Etsy Wish List

I love handmade items. Especially jewelry. I have been lucky in that my little sister makes gorgeous jewelry so I have not paid much attention to the jewelry section on Etsy. Until I found a link to Lara Lewis' Etsy shop. She makes beautiful vintage inspired jewelry, some using actual vintage findings! My favorites are:

Magpie #13

and

Kate Earrings (Crystal)

I think that these would be beautiful together and I love dragonflies! Too bad I really do not need to be spending $$ right now. We still need to pay the tax man and pay off the Disney Cruise. Unfortunately my Birthday is too far away and the likelihood of these still being available then is slim. So I will just drool instead.

I really think that Amanda needs to set up an Etsy shop to sell some of her beautiful pieces!

Here are some other Etsy items that I would love to own. The images are linked to their Etsy store listing.

I have had a thing for aprons lately...

Of course this one is for sizes 0-8... which I certainly do not fit into. She does custom sizing as well though!

 

So cute!

And these!

I am not sure why I am loving aprons so much lately. It is not like I cook often, let alone bake!

Ok.. that is enough Etsy drooling for now. What are some of your favorite Etsy finds?

Tackle it Tuesday

This is my first Tackle it Tuesday! I tackled our junk drawers. You know, we all have them. Those drawers in the kitchen that you shove miscellaneous items to get them off of the counters. I bought two drawer organizers and spent about 15 minutes going through the drawers and throwing stuff away.

The drawers were always getting stuck they were so full. This is what they look like now:

Metamorphosis Monday

Susan from Between Naps on the Porch is hosting Metamorphosis Monday.

Metamorphosis Monday is a linky party for Before and After pictures. Here is my first Meta Monday Contribution.

The "playroom" before:

After- My craft room!

My craft room is a mess in these pictures, and you can still see piles of stuff to be put away in the above picture. But I love it! Here is what we did. The play room and my craft room switched rooms. The smaller room that is now the playroom is awaiting it's own transformation. Hopefully in a couple of months I will be able to show you those before and afters.

We took down the panelling and put up sheetrock. We ripped out the old icky carpet and put down laminate wood flooring. My father and brother in law built the craft island and the bookshelf. There is also a ribbon rack that they built, but I still need to prime, paint and get it installed. (BTW... if you live near Kansas City.. Dad and Billy are willing to sell custom pieces...)

We still need to install the baseboards and get doors for the "new" playroom and the bathroom ordered. That will have to wait until after we have paid Uncle Sam though...


Ok.. Project 365. I really have been taking the pictures, I have just not taken the time to post them. So here is what I am going to do. If you want to see my Project 365 pictures just click on the Project 365 album (on the right) and you can see them there. I will keep that updated!

In just 10 minutes...

The Nester has completed her 10 minutes to a room you'll love series and has asked everyone to share their 10 minute makeovers. As I am writing this, there are 92 links! Everyone has done an amazing job. I decided to use my 10 minutes on my entry table. Here is the before:

 

The laundry basket to the left is actually clean clothes waiting to be folded. My gym bag, Eric's shoes (4 pair!) The girl's coats and winter gear, my purse, and my Valentine flowers.

This is what 10 minutes and some shopping of the house accomplished.

This is what I did. I moved the laundry basket next to my chair (I will fold it tonight.. I promise!) and put away all of the coats and shoes. I brought up my other basket that I had in my craft room and took the Christmas liners out of them. Then I separated the adult hats and gloves from the kids. The kid's basket is still full, but nowhere near what it was before. I did not get a picture of it, but the bottom shelf is empty. When the kids are a little older I will feel more comfortable putting decorative items on the bottom shelf!

For the top, I gathered some books (a la Nester) and some frames that were still in the packaging. I decided that I wanted some older pictures in them so back down to my craft room I went. The picture on the left is my parent's wedding photo. The one on the right is of my Grandparents and my Mother when she was a baby. A candle and candleholder and a bowl of kisses finished it off!  I wish that I had a crystal or glass bowl to put in the center, but the only one that I had close to the right size was my green one.

It is amazing what 10 minutes and some ironing (the placemats.. my red table runner is in my Christmas boxes...) will do!

Girls night in

Mom and I played in my craft room Friday while the girls were at Kindercare's Parent's night out.

We made these adorable shirts for the girls (I had everything cut/ pinned, but was having problems with the bobbin. Mom helped me finish them when she came over. I saw the idea/ instructions on JoysHope and had to try it! The girls LOVED it!

 

Then we made these..

 We filled them with chocolates (the ones for the girls had dress up jewelry, a pen and gummis in them) and gave them away over the weekend. I hung the ones for the girls up on the fridge

My week...

Sunday Eric and I had our taxes done, only to find out that instead of the refund that we were expecting, that we owe this year due to the IRA we withdrew from Judy's estate to pay for  funeral costs and to pay off Eric's student loan. That night we  went to The Melting Pot to celebrate Valentines day (since he has to work this weekend). Yummy dinner, nice and quiet (Mom was watching the girls for us) and nice conversation. Perfect!

Wednesday Lauren has a follow-up for an ear infection. We waited for an hour in the waiting room, and then for ANOTHER hour in the exam room before the doctor saw us. Her appointment was at 4:30, and we did not see the doctor until 6:30. Mom had dinner waiting for us, Dad was waiting for me so that we could work on our father/daughter project, the kids were hungry and I was overwhelmed. The girls were well behaved for the first hour, but after that got bored quickly and would not listen. I was so frustrated. I knew that it was not their fault, and I had to try so hard not to snap/ yell at them. I ended up calling my Mom in tears. I do not know why I was so overwhelmed at this point, or why I was so emotional about it. It was like a dam burst. Luckily I managed to calm myself before the doctor came into the room. Then I find out that Lauren has ANOTHER ear infection! We are on our last antibiotic option before they give her shots. She is still young enough that they do not want to do tubes, and we think that the ear infections are caused by her allergies since she was off of her allergy meds the past few months. She has gotten better since we re-started her Singulair.

I have the best Mom. Really, I know that a lot of people think this, but in my case it is simply the truth. Dinner was ready when we got to Mom and Dads. She fed the girls, and then took them home to my house, got them ready for bed, sang (lots) of songs, and was waiting with a smile when I got home from the woodshop (it was only 9ish). I had a nice couple of hours with my Dad (and Billy) working on my ribbon rack for my craft room. They even let me use the power tools!

Last night was pretty mellow in comparison, though I did have a headache all day. The girls signed all of their valentines for their part today, we ate an easy dinner (soup and sandwiches) and then went downstairs to play for a while. I got a gift for Eric finished and the girls "made art" with stickers and markers.

Tonight Mom is coming over and we are having a grown-up girls night. The little girls will be at daycare until bedtime since daycare is having a "Parent's Night Out" pizza and movie event tonight. I was going to take Mom out, but she wanted to stay in and be crafty! (See.. another reason that I have the BEST MOM EVER!)

Valentines Day

I did not get this done in time to submit it to the Craft Critique Valentines Carnival, but there are HUNDREDS of ideas over there!

I altered this notebook for Eric for Valentines Day. The intent is to keep it in the bedroom and use it to pass notes back and forth to each other.

The notebook is from Ecojet, purchased at Archivers. PP- Creative Imaginations; Heart pin and red letter stickers- MM; Black letter stickers - Deja Views; Jeweled heart, large red heart charm, "gold" heart and key - Hobby Lobby; Ink - Vintage Cream ink, PTI & Black Soot Distress Ink, Tim Holz; Ribbon, wire, envie and the black beads were from my stash.

The black beads used to be on a necklace that broke. The envelope was white, so I inked it with PTI's Vintage Cream ink and them used the Black Soot ditress ink on the edges. I also ran the Vintage Cream ink along the edges of the notebook.

I am so behind!

I have been taking the pictures for my Project 365.. but I am behind on getting them posted here.

I didn't take a picture for Feb 2...

February 3, 2009 - This is the view out of our sliding glass door. The weather was nice enough for the girls to play outside.

 
February 4, 2009 - Coco likes to play Barbies... well, she likes to play with the Barbie shoes and other small pieces.

 
February 5, 2009 - This is what the girl's bedroom door looks like. Every couple of months I take down all of the stickers and they start over. 

 
February 6, 2009 - Banana hot-dogs. Megan saw this on TV and said that she wanted it for dinner. Bananas, peanut butter and jelly, on a hot dog bun. It was actually really good!

  
February 7, 2009 - We went on an adventure... our first Geo-caching experience, and we did not find anything. The girls were disappointed until they heard the music from the Carousel museum start. Carousel rides make everything better! 

 
February 8, 2009 - Spoiled dog

February 9, 2009 - Didn't take a picture...

 
February 10, 2009 - Bath time! The girls love their baths. 

  
February 11, 2009 - Father - daughter project. Working on my ribbon rack. Billy and Dad did most of it, but I designed it (kind-of) and I even cut some of the wood and nailed the trim on.

  
February 12, 2009 - Megan signing ALL of her Valentines for her class. She even wrote the teacher's names on theirs!

Papertrey Color Challenge

Well, I finished my literature review today so after I picked up the girls we stayed downstairs and played for a bit!

This is the color challenge from Nichole:

And here is the card that i made!

The lighting was crappy since it was after dark by the time I finished. Everything is PTI except for the Cuttlebug embossing folder and the SU Scallop border punch. I used a blender pen with the Summer Sunrise to color in the "9".

The "Happy Everything" was stamped on the inside page so that it peeks out under the scallop.

I want to play!

Don't you hate it when you are motivated to create something... but do not have the time/ energy? I do! I saw this Weightloss Planner by Jen Kaputo on Jen's blog, and really want to make it!

The files are only available from DailyDigi as a part of their monthly "kit", The DigiFiles. Check it out.. this is an amazing deal! So I bought the DigiFiles, checked out the templates which are the same as the Weight Watchers planner pages (which is perfect for me!), but Jen included the PDF version so that you can customize it. Awesome! Here is some more information on the Planner.

I even got a BindItAll for Christmas that I have not gotten to play with yet! And I know what Colors/PP I want to use and everything! I want to use PTI's Raspberry Fizz and Black and White Basics.

   

So, the plan is to finish my homework in the evenings this week so that I can spend Saturday in my craft room creating my own Weightloss Journal.

Have you heard?

Heidi Swapp, Rhonna Farrer and Janet Hopkins have joined together on a new digital/ hybrid venture called House of Three. That is where my new "Blog Couture" came from and I love it! I have started to explore digital scrapbooking more and it is pretty cool. I will not give up my paper scrapping though, I love it too much!

Check it out!

I am glad it is Monday!

I do not say that often... but today I was glad to be going to work. It was one thing after another this weekend, the only good part was that the weather was nice on Saturday (68) and the kids got to play outside.

And now for the Project 354 Update

 
January 25- Megan and Emily at Emily's 5th Bday party at T-Rex

 
January 26th - Playing with Play-Doh

 
January 27th - Lauren trying on her new Summer Gymboree stuff. She would not take off the swimsuit (under the dress)

 
January 28th - The pile of CLEAN clothes on Lauren's bed waiting for me to put away.

 
January 29th - My new (un-fixed) haircut

 
January 30th - Fashionista Megan!

 
January 31st - The inside of our bed... and the reason for my bad weekend! I spent all day Saturday trying to find and repair a leak.

 
February 1st - My Project Management text. I am also taking my Directed Research Project (80 pg thesis) at the same time.