Wannabmartha

Mudroom Reveal!

2011-04-06T09:35:00.000-07:00

Whew! It's done!! And I lurve it to death. Total days? About 8 full days with some painting, pickeling, and lots of cutting. Thanks to our lovely Handyman Mike. He rocks it.

This would be before the hooks are up...we scored the baskets up top from Aldi for $7.00 a pop! They are fabric with a wire frame. The top shelves hold winter stuff in summer, and summer in winter. The middle shelves hold things we need, but don't use often.

Here it is with the hooks and all our crap. The bottom baskets hold our current shoes. The left side is boys, the right side is girls.

I don't know why it took me so long to really pressure the husband to do this - it is so much more effecient, and I really just love it! (the kids do too!)

Linking up to!!

http://www.centsationalgirl.com/

Oh Joy!

2011-03-12T08:53:00.000-08:00

Well, it all started with a foot/leg going through our ceiling. A noticable water ring stain on the drywall ceiling, lead to the discovery of a blocked dryer vent.

I figured since the guys were here anyway, why not make some changes in this house. You must understand this: My husband grew up in a house full of women. Stylish, classy women. Women who love to shop, decorate, know what colors go with what, could tell you the difference between a slate blue and a navy and WHAT makes them different.
That said, when I want to make some changes in our house, he ALWAYS has a say. ALWAYS. And I get veto'd a lot. A LOT. So, I rarely even bother. Well my friends, the time has come. After 14 years of marriage, I'm stickin' to my guns. Wish me luck. Lots of wine may be consumed.

We are re-doing our mudroom. OH JOY!

Before:

See that sink? Yeah, we never used it. It actually was a wonderful place for lots of empty boxes. Piled to the ceiling. Never broken down. The closet? Couldn't get to it because there was so much CRAP in front of it.

During: We are going to get some wainscoting, and put that up against the walls. So we hired our amazing handy-man Mike...and he got to work. The shelves so far look amazing...and I'm in love. However, I'm ready to get my house back in order. This is it so far! I'll update again once it's all done. Yipee for a new mudroom!!

She's getting older.

2011-02-11T15:32:00.000-08:00

Funny how that works. Feed em, water em, teach em, and they grow. Crazy.

This year she decided to do a cooking themed birthday party. Since I was having a scrap night with some of my closest friends prior to this, we each made an invitation for her to send.

We are making 2 teams of 4, and pulling out the cake pans, making some buttercream AND fondant (more on that later).

Decorations are the most fun. I scoured and found beautiful after beautiful tutorials on cupcake liner garlands. Pom-Pon's. So cute and easy!!

Ingredients: (keeping with the theme, ya know)...
2 packages of different colored cupcake liners
1 package of small doilies
1 package of large (not cone) coffee filters
1 needle
1 package of colored floss
Time
Patience

Take a piece of floss and thread through a medium sized needle. String the materials, varying in pattern. Be sure to also thread them off center sometimes, it adds to the variety.

It's so easy, and that growing weed loves it!

I'm planning on making some cupcake liner Pom-Pon's, which I will feature next time. Wish us luck!

Valentine's Day!!

2011-01-30T11:27:00.001-08:00

I really need to commit myself to updating the blog more often...
Valentine's Day is upon us here, and each year, I scour the wonderful blogs looking for cool, crafty ideas for the kids to hand out at school.

This year, we are doing these!

Uber easy, super duper looking treat. Instructions? Here ya go.
Box of on-sale smaller candy canes
Sucker sticks (found at the local craft store)
Plastic pretzel bags (also found at the local craft store)

Take your candy canes and arrange them on a parchment lined cookie sheet in the shape of a heart.
Bake at 300 for about 2 min.'s
Take them out, stick the stick in the bottom middle part of the heart. Squeeze the heart around the stick. Let cool

Drop them in the pretzel bag and Wahla! Done!

OMG. It's December.

2010-12-16T18:18:00.000-08:00

And the time has as always slipped away. I am currently in the midst of some craftyness, but with a pinched nerve in my neck (how did this happen?!??!). So I surf, blog, and dream instead of crafting. I have so many projects awaiting me. Like this one

I have all the materials, and then BAM! Shooting neck pain, muscle relaxer, and heating pad

I did finish this one though...

Super easy and inexpensive gift for a co-worker. It's a glass ball, plain, and then I took sparkly rub ons and embellished. I topped it off with a pretty ribbon! :)

love this one!!

Having Crafty Mojo Rocks.

2010-10-17T16:18:00.000-07:00

In the past month, I have completed:

4 dryer vent pumpkins,

Thirteen 12x12 layouts for my children's albums,

3 cards,

baked cheeseburger cupcakes,

decorated my house for the witching day,

made two glass cool things,

went dumpster diving for a really cool table,

spray painted a frame,

cut chicken wire for said frame (not easy!!),

painted a real ugly collector's spoon holder for my daughter that I found in Iowa while antiqueing with my cousin,

and made a cool frame/shadow-box thingy at Archivers.

Busy bee, I am! Buzz Buzz! :)

I love this weather, it's cool out, I'm not sweating while I work, and the paint dries a little bit better.

Crafty viewing pleasure...

Thank you Amnesty day for bringing me this crazy black painted old table. See the leaf that pops up? Underneath all this black paint I think there is pine. Yes, pine. Ah....
50 cent frame. Take off the back, paint it white (again), staple in some chicken wire, and you have a holiday card holder. It's a work in progress.

Oh, and one more thing - I watched my husband and daughter try out the new Easy Bake Oven. Priceless.

Fall!!

2010-09-28T14:58:00.000-07:00

Boy, I got my crafty mojo back! Now if I just had some time! I saw this cool, inexpensive craft out there in blog-land, and thought it was so cute. Wanna make a cute pumpkin?? I have so much fall stuff out at home already, but I had to do this too - even for friends and for the office.

Go straight to Menards or Home Depot now. Buy a box of dryer vent. It was about 9.00 for 8 feet of the stuff. It's silver, and it's used to hook up to your dryer.

Cut it. Like so.

Hot glue the ends together. Be careful, it's hot!

Then you have this:

While you are at Menards or Home Depot, by a can of Rustoleum orange spray paint. I used to work for them (shhh....it's a looong time ago), and they rock. Paint that baby orange.

Once it's all dry (get the underside too!), stick some whole cincinnamon sticks in the center, tie it with some ribbon or raffia, and Viola! You have yourself a pumpkin! For about $10.00.

Happy Crafting!!

Autumn.

2010-09-17T12:03:00.000-07:00

Can't believe that summer is gone. My last post was summer. Now it's autumn/fall. What happened???

Well, honestly, not much of anything. Not much craftiness. More home/work stuff. I did make something for my office, but I don't have a picture to share. Basically, I did this.

One acrylic stand up photo frame for a letter

Cut out lovely letters that will spell something - I spelled "LEARN". I used a pretty font on the cricut, so it was easy peasy.

Apply a co-ordinating color behind the cut out letter. Slip it all into the frame. Wahlah!

I'll post pictures as soon as I take them. I also have something else brewing up too, but can't post it here, as it might get to the person that it's for!!!

Happy Crafting!

Summer time fun!

2010-06-28T16:07:00.000-07:00

Well, I am officially off work! Whoot! That means, time to play catch up - if I haven't mentioned that already. First up, office clean up.

5 bags of shredded documents.

I took a picture but then deleted it. It made my OCD go overdrive. We also put together our gazebo on the deck. 4 hours later, it looked like this. We had to take a trip to Geneva, IL for the rest of the parts. They only gave us the big pieces. FUN.

We also took in a Cubs game - we went to Cellular Field (sox home) where you can't get AT&T reception on your phone. Seriously. What a scam. Anyway, we had great seats, and Zambrano got kicked out of the game for fighting Lee. Good stuff!

So what if we lost? We haven't been doing good for 100 years.

In between all that, I managed to whip up 2 batches (that's 24 in 2 days) of Pancake Muffins. Can you say YUMMO? My fam LOVED them. The recipe (and my daughter helped me spell that, the little friggin' genius - she's 7) anyway, can be found here.

Also, I finished my beautiful basket. Now to put plants in it. BBQ is in T-minus 15 days. Lord help me.

Re-cap from 365 post

2010-06-25T10:24:00.000-07:00

Yeah! I got my new card reader - that was fast, huh? So, here's a recap of this week. We had AWESOME storms this week - another trip to the basement bathroom - this time eating dinner by the toilet. Lovely.

See the wonderful power lines that are right beside our house? So pretty.

My fav. flower has started blooming in my garden.

After the storms, came a rainbow, but somehow, it came out darker than I thought. I really need to read the instruction manual on my camera and spend a few hours playing. Yeah, I have that kind of time.

And...last but not least, I actually got down to biz and got some craft on. Can you guess what I'm going to do with this old, ugly basket that I scored for a BUCK at a garage sale?

Ideas abound

2010-06-20T16:19:00.000-07:00

So I have seen quite frenquently the whole 365 photo idea. I brought it up with Mr. I, and he laughed. I know that I need to start taking more pictures. Starting today. And I was GOING to download the pictures I took today, but my Dazzle card disk reader isn't working!!!! So, you'll have to wait for pics.

Father's Day weekend was loads of fun. We're in high-gear for BBQ. Plants are planted..and we spent the better part of the day in the heat sweating setting up a big gazebo. Also realizing that it requires 4 people to help instead of 2.

The children fought. We saw Karate Kid (very good). We cooked dinner. And here it is, not even 7 and I'm wiped out.

Does anyone even read this? I'm thinking that this whole blog thing isn't really for me. I don't know if I'm even wasting my time.

Summer...Ahhh...

2010-06-12T18:32:00.000-07:00

Been very busy here with baseball, crafty-ness, getting ready for our bi-annual BBQ...etc.

Here's what's been going on...1st up, baseball. Jake's team is well...they try.

And the BBQ...well, let's just say that there was a reason that we skipped a year. Between flowers, gazebo's, hanging lights, cool cups, burger cupcakes...wha? Yes, I said Burger cupcakes.

And these cool cups that I'm SO very excited about...

At the end of the school year, I always give the teachers a gift. Last year I made pails with goodies in them. This year, I found this somewhere in this wonderful blog-o-sphere...

Oh, and I found a new blog I ADORE. Ree has been around forever, and I know I'm slow to discover her and her wonderful-ness. Check her out over here.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/

I've been tinkering with the idea of switching either to Typepad, or some other bloggy place. I've been trying to plant a bug in Mr. I's ear about him creating my very own space. After all, that is what he does for a living...if that doesn't pan out, I suppose I'll do the switch. Any suggestions?

Happy Passover and Spring!!

2010-03-31T15:58:00.000-07:00

Spring has FINALLY sprung here in Illinois. We were able to enjoy the Flower and Garden Show downtown. The kids and I had a blast, and they enjoyed seeing downtown Chicago. I am SO grateful for the wonderful weather, spring break, and flowers attempting to pop up. Since I work at a school, I have spring break off too, so we've been busy with playdates, errands, going downtown (tomorrow) and Passover!!

This year, I revived my Peeps for Passover (see these Pics..... http://www.flickr.com/photos/stylecouncil/441046093/in/set-72157600038845249/) and also, we are inviting new friends to our Seder. A Seder is a ritual meal shared with family and friends saying blessings, and eating and drinking a lot. We hide the Afikomen, (which is a piece of matzoh) and the children run to find it and get a prize). Instead of toys this year as prizes, I've bought each child - including my nephew who is a Freshman, magazines to the tune of their tastes. Who knew "Bop" was till out there?

I made this a few years ago, and it hangs in our foyer.

Bad Blogger.

2010-03-13T18:11:00.000-08:00

Thanks Michele for the kick in the ass (by linking me) that I so needed to update this joyful, yet neglected spot. Since January, this has occured.

I finished the Ipod Valentine's. The kids' friends loved them. One even thought it was real! Yes, I bought 48 Ipod's. Ha!

I realized that my paying job isn't all that it's cracked up to be. People are not what they seem (waving of hands in mysterious manner)

My nanny up and quit on me. Poof. Gone. All during my supposed relaxing weekend scrapbooking in WI.

I found a cheaper alternative to childcare.

I shoveled more than I've ever shoveled in my life. Damn Chicago winters.

But, on the flip side, Spring is here, and I'm seeing tulips sprouting up.

So - re: Scrapbook weekend. (we'll skip the nasty nanny story. It involves a lot of tears, drama, throwing up, and general bitchy-ness. You wanna skip that mess, trust me.)

Mmmm. A candy cart.

The weekend warmed up a bit, notice the lack of snow on the driveway. What a great house.

Michele stitching again. That girl can sew her papers like no one's biz.

And I actually got 10 layouts done. Even with the drama.

We are going back in October. Even though it is 8 months away, I can't wait. Good friends, awesome host (Thanks Karen!!) and too much food.

I'm back on the blogging trail - watch out!!!

Catch up and V-Day!

2010-01-17T14:46:00.000-08:00

This is going to be a Momma of a post, lots of things to catch you up on! First, we had a mammoth snowfall here in Western IL - about 9 inches. It was purty.

Then I made some pretty 4 D snowflakes for the Holidaze that I just couldn't bring myself to bring down after the holidaze. SO easy to make!!

V-Day is around the corner and that means I am very busy making 45 treat bags for my children to give out at school. This year, I am making IPod treats. It is a bit more labor intensive than I thought, so this will probably be the last time I do them.

Supplies:

2 - 6 inch long string

a box of sweethearts (you know, the hearts that have sayings on them?)

Cardstock that is 4x7

2 candy Rolo's

glue

2x2 pieces of aluminum foil

Tape each end of a piece of string to a rolo. Tape the loose end to the candy box.

Wrap each rolo in a piece of aluminum foil.
Wrap the cardstock strip around the candy box and secure it with a glue stick.

Cut paper shapes and write text for the scroll wheel and playlist (or download Family Fun's) and use a glue stick to attach them to the box. Write a valentine message on the back of the box.

This is the mess.

Yeah, never again. But it's cool-looking!

I have some other ideaers for Valentine's Day decorations around the house. Mr. I is going to cut some wood, and it'll involve pretty paper and glitter. How can you go wrong with glitter? I'm hoping to knock it out tomorrow, since we don't have work or school because of MLK Day.

A few people have mentioned to me that they are keeping up with my blog, and it warms my little heart to hear that. :)

Have a crafty day!

I know I've been gone...

2010-01-01T08:01:00.000-08:00

So much has happened! I can't believe I haven't updated this blog since May. Bad Blogger. Well, here's a re-cap. Summer flew, with lots of fun and warm weather. I gardened, planted potatoes, crafted, and got a job! I am now a school nurse at the local elementary school and love it. I have found that I have very little time for anything else besides coming home, cleaning, taking care of kids, making dinner and collapsing into bed.

Good thing though, is that I get the same holidays off as the kids, which means Thanksgiving break and winter break. This past winter break (I go back to work in 4 days), I spent a lot of time thinking about re-doing my space. Although I love the space I have now, I know I could utilize it better. I have 3 walls just screaming for cabinets. I have seen a lot of spaces online where kitchen cabinets are featured. I would love to re-do it all. I feel like I'm only using my big old dining room table and everything is crammed on there.

Any suggestions? Oh, and Happy New Year! I hope to post more stuff this year - that is my goal.

It could be better, thanks for asking...

2009-05-18T09:28:00.001-07:00

But I won't go there. I'll try to think crafty, happy thoughts and everything will be ok..

Here is the finished product for the centerpieces. It turned ok, dontcha think? I know the retiring teacher will like them, and it's a total surprise! :)

Also, this area has been bugging me lately. (Like I have any energy to do something with it!). This is the area next to my crafting space. Currently, there are two tables there...and a big TV box that the kids have been coloring on for a year. I'm going to toss the box, move the rectangle table into storage, but the round table is from my Mom's house and I don't want it in storage. The garbage to the left of the sliding glass windows obviously needs to go out -reminents of my cleaning out the storage area last week...

Orginally, I was thinking of putting some wicker furniture and a table down there because eventually, outside that sliding glass door, we'll screen it in, and put patio pavers down...
but in the next room is our sectional/tv/video games...I'm thinking too much furniture...Then I thought about extending my craft area out, but I use the back wall for shelving, etc. and it's so....open...

Help! What would you do with this space? Jen? LOL...

Been busy! Craft Central!

2009-05-08T09:20:00.000-07:00

I've been so busy lately, and I loooooove it! :)

I finished those cards yesterday for my lovely sister-in-law! She has two weddings to go to, so I quickly put them together. Tying a Tiffany bow is hard!

Here are the un-finished centerpieces that I'm working on for my friend and soon to be retired teacher!

I took some branches that were dead, cut them, spray painted them white (with my old client Rustoleum!) and stuck them in terra cotta pots. I added moss on top to hide the foam that they were stuck in. Next step is to make leaves with my ever-so-handy-dandy Cricut, and then Modge Podge the many faces that she has taught over the years. I have two weeks to finish 5 of these...I think I'll be fine time-wise.

Also this week, the girl and I enjoyed our first watermelon of the season. Not from our back yard though, those darn rabbits keep on eating the sprouts!

I guess I need to re-read the manual for my new camera (Sony SLR)...because these pics suck with the lighting!

Thanks for looking, and happy crafting!

Just ramblin'

2009-05-06T17:50:00.000-07:00

I was surfing around, and saw this...

Isn't that the coolest thing ever? It's a card/poem/gift. The numbers are actually rolled quarters in tissue paper, for the year of the child. The coolness can be found here: http://giverslog.com/?p=1215. I'm still trolling around her blog, but so far, lotsa neat stuff!

I have another couple of projects going on at the moment. I am in the process of making wedding cards, one is a Tiffany Box design, as the bride has themed her wedding in Tiffany. Upon further investigation, I have found more brides picking this theme! Seems to be the hot "new" thing...

On another note, I am also making centerpieces for a soon-t0-be-retired teacher at my Temple. The lighting is dark here, but I'll upload a pic tomorrow.

This week is going to be a tough week for me, and I am not sure how I'm going to get through it and end up on the other side. But, I'm going to keep busy, and thank goodness I have a lot of projects to do just that!

TFL and happy crafting!

And the winner is...

2009-05-03T19:14:00.000-07:00

of the blog candy that is: Jen R!!! I'll leave send you an e-mail. I'm somewhat dissapointed in the amount of comments, but this was my first blog candy give-away, so I'll roll with it.

Life has been very busy here, summer activites are warming up, as is the weather.
Doesn't stop me from plugging along though! :)

I'd love to share a picture, but since it's a gift for Mother's Day, I can't...but I will after Mom's Day! :) I have some plans to do this week, so I'll be updating later this week..

Stationary box and Blog Candy!!!

2009-04-26T11:02:00.000-07:00

My children's school is having a silent auction! And so I thought this might be a good opportunity to get my stuff out there, and show some people what I'm capable of doing! I found this AWESOME tutorial on stationary boxes online. She does a step-by-step of how to make this cool little box that holds tags, cards and notecards. And a pen too! Check it out and don't be daunted of it's complexity - I was! It was easy to put together, albeit time consuming.

You can find it here. There are 2 parts to it, so be sure to look for the other part.

Here is the finished product.

I also made some cards to go in, I have more to make though. I am going to make another box today, since it's been storming off and on, and we don't have plans till later. Also, wanna have some blog candy? I'll give one away, if you wanna play! Just post a link to your site to here, and leave a comment, and you'll be entered. I'll draw names next Sunday...Fun?

Happy Crafting!

Bad Blogger, Bad Blogger...

2009-04-21T10:40:00.000-07:00

I'm so sorry that I haven't done much here lately! Bad Blogger!

With Passover behind me, I'm back downstairs making head way with my biz, and cranking out cards and invites again! I am donating a bunch of cards and note cards for the kids' school auction this month, and that has kept me busy!

And then a few greeting cards as well...

The weather was nice for a few days since my absence, so my little girl and I went to feed some ducks...

I also got some gardening done. It's raining here now, so I'm stuck inside, and going back downstairs to work! I'll update soon, as I have something in the works...

Passover is coming!

2009-04-07T16:46:00.000-07:00

And that means that I am busy. Cooking for 13 people, planning creative ideas to keep the kids entertained, and generally stressing.

I came across this in my search for passover clipart (BTW...there is none...)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stylecouncil/441046093/in/set-72157600038845249/

(sorry for the link, Blogger would not let me post a pic...)

And after Mr. I saw it, he said "YES!! You need to make this for the kids on Passover!". Yeah, like I don't have other things to do, but it was cute...Mmmm...so off to Party City I went, and the next day, I created this:

The first plague, the river turns to blood.

And then come the frogs.

And then comes the lice...

And flies...

So, I've done 4 so far. There are 10. Passover is Thursday. And I am doing 3 other swaps with Cafemom and Splitcoast stampers.

Busy! Busy...

Spring has sprung!

2009-04-01T19:18:00.000-07:00

It's finally hitting the western Illinois area. Spring. (although this wacky global warming has got it 75 degrees one day and then it snows.)

Some lovlies:

My lovely, over-growing lilac bush/tree.

Daffodils and tulips trying to grow!

Grape Hyacinths!

Ok, and scrappy/crafty stuff...I'll update what I'm working on tomorrow - I haven't started the next batch of work yet, but will~

I think the sickness is over.

2009-03-23T16:20:00.000-07:00

And now the work begins! Before the "sickness", I had a cocktail party and presented some of my cards...well....out of that came some jobs. DUH! And then the house got sick.

Slowly, but surely, I've been working on the cards and jobs I had gotten almost a week ago.

Here. Lookie.

Can I just tell you how much I love embossing? The "surprise" is embossed in Chocolate Brown - my fav. color. You know, it's the "new" black...

Also, I had orders for Grad cards - they have been on here before...

I found this really cool website while I listened to my family hack their lungs out the last few days. Check it out: http://www.curbly.com/

All kinds of DIY stuff... Neat-ness and sometimes stuff where you ask "REALLY???" (like the UFO juicer...)

The house of sick.

2009-03-17T06:33:00.000-07:00

Day 5.

Son? 103.9 temp.

Daughter? 102.1.

Prognosis? Doctor's appointment today.

Mother? Slowly losing brain cells.

Father? Went back to work.

Dog? Annoying everyone.

Weather? Highest temp since September 08.

House? Wrecked.

Laundry? Overflowing.

Mom's best friend? Clorox wipes and McManis Petite Sirah.

Missed days of school? 2, going on 3.

Jake trying to smile for the camera.

They are all sick.

2009-03-15T13:16:00.000-07:00

Icky Sick. Daughter has temp ranging from 104 to 101, Son has temp from 102-99, and Mr. I has no temp, but is ill.

Lovely.

No school tomorrow, I'm sure Mr. I will go to work (he won't stay home unless he's in the hospital), and I'll be stuck inside on a 65 degree day with sickies.

Today has been a movie day. Even the dog is wandering around lost and dazed.

On the upside, I had a fabo party last night and sold a few of my cards. Not many, but it was fun! I have a few orders for announcements and invitations, so that will keep me busy!

Till later, when I report that I too, am sick.

The re-do is FINALLY DONE!!!!

2009-03-12T06:16:00.000-07:00

It only took me a week to re-paint a 5x5 bathroom. Pathetic. Many problems were had along the way..I won't bore you with them. Here is the final result.

The color looks really grey here, but it's more like a Khacki Green. When I came home from getting my hair done last night (Whew! Looks much better!), Mr. I had finished it. I added the towels, and Viola! DONE. FINALLY.
The thing I love most about it is that it is a "grown up" bathroom. Gone are the weird paintings, the frilly baskets of flowers on the wall, and the periwinkle color. It's Simple. And perfect for us.

Yeah ME!

Re-do'ing the 1/2 Bathroom...

2009-02-28T15:54:00.001-08:00

I don't like my 1/2 bathroom. So, I decided this weekend to re-do it. Paint, new accessories, towels...etc. It's the main bathroom in the house - meaning that almost everyone who comes in my home sees it and uses it. I have recently been in some really nice 1/2 bathrooms. Warm colors, classy paintings, finger-tip towels for drying...etc.

When we moved in, the people that built our home were border freaks. In every room. Ugly stuff. We did every room over, and painted...etc. We thought that we could "work" with this, and painted the white walls periwinkle blue. I liked it for a while, but then I saw all those "classy" 1/2 baths lately. This is soo.....uh....frilly. Ew. Ick.

Here is a close-up of those baskets filled with flowers.

That lattice? Yeah, the wallpaper is literally cut that way. I've started tearing it, and the glue isn't coming off. It's already a nightmare.

Oh, and I have this hanging in there too...

Can you say "DOESN'T MATCH???"

6 years of this awful room. 6 years of kids doing this to the toilet paper roll holder:
As you can see, we've tried to repair the mess. To no avail.

Home Depot - I love you! I found the perfect color with the most basic accents. I won't tell - it'll be a "big" reveal.

Wish me luck. Husband (herein called Mr. I) will be helping me. Although I told him I wanted to do it all myself, he's a control freak, Mr. I, he is...

Oh, and last night, I crafted 9 cards at my "scrap" night with a friend. GO ME!

2009-02-24T17:53:00.000-08:00

Not much to report, just pluggin' away on my cards...I'll post new pics tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy these cheesy pictures of this past weekend - taken with my new camera! My 1 1/2 year old Hungarian Viszla...Wrigley.. and my daughter. She adores him and he adores her!

My husband and daughter - I realized when I went on the Scrapbooking weekend (see previous post) that I hadn't taken a whole lot of pics of my husband and daughter. So, this is the start of taking more pics!

I promise that next time I post I will have better "stuff" - I am going to Archiver's Mania with my BFF this week, so I hope to get alot accomplished, and of course, I'll bring my new camera! :)

Still crankin' along with those cards!

2009-02-18T12:56:00.000-08:00

Just a min to post, but here - for your viewing pleasure.

Lotsa Cards...

2009-02-16T17:17:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been busy! After a week or so of no crafy-ness, I went through withdrawl. This past week, husband bought me some wonderful stamps and I've had so much playing with them! Also...drum roll....

I FINALLY got a new camera!!! Whoooot! It's a Sony, and it's brand spankin' new. Not a little feller either. I'm thrilled to bits. If I wasn't cranking in the basement, I'd be playing with it...

Did you say crankin? Huh..?!?! Well, Lemme explain a bit...so...I'm having a little party next month, here at my casa (a gold party...long story, but people will be here...).

My Sister in Law suggested that I put out some of my cards to sell that night. She offered to "man" the table/area and basically sell my cards for me! I've often thought of this in the past, but self doubt is quite a winner.

People have commented that I should sell them quite often (I guess I got better!) so I've decieded to take that "plunge". I'm not a huge fan of plunges.

Even in water. So, I am busting tail right now trying to produce enough product for the party in a month. So far, I have 8 cards. HA! Thank goodness I'm spending the night at a fellow scrappers in a few weeks - we're gonna craft all night (Mwah, Les!)

Anyway, so that's what I've been doing. Also, I found a couple of cute sites this week. I'll list them at the bottom of this post.

Here are some of the cards I'm whipping out...

This is for a swap that I am in over at SCS, but I made extra for me!

I scrap-lifted this one from SCS, too.

Playing with my new OCL stamps! (sorry picture quality is so poor, Husband hasn't quite figured out the new camera yet)

I really had fun with this one! The bunny is too cute. Husband didn't like it much...oh well, you win some, you loose some!

I'll post more once more are created, and better pics are available!

Have a crafty week!

OH! Here, surf....

http://www.joemamainks.blogspot.com/

http://madgesty-lovetocreate.blogspot.com/

Ooooh...blog candy (for those that don't know, it's yummies/gifts that are given away!!)

http://madgesty-lovetocreate.blogspot.com/

It's been a week...

2009-02-12T13:14:00.000-08:00

It's been a week since I posted! Ack. Why did I slack? Lemme tell ya.

I had a birthday party for my daughter (6 years old!!)

I got sick with a sinus infection

Lovely husband went out of town to NJ for work

My old ass camera finally stopped working. Now it's really important to get a new one

My scanner on my printer won't scan

So, no time to craft. However, I did sign up for a swap over at SCS - it's for birthday cards. I have to make 13. I have 8 done...I still have some time, but there's the general idea (a few of my favs) this was taken with my awful camera...ugh...

Also, just for fun, some pics from the party..

Valentines Day is almost here!

2009-02-05T09:44:00.001-08:00

Sorry I have been absent lately...kids are running me ragged. And, that leaves little time for crafting!
Today's plan was to finish up those darn Valentines for my kids (my girl is done, but convincing my son to write his name on his has proved a challenge), make a V-Day card for my hubby, and figure out how to make a "Pin the guitar on Joey" for my daughter's birthday party this weekend. Yeah, Camp Rock. JOY.

Anyway, take a look at the card I created for my hubby. My camera sucks, so deal. I'm saving up my money for a Canon Rebel T. Look at this baby.

I totally digress. This is the card for Hubby. Hope he doesn't look! :)

And the back? Like the tattoo?

Oh, and I have to give credit where credit is due, I got the template over at Frances' blog. SO cute. http://stampowl.blogspot.com/2008/01/panty-template.html

And I know my boobs are different sizes. Aren't all of ours??? Have a Happy V-Day!

Ahhh. Scrapbooking..

2009-02-01T18:02:00.000-08:00

I can't show pictures this time because I just finished my GWA book.

Lemme explain.

3 of my BFF's have known eachother for YEARS, we're talking atleast 15-20 years.

Every year, we go away on a long weekend to somewhere - in the past, it's been Saugatuck, Galena, the Dells, and Shawno, WI.

I take pics. MANY pics.

So, a few years ago, I decided to make an 8x8 book of these pics. This weekend is called Girls Weekend Away. It happens every June or July.

Why?

Cuz our birthdays are all in June, silly!

So, I have created a gift.

Each year, the girls hand over their 8x8 books, and I scrap the previous years' GWA.

Oh yeah.

Scandal.

Lots O' Pics that you wouldn't want ANYONE to see are here, in this book.

It's our thang.

Why am I posting about this, you wonder?

Cuz I'M DONE!

Yep - I'm done 4 months early. Typically, I crunch the month of May, and sweat it out and get them done. I've completed both in a record time, I think, one month. As of tonight, they are

DONE.

Lookie - I will give you a hint...Now of course this is last year's page...I can't show you this years!!!

And this is the mess that this year's album's created...

So I'm just sayin' - I am done. I have created, and damn it, I feel Good about it!!!

Busy Busy Busy!

2009-01-30T13:35:00.000-08:00

Oh Lordy...what have I gotten myself into? If you check out my last post, you'll see what I'm talking about. That is the tip of the iceberg. Because....my son came home that day and really freaked out that I was "hand-making" Valentine's for my daughter and not him. He wanted some too! So, I grabbed a glass of vino, and put on my creative cap.

After a visit to Gibson Guitars online (http://www2.gibson.com/Gibson.aspx), I had an idea. Here's the step by step in pictures to make a cool guitar Valentine for the boy who doesn't want frilly, girly, or flower Valentines.

First, go to Gibson's website. If you have a shitty computer like me, ask your husband who works in advertising (or a friend or go to Kinko's....) to print out a guitar and increase the sizing of the image/guitar to approx. 6 inches or more. They should look like this...

Sorry for the lighting. It sucks.

Then, cut off the necks of the guitars, cut around the guitar, and put two notches on the string holders. You will then stick the Blow Pop in the holes, and the final result should look like this.

25 Flower Blow Pops, 25 Gibson Guitars. What the Halibut (credit: Shark Tale) was I thinking. Oh, and just in case you were wondering - that red Gibson? Yeah, it retails for $8,000.

P.S. Too funny. I just posted this and noticed the glass of red vino next to my stuff - how typical.

Crafty is as Crafty does.

2009-01-28T13:10:00.000-08:00

Since it's so flippin' cold in my craft room in my basement, I am avoiding working on my albums. So instead, I found this nifty craft/Valentine's Day idea. I found it over at Skip To My Lou. I was blog surfing (I spend about 5 hours a day doing that now! I know, so bad!) but her site is amazing! I'm loving it! So...anyway, I'm making 24 for the girl, and maybe another 16 for my friend's daughter. It's so easy and looks amazing!

She also has such other crafty stuff over there. A must-check out.

I'm back! And it was heaven. Pure Heaven.

2009-01-26T13:14:00.000-08:00

My dear friend and I went this weekend to a WONDERFUL scrapbook bed & breakfast (actually, it was lunch and dinner too!). Scrapbook Manor is located near Lake Geneva, WI and was only a hour drive from my friend's house. Check this out! http://www.thescrapbookmanor.com/

Highlights:

1. I finished 13 12 x 12 Layouts in Jake and Emmy's books.

2. I ate WAY too much gourmet food

3. I had a blast with the old friend and the new friends!

4. The beds were pillowtop and sooo very comfy. I slept till 9:00 AM every day.

5. 4 1/2 feet of working space and all the tools, stamps, inks, snacks a scrapper could want.

6. Awesome flat screen tv's in every working room along with IPod capabilities (must have background noise while you work!!)

7. Hundreds of options to lotion, shampoo, conditioner, hair spray, cremes...etc in each bathroom. No need to bring a thing!

8. A spa pedicure.

9. I won a prize for one of my LO's - although it was just me and my friend...I got free goodies!

10. I came home energized, feeling crafty and rested!

We're surely going back. I heart it.

Our little Sunroom of Heaven

And...She's off!

2009-01-23T09:31:00.000-08:00

To a weekend of scrappin'!!! Yes, can you say 3 days of Gourmet meals, soft beds, 4 feet of scrappin' space, a pedicure and being with my BFF? That's heaven for me, my friends. Pure heaven.

I'll be on this weekend, posting pics of my wonderful weekend. I really do need a new camera. But that's a WHOLE nuther post.

I'm still here. I'm still crafty. Really.

2009-01-22T12:58:00.000-08:00

I want to be more involved with the blog/crafty/cool world. I see all these amazing wonderful blogs out there that make me almost weep. Take a view at my friend Jen's blog. She is such a talent!

From Tees to furniture, this girl has it going on!

http://sanctuaryart.blogspot.com/

Also, this!

2008-02-07T10:17:00.000-08:00

I was once told that I'm a good writer. My very close friends thought at one time that I was a wanna-be-Martha. I tried. I love to entertain. I love to create. I am alittle bit OCD. I believe that the details in the project is what makes them pop and unique.

Then I had 2 kids. A year apart from eachother. One beyond his years (I truly believe he's an old soul) and one that is way to smart for her britches.

And then there's work. I am the CEO of my house. I used to be in Advertising once upon a life. I worked 12 years from receptionist to Account Executive. No degree. And then I got pregnant.

So, as you can see, I feel like my life is on hold, or has been. One week I want to be a nurse. The next, a yoga instructor, and then next month I'll want to be a counselor for those going through infertility. Right now? I just want to be. Being makes me want to create.

So, sit back, wait for the pictures that I am sure I will download at some point, and enjoy my life journey and also my "blogger" journey. I'm new to this, ya know.