late for chirstmas

 

we have had 4 out of 9 people in our household experiencing the flu this week.  yuck.  I might be a little depressed that our new year’s party had to be called off.  so sad.  but no one has puked since 1 am, so things are looking up.

I have been off work this week, which has been so nice!  I feel like a housewife again!  I have been cleaning, getting rid of the christmas tree (none too soon! it was so dry and poky!), getting a couple projects done… the usual.  We have had friends visiting from out of state which has been awesome. 

I finally made my wreath snowman now that winter is in full force…

 

My house color is nasty and makes my door color look nastier, but hey, at least my hubby’s boots now look cute sitting in front of Mr. Frosty.  He was supposed to have a hat, so I got one from the thrift store but couldn’t figure out how to get it to stay on, then when I looked at my Pinterest inspiration, I realized they made something out of felt (I think), and I was way too lazy.  He’s good enough for me.  =)

I also finally got my coffee table and arranged a display the way I wanted it for the holidays, in time for the new years party, which is now cancelled anyway – all so sad…

I got the Aidan Coffee Table from World Market.  I watched for it to go on sale for a long time and finally used a coupon and my christmas bonus.  Now it is on sale.  Sad but true.  I hate paying (almost) full price.  I have been without forever though and it was troublesome.  Now I have the games out and handy, and also a nice place to arrange things and hubby has his footrest! 

I made a couple winter scenes and layered them in with candles and greenery for the display…

In project news, I finally started painting the chairs from state surplus.  I’m using Annie Sloan’s chalk paint, of course.  Look how it wears off in a fine powder when you sand it…

They are painted with 1.5 coats, sanded/distressed, have one coat of clear wax, and are awaiting me to work up the courage to tackle the dark wax for the first time!  I know it will be great but it looks sooo dark in the can it makes me nervous!

Okay, gonna go running even though it is getting dark!  Gotta put on my neon yellow shirt and get moving!

forever and a day

 

did you all have a merry christmas?  I sure did!  I have an amazing story to share, when I feel like writing…  if any of you witnessed my amazing surprise and have pictures, would you email them to me, please?

for now, …my friend found me this mug at a thrift store…

she gave it to me because she is visiting from out of state and couldn’t take it home.  it says “forever and a day”.  “forever and a day” ______?   we are not really sure, but it is impossible to not smile when drinking my tea out of this cup. 

that my friends is thrift store shopping for you.  keep going back, because sometimes you find nothing, but sometimes you find a “forever and a day” mug with bunting on it.  =)

I’ll be back with some kid projects, house projects and odds and ends this week.  I’m on Christmas vacation from my job!  Yay!  Gotta go get some paint under my nails!

Oh yeah, and my blogiversary is coming up, so stay tuned!  Early next month I will be having a giveaway!  =D

a tip, DIY ornaments & more wrapping

 

I found this while getting out the ornaments to decorate to let the kids go hog wild adorning our already strange-looking redwood tree with every single ornament I own and no strategy whatsoever…

I had forgotten completely about my idea to get Susie an ornament every christmas till she was 18 and give her a little head start to decorating her first tree when she’s 30 and we let her move out (well, that is more “I” than “we”… =)

When I found it I decided to be nostalgic and take a picture of her with it, knowing that she would adore the teeny little “bi-di”…

And actually, I have two tips to share with you…

Tip #1.  This will be TMI for those of you not interested in photography…  One of my top photography tips for you is to avoid multiple types or colors of light.  Fluorescent, incandescent (most household light bulbs), direct sun, shade, overcast… all these situations of light are different temperatures and different colors.  In the above picture, my white balance was set for “incandescent” light – thus the background looks pretty normal for inside a house.  Susie, on the other hand, is neon blue because she is standing in front of the sliding glass door – light is coming in but it is actually “shade” outside that door, which is very blue.  Moral of the story: avoid mixed lighting because the camera can’t adjust for more than one type at a time.  Solution:  I should have turned off the house lights and just used the natural light with my WB set for “shade”, or taken her away from the sliding glass door into the house (bumping up my ISO because it is darker) to avoid the blue light at the window.  “Auto WB” will do a good job usually, but still can’t handle two different colors of light in one image.

Tip #2.  Please don’t be naïve like me and try to photograph your almost two year old with a tiny, extremely fragile and sentimental ornament.  She broke it.  I then gave up getting a good picture, and hung it and her 2 year old ornament safely at the tip top of the tree.  From now on, I will put them away for her until later.  =/

I made some ornaments, inspired by these vintage-looking DIY ones I caught on Pinterest. 

They were easy and I think they turned out lovely!

I wrapped some more packages…

There is another look at the balls.  I love them.  They look so smooth and soft.  I spray-painted the tops antique bronze.  It is a little better than the shiny silver.  I probably won’t get around to it this year, but I would like to add in even more vintage colors, like in the link above.

I love seeing the gifts pile up.  Not only is it plain fun to give gifts (and for me, to wrap them because I’m crazy!), but just think… Jesus Christ Himself has the most special gift, His salvation, wrapped up especially for every single person in the world.  It has their name on it.  If you are a believer, it is your job to tell others there is a gift under the tree they didn’t know about, it has their name on it.  If you aren’t a believer, I’m telling you right now!  There is a heaven, but you can’t get in unless you are blameless.  Are you?  Me neither, but Jesus paid for every one of our sins.  Just go under the tree and pick up your gift.  It says, “To: [your name here], From: God the Father & Jesus Christ”.

gift ideas { memory game }

 

I am back to share a gift idea from Purl bee.  I originally found and re-pinned it on Pinterest.  Can I stop saying “on Pinterest” now?  Do you all know what “pinning” is yet?  If not, please go sign up and find out.  It will help you remember all those neat projects you need to waste time on, or all the fashions those stylish girls are wearing or… you get the picture.

The gift idea is a sweet little felt and fabric memory game.  Here is how mine turned out…

I am super happy with it.  And I can share it here because it is for a sweet little friend who doesn’t yet frequent my blog!  =)  It took about 1-2 hours, but it was really simple.  The pattern/instructions make a game with 40 pieces, I opted for only 20 (10 matching pairs).

Often my favorite part of giving gifts is wrapping them.  Every year I have visions of all-matching wrapped presents under the tree, with matching ribbons and creative tags.  It might be all wrapped in newspaper with red and green bows, or brown paper with bright ribbon or large embellishments, or white with stenciling or anything with baker’s twine… Every year the experimentation never stops and it ends up a smorgasbord, but a cute smorgasbord!  With this one I knew just what I wanted to do.  I gathered some supplies…

And came up with this!

I wish every gift I had this year were small enough to fit into these little berry crates!  I got them at Farm Chicks this year ($3 for 6 of them!) and knew they would come in handy for gift-giving.  So fun! 

What is your preferred wrapping style?

deer decor, jar decor, and cd gift idea

I have been decorating…





I want to make some of the jar scenes people have been pinning on pinterest, but those were my only trees and deer!  I can’t find more good ones of either!  BUT, someone did tell me some good news yesterday, that a Hobby Lobby just opened nearby!!!  All the Midwest blogging ladies always say to go there for things, I am ecstatic to go and check it out today!

A week or two ago I made a cute jar, inspired by Ashley Ann’s…



 

Cute and fun and I don’t know yet what I’m doing with it.

Lastly, before I rush to work, my gift idea is a CD with either photo images or a custom music compilation…



Several years ago a sister in law gave me a compilation Christmas music CD, because that was all they could manage… I LOVE IT - to this day it is the first Christmas CD I pop in.  Whether family photos for grandma, or music for your sister, I recommend wrapping the CD cute.  Here is the Pin I followed to create this little package.  This was a wedding photo package, thus the business cards, but you could customize with whatever embellishment you wanted.

Off to work!  One last full day without my kiddos - my mother took them off my hands this week!  Must work, get coffee table, go to Hobby Lobby, come home and CRAFT like mad to finish some Christmas gifts!!  Peace!

my wishlist

 

okay, first my friend Leah send out a plea for others to blog their wishlists, and I thought it was a fun idea.

then my mom was bugging me about which place I wanted a giftcard to to make family photo books (which I didn’t know because I hadn’t even looked it up yet!).

then a friend told me my hubby had some strange ideas for christmas gifts for me, and I thought, I should put together a wishlist - quick!!!

so here it is on Pinterest, and I’ll show you here on the blog too.

 

 

 

1.  Those little Athro farmer’s market crates?  Any color!  So sweet!  $14.

2.  Adelyn Earrings from Elizabeth Williams Jewelry on Etsy, so stinkin sweet, $22.

3.  A sweet vintage inspired watch I pinned that is, of course, sold out.  I am on the hunt for a vintage inspired, double wrap watch, I need to keep track of the time at work!  $???

4.  Madden Girl boots.  Leah blogged about the knock offs she found at Franchescas, by the time I got to them – sold out.  I just checked the Madden Girls – sold out.  Story of my life.  Need to find some others like this.  $???

5.  Third Choice: Toms Classic Glitter Slip-On in Black, 8.5, $54

6.  First Choice: Toms Classic University Slip-On in Ash, 8.5, $54

7.  Second Choice: Toms Classic Canvas Slip-On in Grey, 8.5, $44

8.  I have officially given up on scrapbooking and need giftcards to order some family photo books from My Publisher!!!  AshleyAnn uses them and they are affordable with great quality and a wide range of options.  $-Giftcard

9.  Clinique high impact mascara, hands-down the best mascara I have ever tried and I’m almost out!  Sold at Macy’s, $14.

 

So that’s my list.  Now I have to show the hubby!  What’s on your wishlist!  Leave me a comment!  =)

calling all christmas cards

 

Excuse me but what is up with no one sending Christmas cards this year???  Usually my card wall is full and this year I have one single card.  What the heck?

I am here to inspire you today to get your cards out.

I tried to order my Christmas cards online.  I picked out these two card designs that I liked and was trying to decide which one to order…

 

The $1.49 each price tag stopped me in mid-click.  I need 50-75 cards!  Are you kidding me?  It is only a 5x7 photo basically!  No thanks.   I decided to make my own. 

First I need the photo.  Over thanksgiving, I always do a family picture while at my moms, since we dress half decent for dinner that night and it is usually snowy and pretty there.  This year I got an image with several snowflakes over our faces and Ty blinking, but after some editing in Photoshop, I created a workable image…

 

Then I tried out the image with my versions of both card designs which I made from scratch in Photoshop, using the expensive designs as my inspiration…

 

The retro one is my favorite, though I like the striped one because I love the verse!  I think I am going to send out some of each! 

Kinda makes me want to design cards for other people next year.  Or, I could even go year round and do photo invitations, announcements and Thank-You’s!  Anybody want to be a guinea pig???

But, please, people – SEND OUT YOUR CHRISTMAS CARDS! 

more play, less doh

 

Have you ever made play doh?  A while back I called my mom for a recipe to make some for the kids.  It is really basic…

I forgot to put the secret ingredient in that picture!  Kool-Aid!!!  It makes it smell delicious, and makes it so colorful!

After I bought the Kool-Aid, I decided to make a couple more batches so I had to use the food coloring.  It is the yellow and green; not as bright and just smells like flour.  :(  Trust me the Kool-Aid rocks.

They did not love waiting for me to take pictures of it for the blog before they were allowed to play with it.  =)

They had stuffed all our store bought play doh into one of the play doh toys and it dried hard as a rock and we couldn’t even open the toy, let alone get the play doh out.  The whole thing went in the trash.  But after a while I needed something to occupy their little hands again so I decided to make some more.  Though I had been dreading making it, I finally did it and was pleasantly surprised!  It was so easy!

Recipe for Homemade PlayDoh

    1 cup flour

    1/2 cup salt

    1 teaspoon cream of tartar

    2 tablespoons vegetable oil

    1 packet Kool-Aid (for color and scent!)

    1 cup water

1. Combine all ingredients in medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly.

2. Initial texture will be like pancake batter.  When texture suddenly changes to that of sticky mashed potatoes, remove from heat.

3.  Dump out onto breadboard, cool, and knead a little.  Store in airtight containers.

I gave each kid one container with their name on it and we drew names for colors.  They decided to keep the colors nice and not mix them (after my own heart!).  They have loved it and they say they like it better than the store bought kind.  It smells delicious!  I feel like it doesn’t dry up as fast as store bought.    I love how the house smells all fruity when they play with it.  Each one of those containers is one recipe.

For toys, I am not buying any more plastic PlayDoh toys that clog, break, and bend.  I purchased these a while back at Ikea for the kids’ kitchen and right now we are keeping them with the play doh instead  =)  …

The DUKTIG 7-piece baking set is $9.99 and the DUKTIG 5-piece kitchen utensil set is $3.99.  They’re going to last longer than the PlayDoh stuff ad they’re about the same price.

Am I the last one to jump on the homeade play doh band wagon?!

recovering

 

Well, I have been dreading this blog post.  You see, everyone the four people who read this blog are waiting for me to come back and say how great my sale went and how I sold out of everything in an hour...  Do you hear the crickets?  You’re gonna be waiting a long time because I’m not gonna say that.  It turned out to be the wrong venue I guess.  And I say “I guess” because I truly don’t understand it.  Maybe my stuff is really ugly and I’m the only one that likes it – it is possible.  Lots of other goods were super ‘crafty’ like, sorry, I have to say it – ‘old lady style’ crafty.  My booth and one other booth were the only booths remotely vintage / modern / up cycled stuff.  It didn’t look like she did too hot either, but she was more positive than I was. Bottom line: I sold about 15 items.  I covered my registration cost and made about $30 over that and my mom felt bad for me and gave me the $22 she had made – I sold her flower pins and headbands at my booth.  Aren’t moms the best?  Thanks mom.  My friend Sarah made several crocheted cuff bracelets and a few slouchy hats and one scarf and put them at my booth and they sold well.

So now, I have a ‘client’ =D buying a bunch of my items, and once her order is finalized, I will get the rest of the junk on Etsy and let y’all know.

Moving on.

Every time I see these or this picture it makes me happy!…

AshleyAnn Campbell at Under the Sycamore always has vintage Rick Rack and I have never seen any at thrift stores.  Then this past trip there it was, a whole bundle!!!  I don't even want to open them or use them, they are so full of punchy vintage charm!  Swoon.  People this goes to prove that you have to go, go, go to the thrift stores.  Sometimes you find nothing.  Sometimes you find treasures.

This little treasure is making me swoon lately as well…

She is such a dramatic little stinker but I love her.  That is her new hi-tech high chair.  She was climbing the old tall one so I kicked it to the curb but she is still too height challenged for the big girl chair.  I bought a $4 Tupperware bin at Target for her to sit on in the chair.  Works great. 

Well gotta get ready for work.  Hope to share a couple projects with you this week!  Peace!

one last infomercial

I feel like all I blog about lately is my sale.  I know, it’s true, but that’s all I do lately and all I stress think about.  It is one of those things that you look forward to but it is a lot of work and once you get close, you just want it to be over! 
So, here is a little preview of the stuff I have gathered over the past several months, that I will have in the sale…




 





I started packing things up yesterday, and there are a bunch of things packed that I realize now, I never photographed!  So you have to come to the sale and see the rest.  If you missed the info…

The 25th Annual Dickens Fair

Over 90 craft vendors and children caroling!

coordinated by Lake Stevens School District

Saturday December 3, 2011

10am to 4pm

Held at Cavelero Mid High

8820 24th ST SE

Everett WA 98205

Admission Fee: One canned food item or monetary donation for the Lake Stevens Food Bank.

I will be at booth 39 along the East wall in the main room with the stage. 

It should be a great place to do your shopping… has everyone else started theirs already?  I have planned a lot but not bought a single thing!!  Maybe the sale will provide the opportunity to get started!  Looking forward to seeing some friends and meeting some new ones at the sale.
Also looking forward to taking my profits and buying a much needed foot rest stylish coffee table so hubby will stop whining that I got rid of his “favorite one” (???), and returning to my regular life, instead of this craft and deadline crazed version! 
Have a good weekend y’all!  =)