Life & Crafting Update from Kat

I LOVE blogging! First and foremost, it’s fun, challenging and I love to share things with you guys so know that I’m not going anywhere, I just have to find a way to balance everything so that I can blog more often and update some of my older blog posts with new and updated information

This last year has brought about so many changes and challenges for my family and myself, and my business.  I have much to be grateful for and I am!  However, with changes and challenges some things get put aside for others and unfortunately, in the latter part of the past year,  that was my blog.

Life Update:  My oldest son Justin who you are all familiar with by now, has gotten married (On December 28th!) to a beautiful girl named Raven and she has a little boy named Dakota who is three and is now my grandson.  (I’m a Nana!!!!)  Here is a picture of the three of them on their wedding day:

He moved out of my home and into his own with his new family.  Which has been a HUGE change for me.  For 24 years he lived with me and this is a challenge both good and bittersweet, so it’s taking me some time to adjust.  I’ve realized just how bonded we single moms become with our boys no matter their age!

Tyler had a very TRYING year this and went through something terrible and traumatic but it is in the past now and thank God he seems to be doing okay.  I am not telling the story because he’d like to protect his privacy but it took a few months of my life away from the internet and was very hard on the family both individually and as a whole.  He has a job now and is in his last year of high school and is doing well now so continued prayers for him would be appreciated.  Tyler is now 6’6″!  That kid just doesn’t stop growing!  Here is a picture of us in the car taken recently:

My mom has been struggling with Parkinson’s Disease badly this year.  It has taken a rough toll on her…this disease is different for every person that has it and it’s relentless.  She is having trouble talking and swallowing without choking now and her thoughts are difficult to gather.  She is confined to a wheelchair/power chair and can’t take steps anymore.  I have to say that my mom handles this disease with more grace than anything or anyone I’ve ever seen.  I could not do it if it were me.  I admire her so much and just pray that she has a lot more time with us.  I love her more than life itself and she has always been my lifeline.  That’s about all I can say without bawling…Please remember my mom, Holly, in your prayers.

Here is a picture of my mom at Justin’s Wedding:

As for me, this year has been the busiest of years for me.  Between family issues and business I have not had time to do much of what I love, which is crafting.  But our business is thriving and I’ve had a lot of new changes this year including my own line of sequin mixes and my own line of DIES!  I’m so excited about that.  I try to come out with both unique and usable designs and mixes that every crafter can use and love in their craft stash.  It is very expensive and time consuming which is why I’ve done a little at a time over the past year.  I have a few good friends in the industry that I’d love to thank for their help and support, but I won’t name names because they know who they are.  Just know that I’m grateful!!

In case you don’t know about our family business, it is Kat Scrappiness, your favorite online craft store!

• To check out my line of dies click here:
• To check out my sequin mixes click here:
• To check out the main store click here:

We also started a design team this year with the help of my design team manager, Deb Peterson Rauch!  This has been a huge undertaking and a great source of joy for all of us.  We have the greatest design team members with so much talent!  I feel so blessed to have each of them on my team!  To visit the design team blog and meet the members, click here.

So now that the holidays are over and my oldest son and his family have moved out, things will be calming down here (I hope!) and my New Year’s Goal is to find balance, so that I can find time to do what I love as well as work and family responsibilities.  The first being crafting and the second being blogging about that crafting!

I WILL update my yearly favorites for this year and other posts that need to be updated very soon.  I hope to get that done in the first quarter of the year.  And I will start doing blog posts showing projects again as well.  So, please stick with me until I find a new normal and balanced routine.

I hope this past year has been a good one for all of you reading this and I pray that 2017 will bring you joy, happiness, love and success!