Oh my goodness!

I can't believe how long it has been since I've posted here! I feel like I've been so busy.

Work has been going good. I seriously love my job! I work as a part time teacher's aide at my kids' Montessori school. So, while I am working Miss A and Mr. B are in class (the same class, since preschool and kindergarten are combined) working too. I love working with the 4th-6th graders. It is my favorite age group. When I was working on my Elementary Education degree my favorite grade was fifth grade. I love the content and the kids are still a good age. They are the total turds that you get in middle school and high school. Granted, there are still some turds in my two classes, but all in all, things are great. With working 4 hours a day, I come home pretty spent. For some reason my body revolts after working for four hours, so I usually end up vegging for about two hours after I get home. Things are not getting done around this house. Then, with the inevitable start of winter (we always have an early snow the first week of October) we've been trying to get the yard and garden and everything closed down for the winter. And, my parents bought a house six miles away, after living 2000+ miles away, so now we are harvesting their apple trees until they move out here.

I'm really looking forward to my mom being here, because maybe then I will be able to get my craft on again. I have some big plans. Revamping an old steamer trunk, refinishing my nightstands, painting my living room, painting my kitchen, and lots of little sewing/mending projects. Plus, I'm sure with their house there will be plenty of projects too. I think she'll want some landscaping done, but that will have to wait until next year. With the move of my parents, that means lots of tools too, so maybe I'll get ambitious on my blocks again. I have yet to sell a set, but maybe someday. :)

Halloween is tomorrow, Miss A is probably going to be a fairy, in the costume my older sister made for her several years ago (Heather, I finally took out the last extra hem!). And who knows what Mr. B is going to be. For the church Halloween party he was supposed to be a knight, but he didn't like the costume. He really wanted to be Cinderella, but the Dear said "NO!" LOL. Mr. B has plenty of options though, so we'll see what happens. I'll take the kids around the 'hood, and the Dear will stay home and hand out candy. We only have a few bags, so I might need to run to the store tomorrow, in between school and PT, and cleaning the house some more. The Dear helped out lots yesterday, and we got the kitchen mostly clean (still need to sweep and mop, but Sunday is a day of rest). I need to finish putting away the laundry that mostly got washed on Wednesday, except for a second bout of flu this week for Mr. B yesterday, so there are plenty of linens to put away.

Does anybody else ever feel like their little people only contribute to messes, and that there is no way you will ever get ahead? And do you get discouraged and give up at least twice a week? Oh, good. Glad I'm not the only one.

Project Report

Can I just say that I love that I put my list of projects up here? This way I'm able to self-check and make sure I'm getting things done. And getting things done I have been (too bad my house isn't as clean as it should be, so my budget for next month will be a little tight).

Things I've completed:
Love Blocks
Pink flower hair clips for BIL's wedding
Vinyl Nativity Glass Block
Redecorating for Valentine's Day (this was easy because all I have is two small metallic garlands and two sets of gel window clings (and now the wooden blocks too!)

Things in the works:
The coat hangers/shelves. I've stained all the wood (still need to do a coat of poly on top) and spray painted the baskets ($3 at DI!). Need to get the nail gun back from a friend so the bad boys can be assembled and installed.
Seed packet wall hangings. I figured out where to put them, but I need to take down the other ones, putty, texture, and touch-up the wall, then rearrange them all, since they are all going together. That's why it hasn't gotten done yet. So many steps, and so much laziness. It took long enough just to figure out where to put them. :)

The skirt idea got scratched off the list, since I found a super cute eyelet sundress at DI for $5. It does need a cardigan to go over it, but I'm hoping a few more trips to DI should solve that problem. Can you tell that I love thrifting?

Something I might do soon:
Work on my quilt. It would be nice to have done, but it's such a big project, involving pulling out the sewing machine and making a mess of the living room. Oh how I wish I had a craft room.
Oh, and I might work on painting those wooden fences from the dollar store. They will be super cute hanging on a wall in my living room if Spring ever shows up. Which should be around June here in Idaho.

And, some eye candy:

These blocks are so easy to do! If you have a huge stockpile of scrapbook paper and scrap 2x4s, they are basically free! These papers I actually printed off my computer. I have a former roommate that designs digital scrapbooking materials, and this is from one of her kits, Sweet Love O' Mine. Go here to get it. Go here to visit her blog. Yari is awesome and I love pretty much everything she designs! So, to make these blocks, cut some 2x4s. I don't measure I just cut some bigger, some smaller and really just eyeball it. Then I measure so my papers will be the right length. The papers need to be 3" wide, and whatever length. Mod Podge the background papers to the blocks. If you have a Silhouette or Cricket cutting out letters is easy. I don't, so sometimes I use an alpha set from a digital scrapbooking kit, but this time I made my own using a font from Photoshop, and then using the masking text tool and a few other steps to make the font, including a layer style to get the ridges around the edges. So, after I Mod Podge the background papers I Mod Podge on the letters, then put another coat of Mod Podge over the top. This can all be done in about an hour, if you don't have littles (children) distracting you. Or husbands, or pets, or life, or whatever. I might still add some ribbons or flowers or something, but I still have bathrooms and a kitchen to clean.

My vinyl Nativity. I love how this turned out. I ordered from the site Say it on the Wall and was very pleased with the outcome. Laura has an offer for people who become "affiliates" so I got $5 in free vinyl from her! I did have to pay shipping, but that's okay. And this was a custom design. She had quite a few Nativity designs, but I wasn't completely in love with any of them, so I asked her to tweak the "O Holy Night" one, and she was more than happy to oblige. She was great to work with! And her vinyl was the easiest to work with that I have ever done. I thought the hay in the manger was going to be a pain, but it was EASY! It was actually the bottom corner, under Joseph that almost ripped because I wasn't paying attention. But it didn't. Thanks, Laura!

My Newest Blog

I've had this idea floating around in my head for awhile. I see lots of crafty blogs in the blogosphere and some of them are fantastic. I have a digital scrapbooking blog, which has been a fun creative outlet, and I have a private family blog. But I really needed another outlet for my projects. The thing is, I don't think I'm very funny, so I don't know how many readers I will get. My goal is to do at least one post a week (this way I get some projects done, right?) and hopefully be able to help others get their craft (or other hobby) on too.

A little bit about me...

I'm a 5'5" natural brunette with the most beautiful blue eyes (I don't mean to brag, but my daughter gets compliments on her eyes so often, which she gets from me, that I can't help it :)). I like virgin pina colodas and don't like to take walks in the rain. Something about getting soaking wet just doesn't appeal to me. I'm a SAHM of two kids, Miss A who is four, and Mr. B who is two. My DH is an engi-nerd that convinced me that I was madly in love with him, and two months after that we were married.

My loves and hobbies...
My Heavenly Father is my first love and my family is my second love. My hobbies...oh, that's a long list. Since 2007 I've been an Idaho Master Gardener (no, I don't grow potatoes), but this year I'm going to take a break from the MG program. I used to paper scrapbook, but since having children (I don't have any kids, goats aren't allowed in city limits) I've taken a break from that and now enjoy digital scrapbooking. I used to make cards, but again, the children. What I do instead: occasionally sew, pretend to quilt (I've been meaning to make a quilt for my bed for the last year, and even had the whole top put together until I realized the colors were too bright for my bedroom, so I gave it to my mom), buy Christmas decorations for cheap, buy gel window clings, decorate my living room for various holidays, reorganize, make dollar store crafts, and just craft in general.

Projects in the works or planned:
Coat hanger/rack things for the kids
Quilt for my bed
Wooden fence wall hanging things bought at the dollar store and needing to be painted
Quilts for the children
Flower hair clips for BIL's wedding for the nieces
Possible skirt for BIL's wedding for me
Glass block and vinyl nativity set (mostly just need to purchase the vinyl from an online store)
Hang some seed packet things that I bought and framed a long time ago
Redecorate for Valentine's Day

Yeah, so I think that's a lot of projects to keep me busy for awhile. And having them here holds me accountable to you, dear reader, whoever you may be. In the mean time, I'll see if I can find some of my old tutorials to post for your crafty goodness.

Have a fantastic day!