime green, turquoise, and raspberry. You can wear just one or wear your entire family's initials for a fun look.

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Keep calm and have a cupcake

I just finished making yummy Strawberry Cupcakes for a friend of mine from work for her birthday. They are so good and they turned out really pretty. I love sprinkles!!!

I am working on a project with the keep calm theme. I will share pictures this weekend!!!

Till then Have a Cupcake!!!

♥

Andrea & Tia

Are you happy?

This is a question we often forget to ask ourselves. I found this image online (sorry, I can't remember where) but I loved it so much and wanted to share it with you. I love it's truth and simplicity. As a mom of 5 kids running my own business, I always seem to struggle with the balancing act of life and time management issues. There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day. Am I happy? You bet I am! Is my life crazy? Absolutely it is, but I wouldn't change a thing. On days I feel overwhelmed and stressed (as we all do), I like to go back and take a look at this message because when I need to find more happiness in my life, what should I do? CHANGE SOMETHING!

what makes you happy?

share with us what makes YOU happy...

have a very blessed and happy day!

tia & andrea

Yo-Yo Flower Tank Top

I was so inspired by the lovely and talented Jen over at Tatertots and Jello when she posted her yo yo flower pillow redo. Check it out here. As a little girl, I remember making a ton of these fabric yo yo flowers when we would go visit my aunt who was an avid seamstress. They were so much fun to make. So I decided to embellish this gray tank top that I just purchased from Old Navy. I L♥VE tank tops...especially gray ones. And this was the perfect backdrop for these vintage fabric yo yo flowers. Various vintage fabric yo yo flowers in 1" and 2"

With just a few basic stitches with some thread and a needle, this tank top has been transformed! This could even be a no sew project, but I was enjoying hand sewing them on.

Here is what it looks like on. With a pink tank top layered under it, I think it has that Anthropologie/J.Crew look that I love so very much! More projects like this to come, so stay tuned...


xoxo,

tia & andrea

spring in bloom

Hi everyone!!! Hope everyone is out enjoying the weekend. I've been working out in the yard today and getting ready to head out to our first baseball game of the season.

I snapped a couple photos of the flowers on the tree in the side yard. It is so pretty when in bloom and I had to share!!

Enjoy!!!!

♥

Andrea & Tia

All Tied Up

I'm kind of into belts right now and wanted to share with you this belt I made from a gentlemen's necktie. Now, I'm not real saavy on the sewing machine but this was so easy to do. I found a couple of vintage rhinestone loops and folded the necktie over them and with a stitch, a new belt is born. Once you loop the tie through the two rings, just pull it as tight as you'd like.



A cute way to spice up a plain tee shirt


xoxo

tia & andrea

T is for Thompson

I am loving Monograms right now and have several "T"s for Thompson( my last name) and "3"s for the number that is in our family around our living room. I saw this idea I while back on another blog(sorry I can't remember where) of a moss covered Monogram. I couldn't' wait to make one for myself. I picked up some supplies at Michael's and in about 15 minutes I had a moss covered "T" for my mantle. I love it and it looks fresh and springy to me.

supplies

a wooden letter

moss (I got the kind that will stay green and it is in sheets)

hot glue gun

glue sticks

scissors

I used an old pizza box to catch all the moss pieces that fell off while glueing the moss on the letter.

I forgot to take a picture of letter as I was covering it until it was almost done.
You glue the moss on the letter in small sections. I used my scissors to cut the moss.

Finished Product on my mantle.
Love it!!!



♥

Andrea & Tia

Robins Egg Blue & Vintage Flowers

It's officially spring.....well, at least I hope it is here in Chicago. And as much as I love anything robins egg blue, I especially love it in the springtime! Vicki and I are doing a Crimson Clover trunk show this week at a dear friends' house and I needed a cute display for all of my vintage enamel flower parts. I found these plastic frames at Goodwill for only 99 cents each. I do love off white, but plastic? Not so much. And they had all of these plastic flowers all over them, too. Not exactly what I'm looking for.

With a little sanding and a few coats of my all time favorite spray paint, I think they are the perfect piece to house these vintage metal flowers. What do you think?

The metal is perfect for hanging the flowers. I think I'll use if for some of my other jewelry, too.

I have reassembled these flower parts into new pendants to wear on a necklace. I have some gorgeous pearl chains that go fabulous with these, as well. They just scream spring.

A few displayed in a tarnished vintage silver compote

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Happy Easter

From

TWO JUNK CHIX!!!!!

Hope you are in enjoying the day with your families!!!

Much Love from Us!!!

Andrea & Tia

whoo's birthday????

I love owls and this little stamp from Hampton Arts.

I made this card for my friend's birthday. I cut out the card on my Silhouette using the scallop wave square card from the Silhouette online store. I trimmed the card down to make it into a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 card. The paper is from Hobby Lobby. I colored the images in using my Copic markers. I love my Copic markers. Their blending ablities are truly amazing!!!!

Enjoy!!!!

♥

Andrea & Tia