Valentine Fabric Wreath

So here's the deal.  What do you do with a five-year-old when there's an ice storm and school's cancelled????  I could have let her play the Wii all day, but I don't think so.  I could have let her watch movie after movie after movie.  Tempting, yes, but I don't think so.  Instead, I had her work on a fun Valentine craft.  I can't remember if I saw this idea on a blog or in a magazine. 

You get a foam heart, fun fabric, a sharpened pencil and glue.  This takes only about a gazillion 2"x2" squares of fabric.  I had to go back to the fabric store twice to get more fabric.  Put the pencil in the middle of the square, right side up, dip in glue then push into wreath.

You would think that this would only take a few hours, at the most, right?????  Wrong.  This little booger took forever.  Not counting needing to get more fabric, it still took a couple of days, which doesn't work too well with a five-year-old's attention span.  She had fun though.  You can't tell how cute it is from the pictures, but it really is.

I saw these HERE and thought they would be fun and fairly easy to make.

I think I would not have mine be so busy.  Kind of a little much, huh!!

Favorites

Coconut creamer, coconut M&Ms and my favorite Valentine mug

Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate covered Espresso Beans and Cranberries

We don't have a Trader Joe's in Iowa.  These, alone, make me wish we did...YUM!!!!!

Drew playing hide-and-seek

Shea and her new mermaid doll

Smashbox lipgloss......the BEST!!!!

Pomegranate candles from Gold Canyon

Polka dots.....I would have them everywhere and on everything.  Love them!!

Black Raspberry Vanilla from Bath and Body Works

Our heated tile floors...oh, yeah!!

Peppermint Mocha Frappuccinos.  You can get them all year round, not just Christmas time.

I have never been one to really get into Valentine's Day, but ever since Shea was born I love it more and more.  It's so fun seeing her get into the holidays, even dorky ones like Valentine's Day.  We're finishing up a fun Valentine wreath we made.  I want to make these for Shea and Drew, but I highly doubt I will get to it this year.  Oh, well, might as well add it to my list of a million other things I want to make

Aren't they adorable!!!  I found them HERE.

Hope everyone has a good rest of the weekend :)

Hello from Down Under

In honor of the upcoming Australian Open, I thought I'd send you all a message from the place I want to go visit more than any other place in the world.....Australia, of course.  Right now would be nice since it's summer there.

You can't tell from the picture how super cute this alphabet it, but I promise you that it is.  I made these for Shea so that she could practice her words and reading on our long, long, long drive to Tucson for Christmas.  I cut out letters on my Cricut machine that I love so much, put them on a magnet sheet, cut them out then Mod Podged them so they'll stay on nice.  They didn't get used much on the trip though.  I guess watching Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Up a gazillion times is much more fun then practing words...go figure!!!

I totally want to make one of these super cool magnetic boards http://craftysisters-nc.blogspot.com/2009/11/beadboard-magnetic-board.html for Shea to put her alphabet on. Yes, I STILL haven't figured out how to put a link up that doesn't put the whole damn thing up...Grrrrrr!!!!

It's finally warming up a bit here.....hello 20s and 30s.  Isn't it sad when it's in the 20s and 30s and you think it's a heat wave!!  I'll take it while I can get it.
Enjoy your day, everyone!!

I knit, therefore I am!!!!

I l.o.v.e to knit!!  I crocheted for way too many years because I was intimidated by knitting, but I wanted to knit sooo bad.  Well, enough of that, I told myself!!  I signed up for a knitting class and have been hooked ever since.

How cool to make something out of a skein of yard.  Above is my first felted bag.  I had never felted anything before, so I felt like a total knitting genius when this turned out so good. For once my husband was impressed with one of my projects too.  I made one similar for my mom for Christmas this year except hers is a blue-denim color.  I use it ALL the time,for everything....library books, yep...extra diapers and sippy cup, yep....knitting projects, yep!!!

I usually have 2-3 knitting projects going on at a time, but right now I only have one.  What's with that????

Oh, yeah, I just finished the top to Shea's quilt...big woo hoo!!!  Now comes the anxiety of finishing it.  I have to figure out how to bind it and quilt it...YIKES!!!  That also means that I have to make friends with my sewing machine...great!!

Girlfriends!!!

"Isn't that the most?  To say the least?"

 -Patty Simcox ( Grease)                                                    

                                                

I had the MOST fun visiting old high school friends while in Tucson, to say the least!!!! The time went by way too fast. It was so much fun to chat and see that everyone is doing good and are happy.

B-Cindy and Kristi

F-me, Rachel and Jessica

Rach and I were best friends in high school. I totally miss hanging out with her. Is there a funnier person in the world??  I don't think so.  We had drama together, played basketball together, she came to as many of my volleyball games as she could....good times!!!  Of course we had tons and tons of other fun times!!  We were inseperable. She turned me on to the Beatles, who are still my all-time favorite band.  Thanks, Rach!!

Cindy and I met my freshman year of high school, our first week, our first school dance.....no, we weren't dancing together!!  We've been friends ever since.  We have managed to stay in contact all this time.

Kristi and I played volleyball together.  Those were the days, mainly because we kicked @#$!!!!!!  Seriously!! 

Jessica and I met, I'm almost positive, through our friend Val.  We also had a stat class together at the UofA that totally kicked my butt.  I have n.e.v.e.r worked soo frickin' hard for a grade and still not understand half of what was taught. 

Rach sent me the best message the other day and brought up my pottery. I totally need to get back into doing my pottery. My pottery wheel and kilns are kind of ticked at me that I haven't used them for so long. I'm pretty sure they'll forgive me and let me make some beautiful stuff again.....soon, hopefully!!! Remember how I'm going to start making time to do the things I L.O.V.E.......well, my pottery is definitely one of those things.

Too too cute tutus!!!

These are some tutus I made for Christmas presents for my neices and my friend Michelle that has a sweet baby.  I never did get around to sending her anything when Kennedy was born, so I just had to make her one of these tutus.  Yes, this is another project that I got from a blog that I don't have a link to.  I'm pretty sure I have it written down somewhere, so when I find it, I'll post it.  Shea is wanting one that is rainbow.  No sweat, these are super easy!!

I just had to try one on Drew.....he'll hate me for it when he's older.

He.did.not want to take it off!!!

Resolutions and Christmas project

Resolutions, goals, improvements, whatever you want to call them, I've never really done them.  You're just asking for failure.  This year is different.  I have three resolutions.

First, I am going to become more organized.  I used to be organized once upon a time...no longer.  I'm going to start with one area and keep it under control before moving on....starting with the kitchen.  I have a lot of counter space and it seems to attract e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g!!!!  Next is my office, which attracts everything else.

Second, stay in better contact with my friends.  With work, kids and life, I've let my friends fall by the wayside.  Well, no more!!  I'll call, email and snail mail more...I promise!!  My friend, Beth, and I have already talked a little bit about getting together more often.  It doesn't have to be a huge deal, just something.  She suggested meeting for a quick coffee at Starbucks to catch up...PERFECT!!! 

Third, I'm going to make more time for myself...I will!!  I will!!  I will!!  Work and family take up all my time.  I've lost what's interesting about me.  I need to make some time for myself so that I'm a better wife and mom.  I know!!  I know!!  You guys didn't think I could get better...hehehe.  I'll make time to exercise (which I badly need), craft, read, cook, whatever it is that I want to do.  I'll need to remind Jake that running errands without the kids does NOT count as me time, damnit!!!!

Every three-four months I'll look at my resolutions and see how I'm doing.

Here is one of my Christmas projects that I did.  I wish I could give a link to the blog I got it from, but I didn't bother keeping it since I didn't think I was going to be doing my own blog at the time.  If I run across the blog, I'll be sure to post it.  These are chalkboard plates.  I just l.o.v.e. them!!  I gave one to my mom, aunt, Shea's teacher and Shea's busdriver.  I still have the blue oval one.  It is beautiful.  It didn't seem to go with anyone I gave them to, so I still have it.  I plan on making a few more, definitely red.  It'll go with Valentine's, 4th of July and next Christmas.  I saw a super cool blog that had picture frame chalkboards that I already have on my huge list of projects to do.  I saw it on moodygirlprojects.blogspot.com.  Great, I can get you to the blog, but not to the actual post.  I'll definitely have to figure out how to do that.

And I'm Off!!!!!!!!!

So, here's my first post. I resisted starting a blog for a long time because I wasn't sure what I wanted out of it......I'm still not sure. My friend, Michelle, does a fantastic job blogging about her daughter and will turn her blog into a book someday. What a great idea. I don't think that's the direction I'm going to go. I already scrapbook and journal a little, so I think I'll stick with that for now. My friends Beth and Kaylan do a great job of blogging about their family/lives and crafts.

Once upon a time, before I had kids, I was super crafty. I'm getting back into being crafty again. Looking at the millions of craft blogs has totally gotten me jittery and crazy in the head with projects I just have to do.

I'm half way done with my first quilt....Woo Hoo!!! what's not so woo hoo is that I now have to finish it on the sewing machine. That'll definitely be on another post. Let's just say the sewing machine and I have never been friends, although I have a really nice one my mom bought me a few years back. I bet she thought I'd actually use it and love it as much as she loves hers. What was she thinking!!!!

So above is a picture of Drew and Ruger on our way home from Tucson....what a long drive that was!!!! Ruger did the best out of all of us. He's just the best dog. I haven't figured out how to put a picture in the middle of a post, so bear with me.

I hope everyone had the best Christmas ever. I know Wii sure did. My parents got us a Wii with a Wii Fit Plus. I plan to be in excellent shape using only the Wii Fit Plus by the end of this month...no, I really don't, but I do plan on hooking it up to the Wii by the end of this month :)